FriendsWhoCare Product Reviews

2 New Internet Business Resources Free

2008-12-14T08:34:00.008-06:00

When I started my internet business in 2001 it was a lot different than today. Back then you pay for everything to build your site, brand yourself, create videos, etc.

Today however things are a lot different. You can get free software to create web pages. You can have a free blog. You can brand ebooks for free to give away. And now there's even a place where you can get some free videos to help build you list and make affiliate sales.

Now I don't use free software to create my web pages at FriendsWhoCare since I had to buy some when I started. However I do have a free blog. In fact I have several. I also have a membership at Viral Ebook Explosion where I get ebooks to brand and give away. And I also now have a membership at Affiliate Power Videos.

Since I've been doing business online for several years you may wonder why I use free blogs and membership sites.

Easy answer - Because these things help build my business!

Blogs are a fantastic way to promote your business because you can leave reviews for affiliate products online and they can continue to make sales for you long after you've written the review. Free blogs that provide content can even make sales if you promote things relative to your content and you provide good content on a regular basis.

As for membership sites like Viral Ebook Explosion and Affiliate Power Videos, all I can say is that I'll take all the help I can get when it comes to building my lists and making sales. And if you can't see the value of giving branded information away or using video then ... I won't even go there.

Of course the paid memberships at these sites offer much more however the free memberships aren't shabby. A free membership at Viral Ebook Explosion gives you the right to brand and sell or give away several quality information products. And right now a free membership at Affiliate Power Videos gives you professional video sign-up pages for 10 different affiliate products PLUS you also get 5 new video squeeze pages every month.

If you're able to create your own viral ebooks or make your own videos then you may not be interested in these 2 membership sites. However if you don't write your own viral ebook, you aren't making your own videos or you'd like some to make your life easier by not having to do all the work yourself then I highly recommend you check out both these membership sites.

Here they are again - Viral Ebook Explosion and Affiliate Power Videos.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. With Christmas only a few days off I just have to share a video with a really funny Christmas song. And while it's really cute and I think you'll enjoy it I do have to warn you. After the song and in the ending credits there is a joke you may find offensive so you may want to stop the video at the end of the song.

Tags: viral ebook, brand ebook, affiliate video, internet marketing resources, free marketing resources

Instant Article Wizard vs Article Architect Update

2008-10-30T12:13:00.002-05:00

I've written several articles about Article Architect starting with the first 1 where I tried to compare Article Architect with Instant Article Wizard.

Since that first article a couple of things have changed:

Article Architect has been improved and existing customers have gotten the free upgrades. I think Instant Article Wizard has also been improved however I don't know Jonathan's policy for existing customers.

Someone started a monthly fee membership site for Jonathan's product although you can still get your own copy of Instant Article Wizard for the original price.

And now there's a big change coming that affects those thinking about getting Article Architect.

Jay is getting close to releasing another new version of Article Architect and he has already increased the price. He decided he had left the price "artificially low" long enough so he raised it to $97.

However...

...if you want it at the old price, you have until November 4, 2008 to get it for $50 off (which is actually a couple bucks below the old price).

Here's what to do:

1. Go to http://www.friendswhocare.us/recommends/articlearchitect.html and then to the order form.

2. In the Coupon field, enter this code: AAMinus50 and then press the Update button to see your price immediately drop.

3. Go ahead and finish placing the order.

And of course, you will also receive the new version of Article Architect as soon as it's released.

Sorry to I didn't tell you sooner, but I just found out.

To Your Success.
Susan

PS - Remember, that coupon code expires Nov 4th, so use it now or you'll miss out on the Official Software of Article Marketing. http://www.friendswhocare.us/recommends/articlearchitect.html

Tags: article architect, instant article wizard, writing articles, writing wizard, writing tool, article, writing, ezine article

Why I Switched To Aweber.

2008-08-22T13:41:00.004-05:00

I've had an online newsletter for around 6 years and have known about Aweber for almost that long. Unfortunately I didn't start my newsletter using the Aweber autoresponder service.

You see, like most people who start an online business I was short of cash and didn't really understand the importance of building my list on a reliable service so I wouldn't have to move it. But believe me, I've learned my lesson because moving your list from 1 service to another is a gigantic cost!

In fact, the cost of moving my list is 1 I've learned 4 times. and I can't even imagine the amount of money it's cost me!

In a nut shell here's the story behind my recommendation to use a well established autoresponder service like Aweber when you're starting your first list.

Started my 1st list with a free service. When I started making money I could have stayed with it but decided it was time to be more professional and go with a autoresponder service that had more capabilities and it would look better to my subscribers. I moved my list and lost about 98% of them.

The new service I was using was a good 1 and didn't cost as much as Aweber (still trying to save a buck). I was using double-optin for my new subscribers but unfortunately many others weren't. As a result the autoresponder service started getting almost all the emails they sent blocked by most of the big mailbox providers like Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

Having your email not get through is not good so I move my list again with an almost 100% loss of subscribers since I couldn't tell them I was changing services.

This time I chose a service that had been around for several years and didn't cost as much as Aweber. (Yeah, I was still trying to save about $5 a month.) The service was good and they stayed on top of things to get the emails through. Unfortunately the job got too big for them and they decided to shut down the service after I'd built my list back up.

I was able to warn my list so only took a 96.7% loss of subscribers when I moved to an autoresponder service that was part of a membership site. (Now I was saving even more money and only members could use the service.) The autoresponder had only a few features that were time consuming to use but it was sufficient to rebuild my list.

Unfortunately, the service lost almost all my subscribers! Yes, you read it right. When I didn't receive a copy of my newsletter I checked my list and found that almost all my subscribers were gone. The only ones still in the system were those who had subscribed within the last couple of days. I notified the service but they couldn't find my list even though I sent them copies of both my backups and some of the subscriber email notifications they'd sent to me.

At that point I decided I'd lost way too many subscribers and too much money trying to be frugal. I bit the bullet and joined Aweber who allowed me to import my backups and edit the confirmation request that would be sent to my existing subscribers. Now I still lost subscribers but this time only around 80.35% didn't click the confirmation link.

From my experience I highly recommend going with Aweber when you start your list and moving to Aweber if you decide to move your list. I can not prove that they get more messages through however since I lost fewer subscribers sending an explanation in my confirm message, I think they must get more email through to the inboxes. And while I've only been using them for a few months and still have a lot to learn about some of their features, I can tell you I have used both of the ones shown in the video below.

Here are the features I've used in the few months I've had Aweber:

Modify the confirmation message: Create your own personal message for new subscribers.

Blog broadcast: Create broadcast newsletters automatically from existing blog RSS content feeds or other sources of RSS and XML content.

Spam Score Analyzer: A popular spam filtering tool called SpamAssassin is used to check your message and display any key areas that are being caught by the filter.

Link Tracking: Track the number of times the links in your email get clicked.

Mail to Multiple List: You can send your broadcast message to multiple lists by simply selecting which lists should get that message.

Auto Format: For text emails you can automatically format it to a good line length with the click of a button.

Personalization: The list of personalization options is longer than any I've seen on the other services I've used.

JavaScript Form: JavaScript forms allow you to modify the autoresponder signup form without changing your web page.

And while I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, they also allow you to share your autoresponder messages both with your other lists and with other Aweber users.

So while there are less expensive autoresponder systems I still enthusiastically recommend AWeber to collect opt-ins, manage your lists, and send newsletters.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: aweber, email newsletter, email, good autoresponder, aweber review, autoresponder review, autoresponder service review

Viral Ebook Explosion Review

2008-07-22T13:08:00.005-05:00

Earlier this year Jeff Dedrick open the doors for his free membership site Viral Ebook Explosion and I signed up to see just how good it really was.

To give you view inside and see what he gives his free members I'm posting the free video he gives his affiliates to use on their "Thanks for Subscribing" page. As you view the video you'll see the site's menu buttons on the left. The "Blue" buttons are the pages available to his free members and all but the "JV Blog Contest" are currently available. The "Green" buttons are for his paid members and all of the "Red" buttons have been removed and replaced with an "Upgrade" button.

Click Here For Your Free Membership

So just how good is Viral Ebook Explosion?

Well I think it's 1 of the best kept secrets internet marketing secrets on the web and here's why.

For his paying members there are at least 34 viral ebooks available to be branded. I think only a subset of this list is available to free members.

All members get access to he free video tutorials that show you how to do everything on his site.

He gives free products that include the Master Resell Rights available to his members.

He has free software available to all his members.

He offers a good affiliate program that pays through PayPal.

And in addition paying members
Get access to his tools to easily create opt-in pages and download pages. There are 7 templates to choose from.

Get to host those pages on 1 of 5 of his sites.

Get stats on how many times the download pages have been viewed, the ebook has been downloaded and the branded links has been clicked.

So what do you do with the branded ebooks?

You can use them as a gift to subscribers when they join your list either on your site or in a giveaway. Here's an example of 1 I used.

You can use them as free gifts to your existing subscribers. FriendsWhoCare subscribers can get "How to Bookmark for Free Traffic" inside our membership area.

And because they're free you allow others to give them away. In fact, since the ebooks have your affiliate links inside you want them to be given away.

Now what I really like about being a paid member of Viral Ebook Explosion is that I don't have to keep track of the giveaway ebooks, the opt-in pages or the download pages. As many of my subscribers know, I am always losing things so having someone else keep those freebies and pages organized and available is a valuable asset for me. For example, I gave you a link to 1 of my Viral Ebook Explosion opt-in pages and made the download page available to my FriendsWhoCare subscribers. These pages were created months ago for a giveaway and since they and the free ebook are being hosted on 1 of Jeff's sites I don't have to worry about losing them. (Actually, I remove giveaway pages and products from my own site when a giveaway is over only to discover that some giveaways go on long after the closing date. But now I'm protected because if someone joins my list through an old giveaway page that I've forgotten about they can still get the product inside the membership area.)

The bottom line is that I highly recommend Viral Ebook Explosion as a viral marketing tool. If you have your own site and are better organized than I am you may find that the free membership is enough. However, if you lose things like I do then the cost of the paid membership can help you keep your sanity.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: viral ebook explosion, viralebookexplosion, viral marketing, free membership site, giveaways, download, opt-in, internet marketing tool

How To Write An Article To Sell A Product Using Article Architect

2008-06-25T09:55:00.003-05:00

One of the best forms of online advertising is by writing good articles about the product or program you want to promote.

The 2 problems with doing this are ...

The article must contain usable information and

The article must be found in order to be read.

Unfortunately most people, including myself, are not professional copywriters and don't really know how to write an article to sell a product. That's why I use a tool, Article Architect, to help me write my articles.

Whether I'm trying to make a sale or just posting an article to my blog, I use Article Architect because it helps me find and use good keywords and it helps me when researching my subject.

You see, when you write an article that you want it to be found and read there are 3 necessary key ingredients. These key ingredients are:

A good attention grabbing headline

Useful content

Good keywords

So here's how to write an article to sell a product or provide content using Article Architect:

Use the Research pane to use Wordtracker to find good keywords and to see how much competition you have on Google.

Use the Snooper pane to research your topic on several popular search engines or even look for particular types of sites like blogs or forums.

Use the Article pane with the "Brainstorm Titles" button to form an attention grabbing headline.

Use the Article pane to write your article since it gives some very good stats on how many words are in the article and if you've used your keyword too few or too many times. Plus it has a spell checker which is great for us bad spellers!

Use the Directories pane to submit your article to the article directories you choose.

Use the Income pane to track the sales from your article.

And that's how to write an article to sell a product using Article Architect.

Article Architect is easy to use and is a real time saver for those of us who struggle to write good online articles.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: how to write an article to sell a product, article architect, article architect review, write an online article

A Review of "How Can I Get Visitors to My Website: Traffic Generation Techniques Explained"

2008-02-27T14:25:00.007-06:00

Last week I sent a message to you about a new affiliate commission model being introduced by Rob Toth. In his new model affiliates get paid immediately and it allows you to make money on 2 tiers. If you missed the mailing you can read about it here.

When I wrote about the new commission model I also admitted I had not reviewed the product because it hadn't been launched yet. Well yesterday, 2/26, Rob launched his new model with the product "How Can I Get Visitors to My Website: Traffic Generation Techniques Explained."

