I really like this one it's almost like an occult. They act as a recruiting arm for a company called Emerald Passport. Emerald Passport has developed and markets self-help and educational courses. They get your attention by showing you a movie on the internet. I wondered across it one day while I was surfing for opportunities. They show you how you can make $1,000.00 a day with little or no work. They get your interest and capture your information when watching their film. Well, in my case someone called me almost immediately after I viewed the film. They wanted to know if I was interested in their business opportunity and as always I acted interested. They set me up with a call with someone from their upline that gave me the big hoorah speech. I paid my $99.00 fee for getting started and proceeded with this biz op.

The self-help product they promote or they say they do even though they barely mentioned it during my phone discussion. Well, anyway the product costs $1275.00 and in order to start profiting from sales you had to qualify, as they put it, qualifying consisted of paying the person that recruited you the $1275.00. Of that the recruiter kept $1000.00 and sent the other $275.00 to Emerald Passport. If that was not bad enough you also had to give the profit ($1000.00) to your recruiter on your next two sales. You could get qualified without paying the $1275.00 but you had to give your recruiter the first 4 sales they you make. It was not about sales, it was about recruiting people. I told them that it sounded like a MLM scheme to me. They insisted that this business was direct sales. Say what you want, in my opinion any time a company puts more emphasis on recruitment than sales and puts you in a structured downline or matrix, it is MLM.

Now you may like MLM, but these organizations do not seem to be around for a long time and I do not recommend them. I especially do not recommend this one.

If you want to create a long term financially stable business you need to stay away from MLMs and focus on selling your own products or affiliate programs.

I have tried and researched hundreds of online business opportunities. Most of them have been scams and schemes but recently I have found a system that earns me a consistent monthly income with no selling at all. When I find these diamonds in the ruff I like to share them with my readers and this one is a must see. Click here to see!

Great Suffering Provides Great Opportunity by Sage Lewis Sage touches on some of the sadder aspects of our economy and world, broaching the greatly suffering real estate and energy industries. He believes people currently in these fields have wonderful opportunities to reach out to people and make a difference. A call to action is issued, encouraging these people to share their stories on the web, using blogs and YouTube as their platform. Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds. Publ.Date : Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:39:07 -0600 This is Why I Love Plurk (And Why You Should Too) by Mack Collier If you use Twitter, then you might have heard of a new microblogging site called Plurk.  Both services are alike in that they are both microblogging sites, in the same way that a Jeep and Ferrari are alike because they both have four wheels.  But just as Twitter holds potential for you to grow your business, so does Plurk.  First, it must be said upfront that Plurk has an incredibly quirky interface.  If you are used to Twitter's vertical format, the horizontal scrolling you'll encounter at Plurk will likely confuse and possibly even frustrate you at first.  I must admit, I hated Plurk at first, and almost stopped using the site completely.  But I decided to stick around, and here's why I'm glad I did. The people that use Plurk are INCREDIBLY engaged.  I continue to be amazed at how open and communicative Plurk users are, and there's an incredible sense of community on the site.  This, along with the ability to have threaded conversations, is what makes Plurk such a huge winner. But the key question is, how could any of this help your business?  Here's an example of what I am talking about; earlier today, I came across this post from Josh Hallett, reviewing the Nikon Coolpix S600.  Josh carefully reviews the camera, and shows several stunning photos taken with the camera.  I am always seeing bloggers review products on their blogs, and I always wonder 'How should the company respond to this?' And whenever I will see an example such as this, I would either post about it on my blog, or put it on Twitter.  I would point to the post and say something like 'Here Greg is blogging about his Huffy bicycle.  If you worked for Huffy, how would you respond to this?'  And inevitably, either the blog post or my tweet will get one or two comments, but a true discussion about what this company could do, never results.  So when I saw Josh's post reviewing his new S600, I decided to try again in asking others what Nikon should do about this.  But instead of blogging it, or asking on Twitter, I decided to ask my followers on Plurk what they would do. And literally within minutes, a vibrant conversation erupted around this issue.  One follower would play off an idea suggested by another.  One would clarify another's thoughts, and add their own.  Suddenly, the hyper-connected nature of Plurk users took over, and a conversation that's incredibly valuable, resulted. Now if you worked for Nikon, think of the value contained in that one Plurk.  