Free Ways To Market Your Online Business Offline

I just wanted to share a few free or low cost ideas on ways to market your online ventures offline. Many bloggers overlook the benefits of promoting offline as well. If you can implement some offline marketing strategies with little or no money that is even better. If you are trying to make money online you certainly don't want to be spending large sums of money offline it just isn't practical for the return you get.

Free Offline Marketing Method #1

Do a Google search for customized ink pens, customized promotional items, or something along those lines. You will obviously get a ton of results. Just start clicking on some of the results focusing on sites that offer free samples, or that have a print catalog. In my experience you have the best luck with those. Remember you want free! Okay now that you have found a few go ahead and register with the site. You want them to send you their catalog in the mail. The reason why is that every month or so they also send free samples of featured items from pens to calendars. The cool thing about most of them is that the samples sent are imprinted with your business details. Voila free marketing materials. If you do this for several you can build up quite a nice collection of pens and such. Now granted I have actually ordered a few small lots of customized pens to market various business, but I receive anywhere from 5-10 customized promotional items a month. Passing these along to folks is a great way to garner new visitors to your site and to spark conversation about what you are doing.

Free Offline Marketing Method #2

You may have heard of VistaPrint and their free business card offers, but did you know VistaPrint offers a wide array of printing services including, business cards, checks, rubber stamps, announcements, return address labels, and car magnets! You can customize all of their products to your liking! Getting some of their basic business cards made up for your blog is a great offline marketing tool. You can pass them out to friends and family or to people you meet. See the last one on the list? It is that time of year and if you or a child are graduating getting some free announcements is a great deal. If you are interested in the free stuff here are some things VistaPrint does offer for free.

Free Business Cards
Free Rubber Stamps
Free Sticky Notes
Free Checks
Free Logo Design

In addition to the free stuff VistaPrint offers a wide array of printing services including: business cards, checks, rubber stamps, announcements, and car magnets! You can customize all of their products to your liking! Their premium printing services are very affordable and the service is great. If you have only ever done the free stuff and haven't tried out any of VistaPrint's premium services you really should check them out and you won't be disappointed.


There you go....two ways to get some great offline marketing materials for your blog. The best thing is they are free and customized marketing and promotional items.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Make Some Extra Money Using Your Credit Cards

I am all about making the most money and making that money work for me and in turn make me the most money. The less I have to do and the more my money can do for me the better. That is my approach to credit cards if used properly are a very useful, and sometimes, necessary part of life. Credit has become so easily attainable that it has become a large problem for a large amount of people, we are seeing the results of that in the mortgage market now. What do I mean by that?

Don't carry a balance! Unless there is a legit emergency you should never carry an interest accruing balance on your credit card. Don't throw money down the drain, which is essentially what you are doing if you are paying interest on your gas, food, gadgets, or whatever else you put on there. If you don't have the money don't charge it. If you must charge it don't charge so much that you can't pay it off. If you won't be able to pay it off don't buy it, again unless it is a legit emergency.

If you have a balance currently then take advantage of interest free credit cards and balance transfers. This allows you a bit of extra time to pay down a balance. Don't use the interest free rate and period as an excuse to charge more or to only pay the minimum. This only works against you. Pay as much as you can and eliminate the debt before the intro low rate expires.

If you are brave and disciplined enough you can leverage your credit as a money making tool instead of having it be a drain. I had a friend of mine that explained this practice to me and how he was making literally $1000's per year off of his credit cards. I started doing what he told me and now I am making $1000's extra per year off the credit card companies. Let me explain.

If you are like me you probably get tons of credit offers in the mail all with varying intro rates and periods. I only look at the interest free offers and ones that tend to be over 6 months work the best with 3 months really being the minimum. Okay here is the trick. You can leverage your credit line for the 0% period to earn you interest via some other medium. I don't recommend the stock market as this is a bit too much risk exposure. I recommend high interest, short term CD's, or high interest money markets(paypal actually is a pretty good choice). Okay here is an example. Say you have an offer for a 0% card. You apply and get approved for a $10,000 limit with a 12 month intro period. I would leverage $8000 of that available balance and place it into a 9 month CD or a money market earning say 5%. You would earn approximately $300 dollars. Do this each year with about $40 - $50,000(my friend does more) and earn usually no less than $2000 extra per year. All for doing pretty much nothing and all in essence free. You can leverage this even further if the card is a perks card.