Not being the fastest kid on the block I didn't get it yesterday. I got it today and took a few minutes to see what is included in this product.

First, as shown on the sales page there are 4 audio files plus the bonuses. And being the expert marketer Rob is, he also has a few surprise bonuses.

Because I was more interested in the "How Can I Get Visitors to My Website: Traffic Generation Techniques Explained" product than the added bonuses I started with the audios. Each of these audios are 45 to 60 minutes long and contain information sharing from Doug Hidiburg, Steve Roye and Rob Toth.

Did you notice I used the words "information sharing" in my description of the audios? I used these words for 2 reasons:

The 4 audios are not done as an interview where 1 person asks questions. They are much more relaxed where the 3 exchange ideas and comments about what's being discussed. This format makes the audios very easy to listen to.

The audios are not a pre-sale for another product. In fact, if they are trying to sell anything, it's the audios contained in the package already purchased.

So how good is the information?

Fantastic! In words even a novice can understand Doug, Steve and Rob explain the follow marketing methods used to drive traffic to your site:

Article Marketing
Video Marketing
Blogging
Forums
Traffic Exchanges
Social Networks
Social Bookmarking
Pay Per Click
Banner Advertising
Ezine Advertising
Press Release
Podcasting

In addition, they tell you:

How to use these methods correctly and

How to use these methods with each other.

What you won't hear in these audios is detailed information about how to design a good web page, how to join a video site and upload videos, how to set up a blog, how to select good keywords, etc.

What you do hear is a good explanation of what these types of traffic generating methods are and the most effective ways to use them.

I've only had the opportunity to listen to these audios once and plan to listen again with a pen in hand so I can take notes. And I'll be sharing some of the information contained in these audios in future tips.

But if you want to get all the information I recommend you get the "How Can I Get Visitors to My Website: Traffic Generation Techniques Explained" package while it's still available. There's a 2000 limit on the number to be sold and at $3.99 this package won't be available long.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you've purchased "How Can I Get Visitors to My Website: Traffic Generation Techniques Explained" please leave a comment and share your thoughts on this package here.

Tags: traffic generation, website traffic, website traffic explained, get website traffic, how to get website traffic, traffic generation techniques

"A Brand New Affiliate Program Commission Model"

2008-02-22T13:03:00.005-06:00

If you've been doing affiliate marketing you're probably familiar with 2-tier affiliate programs where you get paid on 2 tiers - you make commissions on your sales and on the sales by the affiliates who've signed up under you.

And you're probably familiar with instant pay affiliate programs where you get paid instantly, usually into your paypal account, when the sale is made.

Rob Toth has now combined these 2 types of affiliate programs to create the first 2-tier, instant-pay affiliate program. It's a brand new model that provides what most affiliates are looking for ...

Instant Pay - No waiting for months trying to reach a minimum payout amount

2-Tier - Earn commissions on other people's sales

Like I said, this is a new type of affiliate model so it hasn't proven itself yet. And like most affiliate programs, its success depends on both the quality of its products and the work done by the affiliates. And while I can not predict how well this type of model will work or on the quality of the product yet since both are in pre-launch, this could be the beginning of something big.

I've joined Rob's new 2-tier, instant pay affiliate program that will launch on February 26 and am looking for other affiliates who are interested in trying it. You can find out all about it here. (Either watch the videos or scroll past them to read about how this program works.)

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. In case your worried about how he's able to combine instant pay with an affiliate program, Rob's using a RAPS - like software program that does round-robin sales (to stay within Paypals terms).

Tags: affiliate program, new affiliate program, Rob Toth, 2 tier affiliate program, instant pay affiliate program, new affiliate program commission model

QuickWebCreations - A Review of this New Web Graphics Software

2007-11-09T12:05:00.001-06:00

Earlier this week I received some email about a new web graphic software site, QuickWebCreations. and since I don't own any of the expensive web graphic software packages and have yet to figure out how to use some of the free ones, I was very interested.

After reading the sales page and seeing how inexpensive it was I decided to try it out.

Now I have to admit that this graphic software service doesn't do everything you can do with a professional graphics package like layering or inserting images and placing them where you want however, for a lot less than $10 you can design some pretty neat Web 2.0 graphics with this online graphic software tool.

Using the QuickWebCreations web graphic software you can create headers, buttons and backgrounds with some Web 2.0 effects like:

Filling your text or background with up to 4 different solid or gradient colors. For instance, if you chose to use 2 gradient colors you could have part of your test change from red to yellow in the top half and from yellow to orange in the bottom half.
Outlining your text with 1 to 4 solid or gradient colors.
Reflections. That's the mirror like effect you see on many of the Web 2.0 graphics.
Shadowing.
Adding directional lighting so things appear brighter in 1 area and darker in another.
A Gloss Overlay. (I'm still playing with that 1 to understand it.)

Now unless you're already familiar with some of the terminology used in a web graphic software package there is a learning curve to using QuickWebCreations to produce the results you want. But the learning curve is minutes rather than days, weeks or even months.

All in all Quick WebCreations does a lot more than expected, is very easy to use, priced so anyone who really wants to put some Web 2.0 graphics on their site can afford it and produces some neat Web 2.0 images.

I'm very glad I checked out this new online resource and joined. In fact, I've already added a new header image to my newsletter using this super tool.

So if you're looking for an affordable and easy to learn tool to produce some shiny new graphics I highly recommend the new web graphic software, QuickWebCreations.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: web graphic software, web 2.0 graphics, make web graphics, make web 2.0 graphics

Word Stormer VS Word Brander

2007-09-26T17:05:00.001-05:00

For several months I've been providing a free advertising word cloud for FriendsWhoCare subscribers and have been using Word Stormer.

Unfortunately this free advertising page came under attack by some hackers and it took a couple of weeks to get things straightened out and working again.

It was because of this attack, the assistance I received and how Word Stormer performs after I made some modifications to prevent future hacking that I decided to test Word Brander and write this comparative review for the 2 php word cloud scripts.

Since both scripts are written in php and the basic design of the cloud page and the submit a word phrase are very similar, I will only list the major differences.

Differences Between Word Stormer and Word Brander

Word Stormer allows word submitters to enter any number of words in a single submission while Word Brander provides the cloud owner to administer the maximum number of words that may be used in a single submission.
Both use PayPal for payments, Word Stormer always sends the submitter to a PayPal payment page while Word Brander only sends submitters to a payment page when a payment is actually due. In other words, Word Brander does not send submitters to a payment page if the cost is 0.
Word Stormer provides a color palette for selecting the submitted words color while Word Brander lists a few color choices and allows the submitter to enter the hex code for a color not on the list (no palette available).
Word Stormer provides a way to send email to word submitters while Word Brander does not.
Word Stormer allows the cloud owner to limit the number of words on the cloud while Word Brander does not.
Word Stormer allows changes to the site design through the admin area and Word Brander does not.
Word Stormer is a larger script which takes more hosting space and understanding of how the script works.
Word Stormer does not allow the cloud owner to submit words except through the cloud submission page while Word Brander allows the cloud owner to submit 1 word or a list of words through the administration area.
To get Word Stormer to function properly, 2 of it's folders must be given 777 permissions. Word Brander does not require any changes to the its folders' permissions and none of them are set to 777.
Word Stormer costs more and the affiliate program pays less than Word Brander.

As you can see from the above list, these 2 php scripts provide similar but different capabilities.

Now as for why my word cloud page was hacked into.

According to the technical support on my web host, folders with 777 permissions are an open invitation to hackers and once 1 finds that door, they post it to hacker forums so everyone can have a good time at the site owners expense.

With that information I contacted technical support for Word Stormer and asked if there was a fix for this security hole and here's a copy of their reply:

-----

HI Susan
Sorry to hear this. Unfortunately there are no more updates to the script at this time. We have not developed it any further. You could get a php programmer on elance or one of the freelance sites to ammend your own personal version if you wish, but there is nothing else we can do at this time about people hacking on your server.

Many thanks and all the best to you.

Alison
Customer Support

------

Needless to say the response from Word Stormer was less than expected.

Fortunately the technical support for my hosted account was much more helpful and worked with me to find a somewhat working solution and since it was free and easy, I'll share it with you.

If you're using a php script and have some folders with 777 permissions and get hacked into you can do what I did with Word Stormer and see if it will work for you too.

Delete the entire script, including the database if it uses 1. This will remove all the hackers files and changes.
Re-install the script and the database but do not change any of the folders to 777 until you are ready to go in to the scripts administration area.
When you're ready to use the scripts administration area, change the folders that state they need 777 permissions to work to 777. Do your administration and then change the folders to 755 permissions. Your space will be open to hackers while you've got the folder set to 777 but it should only take a few minutes to do your administration.

After doing the above with my Word Stormer script the cloud page has not been hacked. Also, I am now able to make changes through the admin area without changing permissions and although I sometime get an error page when I make a change, the change does actually get made proberly.

The only other problem I've encountered with Word Stormer is that some of my subscribers do have some difficulty making submissions. I will be investigating this further but do not know what causes this problem yet. (1 subscriber thinks it may be an interaction problem with MS Vista.)

My recommendations:

If you want an easy to install word cloud script, know how to edit php files that only contain html code, and don't require the capability to email your word submitters then I recommend Word Brander. Since I've not had a problem with this script I can not comment on their technical support.
If you want a cloud script where it's easier to make changes to the page design, allows you to email your submitters, provides either some flaky administration or a security issue and no technical support then you can try Word Stormer.
If you don't want to mess with either of these you can just submit a word on my free advertising word cloud page and let me worry about the problems.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Comments about either of these products or my review are welcome.

Tags: wordstormer, word stormer, wordbrander, word brander, wordstormer review, wordbrander review, word cloud, free advertising

Article Architect Update

2007-09-21T08:38:00.001-05:00

Back in May I did a comparison of 2 article writing tools and wanted to give you an update for Article Architect - the 1 I use.

Recently the research-keywords part of Article Architect stopped working. This was not the tools fault. Article Architect uses the Overtures keyword tool to return results and the online Overture tool quit working.

Today I was pleasantly surprised, again, when Jay Jennings, the tools creator, sent out an update for Article Architect to all it's owners. Now I don't know if other people had submitted a ticket about the research-keywords part not working but know I didn't. Whatever his reason, Jay sent out an update to provide a type of work-around until Overture fixes their tool and this work-around provides another feature even when Overture is fixed.

With the latest update, it is now possible to import your own keywords into Article Architect.

Now I am even more impressed with Jay Jennings and Article Architect. The tool does more and still less expensive. Jay provides fixes and upgrades freely and when necessary. In addition, Jay creates video tutorials on how to do everything from installing the tool, using all it's features and installing the updates. He makes everything as easy as possible.

So if you're still writing articles without a tool to help you or if you not writing articles because you're afraid to try, I highly recommend you get Jay's Article Architect and watch his tool's tutorial videos. Not only will they show you how to use the tool but they'll show you the easiest way to create a unique, keyword rich article. His sales page may look like junk but his tool is top-of-the-line.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Feel free to leave a comment about this update.

Tags: article architect, article writing tools, write article, ezine article

Viral Marketing Giveaway 7

2007-09-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

Viral Marketing Giveaway 7 started on September 5th and runs for 5 days. As of today, September 7, there are over 300 gifts available.

Since giveaways are getting rather common, I know a lot of people have quit checking them out. And I can understand why since there's usually a lot of old gifts, a lot of duplicated gifts and of course you have to sign up to both the giveaway and the giver's list to get the items you choose.

With that being the case, I thought I would give you an idea of what's inside Viral Marketing Giveaway 7 so you can make a more informed decision about whether or not you want to join and get something you want and may not have.

Here are just a few of the gifts included inside the Viral Marketing Giveaway 7 member area:

In the Hottest Item List (currently 80+ gifts):

Succeed In 30 Days Marketing Course
Instant Content Creator software
Murder Your Job
Install Your Own Scripts
List Bandit Expert
$7 Profit System
And Lots More

In the General List (currently 260+ gifts):

Lazy Internet Marketing - Home Study Kit
Your Can't block This (1 of the newer popup packages)
Ribbon Ad Generator
Audible Store Generator PLR
Bum Marketing - The Traffic Generator
Web Elements E-Z Tools
Your Own Instant eBay Info Store
36 3-D Opt-in Templates - with Master Resale Rights
The Elite Graphics Package
Several Membership Sites
And Lots More

The above listed items are just a sample of what's available inside Viral Marketing Giveaway 7 and I hope it helps you.

