What is your agenda?

As an internet marketer it is most important to have a firm agenda, and to be always aware of what it is.

But an agenda for one time-frame is not enough. We need....

• An agenda for today.
• An agenda for this week.
• An agenda for this month.
• An agenda for this quarter.
• An agenda for this year.
• An agenda for five years.

Obviously, this is true for any endeavour, but in the internet marketing world, it is more important that in almost any other environment.

There are various reasons for this, but the most powerful reason is that, in the internet marketing world, there are thieves about! These thieves are not out to steal your money - although getting some of your money is part of their plan. No - these thieves are out to steal your agenda!

Usually they try to steal your short-term agendas.

But don't think that they want them. Obsolutely not! In fact, quite the reverse. They want to give you an agenda! But whilst you have your own, they can't do that. So they go about stealing it, and replacing it with the one they give you.

And that is how they make their money - because once you are following their agenda, they can sell you their systems that help fulfil those agendas.

Don't get me wrong. It could well be that that is exactly what you need at that time.

But also, quite possibly, it is exactly what you don't need.

That is why you need to have a crystal clear agenda at all times - so you can tell the difference!

The nature of your agenda changes depending on where you are in your internet marketing journey, but whether you are just investigating, creating a business or operating a business - you MUST know your agendas. Certainly for the short and medium term.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important  things for internet marketers to get right - which is why I'm making it the subject of the next Group Session for my low-cost Internet Professionals Mentoring Program (2.00pm Eastern on 31st December 2009).

I'll be talking about how people try to steal your agenda, how to defend yourself against it, what sort of agenda you should have (depending on the stage of your business development)... and more.

Here's the top level of a MindMap I created for the basis of the presentation:

If think you'd like to attend the session, there's still time. Find out more about the Mentoring Program by filling in the form below. If you decide to join, I'll send you an invitation to the session.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Alex.

Far too many internet marketers decide on how they will make their online fortune based on slick sales copy and a promotional campaign that just happens to catch their attention.

Rather blinkered, don't you think?

If this internet marketing stuff really IS the way to online wealth, don't you think it's worth spending a bit of time understanding the bigger picture?

Figuring out what all your options really are?

Getting a broad perspective of the field?

And by that, I don't mean choosing your niche! Niche marketing is just one of many options.

That's why, for my first Group Session topic on my new low-cost mentoring program, I will be talking about:

The Real "Big Picture" of Internet Marketing: Understanding All Your Options

Most guidance systems on internet marketing close off 95% of your options right from the word go. The good ones do serve a purpose - but usually it's best to treat them as training exercises rather than blueprints for your business.

So how do you choose your actual business?

There are a lot of inputs into that - but the first step is to know what your options are.

There are two strands to that:

• Choosing a Business Model and
• Choosing an Operating Model.

I'll cover both of those during this session.

If you'd like to learn more about the mentoring program, and how you can join in time to attend this session, just send me your details using the form below.

The session above will be on Wed 23rd December 2009 at 2.00pm Eastern (7.00pm GMT)

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Alex.

Do you see something very odd about the Internet Marketing world?

Silly question! There are lots of things odd about it!

What I mean is this: do you see a huge paradox right at the center?

I do, and it's this.

99% of the guidance and advice about "how to succeed at internet marketing" covers topics such as "finding a niche", "generating traffic", "affiliate marketing" etc. etc. Just look at the topics in my IM Index Mind Map for a complete list!

But what are really the biggest barriers to success in Internet Marketing? If you look at those who are successful and those who aren't, what differentiates them?

... It's not whether or not they know how to find a good niche.

... It's not whether or not they know how to generate traffic.

... It's not whether or not they know how to do affiliate marketing.

Of course, all those things (and many more) are important: they are necessary for success but they are not the differentiators.

In my view, the differences between those who are really successful and those who are not are in areas such as:

• Business purpose

• Business strategy

• Business tactics

• Business operations

• Business processes

• Planning

• Networking

• Organization

• Mindset

• Taking responsibility

And the paradox that I see is that there is precious little information or guidance about THESE topics in the Internet Marketing world.

Which is kinda frustrating, don't you think?

And a bit of a glaring opportunity for someone like me, with a strong consulting background and much experience in exactly those areas.

I'd realised this a long time ago, but never followed through.

However, recently I've been chatting to too many colleagues who I have a great deal of respect for, but who I see are going down completely inappropriate paths, or are stuck in a rut, or who are too unfocussed etc.

It's frustrating because, just a little coaching or a touch of mentoring could make a massive difference.

So - I'm biting the bullet and setting up a low-cost IM Mentoring program where the focus will be on those topics.

This isn't going to be a fixed program where everybody goes through the same steps. That's fine for training purposes, but this is not that. Everyone will be starting from a different position, and travelling a different route.

My job will be to provide information and guidance to help you:

• Know where you are starting from

• Know where you want to be

• Decide on a path to get there that is right for YOU

• Come up with options for how you might travel down it

• Figure out the resources you need to follow it

• Ensure you stay on that path

• Travel down it in the most effective and efficient manner

To keep the costs as low as possible, most interactions will be in groups, but I will provide some level of one-to-one advice as well.

The first ten people will get a special price, just to get the ball rolling, and the first sign-ups have started already!

The next group session is on the 31st December - so don't be tardy if you want to join in!

If you want to learn more, please contact me via this form

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Alex.

Backlinks and SEO: most people know the basic idea, which is simple enough - the more links you have pointing to your site, the better the search engines like your site.

But that very simple idea spawns a host of unanswered questions. For a long time, I've felt a bit uneasy about this topic and thought I should get to grips with it sooner rather than later.

The sort of questions I had were:

• What is the difference between a good and a bad backlink?
• What are all the ways of getting backlinks?
• Is it a good idea to BUY backlinks?
• How does backlinking fit in to other traffic strategies, such as article marketing and directory submission?
• etc.

Well - I found an excellent resource for the price of a family pizza that answers these questions, and does a whole lot more. (Reason #1) It's called

Atomic Backlinking!

I read through the 87 pages last week and I now feel I KNOW about backlinks!

But that's not all! (Reason #2)

In fact, the book is more of a mini-course on traffic generation, covering a whole range of traffic-generation topics, but all of them centred around backlinks.

The chapter on getting links to .gov and .edu sites (and why you should) is worth the price in itself. Some great ideas there.

In fact, there is a short section about one Google search technique that is revealed that is worth the whole price on its own! VERY helpful!

But that's not all! (Reason #3)

Earlier, I had been looking at a product about keyword research and wondering whether to investigate it futher, and maybe purchase it. But I abandoned that idea when I saw that a bonus with Atomic Backlinking is a 12-video course on keyword research.

I watched that course all the way through, and really, on its own its worth a couple of family pizzas: and since it comes with a full PDF transcript - throw in another pizza!

But that's not all! (Reason #4)

Another bonus is a highly-functional Directory Submitter tool. I did some research and found that this is being sold for $37 which is a very fair price. It comes as part of the deal with Atomic Submitter.

But that's not all! (Reason #5)

The whole thing comes with Master Resell Rights!

The only thing I'm not too impressed by is the website. It's the usual over-the-top style.... but we have to live with that these days.

Happy backlinking!

Alex