Portent had a great article with a great title- here’s my take via video:

Here’s a link to the original article if you’d like to read the whole thing.

-Jim

SEO Moz articles always rock, this one talks about black hat and white hat tactics and what composes a forward looking business plan:

Want to read the original article in its entirety?  Click here to view it on their website!

-Jim

A lot of people don’t give much thought, if any, to their meta description.  This video reviews a few points from the article, which is worth a read so be sure to click the link below to read it!

Read the full article by clicking on this link.

-Jim

I can agree with a lot of what the author over at Distilled Dot Net has to say, but not necessarily everything….

A pretty basic thing in internet marketing, so so truly vital to make informed decisions:

Read the full article by clicking on this link.

Questions? Comments?  Leave them below!

-Jim

OK, it’s been a while folks- here’s a quick post on what that’s all about, plus a quick productivity tip to help you get things done despite a very busy schedule (I’m doing it with a newborn, it can definitely be done!)

-Jim McClinsey

Hey folks- the ULBD is the go-to resource if you want to really master backlinking.

The acronym stands for Ultimate Link Building Dossier.

If you’re not familiar with it, this is Duncan Carver’s link building masterpiece that details link building tactics 99% of your competition either aren’t aware of or are too lazy to implement.

So What Is It?

OK, this comes down to a 200+ page PDF with so many ninja linking tactics it pays to take lots of notes!

A small portion of what is in here is very advanced and most people will not have to use them succeed with a backlinking campaign.

But, it’s nice to know that you have the firepower to really lay down a successful campaign.

If you don’t know who Duncan Carver is, check out his Google results to see why when he speaks people listen. 

Conclusion: What Are You Waiting For?

Please, do yourself a huge favor and at least check out the Ultimate Link Building Dossier- it’s updated regularly at no extra charge, which is cool.

If you do decide to buy, use my link and shoot me an email I’ll give you a free site evaluation ($85 value).

Also, make sure to take notes- you’ll be taking in a massive amount of information and taking notes is a great way to keep the details fresh in your mind.

OK, one last time: get yourself a copy of the Ultimate Link Building Dossier today and take your competition to school!

-Jim

My Message to Those Starting Out or Who Have Critical Blind Spots in IM

When people get into Internet Marketing for the first time it can be both exciting and nerve-racking. On the one hand, you’re presented with a plethora of opportunities of which to avail yourself in making money online. On the other hand, you’re also presented with what can shortly become information overload.

Before I go any further with this post, I’d like to say that this will be a positive and encouraging note especially for those who aren’t afraid to work hard to make it happen.

It’s easy to become frustrated when you see so many plans designed to make you money online. It’s like jumping into a great big pool where you can see shadows swimming around. Going a little further with this example, a great number of the shadows in the IM world indeed are sharks.

But be encouraged– some of them are dolphins and will help you get to shore (reach your IM goals).

That’s enough of that particular fish story *rimshot*

Everyone’s seen the flashy graphics and pictures of people with their expensive cars and houses along with possibly Photoshopped screenshots of Clickbank accounts. Now, some folks really do make that kind of money and others make nothing at all.

But what’s important is that there’s everything in between!

Disclaimer: I’m not going to talk about “Crushing it” or any of that- it’s just not my style.  Plus, I’m doing ok but I’m no millionaire.  If you want someone to talk you into a frenzy, you’re in the wrong place.  Lots of people will get you all charged up and then give out some halfassed information.  My goal is just to show you what I do and let you leapfrog over some of the hurdles I’ve encountered along the way.

If I wind up independently wealthy overnight, I’m pretty sure I won’t use the term “Crushing it”, lol.  No offense to those who love the term, but that ain’t me

OK, now, a lot of people get into this business and assume that if they don’t make money right away or only make a little bit of money in the beginning then it’s some sort of scam or something they’re not capable of doing. Indeed, this idea has been fostered by some of the unscrupulous folks out there offering Internet Marketing products.

All I can say is, you need to build a solid foundation in order to succeed and you won’t get it from your typical internet marketing guru who is really only making money on your back (more on foundation building later).

Don’t lump this and a few of the other diamond in the rough programs in with others that have just taken your money. There’s no reason to fall for any of (if you’ll pardon my paraphrasing of one of my mentors) the crude sophistry of these not so big bigshots.

You might be one of the people to make money hand over fist or maybe you’ll be one of the ones who makes a decent living. Would that be so bad?

