Subscribing To RSS Feeds
Posted by Mitch on May 28, 2008
RSS stands for “really simple syndication”, and basically it gives people an opportunity to follow new content from websites or blogs that are often changing what’s being presented on the site. For instance, if you notice on the top right side I have a little icon giving people the option to syndicate my blog, so that they will be informed every time I write something new. I want people to subscribe to my blog so that my message will spread, but there’s reality that many people may not quite know what RSS feeds are.
The video below talks about it in a little more detail, as well as how to use it witnin Internet Explorer. I use a separate program that’s not associated with my browser called Feedreader to put all my feeds into, and it’s free.
After watching that, I hope you decide to subscribe to my feed; I won’t be mad if you do. 
Meanwhile, I can’t take full credit for finding the video, so I thank Barbara Ling for writing about it on her blog.
Twitter’s On My Nerve, And I Just Got There!
Posted by Mitch on May 28, 2008
I’ve been on Twitter for less than a month, and I’m already starting to get irritated with it.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Sure, I came to it kicking and screaming because, like most people, I just didn’t quite get the concept. Basically, it’s fast and immediately blogging, or more like quick notes of what you’re doing at that moment. You’re only allowed 140 characters, including spaces, to say what you want to say; this makes you think just a little bit more concisely, which is hard for someone like me who wants to go on and on.
Once I started, it just grabbed me and I thought it was pretty neat. I found a few friends to follow, and as time went on, people started to find me, people I didn’t know, and that was neat. What happens is that you can follow people throughout the day and they can do the same to you. I’m following 3 or4 more people than follow me, but that’s okay. At least half the time I post a link from a new blog post, whereas 25% of the time I’m putting out a thought, and the other 25% I’m talking to someone.
One of my friends introduced me to TwitterFox, since I use Firefox, so I didn’t have to always sign onto the Twitter site I thought that was pretty good also, until I started getting these strange messages, “rate limit exceeded”, with a different number all the time. I thought that was odd, and asked my friend about it, but he said he hadn’t noticed it, probably because he’s not as anal as I am at looking at stuff. I also noticed that, quite often, the light blue “T” of TwitterFox that’s sitting at the bottom of my browser goes red, and that’s when you know it’s down.
I tried to figure out what the problem was, couldn’t, deleted it and reloaded it, and nothing was solved. I then went to Google and did my research, to see if anyone else was having the same problem. And that’s when it hit me; it’s not Twitter Fox at all, it’s Twitter. It would seem that it’s experiencing the same problems that both Facebook and MySpace experienced with rapid growth, which then brings on server issues. Just this past weekend Twitter announced they’d had a major server crash and were rerouting things, but they never fully shut us down, or so I believe.
So, though I’m still going to be “twittering”, I have to admit that it’s not fun when I go to post a message and everything is frozen. And it doesn’t matter whether I use TwitterFox or log onto the page and try to post something; when they’re down, they’re down, and there’s nothing you can do about it. However, I know the visits to this blog have increased since I hooked up on Twitter, so I’m not going to complain too loudly. They haven’t increased on my other blog, though; I find that interesting.
Anyway, if you ever get the urge to follow me on Twitter, just click on this link. I don’t think I’m going anywhere for awhile. You can learn more about it by checking out this link to eNetworking 101.
LinkedIn Loses One Of Its Top Supporters
Posted by Mitch on May 26, 2008
Are you a member of LinkedIn? I’ve been on LinkedIn maybe 3 or 4 years now. Not counting the people I already knew from elsewhere, in that entire time I’ve only personally met one of those people, and only once had a second conversation with someone I’d met there. So, it hasn’t really been much of a benefit for me.
However, my friend Vincent Wright has been a major advocate pretty much since he signed up. He’s gone out of his way to set up all sorts of groups for LinkedIn members to participate in. He’s set them up on LinkedIn, then went a step further and set one up on Yahoo. Both groups have had a fantastic response, lots of participation and members, a bunch of great topics.
Yet, even there, one could notice something always seemed to be missing. People were talking, but no one was really doing the kind of business LinkedIn said they could do. Truthfully, LinkedIn has never been set up for open communications; at least not the free version. I don’t know anyone paying to be a member there, so I don’t know if it’s easier for them to communicate with each other or not.
Anyway, back to my friend Vincent. He started noticing some things a while ago, and now it’s gotten to the point where he’s written a post called The Audacity Of Nope that I think anyone who participates in LinkedIn, or may be thinking about participating, should check out, just to make sure they feel it’s what they want to sign up for. I mean, if they can turn off someone like this, someone whose professional life, it seemed, revolved around LinkedIn, then what is there for the rest of us whose only hope has been to make some connections with the type of people we’d like to work with?
