My Rich Pickings

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Any Good?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:48:00 +0000

“The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money… but never learn to have money work for them”

Why is Rich Dad Poor Dad a world number one bestseller and why does it continually attract top ratings and excellent reviews at Amazon?

Quite simply because the author Robert T. Kiyosaki is writing from his own experience about a subject that should interest all of us - and especially visitors to this Website. That subject is money; or rather how we choose to obtain it in order to live our lives (or indeed just how we choose to live our lives).

Robert explains how as nine year old boys, he and a friend decided they wanted to become rich. The obvious place to turn for advice was to their fathers. From one corner they were told to work hard and get a good education so that they could get good steady jobs, and from the other they were told that good jobs were the last thing they needed if they wanted to become rich.

As you would expect, Rich Dad Poor Dad extols the merits of investing in property and the stock exchange. But this isn’t a 250 page economics lecture and it won’t bore you rigid with dry facts and figures about investment portfolios either. It is rather more of a novel than a book about business; although the lessons learned by the boys (and the reader) are solid foundations for accumulating wealth.

Through six powerful lessons we learn, amongst other things, why the rich don’t work for money and why the poor are sucked into a trap that means they spend their whole lives not just working hard, but also paying back most of what they earn in taxes.

CONCLUSION:
If you have ever wondered about developing passive income, paying less tax, or why the latest pay rise will never be enough then you should read this book. There is a trap that most of us are taught to fall into at an early age: And that is to get a good job and work hard until we retire – but there is another way and that is to learn what the rich teach their kids. Rich Dad Poor Dad reveals all.

Buy Rich Dad, Poor Dad at Amazon

Find Rich Dad Poor Dad on eBay

Free SEO Web Traffic Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:24:00 +0000

You may remember my eBook about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and getting traffic to a Website called Web Traffic in Black & White which I released at the tail end of 2006 and updated in 2007? Well, not to worry because most (but not all) of the content is now available online for free! (If you're impatient to find out what it's all about hurry over to www.ultimatewebtraffic.com straight away.)

I took the decision to convert it to a website format for several reasons; but mainly because although the sales page was getting plenty of visitors, the conversion rate was very low. Is this because it was a rubbish product? Absolutely not. After all, how would a prospect be able to tell in advance? No, I think it is because there is already a plethora of freely available SEO information and some excellent Websites out there, so people are reluctant to part with hard earned cash in return for what may or may not be of value to them, and what they might be able to get for free elsewhere. Besides, I think my decision to develop The Ultimate Web Traffic Guide as a Website allows for growth and evolution of the site as it can be updated on a regular basis - something which a hard copy book, and an eBook, cannot.

I believe the site offers excellent SEO and Web traffic information primarily for newbies, but there are also some snippets which seasoned Webmasters may have overlooked. My intention when writing was to tell it like it is without fluff and filler, and present the information in an easy to understand manner. Have I succeeded? Well, that is for the reader to decide. You can learn about SEO right now at www.ultimatewebtraffic.com

The Blogging Habit

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:13:00 +0000

It has been an awful long time since my last post. Where have I been and what have I been doing???

It's no great secret - just the usual stuff building websites, earning a crust and as ever learning new stuff. One site I recently finished is for a Villa in Calis Beach, Turkey. If you're looking for somewhere to stay in those parts for your summer holiday then check it out quickly because judging by the huge number of interested people the prices won't stay at their current bargain levels that's for sure! If you're interested it's at www.villaorchid.co.uk (tell them I sent you!).

I've read a couple of good books recently too; including The Millionaire Course by Marc Allen. Don't be put off by the title; this isn't some heavy going business book about finance and investing, but a rather more 'spiritual' (in parts) title which will help you to live the life of your dreams without necessarily becoming insanely rich first - although if that is your ultimate goal then the book will help you to achieve that too. Self help? Well, yes it does fall into that category but some are better than others and I personally found this one to be a very enjoyable read.

Well after losing the habit of blogging for the last couple of months, it looks as though I might be blowing off the cobwebs. As the big man said in that film; "I'll be back!"

