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Free Entrepreneurial Strengths Survey

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If anyone had told me that I was destined to become an entrepreneur with a highly successful online business, I would have scoffed at the notion.

Being someone who hates to sell (and STILL hates to sell) I just didn't see myself as a businessperson.

As it was, I became an entrepreneur entirely by ACCIDENT and it wasn't until much later that I realized that running my own online publishing business (as an affiliate and ebook author) was absolutely PERFECT for me.

I now set my own schedule, write honestly about what I'm interested in, can reach for the sky in terms of income and get to help others do likewise.

PERFECT!

But as I said, I stumbled on my Utopic biz purely by accident, and I doubt I would have found a career or business that matches my strengths, interests and desires had I actually been LOOKING for it.

You, however, don't need to be so haphazard in the search for your PERFECT business.

At the Underground Seminar, I spent quite a bit of time talking with millionaire entrepreneur, Steve Little.

Steve's heart is definitely in the right place when it comes to helping new entrepreneurs find their PERFECT business. What he hates most is to see people waste their hard-earned money on hyped up bizops that just aren't right for them.

FREE Survey Helps You Choose the RIGHT Business Model for YOU

So, to help you avoid getting into the WRONG business, Steve created a fantastic FREE 48-question survey which tells you all about your individual entrepreneurial strengths. Then he teaches you how to leverage those strengths into the success you desire with a series of 20 excellent video lessons.

And he's made what it all available to you for free.

So, go check it out. It only takes a minute to get your survey results but the insight you get is invaluable.

And BTW, it doesn't matter if you're looking to start a business right now or not, you've got to hear what he has to say.

6 Ways to Build Site Content

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6 Ways to Create Site Content
What do you do when you visit a site and can't find the information that you're looking for OR if the information presented is stale and dull?

You click away, right?

That's why it's essential that you present useful, informative and entertaining content on your own site and basically, there are 6 ways to develop content for your site, which I've listed below in order of preference.

You'll also find recommended reading and tools below that will help you learn to write and source content on the web.

1. Create Your Own Content

I've personally written 90% or more of the copy on all my sites. And yes, all that writing takes time, but when you're writing about things that are near and dear to your heart, it's not work – it's FUN! Better yet, strong personal endorsements ALWAYS convert better than merchant copy. Occasionally, when I've been in a hurry to ‘get the word' out, I've used merchant copy. However, I always get permission to revise the copy first to avoid the potential of duplicate content penalties.

You don't have to write all your material, either. Consider doing a telephone interview with an expert in your niche and then have that interview transcribed.

A writing tip…

If you think that your writing lacks luster or you find that it's a real grind, here's a tip… writing well really isn't that difficult. Can you tell a friend about a product or service that you like? If you can, then all you need to do is pretend that you're talking to a friend and and type what you would say to them.

 

2. Hire a Ghostwriter

If you really don't want to write, then hiring a ghostwriter is a great alternative.

Many webmasters build content for their sites quickly and cheaply using ghostwriters hired through Freelancer.

Some have articles written for as little as $2 a piece, but remember, you do get what you pay for. I suggest spending a minimum of $10 per article to get reasonable quality content — and I've spent as much as $100 to have a magazine quality article written.

3. Buy Resale & Private Label Rights

HATE to write? No problem! You can buy private label rights articles for your site.

Niche content packages and private label rights have become all the rage of late with webmasters who either hate to write or don't have the time to write.

Learn how to use and profit from private label rights, and check out this list of recommended “PLR” distributors.

4. Source Copyright-Free (Public Domain) Work

Want to create your own ebook… easily? Then consider using a public domain work. Public domain works, eg. books, poems and articles have NO copyright protection. Anyone (me, you, anyone) can copy, modify and sell them. Better yet, you can even remove the original author's name and treat it as your own.

Moreover, once you modify a public domain work it becomes your property. The modified work receives an automatic copyright just like it would if it were an original work.

5. Use Merchant Copy

Using merchant copy is the option of last resort.

Your visitors have seen that ad so many times before they get to your site, that when they see it again, they'll just click away. Moreover, you will run the risk of incurring a duplicate content penalty from Google. For a truly successful site, use one of the options listed above.

6. Use Other Authors' Content

It is possible to reprint articles posted on article directories such as GoArticles.com and EzineArticles.com provided you respect the author's copyright guidelines and restrictions for use.

Although I personally recommend AGAINST using other authors' material because your site will bleed traffic through those author links, there's no harm in using them to build content and traffic initially.

Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Services

A short list of the online business services Rosalind offers to affiliate marketers, managers and merchants.

  • Tips to Your Inbox

    Basic to advanced online money-making tips delivered to your Inbox. No hype, no spam. Enter your name and email address in the box labeled “Weekly Blog Updates” to the right

  • Affiliate & Blogger Training

    I've been teaching affiliate marketers and website builders (now bloggers) since 2003. Check out my books and multi-media programs to learn how to become a money-making blogger.

Magazine & Book Interviews and Profiles

Here are a few of the magazines, newspapers, and books for which I've done interviews and in which my work as an Internet marketer was profiled.

Six Figure Income Magazine

My first interview was in April 2002 with Six Figure Income Magazine in an article entitled, “The Home Business Revoltion's Greatest Entrepeneurs“.

Six Figure Income Magazine

Secrets to their Success

This interview revealed most of my business strategy. Although the specific interview is no longer available, I've arranged free access to IMC's exclusive “Secrets To Their Success” Private Web Site, just for you. Learn the private techniques and strategies of “Mom & Pop” web sites that are earning incomes in excess of $100,000 to $600,000 a year like…mine and dozens of others.

stts

Slopes Ripe for Meeting

Slopes Ripe for Meeting was a Cochrane Times newspaper interview in December 2002 about a matchmaking site of a different type.

Snowlovers.net was a site that matched snowboarders and skiers based on gender, locale, planned resort visits, compatibility and other factors.

Although the site was a huge hit amongst its members, the project itself was proof positive that not all partnerships are destined to succeed. On the positive side of this equation, one of the partners – Joel Bolton remained a good friend and later became my virtual assistant.

cochrane-times

Revenue Magazine (now Mthink)

I was interviewed for the Premier of Revenue Magazine, the first (and still the only) glossy magazine for affiliate marketers.

Now an industry standard, Revenue magazine delivers the most integrated and personally relevant information to today's online marketers. Editorial intelligence is focused on all aspects of the online marketing experience including, key business strategies, innovative marketing methods, effective online advertising techniques and emerging trends in technology.

Since that interview (and a second listed below), I now write the “Affiliate's Corner” column for Revenue Magazine.

Revenue magazine is published by Montgomery Media International (MMI), a division of Montgomery Research, Inc.

Small Business Opportunities

By result of the “Secrets to their Success” interview, more information about my work as an Internet marketer appeared in the November 2003 edition of Small Business Opportunities magazine.

Revenue Magazine… again

Revenue MagazineIn the January 2006 issue of Revenue Magazine did a ‘what are they doing now?' follow-up to the “Five Who Thrive” article (see above) that was featured in their premier issue.

 

eMillions:

Stanley Tang is a 13-year-old successful Internet entrepreneur and 14 of the world's most successful Internet marketers about ‘their rags-to-riches stories'.

Well, my story isn't exactly rags to riches but it does appear in eMillions.

Unfortunately, however, the book is a collection of recording transcripts that weren't edited for brevity or clarity. My interview transcript in this book merely proves that I'm a better writer than a speaker. 🙂

Check out eMillions: Behind-the-Scenes Stories of 14 Successful Internet Millionaires

 

Real Success Without a Real Job: There Is No Life Like It!

Ernie Zelinski is the consummate lifestyle author and I was tickled pink when he interviewed me for his latest book, about which the Boston Herald said “Ernie Zelinski helps others find the time to live.”

Here is a portion of its product description from Amazon.

Career success is much more than having a real job and earning a decent income. Real career success is truly enjoying what you do for a living and having the personal freedom to perform your work virtually any time you want. This one-of-a-kind guide challenges and inspires you to:

  • Create your own dream job or operate an unconventional business.
  • Find your own important mission, true calling, or passionate pursuit with which you can make a great living.
  • Gain the courage to escape the corporate world so that you don’t have to spend the rest of your life trapped in a cubicle.
  • Be creative and have fun in your work.
  • Restructure your life so that it has meaning, direction, and joy.
  • Take charge of your physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual well-being.
  • Experience true personal freedom in all areas of your life.
  • Above all, get the most out of your life —personally and professionally!

This revolutionary book is for those millions of organizationally averse people who would like to break free of corporate life so that they have complete control over their lives. Throughout the book, you will read about several ordinary individuals who have attained extraordinary success without a real job. International best-selling author Ernie Zelinski also uses experiences from his own life to show how the powerful success principles emphasized in this book can help you joyfully avoid the shackles of the corporate world for the rest of your life.

