As important as Facebook is to Social Networking and as fun as it can be in maintaining friendships it still can drain you of time and energy as you attempt to wade through your news feed. Facebook users spend an average of 19 minutes on the site per visit making it the top site in the world within that category.

If you are anything like most of those users you might spend a good number of those 19 average minutes looking through the vampire quizzes, virtual zoos, and other complete nonsense that you don’t care about. You might also get sick of all the emails you receive every time you get poked or somebody you don’t know comments on your friend’s status that you “liked.”

This tutorial video will show you how to navigate Facebook, filtering out the junk you don’t care to see and eliminating the emails you don’t care to receive.

I’ve been looking for this for years! Don’t you grow tired of the time you spend trying to syndicate a good blog post or article? You could spend 15 minutes submitting a link to Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.  For some time I have been looking for a service that would allow me to submit a link to all of these Social Bookmarking sites at once. Imagine the time that you would save.

At this point we have a great service for syndicating pictures and videos (pixelpipe) and a great service for updating our statuses on various sites at once (ping.fm). The good news is that FINALLY we have a Social Bookmarking syndicator. ONLYWIRE has come along just to end my nightmares! OnlyWire offers both free and paid accounts and so far my experience has been fantastic. They offer various tools such as browser plugins and more to help you readily syndicate content.

My very favorite part of the service is their WordPress plugin. I have removed my traditional “Add to Any” plugin that is most widely used on wordpress blogs to enable readers to syndicate a post/article and in it’s place I have placed the OnlyWire syndication button. In addition to having the same options to share a link with any one service users can also setup their own OnlyWire account to submit the link to all their social bookmarking services at once.

This is a huge WIN/WIN for readers and blog owners alike. Think how much more likely links are to be syndicated to various networks with the new ease of the OnlyWire system. I am encouraging all blog owners and internet marketers to subscribe to OnlyWire and install the plugin on their sites. The more users we can get plugged into the system the better it will be for all of us. Simply go to the bottom of this or any other post on my site and hover your mouse over the bookmark button. Create your own account and submit this article to all your networks. If you have your own blog go install the OnlyWire plugin to get your readers on the same service!!!!

Warning: Not all bookmarking services can be submitted to automatically. Sites such as Digg.com require human verification in order to finalize a submission. OnlyWire will automatically syndicate your link to as many social bookmarking sites as possible and then send you an email with notice should you need to manually finish the process for any specific services.

As you begin your work in internet marketing you will start hearing the word “niche” a lot. A niche is a specific topic or area of discussion which tends to be unique and of interest to your market. Finding a good niche in our current condition is very difficult. There are far too many people with blogs that discuss social media, internet marketing, and network marketing.

This just means that it becomes that much more important to make yourself stand out. Here are some simple helpful hints to help you in the process of finding your niche.

1. Remember that any niche will do. Just because your end goal is to build a list of high quality contacts and build relationships of credibility and trust does not mean you have to write about mlm, social media, or the like. Open your mind to a broader range of possibilities.

2. Make a list of your greatest areas of expertise. What things/subjects do you know more about than most average people? Perhaps something in relation to your current profession or one of your hobbies?

3. Do not rule out any ideas just because there might be only a small group of people out there who are interested in your expertize. These might be the most valuable ideas because they have little niche competition. Your audience is the whole world afterall and there are likely to be millions of people out there who are also interested in the same thing.

4. Consider your ability to create never ending content about your niche. You have to be able to write new articles about the subject for years on end. Is your niche that broad?

5. How difficult would it be to produce products in reference to your niche. A long term strategy will be producing a product that you can launch to your audience as they grow.

6. Make sure it’s fascinating to you. If you choose a subject that you are passionate about others will feel that and you will be more likely to stick with it.

7. Some of the best niches talk about ways to feel joy or eliminate pain. These are the two most powerful motivators for mankind. Weightloss sites quite overdone but that would be a good example of a niche driven toward eliminating pain and finding joy.

