If you have experienced a Google slap or Google suspension, this blog post is for you.  If Google PPC is a key marketing strategy and a vital part of your business success, you’ll want to read on….

**********************

The date was July 17, 2009 .

I remember it as well as my own birthday or my wedding anniversary date.

It was the day I was suspended from Google.  The day they told me they no longer wanted to see my ads on their network — EVER AGAIN.

It felt worse than the time that my first ever girlfriend told me to get lost (well, it was nicer than that, but it still hurt like hell).

Fast forward to November 17, 2009… the date my Google Adwords account was reinstated.

No tricks, no changing URLs, credit cards, or applying as a fictitious person.  NOPE.

This was for real .. I was (and am) back advertising on Google!  WOO HOO!!!!

So how did I accomplish this seemingly impossible feat?  Well, its about knowing the right people, I suppose.  I ran into a friend online who told me he was still running ads on Google, and after grilling him like he was a Nazi war criminal on how he was doing it, I realized it came down to one simple axiom:

He was giving Google what they wanted, which was simply for their user to have a good experience when searching.

No clever deceptions, no redirecting the searcher to an unrelated site, and certainly no ridiculous income claims.  I begged and pleaded for my friend to take a look at my campaigns, and he did so.  He showed me exactly why I had been slapped and unsuspended, and more importantly he began showing me how to stay out of trouble with Google in the future.

He began offering a 12 week course covering everything that I needed to know to run my campaigns with Google without ever having to worry about another slap or suspension, and I jumped at it.  This is one very smart guy.

The best news for you, my faithful blog readers?

He is now allowing me to send him others to help get them unsuspended, too.

And I am giving you guys FIRST SHOT.

Some obvious questions?

Who is this guy? Just an above average marketer with a great relationship with Google.  Imagine, Google has actually been EMAILING HIM during this whole process.  And all I could ever get as an automated message to my queries.

What is involved? You will need to give him access to your Google account so he can clean it out of any undesirable content.  You must then agree to attend his 12 week course, since his reputation is on the line when you start marketing again.  Imagine — if someone he helps goes out and starts marketing with the same deceiving methods that got them suspended in the first place, his reputation with Google will be ruined.

Is it free? Of course not.  He is not only offering you a service, but he is giving you his knowledge and expertise so that you will become a master Google marketer with a great track record.  The cost will depend on the severity of your suspension and how much work he will need to do to get you reinstated.

Is it guaranteed to work? NO, he told me straight out that there were no guarantees in this process, that it was strictly on a case-by-case basis.  And it he cannot get you reinstated, your money will be refunded (less the cost of his time and effort).

How Do I Get More Information? Email me at rbrc200@gmail.com or leave me a comment on this post, let me know your current situation and how long you’ve been suspended, and I’ll send you to his website.  I need to pre-screen who I send to him — otherwise, it will be like Black Friday at your local Best Buy.

‘Look guys – this option will NOT be for everyone, but if you are suspended from Google and PPC is a vital part of your business, it may be worth your time and effort to take a look at this guy.

I’m sure glad I did.

Talk soon,

Dr. Bob Clarke

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I love social media.

I hate social media.

It depends on what day you ask me. 

There are days when social media is SO COOL. 

I mean, where else can you meet people from all over the world who have the same interests you do?  Where else can you forge friendships at the click of a mouse?

I can find people who love baseball.  People who went to the same college I did.  People who are as intrigued by the new era of marketing as I am.  People who share my spiritual or political beliefs. 

I can basically find people who are as cool as me… all over the World! 

But then there are days like yesterday. 

Days when my social media circle feels dirty and contaminated.

It was a day for the BLATANT SALES PITCH.

Look, I get it.  I am an online marketer, and I understand that ultimately, we all hope to find really cool people who want to do business with us. 

But you have to be cool about it! 

I want people to romance me before they ask me to get married!  I mean, talk to me about what I like, share some of your thoughts, get to know me…. and then ask me up for coffee. 

But some people never learn.  They just continue to bang me over the head, time and time again, with their blittherinly stupid sales pitches that sound like really bad infomercials.  And if they’re doing it to me, you can bet they’re doing it to everyone else.

And my bet is, they get no one to follow them… and they conclude that social media is dead.

And to these social networking NitWits I say….

Good riddance… go try pay-per-click!

