Mid Life Marketer’s Kick Start

Several weeks ago I became aware of a project known as 1on40. What’s that all about, you might be wondering, if you haven’t come across it yet. This company makes a promise. They promise to get your chosen website(s) to the number 1 position in the search results for 5 individual key words (or phrases); within 120 days and for the rest of the blurb bit I’ll quote them…

Pay nothing for our unique service until you see your web site at the NUMBER ONE position on Google and the other 39 TOP search engines for the 5 keywords. Get top result for once - FREE.
Once at NUMBER ONE position we will leave YOUR web site there for 7 days to prove our ground breaking service. Then you need to start paying us (bidding), for our ‘THEN PROVEN’ service and carry on having tested our service without risking your money like you would on other ‘hyped up SEO services that underperform or simply do not work’.

Well I thought, on that basis, it’s got to be worth a poke. I found the website a little confusing to get into at first: while I was submitting my first web site’s details. Gradually I became accustomed to it’s particular style and discovered the underlying logic. At first I thought you could only submit 1 website per person. However as we discussed this on the Prosperizer forums, it became clear that the company’s only stipulation was that you could only submit one web site per email address. The company also expects a secondary email address but doesn’t seem to mind if this is the same one each time. Not wanting to “take the mick” I put some of my main web addresses in to 1on40 and created some new email accounts at Googlemail, my own provider and also from my main domains. Job sorted! I had noticed peripherally that it mentioned something about checking your accounts each week, but somehow that had faded into the background.

Well the weeks have passed and while I have been concentrating on other projects such as craigslist, I had assumed that my web sites would be quietly cruising up the Google charts to their number one slot for free and I only have to think about them again when the floods of traffic arrive.

As so often happens, I got a wake up call when I returned to the Prosperizer forums after an over long absence. One of the guys was saying how he had a regular task every week of logging into his 52 1on40 accounts to touch base as “required”. You know that sinking feeling … you’ve just missed an obvious basic step. You’ve just dropped a great big boll@*k. Well I went back to my 1on40 accounts expecting to find everything shut down because I hadn’t been checking religiously like my friend.

But what did I find? My accounts were intact no problem, submissions progressing! Cue, quick sigh of relief! Naturally, I had a close look at the TOS at this (belated) point. The weekly check is strongly recommended, but is not a condition of maintaining your account. It would be if your content was at all borderline though, or likely to stray into dodgy territory.

Unlike the Craigslist fiasco, the 1on40 project was on track and …
1on40 were continuing the beta phase - you can still submit sites FREE

So why should you bother to take any notice of this? Well most people I have spoken to about this have commented “…must be a fiddle…”; “… ooh I’m not sure about these submission services…”, but in these early days it’s a NO BRAINER!.
They don’t ask for any money until they deliver their promise! Even then you only have to bid for your place and there’s no reason to assume that the bids will have to be extortionate. In fact the company seems to have a policy for keeping a level(ish) playing field regarding bid value / earnings. Again I’ll quote directly from their website.

You and YOUR clients can ONLY start bidding the very second your web site appears as the first result on each of the TOP 40 search engines. Until then we do not want a CENT from you for our service.

This page will change to an easy to use bidding interface as soon as your web site is 1st on the Top 40 search engines. It will display a list of web sites you have submitted and allow you to use your credits to bid on keywords for each. You will have 7 days to make your bid. If you miss the bid deadline someone else will bid on your keywords and your site will plunge back down Google’s results.

It is very important you log in to both your client and affiliate member area at least once a week to check your submission status for new messages or updates and your affiliate news page. If you miss an important message/update you may suffer delays, invalidate a submission or lose your affiliate status and have to start again.

Bidding… How much does it cost me?

Acceptable bids can vary between two prices we offer you depending upon the profit you are earning from our service relative to the products and or services you are selling off your web site business.

We have a process to ensure fair bids which always equate to 10% of your gross profit. This is an excellent way of paying us. Bidding is always fair (never over 10% of your gross profit) and can be paid by credit card or PayPal to ensure you can claim a refund if we do not keep our side of the bargain month after month.

Now this company has already attracted attention from the big boys. As pointed out by Rodney Brooks in his
Affiliate Home Business Solutions back in February!!

