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I just stumbled (literally, with StumbleUpon) a site named BuzzDash. Here, you can quickly and easily create a poll and publish it to your blog. I’ve thrown up a poll (in the sidebar) to try it out. This can be a great tool to find out more information about your customers. I like it because it’s dynamic – your visitors simply has to click on one of the provided answers and the poll updates automatically. Sweet!
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Slinkset – like Reddit? Your Own Social News Network
Posted by Kaz on July 17th, 2008
This is an interesting site I recently came across, thanks to Twine that is. Are you familiar with the site Reddit? One of the unique features of Reddit is the ability for users to vote up or down specific items. Slinkset lets you build your own social news site, with the same functionality. I’ve just created my own Slinkset site and imported RSS feeds for this site as well as my writing/research site www.kazpro.com. Slinkset seems to take awhile to populate with the feed items, so my review is still pending.
Another feature I like about Slinkset is the ability to have your Slinkset url forward to your own domain name. Visitors can vote items on your Slinkset page up or down, causing the item to shift it’s place on the page (very similar to Reddit). You can even allow visitors to post their own content, thus turning your site into a social network. This could be a very useful platform for specific niches – I may have to play around with it some more.
While Slinkset seems to be a relatively new site, I think I’ll be monitoring it for awhile. A lot of new social sites are evolving lately, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
UPDATE:
In the time it took me to write this post, my feeds at my Slinkset site started showing up. I’ll give a thumbs up then for speed, since that’s relatively quick to populate. Although I read on their help forums that feeds are only refreshed every few hours.
Facing Your Fears – What Niche Do I Choose?
Posted by Kaz on July 17th, 2008
This is the first post in a series of posts that discusses how your fears could be holding you back from succeeding. I’m writing this from my own experiences, because I think a lot of people may be able to relate. There’s always been a lot of talk in the Internet Marketing communities about taking action and being “stuck” in the learning phase. Several people say things such as “just do it”, “it doesn’t have to be perfect”, “stop learning and start acting”, “taking action is key”.
I firmly believe that you will NOT get out of your “learning paralysis” until you identify and conquer your fears.
It’s NOT As Simple As Creating Your Own Product
Posted by Kaz on July 1st, 2008
I’m in no way trying to say that creating your own product has to be difficult. A lot of people give the advice that creating your own product is a strong and viable business model, and it IS. But what is most often glossed over is all of the steps involved in setting up your product for sale and marketing it.
Let’s say you create (or get created for you) an ebook. This is your product, your pride and joy. You either invested a certain amount of time or money to create the product. Now you need to make sure to plan the initial set up and ongoing marketing.
Initial Set Up
There are many ways to skin a cat, so these are just steps showing you ONE way to get things done:
If You Can Write, You CAN Make Money
Posted by Kaz on May 22nd, 2008
Those who are new to Internet Marketing are often stunned at the simple fact that writing for other marketers can be a lucrative business all in itself. Sure you aren’t going to get rich from it, but you CAN build a sustainable and consistent income from it.
Of course, that’s assuming that you can write well for one thing. You’ll need some marketing skills to be successful as well – it’s not like people will be banging down your door for business right away. You’ll need to know how to present yourself to your market. You’ll need to know about your target market.
Writing Style
Different mediums do well with different writing styles. For example, you would not approach a 50 page ebook with the same mentality as a 10 page report necessarily. In addition, you might not approach a typical article the same way you would an email course. The other thing about style to keep in mind is to develop YOUR OWN. Don’t try to be like everybody else. Write the way you feel and don’t be afraid to put some passion into it. Passionate and ambitious writing is far more enjoyable to read than monotonous dry text.
TIP: Keep your sentences short and punchy, but don’t sacrifice getting your point across just to do so.
Target Market
There are many markets seeking proficient writers, but what I’m talking about today is writing for other Internet marketers. Learn everything you can about your target market. If you’re going to decide what to write, and sell rights to your writing, you’ll definitely need to pay attention to what your market is seeking. This is a tough area. It requires you to keep up to date on what niches are popular. Now on the other hand, if you’re going to offer to do custom writing for others (a.k.a. ghostwriting), then your clients will typically already know what topic they want you to write about.
Pricing
This is where a lot of new writers get stuck. The thing to keep in mind is when you enter this type of field, you don’t want to prioritize profits right away. Make your main goal to gather feedback and testimonials from others, and to build up your portfolio. New writers typically will enter the field at a lower price, and then gradually raise their prices to reflect their worth and match the going rates.
A great place to take a look at new writers launching their services is the Warrior forum.