Here you had several people that are immersed in social media, giving you advice on how to leverage social media to build awareness for your brand.  Here's some of my favorite suggestions: tamar definitely would thank them. maybe add a section on nikon.com to showcase user testimonials with a blockquote and a link back! swoodruff maybe ask Josh if he'd like to be part of Flickr group - Cool CoolPixers. Upload your best Nikon shots. johnrhopkins I would thank him via email, post a message in the comments and consider offering him some perks when he wants to upgrade down the road Herb  now the real question, is the brand manager (or *someone* at Nikon) searching for these types of things so the *can* do something? Now think about how you could use Plurk to gain valuable feedback about your own business.  Maybe you are thinking about starting a blog and want feedback on the best platform?  Should you allow comments?  How to you respond to someone that's blogging about your business?  How do you GET people blogging about your business? As the above Plurk shows (all replies came within 40 mins), Plurk users are incredibly engaged, and quite willing to help you with feedback for business issues you might be facing.  Why not try the site out and see if you like it?  If you want to give it a spin, here are some posts you can check out to give you a better idea of how to use Plurk. Five Reasons Plurk is Better Than Twitter and Vice Versa Twitter Vs Plurk, Who Wins? The Question of Plurk Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds. Publ.Date : Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:22:06 -0600 Has The Better Business Bureau Outlived Their Usefulness? by David Wallace I came across a story posted at Search Engine Land pointing out that Google has an "unsatisfactory" record with The Better Business Bureau. How can a company voted "top global brand" in 2008 at the same time have an unsatisfactory record with the BBB? Apparently because out of 331 complaints filed against the search giant over the past three years, 2 were listed as unresolved. that's right - just 2! Despite this, Google continues to lead the way in search and nothing on the horizon seems to be able to change that.   This got me thinking as to whether the BBB is still a useful resource in today's online world. Their mission is to be the leader in advancing "marketplace trust" which they accomplish by creating communities of trustworthy businesses, setting standards for marketplace trust, encouraging and supporting best practices, celebrating marketplace role models, and denouncing substandard marketplace behavior. Businesses have always been proud to display their BBB membership, which indicates they are "more trustworthy" than non BBB member companies.   Two things have me concerned however as to whether the BBB has outlived their usefulness, especially in the case of "online" businesses.   1. BBB Discriminates Against Online Business   When a company becomes a BBB member, they are given a certificate that announces their membership. Many will proudly display this in their offices or storefronts so that customers can see they are a member. They may also use the BBB logo it in print advertising to identify their membership. However, should a company decide to announce their membership online via a web site for example, they can only do so through the BBB's Online Reliability Program. Did I mention that this requires an extra fee?   I have argued in the past that the BBB's policy to charge extra when displaying the BBB logo online is a discriminatory practice against online business, especially those who have no other way to announce their membership (i.e. they don't have a physical location or storefront). Online businesses not only have to pay the annual BBB member dues which are based on the number of employees they have, they also have to pay a separate fee to announce that membership on their sites.   The Better Business Bureau needs to recognize that most businesses today have an online presence and that many of their existing or potential customers will visit them there long before entering a physical location. As a BBB member, a company should have the right to announce that membership on their web sites, social media profiles, online press releases and the like, without having to pay extra fees. Until the BBB changes their policy on this, it is nothing short of discriminatory.   2. Do People Even Use The BBB Any Longer?   Since joining the Better Business Bureau in 1998, I can count the number of clients that have been referred as a result of them on both hands. On the other hand, the number of clients who have found us online via organic search results is phenomenal.   This leads me to wonder how much credibility consumers actually place in BBB valuations. It would seem to me that businesses should have much more concern over what people are saying about them online. I'm talking about online reputation. For example, conduct a search for any brand name - even your own. What do the first page of search results say? Are they positive, negative or even indifferent? This is the space where many consumers are now looking when qualifying whether they want to do business with a company or not.   Every time the BBB semi-annual billing statement has arrived in the mail, I have wrestled as to whether to continue my company's membership or not. So far, the BBB has won although I have refused to pay the extra fees for the Online Reliability Program for the last few years even though the BBB logo is present on our sites.   