Until next time,

Dr. Bob Clarke

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Anyone with experience in MLM, Network Marketing, or Direct Sales knows what a Google slap is.  If you don’t, take a moment and google “Google slap” and get up to speed before proceeding here.

“I’ve been Google slapped again” became an altogether too familiar scream around my house lately.

Now, the point of this blog post is not to argue the validity of the latest Google slap on affiliate marketers and “make money” opportunities, but to point out that good things comes from even the darkest clouds.

Here’s my story….

I fell in love with Google Adwords.  I started advertising on Google over a year ago, and the leads came in at breakneck speed.  Costly?  Sure, but I received extensive training from some very well respected Google authorities.   So I knew what I was doing, paid a reasonable cost, and was a very happy camper.

Then I got slapped, and slapped again, and again.  Every time I made changes in my campaigns to adjust to the latest slap, I would no sooner get traffic back up and leads coming in then…. BAM! I would get slapped again.

It was difficult, but the upside was so damn high.  So I kept adjusting and moving forward.

I was hooked!

At least I was until the latest slap a few weeks ago, when Google decided to make Affiliate Marketers lives a living hell.  My impressions went to ZERO overnight, and I received that dreaded “You are suspended from Google” email.

Now what? I mean, if Google was against my entire community, what hope was there, right?

WRONG!

Hope rose anew from the fact that the Google suspension has forced me to “back to my roots”, back to the methods of marketing that I had abandoned, things like social media, article marketing, press releases, blogging…. all basically forgotten and left for dead as I discovered what I now call…

The Crack Cocaine of Internet Marketing... Google Adwords

I got caught with my pants down.  I got so enamored with the instant gratification of Google that I left everything else behind.  I had forgotten all the free and low cost leads I used to get before I became addicted to Google.    Even though I consider myself an experienced marketer, I broke the Golden Rule — never put all your marketing eggs in one basket.

Fast forward a few weeks.  Still feeling the sting of less lead flow, but I am now detoxed from Google and life continues on.  I’ve found that I have a renewed passion for writing good solid articles that deliver something valuable to people.  I have returned to blogging with a similar passion.  Videos are in the making, and the leads are coming back.

Yes, I have moved over to Yahoo and MSN (Bing) like most others who’ve been slapped, but I’ve done so with the full understanding that I need to diversify my marketing. So now, instead of focusing 95% of my marketing efforts on PPC advertising, I am adding in a mixture of articles, press releases, blogging, Squidoo, Hubpages, and video marketing.

And oh yeah… I have officially started Twittering (or whatever a person who uses Twitter is called)!

Follow me!

My take home message folks?

Marketing on the Internet is just like Investing —>

Never put all your efforts in one place… diversify, diversify, diversify!

Til next time,

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Happy Labor Day weekend to all my US readers.  It’s the end of the summer and time to get geared up again and get down to the business at hand.

Blog spamming us annoying. You now what I mean — the ridiculously spammy comments that people leave on your blog, some of which can be downright crude.

Another problem many bloggers face is spammy user registrations.  Most bloggers  grant their readers permission to register freely on their blog and are then plagued by fake users automatically created by spammers.   These fake user registrants often have a “.ru” email suffix.

Unfortunately, it’s something that all bloggers have to deal with.

It can take a lot of time to manually go through and delete spammy comments or fake user registrations.  I have found 2 great Wordpress Plugins that have halted these spammers in their tracks.

• Akismet – A plugin which identifies and blocks comment and trackback spam on blogs.  It is available for use with Wordpress, Yahoo, and other blogging platforms.
  

• Sabre – Sabre is an acronym for Simple Anti Bot Registration Engine. It’s a set of counter measures against spam registration on your blog.  In its simplest form, Sabre allows you to include  a “captcha” in the user registration form.  There are other, more complex conditions you can place on user registrants, but usually the simple captcha solution works fine.

You can install both of these Plugins on your Wordpress blog simply by going to the Plugin interface and searching for each of these plugins by name.  You will then be able to install each plugin directly from your blogging site.

Here’s to keeping the World SPAM FREE!

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People are flocking to social media sites in droves, and for good reason.  Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook and Twitter are fast becoming a primary method of “prospecting” for customers for your business. 

Indeed, social media can be an extremely effective way to get more people to take a look at your business opportunity

But it must be done right.