“The proprietary software company Submit Expresso Group who own and operate the search engine submission service 1on40 has been approached by Search Engine giants Ask.com as a buyout. Submit Expresso Group has turned down the offer of over 100 Million US Dollars for the company as its intention is to list the business on the London Stock Exchange in August 2008 which is not only more beneficial to its founders but also to its clients and affiliates alike. A buyout at this time is out of the question as the value of the company will be tenfold once the client base has grown to 10 million as projected by its stock flotation in August 2008.

With the end of Beta stage looming at the end of March, 1on40 is expected to see first gross profit of over £30 Million GBP (60 Million USD) which will establish it the main SEO in the world. Having established itself in a hard to break market using a free Beta version will have added to its overall value which will be paid out as dividends to its numerous loyal affiliates in August 2008 on flotation.”

And don’t forget the little(?) guys. Terry from Oz tried it out and has been running his hub page review for a while now. I don’t and won’t get anything from these guys so take a look. Terry’s Blog

BUT if you do decide to take the plunge PLEASE join up under me, cos at the moment my team is only as big as Billy no-Mates’ team

Don’t miss your chance - the doors will be closing on the Free phase very soon - it looks like some time before April 28th. This is one thing I will trumpet. Get in NOW…

Sometimes we dive in so deep with projects we’re pursuing that we miss the most obvious first steps and waste our best efforts. Last time I posted, I said I was going to let you know how I had got on with Craigslist. I had put a big effort into setting up an advertising programme on that portal, following the steps in Mike Dillard’s Building on a Budget (BoaB) course. Sadly every single one of my ads was ghosted. My original plan for a 2 day hit and everlasting automation - and zillions of leads … became a 2 and a half week marathon of unique ad writing and organising followed by crushing defeat!! Additionally I had neglected a lot of other work in trying to apply the lessons from BoaB. Well I haven’t steeled myself for the return match with Craigslist yet, but I have been catching up on my other neglected areas of work.

I decided that I really ought to check what I was displaying in the traffic exchanges and check out the hits and misses - so to speak. I got a shock when I started checking the contents of the “My Web Sites” sections of the accounts I hold. Outdated links, links with typos, Web sites not enabled … I could go on but the list just gets more embarrassing. Like I said at the start, I had dived in and got involved at too deep a level in too many programme’s at once, completely failing to check whether I had set up my accounts properly. The up side of that, was that I did at least have thousands of credits sitting “in the bank” ready to be unleashed. So I have had a day and a half of solid graft, up until my ex-wife brought the kids back from their holiday, to get my accounts in order. I am looking forward to some better responses over the next few weeks.

The advice we are given, by the experienced marketers we look to for tips and tricks, is to constantly check and recheck our ads responses. Slowly I am beginning to understand just what that means, but a couple of interesting patterns did emerge. Despite the poor set up of my accounts, I was still getting some traffic and there were some TXs which were clearly more responsive to my ads. At present my top 3 would have to be:

CosmicRay’s Top Three Traffic Programs

Stan’s the MAN - he has set up a very responsive site with (even better) hungry users.

Paul Kinder has obviously learned his business from the top eggs!! Traffic Splash is giving me the second best response rate.

Matthew will give you lots of insider info with his exchange; Web Biz Insider.

These 3 are the ones that have been working best for me personally. What I have used as a kind of umbrella to organise my surfing activities is a programme called Vital Viral. Effectively this provides a programme where you can promote all your traffic Exchange affiliations at one fell swoop. If a member signs up in vital viral and subsequently joins any of the other exchanges below you they are added to your downline instead of some other promoter’s downline. There is also a very helpful support section which gives great advice about how to organise your surfing sessions; particularly - how to use multi tabbed browsing to use your time more efficiently - and importantly - how to give other advertisers at least a few seconds of your time so that the whole Traffic Exchange phenomena is a REAL benefit and remains a 2 way street.

While I was setting up my websites in HitSafari I chanced to look through their forum and found that it had a very well set out series of tips. I’m not entirely sure why, but the information here is much more accessible to us normal “non-geekers” than the info in most of the other forums I’ve checked recently. if you are new to TXs this is particularly helpful. Although I’ve only recently reactivated my HitSafari account, it is apparently well up the rankings at present and getting good responses. And - it does have the free option so you can’t really lose.