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:03:00 +0000

Wow, 2008 already! Where did 2007 go? It seems to have passed so very quickly...

I've got lots of plans for the new year, including a fully re-designed TDL Web Developments site, a new ebook especially for small business owners who want to know the ins and outs of marketing on the Web, and a whole host of other money making stuff. Not to mention some of the projects that have carried over from last year, such as Web Traffic in Black & White.

I suppose I should get to it then, no rest for the wicked as they say. Catch you soon, but in the meantime; Happy New Year!

Waterproof Golf Suits Save The Day

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:50:00 +0000

Golf anybody?

I was talking to a friend of mine recently who runs a golf equipment shop attached to a golf course. He was telling me that because the weather in the UK has been so wet in 2007 there have been fewer people turning up to play - this has had a knock on effect on sales in the shop. Poor weather = fewer golfers = fewer sales.

His solution has been to set up an online golf equipment shop (www.hoylakegolfstore.co.uk), and it's early days yet but so far so good; things seem to be working out quite well. In fact, inspired by his plight with the poor UK weather, he is now launching a new more specialized golf store which will stock all manner of waterproof clothing for golfers. It will be called (appropriately enough) Golf Waterproof Suits. Hopefully promoting special waterproofs will get more people on the course and into his shop, but failing that; the power of the Web will save the day (and yes, this post is also a bit of a plug for his business).

My conclusion for today (apart from if at first you don't succeed etc) is that if things look pear shaped in business, whether it be online or off, then a bit of lateral thinking can often turn up trumps. Now, I could do with a boost so where did I put my lateral thinking cap?...

Easy WTBW Affiliate Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:58:00 +0000

Finally, the updated and revised version of Web Traffic in Black & White is now available to download. For anybody who has been wandering the desert without a wifi connection, WTBW is my fully featured SEO and Web Traffic guide, and is now completely up to date for 2008. I've had some excellent reviews already and sales are quickly picking up.

You can get a piece of the action (50% to be precise) just for referring people to the sales page (www.ultimatewebtraffic.com). I've even created a full promotional kit which includes banners, forum links, articles and more. So if you fancy earning an easy few bob simply check out the affiliate resources page at www.ultimatewebtraffic.com/affiliate.htm

Don't forget; this isn't the usual ebook rubbish, but a well written and very comprehensive guide that explains all about getting visitors to a Website. It also contains more Web references than you can shake a stick at and I guarantee readers will find it and invaluable resource. Adam Sussman, from www.reviewsandratingsguide.com said; "Not only do you get the foundation required to understand and practise good SEO, you also get the tactics to compete with the best. This guide is one of the few that I will print out and no doubt deface with my highlighter pen."

And that's just one of the many fantastic responses so far! Check out some more at www.ultimatewebtraffic.com

Are You Searching For The Magic Bullet?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:46:00 +0000

There is a trend amongst Webmasters and especially new contenders to the Internet Marketing scene to hunt out what I call 'the magic bullet'. They are all looking for the same thing - an instant solution that will bring them immediate success and quick riches.

Yes, there are apparent 'overnight' success stories (remember the student with his one million pixels?). But they are few and far between. The reality is that behind the vast majority of successful endeavours lies a longer process of planning and gradual growth.

It is natural in the often confusing world of the Internet to imagine that successful competitors must be closely guarding some secret that they don't want you to know, and all too easy when faced with the facts for a newbie to dismiss them and immediately look for an alternative 'easier' solution. And this is precisely what many of the so called Internet Marketing 'gurus' thrive on. The same people continually looking for an answer that will make life easy and catapult them to the dizzy heights.

If that sounds like you then wise up right now; there isn't one.

While there are some methods that are not immediately obvious to the newbie, there is no 'magic bullet'. No instant solution that will bring immediate results. That goes for every aspect of online business. Having the best software is not going to help you build the best Web site if you don't understand the fundamentals of Web design; and spending thousands of dollars on Adwords is not going to get results if you don't understand how direct response marketing works.

This is going to come as a bitter pill to swallow for those looking for quick solutions, but the fact is that to get the success craved for will take time, effort and above all... Work.