And trust me, I’ve really given it the ol’ college try. I’ve asked for connections through people I already knew, but never received a response from the one I wanted to meet. LinkedIn only allows 5 connection requests at a time, so you have to decide later to eliminate some and try again with someone else. For my main career, there’s not a lot of options out there as far as people I’d like to meet to help my business out. If only two of these people had responded, I might feel as though it was a great place to remain. Right now, I have to admit that I’m thinking it just might all be a waste of time. I’m not dropping out just yet, but I am leaning that way.
This brings about an interesting question to ask all of you; how do you really feel about some of these social or business networking sites? How many of them are giving you what you really want or need? Who remembers my post on my thoughts about Facebook? What say you, folks?
Need Some Brainstorming Help
Posted by Mitch on May 25, 2008
Talk about an exciting last few days!
First, I got asked to do a guest blog post for C. A. Simmons on his blog Circle One Connect, reviewing the book Before You Quit Your Job by Robert Kiyosaki. I first wrote a longer version for one of my other websites, Reviews Of Everything, then changed it up for his site. That way, we both get a bounce from the same book; I thought that was kind of cool. At some point I hope C.A. does a guest post for me.
Then I got a unique opportunity to review and help edit Guy Kawasaki’s next book, which will be book number nine, and that was wild because I not only got to help, but I got to pick up some tips that I should be able to use in my business. That’s always a good thing, and I’m glad to have been a part of it all.
I also spent some time yesterday working on a couple of my websites, trying to update and add more content because I want people who come to my sites to get some value out of the things I’ve written, as well as, hopefully, entice them to buy some of the products I show.
However, I’m having some thoughts about one of my sites, and I thought that I’d put it out here to see if anyone wishes to make some comments on it. I have a site called Services And Stuff that just doesn’t get any juice whatsoever. When I purchased the domain name years ago, my thinking was that I wanted to create my own type of web portal or directory, but I wanted it to be a bit more exclusive. I didn’t want a lot of junk links popping up; I wanted to be able to verify that all the businesses on the site were legitimate, whether they were marketing services or products; hence the name. I also wanted a place to put all these neat looking affiliate link ads from Commission Junction, which I’d just joined at the time.
The original design I actually loved, but it really did look amateurish. I was trying to be cute, but in retrospect, it was clunky, though I left it alone for about 8 months. Then I did a total redesign, which is what you’ll see if you visit, and thought it was much better. I was prepared for growth if it came, because I figured I’d make a little money off it, and as it grew I’d make even more money off it, and I don’t mind doing the work when money is involved. It seemed like a perfect site to generate passive income, so to speak.
But it’s generated almost none. Frankly, I’m thinking the vision for the site is askew at this point, and I’m trying to figure out how to change it up again. I still want to have a place where people can request me to post their links, but I want a better opportunity to make some sales, as in adding pages where I can write about affiliate products and the like; at least I think I do. I’m proud of the page rank of 4 it’s attained, and its Alexa rank isn’t bad considering I don’t have the Alexa toolbar helping to drive it anywhere, but it barely gets more visits that my ROE.info site, and that’s a shame because the Reviews site has only been up since February.
I’m only about 24 hours into the thought process, which is why I’m putting it out there to the universe. Brainstorming only works when there are more brains in the storm, right?
So, let’s see where this goes, and I thank anyone who leaves a comment for their thoughts on the matter.
New York State Is Killing My Affiliate Business
Posted by Mitch on May 24, 2008
Well, today’s been interesting, I must say, for a Friday before a long holiday weekend.
I had two of the affiliate programs that I advertise for through Commission Junction tell me that they’re discontinuing my association with them because I live in New York state, and it’s stupid law which says out of state companies that do business in New York state online must collect sales tax from his customers and pay the state. One of them even went so far as to tell me that if I reincorporated my business in New Jersey that they’d be happy to have me back.
What am I talking about? Here’s a pdf link to a memo from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Office of Tax Policy Analysis, Taxpayer Guidance Division that addresses this new legislation.
Sure, the economy isn’t tough enough for everyone right now, with gas almost $4 a gallon, the price of food and other stuff going up drastically, property taxes are going up, our Thruway fees are going up, postage just went up, and now New York is basically going to kill online business because this is just the tip of the iceberg. Amazon has already filed suit, and many other companies aren’t far behind. And, if it’s withheld, I can see more of these companies deciding they’re just not going to do business with New York, and there’s the farm, folks.