I hope these quick ideas will be helpful in finding your niche!

Jacob S. Paulsen

If I am currently following you on Twitter and you are looking for a way to get me to stop here are some suggestions:

1. Send me a DM (Direct Message) inviting me to join your ninja dojo or mafia family. This is so annoying and unprofessional that it will always cause me to unfollow you and then delete the dm.

2. Have a Twitter profile picture of a man or women with little to no clothing on. I assume people who feel the need to have mostly naked women on their profile are either promoting a business or product that is pornographic in nature or they think that dumb males will be more likely to follow them or click their links because of the image. Either way it makes me angry and guarantees an unfollow. Super unprofessional.

3. Send me a DM with a superficial and virtual gift, such as “I just sent you peace and happiness. You Should send me a gift back.” I hate these pointless and insincere games and I the only way I participate is by hitting the unfollow link on your profile.

4. Tweet 3-15 times within a 2 minute span. I follow more than 4000 people currently and so if I see more than one of your tweets on a single page of my timeline that means you have a serious problem. Either addiction to Twitter or you have a program tweeting constantly for you during the high traffic times of the day. Either way it just somehow bugs me. Perhaps because people like this very rarely have anything good to share.

5. Tweet the same link with a variation of text every 30 minutes. Some twitter profiles seem to have only one thing on their mind and that is to get you to visit their site. They change up the sales pitch to make it look different but the link is the same. They expect you to not notice because you don’t spend a lot of time in front of Twitter or because you follow enough people to make their redundant tweets not-noticable. Either way I think they are spammers and have nothing of value to offer me.

6. Use foul language. I don’t tolerate anyone who feels the need to use profane or foul language. The use of any generally accepted cuss words is a quick way to lose me as your followe. Its just not professional and while you may speak that way to your friends you shouldn’t do it with strangers. Either way you want to think of it we will both be happier when I stop following you.

7. Twitter snobs don’t get my follow. Some people feel so important about themselves that they expect people to follow them by the thousands when they are not willing to follow anyone back. Either they truly don’t think that anyone else has something of value to offer or they are simple hypocrites. Either way I won’t be one more follower that strokes their ego. There are of course some celebrity exceptions. People who have already been so successful that I don’t expect them to follow one million people just because that many people are interested in what they are doing.

8. Send me a DM with a link that is going to help me get more followers or learn how to make money on Twitter. I will first check your profile to see if you have more followers than I do. If you don’t (95% of the time) I will have to assume that your amazing program isn’t working for you and I don’t want to associate with spammers at all. If you have tons more followers than me I might even check out your link but I’ll still probably unfollow you simply because of the marketing methods.

9. Tweet in a foreign language that I can’t read. Its nothing personal but I just can’t justify following someone I can’t understand.

10. Setup multiple twitter accounts that all tweet the same thing. I don’t know for sure why people do this but if I figure it out I am sure to unfollow all of your profiles.

Do I sound like an angry person?

Do you disagree with my tactics or would you like to add your own reasons for unfollowing people?

Jacob S. Paulsen

So I’ve been having this conversation with other Internet Marketing buddies. When it comes to twitter its important to start a conversation and interact with people in a genuine and sincere way but what about just the general effort to get twitter followers?

It seems that people judge your credibility based on the number of people who follow you on Twitter but with that having been said you have to be really famous or previously successful to have thousands of people start following you spontaneously. Most of us despite our desire to be honest and and contribute quality information; we have to go to considerable effort to get enough followers for anyone to think us credible.

What are your thoughts? Is this constant effort of everyone to get more followers a fake and counter-productive effort or is it simply necessary to build a following in order to have any influence at all?

Jacob S Paulsen

The basic concept of social networking and online marketing is the same as traditional offline marketing. Meet people, build trust, and expose them to your product/opportunity. The reason the internet is getting so much attention is because of the ability to meet so many people at once. Building credibility is made a little more difficult but can be done over time.