There, I've gone and said the 'w' word!

I imagine that most people dislike work, but the incredible thing is: If you can find something that you actually enjoy doing it doesn't feel like work at all. For instance; I saw a firefighter being interviewed on TV last night and he described how he loved being 'on the hose' and how they would have to drag him away when it became his time to retire. Anybody could see in his eyes that he meant what he said, and you could almost feel sorry for the guy imagining when that day came.

I believe that we are all capable of enjoying our work – we just need to be doing the right thing for us. And as many wise people have been saying since time began: What you get out is in direct proportion to what you put in.

For now, if you find yourself looking for the 'magic bullet' then perhaps you should re-think your strategy. There's no substitute: So gird your loins, grit your teeth, grab the nettle and get your head down to some good old fashioned WORK (but remember that it doesn't have to be an ordeal).

What A Mistaker To Maker!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:14:00 +0000

Oh dear, looks like I messed up with my last SEO experiment. You see, I forgot that by using the unique keyword in my post that My Rich Pickings would also be indexed for it. And as posts from this blog are also syndicated elsewhere, it means that the SE results were skewed. Doh! Not what was intended at all. Mind you, it was interesting to see that the page at the number one spot was the one with the alt tags. I'm not going to draw any conclusions until after the next experiment though.

Anyway, as the old saying goes; "if at first you don't succeed, try try again". So here we go again:

Page One

Page Two

Remember that the only difference in the pages is the image alt tag. I'll give it a couple of days and report back.

Cute Doggy Images To Test SEO

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:11:00 +0000

I am currently in the process of updating and revising my best-selling eBook Web Traffic in Black & White. This is an essential job as I intend it to become one of the most useful and accessible SEO and traffic related resources available online. Of course it will be difficult to compete with something like the technically excellent SEOBook, but I'm not trying to compete as I believe Web Traffic in Black & White caters to a different market who are perhaps less technically minded and more interested in easy to understand explanations and quick results.

One of the things I am doing is creating even more real world examples and experiments to show exactly how the techniques in the book work in practice. My current experiment involves the use of image alt tags, and whether including them or not affects search engine rankings.

To this end I have created two almost identical pages:

CuteDoggyPix and CuteDoggyPix

Can you spot the difference?

Naturally I will be analyzing the results asap. Watch this space...

Money For Nothing - (and your time is free!)

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Regular visitors to My Rich Pickings will know that I am keen on the idea of passive income. i.e. making money by doing very little in return. Sounds great doesn't it? Sure beats the sh1t out of breaking your back in some lousy factory job that's for sure!

Anyway, I've had some quite good success in that I make money on a pretty regular basis for articles I've written and also from Google Adsense on a couple of Websites I own. But I have to confess that it isn't exactly predictable. One month I'm in the money and the next I'm not - well, until recently that was...

You see I have now discovered a way of generating regular subscription payments like those you would expect from a membership Website. The difference with my method is that I do almost nothing in return. Yes, you read that right; I get regular monthly payments for doing almost nothing. How so? Read all about it at my Subscription Profits Goldmine page.

More Money For The Good Things In Life

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:23:00 +0000

One of the things I like to write about here at My Rich Pickings is saving money and especially saving money with the help of online resources. Recently I checked out my finances and discovered that simply by switching a couple of service providers I could save just over £50 per month. That might not sound much (or maybe it does?), but over the course of a year it is £600 - and that is a fair chunk of cash to add to the holiday or Christmas fund.

The first thing I looked at was my telephone account. I found that by switching to a combined broadband and telephone provider I immediately saved £25 per month, certainly not to be sneezed at. The account I have is with Tiscali but there are other offers out there.

Next, I looked at life and home insurance policies and was stunned to learn that the joint life assurance policy I have with my wife could be cut by almost 50%! (This was helped by the fact that I gave up smoking almost two years ago). The home insurance wasn't quite so stunning but I did save over £5 per month very quickly and easily.