A lot of people have pulled themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps, having come from nothing at all or having lost a career. I can’t begin to say that I’ve had it super tough or that my situation was the worst in the world– I lost my tenured teaching career several years ago and decided that, as unhappy as I had been in the job, I didn’t want to work for somebody else in that sort of capacity anymore.

I’d rather rely on myself and unless I really have to, I’m not towing anybody’s damn company line ever again.

Back to foundation building– you might not even realize how much focus and effort it takes to make money online.

Here’s what I mean:

There’s an awful lot to learn about this business and it’s always changing. That doesn’t negate the fact that there are fundamentals and you need to learn them as well as staying abreast of the newest thoughts in the industry. Once you’ve learned the fundamentals, it will be much easier to grasp more complicated aspects and concepts which are always in flux like Google’s search algorithm.

Imagine being young and learning math for the first time. Do you think your teacher would hand you a graphing calculator and grade you based on finding the angles of quickest descent or something like that?

Of course not. A good teacher will help you learn the basics like addition and subtraction before moving on to something more difficult.

If you’re a sports person, imagine you walk into your favorite baseball team’s training facility. You’ve just been hired and you’re working among the elite. Does that mean that you’re going to make the Guinness Book of World Records based on your playing ability? Not necessarily.

Of course, it could happen– but would it really be so bad to be one of the lesser-known but still extremely successful baseball players on the team? I don’t see those guys shining shoes or washing windshields.

Comparing this again with IM, you can make a real living and be able to tell people that you’ve done something that not everybody knows how to do nor may they ever have the opportunity to do.

You played professional baseball. You figured out how to make money online. And you got to work with some of the elite trainers in the business. Sounds pretty good to me.

If you got into this only to be a superstar, I can understand that, but if you need to feed your ego this isn’t the way to do it. You’ll always be disappointed that you didn’t have your “14 million dollar day” until you do.

But I’m not suggesting that you settle either– you’ll make your way in this only if you’re willing to put in the long hours and the hard work.

Everybody learns at a different rate has different opportunities to learn. I’m a lucky guy– I had the option of not working while learning all of this. Some people may have only an hour a week, which is an order of magnitude more difficult but still something you can do if you really want to.

You need to immerse yourself in this– you can do that in an hour a week but you should be thinking about it, dreaming about it and implementing it whenever you can.

The other side of the same coin is that you can overdo it here too– you’ll burn yourself out quickly if you read every piece of e-mail from every IM list and at some point you have to simply start trying and leave theory on the table.

I mentioned earlier that it’s important to be aware of the latest word in this industry in order to be competitive and make a success of yourself. Try and find the balance between reading everything and reading nothing at all.

I don’t know about you but I’ve always found the answer lies somewhere in the middle of 2 extremes and life really comes down to balance.

So, are you ready to put your nose to the grindstone?

Your first stop is to implement something and get any little bit of success you can.

Maybe it’s getting your site up, maybe it’s getting your site on page one and maybe it’s earning your first affiliate commission.

But there ain’t nothing gonna happen unless you start doing some of the heavy lifting and build from there.

Stop back soon for my free course and IM training materials, lessons and more!

 -Jim

So, as everyone has heard by now, Google’s latest algorithmic shift has targeted private blog networks.  If you didn’t see this coming, then you’ve missed out on a fundamental fact of dealing with Google: you have to serve the needs of the searcher.

I like to let the dust settle before weighing in too heavily on things like this because there’s a panic mode people go into when they see that something has changed with Google (that’s how Google “rolls”, if you weren’t aware).  Now that people have calmed down some, it’s a great time to put my thoughts down on the web about it.

So- Google has now deindexed content posted on several large private blog networks like Build My Rank (who has since shut their doors).  I’ve used BMR and I’ve lost a little ground because of it, but it’s not the only thing I rely on for backlinks.  Which is why my rankings have stayed largely pretty solid.

Quality is the name of the game- you need good content and you need good backlinks with a diverse profile.

Here’s a quick vid showing what happened to a few of my sites as a result of losing the BMR links:

As should be clear at this point, the sky has not fallen.  Don’t let the forum hype scare you into thinking you can’t rank your sites.

Make this your wallpaper

-Jim

I’ve added a quick contact form to allow you to reach me for coaching quickly.  I will respond to all requests within 24 hours.

Thanks to everyone and here’s to your success!

-Jim