Paypal Review April 24, 2006
You can find a list of other reviews I have completed and links to the products and resources I use to run my online business in the Resources Section of this website.
****** 
Review of the Paypal Online Payments Processor
Name: Paypal URL: www.paypal.com Purpose: Credit card, bank and check/cheque online payments management system to receive and send money through the web.
Let me start by saying that my personal experience to date with Paypal has been 100% satisfactory. I have never had a complaint and besides a sometimes difficult to navigate website the system has always done what I wanted it to do. I’ve processed over $20,000 worth of transactions and never had trouble accessing my money.
An online payment processor is one of the most important parts of an online business. Without the ability to receive money online you can’t really run an Internet business. Sure you could work only with offline payment methods such as money orders, cheques in the mail or cash, but all of these methods are slow and you will definitely be loosing potential customers if you don’t offer some form of instant payment method that handles credit cards.
Paypal’s Bad Reputation
When I first hunted for a payments processor, which at the time was for a web hosting business I was planning, I came across Paypal. That was about seven years ago and I’d say my story is a pretty common one since Paypal was one of the first providers of “email currency”, a system where you could send money via email and there were not many options particularly for Australians back then.
As usual I conducted extensive due diligence before deciding to use Paypal. As I read forums and surfed around the web I quickly came to realize that Paypal had a terrible reputation, so bad that some of its detractors had set up a website called PaypalSucks.com, which still functions today.
As someone who has been hit several times by credit card fraud I’m particularly wary of chargebacks from customers who use Paypal to buy things from me with a credit card. To be honest I have very little confidence in Paypal to protect me from chargebacks, but that is more because of the way online transactions work - protecting the buyer, especially when no signature is present (as in all online transactions) - rather than the seller. The best chance I have, and this is where I would expect services like Paypal to protect me, is to stop fraudulent transactions before they occur.
Once the payment is made and the service or product is provided then it’s too late. Chargebacks hurt the bottom line of your business and chances are you won’t be able to beat a chargeback claim as an online merchant with no signature. However if a payment provider can stop a suspect payment using historical data and other fraud detection methods then I will not send the product or provide the service hence eliminating my exposure to loss from chargebacks.
I’ve written extensively about why I’ve recommended Paymate.com.au, an Aussie Paypal-style service, over Paypal in the past, and most of my justification was based on Paymate’s superior fraud prevention. I’ve since changed my mind during the last two years because Paypal has performed well for me and their fees are a good 30% or so cheaper than Paymate and now offer Australian-centric services. I still offer both services to my customers but prefer when they choose Paypal because it’s cheaper for me.
I’ve read the book Paypal Wars which gives a good explanation for why Paypal has such a bad reputation. In a nutshell there were times in the company’s past where it was the target of all kinds of criminal action and it suffered millions of dollars worth of losses. As part of the retaliation against these criminals many honest customers were affected, losing access to their accounts and later resulting in the class action lawsuit which cost Paypal $9.25 million dollars.
Paypal also suffered because of it’s tremendous growth rate. The managers of Paypal are largely to blame since they were focused on customer acquisition above all else during the growth phase of the business. This resulted in a company that simply could not handle the amount of customers it had to deal with and hence the poor customer service reputation.
Despite all the negative history Paypal managed to grow and maintain it’s de facto standard as the leader in online payments. The grumblings from users seems to have reduced in the last few years and my feeling is that the company turned a corner and now has systems in place to deal with fraud and customer support that are far superior to what they had in the late nineties and early two thousands. Paypal has matured through it’s growing pains, and while no doubt there are still issues, the bad stories just aren’t quite as frequent as they used to be (of course this could be because the publicity has been spun in a more positive light, but lets not be skeptical).
The Bad
The fact is there are some pretty bad horror stories of people booted from Paypal for no good reason, having their funds locked away (sometimes thousands of dollars lost) and many tales of poor customer service. I read many negative stories while researching Paypal and became very paranoid. In the end though, I still signed up to be a Paypal user because it had become the standard method of sending money online, which is tantamount to how strong their business model was despite all the negative stories floating around - you couldn’t afford not to use them. I had to offer this method of payment to my customers because I wanted to keep resistance to buy as low as possible, even if it meant risking being the next victim of a Paypal horror story.
Seven years later and happily I have no horror stories to tell. However since this is a review and I always like to discuss both the good and the bad I will tell you what I do and don’t like about Paypal in terms of my experience with it.
The customer service isn’t great. The website attempts it’s hardest to give you answers so you don’t have to query Paypal customer support via email, or heaven forbid, via the phone. Once I have tried to ask a question of their phone support but I gave up, it was just too time consuming. The email support is okay, but often has trouble answering your specific question and tends to send you preformatted template responses, which, if you are lucky, answer about half your question. Mind you the last time I required support was about two years ago and the service has likely improved. It had greatly improved over the previous two years when I last tried customer service so I think they were on the way up and may even be reasonable today.
The website is simply-complicated. Yes the design is simple, which I like, but often you can’t find the answer you want. If all you want to do is use the core functions then the Paypal website is a breeze. In my case I receive credit card payments regularly and spend money from my Paypal balance on auction items and other online purchases. Paypal is perfect for this. The more complicated your needs the more difficulty you are going to experience.
Sometimes the basic functions you would expect are not available or difficult to find. I’ve had trouble for example forcing a payment to come from my credit card and not my Paypal balance. Sometimes what you think would be an intuitive option just isn’t available and you don’t know if it’s because you couldn’t find it or because it doesn’t exist or has been deliberately made not available.
The Good
The multiple currencies system, which finally started servicing Australia recently, is fantastic and I love the way I can transfer balances in and out of different major currencies easily (you can do currency trading just within Paypal, although the rates aren’t great for short term profiteering).
The cut and paste shopping cart functions are ideal for me since I prefer to use very simple plain text “buy now” links. Once again the more complicated your online shopping cart needs the steeper the learning curve you will face integrating it with Paypal.