Well I hope that you newer traffickers will find the information helpful - remember, these are just my impressions - warts and all. CYA next time.

Life Recast

I left my employment as a teacher on December 31st 2007.

I know my BIG WHY now, with a crystal clarity that I didn’t have before today. More importantly, I understand that nagging gut feeling that I couldn’t articulate for so many years. It was called unhappiness and I never knew.

So, as a newly “ex” teacher and newbie at marketing online, the rest of the entries in this blog will detail how I find ways to overcome the hurdles of a completely new and for me, an almost totally unexpected way of life. The details of how I went from scared beginner to gradually build a list of subscribers. I’ll detail the ways I am learning from experienced people, how the different courses and ebooks rate: the ones that deliver the useful information that is helping me grow my business. I’ll describe the opportunities that I am using to help me reshape my life, including: uVme and elottery from VWD; Prosperizer the most supportive of new start up projects; traffic exchanges and viral list building. I’ll tell it the way it is and describe my cock ups and crowning glories in the hope that you the reader can take something from my experiences and shorten your learning curve on the way to growing your business.
With all best wishes,
Ray of Team CosmicRays
aka MisterC
Oh and by the way, look out for The Northern View!

PS.
What wouldn’t we all do to be at the top of Google’s search results? Well for a limited time - and I suggest you’re quick- 1 on 40 are beta testing their package for getting subscribers to the top of, not just Google’s, but at least 39 other search engine’s results. They guarantee to do this within 120 days and if you get in during this beta phase, you won’t pay them anything until you are top for your 5 keywords for at least a week. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s got to be worth a punt! It’s the first no hype - no brainer I’ve come across in this game. When you go to the web site, just be aware that there is a client login and an affiliate login that you need to keep clear in your mind or your records, to navigate their websites easily. Get ready for the traffic and sales flood!

Hallo folks, CosmicRay here from the UK. I’m destressing after having jumped overboard from my teaching career. The last couple of years of professional and domestic stress have added up to my very own mid life crisis. Now, for some strange reason; being the most advertising resistant punter going, I have launched my Internet Marketing CAREER, to calm the crisis. I consider myself pretty lucky, because there’s a small nest egg to keep me going through the first few months of floundering. So, I’ve jumped in with both feet… and now my personal Internet fortune amounts to a magnificent, staggering $50- Yippee - yabadabadoo!

And that’s after only my first month of effort since breaking free to pursue this line of business. Obviously I am a powerful force on the marketing scene. LOL

Well, the drugs have worn off now and the real world has come back to haunt me.

The truth is, I’m a pretty raw beginner, but I’m in for the long haul as this will succeed. These Internet businesses are genuine. That’s the first truth that it took me a while to accept.

Secondly, these businesses are eminently doable. Like everyone, I imagine, I spent the last year or so of tentatively “looking into” this world; feeling totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume and diversity of information that was pushed my way as a “Newbie”. For a long time I was studying one programme, then another, then another… and sure enough I made the semi-fatal mistake of letting myself get drawn into too many programmes (English spelling - the real word!!) at once, so my little nest egg is dwindling rapidly towards cut off point.

Until quite recently I lacked the confidence to jump in and make my own splash pages and I am still nervous about the idea of blogging unless the mis-adventures of a numpty marketer could be a saleable item? So I hope this first foray isn’t a turn off for anybody looking in.

I have however, been fortunate to be taken under the wing of Paul Ward a pretty successful UK marketer. So I now feel a lot more on track. It’s amazing how quickly a guy, with a bit of mileage, can crystallise seemingly divergent ideas, into a coherent whole. Oh yeah - that’d be like a teacher then!! Thanks Paul.

During the summer, I started looking into real world conferences and on-line seminars and to be honest, I felt like a fish out of water. I was almost frightened to approach these apparently confident giants of marketing who were strutting around the foyers. I was very uncomfortable letting people see how clueless I really was. Until, I actually started an email conversation with one person, who turned out to be an ordinary bloke like me, or you or the lady over there.