There are 2 major mistakes that I see people doing repeatedly in Social Media:

Mistake #1:  The Hard Sell

Most of you probably already understand that the “social” in social media means just that — you must take the time to “socialize’ with people, allow them to get to know you and see that you have value to give before they will take a look at your business.

So how is this done? 

It is done with consistency and becoming an online presence in your Web 2.0 community of choice.  And it is done with giving value to your followers without asking for anything in return.  

It is done by learning the art of the “soft sell.”

For those of you not familiar with the term “soft sell”, it basically means that you don’t lead with your business in social media.  The fastest way to lose followers and even get banned by some of Web 2.o sites is to blast people information about your business opportunity or product.

While you may truly believe that you are adding value to people’s lives by providing this information, everyone on the Net is getting bombarded daily with thousands of pitches and new opportunities, and yours is just one more on the list.

You must stand out.  And you can stand out by providing free value to your followers, no strings attached.

The “hard sell” — banging people over the head to look at your business — will NEVER work in social media.

MISTAKE #2:  The Follow-Up Link

The other big mistake I see people making in social media is their follow-up link.  That is, where you are sending your followers for more information. 

As most of you probably already know, there is always a place on every 2.0 site to put more information about yourself (for example, a profile).  This is also the place to put a link to a website where your followers can go to learn more about you. 

What do most people do? 

They put a direct link to their business opportunity or product site.  OUCH!! 

Most times, people aren’t ready for that.  They want to know more about YOU, the person. 

If you are providing cool stuff on Twitter, for example, your followers may want to see what else you  are up to.  This is where a personal blog or hub is perfect.

By sending your Twitter or Facebook followers to your blog, you are allowing them to get to know more of what you are about.  And of course,  you should put a link or a page on your blog regarding your business.  That just makes good sense. 

But to send your followers directly to your primary business capture page is a recipe for disaster in social media. 

There are many other mistakes people make when using Social Media as a prospecting tool for their business, but these are two of the biggest offenders.

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There are few things more vital to the success of any network marketing business (or any business for that matter) than having a clear understanding of exactly who you are marketing to.

Most people in the industry call it your “Target Market”, and the sooner you get this right, the faster you’ll start making money.

In fact, if you develop a crystal clear picture of your target prospect and that market is profitable (that is, they will have a genuine interest in buying your product), then you can basically PRINT MONEY whenever you wish.

But how do you develop that clear picture of your target market, your “Ideal Prospect.”

It’s not as easy as it may sound, but I heard a great technique yesterday on a training call that I want to pass on to everyone on this blog.

Here’s the process:

• Name your prospect. This makes it personal and allows you to talk about your ideal prospect as if it was a real person.
• What do they need? When describing your ideal prospect, think about who would need your product the most.
• Relate to your Ideal Prospect. Relate the description of your ideal prospect to your own life experiences.  What made you purchase your product or join your business opportunity?  What problems were you having?  What needs were met by your decision? It’s much easier to market to a prospect that you, yourself can relate to in a very strong way.
• Get VERY specific, the more the better.

I did this exercise last night and I want to share it with you today.   You will be able to see just how specific I got when describing my ideal prospects, who I called Nate and Natalie (I didn’t want to be sexist, so I made both a male and female version of my ideal prospect).

+++++++++++++++

Meet Nate and Natalie

Age: Middle age between 40-55.

Occupation: Professionals working between 50-70 hrs per week with a lot of responsibility and very stressful positions.

Marital Status: Married (but never seeing each other due to work and kids’ schedules) or separated/divorced for the same reasons.

Home Owners: Yes, two story home in suburbia so that they can commute an hour to work into the city. Maybe a vacation home in the mountains or beach, but they never have time to go there.

Family: Kids who go from sitter to sitter when younger, or who come home from school to an empty house. The kids have very structured lives, going from activity to activity. The family rarely sits down to dinner at the same time, since no one is home early enough.

Health: Fair to poor. Lack of exercise – not enough time or energy. Poor eating habits: too much fast food and processed food (can you say microwave dinners?). Because of this they are both 20-40 lbs overweight and too tired/lazy to do anything about it. The pop Tums like they are candy.

Mental State: They have given up on trying to keep in shape. They feel guilty for not spending more time at home for their spouse (if still married) and their kids. They are tired of missing their kid’s school plays and baseball games because of work. They are sick and tired or being sick and tired. Something has to give!