While there are now thousands of different social networks popping up online there are 3 that have set themselves aside as the big dogs. The Holy Trinity of social media consists of Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

Each is clearly different in it’s own right and can be used differently in your overall social media marketing plan. All three are about community building. When setting up your profiles on these three sites make sure you are consistent. Try to use the same username on all the sites and don’t forget that your username should be some kind of combination of your name or initials. Using the same profile pictures on all your social media sites also helps people identity and remember you.

Your approach should be the same with all three. Create a professional and personal profile, find a niche, and add targeted friends. Its not enough to connect with people in only one place. Make it your goal to connect with the same people in all 3 places.

Other potential big hitters…

www.goodreads.com

www.friendfeed.com

www.flickr.com

www.orkut.com

www.myspace.com

Jacob S Paulsen

The first weekend of June I had a unique opportunity to do some executive protection work (bodyguard) for some well known people visiting Salt Lake City for a convention. Many of you may not know that while I’m an internet marketer and a network marketer, by trade I’m a security professional.

The company convention was that of a relatively new MLM named Zrii. The CEO and owner is Bill Farley, owner of the White Sox and he and his family’s safety were my primary concern throughout the three day convention but we also had a guest visit from both Deepak Chopra and Anthony Robbins for whom we were also responsible.

While I of course don’t mean to promote Zrii in this post I do want to share some insights that I learned from these great speakers and people both on stage and backstage.

Deepak Chopra. Deepak when you see this article in your google alerts email on your blackberry you will remember that I’m the guy that followed you around in Salt Lake that weekend. The content that Deepak delivered was great and I admit that even though its my job to not pay attention to him but instead the crowd, I struggled.

I think the general theme of his speech was understanding the “soul” of the man and how it is connected to the mind and body. Very intriguing and and I must say very original. There was no question to his credibility and while he wasn’t exactly full of energy I still felt like the audience was very connected and aware. It made me want to buy some of his books!

What was he like backstage? Deepak was very in the zone before he went on stage. He wasn’t annoying or stuck up but just focused. Despite him wanting to be truly alone he accepted every visitor who came back to make his acquaintance. That having been said he was generally quiet and reserved.

I think I would have seen a more lively side of him if he hadn’t had a cold. He wasn’t able to stay on site very long and on the way back t

o the hotel from the venue he spent most of the time reviewing his google alerts on his blackberry. When he finished he asked me about Salt Lake. He either was sincerely interested in Salt Lake, felt awkward in the silence, or just wanted to chat with me a little. Either way we had a nice little chat on the way back to the hotel and I felt his transparency in his character. I liked him.

Anthony Robbins. Anthony Robbins does somehow seem to live a life of the constant passion for which he is so well know for on stage. He doesn’t travel alone and on this trip had his own stage assistant, sound manager, and “handler.” I also understand that he is rarely away from his wife but this was one of those rare occasions.

On stage he did a great job of delivering what I suspect he normally would consider his 3 day signature seminar in about 4 hours. Once again I wasn’t supposed to be paying close attention but a couple of the key things I will remember were his phrase, “motion creates emotion,” which effectively means that we can control how we feel by our own body posture and movement. He demonstrated this by inviting the entire crowd to do several 90 second role plays.

What was he like backstage? Best put, he was friendly. He just seemed to like people and everyone around felt that. He agreed without question to take a picture with me and the other security guys and that was super cool.

In talking to a member of his staff I also learned that his travel schedule is extreme. He is constantly going from one place to another and due to his tendency to stay on stage until he feels he is done he is often cutting it really close to the wire. To be quite frank I don’t know how he keeps it up. It seems exhausting.

Oh and also just a quick note that I met Thurl Bailey at the convention and he is AWESOME!!!

When helping my clients set up their own blog they often ask me what they should be writing about. Today’s blog post is to answer that question.