So, what’s the point of this negative sounding monologue? Very simple; if you are new to this game and floundering, get in touch with your up-line and pick some brains. A recurrent theme in much of the sales copy is that it doesn’t take Einstein to work these systems. It may have been someone with a streak of the Einstein about them, who developed the system, but it was in their interest to develop a straight forward(ish) but DUPLICABLE SYSTEM.

The upshot of that for you new guys and girls, is that behind all of the glitz, the hype, the mega launches and the “never been seen befores” are just a few variations on a system or three. Most of these systems will work for you if you don’t system hop and YOU APPLY yourself seriously. Don’t be taken in by the instant wealth that is implied by much of the advertising copy you see. You’ve got some hard graft ahead of you to start building your own list of potential customers. That list and your relationship to the people those names represent is your starting point. It took me nearly 6 months to grasp and visualise what that simple point really meant. More about that in a future posting. If you are looking for someone to help you build your business, who isn’t already up there in the stratosphere, please get in touch. I’m not Terry the Tip Top Mentor, but by getting a gang of of us new guys together and swapping experiences we could probably save each other from a load of grief. I promise I won’t SELL everything at you in one go!! Honest! And together, I bet we couldn’t half pick some up-line brains!!

Seriously though, what I will show off now are the businesses I am involved with, which despite being too numerous for a simple bloke to keep a handle on, are the projects which seem to be genuine opportunities for producing life changing incomes. After a month of real focus, I haven’t “life changed” my income yet, but suddenly my lists have started to grow and I have pulled in my first couple of proper customers.

So, my main threads are: firstly, the best of the bunch, UVME This is a fantastic mixture of straightforward (!?) games of skill played on-line for cash prizes; with a superb and rapidly evolving social marketing system and the whole lot nicely capped by a superb back office to support the business opportunity. This is going BIG. It’s not cheap to commit to, but it really is a quality business. Before the “.com” games platform launched a couple of weeks ago, there were over 300,000 pre-registrations with lots of these becoming paid sign ups; once people had to show the colour of their cash.

Even more exciting is the news, revealed at the last training webinar: that there had been 15,000 completely new people who had signed up to play the games. Best of all, despite the hammer the servers were getting and despite the fact that we are only in soft launch / beta testing mode - the system works amazingly well and is being improved almost daily by 3 dedicated teams of software engineers, game developers and multi lingual support staff. Apologies if this gets close to hype, but it is a genuinely exciting on-line business opportunity with a highly desirable product - it’s cool folks! And you can have a look at (preferably) my site here. If you like what’s on offer, I wouldn’t say no to a few new associates in Team CosmicRays!
Go here for the games and play for free
Go here to see the business opportunity.

My second favourite is a new project by Paul Ward and his associates. Prosperizer’s best feature is that the team who have put it together are trying to build a resource and a business model where newcomers to marketing do not suddenly lose the support of their up-lines when the auto responders have banged out their last emails. If you are unsure of a direction to take, this is genuinely worth a careful look. It is developing into a very supportive community without the hype often associated with programmes trying to grab the newcomer.

Power Up Your Income With Prosperizer

At first I sank a lot effort into Stone Evans Plug in Profits programme. It’s a hell of a system even though it could be quite an expensive start up, if you blindly follow all of his recommendations straight away. Its big advantage for a newcomer, is that it opens up 6 separate but related streams of income. It does need a very focused approach but there are lots of subgroups of entrepreneurs who are willing to help or who offer full on mentoring. The products cover a very wide range from Vitamin supplements and audio books for your MP3; to Marketing and self development information; all the way through to Web hosting and domain name services. It’s a very broad church.

Plug in Here For Profit

For traffic building I am starting to get results now with Vital Viral. This clever set up, is a way of organising your activities in multiple traffic exchanges and then, if you gain an affiliate in Vital Viral, you gain that affiliate in the other exchanges as well.

Organise your surfing by using Vital Viral as explained here

So I’m up for networking but I daren’t get involved in any new projects unless they are very powerful, because I’m up to my eyeballs at the moment. But, instead of that sinking feeling that’s been around me for 2 years or more, I feel like I’ve just started surfacing.

All the best for a fantastic New Year in 2008
Ray