Paypal recently launched a merchant account service called Payments Pro that functions as a completely seamless online shopping system for your website. Provided you have the shopping cart software you can use Paypal as the gateway and payment processor and it’s completely private label, which means you can brand it as your own. I have not needed to use this service as yet so I cannot make a comment on how good it is.
Conclusion
All-in-all, for what Paypal does - primarily to allow you to send money through email and take credit card payments online - it does well. It makes what could be a terribly complex function, one full of potential security and privacy issues, and turns it into something as simple as sending email. For that they deserve kudos and I’m extremely happy with the core function and recommend it to everyone.
Yes there are customer service issues. Yes Paypal has a fairly rocky history. Yes you open yourself up to potential losses from chargebacks. The fact remains that Paypal is the largest online payments provider and you really can’t afford to not offer this method to your customers.
I recommend making other payment options available to your customers since it’s never good to rely only on one provider. I also recommend you regularly withdraw funds from your Paypal account and put that money to work for you. There is no interest in a Paypal account and you never know when you could be the next victim of a horror story or fraud attack so keep your money where you know it’s safe - in the bank or in investments.
Yaro Starak Paypal Merchant
Technorati Tags: internet business, online payments, online transactions, paypal, paypal review, taking payments Internal Tags: internet business, online payments, online transactions, paypal, paypal review taking payments
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Why I Have To Keep It Simple In Melbourne April 21, 2006
Melbourne Minutes & More 80/20 Moments
I’ve snuck down to Melbourne for four days. This trip is for business and pleasure, starting with the two days of work I’ve just finished.
I’ve been training someone who will be marketing BetterEdit.com at three of the largest Melbourne university campuses using posters. This is the first year I’ve attempted to hire people to do this for me and in the past I’ve done it myself, mostly in Brisbane since its within my reach. I’m starting by hiring someone to do it in Brisbane for me and to test whether it can be profitable to have people do it in other cities starting with Melbourne.
If Melbourne works out well the next step will be to replicate in Sydney and possibly Toronto since I will be heading to Canada later this year. I expect the people I hire to do this job won’t likely be able to do it for much longer than a year (if they average a year I’ll be pretty happy) so I’m hoping to implement a system where the outgoing person trains the new incoming person so I don’t have to tramp around Australia and Canada training people.
You may wonder why I need to train people how to put up posters since it’s not exactly rocket science. It’s not as simple as you may think. It’s important to show people how many posters to use per board, where to place them on the boards, when to use small and/or large posters and lots of other little tips and strategies. I’d like to meet every person if I could so I can assess their personality and get to know them but as I said it’s not going to be cost effective to trek all around the planet each time I hire a new person.
I have no idea whether this system will be sustainable or even profitable but you never know until you try. It largely comes down to the people. If I find responsible and trustworthy people it should work out well.
A One Minded Focus - Another 80/20 Rule Example
My focus really hasn’t been on BetterEdit recently. I’ve been pouring all my energy into Blog Traffic King and getting the Blog Traffic School course finished. Spending some time in Melbourne promoting BetterEdit has switched my brain back on to student focused marketing for a couple of days.
Melbourne is bigger than Brisbane. Melbourne has more of everything and I’m constantly reminded of all the opportunities in a city like this. Walking streets from the CBD to Melbourne University presented me with so many opportunities (or at least potential ideas) to reach more international students (my target market). Melbourne has probably close to double the amount of campuses as Brisbane, is littered with student accommodation buildings and places where international students hang out.
In some ways it’s extremely frustrating. The limitations of being a one man show with a mini budget means I can really only spend time and energy on a handful of marketing activities. It just doesn’t work to spread yourself thin and attempt to leverage every opportunity that is presented to you. In fact even if I had a marketing team working for me I could only hope to brush the surface of the all the marketing methods I could test. There’s just too many.
Once again the 80/20 Rule applies nicely in this situation and I reminded myself of this while promoting in Melbourne. While realistically there are no doubt hundreds, even thousands of opportunities to market in Melbourne it’s much smarter if I spend most of my time on a small handful of locations using what works - my posters. If I can locate the 20% of locations in Melbourne where 80% of the international students spend 80% of their time I have the key to gaining massive exposure at minimum cost. Heck I really only need to hit the top 1% of places where 99% of students are and I’ll get tremendous results.
Spoilt For Choice
There was a documentary recently on TV that I caught a bit of during the day that discussed the issue of too much choice. The thesis argued that people are depressed because they have too many options to choose from (when it comes to consuming of course - food, clothes, electrical goods, cars, and so on).
The problem is when presented with so many options when we finally make a decision we end up unhappy because of all the other options we forgo. The net loss from so many forgone options is greater than the satisfaction gained from the choice we make.
This made complete sense to me. I’ve suffered from indecision-itis myself. Being in Melbourne always tends to bring on a recurrence of the problem. I often wish I was hungrier in Melbourne. Why can’t I have two lunches and three desserts? There is so much food I want to sample yet I’m not hungry beyond what you would expect - three meals a day and a bunch of snacks in between.
I remember when I was younger being paralysed by indecision to the point where I just could not feel satisfaction unless I spent a stupid amount of time carefully assessing my options. From this experience I realized that once again I needed to 80/20 my decision making process and focus on making things simple. As a result I consistently eat the same handful of meals (the 20%) despite all the other options available to me (the remaining 80%). By doing this I can make choices quickly and enjoy my choice without worrying about what I have missed out on.
Simple Business
As I’ve focused my mind on Blog Traffic I’ve been able to simplify my routines. My working life is focused on starting a new business and maintaining the current businesses. While I’m constantly thrown new opportunities I can easily decline or ignore them strong in the knowledge that I have to keep the ship on one path or risk it breaking apart.
This simplification process results in me working more productively and keeps my mind very calm. I’m not over stimulated by all the things I “could do” that I am not, both within my businesses and without from potential new business ideas.