All in all this adds up to a very respectable amount of cash that I wouldn't have, and it was saved simply by checking out my direct debits and then seeing if there were cheaper offers out there. The great thing is that it is so easy to compare prices nowadays with price comparison sites such as www.moneysupermarket.com and www.gocompare.com

I could go even further and see if I could save even more money on my mortgage, car insurance, gas and electricity, etc. In fact that's exactly what I'm going to do! But not before I pay some very close attention to what is probably the best money saving Website on the whole Internet - www.moneysavingexpert.com - This guy (Martin Lewis) certainly knows his stuff.

Try it yourself and see just how much more money you could have in your pocket for the good things in life...

The Ultimate Cash Conversion Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:01:00 +0000

One of the essential skills for product vendors and affiliate marketers is creating a good sales page. In fact, it is not 'one of' the skills it is THE skill!

If you want to learn the elements of creating a successful sales page then you might be interested to know that I have put together a unique package featuring 10 colour co-ordinated sales page templates, a range of superb ebooks and the incredible copywriting software that will practically write your sales copy for you. And all for only $10.00!

I call it the Ultimate Cash Conversion Kit - you can find out why at http://ultimatecash.easyprofits.co.uk

Five Steps For Basic Search Engine Optimization

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:58:00 +0000

The comparatively low cost of building a Website makes it one of the most cost effective ways of promoting a business. Even the smallest business can benefit from an online presence; provided it is an effective one.

One of the basic necessities of promoting your business with a Website is that it must be able to be found on the search engines. Without this simple thing your site is effectively invisible to the general public and may as well not even exist. Disillusionment can soon set in when the company Website does not appear to be 'performing' or bringing in any customers.

For this reason, it is essential when contracting a Web designer to ensure they have some knowledge of search engine optimization. There are many who don't. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is not some black art (although many would have us believe so) and there are many simple tips and tricks that can easily be carried out to optimize a site.

Here are my five steps for basic search engine optimization...

1.Optimize your site around the most popular keywords – A keyword or keyword phrase is what a user will type into a search engine to look for the information they need. So spending some time anticipating and researching the keywords related to your business will not only be worthwhile; but is a vital step towards the success of your Website.

2.Know your target audience – One of the basics of marketing is to advertise to the people who are likely to be your customers. This applies also to your Website, so make sure it is built to be appealing to them.

It is also a good idea to look for ways of getting your existing visitors to keep returning to your site such as a regular newsletter, promotions, giveaways, etc. Again; knowing your target audience will be a big help in deciding the most effective methods.

3.Don't give up on your existing Website – If you already have a site that is not performing as well as you would like, don't abandon it. Instead get the site looked at by a professional and find out what improvements can be made.

There will more often than not be more value to search engines in an existing site than in a brand new one.

4.Make sure your site is designed to be 'user friendly' – There are many superb guides that go into great detail about effective Web design. But some of the more obvious things to consider are: Colour schemes, easy navigation, page layout, text sizes, etc. Without a user friendly Website your visitors will not stay long enough to find out what your business is all about.

5.Add content to the Website regularly – A site that is updated regularly encourages repeat visitors and also gets looked upon more favourably by search engines. A simple way of adding fresh content to a site is to incorporate a blog. This can then be posted to on a daily or weekly basis.

Following these five steps for basic search engine optimization will help to ensure that your Website gets noticed and attracts the customers you need for your business. Good luck!

Free eBook Reveals Money Making Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:06:00 +0000

If you are at all interested in making money on the Web then you should read Internet Money Machines. It's a free eBook that shows you exactly how to use videos on sites like Youtube to generate easy cash. And what's more; you don't even need a Website to take advantage!

I've just finished reading it myself and I am impressed. But don't take my word for it; download your own free copy from the link below (right click and choose 'save as') and see for yourself.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Two Dollars Worth of Information

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:26:00 +0000

Information is valuable. If it wasn't we wouldn't have newspapers, magazines, or even book shops. But I believe it has to be priced accordingly, and that is where many people trading information on the Web go wrong - they see info products as a way to quickly 'cash in' and sell rubbish at outlandish prices.