And if you've already joined and would like to post a comment about some of the gifts you've gathered please do.

Also, if you decide not to join and want to let your list know about this event you can use my link... http://www.friendswhocare.us/recommends/viralmarketing7.html

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: viral marketing, giveaway, viral marketing giveaway, free gift, ebooks, videos, software, internet marketing

ListandTraffic

2007-07-18T10:26:00.000-05:00

You may already know that Jimmy D. Brown has a membership site, ListandTraffic. And, being the skeptic I am, I didn't join right away.

Not to say I never join paying membership sites because I do. But usually I wait to read some reviews. Then, if I do sign up, I don't stay very long since most membership sites don't keep adding enough content to make it worth what they're charging.

You know the drill...

Get all this valuable information (tools, products, etc) for 1 low fee and receive this extra stuff when you sign up!

Normally the extra stuff is why everyone joins and then after being disillusioned with the monthly offerings they quit after just a few months.

Well, Jimmy Brown's membership site, ListandTraffic, is different.

True, he offers some really good information on his sales page but...

ListandTraffic keeps adding more and more valuable information, not every month, but several times a month.

Now I have to admit that I don't get a chance to go into the membership area as often as I should. But when I do, there's always so many new articles and teaching material that I am overwhelmed.

For example, today I checked in to find that these had been added during the first couple of weeks in July:

7 new information articles (4 on getting traffic with ezine articles, different kinds of mailings to make money, 7 ways to model your business for success and Homepreneur Habits)
17 new audio articles to download to our MP3 or iPod.

Even I can't believe how much Jimmy overdelivers - the content is full of meaty information, includes dozens of ideas you can use immediately and is explained in a simple, easy-to-follow style that anyone can begin applying today.

Now when ListandTraffic was first started he sold memberships for the unbelievably small price of $10. In fact, his price was so low that even I thought it couldn't be worth much.

How wrong I was!

And now that the site has proven itself, he's raised the price to $20. And it's still under priced for what's inside!

Now I don't recommend many membership sites, free or paid for, very often but for ListandTraffic I'll make an exception. This is 1 membership site every serious online business person can use, it's always being updated with lots of new and current marketing information and it's still within most people's budget.

Don't believe how good it really is?

If you already have your own web site here's what I suggest:

Check out what he's says he's offering.
Invest $20 in your business to try it for 1 month.
Try to get through everything inside the membership area that can help your business during that month.
If you think you can use what's inside and want to keep learning more then stay a member.
If you don't think having all this information available is worth $20 a month, drop out. You'll have still gotten more than your moneys worth.

If you don't have your own web site then you may not be ready for ListandTraffic because it won't help you build 1 - it teaches you how to build your list and drive traffic to your sites. True, you can still benefit from some of the information, but to put it to full use, you'll need to have a web site.

I only wish I hadn't waited so long to join ListandTraffic because it's 1 membership site I intend to stay in for quite awhile.

To Your Success,
Susan

Warning - The Latest Buzz Could Sting You

2007-06-20T08:12:00.001-05:00

Last week there was a lot of buzz on the web about a product that launched yesterday, "Project Black Mask". And of course yesterday when it did launch there was a ton of email buzzing into your inboxes telling you how great it was and that it was now available. Oh, and don't forget the part about how you need to get it now because the price would probably be going up unexpectedly.

Well I for one don't rush to buy the latest product when it carries a price tag of more than $50. I usually wait a day or 2 to see if I can get more information than is available on the sales page. Oh sure I get a lot of follow-up sales pitches but sometimes...

I get honest reviews of the product.

For "Project Black Mask" I didn't have to wait that long because on the day it launched I received 2 emails giving me the type of information I needed to make the decision to buy or not. Both emails came from well known internet marketers who were invited to be affiliates for this launch.

Today I'll share what these 2 joint venture affiliates for "Project Black Mask" had to say about it plus what people are saying on the "Warrior Forum".

Detlev Reimer (The Ethical Internet Marketer) wasn't favorably impressed and you can read his review at: http://www.quickanswers.info/Blog

Rosalind Gardner (The Super Affiliate Handbook) won't be using the techniques contained in "Project Black Mask" but did find 1 section worth reading. You can read her review at:http://www.netprofitstoday.com/blog/project-black-mask-review/

And while some of the discussion on the Warrior Forum was written before the product was launched, there are postings about the material written after the launch.

After reading the above reviews for "Project Black Mask" I've decided to not to get it. Creating hundreds of page with irrelevant stuff, spamming and wasting my time with methods that won't work in the future doesn't sound like a good investment, no matter how much buzzing is going on right now.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you found this tip useful please leave a comment.

Tags: project black mask review, project black mask, google, adsense, adwords, black hat, blackhat, black mask adsense

Instant Article Wizard vs Article Architect

2007-05-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

Recently I've been getting a lot of email promoting 1 of Jonathan Leger's new products, "Instant Article Wizard". Now Jonathan Leger does create some good products and I've even purchased some like his $7 Secrets.

However, I haven't gotten a copy of "Instant Article Wizard" primarily because I already own an article wizard ... a wizard that I think has more features and costs less.

So today I thought I'd give you a chance to see what "Instant Article Wizard" by Jonathan Leger and "Article Architect" by Jay Jennings can do so you could do your own feature/price comparisons.

First, lets look at the sales pages:
Instant Article Wizard
Article Architect

Personally, I think Jonathan did a much better job for the sales page. And, by putting more work into the sales page, he's helped his affiliates make more sales.

Second, the products:

Both products claim to help you write articles quickly, even if you don't know how or what to write.
Both allow you to do keyword research.
Both allow you to have multiple projects for your articles.
Both have a text area to work on your articles.
Both have a copy and past function to grab things from other websites.

Here's what I've seen as the differences - remember, I only own 1 of these wizards so there may be more.

Instant Article Wizard allows you to write in several languages while Article Architect only supports English.
Instant Article Wizard pulls the introduction and conclusion sentences from the sites it finds while Article Architect allows you to read through the sites' contents and copy and paste whatever you want.
The Instant Article Wizard videos show that you can move text up and down however they don't show if you can actually edit the words. And because the video shows you how to paste the article into a word processor, I doubt that you can. I know Article Architect allows you to edit the words because that's what I am using right now to write this review. Plus, version 2 of Article Architect has a spell checker built in so there is no need to use a word processor at all. (While I won't take credit for having the spell checker built into version 2, I did make the suggestion when I posted to Jay's blog.)

In addition to the above features, Article Architect also:

Shows the number of times a search term is searched on Overture and how many pages exist for the term on Google.
Allows you to research your keyword on 14 different search sites.
Shows your keyword density for every article.
Shows the number of words in your article.
Allows you enter a keyword list for every article
Allows you to create multiple bio boxes for each of your projects and stores them along with your keywords and articles.
Includes an article submitter that comes with 6 article directories listed and allows you to customize this list by adding more and removing the ones you don't want. (It's not meant to be an article submitter but it works just as good as the 1 I was using previously.)
And there's more stuff that I haven't even tried yet!

OK, I've sold myself, Article Architect wins the competition when it comes to features.

Third, the cost:

Instant Article Wizard sells for $67 - Article Architect sells for $49.95 - almost $50

$50 is smaller than $67 so Article Architect wins again!

To sum it all up:

Instant Article Wizard is probably worth the $67 price tag however ...you can't always value a product by it's cost since I think Article Architect is of greater value than Instant Article Wizard even before saving $17+ (Let's just hope Jay doesn't find out about Instant Article Wizard and raise his price.)

To Your Success,
Susan
P.S. Please feel free to leave a comment and vote for the 1 you think is best.

Tags: article architect, instant article wizard, writing articles, writing wizard, writing tool, article, writing, ezine article

Article Directories Aren't What They Used To Be

2007-04-27T01:06:00.001-05:00

Since I write several unique articles every month I try to find the time to submit some of them to a few article directories because it's a great way to get some free traffic and links to your site. And because I use a tool to help me speed the submission process, I've been submitting my articles to the same directories.

Well tonight I thought I'd expand my horizons and add a few more directories to my list since I was going to be setting up my new Article Architect to assist me with the submission process. And because the search engines are always changing their algorithms I figured I'd see who they thought the best directories were.

You won't believe what I discovered while searching Google and Yahoo!

First, some of the oldest and largest article directories are not on the 1st page of either Google or Yahoo. In fact, they didn't make it onto the first 5 pages.

Second, some of the directories who are now on the first pages have very few features to assist those who are either searching for or submitting articles. They don't allow you to search for authors or keywords. Some don't even list all the authors if you try to find an author by going to their "Top Authors" page.

Third, most of the directories have very few articles when compared to the older directories who used to hold the top 10 positions on Google and Yahoo. In fact, 1 of the top 10 directories on Google has so few articles that when you go into their listings of articles on some high volume topics, like internet marketing, all you find is Adsense ads.

Forth, I couldn't find any of the authors I read regularly listed on any of the now higher ranked directories even though I knew they had recently submitted articles to the older directories.

Fifth, and the reason I am writing this post, at least 1 article directory listed on the 1st page of Yahoo states in their article submission guidelines that no affiliate links can be contained in the articles submitted. However, when I checked a couple of the articles, they had ContentAds with affiliate links embedded within them. I thought this was strange so I checked a couple more articles and discovered that different articles by different submitters contained the same affiliate link to 1 particular product.

Now I understand that certain types of sites are created strictly to get high volume traffic by offering a service and earn income by using ads but...

Putting your affiliate link in someone else's content is hitting below the belt!

I will admit that I didn't read the rules for using any of the articles on any of these sites however I know that the older directories I've used in the past state that the articles can be used only if they are not changed and must contain the authors byline. (In 1 of the directories I saw 1 article that didn't even include the author's byline but maybe the author forgot to use 1?)

Submitting articles is a good thing. And some of newer, small directories are legitimate directories and will grow and add more features to assist the users. And yes, getting into them at the beginning is good since you may easily gain top submitter status with just a few articles.

However tonight I didn't expand my list. I didn't even get my articles submitted to my old list. Instead, I wrote this post to warn you.

Article submitters beware. Don't just go to the first article directories listed by your favorite search engine and submit your work. Check out some of the authors and articles. Read the submission rules and the rules for those who may want to use your article. Don't be fooled into thinking that the search engines always know what they're doing and are listing the best directories first.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you agree or disagree with any of the content in this article please let me know by leaving a comment.

Article Architect

2007-04-20T12:45:00.001-05:00

Jay Jennings latest product, Article Architect, became available to the general public today and now I can finally tell you about this amazing new product.

I got an early copy last week and decided to try it out since it was suppose to make writing articles easier.

You won't believer everything this product does!

First, it helps you research niche topics and find the best keywords.

Second, because you may working on more than 1 niche, it lets you create multiple projects so you can store everything for your niche topic in 1 of your projects.

Third, it helps you find online information for your topic and lets you save the addresses for those information sites within your project.

Fourth, it has a built in editor so you can write your article. This editor lets you select the keywords for your article and tells you the frequency for those keywords in your article.

Fifth, it has a built in wizard that will help you write an article title that gets attention.

Sixth, it has a built-in article submitter so you can speed up the process of submitting your articles to article directories.

Seventh, there's a video tutorial that demonstrates all the features available.

Since getting this tool, I've used it to write newsletter articles, ads and blog posts. In fact, I was so impressed with everything this tool does I even wrote a testimonial about it for 1 of Jay's blogs.

If you're writing articles to generate traffic or you're doing bum marketing, I can not recommend this tool highly enough because it helps you do everything you need to do and stores it all in 1 place. I personally have a few tools I use regularly to assist me with my business and, after using it for 1 week, Article Architect became the tool I used the most.

Writing articles for traffic and income just got a lot easier and faster with
Article Architect.

