Have you checked out Squidoo?

This is a relatively new website (recently coming out of beta) that is getting rave reviews from Internet Marketers (who are aware of the site, and many are not) . This site it getting a great reputation as a quick and painless way to drive web traffic, and after spending some time using it over the past week, I would tend to agree that it really is a force to be reckoned with.

What if I told you that my page on squidoo rose to the top position in Google for particular keyword phrase in two days flat (this from a brand new page that had never been indexed before). Impressed? I certainly was.

Let’s talk a little about what Squidoo is. It’s a way to get a web page up and running very quickly (no html/programming experience needed). Squidoo refer to a web page as a lens. Unlike other sites of this nature, they encourage Internet Marketers. The only pre-requisite is that the content on the lens should be unique, and not just be a re-hash of an existing web site.

This is a particularly important point for affiliate marketers, who might be tempted to include only a few words, then have a redirect, via an affiliate link to the product site hoping to make a few quick dollars. Doing this will likely get your lens deleted.

Squidoo has a large number of modules which you can add to your lens automatically, including links for Amazon, eBay, a GuestBook (to get links from other websites or lens), and many more. In additional Squidoo automatically adds Adsense to your website, and allows you to share in any profits made when people click a link on your lens. You also get to share in the revenue from the other modules. Alternatively (and this is what I have done) you can donate all your profits of this nature to a charity, all done automatically for you.

You can also “roll your own” content, and include your own html (although there are a few limitations). But it is possible to add functionality not available on squidoo using this method.

For an example, check out one of my sample lens I setup on ways to increase web traffic on squidoo. If you scroll down towards the bottom of the page, you will see an opt-in box where people can subscribe to my mailing list. The html for this page actually resides on my server, and is loaded automatically by squidoo any time you visit that lens.

Publishing the page on squidoo is very easy, most of the setup is point and click, and the interface is very clean and useable.

Because the web site is fairly new, a lot of marketers are not familiar with it, so this is a golden opportunity for you to sign up and setup a web page.

Check it out and let me know how you find it. If you would like me to post a follow-up article on some great ways to get you into the search engines quickly drop me a line.

Until next time….

Tim Buchalka

Hello again,

Guru Internet Marketers will tell you that’s it’s very hard to get decent traffic to your website, and that you need to buy an expensive e-Book to give you the vital information.

I’m here to tell you that, it really is not that hard. First things, first, a disclaimer if you will, I sell an e-Book on Web Traffic myself, but… (and it’s a big but) I also give people the option of obtaining the information for free if they so decide.

I think this is a great idea for people looking for ways to get web traffic to their web site, and it doesn’t cost anything either, pretty neat, huh?

Now if your like me, your probably wondering what the catch is, just why I am giving the information away for free? Am I just a good natured person wanting to help others? Perhaps I have some sneaky affiliate links in the e-Book that, if people decide to purchase any of the software that I use, that I will make a buck, or two. Maybe I just ask lovingly for you to buy the e-Book down the track, when you have digested some of the free content.

The answer is a little bit of everything. Here is how it works (and listen up, because I believe this is a great way to get more traffic to your web site, as well as more sales in the long term).

When people want to visit my web traffic website (yes, I know your keen to get there to check it out, but please read on first), I give them the option of buying the e-Book for a lousy $47 bucks, with over 120 pages of meaty web traffic content (and I am not talking about an e-Book with double spaced, super large font, with heaps of pictures, as many other e-book authors seem to sell). This is actual meaty text.

The other alternative I give them is to sign up for my mailing list, and they then get a chapter at a time delivered to their Inbox every few days. If you are prepared to wait long enough and are prepared to put up with my humor long enough, you will get everything I know about web traffic for free.

I even put some of the content from each chapter of the e-Book on the website for free, so people can get some info without buying the e-Book or subscribing to the mailing list. Yes that’s right, I even cater for the freeloaders. Whoops did I type that…

Why bother getting people to sign up for a mailing list? Well I’d like to think I could build up a relationship with people over a period of time, introduce myself to people, tell them a bit about myself, and get them comfortable that what I am providing is real actual content. It’s really a “try-it” before you buy, but in this case you can fully try it out without ever buying it.

I’d be very interested in your comments about the process, whether you think it is a good idea, and even for that matter, if the content is actually useful to you. Come on, check it out, you know you want to, and be brutally honest in your assessment. Tell me if the information is useful to you. Did it help you get more traffic, did you learn something new?

If your interested in obtaining more traffic to your website, be sure to surf over and sign up for the mailing list (as a special bonus you get to check me out in the video on the front page, and get the proof that I really am an Australian).

I really think this technique is something that will be of great benefit to your Internet Marketing, give people useful information, and they will come back to your website again or again (or sign up for your mailing list and get your information delivered right to their inbox).

Well that’s about it for me, another post bite the dust (or hit’s the database).

Talk soon….

Tim

I’m a 43 year old Software Developer with a passion for web traffic techniques, and now a serious need to help out as many people as I can with Internet Marketing. It has taken me a long time to realise that I want to actually help people and teach what I know to others, and that’s the reason for the blog.

Over the coming weeks, I am going to keep adding Internet Marketing articles, and other useful stuff that hopefully you will find interesting to read.

Check out my Internet Marketing articles for specifics of why I think there is a need for this, in a nutshell I think the entire Internet Marketing Industry is a complete rip-off (well certain “Guru’s” are the one’s doing all the ripping off, and I aim to change that by giving as much information as possible to people needing Internet Marketing information).