Which is precisely why I am delighted with the recent success of my two dollar reports. I know, $2.00 is not a great deal of money to sell an item at, but when you are selling a large quantity it soon builds up. After all; that was the business model that Mr. Woolworth used (sell lots of cheap items) and look how successful that turned out to be.

I think the reason my $2.00 Reports are so popular is because people don't mind 'risking' a couple of bucks, whereas when it is $49.99 or more it becomes more of a risk. And because there are so many scams on the Internet, people are always wary of being ripped off. So as I say; two dollars isn't much of a risk.

Of course there are more benefits than just the couple of dollars per sale as any Internet Marketer will know. I will probably write a report on the benefits of the $2.00 report (and sell it for two dollars!), but for now my most successful reports have been How I Went From 28 to 1774 Unique Visitors in Less Than 24 Hours, and How I Make $40.00 Over And Over Again With A Simple Web Page.

My point is: If you are thinking of making some money from information based products, whether eBooks, audio, or whatever, make sure it is priced according to the value of the information it contains. I do and it seems to work for me.

How I got a 'Freebie' Website to Rank 3rd in Google after Just 3 Days...

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:57:00 +0000

The most important aspect of any Website is ensuring that it receives plenty of visitors and the best way of getting those all-important visitors is to make sure the site shows up in search engines – and preferably near the top of the SERPS (search engine results pages).

The example I am writing about isn't one of the most difficult SEO accomplishments – not like trying to get a site ranked for generic terms such as “insurance information” or “make money online”, but my brief was to build a new website for a local organisation and get their site to show up on the front page of Google when prospective customers searched for them by name.

You may be wondering why the website is making use of free hosting when 'proper' paid for web space under its own domain is far superior and offers more choice in the development of the site? Well, quite simply; it was because the organisation didn't want to spend any money if they could possibly avoid it. Fair enough, they are a charitable body and every penny counts. Anyway, mine is not to reason why and all that, but hence the freebie account.

So, where to start?

When starting any new site it pays to do some keyword research. In this case the main keyword phrase was obvious: It was anticipated that anybody searching for the organisation would type their name directly into the search engine. Of course, the site will eventually rank for other more generic keywords too, but it was decided that to be found by name was the immediate priority.

The first part of the process took part while creating the Website. I always use clean markup that passes the W3C validation standards. My preference for coding web pages is to do it 'by hand' with a text editor, so keeping the code 'clean' is easy. If you intend to do the same (and I recommend you do) then you absolutely must learn HTML.

When laying out the content of the Web page I used the organisation's name in an H1 title tag at the top of the page, in bold text in the first paragraph, in anchor text for internal links, in image alternative text and at the bottom of the page in the copyright statement. There are plenty of guides which go into far more detail about on page optimization which mention ideal keyword density, etc etc etc. I find these ideas have become too contrived, and although it has been important in the past, the search engine algorithms are becoming far more advanced. Personally, I believe that writing for human readers, but including keywords where it is natural to do so is the best way to optimize a Web page.

Once the page has been set up it is then a straightforward job to get the essential meta tags right. These are the meta description and keywords tags. Make sure the description is no more than 150 characters and try to make it appealing to readers as you would a short classified ad. You should also ensure that your meta keywords can be found in the actual page content – this will give them more weight unlike the tactics of a few years back when stuffing an abundance of loosely related keywords into the tag was routine practice.

To get a site indexed by the search engines really quickly, don't waste your time submitting your URL through the conventional search engine pages. Instead; anounce your new site in a blog post, or a press release or a syndicated article (remember to include the URL though!). Another sure fire way to get a new site indexed quickly is to buy a link on a high PR Website.

My tactic for the freebie site was to write about it on a couple of different blogs.

The most important part of SEO is what is happening off the page. Yes, it helps to format pages correctly and include relevant keywords in the right places etc. However, it can be seen that there are many sites that rank highly despite seemingly paying no attention to any of the on-page recommendations. The reason this happens is due to inbound links.

Ok, so it's not really a secret and most Webmasters know that it's important to get plenty of backlinks to their sites. However, one thing that many fail to realise is that in order to make the most of incoming links we need to make full and proper use of the anchor text in those links.