Check it out today and let me know how you like it.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: articles, ezine articles, traffic, writing for traffic, words into traffic, article traffic, keyword, search engine optimization, seo

Hot Vault Downloads

2007-04-20T01:46:00.001-05:00

I've just taken a look inside "Hot Vault Downloads", a new giveaway that started April 18th, and there are a lot of good free products available inside the member area. I haven't gone through all 12 pages of gifts yet but can give you a hint of what's inside.

Within the first 3 pages I saw a tool I purchased just last week, "Simple Sales Copy." This is great tool for helping you come up with the words for a sales letter or ad because it includes professionally produced: Headline copy, Subheads, Openings, Bullets, Guarantees, Closes, PS’s, Similes, Copy Connectors And Power words. You simply select the components you want to use, add some basic information and press a button to create sales copy.

Going a few pages further into the giveaway I found Impact PopUps. This is a tool I've used several times on my own site since it's a great way to bring attention to something you don't want your readers to miss. When you use it, it looks like you have put a sticky note on your site.

And of course, if you go further into the giveaway pages you'll find my gift which I think is pretty good too. I won't tell you what it is but will say that I don't usually give it away since I get income from it every month.

Soooo, if you're looking for some free products and services you should go to Hot Vault Downloads, join and start downloading what you want - today.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: giveaways, free products

Easy Blog Traffic

2007-04-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

Recently I made a $7 purchase of "Easy Blog Traffic" and it included the resale rights. However, I don't recommend you get this product and here's why:

The product is written for WordPress bloggers so if you are using Blogger.com or any other blog service or software, most of the recommended plug-in won't work for you.

The author highly recommends WordPress as the best blogging software (this may be true, I don't know) but has not kept current on the new features of any of the other blog services available. With the new version of Blogger, many of the features that did not work before, now do.

The author freely admits that installing and using WordPress is not the easiest thing to do and even gave up trying for awhile. I guess he finally went back and tried again because he now points to his blog at: http://www.whoisandrewwee.com/. While his blog shows a good page rank, I am sorry to say that I found it too difficult to read to be of any value.

All 6 ebooks contained in this package continually promote both his and another fellow blogger's products along with some recommended resources (affiliate links of course). After seeing his blog I wasn't convinced that any of his other products or recommendations were of much value.

While he states several times that blogs on Blogger won't draw much traffic, he uses this blog to show the value of having a lot of traffic to make money selling advertising space:
http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/

1 of the ebooks is a PDF version of Louis Allports Blog Traffic video ebook. While there is some good information in these videos, at least half of it will be of no use to the average blogger.

The ebook "Blog Profit Machine" states that it has "The basics of blogging and setting up your blog, perfect for even the most clueless newbie." (Statement taken from the sales page.) While it does have some high level information about search engine optimization, writing content and traffic resources, it won't help anyone who doesn't know how to set up a blog. There are no instructions to assist in setting up the options on Blogger or to install WordPress.

I could go on and mention a few more reasons why I don't recommend this product however I hope the above 7 are enough to convince you to keep your money.

Now even though I don't think you should "buy" this product, I will give you my affiliate link. If you're not going to take my recommendation, I'll gladly take your money for Easy Blog Traffic. Also, if you are a member of the Prudent Resellers Book Club and can wait until next month for this product, you will be getting it free as a member. Then you can review this product too and add your comments to this review.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. There was 1 positive thing that came from reviewing this product and I'll freely share that piece of information with you. Post to your blog frequently and keep it interesting.

Feel free to make comments about this review or the product discussed.

Powered by Qumana

Do You Use Free Advertising?

2007-04-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

Since all online marketers are looking for more traffic and most don't have an unlimited advertising budget, many use free forms of advertising.

To help each other out let's share what we think works the best.

If you use a free form of advertising that you would like to share with others please add a comment with your vote to this article and include a link to the free advertising source you are recommending.

If you do not use free advertising, please add a comment voting no and include a link to the advertising resource you think works the best.

Remember, this is to share places where we can all advertise. If you post a link to a site where we can not advertise or get traffic I will have to remove your vote. (Affiliate links for the advertising resources are allowed.)

Thanks,
Susan

P.S. If you see the advertising resource you wanted to recommend already listed, please go ahead and post your comment and link again. The more comments for a single resource means it must be really good. Right?

Desktop Lightning

2006-10-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

I sent out the following in an email last week and since I received some very good comments that others may be interested in reading so I've decided to share the information through the blog.

Here's the email with the reader's comments are below it. If you have any additional comments please feel free to post them to this blog.

----------
By now you may have heard of the new viral downline builder DesktopLightning. (I know I had several announcements in my inbox.) Well, today I took the time to sign up and see what makes this one different because I received a message giving it 4 1/2 stars in a 5 star rating system. (I didn't know this was a pre-written message since I hadn't seen it before. - It pays to be 1st sometimes!)

So now that I've signed up I am going to add my comments to the rating email I received to see if it really gets 4 1/2 stars.

In A Nutshell
-------------
A catchy new viral marketing tool, capable of broadcasting
messages directly to people's desktops. Easy to use, and
caters primarily to those who have something they want to
promote and are looking for a better way to do it.

1. Initial Impressions
----------------------
When I was first introduced to DesktopLightning.com, I wasn't
quite sure exactly what to think. Everyone was saying it was
going to be more powerful than e-mail marketing, but this
seemed like too bold of a claim.

I signed up anyway, since I usually give things a chance --
that's how I have found the several sites I do really trust
and rely on.

The signup process did take about 60 seconds, as advertised,
and their software program downloaded and installed in about
30 seconds. No long, tedious install processes here. If you
own downloadable software, you might want to take a look at
how quick their install process is.

Right after installing the software, it ran immediately, and
I was quickly presented with a tool to invite my friends.
Within one-click's access was my Inbox, the tool to send
broadcasts, a statistics page, and my favorite, the "Build
Your Network" page.

My experience was the same so it get's 1 star for this.

2. Viral Growth
---------------
This is where the site really shines, in my opinion. The
purpose of a viral marketing site is that you should be able
to invite just a few people, and then it will start growing
on its own.

Many sites claim to work like this, but few actually work as
advertised.

I'm not sure if it's because of their unique concept or the
slick implementation, but this site is REALLY viral. Here's
some of the testimonials they got, which I think sum it up
pretty well:

"I haven't ever seen a system build a downline so
fast. I joined your program just to try something
new. Four days later I had a downline of 43 people.
This is unbelievable."
~ Harry Joseph

"I invited just a handful of people only a few days
ago and I already have 48 members on 5 levels below
me. I am going to keep promoting this, but I see it
has a life of it's own now. I couldn't stop my
network from expanding if I wanted to!"
~ David Parton

"This website is so viral - I received over 100
sign-ups and my network is already 5 levels deep in
less than 48 hours."
~ Rene Keiser

Although they obviously can't guarantee results for anyone,
the general consesus is that most people who do get those
initial few people in are experiencing results similar to
these.

I give DesktopLightning.com an A+ for spreading like wildfire.

Can't give a rating on this since I haven't told anybody until now so I'll have to "wait and see".

3. Direct-To-Desktop Broadcasts
-------------------------------
So, once you have the people in your network from the direct
invitations and the viral growth, then it really gets cool.
Now is when you get to broadcast whatever message you want
directly to their desktops.

Gone are the days of sending out emails and wondering if
they were received due to spam filters and crowded inboxes.
If you upgrade to their Platinum membership, then you can even
get exact statistics on the percentage of your broadcasts that
were opened, but the Platinum membership is not the subject
of this review.

Here's how it works -- the DesktopLightning.com software is
what allows the direct-to-desktop communication to be
received. Since everyone in your network will have the
DesktopLightning.com application installed, just as you do,
this is what allows such smooth and instant communication
to occur.

Within one hour of your sending the message, everyone in your
network who is online will receive a notification on their
desktop that they can click to read your message.
Anyone who isn't online at the time will receive it when they
log on next.

I'm sure you can see why this type of communication has been
more successful than email as of late, so I won't get into
it too much here. The basic point though is that there's no
way your message can be lost, overlooked, or blocked by any
filters.

If you upgrade to their Platinum service you can do things
like embed video and sound right into the broadcast, but
again, I'll save the Platinum service for another review.

I signed up for Platinum service also but again, since I have used it yet, I can't give it a whole star. However because it looks so easy and provides both stats and HTML capability I'll give it 1/2 a star. (I am considering offering it as an option for the newsletter - what do you think of that idea?)

4. Building Your Network
------------------------
Most sites out there nowadays don't really help you build a
network of people below you. They just throw you a URL and
tell you to run with it.

While this works for most advanced people, it's not something
that's very easy for people who are just starting out.
DesktopLightning.com went really far this time to make sure
that everyone has a way to bring people into their network,
regardless of skill level.

When you click on the "Build Your Network" link from within
their application, you'll be presented with a surprising
number of tools to help you build your downline.
Everything from banners, to popups, to text ads, to invitation
tools, to emails to send out, etc.
Then, they continue to offer something which I haven't seen on
any Internet Marketing site yet -- they have a "Starting From
Scratch" section, designed specifically for people who have
no list and no website with traffic.

If you're in that position, then you'll love this section,
since they detail specific strategies you can use to promote
DesktopLightning.com (or anything for that matter), even if
you don't have anything to start with.

They do offer these resouces but must admit I haven't read the "Starting From Scratch" section yet. However from just installing it and looking at it, it's so easy I think everyone could figure out how to use it to send broadcast messages. So even though I haven't checked out the 1 section I'll still give it 1 star for this.

5. Not For Everyone
-------------------
With all that said, the only downside to DesktopLightning.com
is that it's not for everyone.

Of course, some might see that as an upside, since it's a more
targetted opportunity.

Basically, the bottom line is that DesktopLightning.com is a
promotional tool. You need to have something you want to
promote or advertise before you can really make use of the
site.

This is all due to the fact that the basic concept is that
you build a viral network of people, and then broadcast
something to it.

But, this "something" is whatever you want, so you must
already have something you'd want to send to a lot of people.
If you don't have something yet, you could start building your
network first, and then once you get something to promote
you'll be ready to launch it immediately.

If you do have something to promote, that's when the site
really shines.

I agree, if you don't have something to send to anyone then you can't use this. However, if you place ads for anything then you do have something to send. I give a rating of 1 star to this because everyone with an online business should have something to send.

-------------
My Conclusion

Although I don't usually like downline builders because of the extra email and they don't provide some of the extras of an autoresponder system I am recommending this one.

The direct-to-desktop broadcasts are a great way to get your message through in today's online climate, where emails are getting blocked a lot.

The only reason I give it 3 1/2 stars and not 4 1/2 or 5 is because I just got it and haven't started building a downline yet. At any rate, it's so quick to set up and try, if you have something you want to promote you should check it out - especially if you aren't using an autoresponder and building a list.

***
Pam, this is a direct hint to you since you have so much to offer and aren't building a list.
***

If you're like Pam and not building a list then start today. While DesktopLightning may not offer everything found in an autoresponder and you may be exposed to a few extra offers, you will have an easy to use way to send either text or HTML broadcast messages to other peoples' desktops. And if you decide you don't like it for you can always remove it.

This is a great opportunity to start building a list. And if they like your broadcast messages you can move them to an autoresponder list later. It's up to you what you're going to do with your business.

Here's the link where you can sign up:

Desktoplightning.com

To Your Success,
Susan

PS BTW, I've got a list and I signed up since there's lots of ways to use a system like this to promote both products and your current list. Think about how a system like this could help you with your business, even if you already have a list and then sign up and start using it.

Desktoplightning.com

Reader's Comments

Hi Susan,

I signed up for this 4 days ago and got the upgrade. I do see several draw backs to this system though. One is that anyone above you or even on the upgrade list can message your downline. Depending on what those above you are promoting this can be good but I see a lot of bad happening. If those above me are promoting junk my list can get it. With the addition of 77 random free messagel addresses they give the upgraded members this increases the chance of your downline getting junk messages. I've already received a few.

The list you build is never really your private list because of the observations above.

To send and receive replys you have to step outside the system to send email messages back.