Determining your content will also help you configure your site categories. The WordPress blog categories are designed to help search engines categorize your content and are therfore crucial.

Before we get into the specifics of your content let’s outline the general ideas. I suggest you consider the following types of content:

1. Informative. The greatest reason why people will visit your site will be to learn and discover. In the beginning of creating your site you should determine your own niche. What specific topic or arena can you be an expert in? Write content specific to informing or educating your readers on that topic.

2. Entertaining. Your readers need to enjoy their visit to your site. Entertaining content should still be specific to your niche or topic but should be light and easy to read.

3. Personal. Your readers need to get to know you. They deserve to know who you are and what you are about. Share your goals, trials, and life especially as it pertains to the niche/topic.

Hopefully you noticed that all the content on your site should be specific to your niche. I would also suggest mixing informative, entertaining, and personal content together as much as possible.

Now let’s get more specific. Once you have found your niche and have discovered how you want to break that niche into categories you can begin writing posts. Try to think ahead by writing different types of posts and they apply to your different categories. Don’t post too often at first. 3 to 4 times per week is plenty to show people what you are about without asking them to make a daily commitment to you.

Be sure to use various mediums including audio, pictures, video, etc. This does wonders for search engine optimization but more importantly will allow you to attract all types of readers.

Be consistent. Your readers need to form a relationship of sorts with you. This is done by giving them good information. Your credibility will come from your ability to do that consistently over time.

Jacob S. Paulsen

As the internet becomes flooded with entrepreneurs and home based business owners I have a few words of caution that I would like to express. A lot of the training content on my site is an explanation of what to do; but this post is to inform you as to what not to do.

1. The change from employee to entrepreneur was designed to be a transition and not a leap of faith. In our current economic crisis a lot of people who are losing their jobs are turning to network marketing to replace their income. BAD IDEA. Despite the many rags to riches stories you may have heard I can virtually promise failure if you attempt this. Secure a steady income before starting your part-time business! Become an entreprenuer to supplement your existing income and if it goes well… then continue the transition.

2. Marketing is not sales. You are a home based business owner of some sort and have a product/service/opportunity to share with people. Marketing as a professional includes doing some research, discovering your target market, setting a budget & schedule, building a network (making a list), and establishing a relationship of credibility with your network. There is a place for sales but only after marketing is done. Sales without marketing is called SPAM. Done online spam will ruin your credibility, d spamming those you meet will ruin your friendships.

3. Don’t waste all your time. Your greatest investment of time when starting out will be in education. If you think adding hundreds of friends on facebook is going to build your MLM you are clearly uneducated. Find the experts and learn from them.

Jacob S Paulsen

I get a lot of phone calls from online friends who need assistance in setting up their websites and their social media profiles to begin working in internet marketing and social networking. Every once in awhile I think to myself that I should write a 2 page guide to “Online Domination Setup” which I could just email to these people who call me.

Today is that day. If you already have a website with 1000 plus visitors per week and more than 3000 twitter followers I would suggest you stop reading now and seek higher level training. For those of you who are still beginners here is what you need to know in less than two pages. To prove it I have provided a downloadable PDF file at the end of this post.

Online Marketing Umbrella Concepts:

First, you basically separate all of your online work and websites into these 3 categories:

1. Social Media – This is where you meet people and create relationships with them… NOTHING MORE.
2. Personal Website – This is where people you meet who want to learn more about you will come to do so. Your personal site needs to be in the form of a blog and it needs to contain informational, inspirational, and entertaining content. If best find a specific niche where with you can help your readers. The “niche” of this website is “Becoming More, Inspiration & Resources for Entrepreneurs.”
3. Sales Pages. This is where you will sell your products and opportunities to those who visited your personal site and wanted to know what you do for a living and to those who searched you out in search engines, etc.