We already have one of the worst credit ratings in the country, we’re suffering mass exodus from the state, including New York City, because we have the highest tax rate in the country (at least we did; we’re up there in any case), the state is trying to close hospitals and make others merge in an effort to stem costs (with what I still feel was the recommendation from an illegally created panel; thanks Pataki), and now this? I mean, not that I’m making all that much money from it at this very moment, but taking away the opportunity for me to even have the chance to make money online certainly doesn’t help, does it?
For the first time I’m starting to wonder if my wife is correct and maybe we should leave this state. I have always loved it here because I think central New York is just a beautiful place, but I have to admit that it would be nice living in a state without income tax or restraint of trade for a change, one that’s not one of the most regulated states in the nation on a yearly basis (how much do people in other states pay for their annual car inspections anyway?).
No sir, I’m not a happy man today.
Thoughts About Facebook
Posted by Mitch on May 17, 2008
On my Reviews of Everything site, I wrote a review on Facebook, around the same time they started advertising.
Now I’m more months into it, and I’m still wondering about the overall value of Facebook as a true social networking site. Here’s my issue; there’s not much networking going on at all, let alone socializing. The site is replete with groups that either are set up to recruit people to become friends with, or groups whose overall purpose is to satiate their lascivious tendencies (go look that one up; not a word I get to use often).
I’m certainly not a prude, but there are only be so much of this sort of thing before one gets bored. I’ve created two groups of my own there. One is for support of people who have diabetes, as I do, and the other is for people to post their blogs and talk about blogging in general. On one of the groups, I have maybe 25 people who’ve signed up, but mainly it’s just me talking and posting links to news about things related to diabetes. I can’t get a conversation going to save my soul. On the other group, some people are finally sharing their blogs, but no one wants to talk about anything, only to share their blog. On that group I don’t necessarily mind so much, as I love looking at new blogs, but I can’t believe people would join these groups, then have nothing to say.
I only have one friend on Facebook who’s actually found a group that has people who have real conversations, and it’s more of a group that does the same work as she does, so of course they’re talking shop. I’d love to join a group in one of the industries I’m a part of myself, but every group I looked at had no one talking to anyone, only a lot of people posting links to try to sell something.
Frankly, if this is what social networking is about online I’m kind of depressed. There was more conversation back in the old BBS bulletin board days; how many of you remember that? Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster, Black Planet, Izania,… nope, so far I’m not all that impressed.
Of course, I’m not leaving Facebook any time soon, because of only one thing; that Scrabulous thing, the game that’s actually Scrabble. Now that I can’t get enough of, and if that’s all I have, then so be it. It’s not overly social either, but at least it’s fun.
Do You Avoid Scams?
Posted by Mitch on May 14, 2008
I was talking to a friend of mine last night in Australia and he was telling me how he once fell for an online scam where he thought he was getting a list of companies that would pay him to do surveys for them, and of course he got nothing of the sort. He was out $40, and had no recourse in getting his money back because the people went through some hidden source in setting up their chopping cart.
I told him that often in my adult life I’ve been tempted to do something that just didn’t quite sound right, and in every instance except one I didn’t follow through. The first time I did follow through was right out of college, where a friend and I paid some guy $20 to become wholesale marketers, and realized within hours that it wasn’t the job for us. For our troubles, we got to each keep one thing the company was selling, with my “gift” being a backgammon set that I still love to this day, so I feel as though I got my money’s worth out of it.
Also back in the day, I was trying to be a big time songwriter. I’d spend hours writing songs of all sorts, some I thought were pretty good, some I knew were just for me. I did research at the library for publishers I could send some of my music to, and I did. I even entered song contests, and had one of my songs finish in the top 600 out of 35,000 songs, so I felt pretty good about that.
But I also got contacted by a lot of people who said they wanted to record my song and put it on a record and market it to publishers and radio stations, which sounded pretty good. However, they all wanted me to pay for it, for someone else to record my music, and that didn’t sound right. The books I was researching at the library all said if someone asked you to pay for something instead of them offering you money, it was probably a scam. The pull was strong, I have to admit, but in the end I didn’t go that route, and I feel pretty secure about it.
Most of us are inundated with the latest and greatest thing online on a daily basis, and some of it sounds quite intriguing. Just a few weeks ago a friend of mine kind of ambushed me into a phone conversation with this other guy to start marketing online travel services, and it was “only” going to cost me $500 to join in. I still consider the guy a friend, but I was disappointed because I didn’t see that coming, though, after he asked me if I’d watch a couple of videos and if he could call me back and ask about it I will admit the Spidey senses did kick up.