This would be a geat system if you could use it solely in house for your own list and not outside messages entering your downline. In fact for membership sites like yours it would be ideal if all your members where on it. It would be even better if they could send messages to each other and vice versa. members would only be allowed to send and reply to single messages. Admin could message the whole list.

Dan
www.seanaturally.com

My Response:

Dan has pointed out some of the disadvantages to Desktoplighning however I think these same disadvantages are true for all downline systems. That's why I haven't really promoted any of the other ones I've joined before and I've joined several.

When you use a downline builder you are not building your own "private" list because others do have the ability to send email to your downline. But I think they are better than "safelists" that a lot of people use because "safelists" put a lot of extra email in your inbox just so you have the ability to send messages. With this downline builder you will get extra messages however they don't fill your inbox and as with other downline builders you there is a limit to how many you will recieve.

In addition to having the messages delivered to your desktop rather than to your inbox, this downline builder allows both text and html messages - this is something most don't offer. Also, they do offer some training information which is not available with many of the others.

Now if you don't have a private list, sending ads via any method won't usually get results as good as those sent to your private list however they will get better results than not sending anything to anybody. The trick is finding both a good subject line and message. With Desktoplightning you are pretty much assured that your message will get opened since they have to open it to delete it. However, if your subject line isn't good, they still won't read it unless you can catch their attention in the message (the use of html helps in this area).

If you're looking for a way to get traffic to your site or add people to your list, I still recommend you consider trying Desktoplighning.

Susan

eBay Frenzy

2005-11-17T15:19:00.000-06:00

This morning I received an ad about eBay Frenzy
and because it perked my interest I decided to get
it.

Here's the ad that got me to check out the sales
page.

----------
I'm going to keep this short, really short, but
with good reason ...

Making money around the holidays isn't all that
hard, but it does require fast action.

For that reason, I've designed a system that is
going to reward you for moving quickly.

If you're curious, click this link:

Nickel Mania

What is "Nickel Mania"? Well, click the link and
you'll find out.

If you need a little more information first, here
are the basics, but don't say I didn't try to get
you there sooner ...

- You'll learn how to cash in on the holidays
with virtually no risk.

- You may be able to join an affiliate program
paying out 100%, that's right, 100%, and you
will be paid instantly.

- And, if you look closely, you might see a few
marketing lessons too. ;-)

But, you have to act fast. What I didn't tell you
yet is that the name "Nickel Mania" wasn't picked
on accident.

The price of this package started at a nickel, and
it's going up by the sale! Now do you see why I've
been trying to just get you to the site already?

Nickel Mania

Thanks & Good Luck,
Gary Ambrose

P.S. The site launched just minutes before I sent
this email ... so get moving.

Nickel Mania

-----------

As I said, I got the package and read it.

This is really good information for anyone
who is serious about making money during
the Christmas season.

Here's the link again:

Nickel Mania

To Your Success,
Susan

Web Audio Plus

2005-10-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

Mike Filsaime and Michael Rasmussen have
created a product that is going to change the
way people put sales pages together...

This weekend Michael completed a project
they had been working on for more than a
year and surprised Mike by offering the
product that had cost them thousands of
dollars along with the Master Rights to
the product for less than $38.00.

The project is WEB AUDIO PLUS....

Since I've wanted the capability to add audio
to my site and have found most products very
expensive, I grabbed a copy of Web Audio Plus
so I could see if it was everything promised on
the salespage.

AND IT IS!
They have included a video tutorial that is so
short you'll think that they must have left
something out - but theydidn't.

This product is fantastic.

It only takes a moment to run the setup program.
Then you just walk through the 5 screens as shown
on the sales pageand copy the code to paste on
your own html page. It's that easy.

I highly recommend Web Audio Plus because:

It's easy to use!
The audio buttons look absolutely amazing!
(plus you can actually choose the color of your
buttons too)
It only takes a minute or two to create your
own streaming audio buttons to put right on
your website!
You can record your audio right into this
program, or you can take convert your existing
MP3 files into streaming audio. Either way, the
result is the same... a professional looking, and
great sounding streaming audio player on yoursite.

Go ahead and take a look at Web Audio Plus right now.
The only thing that's going to impress you more than the
quality of this program is the PRICE. It's much lower
than anything else outthere.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

A Tool I Don't Want

2005-09-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

Today I received several offers for a free pdf
e-book called "Screengrab." This e-book comes
in a zip file so you get more than just thee-book.

You get:

The e-book with instructions on where to
get the tool and instructions on its use.
You get a set of branding instructions.
You get a brander.

Now here's the scoop on what's contained in
the 4 page e-book:

A title page you can brand with your name
and url
A coupon page for "Underground Interviews"
that you can brand with your affiliate link
2 pages of instructions on where to get the
tool and how to use it

This would be a great viral freebie if it was a
quality product, however, what you don't get
is any information on how to use the pages you
can grab or how to edit them.

So if you're into capturing entire web pages
and using them, this tool will work for you
and you can give it away. But if you are
looking for a tool that will do more than
create an image file of a web page, don't
waste your time.

There is a free tool that will do everything
Screengrab can do and a lot more.

The tool is called Irfanview and you can get
it free at:

http://www.download.com.

Just click the "Design and Photo" menu item
and it will be in the top few tools listed.
(It was number 2 the last time I checked.)

Now I could have turned this into a sales
pitch for the product where I discovered
Irfanview but didn't because this information
is too important for you to blow off as
"just another sales pitch."

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

RSS Advertising -

2005-07-08T02:45:00.000-05:00

When you have an online business you know
how you're always learning about something
new and then trying to learn how to do it?

Me too.

I saw how articles could be syndicated several
months ago but couldn't figure out how it was
done. Sure, I knew it involved RSS or XML
and even saw how those types of files had to
be written. But I couldn't figure out how to put
it all together.

You can imagine the hours I spent researching
the topic and how many e-books I read, all
with the hope that I would find the answer and
then be able to syndicate my newsletter articles.

Unfortunately, my searching took me nowhere
because while there's a lot written about how
great article syndication is, there's not much
information on how to do it.

Then, by accident, I found the answers I had
been searching for. While reviewing a product
with a title that implied it was going to tell me
how great using RSS feeds were for marketing,
and sell me on the fact that I needed to set
up a blog, I found not only all the information
necessary to do article syndication, but it also
gave me a tool to create the RSS file
automatically and links where I could convert
RSS to Java - free.

Now I have to admit that I haven't read the
entire e-book. I've only read the chapter
on article syndication. But for me, that chapter
made this book priceless because it contained
what I had been looking for and not finding
anywhere else.

So if you're thinking of syndicating your
articles, news, or some other type of
information and are searching for the
way to make it happen, you need this
e-book - "RSS Advertising - A
Complete Guide To Advertising Using
RSS Feeds"

Oops, the title isn't a link but that's not
a mistake. You see, I have resale
rights to this useful piece of information
and I do sell it with a 37.5% discount
off the suggested price - but only to my
subscribers.

So if you're a FriendsWhoCare subscriber,
just send me a note and I'll send you the
link where you can get this RSS e-book

If your not a subscriber please join us at
FriendsWhoCare and then request the link.
You can find a place to subscribe in this week's
newsletter:
FriendsWhoCare.us/thisweek.htm

If you don't like the newsletter you can
unsubscribe at any time and since we all hate
spam, you won't hear from us again.
Also, we never share subscriber information.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare.us

PS Sorry, I don't have a non-subscriber page
for this product but some things I only share
with my friends.

Easy Archive Maker

2005-07-08T01:04:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've written a product
review and I've found some really good ones
since the last post.

If you happen to be one of my newsletter
subscribers, you know I don't have an article
archive on my site but ...

I do archive our monthly site reviews where
subscribers give suggestions on how to
improve that month's subscribers site.

Now one of the reasons I don't have an
article archive is TIME - there's never
enough of it. But with a new tool I discovered,
I decided to try my hand at archiving with
our site reviews.

Easy Article Maker is the tool I use and
it is not only easy but it's also makes archiving
very fast.

First I had to create the page template for
the review sites and index. Since my sites
pages are similar but different, this took a
few minutes. If you already have a template
for your site then you've already done most
of the work.

Second, I opened the tool, copied the first
site review into the text box and clicked
the create button.

Third I uploaded both the archived review
page and the index created by Easy Archive
Maker.

Now, when I need to archive another review
I just open the tool, copy the review into the
tool and upload the new page and the updated
index. All done and it only took a couple of
minutes.

This tool also has other uses besides archiving
articles and reviews. It can also be used to
create those much needed Table of Contents
for your e-book!

You may not have heard of Easy Archive
Maker but I did and I am glad I found it
because it makes the job of being a web
master a little easier.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

123WysiWyg HTML Editor

2005-04-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

Last week Mark Hendricks and Michael Nicholas released a
new product - 123WysiWyg Html Editor.

Well I downloaded it and tried it out today and must admit
that I am very impressed.

I normally use FrontPage and expected to find an editor
that either didn't provide much capability or was hard to
use. However, I didn't.

The 123WysiWyg editor looks much like FrontPage and
is very easy to use. In fact, when it comes to using scripts
on your site, it may even be easier.

I created a very simple page in about 5 minutes showing some
of the things I could do with absolutely no help at all. You can
see it at: http://www.friendswhocare.us/123wysiwyg.html

This 123WysiWyg HTML Editor looks like a real winner
and is in the affordable price range for most.

Good Job, Mark and Michael.

Susan

They Did It Again!

2005-02-22T11:18:00.000-06:00

Recently I was asked by one of my JV partners -
"Why are you always pushing PushButtonPublishing?"

Needless to say he got an earful that I won't repeat
here. Instead I'll just rely his comment when I finished
answering his question -

"Wow, what a glowing testimonial. Now I understand
why you're always recommending it."

Today I re-discovered why I am so impressed with
PushButtonPublishing when I checked out a resource
recommended in another ezine.

The article I was reading was titled "Content is Critical."
Believing this to be true, I thought I might pick up a few
pointers on how to stress this to my own readers.

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on a resouce link in the
article and saw a very well-designed sales page for something
I already have, the "Viral Article Toolkit."

Now what's interesting about this product is that:

The product owner's own site sells this toolkit for $49.
The product owner has ClickBank affiliate sites that sell
the product for $37.
I got this product as one of my PushButtonPublishing
benefits where the monthly fee is only $27.

Now I didn't get the resale rights to this product and neither
will you if you buy it because the owner is only allowing ClickBank
affiliates to sell it. The only requirement I have that is different
from those who purchase the product is that I must include
a pre-written resource box with my PBP affiliate link. But
no where does it say that I can't add my own name and
signature file which I would do to promote my newsletter.

Imagine getting products like this that are worth more
than the monthly membership fee in addition to other
quality services like 500 megs of hosting space, unlimited
autoresponders, the ability to track up to 1,000
different links, resale rights products and ....

OK, I promised I wouldn't give you an earful so I'll
stop.

All I'll say is PBP is a quality program that deserves
a 5 star rating.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us/thisweek.htm

Start Page Exchanges - I am Through Testing

2005-02-14T15:47:00.000-06:00

As you may or may not know, I have been a user of
traffic exchange programs since I first started my
online business. In fact, one of the first e-books
I created was a list of 30 really good start page
exchange programs because they were an easy, free
way to get some exposure for your site.

Now, however, I am re-thinking my position on the
use of them and recently stated that I would be
testing some of the ones I have been using. I was
going to run this test because I had noticed that
after surfing for credit I was usually infected with
some obnoxious spy/adware. Now I don't think the
infectious software was coming from the exchange
programs directly but rather from some of the other
members who were using the service to get traffic
to their sites.

Well, the testing has stopped with only 2 of the
traffic exchange programs really tested because I am
tired of fighting a losing battle.

After surfing on the exchanges I normally use for
about 45 minutes this morning, I spent the next 4
hours trying to delete all the spy/adware that had
been downloaded onto my machine. And I know that
my machine is still not clean. But at least the
pop-ups only come up every few minutes now rather
than every few seconds.( I was getting more than
25 pop-ups in less that 5 minutes before I started
cleaning my machine.) So I guess I'll be reloading my
operating system to get everything cleaned off soon.