Second, You will need to create a HUGE following in social media in order to really make a difference. This will require…

1. Sincerity. You will have to really care about the people you meet and have their best interests at heart
2. Marketing Ethics. Don’t SPAM people. (IE: marketing without permission or relationship)
3. Time. This will not happen over night. Do a little everyday over a long period of time and results will come.

TO DOs of Getting Started…

1. Get Your Own Website Started:
   1. Get a hosting account at either Godaddy or hostmonster. If you choose Godaddy get the deluxe hosting or higher. Buy the domain www.yourname.com as this will be the most important real estate you own in the virtual world. This one hosting account will allow you to host dozens of different websites down the road and it is necessary to get one eventually… why not now.
   2. Install WordPress onto the main directory of your website. This can be done painlessly with either Godaddy or Hostmonster. There are tons of tutorial videos on Youtube and I also have some on the “Tutorials” page of my site. Watch these same tutorials to help you set up your WordPress site with the best themes, plugins, etc.
   3. Decide what your online niche is going to be. Are you the Mountain Biking Kenyan who owns his own home business? Sorry, that’s already taken…
   4. Create content for your site and remember content should generally be either informative/educational, personal, or entertaining.
   5. Find a way to monetize your site by putting relevant ads onto your page from a affiliate group such as Linkshare or CommissionJunction If you already have your own products/opportunity to market put ads up for it or perhaps its own page.
2. Create a strong presence in Social Media. Focus on YouTube.com, Facebook, and Twitter but also any other network that is specific to your own niche or market. Example: if you live in Brazil you are likely to also focus on Orkut.comwhich is the most popular Brazilian social media site. Here are some tips:
   1. Create profiles that are both personal and professional in nature. You don’t want people to think you are a robot, but you don’t want them to think you are an amateur either.
   2. Don’t go on an adding friend frenzy. Search out and connect with the type of people that share your interests or make up your target market
   3. Don’t spread yourself to thin. If you are going to have a presence then have a real active presence.
   4. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t ask anyone to spend time looking at or commenting on your content unless you are willing and actively doing the same for them.
   5. Search out the best tools that allow you to syndicate content and increase your followers without spending tons of money. In my experience the paid tools are barely any better than the free ones and usually come with a sales pitch of their own.
3. Continue Your Education… by subscribing to blogs and sites to people who can help you grow. The easiest way to do this is by using an RSS reader like Google Reader. Go to http://reader.google.com and you will figure out without too much effort how to get started subscribing to other people’s sites. You will also find that most sites (like mine) have a subscribe option somewhere on the page. (top right). Your google reader will let you know every time someone who’s site you follow writes a new article/post and you will be able to keep up to date with the latest content without having to visit everyone’s site everyday.

Online Marketing Resources:

• PixelPipe.com Picture Syndication
• Ping.fm Status Update, Micro-Blogging Syndication
• TubeMogul.com Video Syndication
• TweetLater.com Schedule Tweets and Auto-Follow/Auto-UnFollow + Auto DMs
• Reader.google.com Best RSS reader for subscribing to other people’s blogs.
• Feedburner.com Program owned by Google that will help you give people to option of subscribing to your site via email.

Online Marketing Explanations:

• WordPress: WordPress is the BEST program to use to host your website, blog, or both. This is true for three basic reasons.
  • The way it interacts with the Search Engines is PERFECT!!!
  • The versatility of how it will perform or look is second to none
  • The ability for non geeky folk to be able to use it and not screw anything up is amazing
• Youtube, Facebook, & Twitter are the most important simply because they are the most popular. I would encourage you to find other social networks specific to your hobbies, passions, and specific product/opportunity.
• In setting up your sales pages as explained above you will use your same hosting account. Just buy a new domain, host it in a sub-directory (folder) and install WordPress.

Favorite WordPress Plugins: (See my tutorial videos on the “Tutorials” page for descriptions and instructions.

• All In One SEO
• Google XML Sitemap
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Cforms
• Social Media Page

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