I am much more concerned over what the search results say about our company and if you are a business owner you should as well. If something negative begins to show up on the first page, especially above the fold, it can cause irreparable damage to your business. Many companies have discovered this the hard way which then forced them into the very often difficult task of having to repair their tarnished reputations.   A Better Solution?   One of the beneficial things about BBB membership, at least for consumers, is that you as a company agree to work out disputes with clients. This however is a defense mechanism. In other words, you do not react until the consumer is upset about something. A proactive approach is a much better solution in my opinion. How does one go about accomplishing this? There are several ways to do this with the main idea being "open yourself to communication."   This can be done with a company blog that is open to comments. Putting out quality content that is somehow related to your industry or even the specific products and services you offer is a good start. Allowing consumers to interact with you via the comment system is the icing on the cake. It will allow them to engage you of which they might praise you, probe you for more information or even criticize you. It also allows you to react to them, oftentimes long before negativity hits the search results or the BBB.   Getting involved with social media is also a great way to be proactive. Setting up profiles on all the major social media sites using your brand name(s) is a great way to control what the search results are saying about you. But don't stop there. Get involved with social media, especially when people are talking about you.   It's all about getting involved in the conversation. Consumers want an open dialog with the companies they choose to do business with. So give them what they want.   This is what Google does so well. They give consumers what they want - relevant search as well as a wide variety of other products. They keep the door open for communication as well. That is why an unsatisfactory record with the BBB has not hurt them in the least. They continue to grow, acquire and dominate.   Our BBB membership comes due in December and to be honest with you, I think I might let it go this time around. I just don't see the value any longer when there are so many other productive things you can do to establish trust with consumers. Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds. Publ.Date : Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:15:23 -0600 Destination Search Engine Marketing, Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usual by Stoney deGeyter In the last installment of this series on Destination Search Engine Marketing we discussed a few things that you can do to build a site that truly deserves to be ranked well in the search engines. Starting next week I'll discuss each of the seven specific building blocks in building a Destination Website, but before we jump to that let's look at what it means to actually employ a Destination SEM Campaign. Marketing a Destination Website is really not that much different from marketing any other kind of site. We look to the same effective strategies that are employed time and time again by the most successful websites: Strong on- and off-page SEO that thinks beyond search engine rankings Excellent content that delivers on-page customer performance and persuades visitors to take action (conversions) Exceptional offline marketing efforts that merge seamlessly with the online efforts Superb business management and customer satisfaction that goes well beyond the sale The difference between a Destination Website and any other is that all of the strategies above must be used together and you have to be at the top of your game with each one. Too often businesses focus on only one or two of these areas simply looking for a quick boost in traffic or sales. These boosts are often effective, but are also just as often very short-lived. Once you get all four of these areas working together you don't just get a boost in traffic or sales, but you get a website that functions like a well-tuned machine. Each piece of the campaign does it's job but also helps the other parts do theirs. Your website effectively becomes more than the sum of its parts. But there is still one more essential component to building a destination website. It's what we discussed in the previous installment. With all the marketing elements in place and working together, you still need to provide something unique, interesting, compelling and valuable. You have to give your visitors something that they cannot find anywhere else. Driving traffic doesn't create customers Most site's rely on marketing alone to increase traffic. Marketing drives traffic and traffic is really nothing more than more eyeballs on the site. The site still has to do it's job in selling the product or service you offer. And it has to do it effectively if you want to be profitable. Building a Destination Website rockets you beyond the competition in several key areas. Why does building a Destination Website do? Drives traffic: The marketing components work together to drive traffic to the website. Whether its from SEO, PPC, magazine ads, radio, TV or whatever avenues you choose, they all work together to drive traffic that has an expectation of what they will find on the website. Improves conversion: Because you're focused on the customer's wants, needs and desires--not just on building traffic--this translates in more satisfied site visitors that are more easily persuaded to take the action you wish