Bottom line - I will be much more cautious in my
use of traffic exchange programs. As of today, I
will continue to use Instant Buzz and MDT because
when tested they caused minimal damage.

As for the 30 exchange programs that were listed in
the ebook I wrote 3 years ago, I will not list them
all because I've only been using 5 of them on a regular
basis this last year.

As for the 5 ...

TrafficSwarm - They showed my site and do review sites
before allowing them to be displayed to others. This
unfortunately is not enough since sites can be altered
and I know that at least one of the sites I displayed
while earning credit tried to infect my machine with 2
Trojan viruses.

WebBizInsider - They also showed my site and reviewed
sites before allowing them to be displayed. I don't
know if any of their sites tried anything funny but
I'm a little gun shy right now.

FastFreeway - They showed my site and they do not
review the sites except to see if it will breakframes.

TopSurfer - They also showed my site and do not
review the pages displayed. Also, they don't have
any safeguards in affect to ensure that others are
really viewing your site. They did however implement
one thing that should be available at more traffic
exchange programs - a way to report sites that take
you away from your surfing page. (Before all the
downloaded ad/spyware and trojans that used to be one
of the big surfing for credit problems.)

123Clicks - They don't review the sites shown and
it would have taken months before all the credits
I've already earned to get used. However, since I
won't be surfing the minimum, I'll be losing my
credits.

So today, these are my thoughts on the traffic
exchange programs I have been using. If you have
any information about these or other programs
please post a comment so that we may all learn
from your experiences as well.

To Your Success,
Susan
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

Earn Free Advertising With Your Personal Email

2005-02-09T16:13:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago I mentioned Instant Buzz in my newsletter and offered to send an invitation to any one who requested one. Now, those people are getting free advertising every time they are on the web just like I do.

Now I want to mention the launch of Instant Buzz version 2.0 because it takes getting free advertising to an whole new level. Read on to discover the one feature in 2.0 that will prove to be a paradigm shift in Internet advertising.

If you blinked, you missed the launch of Instant Buzz because it was only done so to a very limited group and then grew by invitation-only. Quietly, while no one else was looking, this tool has developed a massive following of extremely loyal users. The loyalty is based on one thing and one thing only: it's free and it works like crazy.

The 1.0 version of Instant Buzz was simple, but extremely effective. You simply downloaded the Instant Buzz bar on to your Internet Explorer and then as you surfed two things happened:

Instant Buzz Ads Appeared on the Bar
They are quiet, attractive, and unobtrusive, but amazingly people click on them like crazy.
You Earned Ad Credits

That's right. All you have to do is surf like you normally do and you earn credits.

That was 1.0. 2.0 has all of that and more.

With 2.0, Instant Buzz has introduced the patent-pending MailSpace Ad and it is the first and only Email Ad Exchange system.

What is MailSpace Ad?

It's Mass Email Advertising Minus all the "Bad"
MailSpace Ads are only allowed in personal one-to-one email communications so you can always be sure your traffic credits are being spent on ads that are likely to be seen.
This is mass email advertising without all of the problems normally associated with it. The recipient is willing. He's likely to see it. And because it rides along with an email from a friend, it's unlikely to cause any problems.
Built-In Viral Growth
Because each MailSpace Ad is not only an ad exchange but an ad for Instant Buzz itself, over the people who "sign up" for Instant Buzz under you will grow, and thus you'll earn more and more traffic.

Normally Instant Buzz is by invitation-only, but for the next four days they are opening up sign ups to the general public to showcase version 2.0.
Click here to sign up now.

NOTE: If when you click on the above link you get a notice saying "Instant Buzz is available by invitation only" it means that the open enrollment period for Instant Buzz has expired.
I'm more than happy to send you an invitation, though, if I have any available. Please send me an email to: susancarroll@friendswhocare.us

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll

PS Most other free traffic systems are based on either tricking or coercing people to click on links. Instant Buzz is totally voluntary so all of the clicks you get are generally of very high quality.

Further, the voluntary clicking means that the traffic you get from Instant Buzz is in fact targetted (even though the ads are seen by an untargetted pool of people).

Why Do We Use Internet Explorer?

2005-01-29T23:24:00.000-06:00

I use Internet Explorer as do more than 90% of all
internet users. With all it's problems we all still use
it because it's what came on our computers. But after
getting so frustrated with it tonight I am seriously
considering a change.

Here's what happened...

I wanted to pay a bill online, something I do fairly
often. So I went to the sight just like I have done
several times in the past. But tonight I couldn't get
logged in. I kept getting that silly "page won't display"
error page.

I called tech support and after checking their records
they said I didn't have an online account and needed
to register. I tried to explain that I was registered but
they insisted that I really wasn't. (Wonder how I managed
to pay my bill the last several months without being
registered - don't you?)

So I went to the site and tried to register. Well I did
finally get to the page that told me my account was
already registered but only after I got the "page won't
display" error several times.

Ok, so now I figure I must be using the wrong password
and that's why the site doesn't like me. Wrong! When I
go through the exercise of filling out the form to get my
password I get ... you guessed it... PAGE WON'T DISPLAY.

It's now been more than 30 minutes and I still have not
done a task that should have taken less than 5. Feeling
a little upset I decided to do something else and see if
the problem would fix itself. (Hey, I still believe that things
that are broken one minute on the internet sometimes get
magically fixed and start working again.)

After giving the problem about 15 minutes to fix itself I
I go back to the site and am now able to log in with no
problem. Great! I go through the pages to make my
payment and click the final "submit" button only to end
up at ... do I really have to tell you ... "page won't display."

So I call tech support again. This time they tell me that
my problems are all because I have Service Pack 1
installed and there is now a patch I need. Security on this
site is so tight that IE with SP 1 won't work unless you
install the MS patch. (Hope you understood all the initials
in the last sentence.)

Now I don't remember installing SP 1 but then I don't
remember a lot of things so what the heck I get the
information so I can get the patch. I then go to the page
to download the answer to my problem only my
browser window hangs (you know - "program is
not responding").

After trying the front door approach to getting the
patch and having my browser hang several times
I manage to find a backdoor into the download page
so I download the patch. Unfortunately I get a
message that tells me that the patch can't be installed
unless I download SP 1.

Now I won't tell you how many times I tried to
get to the page to download SP 1 because I lost
count. I will tell you that after awhile I started sending
error reports to Microsoft because I was so frustrated
with my browser hanging on their site.

I tested my browser on other sites and was having no
problems - just the Microsoft site.

Well to make this long story short, I never did get SP 1
downloaded - never could get to the page to do it.

But ... I did pay my bill paid online and here's how.

I used my FireFox browser.

I can't tell you much about this browser since I
recently downloaded it and haven't been using it
because I don't have InstantBuzz installed on it.
What I can tell you is that when I used it to go to
the site, I logged in and paid my bill with no problem.

This is not a personal recommendation for FireFox,
at least not right now. This is a personal piece of
advice to have a second browser loaded on your
computer so you can use it when the first one fails you.

To Your Success,
Susan

I Am Starting A Test

2005-01-10T10:35:00.000-06:00

Background for test:

I'm a big user of start page exchanges.
In fact, that's how I gained a lot of
my subscribers - both by using them and
giving away an e-book with 30 of them
along with a way to use them efficiently.

And while I no longer give the e-book
away or advertise the way to surf several
at the same time, I still do use my
method to surf 5 of them every week.

Reason for test:

Unfortunately over the last several
months I have noticed that my PC is loaded
with spyware after surfing on the start
page programs I use. I don't know if
some of it comes from all of them or
if some of it comes from some of them or
if all of it comes from one of them.

The test:

This week I am going to start a test
where I surf each of the 5 seperately
without the use of the tool that allows
me to surf multiple exchanges at the
same time. If I can identify which ones
run clean and which ones give me "crap"
I'll share the results. If I find they
all run clean that means that the tool
I use is loading the "junk" and I'll
share that info also.

To Your Success,
Susan

Happy Holidays

2004-12-13T10:02:00.000-06:00

Christmas is the time of giving and you can really pick up some
great free gifts being offered this year by many online publishers.

I won't mention all the sites currently offering free holiday gifts
since I don't know all of them but will share with you the ones I
have joined.

http://www.EZasMagic.com/Cheers

http://familyfunforyou.info/holidaygreeting.php

I just finished downloading the 3 free holiday e-books from
http://familyfunforyou.info/holidaygreeting.php
and must tell you they are great. No selling of products, no
advice to help you make money, just some things for you
to enjoy during this season.

So check out both sites because I'm sure you'll find something
that will catch your interest.

Happy Holidays,
Susan

Earning Money Through Online Surveys

2004-11-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

Recently I was given a paid membership to
one of those Online Survey programs so I
could start making money by doing online
surveys.

Since I have taken offline surveys that paid
those who participated I thought I might as
well see how these programs worked in the
online community.

Now I will admit that I am fairly new at trying
this and have only signed up for about 8 of them
so my experiences are truly limited. And,
according to what I have read you have to sign
up at several hundred survey sites to earn any
substantial amounts through online surveys.

With that said I will now tell you what my
experiences have been so far.

First - They tell you set up a special inbox or
folder for your survey mail. This is good advice
since you will start getting a ton of offers from
both the survey places and the companies that
are using them to promote their products.

Second - A lot of the surveys don't pay cash for
taking a survey. They give you points that may
be redeemed for things of value or cash. I haven't
earned enough points to see how that works since
they require thousands of points before you can
redeem them and only give 2 -5 points for surveys
unless you sign up for the product being surveyed.

Third - You can get some really valuable free
products for some surveys but only if you sign up for
1 or more services promoted through the survey.
The services include things like: health plans, car loans,
mortgages, credit cards, book and tapeclubs, weight
loss products, etc. And once you've signed up you
usually have to stay with the program for a few months
to fulfill the requirements of the survey. (The expenses
for these programs run from$20 - $50 a month.)

Forth - Many surveys don't pay cash or points.
They give you an entry to win cash or some other
valuable prize.

Fifth - If you are retired, don't put that information
on the questionnaire to qualify for a survey. So far
everytime I have put retired as my occupation I have
been denied access to the survey. I now use
self-employed and am allowed to take the survey.

I guess that about sums up my experiences so far.
Since I don't have the time or desire to sign up at
hundreds of survey companies I doubt that I will
ever make any money with these services. Instead,
I will group them with the Safelist andPaid to Read
Email programs.

If you happen to belong to a survey program that
really does pay those who take surveys and have
actually received some valuable cash or reward
for your participation, please share that information
by posting a comment.

To Your Success,
Susan

Joint Venture Manager

2004-11-04T10:25:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I started a poll to find out if you were
doing Joint Ventures and the votes are still coming
in.

But since I can see that some are involved in Joint
Ventures and because I just downloaded a new software
product that makes doing them easier, I thought I
would share some information about it.

A fellow subscriber, Raam, has just developed JVM
(Joint Venture Manager).

I downloaded it last night and took a look at it.
Now while I haven't had a chance to give it a work
out yet, it does look very straightforward and easy to
use so I will be giving it a try very soon.

The biggest benefit I can see for using this software
is that it will save a lot of time because you can
"Broadcast" your JV offer to your entire list of partners
at the touch of a button!

Along with this "tremendous" software, you also get:

1) 25 Joint Venture Proposal Templates (Like -
Ezine Ad swaps, Percentage of sales for ezine ad,
Percentage of sales for publishing an ezine article,
Cross promote products and the list goes on.)

2) JV Marketer's Handbook (There are 4 sections and
here's the title for 2 of them:
"Here's the 'secret' to boost your sales quickly and
easily in the next 3 days"
"How to find JV Partners you need?")

3) "567 Hypnotic Headlines" (A database of winning
headlines sorted into 15 categories.)

4) Another nifty little utility you will definitely love!
(I am not telling but Raam does when you read his site.)

Raam also told me that he may pull this package soon
because he is building a "paid membership" site and
moving all these things into it.

So if you are doing Joint Ventures or are going to be
doing them one of these days, do yourself a favor and
read Raam's site ASAP.

http://www.salespageanalyzer.com/click.php?p=4&a=newday

To Your Success,
Susan

PS - In case you are wondering why there's an affiliate
link I am doing a JV with Raam. Yes, I do JVs -
especially with subscriber who offer a good product
or service!)