For example:

The most important keyword phrase at this point in time was the organisation's name, so an effective link would follow this format:-

<a href="siteURL">Oranisation Name</a>

Anyway, for the freebie site, I set up a links page so that there was somewhere to put reciprocal links, and then emailed the Webmasters of several related websites asking if they would be willing to exchange links. My email looked something like this:-

Hello,

I am contacting you regarding exchanging links with the new Wirral Mind website. As you are probably aware, Wirral Mind is affiliated to the National Mind organisation, and I expect the new website to quickly become highly ranked.

If you check out our links page at http://home2.btconnect.com/wirralmind/links.htm you will see that I have already added your link to the page, and I would be very grateful if you would reciprocate with a link to the Wirral Mind site.

Here is the HTML for linking to the site:

<p><a href="http://home2.btconnect.com/wirralmind/">Wirral Mind</a> - Supporting people on Wirral who experience emotional difficulties and distresses in their lives.</p>

Thanks in advance,

Tony Williams
Webmaster Wirral Mind

For the most part, I received a very favourable response – with the result that I quickly built up some important backlinks for the site.

The process of anouncing the new site and getting about 20 very important backlinks to it took me a couple of hours. I could have carried on building links and promoting the site, and for a commercial venture that is precisely what I would recommend. But I had other work to do, and besides, I figured that I'd done enough to fulfill the brief.

Just three days after the site went live, it was ranking third in the Google SERPS. The reason it wasn't at the number one spot was because of the national organisation's Website which has been around for a while and has naturally built up a lot of very important inbound links. I expect this situation to be remedied in time (but it would help if the site was hosted properly under its own domain).

But after 3 days I would call third place a pretty good result, wouldn't you?

Save Money With FREE Stuff!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:54:00 +0000

I thought it was time to pass on another money saving tip today. This one is fantastic, so I suggest you check it out regularly.

What is it? Oh yeah, today's money saving tip is a website called Giveaway of the Day where you can download software for free. It's not the usual Open Source or shareware stuff either; they actually give away commercial software for free!

There is only one drawback that I can see, and that is that you are usually not allowed to use any of the software for business or commercial purposes. I guess this might vary with individual software, so always check the end user license for details of each download.

It sounds almost too good to be true to actually get something for nothing these days, but believe me it's not. Check it out at www.giveawayoftheday.com

Secret of the Perfect Best Man's Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:20:00 +0000

I'm going off topic here, but I wanted to mention what a great experience I had last Saturday at my friend's wedding.

It must be well over a year ago now that Geoff originally asked me to be his Best Man for the occasion. Of course, at the time I was delighted and honoured to have been asked and didn't really give too much thought to the responsibility that I had accepted – all I could think of was how we were going to enjoy the Stag do!

But as the day grew nearer, the thing that worried me the most was not getting the groom to the wedding on time, or losing the rings, but making the Best Man's speech.

I even bought a book on the subject, which only made things worse as it pointed out that the Best Man's speech was expected to be the 'grand finale' to the wedding breakfast, and everybody would be waiting in eager anticipation to hear what I had to say. Perhaps I should point out that, like most people, I had no experience of public speaking and was quite frankly terrified of becoming tongue-tied, going red in the face, and forgetting what I should be saying.

So, no pressure then. I simply had to deliver a heartfelt, entertaining, and hilarious speech in a confident manner. Was I nervous? You bet!

Anyway, I will let you in to my secret...

Two weeks before the event I downloaded an MP3 hypnosis session on the subject of Confident Public Speaking and listened to it as often as I could leading up to the day. Now, I have to confess to being a bit of a skeptic about these things and I don't know if the hypnosis was directly responsible or it just made me feel more prepared. But I figured that I had nothing to lose by giving it a go.

Anyway, whatever the reason, when the time came I stood up and delivered my speech perfectly. I know I'm blowing my own trumpet somewhat, but I can't tell you how excited I am that it went so well. The guests laughed hysterically at my jokes and applauded enthusiastically at the end. And the best bit was that I actually enjoyed the whole experience – especially as people shook my hand and congratulated me afterwards!