for them to take. Repeat customers: Not every customer is a loyal customer, some just always like to hunt for the best deal. But many are more than happy to return time and time again to a place they are comfortable with. They might still shop around, but ultimately they'll return to familiar ground where they've established a good experience. Builds loyalty: True destination websites go beyond getting repeat customer and actually build a loyal customer base. These are customers that wouldn't think of going anywhere else. You become the default destination first and foremost. Makes your site sticky: It's nice to have customers come back time and time again, but when your site is sticky, it becomes more of a magnet. Your audience finds it hard to pull away and are often returning far more often than even they would expect. Creates word of mouth: When your website is truly exceptional, you get more than repeat and loyal customers. You get brand evangelists who go out of their way to tell others about you. This can be in the form of conversion, blogs, reviewed, etc. Good word of mouth can be an excellent source of new business. Improves ROI: Once you have your Destination Website doing most of the work for you, you'll find that your return on investment improving significantly. That's not to say it's not a lot of work to maintain a Destination Website, but each effort creates a more powerful than the effort going in. This reaps exponential rewards. With this understanding of what destination marketing is and why you want to build one, over the next several posts I'll discuss the seven building blocks of a Destination Website. This will revisit some of the things we discussed briefly in the first parts of this series but will also provide even more detailed information on how to creating a website that becomes a Destination for your industry. Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing: Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings? Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You? Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands Part IV: It's Not Just Marketing as Usual Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website #1: Expert Information #1b: Seven Types of Expert Information #2: Usability Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds. Publ.Date : Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:25:03 -0600 Become a better Analyst with these 5 Skills by Manoj Jasra If you are looking for a career in web analytics and want to establish a solid foundation of skills as a part of your overall analytics training, then I recommend adding the skills below to your tool-set to help you become a very well rounded analyst before you enter the field. Taking a course on web analytics, reading a book on web analytics or subscribing to a web analytics blog are a good start, but frankly, are not good enough by themselves.   Search Marketing: I always think of Web Analytics as a tool to help your search marketing strategy. Without an understanding of the different strategies that your business is implementing, how do you know what to measure. Paid Search, SEO, Email Marketing, Social Media, Press Releases, and Textual content are all different segments that web analytics should integrate with. Furthermore, once you know what strategies your business is implementing, it becomes important that you have a seat at the table so you can help plan for the future.   Programming / Software Development: Having a background in software development has come in handy numerous times in my career. Understanding a programming language makes it much easier to implement web analytics as well as make it much easier to speak with IT to make implementation changes on your behalf. Many search marketing tools (including web analytics solutions) provide APIs which come in handy to integrate data from different sources. Having programming knowledge allows you to code your own applications without having to rely on other developers. Office Tools, Excel/Access/PowerPoint: Microsoft office products (or similar technologies) are something you'll use very often. Custom Functions, Charting Tools, Pivot Tables, V-Lookups are just a few components in excel you'd better get used to. Anyone can get put together a few slides in PowerPoint, but it takes real skills to create a presentation which entices people to keep watching and listening. I mention Access because in the past I have used Access to combine data from Analytics and Paid Search in order to understand the ROI down to the keyword level. You don't need Access, you could use SQL Server or MySQL as well. Deeper Analysis: This sounds like a fairly broad topic, but it entails the ability to understand things like Multivariate Testing, Statistical Analysis, Understanding Users (usability) and behavioral targeting. Having experience in these types of skills takes you from a great analyst to Web Analytics Guru. Passion: This is a difficult skill to develop, it almost has to come naturally. You won't really succeed as a Web Analyst without having a thirst to continually want to improve and learn. It has to go beyond trying to make $150,000/year, it's having an understanding that if your business succeeds, then your team will succeed and ultimately YOU will succeed. Free White Paper: How to Optimize for Google A free 10 page white paper on how to optimize a website on Google the right way - so the website succeeds. Publ.Date : Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:35:22 -0600

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