What They Do To Relax: Nights are spent vegetating in front of the TV trying to escape their stressful day. Weekends are spent working and then catching up around the house. Usually a weekend barbeque is planned to try and unite the family, but hardly anyone shows up.

Ephiphany: They wake up one morning with the feeling, “Is This All There Is? They look back and realize that their life has been spent on all the wrong things, that they really haven’t helped anyone on this planet.

Or maybe a significant health issue or event causes them to take stock of their life and realize that something has to give or they will end up in an early grave. They start questioning exactly why they were put on this Earth, and what people will remember about them when they’re gone.

They start looking for other ways to pay the bills that will allow them to have more time for family, friends, and most importantly, themselves. But they also need something that will not only give them freedom but will be lucrative enough to allow them to pay the mortgage and the orthodontist for the kids, and get ready for their kid’s college costs. They need pay for their 2-story house and their vacation home. Not to mention their retirement (if they have the money!).

And – oh yeah – they’d like to feel like they can make a difference in the lives of others.

This is where we come in!

You know what the great part is?  I KNOW THIS PERSON.

I WAS THIS PERSON!!!!

And it can’t get any easier than marketing to yourself.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Develop this kind of picture for your ideal prospect.  When you do so, it becomes amazingly easy to develop a marketing strategy that is laser-focused on this target market.

To your success!

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It seems about one a year, us blogging afficionados start to hear the beating drums off in a distance, announcing the beginnning of the end for bloggers everywhere.  It’s become a yearly ritual.

This time, some people have been making the case that, with the growing popularity of social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, there is no need to continue blogging in the traditional sense.

Is blogging still useful?

I strongly disagree, and it has everything to do with creating a lasting online presence with content that adds value to the marketplace.  I mean REAL, solid content that people can take and use to help them grow.

You don’t get that in Facebook and Twitter.

To continue this debate, I’m going to send you to one of my favorite copywriting blogs, Copyblogger.com.

As usual, Brian Clark has hit the nail on the head.

Head on over to Copyblogger.com.  ENJOY, and have a great weekend everyone.

To your success!

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Spam

Most of us hate getting it.  Most of us disregard it as a minor (and sometimes major) annoyance.   But I am here to change your thinking about these little educational jewels.

Most of you who’ve read this blog before know that I consider COPYWRITING to be  one of the “critical” skills for a network marketer, or any marketer for that matter.  Knowing how to get your target’s attention, keep it, and lead them ever closer to your desired action is both an ART and a SCIENCE.

There are several ways to get better at writing ad copy.  You can pay big money to learn from one of the many copywriting experts on the Internet.  You can buy ebook after ebook.  You can take any number of online training courses.

And you can study your spam.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

I have posted before about the usefulness of List Builders as a way to get low cost leads and make some money in the process.  My two favorite List Builders that I use are Viral URL and List Joe.

With both of these services, as part of my membership I agree and am obliged to receive emails from other members.  And I get lots!

TIP:  If you decide to use List Building services such as these, open up a new Gmail account when you sign up, so that all of the Member emails go only to this email address.  In this way, your primary email address won’t be inundated with these list builder member emails.

So what do most people do?  They CAN the SPAM.

Most of these emails end up in my spam filter, and can easily be deleted with a click of a button.  And that’s what most people do…. Gone and forgotten.

But not me.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I study the darn things.

• I look for HEADLINES that GRAB ME.

• I look for ad copy that attracts me.
• What kind of ads or headlines annoy you?   Chances are they annoy others, too.

• I look for any little trick that others are using that may get someone to take a look at my email rather than simply delete it.

Here’s an example.

Which of these Headlines do you notice more:

Check out this unique opportunity.

===>  Check out this unique opportunity.

Check out this unique opportunity.

Well, the third headline is somewhat more interesting than the first, given the italics.

But the middle headline, with the arrow. THAT one drew my attention immediately, especially when you are looking at a list of headlines a page long, all with the same font, font size and color.  That little trick, the ===> has gotten me more conversions that any other change I have made in my ad copy thus far.

So don’t can the spam.  Next time you get spam, take a glance at it.   See what headlines attract you and why, and you’ve just learned a lesson in copywriting.

Best of all, it costs nothing to do. 

To your success!

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I finally have to admit it.

I just don’t get Twitter.

There, I said it. And you know what?

I feel better.