I don’t go for glitzy presentations, video or written. If I get through the first 3 paragraphs of something, or into the second minute, and I haven’t been told what the product or pitch is, I leave. There are so many people marketing MLM products and services, and let’s face the truth, most of them aren’t getting by with that stuff. But they purchase it, try to push it as hard as they can, usually to their family and friends first, then they get beaten down by the resistance and bail out. It’s not that the products or the services are always scams, but the prospects they dole out to you as far as telling you how much money you can make is unrealistic.
Internet marketing isn’t easy; I’ll tell you that one right up front. Heck, regular marketing isn’t easy. Even if you’re an exclusive, where no one else does exactly what you do, there’s a world of competition out there doing something similar enough to make it hard for you to break through. So, any time someone else comes along and says you’re going to make a world of easy money if you just do this, or pay for that,… take a second minute to think it over with your non-greedy mind.
Now, books might be something different, because I’ve purchased a lot of ebooks and have learned a lot. I talked recently about the Joel Comm Adsense Secrets book, which I think is a pretty good book, and for the price I paid, it was a great book. The most I’ve ever spent on an online book was $40, and I thought it was worth every penny. But before I’ve purchased every book, I’ve done my research online, because I don’t just buy into the hype of something. I need to find at least two or three reviews before I’ll pull the trigger, and I don’t mean ads that look like reviews either. If everyone took a little bit of time in checking some of these things out first, we’d all be a whole lot happier.
Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m not still going to pitch a product or two at you; I am marketing on the internet after all.
A PC Sense Of Deja Vu
Posted by Mitch on May 7, 2008
Wow, talk about your weird senses of deja vu. My wife and I were just talking yesterday about this video made by some kid last year where he was crying about the treatment Britney Spears was getting from the media for her, uhhh, aberrant behavior. We were discussing it because there’s talk that this kid is possibly going to be offered some kind of reality TV deal; talk about having one’s 15 minutes extended into 30.
Well, now there’s this, which isn’t exactly the same thing, but it’s pretty close. I read about it on John Chow’s Blog today, and I thought it would be neat to, for once, possibly be on the forefront of a viral video campaign.
And so I bring you “Leave PC Alone!”
Blog Commenting And Not Wasting Anyone’s Time
Posted by Mitch on May 5, 2008
These days I’m working hard at expanding the reach of this blog. There are two main ways it’s recommended that one works on getting blog traffic. One says to try to write at least once a day on your blog, which I’ve kept up with. The other says to visit other blogs and leave comments on them, valid and legitimate comments, and maybe people will like what you have to say, visit your blog, comment on your blog, and maybe even request the trading of links.
So I started out to do that. I have close to 100 blogs on many different topics in my Feedreader, so I figured there would be a lot to comment on. And there were a bunch of posts to look at, that’s for sure. And I speed read, so I figured I could get to a bunch of blog posts and have lots to talk about.
Well, it didn’t quite happen that way. To be fair, I’ve probably left at least 25 messages on other blogs, but out of the couple of thousand posts I saw, I had expected there might be more to talk about.
This doesn’t mean that I didn’t find value in a lot of what was out there. What it means is that there’s a lot out there that I just couldn’t figure out what to comment on that could actually advance the conversation. I didn’t want to write a bunch of “I agree” or “I disagree” posts without something else to say.
And I think that’s one of the more important things I learned from all that reading I did. I didn’t waste my time, or anyone else’s time, writing stuff that would have only been self serving. No one likes that, unless the poster is a friend of yours that you’re just happy to hear from.
Discretion; glad to see I had some of that.
Talking About Hx Tags
Posted by Mitch on May 1, 2008
Since I have no plans on adding a SEO blog, which I’d probably run out of things to talk about fairly soon, I’m going to, every once in awhile, talk about it here. This is one of those posts.
There is this great post on a blog called Small Business Marketing Search called How To Use Hx Tags To Boost Page Performance that’s supreme. I visit many SEO chat sites where there’s always this debate as to just how important some of the things we were all taught as it pertains to coding that helps to enhance a website’s visibility are.
What the writer of this article, Stoney deGeyter, wrote is great stuff, and he even has a chart you can review. I think it was very well written, and I hope you check it out.
I'm Just Sharing is a blog about sharing my thoughts about internet marketing and other things. Read, enjoy, and buy! :-)
