Ron Davies

Just a note to address the video issues going on with this site right now.

Up until today I was paying for a premium video account over at Blip.tv. They have informed me that they have elected to cancel my membership because ”selling through videos is against their policy”.

Strangely enough, as my readers know all too well, I, too am against any selling in my videos, and none of them contain any kind of sales whatsoever.

Further investigation reveals that they have recently cancelled a number of authority sites from the use of their system.

My guess is we were using too much bandwidth, or perhaps Bliv.tv marketing gurus decided that all the exposure we were providing them at no cost was just a bad thing. Maybe they need to get out of the city and get some fresh air, who knows :>)

Needless to say, I strongly advise against the use of Bliv.tv, or any of their services. My staff and I invested about 300 hours in converting and uploading videos to their system, not to mention endorsing them on a massive scale, as well as paying the monthly fees.

So, at this time, as I prepare for the conference next week in Orlando, we are also trying to locate a respectable and professional video service provider to restore the videos on this site and a few others.

As Blip.tv has evidenced that our loyalties to them were ill-placed, I am open to suggestions from eaders on other video service providers capable of multiple format conversions and RSS feeds of video data to iTunes for syndication.

From everything there is something to learn, and in this case I would have to say that we will run a longer trial before committing time and money to future third party service providers.

In the mean time, if you don’t mind putting a note on all of your blogs and sites telling users to avoid using Blip.tv services, I think you will be doing your readers a real service, and they will respect your attempt to protect them

Thank you for your patience as we get this sorted out.

from such unscrupulous service providers.

Cheers!

Ron Davies

Start 2009 Off With a Huge BANG!

Come on out to Orlando for the Earn1KaDay Internet Marketing Summit and see Willie Crawford, Craig Beckta, myself, and a long an impressive list of keynote speakers right next to Walt Disney World.

Make a family weekend, you won’t be worried about price, as it is without a doubt the BEST DEAL going in conferences.

It will cost you about 1/4 the price of similar conferences to see these speakers, not to mention the awesome location. Bring your family for the weekend, it’s probably even a deductible business expense for you!

I genuinely hope to see you there!

Start 2009 off in a big way. Networking is everything, and this is THE GROUP to meet, as they have all made their marks in Internet Marketing.

Remember, it’s not just what you know, who you are “hooked up with” is equally, and often even more important.

Get in on the ultimate list of networkers in IM. Get to Orlando for the Earn1KaDay IM Summit!

If you have any questions, or would like to arrange a sit-down together, drop me a line at ron@davies.ca

Click Here Now for More Info

Cheers, and see you in Orlando!

So you are interested in blogging but are not sure where to start…

This secret is free – start at the beginning.

Right, what a smart ass huh? I am amazed, though, by just how many would-be professional  bloggers start somewhere other than the beginning, intending to come back to it later.

How much sense does that make?

So, where is the beginning. This could probably be argued a bit, but I suspect the beginning is when you select what your blog is going to be about. This is known as the “niche”, though I think “topic” will do just fine.

How do you select a topic?

Don’t do keyword research just yet. This is where so many people go wrong. Your passion is not about keywords in a Google search, it is about who YOU are. We don’t care at this point how many people are searching for your area of interest. Let’s keep going one step at a time.

Imho, it should be selected by weighting the following factors .  I think your selection should come from as high on this list as possible, with the weaker choices further down the list

Think of something you:

1. have a great deal of passion for; (gardening, woodworking, quilting. raising kids)
2. tend to focus a great deal of your attention and energy on. (raising kids, teaching at cubs, local charities)
3. are trained or professional in; (nurse, mechanic, lawyer, author)
4. get asked your opinion on all the time; (relationships, interior design, raising kids)

Yes, raising kids is in there 3 times to show you that a subject that fits into a number of these for you might be the best subject for you to blog on. Sometime these blog are incredibly successful. I know one blog on making frugal clothing purchases for kids that pulls in $1500/ month from each of 4 advertising spots on the front page alone.

If none of these seems to be turning on any little lights in your head, think about the last time someone asked for your advice. It might surprise you a little to discover what other people see you as an expert os demi-expert on.

Don’t just grab the “most economically sensible niche” because they have been done to death. Blog where your passion is if at all possible, and go down the list from there. Expertise is great, but people respond to passion just as well as expertise, and usually find their visit to your blog much more memorable when it is obvious that you are passionate.

Now, this in mind, there are a couple of areas I strongly recommend you avoid like salmonella poisoning:

• work from home;
• affiliate marketing;
• gambling;
• business opportunities, etc.

These are about as far from possible to dominate as anything could be, and I don’t honestly feel it would be easy to be genuinely passionate in them.

So think a little on what drives you. You need to be a little vulnerable for people to respond to you, and get close to you, as absurd as it may sound across the vast nothingness and anonymity of the web. It really does happen.

Ask a friend for suggestions, dig deep. and write down 10 topic choices or niches.

Agonize over them a bit, and narrow those down to two choices.

Write them down on a sticky pad, and stick them on your monitor for a day or two staring you in the face. You will know which of them is right by them time you come back for the next step.

Please don’t continue to the next step until you have finished the above.

Cheers,

Ron

Courtesy GWN

I am very fortunate to have a foot or two of snow falling around me today, as it reminds me of my “great white north” location.

Funny thing is, while waiting for my satellite Internet service to come back up, I had just finished a chat with Craig Beckta (Secret Affiliate Code 2) on the phone and was marveling at how we had both come to affiliate marketing from being helicopter mechanics, and were doing very well at it, thank you very much #;>)

As I watched the signal bar on my Galaxy satellite Internet modem blink a mindless 1 square out of a possible 5, I realized it might be a while until I could get back to work online, and daydreamed a few more “hoser stats”;

I summarized that for some unseen reason, Canada is producing successful affiliate marketers at an alarming rate;

• Alex Goade (Montreal)
• Craig Beckta (Halifax)
• The late Corey Rudl (Vancouver)
• Dave Guindon (not sure)
• The Late Corey Rudl (Vancouver area)
• Kyle & Carson (Vancouver)

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