Let your credit be a useful tool and not a burden. Don't spend and use credit where you can't afford to. Stop wasting money padding some companies bank account and let your credit work for you not against you. Credit cards when used properly are great useful and necessary tools. Well there you go that is what I think about credit cards.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

Get more profitable and productive information by subscribing to my FEED or clicking the links below to subscribe to my feed, bookmark my site, or add me to your favorites. You also might want to check out my other blog Cman's Cognitive Content.

Get Free Marketing Materials

Well, not all of them are free. You may have heard of VistaPrint and their free business card offers, but did you know that they also have some really good deals on premium printing services as well? If you are interested in the free stuff here are some things VistaPrint does offer for free. Getting some of their basic business cards made up for your blog is a great offline marketing tool. You can pass them out to friends and family or to people you meet. See the last one on the list? It is that time of year and if you or a child are graduating getting some free announcements is a great deal.

• Free Business Cards
• Free Rubber Stamps
• Free Sticky Notes
• Free Checks
• Free Logo Design
• Caricature Design
• Graduation Announcements

In addition to the free stuff VistaPrint offers a wide array of printing services including: business cards, checks, rubber stamps, announcements, and car magnets! You can customize all of their products to your liking! Their premium printing services are very affordable and the service is great. If you have only ever done the free stuff and haven't tried out any of VistaPrint's premium services you really should check them out and you won't be disappointed.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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7 Quick Tips To Beat Your Stress

The tasks of writing articles, interacting with readers, visiting forums, doing research, and all the aspects that go into running a blog can start to become overwhelming. Stress is part of every individuals life, but it can come from different sources and mean different things to different people. What may cause you stress today, may not be the cause tomorrow.

Stress is defined as "A mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stress

Quick Stress Busting Tips

At Work

• Limit your coffee to one or two cups
• Get up and stretch regularly and take a quick walk around the office

Driving

• Take alternate routes several days a week to break up the monotony

At Home

• Take a 5-10 minute break from your daily routine and read a good book

Stress & Your Diet

• Start your day with a balanced breakfast: High fiber, low fat, moderate protein.
• Lay off the salty sugary snacks. Snack instead on nutritious and filling veggies and fruits.

Physical Activity

• Get MOVING! One of the most effective ways to cope with daily stress is with regular physical exercise! Exercise is a wonderful two edged sword. It not only helps you to relax but also gives you energy.

Related Articles:
Beat Blog Fatigue In 5 Easy Steps
Feed Success in 5 Easy Steps
Feed Failure in 5 Easy Steps
5 Days of Tools & Tips For More Productive Blogging - Day 1


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Returning To Blogging After A Temporary Hiatus

Just in case you may not have noticed since January postings have gotten a little thin around here. Well I decided to devote more time to areas of my life that I felt were more important and required more time and attention than they were getting. Just like when money is tight and you look at your budget to cut unnecessary expenses, so I did with my time budget. Blogging time was just one of the areas I targeted in my time budget realignment.

Now that things are finally settling down I am slowly reapportioning my time budget and working more time back over to my blogging. Once aspect of this is to start reading a bit more again and find out what has been going on during the time I just wasn't paying attention. I came across a very appropriate article on Blogging Tips. The article was written by Jake Pitt of JakePitt.com. Gettin’ Back in the Game: Bringin’ Your Blog Back to Life after Goin’ MIA was the name of the article and hopefully you can see how it relates with little to no explanation from me. Check the article out and then head over to JakePitt.com, the self proclaimed "worst nightmare" of John Chow, and read some of the Jake's biting commentary. Jake Pitt also seems to have a beef with some shoe guy he calls “Fat Boy Slim”.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Hey Affiliate Marketers! Got Leads?

