If you are one of the many authors, speakers, consultants or specialists that read this blog, you will like this post.  I have been experimenting for about 9 months with different membership website software and finally I found the winner.  Wishlist Member

I went through a progression of different membership website software packages.  I tried Moodle, but it was too complex for what I was trying to do (and was hard to make look good.)  Then I tried a paid vesion on Ning, but that is more social networking and not great for leading learning.  I also tried Joomla, Drupal and DotNetNuke.

Finally I came to realize that a membership site is about publishing highly valuable content in a clean, private environment.  I decided upon WordPress and it was a great decision.

The only down side was the wordpress membership plugin made it necessary for me to set up people’s accounts.  That was just not acceptable.

Then I found WordPress Wishlist Member.  I already had ecommerce, affiliates and more.  I just needed an easy way to integrate membership and manage them.

The Wishlist development team does a great job with online training videos and their support is very good as well.  They have also just updated the membership website software to include paypal integration that looks fantastic.  I am looking forward to trying that option.

If you have ever thought about starting a membership website but did not know what is the best membership website software and the best membership site platform, I strongly recommend keeping it simple and powerful with the combination of wordpress and Wishlist Membership.

Want more infomation about membership site creation?  Visit How to create a membership site.

It is popular to talk about social media, influentials and Web 2.0. But does that mean the old school marketing has stopped working?

No, it means that there are more ways to reach people and depending on your target market, you have more options that all may be less effective than in the past when there were fewer options (and more people condensed into fewer communication channels.)

Here are some old school marketing techniques that still work.

1. Press Releases – When it used to be really read by the press, it was appropriate to call it a press release.  Now I would call it a news broadcast.  I do not believe a press release will usually find any major writers but I do think that you are going to get some good exposure and good back links to your website.  Also, if you focus on a niche or use the more expensive services you may still hit some great media outlets.
2. Email – Way more attention seems to be given to social media than email marketing.  However, email marketing will still generate a lot more money for you.  It is an essential part of your marketing and if you bought the whole Email is Dead crap, you jumped on the wrong bandwagon.  I make most of my money from email and SEO.
3. SEO – Search Engine Optimization is not the new hot thing, but if there is one area that is actually using social media well, it is the people that get how SEO and Social Media tie in together.  The key with SEO is that if you are in a tight target niche with little competition, you can probably pay for a one time project and reap the rewards for a long time.  If you are in an even slightly competitive market, you need someone that goes to war on your behalf every month to increase ranking and get more pages indexed.
4. Old Websites – Do you have one of those old websites sitting around that looks like late 90′s and does date back to then?  Don’t touch it without talking to a professional!  The age of your website is very valuable and the pages should not be changed unless you have someone that can look at your ranking first.  I updated one of these old sites after some research and got fantastic results within 3 days – I am talking #1 rankings where a lot of other people were fighting for it.  These old sites have great credibility in the eyes of search engines and can be ignited by a good search engine specialist.
5. Directories – Things like directories seem out of date, but getting listed in a good directory still gives you a valuable back-link and can generate a steady (if not huge) stream of traffic.  Some of my favorite are technorati and blogcatalog – but the older (less shiny) ones are still effective if you get into them too.
6. Link Exchanges – These things have a bad name, and anything that automates the process I would stay away from.  However, doing an occasional link exchange with someone else in your industry will help – not hurt – your website.  If link exchanges actually hurt websites, most blogs with blog rolls would be thrown out of Google long ago since they often link to each other.  This is one of those things that still works, you just have to be smart about it.
7. Word of Mouth – The oldest of the old school marketing is the new cool.  Finding ways to get people to talk about you are the holy grail of cutting through the clutter.  But it may just not work for you – you really have to be differentiated.

Dead Marketing – Some things are really gone

Yes, there are some marketing techniques that are really gone.  Do not do the following -

• Pass out your audio book on 8 track tape.
• SPAM – Does anyone fall for that now?
• Dressing up as a gorilla and selling encyclopedias door to door – OK, this still works but don’t do it.

Most things will still work with good execution and message.  Just be realistic about how people’s attention has scattered.  You need to scatter your message where your niche market is to make sure they can find you.  But that does not mean you throw the old school marketing in the garbage.

I want you to be more successful with your business via the web.  For that reason, lets forget about traffic for a little while.

WHAT!?! Website Traffic is EVERYTHING

Website Traffic is everything after you create a solid business system.  Do not mistake a website for a business system.

While many of you may think of me as an Internet Guru, the truth is that for 10 years I have been learning things the hard way, trial and error.  One thing that I have found is that myself, and many people I know, have focused on entirely the wrong things for too long.

(This is assuming you are not just trying to build advertising revenue, where traffic would be your main focus.)

The fact is, you need a system that catches leads and automates the system for your business outcome.  I spent years going through the various stages of investing in the web.