Of course you can’t enjoy this sort of clarity until you solidify your choice regarding what your business or job is. However simplification is certainly a mantra you can repeat to yourself no matter where you are or what you are doing. In a world with too many options it’s important to remember you only NEED basic things - it’s your WANTS that create the dissatisfaction. Focus on necessity, focus on the 20% that brings in the 80% of results and everything will work out fine.
Yaro Starak
Simplify maaaaan…
Technorati Tags: 80/20 rule, focus, melbourne, simplify
Internal Tags: 80/20 rule, focus, melbourne simplify
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Audio: Interview With Anita Campbell From Small Business Trends April 19, 2006
Download the MP3 [ 32 Minutes - 11 MB]
Today I have yet another fantastic entrepreneur interview for you in my series of small business podcasts, this time with Anita Campbell, Editor of Small Business Trends and the Small Business Trends newsletter. She is also the host of Small Business Trends Radio show.
Show Notes
- How Anita went from lawyer to corporate IT to small business consultant
- About the small business trends radio show
- How to be a trendwatcher
- Personal branding
- Search engine optimization for small business
Technorati Tags: Anita Campbell, business podcast, small business podcast
Internal Tags: Anita Campbell, business podcast small business podcast
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
What Is A Namesqueeze? April 16, 2006
I’ve mentioned the namesqueeze technique previously on this blog. It’s a very popular technique in Internet marketing circles and I’ve been itching to try it out myself. With the launch of Blog Traffic King I finally had a reason to test the namesqueeze and so far, I’m impressed, it works really well.
Squeezing The Email Address
The namesqueeze is most often used to collect email addresses from prospective customers. The idea is that visitors to your website, if they find your offer compelling enough, will opt in to your mailing list. Sometimes the offer may be an email newsletter with helpful information about a specific topic (in my case, a blog traffic newsletter), or a free report or 7 day e-course, mini e-book or downloadable audio. Sometimes the namesqueeze is used as a gateway to enter the main website so visitors have to give their name and email address first, before gaining access to the content.
From the marketers point of view you gain the all important contact point and can continue to soft sell your products or services. Namesqueeze pages generally bring in targeted visitors because for a person to give their email address they must be interested in what you offer.
It’s About Focus
If you have ever done any online marketing you will know that your conversion rate is probably the most important statistic (along with cost per conversion). The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your page that “convert” and do what your page is designed to make them do.
Traditionally conversion rates online tend to sit at about 1-2% as an average. Namesqueeze pages on the other hand generally enjoy double digit conversion rates and can approach 100% if the offer is compelling and the traffic targeted.
The explanation for such high conversion rates is focus. Namesqueeze pages focus on a single action - the email opt-in - and all the copy on the page is focused on convincing the visitor to sign up. There are no distractions, no outgoing links, no sub-pages - just a simple process that convinces the reader to join.
Compelling Copy
Namesqueeze pages rely extensively on the power of words to sell. Audio may be included to help the process but simply tells visitors to follow the written instructions and sign up. Images may also enhance the presentation but without powerful words with a compelling message and clear call to action a namesqueeze page doesn’t work.
Targeted Traffic
The other key ingredient for a successful namesqueeze campaign is the right type of visitor. The methods used to send traffic to a namesqueeze page must ensure that readers are interested in the topic. Pay per click advertising is the most common method used to send traffic to namesqueeze pages because you can tightly align the message with keywords.
How I Built My Namesqueeze Page
With Blog Traffic King I did the work myself. I visited some other namesqueeze pages and asked for feedback from some Internet marketing friends but that’s all the outside assistance I required. The good thing about namesqueeze pages is that they are small, focus on the text and don’t need to be pretty. It’s all about making the message as compelling as possible.
I coded the page myself mostly by grabbing the HTML from some of my other pages I’d built in the past. I used a text editor to work on the raw HTML code. I recorded the audio using Audacity, and converted it to streaming audio buttons using Wicked Streaming (a program no longer available - you can try BYO Audio or Instand Audio). I created the graphics using Paint Shop Pro and some photos I had taken with my digital camera. I host the page on my reseller account and registered the domain with Yahoo! Domains.
To bring in traffic I set up Google AdWords Pay Per Click campaigns which I continuously refine and test to maximize the conversion rate. I use the conversion tracking tools provided by Google to track the conversion rates on each keyword. I use AwStats server statistics to see what keywords are bringing in search traffic and source new keywords which I can plug into AdWords to test for more PPC traffic.
I also advertise the blog traffic newsletter on my blogs and link to the Blog Traffic King namesqueeze page in my signature profile in any forums I frequent.
My Conversion Rates
When I first started my AdWords campaign my conversion rate averaged 40% across the board. As I broke down my campaign into groups the conversion rates started to fluctuate but they are consistently in double figures. Some low traffic keyword phrases have a 100% conversion rate.
My best day had over 35 sign-ups (this came after posting about Blog Traffic King on this blog) and I consistently average 10 new sign-ups per day, which I consider fantastic given this is only the start of my promotional campaign. In total I have had three people unsubscribe with the justification usually being “not enough time to read emails anymore” (I can understand that!), which is a near-zero unsubscribe ratio.
I’ve received more than ten direct unsolicited positive feedback comments from readers who state they are receiving a lot of value from my newsletter, which is fantastic. Positive feedback tells me that I have the right type of people on my newsletter - those who stand to gain the most from what I offer now and in the future - the perfect win-win relationship, and of course that I am providing value, which is very important to me.
Try A Namesqueeze
If you plan to sell online and you want to build a contact list of somesort the namesqueeze technique is a must. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity, has a clear focus and consequently enjoys high conversion rates. At the least you should consider testing this method for your niche.
Once you have a successful namesqueeze in operation it’s very easy to tweak it to improve your conversion rates. By isolating key variables such as headlines you can test changes and monitor your results. By optimizing elements you can slowly increase the conversion rate. Then all you need to do is send more targeted traffic sound in the knowledge that your namesqueeze page will work hard for you to sign-up new prospects.