What do you do to build a prospect list? What are your mechanisms for capturing information and building a list?

If you are an affiliate marketer having a good targeted list is a very important tool in your money making arsenal. To ensure the success of any business venture whether online or off, your customer base must continue to expand. You probably understand that buying sales leads and targeting your prospects through email, direct mail, or telemarketing are proven and cost-effective ways of increasing sales and enhancing revenue. These activities generally lead to new market share growth and new customers. Those to things are keys to affiliate marketing success.

There is a company called Kingsbridge supplies quality, demographically based sales leads to optimize your online or offline marketing efforts. Each list they provide is unique and tailored to meet your needs. Looking to do a targeted email campaign? Kingsbridge has the ability to take tons of data and create a personalized, high-quality sales leads list for that campaign. They have exceptional service, a must quality for me, and they offer an awesome 4 HOUR DELIVERY for their lists. If you have never thought about buying a leads list you really should check into it. It is a great way to jump start an affliate marketing campaign. You can really maximize and optimize the earnings from your affliate marketing by using targeted lists.


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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If You're A Blogger Or Affiliate Marketer You MUST Protect Your Identity

While I have never had a true identity theft episode in all of my years on the internet I have had one issue with Paypal and chargebacks and my bank account. It was a big mess that took weeks to sort out, and in that time I was out around $2000. It was not fun and tons of work for me.

I have spoken with several people, one in just the last severl days, that have had identity theft episodes where a credit card or in one case a very large home loan was taken out in their name using their social security number and other personal information. In all cases trying to sort the mess out has cost a lot of time and money

Because I do so much work online and have quite a few different places that have my personal information, I have taken steps to protect myself against identity theft. If you are looking to make money online many places will require your personal information for 1099 purposes. If you are not protecting your identity you are taking a huge risk.

The company I use is called Lifelock. I am an affiliate with them. Yes I have run campaigns for lifelock, but no that is is not affiliate link. I am not looking for affiliate sales with this article. I started doing affiliate marketing for them after I was already using their services.

You may recognize the name Lifelock because they have done quite a bit of advertising lately. Their commercials are the ones where Todd Davis, their CEO, gives out his actual social security number over the radio. At Lifelock, not only do they secure your identity and guarantee your good name, they ensure it with their $1 Million Service Guarantee. Lifelock has the credit bureaus to set fraud alerts on your behalf. That is all they credit bureaus offer when they talk about ID theft. Lifelock goes beyond that though. Unless your circumstances change and you tell them not to, every 90 days or so they will ask the credit bureaus to do it again. Most people could do this manually but you know that you probably wouldn't and neither would most. Next they request that your name be removed from pre-approved credit card and junk mail lists and they keep making the requests as they expire. This is huge and reduces the amount of junk mail drastically. That isn't all they do. They also order your free credit reports on your behalf from the major credit bureaus and they are sent directly to you. This is done every year.

They also have what they call WalletLock. If ever your wallet goes missing, just give Lifelock a call - anytime, anywhere - and a WalletLock specialist will help you contact each credit card, bank or document issuing company, cancel your affected accounts and complete the paperwork and steps necessary to replace your lost documents, including your credit/debit cards, driver's license, social security card, insurance cards, checkbook - even travelers checks - at no additional cost.

And of coure there is that guarantee. If your Identity is stolen while you are a member of LifeLock, they will do whatever it takes to help you recover your good name and will spend up to $1,000,000 to do it. If you are not taking steps to protect your identity I urge you to do so. Blog safely folks :).

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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What To Do With A Sub-Par Article

Have you ever written an article and when you were finished you just were not happy with how it ended up? What do you do with it?

My article writing might be a bit different than yours so let me explain how I write my articles. I usually write most of my main articles in one sitting. Throughout the week as I come up with topics to write about I will clip articles and pages and save them into a draft for the article. When I finally sit down to write out my articles I will usually have 4-5 drafts and a lot of different articles, pictures and pages clipped. I will then build off of that and flesh out the article.