Positive, lively, and captivating, Real Success Without a Real Job is designed to help you live an extraordinary lifestyle that is the envy of the corporate world — there is no life like it!

Check out Real Success Without a Real Job: There Is No Life Like It!

 

Click Here to Order:

Joel Comm is popularly known as the King of Adsense, having written the best-selling book “The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense“.

His new book “Click Here to Order exposes how small business is thriving online like never before, especially in the realm of information products. Click Here creates an entertaining and instructive narrative that provides an in-depth look at the unintentionally underground movement known as Info product marketing, and the people who have profited and succeeded in the industry.”

You'll find information about me and my work on pages 65, 83, 108, and 126-8.

Check out Click Here to Order: Stories of the World's Most Successful Internet Marketing Entrepreneurs

 

Moonlighting on the Internet

Yanik Silver is the leading expert on creating automatic, moneymaking websites. He has sold more than $10,000,000 of information products online, despite minimal knowledge of web design and HTML.

I'm honored to call him a friend and when he asked me to do an interview for his first book, I was thrilled. Here's a testimonial that Yanik received from the legendary marketer, Ted Nicholas.

“Well-written, practical, useful, money-earning advice for anyone interested in using the internet to create an extra $500 to $5,000 a month. Yanik Silver, one of the internet's truly remarkable success stories, holds nothing back. Instead of lots of meaningless claptrap contained in most books about the internet, the author shares the inside secrets of what really works. And what doesn't.”

Check out Moonlighting on the Internet

Other Mentions

Last but not least, here is a list of my conference appearances and radio interviews.

Rosalind Gardner: About

Hi, my name is Rosalind Gardner, but you can call me ‘Ros' which sounds like Roz. I started online back in 1997 and…

Like you, I started with NO experience and…

… a LOT of very bad computer days in the beginning (see the image below). Remember these? If not, consider yourself ahead of the game already! 🙂

error-messages

I didn't know how to build a website (blogs didn't exist back in the late '90's), had no idea what FTP, HTML, ASCII or any of those other terms meant. When I started, there were no text, video or audio-visual tutorials to show new webmasters how to do anything.

Moreover, not only was I, Rosalind Gardner, not a salesperson, I wasn't interested in selling anything either.

But… and this is a BIG but — I saw the opportunity to make money online and was absolutely determined to quit my air traffic controller job (because of the lousy shift schedules), so I got to work and learned all I could.

Then a commission check for $10.99 convinced me…

The first month after I started my dating site, Sage-Hearts (now 101Date.com), I received a check for $10.99. (I wish I'd kept and framed it.) That first check convinced me that affiliate marketing was REAL and by the end of the first year I was clearing $5,000.00 per month.

I quit my job two years later, at which point I was earning over $10,000.00 per month.

Now I make a LOT more. Here's an example of $70,965.55 deposited to one of my bank accounts.

$70,965.55 deposited in just ONE day!

I wanted to share what I had learned…

By 2003, I knew I had to share what I'd learned about the potential for making money online with the world, so I wrote a book about my success as an affiliate marketer called, The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online to teach others how to do the same. .

The book, which is still regularly updated, quickly became the industry's primary training manual for teaching new affiliate marketers how to do business right and is on the desks of most affiliate network managers.

This is what Allan Gardyne, one of the most famous affiliate marketers had to say about the Super Affiliate Handbook:

“A perfect example is Rosalind Gardner, who earns $30,000 to $50,000 a month in affiliate commissions, with a very nice 40% to 50% profit margin. …and… She explains how she attracts more than 4,500 unique visitors a day and has sales conversions that are 3 to 5 times higher than those of the average affiliate. …and… This isn't vague theory or book learning, it's real-life, down-to-earth advice from real people like Rosalind.”

Taking it to the podium…

Since the book was published, my online business success has been profiled in many books and magazines, including Revenue Magazine – Rosalind Gardner Affiliate Corner and the Internet Marketing Center's Secrets to Their Success (STTS) which was later featured in an issue of Small Business Opportunities magazine.

Despite the fact that I was terrified of public speaking, I've now done more radio and podcast interviews than I can remember and have spoken at the premier industry events and conferences such as Affiliate Summit, AdTech, and Ticonderoga's Affiliate Conventions.

I was the Affiliate's Corner columnist for Revenue Magazine, which was the ONLY magazine available on newsstands and dedicated specifically to affiliate marketing.

