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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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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Social Marketing is the new darling of the business world.  You’ve all undoubtedly heard about it:

MySpace, Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, and Social Bookmarking.

But what does it all mean?

Who is using it and how are they using it?

Does it really help grow your business?

I just received an email from Michael Stelzner, author of Writing White Papers:  How To Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. 

Michael sent me a link to his new white paper, “Social Media Marketing Industry Report.” 

Very cool stuff here, guys.  A must read.

Among his findings:

• Most marketers are NEW to social marketing, having only been using it for a few months or less
• The number one advantage to using social marketing is, not surprisingly, generating exposure for your business.
• The top 4 social media tools were (in order)
  • Twitter
  • Blogs
  • Linkedin
  • Facebook

There were many more interesting findings.  It’s definitely worth your time to check it out.  To read the complete study, go to:

http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/report/

If you wish to follow Michael on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/mike_stelzner

To your success!

Dr. Bob Clarke

How Does Dr. Clarke Make HIS Money Online?

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You know how to make a video. And you know how to edit it and get it ready for people to see. Now what?

Welcome to Day 17 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days” Holiday Blog Special, where I will provide one solid business or marketing tip each day in the month of December. If you missed any of the previous tips, simply click on the Business and Marketing Tips Category on the right sidebar.

Let’s get to it.

So you’ve started making videos. Now where do you send them?

Once you get good at videos, you want to get maximum exposure.

Remember, GOOGLE LOVES VIDEOS. Videos, along with other types of social marketing get ranked very highly on Google.

In the 90 Day Challenge of MLM Goldmine, Howie Schwartz has taught their members (of which I am a proud graduate) how to DOMINATE Google for a specific search term using videos, articles, and other social networking tools.

By the way, I totally recommend the MLM Goldmine material. Dennis Karganilla, Jimmy Davis, and Howie Schwartz are AMAZING at what they do, which is to show you how to use social marketing to dominate your niche. And if you don’t know what your niche is, they help with that, too.

Okay, sorry I got sidetracked.

Here is what I did to explode my business using video marketing:

1. Starter: When I first started making videos, I was TERRIBLE. My first videos were not for public consumption, if you know what I mean. So I simply uploaded them to YouTube, just to understand how the process works.

2. Novice: As I started to get better at shooting videos, I started using Tube Mogul to expand the places to which my videos were distributed. This is a FREE service (although I think there may be a paid option, although I haven’t personally used it) where your video is automatically uploaded to 15 different sites.

Cool, right?

But I soon found that the TOP EARNERS in this industry were shooting WAY HIGHER.

3. Welcome to the world of TRAFFIC GEYSER. This is “Tube Mogul on steroids”, if you will. For $47 per month, your video is distributed to 46 sites and includes blogs, podcasts,  and other sites in addition to video sites. It’s a little more complicated to set up your account, but there are easy step-by-step videos to get you through it painlessly. And the support is amazing.

At the time of this writing, Traffic Geyser is offering a promotion whereby you can get 1 month of Traffic Geyser for $1. And if you decide you don’t like it for whatever reason, you can cancel your membership at any time without penalty.

If it sounds like I like Traffic Geyser, it’s because I do.

But then again, I love anything that will help me take MASSIVE ACTION in my business.

There you go — 3 steps to take, depending on your experience and budget, to become a video marketing ninja.

Don’t just sit there reading this…. GO MAKE A VIDEO!

Until next time,

Bob
Check out my new blog

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Welcome to Day 12 of the ‘30 TIps in 30 Days’ Blog special — one Business or Marketing Tip for each day of the month of December.  Today we turn our focus squarely on Marketing.

Sidenote:  I am spending the day at a special workshop with Jay Kubassek, Aaron Parkinson, Dennis Karganilla, Jimmy Davis, and Howie Schwartz who will be doing one-on-one coaching with Rosemary and I.  Yes, it WAS expensive, but we know that any money we spend taking advantage of this offer will be DWARFED by the financial returns we will see because of what we learn.

It’s all about INVESTING IN YOUR BUSINESS, guys.

Because we will be at this event all day (and then to the Carbon Copy Pro Holiday Party later tonight), I am going to make this short and sweet….

Are you getting Social Networking all WRONG?

Why do I ask this?  Because I am amazed when I go to social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter how many people I see blasting broadcasts about their business. Just amazing.

You see, these people don’t get the point of Social Networking.

It’s NOT about selling your business products or opportunity.

It’s about BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS and developing TRUST.

So here is my Marketing Tip for the Day:

When using Social Networking sites, NEVER lead with your business.  In fact, don’t even mention it.  Start getting to know people on a personal basis.  Develop a relationship OVER TIME, and the rest will follow.  Don’t force things.

Everyone on these sites who are interested in “networking” have their own agenda with their own opportunity.  Trying to force your opportunity down their throats will strictly result in regurgitation.

And you’ll generally have nothing to show for your efforts.

Here is the BEST VIDEO I have ever seen that explains how to market on Social Networking sites.

Check it out:

Until tomorrow, be healthy and happy… the weekend is almost here!

Bob

Take a look at my newest blog!

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