Many times when I am done I will go back over each article and read it checking for spelling and grammar. The next day I will read them all again to hopefully find things I missed on the first go around. After this second proof reading I will then schedule the articles for the week. Almost without fail there will be at least one or two articles that I just am not happy with and won't schedule for publication and will just leave as a draft.

The next week I will pick those "left-over" articles back up to see If I have any fresh ideas. Usually what I end up doing is scavenging these articles for newer ones and then they eventually get deleted. So for me most of my articles good or bad eventually get used one way or the other. I either rework them to the point of being published or pull bits and pieces for other articles and then delete what is left if anything.

What do you do with articles that just don't cut it? Do you write articles you never publish? What do you do with those? Do you take the time to try and change them up and then publish or do you salvage them for parts?

Related Articles:
Posting Productively - 5 Days of Tools & Tips For More Productive Blogging - Day 4
Are Your Blog Posts A Commodity?
Write Passionately! Great Advice Folks, Now How?
Transform Your Blog By Changing Yourself - Part 1 - Practice

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Beat Blog Fatigue In 5 Easy Steps

How many times have you been busy with your job, spouse, kids, home duties, hobbies, community obligations or whatever else occupies your daily waking hours and just didn't feel like blogging. Well here are 5 quick tips to help you overcome that blog fatigue.

1. Post a link list article. Have you read some good articles recently? Put together a list of the best of what you have been reading. This style of post is quick and easy to put together and is also a great way to build relationships with other bloggers. Contact the authors of the articles you are linking to and let them know they have been featured. You never know you just might get some return "linkage."


2. Read and Cross-link old posts. This is something you should do periodically anyway, but it is also great to do when you are running out of ideas. I have found that through this process I always get new ideas for articles. Take the time to put some links to some of your newer content in older related content. This will also help in finding some other related articles and chances for linking to the older posts.


3. Recycle an old post. Now if you have read over your old posts and done some cross-linking and still haven't found some new inspiration, then this is a great idea. The key is to pull from posts about 3 months old, and don't just leave it the same way. Re-work it a bit. Add a new picture element, change the title, add some links, update with some recent experiences, but don't just leave it the same.


4. Give Your Blog a mini makeover. You don't need to change your template or anything drastic. Little tweaks can make a big difference. Change some colors around, add a new widget or plugin. Things like this can help break through the blog boredom. If you feel your blog is looking better it helps motivate you to produce.


5. Write a review. I know for me that sometimes even when I'm not inspired to write something I can still review a money making program, affiliate program, or another blog. Pick a smaller blog, someone who has commented on your blog, or added you to their technorati faves, someone that is connected to your blog in some way and has their own blog. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a free review. Of course you will need to probably make it at least neutral :) to positive. Don't blast another blog that isn't nice! If you don't have another blog to review write one about an affiliate program you are involved in, or a money making opportunity you have been successful at. Reviews are simply your thoughts and feelings on and impressions of something and so are fairly easy to do even during times of blog fatigue.

There you go! Now go break of your slump and get back into your blogging groove. Do one of these suggestions each day for 5 days and I am sure it will help. This article is the third installment in My "5 Easy Steps" series. Read the other great articles Feed Failure in 5 Easy Steps and Feed Success in 5 Easy Steps.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Resource For My Photoshop Using Readers

As you can tell from my last article I use Gimp instead of Photoshop, but I know there are quite a few of you out there that use Photoshop. I have found some really cool brushes and patterns for Gimp, and I know there are a ton more for Photoshop. In my last article I listed several sites where Gimp users can get brushes, textures,patterns, tutorials and more. So now for all of you Photoshop users I want to give you some information on a site you can visit for Photoshop Brushes and patterns. Brusheezy is probably one of the coolest sites to find brushes and patterns for Photoshop. I know that there are a lot of Gimp folks out there that recreate so to speak many of the brushes found on Brusheezy. If you are Photoshop user head over to Brusheezy.com.


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Gimp Or Photoshop?

There have been quite a few times I have found myself in need of a graphic for my sites or a landing page. I can't always find what I want on the web and in the past have had to either pay someone to do it or just do without. I had never really found a good robust image software package and am not going to spring for Photoshop. I just don't do enough to warrant the high cost.