Although I am best known for my work as an affiliate marketer, I also have experience in the following areas:

  • Online Dropshipping
  • Online Auctions
  • eBook Publishing
  • Product and Software Creation
  • Merchant and Manager Coaching
  • Blogger Training

Helping YOU Succeed

Making money online certainly isn't rocket science, or I wouldn't have been able to write the page you are reading…

Basically, with absolutely NO previous business experience when I started my online business, I'm living proof that anyone who truly desires success and is committed and persistent can succeed.

You too can enjoy financial freedom with an online business. Whether you are just starting out or want to improve an existing site, I can help you achieve your dream.

Whether through one-on-one coaching, my newsletter, or ebooks, my greatest pleasure comes from helping you succeed.

Your success story starts right here…

Join 35,000+ subscribers and sign up for my FREE NO HYPE Newsletter. Topics include internet marketing, affiliate marketing, online auctions, blogging practices, product creation, software and tutorial reviews, and so much more… much of which is exclusive to my subscribers.

Learn more about what you'll get in the newsletter or sign up in the sidebar to the right.

Cheers,

Rosalind Gardner

Rosalind’s Conference Appearances and Radio Interviews

Here's some evidence that I love sharing information about Internet marketing – surprising for someone who used to be absolutely terrified of public speaking!!!

Conference Appearances

Below is a list of conferences at which I've spoken. Check out my current speaking agenda to find out where I'll be appearing next— but WATCH OUT! If you go, I might just take a picture of you too! 🙂

 

  • Marc Goldman & Alan Bechtold's JV Summit (Las Vegas, March 2004)
  • eComXpo (Online, February 2005)
  • Affiliate Summit West 05 (Las Vegas, July 2005)
  • DBB (San Antonio, March 2005)
  • Yanik Silver's Underground Seminar (Washington, D.C., April 2005)
  • Ken McCarthy's System Seminar (Chicago, May 2005)
  • Performics Client Summit (Chicago, August 2005)
  • eComXpo (Online, Arpil 2006)
  • Affiliate Summit East 06 (Orlando, July 2006)
  • Casino Affiliate Convention (Las Vegas, September 2006)
  • eComXpo (Online, October 2006)
  • Affiliate Manager Bootcamp (Las Vegas, January 2007 – event canceled)
  • Affiliate Summit East 07 (Miami, July 2007)
  • Casino Affiliate Convention (Montreal, August 2007)
  • AdTech (New York, November 2007)
  • Anik Singal's PPC Classroom Live! (Las Vegas, December 2007)
  • IMC Event (Los Angeles, March 2008 (had to cancel)
  • Affiliate Summit West (Vegas, January 2009)
  • UPO (Dubai, November 2009)
  • Affiliate Summit West (Vegas, January 2010)

Radio and Other Recorded Interviews and Teleseminars

I've literally done HUNDREDS of interviews on radio and for the web. Here is a short list of interviewers and either the name of the show or the title of the specific recording.

  • Mark Hendricks | Top Marketing Experts Tell All – Vol 1
  • Bob Doyle | Wealth Beyond Reason
  • Peter Twist | Internet Marketing Lounge
  • Marty Nemko | Work with Marty Nemko
  • Helen Bassett | B2B Women
  • Richard Queck | Exposed Traffic
  • Melody Campbell | The Small Business Guru
  • Randy Gilbert | The Inside Success Show
  • Kevin Stiles | A Day in the Life of an Internet Marketing Pro
  • Mike Merz | im4newbies.com
  • Mike Lamb | Money Room Show
  • Jason Cox | How to Do JV Deals
  • Russell Brunson | Marketing Deal Time
  • Yanik Silver | Mini Affiliate Machines
  • 2nd Wave Success | Affiliate Marketing: The Fast, Easy & Inexpensive Way to Start an Internet Business
  • Becky Hagel | Rosalind Gardner's Super Affiliate Secrets Revealed to Rebecca Hagel
  • Holly Cotter | 9AM –
  • Jason Potash | Affiliate Marketing: How to Get HIGHLY Targeted Traffic to Your Website Fast
  • Albert Hallado | Net Biz Review
  • Alex Ribeiro | HBIRC
  • Russell Brunson | Affiliate Marketing Bootcamp
  • Bob Sommers | Recognized Expert Radio Interview
  • Janet Beckers | Wonderful Web Women
  • Webmaster Radio | Affiliate Insider

Here is a list of books, magazines and newspapers in which details about my work as an Internet marketer appears.