Yaro Starak
Online Marketer
Technorati Tags: email list, email marketing, email newsletter, internet business, internet marketing, namesqueeze, online business, online marketing
Internal Tags: email list, email marketing, email newsletter, internet business, internet marketing, namesqueeze, online business online marketing
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
AWeber Review - Email Autoresponder April 10, 2006
A lot of people come to my blogs looking for advice and help to start their own Internet business. In order to help you make more informed decisions I’m producing a series of reviews of the software, web services, e-books and other online resources I use to manage my business and educate myself.
You can find a listing of all the reviews and links to the products and resources I use in the Resources Section of this website.
AWeber Email Autoresponder
Name: AWeber
URL: www.aweber.com
Purpose: Email autoresponding, list management
I’m starting my review series with probably the most important component, the glue that keeps my business together - my email autoresponder and list builder.
A few people left comments in my recent podcast interview with AWeber CEO Tom Kulzer asking whether the podcast would help them decide to use AWeber or not. It was not intended to be a review of AWeber, rather an insight into the CEO entrepreneur behind the company.
This article is intended to help you reach a decision on whether AWeber is the right email autoresponder for you and whether you need one in the first place.
Before reading on if you have no idea what an email autoresponder is or why you would need one or how you would use one please read my introduction to email autoresponders which you can find at my other blog about Small Business Marketing.
A Brief History
The reason why I first decided I needed an autoresponder was two fold:
- As I educated myself in online business I realized that I needed to build lists of my customers and prospective customers so I could keep in touch and soft-sell my services. Thinking long term, if I wanted to sell my business my customer list would be one of my most valuable assets, so I needed to be collecting the email addresses of my target market from day one.
- My student essay editing business, BetterEdit, was running with a rudimentary text-to-email contact form which I was manually printing to keep contact records. This was not an efficient manner to control my client files and it made it very difficult to email all my clients at once.
I went out looking for an autoresponder and was blown away by Marketers Choice (aka 1shoppingcart). What excited me was how all-inclusive the service was. It includes a shopping cart, autoresponder, affiliate manager, a click-tracker and much more, all linked together. It’s basically the best all-in-one online marketer solution. As you would expect there is a hefty monthly subscription fee broken down into different tiers.
My problem was that I really only needed the autoresponder but I didn’t let that discourage me and figured eventually as my online business empire grew I would make use of all the extra tools. I signed up for the cheapest plan at $29 USD per month and used that for about a year.
A Mini Review Of Marketer’s Choice
I know this is slightly off topic but it should still be relevant for you if you are deciding on which autoresponder to go with because Marketers Choice should be a major contender. There is really only once question you need to ask yourself (and no, it’s not “do you feel lucky, punk!”) -
Do you need just an autoresponder or all the other modules that Marketers Choice comes with?
If you have products you can affiliate sell, if you need an online shopping cart and an autoresponder and you want it all nicely linked together under the one system using the one database then Marketers Choice is for you. It’s a good system, used by some of the top online marketers (including Perry Marshall who I recommend a lot on my blog) and it’s very convenient to have all the services under one roof.
However if you break each module down individually they do have issues. It’s not the most intuitive system to use, although there is extensive documentation and instructional videos when you need help, and I found it a bit “clunky”. As a whole you can’t compare it but when you break it down module by module there are better options out there. This is one of the reasons I eventually decided to switch to AWeber.com.
Why I use AWeber Autoresponders
In a nutshell there were three reasons why I choose to move away from Marketers Choice.
- I wasn’t using all the extra features.
- Therefore I was being overcharged so I wanted a cheaper option.
- I heard good things about another autoresponder called AWeber and I noticed many of the newsletters I signed up for from professional Internet marketers seem to be using AWeber mailing lists. The “street cred” was good.
As usual I did some due diligence first and looked around forums to see what people were saying about AWeber and it was very hard to find a negative comment. Most of it was glaringly positive, in fact it felt in most cases that AWeber was the de facto standard email autoresponder, which only happens when a product keeps its customers very happy.
Email Deliverability
I have no way of proving this, but since I read it in many places from different sources, I’ll mention it here. There is a big concern in email marketing circles about mail deliverability, which refers to whether emails sent (broadcast) to your lists make it through. The problem is a lot of mail servers block mass emails sent out and unless the email responder service provider has pre-arranged to be whitelisted your mail won’t get through. That’s pretty detrimental to any online company.
AWeber has the enviable record of the highest percentage of email deliverability, which means AWeber is doing a pretty good job to make sure your emails make it to your customers. This fact alone is enough of a reason to choose AWeber.com.
Functions
I won’t lie to you, there is a learning curve to using an email autoresponder, but you will find that with any system and you just have to learn your way through. I find AWeber’s system a lot less clunky than Marketers Choice. It’s simple in design with all the core features available through tabs at the top. It took me about an hour of playing with the system to get the hang of it.
One feature that’s not available that I would like to see is a one click back-up of all your mailing lists. I’ve emailed the support crew and it’s apparently on their to-do list, but for the moment backing up is a painfully slow manual process with lots of clicks.
One of the best features is when someone unsubscribes for one of your lists. Yes this is not a good thing but what makes it a good thing is that they are given the opportunity to leave a comment telling you why they choose to leave your list. As a business owner I’m sure you know how valuable feedback like this can be. It’s so nice to know why someone doesn’t find what you do satisfactory and often leads to some big improvements in what you do simply because you didn’t realize there was a problem until someone told you about it.
How I Use AWeber
Currently I use AWeber for all my online promotions and it controls all my email lists. I use it to distribute a Free Report at BetterEdit.com, which collects the email address of any person who downloads the free report and I then keep in contact with a series of autoresponse emails. I also collect the details of anyone who submits the contact form at BetterEdit and of course of all clients that register to use the editing service.