I came across a free gnu program that is in many ways similar to Photoshop. The program is called The GIMP. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X. To download this powerful, and FREE, program visit http://www.gimp.org/downloads/. The GIMP team doesn't officially provide any Windows binaries. You can, however, install GIMP easily using the Windows installers by Jernej Simončič.

* Download GIMP 2.4.2 – Installer for Windows 2000 and above

There is also a great GIMP user community where you can get tutorials and ask questions from other users. Here are three sites, there are many more, that I visit and have found about the best.
* http://gimp-tutorials.net/
* http://www.gimpusers.com/
* http://gimper.net/

These are great sites and I have always found the information I was seeking. I have learned a lot about the program and it's capabilities from the sites. Download the program and then start doing some of the tutorials and you should pick up the program pretty quick. I can't say this enough though that you should immediately go through some of the simpler tutorials and get familiar with the program.

What graphics program, if any, do you use? Have you used Photoshop or something else? Have you used GIMP? If so what versions and have you tried out the most recent version?

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Quick Tip For Beginning Bloggers & Affiliate Marketers

Who are you? What kind of a person are you? What are you hobbies and interests? What are some things you are passionate about? The reason I am asking is that in my experience the people that do the best and actually stick with and put in the work and time necessary are the ones that blog from their personal experience. I might get in trouble saying this, but it isn't simply put up a site and make big bucks tomorrow. I know there are a lot of people out there selling and hyping some product or system that will make you a dot com blogging millionaire overnight. I'm not knocking them. I've even bought a few of them. Almost all have great ideas, strategies, techniques, and software that can help you in making money blogging and with affiliate marketing.

Bottom line though is that it takes time to write quality content. Just a quick tip, post as much original content as possible and very little pre-written articles. It takes time to build relationships with other bloggers. It takes time to build links both incoming and outgoing. It takes time to build a reputation.

There are soooo many that start this thing up and then quit a few months later. You can make good money online through blogging and affiliate marketing but you have to endure through the crappy times. Sounds very cliche I know but believe me there will be some times you don't feel like blogging in the slightest and want to quit because you aren't seeing a return. Those are the times when having something you love something you are passionate about, something that is more personal helps immensely.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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I Get So Busy Making Money Online I Forget To Wash My Hair

I don't know about you but I am extremely busy between my "real" job, my online work, and many other business ventures. Not only that I am extremely forgetful. I also love sports. Now you are asking what do those three things have in common. Well let me explain. As I am so busy I often times use my lunch hour to get in some sports activity, basketball, volleyball, or gym, and obviously afterwards I need a shower before returning to work. I don't think showing up at an after lunch meeting smelling of BO would be a good idea. Now here is where the forgetfulness part comes into play. I usually keep shampoo in my locker at work, but when I head out to the gym I will take a shower their to save time when I return and there have been countless times I forget my shampoo.

For those reasons I have started keeping an "emergency" backup in the glove box. I used to actually keep a small travel bottle of regular shampoo. Then I learned about a dry shampoo product from my girlfriend. Salon Grafix makes a great color matched dry shampoo that is wonderful for those time when I forget my regular shampoo or just between normal washing to keep your hair oil free and manageable. If you are a busy online and offline entrepreneur like me you should check out this product.


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Great Coffee Deal From Boca Java, Rush Limbaugh's Favorite Coffee

Boca Java - Rush Limbaugh loves it and so do I

I have talked about Boca Java quite a few times on this blog. Not only is it my favorite coffee, but it has been one of my best affiliate marketing campaigns. The coffee is roasted to order and the aroma when you first receive the box at your home is amazing. Their flavor Bananas Fosters Float is my favorite coffee ever. I even wrote an article on touching a bit on buzz marketing with Boca Java coffee titled Boca Java, Rush Limbaugh And Affiliate Marketing.

Boca Java's Great coffee deal!!