So, as I write this my thanks go out to HypnosisDirect.com who provide a range of downloadable hypnosis sessions, including giving up smoking, weight loss motivation and more; but the one I can highly recommend to anybody facing a Best Man's Speech is Confident Public Speaking.

Warm Glow From Voluntary Web Design

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sun, 27 May 2007 08:32:00 +0000

It is great to have the knowledge and skills to be able to make money online, but sometimes it is nice to use those skills not for profit, but to give a little back to the community and perhaps benefit others in ways that are far more valuable than money.

Recently, I have been volunteering my time and Web design skills to Wirral Mind, the organisation for mental health in my local area and an affiliate of the National Mind organisation. Yes, you guessed it; I have been setting up a new Website for them. It is nice to be able to offer something that will hopefully benefit both the organisation and the local community and I look forward to seeing how successful (or not) the site becomes.

Check out the new Wirral Mind Website!

Increase Website Revenue with Auction Ads

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:22:00 +0000

If you have been here before you will know that I am very keen on eBay, and I have a website containing free tips and tricks for eBay sellers at www.easyprofits.co.uk.

This morning I discovered a new contextual advertising system that enables Website owners to increase Website revenue by featuring eBay listings on their pages. It is very simple to use - in fact; it is very similar to Google Adsense in that it allows complete customisation of the border and text colours etc - and simply requires the addition of a small snippet of code to your site's pages.

My first thought was that these ads would be ideal for Easy Profits with Ebay and I added the code immediately, but actually I think they would be more suited to information sites devoted to products that are sold regularly on eBay. So I'm going to put some ads on a couple of my other sites and see how it goes.

If you have a Website and want to increase your revenue from it you might like to try Auction Ads yourself. And let me know how you get on!

Click here for details...

Stealth Income Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:58:00 +0000

You may be interested to hear that my ebook "Stealth Income Secrets" now includes re-sell rights. This wasn't a decision I took lightly because most ebooks with resell rights very quickly lose their value as competing sellers try to outdo each other on price. On the other hand, the guide does reveal profit pulling techniques of a professional information business, and explains where the no-hope newbies are going wrong, so it remains to be seen whether Stealth Income Secrets follows the usual trend.

You can find full details of what is included in the Stealth Income Secrets Reseller Package at www.easyprofits.co.uk/stealth/

The Proper Way To Peel A Banana?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:58:00 +0000

Are you peeling your bananas correctly?

Perhaps you think that is a bizarre idea and I've lost the plot. After all, everybody knows that there is only one way to peel a banana - it is the way I have been peeling them for the past (too many) years and it would be ludicrous to imagine there could be any other way. But, now you come to mention it, is it the only way?

Well surprisingly not. You could have knocked me sideways when it was suggested by my 10 year old daughter that peeling from the bottom was easier. What? I've been peeling from the stalk end ever since I was old enough to feed myself so surely I would have known about it if it was true. Perhaps I should have done, but I didn't.

Of course, once I heard about the 'new' peeling technique I was eager to give it a try – if only to prove it wasn't easier at all. I obtained a hand of finest bananas at the earliest opportunity, which just happened to be during the weekly shop the following day, and (once I got them home) keenly snapped off one of the fruit to give it a try.

Was it easier? I suggest you try it for yourself, but needless to say I am now a devotee of upside down banana peeling.

But what has all of this fruity nonsense got to do with making and saving money online? Quite simply that there is more than one way to go about things and sometimes a bit of lateral thinking can reap dividends. Don't assume that because many are raving about Google Adsense or affiliate marketing or selling ebooks that they are the only ways of making Internet riches. And don't get stuck in a rut or be afraid of change. Just because we have been doing something a particular way for a long time doesn't mean there is no better way to accomplish the task.

So to finish for today – try it upside down, back to front, inside out, any which way you can. But make sure you try it, because you never know: It just might work!

Web Site Traffic Secret Uncovered

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:33:00 +0000

Where does web site traffic come from?

It is a question that leaves many new Webmasters scratching their heads in frustration and bewilderment. After all, traffic is the life-blood of any website and if your site isn't getting any then you have a problem. But it need not be that way because there is more than one solution and some are much easier to achieve than others.