AWeber is behind my latest project, Blog Traffic King. AWeber allows me to distribute my traffic tips newsletter to all my subscribers on a week-by-week basis and I can do once-off broadcasts whenever I need to.
A new feature AWeber recently implemented is an RSS-to-email service. This service is very helpful because I can create an email mailing list for people who want to stay up to date with my blogs via email. I just plug in my RSS feed, tell AWeber how many blog articles to send out in each broadcast and it will automatically control the mailing list. The service is not branded either and I have complete control over the presentation of the broadcast emails which makes it superior to almost all the other RSS to email services out there.
I also have various other small lists to keep in touch with certain groups. It makes it a lot easier to control your email contacts. From a sales point of view it’s a very powerful resource because it keeps you connected with your prospects and clients.
How Technical Is AWeber?
It took me about 1-2 hours collectively to master AWeber. I’m not a programmer but I am very fluent in HTML and online business. AWeber has been built to be as “cut and paste” as possible and you certainly do not need to know HTML to implement it. Most of the interface is simple forms you fill out and once you have a play you will understand how everything works. Of course there is a very good helpdesk and live support if you need it.
If you are not familiar with web basics like online forms you may need help. Read through the instructional materials now and then until you get the hang of it - I did a few times when I first started using the system.
Price
You can find AWeber’s pricing breakdown here. Since I knew I was going to use email lists extensively in the future I chose the yearly option with the heaviest discount (it works out to be $15USD per month). There is a money back guarantee so if I didn’t like the service I knew I could get a refund.
Choosing An Email Autoresponder
I don’t think of email autoresponders as the most complex programs yet they are a vital tool for successful online business. The main considerations for me are email deliverability, reputation and ease of use - AWeber satisfies me on all counts.
I recommend before choosing an autoresponder you do your own due diligence and read forums and ask for opinions from current customers. Narrow down your list of potential providers based on your most important criteria and then test one out. Remember making a purchase doesn’t lock you in, most online companies offer 30 day money back guarantees (just make sure there is one before buying).
Yaro Starak
Online Marketer
Technorati Tags: 1shoppingcart, 1shoppingcart.com, AWeber, aweber review, email autoresponder, email list, marketers choice, marketerschoice.com, newsletter software
Internal Tags: 1shoppingcart, 1shoppingcart.com, AWeber, aweber review, email autoresponder, email list, marketers choice, marketerschoice.com newsletter software
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Blog Traffic Tips Newsletter April 8, 2006
I’d like to think most readers of my blogs know about this already but I’ve not actually made a post specifically about my blog traffic tips newsletter so it’s about time I do.
You can sign up for free blog traffic tips, which I’ve been writing for the past few months by going to BlogTrafficKing.com (and listen to my spiel on audio about building blog traffic), or just fill out the form below.
Enter Your First Name And Email To Sign Up
I’ve queued up over 3 months worth of weekly newsletters with some of my best advice on finding readers for your blog. This is not a fluff e-newsletter - It’s full of real content of the same high quality as you find on this blog (though not quite as long - about 300 to 700 words per newsletter, I know how you guys have trouble making it through my monster articles sometimes).
I’ve covered many different topics on building blog traffic with the focus being on bloggers just starting who want to take their blog from 0 to 1000 daily readers. The materials are for beginners, so if your blog is already at 1000 or more readers this newsletter is not for you.
Even if you don’t have a blog (yet) I suggest you sign up for the newsletter. Blogs are going to very quickly become a standard component of online business (if they are not so already) and being ahead of the knowledge curve is an advantage for any entrepreneur.
Yaro Starak
Blog Traffic King
Technorati Tags: blog advertising, blog marketing, blog newsletter, blog promotion, blog traffic, traffic tips
Internal Tags: blog advertising, blog marketing, blog newsletter, blog promotion, blog traffic traffic tips
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Room Thirteen April 7, 2006
One of the absolute best online music magazine sites I have found (it also happens to be run by a good friend in the UK 
)
If you listen to metal, or hard rock check it out. They do reviews, interviews, podcasts, and will be providing insane REAL TIME coverage of this years Download Festival.
Download will feature a lot of great bands including Tool, Guns and Roses, and Metallica
See the full lineup here: Download Festival Lineup
Room Thirteen Where Music Rocks
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Bliggo Advertising System
Steve Pavlina Interview - Part 3 April 5, 2006
Here is the final part of the interview with Steve Pavlina. You can read part one here -
Steve Pavlina Interview - Part 1 and part two here - Steve Pavlina Interview - Part 2.
8. Children
It can be hard to encourage children to be their own person and go against the grain when peer pressure is so entrenched in school life. How much intervention do you have in how your children develop? Do you take an active role or let them make their own mistakes and come to their own conclusions?
My children are still very young (ages 2 and 6), so peer pressure isn’t a big factor yet.
My degree of intervention depends on the particular situation my kids are in and how serious I perceive it to be. For example, if my daughter fell into doing illegal drugs, I’d intervene hard and fast and get her out of that situation ASAP, even if it required breaking her ties with her peer group and putting her in a different environment. In the short run, she might hate me for it, but I can accept that. However, if she falls into a peer group that wears weird clothes or listens to freakish music or is mildly rebellious, I’d probably support that behavior. I don’t want my kids to be clones of me. I want them to explore their own uniqueness, as long as they aren’t taking foolish risks.
I recognize what a big deal peer pressure can be, not just for children but for adults too. I think the best I can do is to lead by example. How do my children see me handling peer pressure? Do they see me violating my own values to conform? Do they see me rebelling haphazardly? Or do they see me choosing friends consciously based on my values?
Children are great teachers. If your moral compass is off kilter, kids will pick up on any hypocrisy and ask questions to expose it. But if your values are honorable, then it is more likely your children will find them worthy of modeling.