I just got an email about Boca Java's newest deal. It really is a great deal. Not only do you get what I consider the best coffee you get 3 free gifts as well. You get 4 bags of great tasting fresh roasted gourmet coffee and the 3 gifts for only $19.95! That is a great deal but for all of you affiliate marketers out there it gets even better.

Affiliate marketing campaigns with Rush Limbaugh & Boca Java

I have several affiliate networks that I use and there are two that offer campaigns from Boca Java coffee. NeverBlueAds is the network offering this great deal I am talking about here. Commission Junction though just announced double commissions for this weekend on Boca Java as well as some great featured offers not found on NeverBlueAds. I still prefer NeverBlueAds Boca Java campaign due to the high payout of over $26 per sale. Even with the CJ double commission offer many sales wouldn't pay out that much. If you are looking for a great affiliate marketing opportunity head over to NeverBlueAds, sign up, and search through their great selection of campaigns.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Super Bowl Plans For Your Blog

Are you doing any Super Bowl tie-ins on your blog? Have you thought about using the Super Bowl as an earnings boosting tool? As an affiliate marketer I am always looking to leverage something to my advantage. With all the media attention surrounding the supposed biggest advertising event of the year, you should be jumping at the chance to make some money. There are a ton of affiliate programs that tie-in with the Super Bowl. I have stated it many times taking advantage of existing buzz surrounding a product or event is a must tool for affiliate marketers.

Are you planning a Super Bowl party? I know I am not, but I have a friend who is pretty much pulling out all the stops. I have been hoodwinked into helping out a bit with the planning and the "marketing" of it to our friends and family. I don't know all of what he has planned, but I have an idea I might pitch to him. He may have thought of it already, but he hasn't mentioned it.

Gigmasters.com, founded in 1997, is the Internet's premiere booking service for live music and entertainment. Gigmasters provides live music and entertainment for special events such as weddings, corporate functions, and private parties. Super Bowl XLII party entertainment planning has been extremely popular this year.

Gigmasters' database of talent includes thousands of professional performers and ensembles located throughout the United States and Canada. Photos, audio, video, client reviews, and secure booking are included among the plethora of booking tools which are provided for Gigmasters clients. You can visit the Gigmasters Super Bowl Party Planning for more information

I think that having some kind of entertainment at the party, other than drunk footbal fans, would be pretty cool. I'm not suggesting a clown mind you but a DJ, or a cool cover band of some kind would be a nice addition to the party and could be for before, after, or even halftime of the game.

What, if any, are you blogging plans for the Super Bowl? What about personal party plans? Do you think having a DJ or live band would be cool for a party or a bit over the top?


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Don't Worry Be Happy

How many of you have read the book The Secret? Well a featured teacher from the mega-bestseller The Secret, Marci Shimoff, has written a new book about why she loves The Sedona Method and is urging people to use this release technique to let go of negative thoughts and feelings in her new book, Happy For No Reason.

The Sedona Method is a simple and powerful technique that will show you how to uncover your natural ability to let go of painful or unwanted feelings. The Sedona Method consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead you to self-awareness of what you are feeling and guides you into the experience of letting go and really being happy.

Hale Dowskin another 24 Teachers from the movie The Secret and author of the New York Times Best Seller, The Sedona Method, is offering a Free DVD and CD when you visit Sedona.com sign up for the free Sedona Method Success newsletter. If you are fan of The Secret and the Sedona Method you should stop by the site. There a lot of great articles from previous newsletters dealing with all sorts of personal well being topics from addiction to financial issues. Take a peek and you just might Learn how The Sedona Method is the secret to mastering The Secret.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

Get more profitable and productive information by subscribing to my FEED and my newsletter! or clicking the links below to bookmark my site, or add me to your favorites.

Alexa Redirects Not Working

There is some bad news for all of those folks that have been using alexa redirects. They are no longer working. If you have a link that looks like "http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?www.profitableproductiveblogging.com"
you will find that the will give you a url not found error.
I have been to quite a few blogs that use this technique, have even employed it myself, so I know there will be a lot of dead links out there. If you have any links in signatures at forums or links on your site employing the alexa redirect you should check them immediately and update them.


later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Roadblocks To Blogging Full Time?