It’s not that I don’t understand what Twitter is.

I just don’t get the point.

I consider myself a fairly bright guy. I graduated from college with a 3.8 cumulative average. I received a Ph.D. in Physiology at age 23. I’ve done a postdoctoral appointment at Harvard Medical School and I’ve worked at some of the best hospitals on the East Coast.

But the real purpose of Twitter? Nope, don’t get it.

Maybe its because I’ve watched all my Network Marketing friends spend hours upon hours following anyone and everyone they can find that may even remotely be interested in what they have to sell, hoping they will follow them back and then unfollowing them if they don’t. I hear these major proclamations of having reached 500, 1000, and even 1,000,000 followers.

I guess that’s good, but how can anyone listen to anything if they are following so many people?

I know I can’t, and I only follow 200 people. Even that is a challenge to me.

I know, I know… I can use Tweet Deck to segment my followers. I can use Tweet Later to automate my tweets. But why?

What’s the purpose?

I don’t go on Twitter with the purpose of buying something or joining another home business opportunity. I’m perfectly happy with the one I have. I don’t go on Twitter to hear the next best inspirational or motivational quote that is copied off the Internet. I am pretty motivated already.

Should I really be honest?

I go on Twitter for only a couple of reasons.

• First, to see what guys like Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, and Mike Dillard (yes, Mike I am a follower) do on a daily basis. I’m curious.

• Second, I follow established people in my industry who I respect, not because I think they’ll be handing out any unique tidbits of knowledge (although they might), but more because I want to see what they consider important to post on Twitter.

So if the idea is to follow as many people on Twitter as possible, so they will follow you back, then it seems to me that everyone is following and no one is actually leading.

But I’ve discovered that I’m wrong. I think I’ve figured out who the leaders are on Twitter.

The leaders are the ones who follow the LEAST number of people.    Check this out –

• The “real” Donald Trump — 2549 followers…. Following 2.

• Robert Kiyosaki — 10, 148 followers…. Following 9

• My favorite example…. Al Gore — 1,015,073 followers …. Following 8!

• And we all remember how Mike Dillard “purged” his follower list (a move I strongly agreed with).

The ultimate leader on Twitter? It must be Jay Kubassek.

Jay had to actually APPROVE me before I could follow him. Now he must be THE LEADER! (I say this tongue in cheek. Jay is, in fact, one of the strongest leaders I have had the pleasure of knowing).

In all seriousness folks, what’s the damn point!

Someone straighten me out here. Help me understand the real meaning and purpose of Twitter.

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If it wasn’t so sad, I would laugh.

Actually, I do laugh a little, as I imagine my team member’s eyes bugging out of his/her head when they see how much money they blew on Google in one day.

Why?  Because they weren’t prepared.

Taking the plunge into the world of Pay Per Click Marketing is not one of those things that should be done haphazardly.  Many serious marketers, including myself have spent months and even years studying Google Adwords trying to develop the best strategies for getting the best qualified prospects at the lowest possible cost.

And even now, while Google is my primary lead generation and it generally treats me well, there are days when it bites me in the butt.  Just like everyone else who markets on Google.

So back to my team member….

This guy called me the other day to tell me he had read a little about Google and was ready to start marketing.  I chuckled a little, and tried to explain the kind of preparation needed in order to avoid losing a ton of money at the beginning, but he didn’t take me seriously.

Guess what?

His eyes were bugging out of his head the next day.  I don’t even want to tell you how much money he lost without much to show for it.

And it all could have been avoided.

Taking this guys approach is like jumping into a car for the very first time and proclaiming yourself ready to drive.  How silly is that?  Everyone knows that you have to take classes, practice for several hours with a trained and skilled driver by your side, take a test, and then you are ready to drive on your own.

It’s the same with Google.  Education is a MUST!  Training is ESSENTIAL!

Without it, you might as well set up a direct deposit of your paycheck directly to Google.  They will love it.

You will not.

Before I close, I will leave you with two resources that I’ve used again and again in my Google adventures.

Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide for Google Adwords

Mike Dillard’s PPC Domination.

Perry’s guide is written and extremely comprehensive.  So is Mike’s course, but it is in video format for the most part.

Both are excellent.  I would suggest you get both resources, study them extensively, and then consider taking the Google plunge.
After all, you don’t want to get cited for Googling Under the Influence.

To your success!

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