Values are a big deal in our family. For example, all of us our vegan. We do not have to force our daughter to eat vegan. In her own way, she understands why we chose this lifestyle and willingly adopts it too. She loves animals and understands that non-vegan foods contribute to animal suffering. Consequently, she often challenges adults who eat meat and will say to them, “That’s not vegan! You’re eating animals, and that hurts them. Why are you hurting animals?” It’s really interesting to see how certain adults react to having their values challenged by a six-year-old.
I want to encourage my children to make conscious decisions, even if they don’t make the same ones I would. When my daughter becomes a teenager and starts going out with friends a lot, if she wants to eat animal products, that’s her choice. My role is to see that she makes such choices consciously.
9. Community Vs Individualism
In western cultures we are brought up to work towards individual self development and achievement. We are taught to seek self-satisfaction and work mostly on self-serving, materialistic goals. In other cultures community comes before the individual, people are considered part of a group and ‘family’, which in many circumstances results in a very
harmonious and happy existence. Do you think our current western culture is lacking in community values and places too much emphasis on individual gratification?
Yes, I’d say that’s accurate. The way I resolved this issue for myself was to create a life that achieves congruency between service to self (STS) and service to others (STO). I’ve written about this previously in my blog here:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/07/how-selfish-are-you/
Certain individuals have a tendency to favor either STS or STO, but if you favor one side at the cost of the other, your life becomes unbalanced. On the STS side, you may choose to harm others or the environment for personal gain. And on the STO side, you may sacrifice too much for the benefit of others. Either you damage others, or you damage yourself. Both extremes are unsustainable. In the past my personal tendency was to error on the STO side. I would give to the point of burning myself out until I was forced to withdraw and restore my energy.
I do not recommend compromise either. Compromise means being half-STS and half-STO, with neither side being fully satisfied. Often this involves compartmentalizing different parts of your life. Perhaps you follow a selfish career path working for a company whose primary goal is profit, and know your work isn’t serving the highest good of all or filling an important human need. However, in your personal life, you attempt to give your best to your family, foster good friendships, and do some community service. You’re selfish in some ways and selfless in others. But this is not the ideal path for fully conscious humans.
The conscious path is to create congruency, where STS and STO actually become the same thing. There’s no compromise or compartmentalization, and balance is achieved in all parts of your life.
I was able to achieve this situation for myself by consciously deciding to build a business that would balance STS and STO. On the STS side, I run a for-profit personal development business. I’m not much of a materialist, but I do want this business to generate abundance and to provide me with lots of freedom. I also want a business that challenges me and helps me grow. On the STO side, the primary goal for my business is to serve the highest good of all. That purpose is actually written into my LLC’s formal operating agreement. This is a higher goal than generating a profit, but in order to sustainably fulfill this purpose, the business must be fiscally sound. However, if there’s ever a serious conflict between serving the highest good and earning profits, then profits will be sacrificed. This is not the kind of business a typical venture capital firm would find attractive.
In practice, I’ve set up the business so the actual activities I perform are both STS and STO. For example, when I write a new article, it helps build traffic, generates revenue from advertising, and puts money in my pocket. It also generates feedback that helps me refine my ideas, so I experience growth as well. But when I write, I do so with the primary intention of helping others grow. I don’t concern myself with how much ad revenue a particular article will bring in or whether it will generate a lot of traffic and links. I just ask myself, “What can I write today that will genuinely help people?” The business is structured such that I can focus the bulk of my energy on the STO side (which is my preference), and the STS side largely takes care of itself.
The hardest part for me has been to allow myself to receive and not just give, give, give. For a long time I felt uneasy about getting paid for this type of work at all. I just wanted to give everything away for free. But I soon found that wasn’t sustainable. I also questioned the belief that I should sacrifice my needs to serve others when some of them expressed a clear willingness to help support me financially.
It took a while, but eventually I came to understand that because I was focusing on serving the highest good of all, then serving my own needs was entirely congruent with serving the highest good of all. If I achieve financial abundance, then I can turn around and teach that to others. And greater abundance means I can expand my service and hopefully do even more good. Any good that comes to me simply flows back out again as a way to serve others. So it’s just as important for me to receive as it is to give.
Even when I work on components of the business that seem purely STS, I recognize now that there is an STO component to them. For example, last year I put some serious effort into optimizing my site to make it generate more income. More income means more money available to improve the service I provide. That money allowed me to buy podcasting equipment, so I could offer a free podcast. I also upgraded my web server twice (I currently pay $149/month for hosting), so the site is very fast and responsive. The more money I make, the more I’m able to increase my service. And the better my service, the more money I make. So my situation is such that STS = STO. This is a wonderful place to be.
If you base your life around genuine service to the highest good of all, then serving your own self interest also serves the highest good. The more abundance you have, the greater your capacity to give. This is the way to balance traditional Eastern and Western values. There’s a space where they overlap, so you just need to find a way to live and work in that space. If you devote your life to serving to the highest good of all, then enjoying abundance in your own life will become an equally honorable pursuit.
10. Finding Purpose and Meaning
One of the benefits of living in a western culture is our abundance of choice. People can choose what they do with their life and enjoy tremendous personal freedoms, yet many have difficulty finding a true calling, an occupation that motivates. Many people suffer due to lack of purpose despite so much opportunity. For readers who have yet to find their personal legend, what advice would you offer to help them find it?
The reason your purpose is fuzzy is because your understanding of reality is fuzzy. If you experience confusion about your purpose, then forget about purpose for a while. Instead, focus on developing an accurate model of reality. Once you understand reality accurately enough, your purpose will become clear.
Increasing your accuracy means facing those parts of your life you don’t want to face, looking them square in the eye, and accepting the truth about them. The more truth you’re capable of accepting, the more accurate your model of reality will be.
Often when people start on this path, they’re in deep denial about the true status of their existence. They may refuse to accept many things about themselves that others would readily acknowledge, such as: I’m out of shape, I’m stingy, I’m in debt, I eat poorly, I’m dishonest, I have many bad habits that I’m ashamed of, I feel powerless, I’m not contributing, I’m afraid, my work is unsatisfying, my marriage is unfulfilling, etc. Too often people lie to themselves and refuse to accept the problems that surround them. But when they finally accept that their life isn’t what they want it to be, that becomes the seed for future change. Problems are transformed into challenges.