1. Build a nice website and hope people find it.
2. Realize people do not just find it, you have to promote it.
3. Start doing search engine optimization
4. Realize you need to build an email list
5. Become a publisher and start writing regularly
6. Start doing audio and video
7. Start selling things people want to by instead of things I want to sell
8. Automate the system to get results.

I am sure I have a ways to go.  While I have never invested in those guru packages, it probably would have been a good idea, considering how long it took me to learn the importance of building business systems, not traffic of fancy designs.  Many years ago we were correct about building expert sites with lots of content, but the monitization thing (kind of critical) took a long time to figure out.

So here is a suggestion.  If you have a great site that is not really producing sales, find something else that you can sell from the web.  It could be an affiliate product from clickbank or a mlm product, like iLearningGlobal.  Make sure it is not something that you need to actually do much to deliver.  Then start learning how to sell it profitably online.

When you start from scratch, it is much easier to focus on the outcome you want and not get lost in all the fluff of your existing business.  This is a great way to learn about Internet Marketing.

If you have ever tried working with virtual assistants, you know that it is hit or miss.  You have to treat it just as carefully as hiring an actual employee.  You also have to cut the relationship if your gut tells you that things are not going to your liking and you have provided clear directions and expected outcomes.

Getting a Marketing Virtual Assistant – a VA that has been trained in Internet Marketing will increase your odds of success.  Here are 7 tips for better web results with a Virtual Assistant.  You will not like these, because they all involve more work for you.  But get over it and get your marketing plan done in advance of hiring your Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant.

1. Hire 2 or 3 Virtual Marketing Assistants for small projects and test which one does the best job.
2. Either write a detailed, step by step description of how to do the tasks you want done, or provide a video that serves as a  virtual assistant training video.  There is no arguing with clearly documented directions.
3. Set specific deadlines.  For example, do not say you want the Virtual Assistant to write 5 unique blog posts in May.  Instead, state that each Friday the Virtual Assistant needs to mail you the link and keywords targeted for that particular blog post of the week – by noon your time.  Also include a summary of how the last weeks blog post is now ranked for the keywords targeted.
4. Keep talking to your Virtual Assistant.  Do not set them loose and forget about them.  If you want to keep them you need to make them feel like an important part of the team.
5. Do not believe Virtual Assistant resumes – Just like job applicants, people often exaggerate skills and likely outcomes.  If the Virtual Assistant does not live up to how they sold themselves, move on quickly.
6. Expect to get what you pay for.  More than any other position, Virtual Assistants pay rates vary from a couple of dollars and hour to several hundred dollars an hour.  If you go for a cheap virtual assistant, be ready to do more training and management.
7. Treat exceptional Virtual Assistants like gold.  Just like any profession, you have some people that are far and away better than average and if they are motivated, making you money and exceeding your expectations, show them you care.  Send them a gift certificate, a bonus, a card, flowers – and if you are sure you are not going to need them full time, send your exceptional virtual assistant referrals.

Find exceptional Virtual Marketing Assistants.

In some ways, this post is a “Most Embarrasing Moments” post.  You come here because I am a marketing expert, but the only way this post if effective is if I am willing to write about my failures.

How to Avoid Costly Marketing Mistakes

#1 Have a Maketing Plan

I do not mean a big plan, but I do mean a clear plan.  If you do not know what you are trying to achieve, you will not know what marketing is working.

#2 Don’t Buy Marketing that Finds You

I dabble with new things occasionally.  But I have NEVER made money when marketing found me instead of the other way around.  For example, I had someone cold call me and offer to sell me ad space in Sky Magazine.  Originally he wanted $2,500.  I told him if he had any remainder space I would pay $500.  He ended up having the remainder space so I gave it a try.  Result?  Book sales dropped that month because money was diverted from the strategy to a random ad that people could not take action on.

Another example is Northwest Publishing.  A salesman walked into our office and talked us into an ad that would appear in a bunch of restaurants.  We decided to try it for one of our clients.  The end result was that the company is fraudulant, traps you into a contract and does not run the ad you send to them (3 times, because they kept losing it.)  If I did the research, I would have seen that they do not have a website and go by a variety of names including, Table Topics, Northwest Publishing and The Trivia Pages.  Lots of smoke and mirrors to get money.  The sales guy was good, though.

The news here is that I was smart enough to hedge my bets and only pay what I could afford to lose.  But the reality is that when marketing finds me and not the other way around, it is always a loss.  Never let the marketing find you.

#3 Decide what you want and go find it

If you have a good marketing plan, you know the audiences you are trying to reach.  Then you start researching and finding the best places to reach those people.  It could be Sky Magazine or an ad on a blog, but the point is that you are going to be much more successful with marketing if you chose the marketing and the marketing does not chose you.

Related articles

• How to Plan a Complete Internet Marketing Campaign – an Advanced Overview
• Internet Marketing Plan-A Blueprint to Your Success

I recently had an article published in the New Writer’s Handbook.  It was about how to make money with your blog.