All New Blogs Could (and Should) Look this Good

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NOTE: Justin got too busy traveling around the world and writing books to maintain his site — but it's still a great story. 🙂

I found the Doglirious site through a link in our Forum and my first reaction was “WOW!”

SO impressed was I, that I emailed Justin (the webmaster) to find out if I could profile his site in the Super Affiliate Handbook as an example of how an affiliate site SHOULD be fleshed out.

When Justin replied with a little background about the site, I was even MORE impressed. Here's what he had to say:

Michelle (my girlfriend) and I adopted a dog from the Atlanta Humane Society about a year ago and ever since then, had been disappointed with the dog websites that existed. We were interested in reading product reviews from a website other than Amazon.com. Also, we were looking for reliable tips & advice that was fun to read (and sounded like it came from real dog owners). Finally, we wanted a central place to find online dog-product discounts from across the Web – but we just couldn't find a website that offered these elements in a user-friendly manner.

So, about two months ago, we began brainstorming about how to create a dog lover's website. One month ago, I bought your eBook, and with a lot of hard work, this project quickly blossomed due to our enthusiasm for the subject.

BRAVO!

Justin and Michelle started with exactly the right motivation and enthusiasm for building a business website. They saw the demand and went with the topic based on the fact that they're both completely ‘doglirious'.

LOVE that name – Doglirious.

The WordPress Theme

The theme Justin is using for the site is Brian Gardner's (Studio Press) Lifetyle theme. I asked him if they had an Elancer produce the graphics for the template or whether they designed them.

Other than Brian's theme and the WordPress plug-ins, we developed the entire site ourselves – the layout, content, and technical design. Michelle and I had a concept for how we wanted the website to look & feel. I then saw the Revolution Lifestyle theme and thought, “Yep, this is it!“

I thought pretty much the same thing when Brian released his new WordPress theme package — especially about the Lifestyle, Church and Chrome themes — so I bought the StudioPress multi-theme package right away and have it up on a few sites already including 101Date.com (Lifestyle theme) and MyEnergyPal.com (Church Theme), the latter of which was a combined venture with my friend, Ed who wanted to generate leads for his local energy assessment business.

The affiliate in me said “let's make money!” so I started that site on Sunday afternoon and pretty much had it the way it looks now by Monday afternoon — a total of about 12 hours which included time to collect and create some content as well as research and place a few offers. Now it's just waiting for that all-important content from Ed.

Granted, I have a ‘little bit' of experience with WordPress and WordPress themes but I wondered how much experience Justin had when he started working with the Lifestyle theme. Here's what Justin had to say about his own level of expertise prior to starting Doglirious…

I have been tinkering with Web design for years and also obtained a Masters degree in usability & information architecture. So with those skills and the very helpful people at the Revolution community forum I quickly grasped WordPress (which I've never used before). The Revolution forum admins – just like yours on NetProfitsToday – are prompt and extremely helpful with their feedback and advice.

Oh…if you are interested, I've attached our early drafts of the website layout to this email for your reference (see screenshot to the right). A $5 box of Crayola colored pencils was our very first business expense.

In addition to aesthetic appeal, Justin's educational background is likely what caused him to jump at the chance to work with this beautiful theme. The section layouts lead visitors down a natural path from Featured articles / posts near the top of the page to various sections of featured categories, and lastly to the sidebar navigation.

What sets the latest StudioPress themes apart however is the Featured Content Gallery plugin which allows you to attach those large pictures at the top of the page to specific articles, and add thumbnail pictures to the category sections — all of which increases the likelihood that a visitor will click a link and go deeper into the site.

For example, according to the Google Analytics report for MyEnergyPal (which hasn't even officially launched 'cause I still have tweaking to do), of the 40 unique visitors we've had so far, the landing page has a 0.00% bounce rate. Bounce rate is the average percentage of initial visitors who “bounce” to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.

Pretty phenomenal!

But better yet, the average Pages/Visit is 16.50 and average time on the site is almost 24 minutes. Granted, that could have something to do with the fact that I count as one visitor and I had the site open in a browser for many, many, MANY hours. 🙂

Needless to say, when a theme makes a site that ‘sticky', I plan to covert each of my sites to one of the StudioPress themes as soon as possible.

Interested in a LifeStyle Change?

Join us at Affiliate Blogger PRO which features the use of StudioPress themes.

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