DemandMail Upgraded

2004-10-26T17:31:00.000-05:00

I have been using the DemandMail autoresponder service
for more than 2 years and just wanted to share some
of my thoughts about this service.

1. Very Affordable - one of most least expensive
autoresponder service found on the web at just
$14.97 a month for 99 autoresponders.

2. Super Tech Support - I have had to email tech
support a couple of times during the last 2 years
and have always received a reply quickly. And, the
replies have always answered and resolved my issues.

3. Great Spam Policy - As with all legitimate online
business, DemandMail doesn't allow their service
to be used by or promoted by spammers. However
if a user is accused of spam, they do allow you to
prove your innocence and keep your accounts.
(Just be sure to keep all those emails from your
autoresponder service stating that someone just
subscribed - they are the proof you need if someone
complains. I know this from experience!)

4. Super Service - They have just upgraded to a new
system so that now you can log into your account
once and access all your autoresponders. No more
do you have to remember all the names of your
autoresponders and all of their passwords. You can
copy messages from one autoresponder to another,
send text or html and all subscribers are now
double opt-in.

In my book, DemandMail is a 5 star service and I highly
recommend them to anyone looking for a good
autoresponder service.

Susan

Another Victim?

2004-10-11T10:51:00.000-05:00

First I must tell you that I have never used the services of Managed.com and therefore can not tell you how good they are or boast about their great technical support.

The truth is – I don’t know anything about their service or technical support.

So why am I writing a review?

Managed.com may be the second victim in the fraudulent use of my PayPal account and this review is neither a positive or negative review of the company or its service. Rather, this review is to state how they responded when I notified them directly about the unauthorized use of my account.

As the company that was the intended receiver of my money, I discovered their business and read their site. From reading their site I found that they claim to be “a leading provider of world-class dedicated hosting, complex managed solutions, high availability network architecture, network infrastructure management, and secure contents distribution for small businesses, non-profit organizations, and global enterprises.” And by reading their contact page I see they are based in California and have both a phone and fax number plus several email addresses so you can contact them.

Because the unauthorized user of my account didn’t purchase the PayPal refund guarantee on October 7 when they made their purchase (big surprise), I was not able to go through PayPal to request a refund. So when I discovered the transaction on October 8, I contacted the billing department directly, explained what had happened and requested a refund. I also reported the transaction to PayPal as being an unauthorized use of my account and changed just about everything on the account in an attempt to keep the account from being broken into again.

Now being a trusting and naive person, I hoped that requesting a refund within 24 hours of a purchase would be honored.

WRONG!

Below is a copy of the billing departments email reply to my request and only my email address has been omitted for this review. Also, please note that the phone number contained in this letter is not my phone number so please don't try to use it to call me.

----------------
Dear Susan Carroll,

Thank you for contacting Managed.com. Please be aware that we did not bill your PayPal account. A person logged into your account, and sent money directly to us, for an order they had placed. Also please note that this customer also used your information;

BillingName: Susan Carroll
BillingAddress: 16 N. Eddy
City: Fort Scott
D1: KS
ZipCode: 66701
D3: US
Telephone: 305-292-5964
Email: The email address I did have on my PayPal account was included.

If this is truly fraud, you may want to close your PayPal account, or change the password. Since you have already put in a pending investigation, and service was already set up for the customer, we cannot give you a direct refund. Please standby for PayPal's procedures.

Thank you.
Billing DeptManaged.com
----------------

Needless to say this was not the reply I had hoped for.

Now for the good news!

PayPal completed their investigation by October 10 and refunded my money.

Who will I do business with in the future?

Well, if I ever decide to purchase a product like what Managed.com sells, I don’t think I will go to them. While their reply may be good business from a corporate point of view, I like companies that have a little more compassion for others and a better refund policy.
The service could not have been set up for more than 48 hours (the reply came within 48 hours of the purchase) so a refund would have been nice. But since this company does not post a refund policy, I guess they don’t have one.

As for PayPal – I think they did a fantastic job. Some of their procedures still confuse me since I know they didn’t have time to receive the requested snail mail copy of my claim before they could start the investigation when they notified me that the investigation was completed and my money refunded. I am only guessing that they take fraud complaints seriously enough to investigate them while waiting on a paper copy of the complaint and that the paper copy is required by law.

I pray that nothing like this ever happens to you. But if it does, may it get straightened out just as quickly and successfully as mine did.

Susan

Guilty By Association

2004-10-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted an announcement in the newsletter because I thought that it didn’t go out.

I was WRONG!

The mailing went out but I didn’t get it and neither did anyone else who uses the same ISP as I do for my personal email.

I am really upset by this and I’ll tell you why.

One of the autoresponder services I use to send out the newsletter mailings is DemandMail.com. I have used them for a couple of years and have been very happy with their inexpensive service because they allow me set up an unlimited number of autoresponder accounts for one low monthly fee AND they have fantastic tech support.

When I didn’t think my mailings were going out because I wasn’t getting them or the “mailing complete” messages I wrote tech support. I expected to wait about 24 hours to hear a response but got one in just a couple of hours.

According to them, I wasn’t getting my messages they were sending because my ISP was using Spam Cop. They had sent a message from their service, discovered the problem and had to use a different email account to respond to my trouble request.

I immediately wrote my ISP about the matter and requested they remove Spam Cop from my account. It took them about 4 hours to respond with the following – your trouble ticket has been closed and please send the error message you received so we can forward it to Spam Cop to correct the problem.

How can the trouble ticket be closed when I still have the problem?

What error message?

I, the intended receiver didn’t get an error message. I didn’t get any indication that I wasn’t getting some of my email? I checked my email account to see if they had placed my blocked messages in some special folder but found nothing.

Well, to make this long story longer:

I have re-opened the ticket and told them to keep it that way until I find out if there was any error message to my autoresponder service.
I have requested the error message from my autoresponder service.
I checked into Spam Cop and found that I had to go through Alexa to find their contact information.
I have sent Spam Cop an email reporting the problem.
I also found out that Spam Cop doesn’t block individual email accounts or filter on words. They block messages according to the IP of the sender. In other words, if you are using an autoresponder or hosting account to send out your mail, your mail may not be getting through if they have your services IP on their blacklist.
I also know that Spam Cop doesn’t send the email address of the person reporting spam to the service sending the email. Thus, the autoresponder or hosting service can not request proof of opt-in and can not request that you remove the person from your list. As a result, your account may be canceled even if you could have provided proof that the person had opted-in.
I also know that some of the “big” places that offer free email accounts and where we all get a lot of spam – like Yahoo and MSN are not blocked.
I know that if you aren’t getting all your email you may not know it. And if you do and try to find those that were blocked, you can’t find it.

There are only 8 people on my list who use the same ISP mailbox that I use. So I know those people won’t get my mailings.

But what about all the others? I have no idea which ISPs use Spam Cop so I have no idea how much of my list is not getting my mail.

Am I upset? YES!!!

I have been found guilty of sending spam to myself and others by someone I don’t know and who doesn’t give me the opportunity to defend myself. I have been blacklisted because of some report by a nameless person who may not even know they complained.

I am guilty by association with a service that provides contact information on every page and has a strict anti-spam policy. I am guilty by association because someone, somewhere reported spam sent by someone using that same service.

Was that person guilty of sending spam? I don’t know.

Was that person allowed to offer proof that they weren’t sending spam? No.

Is that person still using the same service? Probably not and here’s why:
“We get some complaints from SPAM Cop without the complainers email or name so we have no way to remove them from anyone's' list. We have had to delete several accounts from our system because of the heavy handed tactics of SPAM Cop.”

May your day be better than mine,
Susan

A Subscriber's Review Of A New Program

2004-10-05T09:10:00.000-05:00

By now you've probably seen a ad for Mike Filsaime's
new ListDotCom list building program. Since I'm on
Mike mailing list, I've been getting email about it
for more than a week.

Now, I have joined other list building programs and
have never had much success with them so when I saw
what Mike's new program was, I dismissed it.

But now it seems that there are some points about
this program that need to be brought to your attention
in case you are considering it.

I received an email from Lamar Ownes on 10/3 and
another on 10/5 from Hodges Hines. Since Hodges is
both a friend and subscriber I am posting his
message to this blog.

Again, I have had no experience with this program
and am only sharing information that I have received
from others.

Susan
---------------------------------
Today's Review
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
I am sure by now a lot of you who are on other
marketing email lists have seen the ad from Mike Filsaime.
It is an ad that states you now have the opportunity to
build a list of thousands in a few days by referring others
to join under you.

I have to tell you that I almost fell for the hype myself
before realizing what the truth really is about this site.

To make matters worse for Filsaime and ListDotCom.com
I received this message form my Partner and Friend,
Lamar Owens.

QUOTE....
"Blew it and because I care about our relationship, I'm
asking you to disregard my previous email regarding the big
announcement. I also apologize and ask for your forgiveness.
Please do NOT join Mike Filsaime's listdotcom site and here
is why:

I trusted Mike Filsaime to do what he said he was going
to do and that was to help us build a list fast that we
could mail to everyday if we wanted through his new site.
He said it wouldn't cost a cent--He lied! We can't mail out
everyday and only if you pay him $80 bucks a month he will
allow you to mail every few days...

It sounded great and I fell for the story--turns out it’s too
good to be true.

I'm sorry, I apologize and I ask you NOT to join his list
site. I work hard to build my rapport with you and give you
quality information. Based on the information I was
given...I thought it was great.

Mike's version of "omission marketing" by not telling us
the whole story...is wrong. I asked him questions prior to
launch (via email) and he said all would be revealed on
launch.

I have list building techniques that I KNOW WORK-- My Optin
helps you grow your list(s) fast and I STAND BEHIND IT 100%

Explode Your Sales--10,000 Monthly Optin Leads Program
http://tinyurl.com/6td75

Thanks again...and I will surely be steering clear of Mike
Filsaime and NEVER promote anything of his EVER again.

Sincerely,
Lamar"
.....UNQUOTE

I am not into "poking anyone in the eye" or "spitting
poison" on someone for the sake of putting them down. It
has become hard enough in the marketing arena to make sales
without potential customers seeing us write about conflicts
we may have with other marketers.

What I am into is ETHICAL marketing the way it should be
done. There is no reason to lie to you or shoot you out a
sales letter that is blatant with lies. Hype sells but hype
is not always ethical in presentation. My suggestion to you
is to wait this one out until the dust settles.

What this is; is no more than a safelist that is being
built for Mike Filsaime on the backs of well known marketers
and you if you have joined and recommended others.

I have quoted my Partner Lamar and trust me if he says it
is a scam then be careful as you deal with Filsaime but if
you must be a part of this then go read a special report by
another well known marketer Kevin Bidwell. You can pick up
a copy of his report below.
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/freelistexplosion?a=1996

My review for this week's product, a resounding
DUD-TO-THE-MAX.
------------------
This review was taken from
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
A PLUS FLASH REVIEW

To subscribe send an email to:
mailto:aplusflashreview@flash-phoenix.com?subject=Subscribe Me Now!
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Dead Link Bloodhound

2004-10-01T13:51:00.000-05:00

Have you ever clicked a link only to
get a page not found error?

Well, I know I have so today I pulled
out my dusty copy of Dead Link Bloodhound
to test the links on my newest page
http://www.friendswhocare.us/forum.htm

Now since I had copied all the links
on this page from other pages, I felt
confident that they would all work. You
can only imagine how surprised I was
whenI found that I had 2 dead links.

Well, I learned my lesson. I fixed the
links on the new page, checked the
links on the page I had copied them from -
and intend to keep my copy of Dead Link
Bloodhound out for awhile while I do some
more checking on some of my other pages.

I don't know why I haven't been using
this tool all along since it only takes a
couple of seconds to check all the links -
but I haven't.

Please don't make the same mistake I
made by not checking all the links on all
your pages. Broken links frustrate site
visitors and cost you customers.

If you have only a few pages with only a
few links you can check them manually.
But if you're like me and have more than
a few pages and lots of links, you need
a tool like Dead Link Bloodhound to get
the job done - fast.