It’s very difficult to accept the full truth of your situation when you’ve been lying to yourself for so long. But you won’t find your real purpose under a blanket of lies. It’s only when you start facing the unfaceable parts of your life that your purpose will become visible.
Why not add this site to your favorites or add this article to your del.icio.us bookmarks.
Technorati Tags: consciousness, personal development, self development, self help, self improvement, steve pavlina
Internal Tags: consciousness, personal development, self development, self help, self improvement steve pavlina
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Sponsor Highlight - Who Is Jim Kukral? April 4, 2006
You may have noticed that my blogs have been displaying banners promoting a service called Blog4999.com. Blog4999 is the business of professional blogger, Jim Kukral, and as usual I like to find out a bit about the people that sponsor my blogs so I decided to ask Jim a few questions.
First a quick rundown of who Jim is -
I’ve been blogging since 2001, and have written, created and/or participated in over 30 blogs since that time. Some personal, most professional, and more importantly, all blogs focused on promoting either my own career or the various businesses I have been part of.
I am currently the publisher of ReveNews.com, the industry’s most widely respected group-blog focusing on the billion dollar online marketing industry. I manage and interact with over 30 of today’s top CEO’s, web gurus, and general web-trepreneurs who are icons of the industry, covering topics such as affiliate marketing, blogging, search engine marketing and more.
What marketing techniques have worked best promote your business?
Blogs4999 is brand new, but I plan to strictly use AdWords and blogs to push this one because of the cost and specific niche reach.
How you came up with the idea for your business blog offering?
It’s really all about price. Small businesses can’t afford to lay out 3-5k for a blog, they have much more important things to spend money on. I understand two main things about successful blogging and small businesses. #1, I understand how a good blog CAN make a difference for your business or career, if it’s done right. And #2, I understand that most small businesses aren’t made of money.
What makes it different from all the other hosted blog solutions?
It’s completely unique for two reasons. 1. I actually strategize, plan, build and host your blog, and train you. You really have to do nothing more except answer some questions. My strategy will tell you all you need to know about how you’re going to do it successfully, then set you up, then point you on the way to success. #2 reason it’s different. The price is only $999. There is not a blog consultant out there who will even do just the strategy for you for less than 2-4k. I’m offering it all, for one low price.
How did you get into blogging?
I’ve been blogging since 2001. An employee of mine at the time told me about his blog. I was intrigued because of one major thing. I loved the fact you could instantly publish. It removed the gatekeepers. It allowed anyone to push their thoughts online and share them. After a few years, I realized you could use this medium as a business, so I wrote an ebook called ‘Blogs To Riches’ in 2003, but it was way ahead of it’s time.
Thanks Jim and good luck with your business!
Yaro Starak
Business Blog Fan
Technorati Tags: Blog4999, business blogging, business blogs, jim kukral
Internal Tags: Blog4999, business blogging, business blogs jim kukral
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak
Steve Pavlina Interview - Part 2
Continuing the interview with Steve Pavlina here is part two. You can read part one here -
Steve Pavlina Interview - Part 1
4. How To Reach More People
You use the slogan “Personal Development For Smart People” and talk about raising levels of awareness. The majority of people in this world are probably not at a level of awareness to seek out self development materials like you produce. Many don’t have access to the Internet and few who do will ever stumble across your blog. Given these restrictions, how do you plan in the future to expand your readership and influence?
I’m not here to directly reach every man, woman, and child on earth. My general purpose is to help people grow in consciousness and awareness, but that’s more of a direction than a path. My more specific mission is to influence the influencers.
Single-handedly raising the level of consciousness of the whole planet is too much for me to handle, at least at my current stage of development. Triage is essential. I have to say no to a lot of worthy causes, and sometimes it’s heartbreaking to do so, but if I try to help everyone on earth directly, my specific mission will fail, and I cannot allow that to happen.
Influencing the influencers is my particular leverage point. I specifically aim to catch people in their 20s and 30s, a large percentage of whom are Internet-savvy, and help them realize that there’s more to life than getting a job and making money. These people are the future leaders of tomorrow, and if just a small percentage of them learn to listen to their hearts and not just their heads, it will make a world of difference.
Like many others my age, I have little faith in our current business and political leaders. I don’t vote in any elections because there’s no point. The people and issues that make it onto our ballots are spawned from a very low level of consciousness. Our leaders care more about power and perception than they do about truth and service. That’s cowardice, not leadership, and it needs to change. But the only way I see change happening is if enough people raise their own consciousness to the point where they refuse to be manipulated by fear and falsehood. We need leaders who are conscious and compassionate, who care more about serving the greater good than they do about enriching their egos. But we also need people who are willing to accept having an honorable leader in power, and that requires that people learn to manage their fear so it can no longer be used as a means of manipulating them.
Fortunately, I’m not alone in this mission. There are thousands of others who share a similar purpose, each serving a vital role. It’s very encouraging to see others working to help shift the dominant mode of human consciousness from fear to love, from competition to cooperation.
As long as my web site continues to enjoy such rapid growth, it makes sense for me to continue focusing my attention there. When the growth rate slows, I’ll expand into other media to reach more people. But I intend for the web site to remain the central hub for all my work. This is just the beginning.
5. Blogging
In 2005 your blog was one of the fastest growing individual blogs. As a blogger, what do you think the future holds for blogs and blogging? What direction would you like to see blogs take?
I’m hugely optimistic about the future of blogs and blogging. Blogs are quickly changing the face of media, injecting a much needed dose of truth. Bloggers tend to be an ornery lot, myself included, having little tolerance for the phoniness and falsehood that infests traditional media. Some bloggers take things a bit too far, but it’s nice to see that blogs are acting as checks and balances on mainstream media. Typical newscasters look ridiculously phony when compared to typical bloggers. I think this will ultimately force changes in mainstream media. They’ll have to change as they begin losing business. The advertising dollars are already flooding into blogs, and that’s only going to increase.