The biggest secret to getting web site traffic is... wait for it..., backlinks. Yes, I know it's not much of a secret, but it is the type of inbound links and how you go about getting these all-important links that is important. Get it wrong and, at best, you will be wasting your time, at worst, you could actually damage the credibility of your Website. Alarmist I know, but true all the same.

How do you damage the credibility of your site? By procuring links from sites that have been given a black mark by search engines for using questionable SEO tactics such as hidden text or keyword spam. Such sites are known as 'bad neighbourhoods' and as the name suggests; should be avoided. In fairness, the search engines know that you have no control over who chooses to link to your site, so don't get paranoid about the idea, but do try to concentrate your efforts on links from good neighbourhoods.

So if backlinks are so important to the success of a Website then surely it would be worthwhile spending some cash to achieve the desired results, which begs the question: Is it worth paying for links?

The short answer is that it can be. But before you reach for your wallet you should be aware that some paid links are more effective than others, and there are of course plenty of ways of building backlinks for free. So, before spending any cash perhaps we should determine just what a 'quality' inbound link is.

A worthwhile, or indeed 'quality', inbound link is one that will add some value to your website. That value could be click-through traffic or page rank that will boost your own site's ranking in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages), but preferably; both. If you haven't already done so, then you should install the Google toolbar (you can find it at http://toolbar.google.com) so that you can check the page rank of prospective link partner sites. But be aware that page rank does not necessarily equal traffic! However, it can be a good indicator of a site's worth.

If you do intend to buy a link on another website then it is perfectly reasonable to ask the Websmaster for some evidence of traffic statistics. A quality site with a good amount of traffic should happily provide this information in return for a paid link. If not, then look elsewhere; it is their loss.

In conclusion: one way of building traffic to a website is to invest time and effort in building inbound links, or backlinks, from other quality Websites. Avoid 'bad neighbourhoods' and concentrate instead on getting quality links. Finally, if you are going to pay for a link then try to get some evidence of how many visitors the linking site is getting.

For more SEO and Web traffic building secrets check out: http://webtraffic.tdlwebs.com

Web Traffic Generation Secrets Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 16:16:00 +0000

Readers may remember that I have been working on a book about getting traffic to a Website? Well, finally it is finished and now available in ebook format. It is called; "Web Traffic in Black & White".

Currently it is for sale in the special offers section of the excellent Warrior Forum at the reduced price of only $10.00 - quite a saving on the planned retail price of $27.00. This is partly to thank fellow members of the forum for all of the help and information I have learned from them and partly to test demand for the product before I fork out the $50.00 to list it at Clickbank.

So far, sales are going well and I've had some excellent feedback from buyers. I have always been convinced that it was a very good resource for Web developers who want to learn how to drive traffic to a Website and it seems that many agree with me.

You can read some of their comments and take advantage of the WSO (Warrior Special Offer) by joining the Warrior Forum and then checking out Traffic Generation Secrets Revealed. But hurry, because this offer will expire soon!

Quick Easy Ways To Make Money Online

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:17:00 +0000

I thought I would pass on a couple of quick and easy online money making sites today.

The first one is called daytipper (like the Beatles song but without the 'r') and I just made a quick and easy $12.00 for less than 10 minutes work. It's very simple to use once you have registered and all you have to do is submit one of those money or labour saving tips that are popular in women's magazines and Sunday newspapers. You know the kind of thing; keep warm by staying indoors this winter or some such. Anyway, it's at www.daytipper.com if you are interested.

My second easy money maker is perfect for writers as you can build up a residual income from articles and short stories. It works by revenue sharing - in other words the site owners make money from advertising on the site and if revenue is generated from a page where one of your articles appears, you get a share. The best thing is that it doesn't matter if you have already used your articles elsewhere, so if you are into article marketing to promote your Website you can re-use the same articles to earn a few dollars extra. It doesn't pay a king's ransom, but the earnings are ongoing. check it out at www.helium.com

Til next time, happy online money making!