To Your Success,
Susan

PS - It's a great inexpensive tool that more
of us should be using and it comes with full
resale rights.

"FIVE ways to get your own web-site Now!"

2004-09-10T10:14:00.000-05:00

I recently received an email about one of the
resources I have been using for around three
years. Since I highly recommend this service
and the email had some great information about
some of the things they have to offer, I thought
I would share.

Oh, I should mention that all the links in this
copy are mine so if you decide this is something
you could use, I would appreciate it if you
used one of my links.

Thanks,Susan Carroll
------------------------------------
"FIVE ways to get your own web-site Now!"

No experience? No problem!

...If you want nothing more than to have your
own cash-pulling web-site up and running as
quickly as possible, there are FIVE ways
to get your wish as a member of Push-ButtonPublishing (PBP)...

Web-Site # 1. (No cost for PBP members!) All PBP
members receive access to our "Push Button Income"
program - the perfect solution if you're a beginner,
and want to get your own profitable web-site up and
running within 24 hours! Click here for details:
http://www.affiliates-win.com/pbi/

Web-Site # 2. (No cost for PBP members!) PBP features
over $7,000 worth of digital products and software with
resale rights. Many of these products come packaged
with ready-made direct response style web-sites! You
simply add your name, contact info, and order link,
then upload to your web-site with a few clicks of
the mouse - and it's off to the races! Since your
PBP membership INCLUDES premium web-hosting, you
can host these sites for no additional cost as aPBP member!
Included with your PBP membership:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/all_in_one.htm

Web-Site # 3. (No cost for PBP members!) All PBP
members receive instant access to our "Advanced
Turnkey Business Packages" section, featuring a
variety of turnkey web-sites that you can install
on your included PBP web hosting account. You can
start your own Recipe Club, your own Dating Site,
your own Banner Exchange - more than a dozen
professionally designed sites to choose from!
Included with your PBP membership:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/all_in_one.htm

Web-Site # 4. (No cost for PBP members!) Of course,
since PBP comes with a premium web hosting account,
along with a wide selection of web page templates,
a web page editor, professional web-building tutorials
and more, many members choose to build their own
custom sites from scratch! You can use our services
to build ANY type of ethical web-site, selling the
resale rights products we provide, OR your own
products and services!
Included with your PBP membership:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/all_in_one.htm

Web-Site # 5. (Brand new!) We've just added a very
powerful, point and click web-site builder to the
Special Offers section of PBP.. You pay a miniscule
ONE TIME set up fee of just $5, and you can use Site
Studio to build unlimited web-sites in just minutes!
Comparable to Yahoo's Store Builder, or Site Build It,
you could easily pay up to $50 a month for this
software elsewhere - but as a PBP member you get full,
unlimited access for the one time set up fee of just
five bucks!
Included with your PBP membership:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/all_in_one.htm

--------------------------------------------
Well there you have it - not one...not two (or
three or four)...but FIVE ways you can have your
own cash-pulling web-site (or multiple web-sites)
up and running before you know it!
...If you're serious about starting and building your
own profitable web-site and online business, PBP is
the "PTB", that is, the "Place To Be"!

Here for Your Success,
-Bryan Winters

P.S. Keep in mind that regardless of what web-site
building software you use, in most cases you can
use PBP services to "power" your web-site...PBP
membership *includes* premium web hosting, unlimited
autoresponders, ad tracking software, and many other
scripts and tools to power and enhance your web-site(s)
and online business(es)!

Goldliger Marketing, Inc.
17171 Glencoe Avenue
Lakeville, MN 55044
------------------------------------

Now I must admit that I haven't tried the web-site
builder or the Advanced Turnkey Business Packages.
Since I use FrontPage I haven't needed the
web-site builder and I just found out about the
Advanced Turnkey Business Packages this week.
(Bryan adds new tools and resouces every few months.)
But now that I know about it, I may be setting
one of them up soon.

One of the things I do use quite often and
Bryan didn't mention is the article database.
While I don't usually copy an article from this
resouce, I do use it to gather information about
some of the things I write about. The database
is huge and all the articles are written by
well known internet marketers.

Another resouce I have used several times is
the E-book of the month. These are especially
written viral digital products that you can brand
and give away.

And one last word about the resale rights
packages. I have downloaded hundreds of dollars
worth of these (valued at well more than the
cost of the membership). And I haven't downloaded
everything available nor have I tried to sell
everything I have downloaded primarily because
I just don't have the time.

OK, I'll stop raving about PBP except to say
that the owner, Bryan Winters, is a great guy.
Over the last three years I have had to write
once with a question and received an answer the
next day. When spam became such a big issue a
couple of years ago and started to affect our
autoresponder service, Bryan stepped up to the
problem and fixed it in less than a week. PBP
now owns it own double opt-in autoresponder
service so that our service can not be affected
by non-members and we don't get spam complaints!

Alright, I'll stop with the hard sell about PBP.

To Your Success,
Susan

Spyware Nuker

2004-08-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

Don't know about you but I finally got disgusted with all the
spyware and adware on my computer. It seemed that pop-ups
and browser windows were opening constantly and it was
really slowing me down.

About three weeks ago I purchased Spyware Nuker and I
must tell you that it has really helped.

The first time I ran it, it found 83 objects - no wonder my
computer was acting badly, it was possessed!

Now I have to admit that Spyware Nuker does not prevent
this intrusive code from being placed on your machine so you
have to run it periodically. I try to run it every Saturday and
did have to run it more often one week. (Those start page
exchanges can really load this stuff on your machine quickly!)

Also, one Saturday I did have to run it three times to get all the
garbage removed. The first time I ran it, it found 57 objects to
be removed. When it went to remove them it found one that
needed the system to reboot to complete the removal. I clicked
"OK" and all went well but I decided to run the program again
just to make sure everything was gone. Good thing I did since it
found 17 objects to be removed. Again it found one that needed a
system reboot. After that reboot, I ran it again and found only
4 objects to be removed. I did run it again after it removed the
4 objects just to be sure but it didn't find anything.

After using Spyware Nuker for a few weeks I highly recommend
this product. I still get garbage put on my computer but now I
can clean it up anytime I want without reloading my operating
system.

If you would like to scan your computer for free and see if you
have any spyware or adware downloaded onto your machine
go here:
http://friendswhocare.us/scansite.htm

If you do then you should get something to get rid of it and I
recommend Spyware Nuker.

To Your Success
Susan

Real-Marketing.com

2004-08-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for a hosting service I personally recommend that
you check out Real-Marketing.com. I have been with this service for
more than two years and they just keep surprising me with their
fantastic service.

The latest surprise came today when I read my email from them
stating that they had just doubled the size of all hosting accounts -
free of charge. Well, I immediately checked this out and found
that they hadn't actually doubled my web site's size - they had in
fact increased it by 150%. This news couldn't have come at a
better time for me since I was looking to increase the size of my
account and just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Now this is not the first time they have doubled the size of my
account free of charge nor is it the first time they have gone out
of their way to take care of me. And before you think that I am
one of their biggest and best customers or affiliates then let me
set the record straight because I am not.

I started using Real-Marketing's "Starter" package a little over
two years ago and still do. Since I do highly recommend them
I do receive an affiliate check from them but it is less than $100
so I doubt that I am one of their top affiliates.

With that said, let me tell you some of the reasons this company
impresses me so much:

They have super technical support -
When I first starting I had a lot of trouble getting my first
site up and running correctly. Not only did they give me
advice on how to correct my problems but they also went
into the code and actually fixed the problem for me. I don't
know if they still fix code for their users but I know they
still give good technical support in a timely manner since I
have had other reasons to contact them over the last two
years and they have always responded within 24 hours or
less.
They are honest and working for their affiliates -
When I moved I forgot to change my mailing address with
them. But it didn't take long to correct this since they emailed
me to get my correct mailing address when one of my affiliate
checks was returned to them.
They keep their users aware of downtime -
Whenever the service is down for maintenance or upgrades they
notify all the users before the scheduled outage and again when they
are back online.
They offer professional services with their small accounts -
Even with my little "Starter" package account, they offer all the
professional services of a much larger account.
As hosting space becomes less expensive, they pass this on
to their users -
This is the second time in my two+ years of being one of their
customers that they have doubled the size of my account.

These are the major reasons that I deal with Real-Marketing.com
and personally recommend them. So if you are looking for a "good"
hosting service that is inexpensive but offers all the benefits of a
professional site then you really should check out Real-Marketing.com.

To Your Success,
Susan

"Dont Let This Happen To You " America's Identity Theft Nightmare

2004-07-29T12:45:00.000-05:00

Last night I read a new e-book written by a
fellow subscriber on identity theft. Sadly
I must tell you that the book was written
because of first hand knowledge about this
horrible crime.

Jeffery and Karyn became victims of an
identity theft crime through no fault of
their own and weren't even the intended
victims. Now they are trying to put their
lives back together and help others avoid
being caught in this type of terrible
nightmare.

This e-book contains a lot of information
that everyone, and I mean Everyone
should know.

Things like:

* Many of the ways identity theft happens
* Things everyone should do to protect themselves
* What to do if your identity is stolen
* Who to look to for help if it happens
* How susceptible you are to having it happen
* and a whole lot more.

I must admit that this e-book was not a fun
read because the stories it tells are tragic.
But every story is true and conveys just how
horrible this type of crime is.

Did you know that identity theft can have
more than one victim?

Did you know that identity theft can go on
for years without detection?

Did you know that you could be accused and
arrested for a felony crime when you are
actually a victim of identity theft?

I didn't until I read the e-book.

Again I'll state - This e-book contains
information that everyone should know.

To find out about this new e-book go to:

http://www.idtheftnightmare.com/index13.htm

To protect yourself you need to be aware.

Your concerned friend,
Susan

Browser Kickstart

2004-07-20T01:45:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month I was contacted by Neil Shearing from
scamfreezone.com about a new product he had just launched...
Browser Kickstart.

He didn't have much to say about this product except that
"it helps people use their browsersmore effectively."

Being curious about what it was all about Ichecked it out.

Briefly, this tool allows you to create headings and list your
favorite sites under them, much like you do when you create
folders for your bookmarked sites. The big difference is that
when you click one of your created headings you do not open
the list of favorites and select a site to come up in the open
window. Instead the tool actually opens and loads a browser
window for each of the listed sites under the heading.

Talk about a time saver!

Got a list of favorite affiliate programs where you check your
stats regularly?

How about a list of the different pay systems you check to see
your commissions?

Maybe you have some ezines you read online regularly.
(Like mine I hope.)

If you're an online publisher you might have some places where
you go on a regular basis to research your topic.

And the list of possibilities goes on: start page exchanges,
favorite places to advertise, forums, auctions, search engines,
etc.

OK, I'll admit that it doesn't take very long to open a window
and select a site - just a couple of seconds. But those seconds
add up to minutes each week and hours each month.

I don't know about you but I am always looking for a way to
save time.

To Your Success,
Susan

Affiliate Advantage

2004-07-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

I recently reviewed a product for one of your fellow
subscribers and he requested a testimonial if I liked
it. Well, I didn't like it... I loved it.

I am posting the testimonial I sent Steve for his new
"Affiliate Advantage" product but you don't have
to read it here. You can click the title to see the
product at work and if you fill in the form you'll see
the page where my testimonial appears.

-------------------------------------------
Steve,

After reading your e-book and trying your product
all I can say is Wow! You’ve provided the tools and
instructions it takes to make affiliate marketing a success.

Not being an expert web designer, I’ve been using
FrontPage for several years and can’t believe how
much time these tools save. The programs you’ve
created save hours and produce great looking pages…
and if I want to add some of my own style all I have
to do is use your tool to do 90% of the work and add
my own finishing touches.

Your e-book “Get The Affiliate Advantage” provides
not only step-by-step instruction on how to use the
6 EZ creation tools but tells when and where to use
them. This information alone is priceless.

If I had to pick one word to describe “Affiliate
Advantage” is would be “Overwhelming” because
“Affiliate Advantage” surpasses amazing, fantastic,
great, super, wonderful and all the other words used
to describe a truly good product.

You’ve just made it easier for more people to become
successful at affiliate marketing.

Thank you,
Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us