More and more people are coming to realize that traditional media has betrayed them. For too long the media has placed corporate interests ahead of truth. As the movie The Corporation
I believe that blogging is going to be a very disruptive influence on systems that are invested in falsehood, especially corporations and government. Blogging is providing an outlet for intelligent people of conscience to finally be heard over the paternalistic, fear-based blabber of traditional media. A corporation or government entity can start a blog, but if it tries spouting the same nonsense it puts in its “for dummies” TV ads, it will soon find itself shredded to pieces by the blogosphere. The bloggers who are honest and credible will continue to draw more and more traffic. People are desperate to hear genuine truth, so herein lies an enormous opportunity for bloggers to build traffic. A blogger can afford to speak the truth on subjects where a corporation or mainstream media entity cannot. A willingness to speak the truth is a blogger’s greatest asset.
I want to see blogs continue to grow in the direction of truth, truth, and more truth. This is a very exciting development because it fits so well with my mission to help people grow. Truth is a powerful enabler of growth.
Making a profit from blogging is all well and good. I expect money will continue to flow into the blogosphere. But I don’t want to see it get in the way of truth. The Internet is such a great equalizer because it’s a lot easier to build a high-traffic web site than it is to create your own TV network.
6. Business
As a small business owner you face many unique challenges every day. How has developing on a personal level helped you as a business person? What do you consider to be the key ingredient(s) to start, build and grow a successful small business?
Obviously the answer depends on your definition of success. I’ll assume a blended definition of success: making a meaningful contribution to the world, enjoying a healthy profit, and finding your work deeply fulfilling.
The single most important factor I’ve found in creating a successful business is accuracy. The business (and the entrepreneur) must be driven by an accurate model of reality, and according to that model, there must be a hugely compelling reason to create the business. If creating the business is merely an option instead of an absolute must, then you shouldn’t create the business. You’re just wasting your time.
When I started my games business, my original purpose was to have it be an outlet for my creativity. It was a vehicle for me to create and sell my own games. A secondary purpose was to entertain and challenge people. But as a purpose, this was only so-so in its level of inspiration. In the grand scheme of things, the work I was doing didn’t really matter to anyone but a handful of people. Nevertheless, this business took a significant amount of my time to build.
The accuracy of my thinking increased when I acknowledged that the world didn’t need another games business, not even a good one. There were far more important needs to address. Eventually I was able to connect the dots between the most crucial human needs and my own personal talents and abilities. For me that connection was personal growth. Helping people grow, especially in consciousness and awareness, was the very best work I felt I could do. There was nothing more inspiring to me. And I felt that it was something I had to do personally. Because of my particular experiences and skills, I saw that I could make a significant and unique contribution to this field if I were to devote a significant portion of my life to it. Furthermore, if I chose not to make that contribution, something wonderful would be lost. I’m not saying this out of ego or vanity – it was simply that I realized that there was a particular area where I could make a valuable contribution to the world, and if I decided not do it, there would be an unfilled void left in its place. If I didn’t fill that void personally, then among other things, a suicide might have occurred that could have been prevented, as I mentioned in question 3.
The key to succeeding in business isn’t some particular technique or strategy. It’s the why that drives the business. When the purpose behind your business is truly important to you, you’ll be driven to learn the skills and take the actions necessary to succeed. Many people in business don’t even apply what they know. But if you have a great purpose, you’ll use what you know and then some.
The purpose behind my business is a huge source of inspiration for me. My purpose drives me to work on my self-discipline, to stay organized, to keep up with the latest developments in my field, and to write hundreds of free articles. Who cares about fame or fortune when you can experience the privilege of saving a life? In the grand scheme of things, money just isn’t that motivating. Sure it’s nice to have a good income, but once your basic needs are met, money won’t be the driving force behind your work. It has to be something much more meaningful. Basically, the true purpose of your business must be some form of genuine and much needed service to the world.
If you’re thinking about starting a business, ask yourself if there’s a greater need on earth than the one your business idea will address. If there is, and if you’re capable of filling that need to some degree, then dump your original idea, and find a way to fill that need and have it generate plenty of income for you.
7. Mentors
Do you have any mentors? If so who are they and in what areas of your own self development have they helped you?
I have a number of mentors. Some are local friends that coach me on my speaking skills. Others are people who’ve created the books and audio programs I’ve devoured. And finally there are my spiritual mentors.
The last group plays the most significant role in my life. While I’ve gained many ideas from people and books, the best mentoring I receive comes from an internal process which includes meditation and journaling.
Whenever I feel I need guidance, I spend a few hours alone either meditating or journaling at my computer. I ask questions and then wait for answers. At various times I’ve filtered this process through one philosophical framework or another. Depending on your particular belief system, you can think of it as prayer, connecting with spirit guides, channeling, communicating with the subconscious, brainstorming, etc. The mental framework isn’t important. The important part is the act of turning inward and seeking answers from within.
Most of the time I use a journaling program on my computer, and I type up a list of questions. Then I work my way through these questions, listening for answers and typing whatever comes to mind. Whether the answers come from some divine source or my own subconscious, I don’t know. But I almost always get good advice whenever I do this. The advice isn’t always easy to follow, and sometimes I disregard it, but in the long run, it usually turns out to be correct. I’ve been using this process for about 10 years now and have found it invaluable. I’m never at a loss for what to do next.
Continue reading part three of the Steve Pavlina interview…
Why not add this site to your favorites or add this article to your del.icio.us bookmarks.
Technorati Tags: consciousness, personal development, self development, self help, self improvement, steve pavlina
Internal Tags: consciousness, personal development, self development, self help, self improvement steve pavlina
Original Article syndicated via RSS from Entrepreneur's Journey by Yaro Starak | older posts »