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, me, myself, and I. I live in Paralowie, which is a suburb of Adelaide, in South Australia. Yes I am an Aussie, and proud of it mate! South Australia is pretty well the hottest and driest state in Australia, in Summer it’s not uncommon to have 100+ degree fahrenheit days for days and sometimes weeks at a stretch. I’ve learnt to love my air conditioner!

I live with my partner Louise, and her two children Gage, and Zayn. I have two grown up kids, Amelia and Ryan who are living around 400 Kilometers away, but thanks to the joys of the Internet, namely Skype and MSN (why kids of today use MSN is a mystery to me, but I digress), I get to speak to them often, and they come up and visit from time to time.

My partner thinks I am a real geek, because apart from programming stuff whenever I can, I like tech toys, and fiddling with stuff, you know anything a bit geeky. We recently bought a new car, and I made sure it had a cool stereo player in it, as well as a bluetooth phone kit, I am still fiddling with all the options in our car. It’s a Mitsubishi Outlander VRX and I have to say I am extremely happy with it, to date.

Recently, I have also made some life changing decisions to get my weight down to a manageable level (i.e. not overweight). So far I have lost around 27Kgs (approx 60 pounds) and really need to lose that amount again to be comfortable.

I am at the gym 5-6 days a week now, so the excess weight is on it’s way out the door (with the help of a reasonable diet which helps a lot).

One book I heartily recommend is Burn the Fat. Now before you ask, no I am not an affiliate of the product, nor am I trying to make any money from it, I just believe it is a great book and it has helped me immensely in the battle for a new life without excess body fat. Tom Venuto, the author, writes in a very easy to read format, and I have put the information to great use.

Another great resource I found (especially useful for programmers) is the hacker’s diet. This guide was written by the very successful founder of AutoDesk, the CAD software package, who was successful in all areas of his life, other than his weight problem, which he solved, and then documented for free. I followed this early on, and have progressed to other areas now, but it was a great start for me.

Because I am a geek, i’ve invested in some software that tracks all the calories, proteins, carbs, etc of the food I eat. Because I am in Australia, I use the Australian version which is at Aussie CalorieKing but the American version of the software is at US CalorieKing.

The great thing about this is, the database is updated often, and I have only found a few products so far that were not in the database, and even in these situations, you can manually add an item.

I can only vouch for the Australian version, it is very good, for people like me who use computers for as many things as they can and love pretty graphs, and fiddling with reports, and stats. Note that these programs are not free, so if you don’t want to spend any money, look at the hackers diet, which has basic functionality where you can record your details with pre-made excel spreadsheets, etc.

Hopefully this information will be useful to anyone out there looking to shed some weight, good luck with it!

I am absolutely sick to death of the Internet Marketers out there attempting to coerce funds from those poor unfortunate souls who have been unlucky enough to subscribe to their mailing list (or worse still to attend a seminar).

Now I am not against making money on the Internet, I make an income myself online, and many of the products available from Internet Marketers are actually decent ones in their own right (I even intend to review some in the near future and post the results here). My gripe is the Internet Marketers (you know who you are) who promote lots and lots of products (most of them not even belonging to them) which to me is a blatant cash grab. Day after Day, there is another “must have” product in my inbox, and of course, the Internet Marketer gets a commission for any sales.

Reading some of the crud that is released by these “guru” (and I use that word loosely!) Internet Marketers, you would think that there was no way to succeed without spending thousands of dollars on products which just co-incidentally they have available for sale (at a one time special price of course).

I believe Internet Marketing is not that difficult a concept to grasp, and it is possible to get started and make a profit without investing in some of these Internet Marketers courses. Again this is exactly the opposite of what they are telling you.

It gets worse though, I was at a seminar recently and some of the “specials” were upwards of $10,000 and sadly a lot of people were signing up for them. A good presentation and speaking well in front of people really works. My problem is not the cost, and not the content (some of it is good), I just believe a lot of the required information is already available, and that this information should be available to the average person for free, yes that’s right for free!

Let me give you an example. I have a Web Traffic e-Book that I developed, and that I promote online. The e-Book can be purchased, But (and it’s a big but) I give people the option to get the entire contents of the e-Book for free if they so choose. That’s right, for free, nada, nothing to pay. Optionally if they want to purchase it (and feed the starving kids), well, they can, but the choice is theirs.

If your like most, you would think no one would buy the book, right? Well I am here to tell you that that is wrong, the vast majority of people who grab the free content, ultimately buy the e-Book, impressive hey? I hope it is a vote of confidence in my offerings, but I also think it’s because they have had the chance to sample the merchandise (so to speak) before they have purchase it.

I am getting off track a bit here, because this post is not meant to be about my e-Book, so I will finish off talking about my e-Book by saying if your looking for ways to increase web site traffic then go take a look, and grab the contents for free if you wish. You will also get to check my lovely face on the video on the front page!

Getting back to the point of this post, I believe information should be available for free, and I intend, over time to put up all the information I know about Internet Marketing on this blog, and to make it freely available to anyone who wants it.

If you have a particular subject you want discussed, by all means drop me a line, and I’ll aim to cover it in a future post. With your help, I intend on making this the best free source of information on Internet Marketing on the web.

Let’s beat these “guru” Internet Marketers at their own game, by giving away the information and making it available to anyone who wants it.

Cheers

Tim