What are some roadblocks in your way? I have been blessed with a wonderful job that I love and that provides phenomenal benefits. I have a lot of freedom and time in my life to work on additional projects such as my online affiliate marketing and blogging and also my real estate investment business. I have talked with a lot of bloggers and affiliate marketers that are making decent money but are really scared about taking the step to blogging full time. Trust me I can understand. I have struggled with when or even whether to leave my great job to pursue my other ventures full time.

One drawback for many is retirement benefits such as 401k or pension. Let me tell you if you are looking to move into self-employment you don't need to worry. There are great retirement benefits available for self-employed individuals such as the solo 401(k). You can also set up a SEP IRA which is basically a pension plan for individuals.

Another huge drawback for quite a few people is the high cost of health care. Getting health are when you are self-employed or a small business owner can be a scary proposition. Self-employed people have to apply for individual health insurance, which is actually underwritten by the health insurance company and not an employer. Pre-existing medical conditions and other things as well may lead to you being turned down for a health insurance policy. This often can mean the difference between self-employment and staying with your current job which provides health insurance protection for you and your family.

I came across a company Peoples Health Insurance, LLC that is a licensed insurance agency, not simply a referral service like you see so much online. They are an insurance company dedicated to helping self-employed consumers choose appropriate health insurance plans. They work to ensure your questions regarding the application process, policy benefits, plan pricing, and health provider networks are answered. And they assist you in selecting a quality health plan that is reasonably priced but still offers they type of protection you want and need for you and your family. They work with numerous health insurance carriers so you can choose an affordable and flexible plan that fits both your budget and lifestyle.

If finding high-quality healthcare insurance is a roadblock to you blogging fullt time and it feels like an intimidating task, Peoples Health Insurance, LLC is here to help. They offer great health insurance Florida and in Illinois. Living without proper coverage is a gamble no one should take and something you should take care of before taking the leap into full time online work.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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Benefits Of Multiple Affiliate Programs

For the longest time all of my campaigns were through Commission Junction almost exclusively with a few small individual affiliate programs thrown in. I was comfortable with Commission Junction as I have had a relationship with them for almost 10 years now. At the end of the 3rd quarter last year after talking with some other prominent affiliate marketers during some of my mentoring and coaching sessions I realized what I was missing by not using multiple affiliate ad companies.

I made the leap and joined NeverBlueAds, LinkShare, and the As Seen On TV Network affiliate programs. This gave me a much larger selection of campaigns to choose from but also put me in a position where I could much more easily negotiate better terms for programs at different places. One great example was my Boca Java campaigns. I had been running them through CJ with good success. Once I joined NeverBlue I was able to more than quadrupled my earnings on this campaign alone by moving to a set CPA from a percentage based commission structure at CJ. I went from about 5$ per sale to 26$ CPA with NeverBlue.

Having multiple affiliate programs to choose from not only gives you great flexibility in choosing campaigns based on what is hot, time of year, etc. but it also gives a you greater earnings potential. I encourage you to branch out a bit and join up with several "clearinghouse" type sites like NeverBlueAds, LinkShare, and the As Seen On TV Network. I think you will be happy with your choices of campaigns and also the larger affiliate income you will most likely earn.

later all and have a profitable and productive blogging day

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2007 Blog In Review

Well another year is in the can and new one is already flying by. Can you believe it is January 2nd already. It seems like the year just started yesterday. I just wanted give you all a year ending review of this blog.

Most Popular Articles

The 12 Links Of Christmas
These articles were pretty much just full of links but the title, and the links, obviously caught people's attention. These were a great year end traffic building and link building series. Day 1 was actually my biggest article of the year with over 1000 visits in just a few short days.

What The F Does The C Stand 4
My first and most successful contest.

The Stripping Aristologist
My second contest and I think the reference to stripping and a big word most people probably didn't know helped this one along.

Boca Java, Rush Limbaugh, And Affiliate Marketing
This is still the article that gets the most search traffic. It is also one of my highest converting affiliate offers for the site.