The interesting thing about this is that it was just a blog post I did a while back.  They approached me and I made money with my blog because they paid for the article rights and I also got great publicity by being in a wonderful book with a lot of great writers.

If you read that past article, you will see why it applealed to them.  If you are wondering How to make money blogging, you have to realize the  answer is diverse.

I have made money directly from my blog in the following areas:

• Book Sales
• eBook Sales
• Consulting
• Speaking Fees
• Membership Dues
• Article Sales – as in this example of the article making it into a book.
• Affiliate Links
• Reviews (I do not do paid reviews, but I sometimes mention clients as part of the broader effort)
•  Web hosting sales via our reseller opportunity.
• Affiliate Members
• Plus great JV opportunities that eventually lead to making money from the blog.

That does not even include all the great free PR and visibility we get.

You really need to make money blogging if you want to be able to justify the time and effort it takes to do a good job.  And if you want a good income blogging, find many different revenue steams and cultivate them.

I am copying over my article from the Virtual Buzz Assistant Blog.  You might want to follow the link for two reasons -

#1 – If you or someone you know is thinking about starting a business, that Free Business Launchpad eBook will help.

#2 – To download the eBook, you sign up for an email tip list on creative ways to use virtual assistants to enhance your Buzz Marketing.  Now all the visitors here should be interested in THAT.

30 Day Virtual Assistant Business Launch Pad

Thinking about launching a Virtual Assistant Business?

I started out writing this eBook as a members-only kind of resource.  Then I realized it could be very valuable to anyone starting any kind of home-based or small business.

People were getting lost in what seems like overwhelming issues, so we lay it out day by day and make it easy to move from idea to income in 30 days.

We are giving it away.  Click here to get your copy.

Since we have launched several ventures, we know the basic stuff you need to get in place, and how important it is to focus on generating revenue quickly.  If you are thinking about starting a business or are trying to figure out what things need done for a business you recently started, this resource is for you.

It is easy to get caught up in all the social media tasks that you have.  If you are successful, your list of tasks keeps growing every day.

What are 10 things you should outsource to a virtual buzz assistant?

1. LinkedIn Approval - If you are openly linking to people on linked is, as I do, it is silly to be approving those links yourself.  You could get a lot more mileage if you have that approval and polite email reply outsourced.
2.  Asking Bloggers to Write About You – If you are researching blogs in your industry and sending them a polite request to link to your site or write about your product, do not do this work yourself.
3. Reciprocal Connections – I tend to follow people that follow me on twitter if they are active.  I also approve friendships in many networks and return the connection.  But I do not need to do those things myself.
4. Light Blog Writing – If you want to have more blog posts, consider hiring a virtual buzz assistant to write a daily summary on industry news – in addition to your regular posts.
5. Account Creation – Do you need help creating and managing your many social network accounts?  Don’t do it yourself unless your time is worth next to nothing.
6. Interlinking – All your accounts and sites perform better when they occasionally link to each other.  An assistant that is managing these accounts for you can also link to a few resources every day.
7. Correspondence – View Yaro Starak’s piece on this. Reducing your activities to critical business building activities is best for you in the long term.

Keep in mind I am a huge fan of creating great relationships.  But given the choice of a few stronger 1 on 1 relationships vs. more free time to create more great content for all readers, I will usually take the free time to write.  And a good assistant will forward me the connections that make sense.

Excellent post at Guy Kawasaki’s Blog.

This really speaks to our strategy for the last 4 years.  It is great to have big names recognize you, but it is easier and has great long term value if you focus on the mid-tier information players.

I have worked with a lot of people that come to us and say, “I want buzz!”

Some succeed, and some fail.  Buzz itself is not an acceptable goal.  If you just know you want buzz, you are dooming your effort.  The success factor has little to do with buzz, and everything to do with understanding what a reasonable goal is in the first place.

So what are some examples of good buzz goals I have seen?

Goal:  Increase search engine saturation for our brand.

Goal:  Increase local word of mouth to pass a levy that is too close to call.

Goal: Increase website traffic by creating links and referrals.

Goal:  Establish our expertise over the next 24 months in the ______ industry.

Goal:  Generate 10% more referrals by facilitating word of mouth on the web.

Goal: Build an audience that wants to hear from us – add a minimum of 500 names per month.

Goal: CEO to be interviewed by 4 bloggers per month.

Now some examples of bad goals:

Bad Goal:  I want to create buzz to blow the sales off the roof.

Bad Goal:  I want to be #1 in Google for a general term.

Bad Goal:  I want to have a blog/myspace page/facebook profile because I read about it and I have to.

Bad Goal:  I want people to go into Walmart and demand that they carry my product.

The list goes on.

Here is the simple key:  It is great to have long term goals that are big, but your short term buzz efforts must be achievable steps to realizing those dreams, not the dream itself.  Focus on things that will interest your target audience and be valuable (and/or) easy to pass on.