Just uploaded the photos from my trip to Chicago last weekend. Was it only a week ago? I can’t believe how quickly time flies at seminars…everything is so intense and compressed and then, whoosh! It’s over. I’ll bet on Monday there were a lot of people like, “Where do I start?”

Thankfully I mapped out my strategy on Sunday night while talking to Ann Covenry — visit her at http://www.annconvery.com and she’ll help you get unstuck and learn to speak your business in 30 seconds or less. I wasn’t so much stuck as trying to figure out how to marry the 2 areas that I’m interested in: local internet marketing and lead generation. I’ve put a lot of time and energy into creating GeoLocal.com and don’t want to throw all of that away. But it’s become painfully obvious that “local business” is too big of a target market, which is why I’ve floundered in my quest to get my arms around it.

But somewhere along the way, I stumbled into lead generation, quite by accident in fact. Found that I had a knack for it, and within the last year or so, it has developed into my family’s main source of income. Go figure.

With my background in “everything local” it was only a matter of time until I turned my lead generation skills to the local market. Competing in a local market is so much easier than at a national level — clicks are cheaper and the SEO part is a piece of cake because so few people are doing it.

Anyway, more about that when the new course comes out — Terry Dean and I collaborated on a 6-CD audio set and it rocks (or so I’ve been told by beta testers/reviewers). One of these days (soon) we’ll finish up the graphics and all the stuff that goes into selling something. It takes longer to create all the “stuff” than to create the product. No wonder so many good products languish on shelves and in basements! Hey did I ever mention that Advanced Testimonial Strategies is going to launch any day?

In the meantime, enjoy the photos from The System — I know Dave Bullock is going to make me remove some of the palm reading pics, so hurry up and take a look.

System Photos

Categories: Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Life
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The day after I got back from Chicago, I popped in the DVD “The Secret” and watched it while walking on my treadmill. My body actually missed the exercise, and I ended up doing 8 miles on Tuesday and 11.4 miles Wednesday. I love, love, LOVE my treadmill desk!!! (Will post more details about that later).

Anyway, I was so charged up when I got back from Chicago that rather than jump right in and start doing stuff, I wanted to stop and take a look at the big picture … what my business is, what belongs and what doesn’t, and how all the parts fit together.

So I decided that “The Secret” would be the perfect launch pad for that sort of thinking, and boy was it ever. Every time I watch it, I learn something new. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend to you head over to http://thesecret.tv Buy the DVD so you can watch it multiple times.

After it was over, I realized something — The Secret has been at work in my life for a very long time. My experiences in Chicago prove it.

• I’ve been wanting a better way to identify the keywords I should be targeting on one of my biggest sites. Guess who I attracted into my life? A guy who — get this — had visited my house with a real estate agent in California in late 2002. We looked at each other, did the “you look familiar” dance, and he told me where we had met. Talked a bit about business and he told me about this amazing free tool that does exactly what I’ve been wanting to do. It shows you in real-time what keywords people are using to find your site. Did I mention it’s free? Go to http://www.hittail.com — it’s very cool.
• At the end of the event, I was invited to the faculty mixer where I met Ann Convery, a wonderful lady who helps business owners “speak their business in 30 seconds or less”. This is something I have struggled with, but after talking with her at length that night and on the phone since I got back, I’m getting closer to being able to say what I do quickly and concisely. She loved the fact that I have triplets and encouraged me to use it as my part of my “hook”. Say hello to The Triplet MomPreneur!

Those are just a couple of examples of how I believe “The Secret” is at work in my life. Maybe you don’t believe in all that stuff and it sounds a little hokey to you, but it has worked in my life. Give it a try, what do you have to lose?

BTW, I just saw John Reese’s “Rebooting Your Brain” video and it fits in well with “The Secret” (except for the part where he tells you to write down your fears). Take a look
http://www.marketingsecrets.com/reboot.html

Ok, enough DVD watching and Brain rebooting for me, it’s time to get back to work!

Categories: Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Life
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I just got back from The System Seminar in Chicago, the annual event put on by Ken McCarthy, and I must admit, it was everything I hoped it would be … and more.

I’ve attended several conferences over the last year and found most of them to be giant pitchfests, where each speaker’s primary goal is to tease you with the “what” and sell you the “how”. Not that there’s anything wrong with someone selling their products, they absolutely should if the products provide value. But if someone pays to attend a seminar and goes through all the trouble to get there and pay for airfare, hotel, etc., they should get some content that they can use as is, without having to buy something else.

This is a personal pet peeve of mine — sometimes as I’m sitting in one of these pitchfests, my mind wanders for a minute and I find myself thinking of how everyone in the room has paid to be pitched to! What a great gig for the promoter… charge people to come and listen to someone else’s sales pitch. Make money on back of the room sales. The speakers get to sell their stuff, gain exposure, ascend to guru status. Sweet. But what’s in it for the pitchee?

So imagine my surprise when I get to The System Seminar and there’s no (or very little) pitching. Sure one or two people may have gone over the line and did a full out sales pitch, but most of the time it was very subtle and limited to the last few minutes.

For the most part, the presentations were pure content. And great content at that. Afterwards you could talk to the speaker or go to their website for more info, and in the evenings there were trade fairs, where each speaker had a table. So there was ample opportunity for them to sell their stuff without cramming it down your throat during the presentation.

More seminar promoters should follow Ken McCarthy’s lead and give people what they paid for — education. After coming away from The System, my only regret was not being able to attend all of the breakout sessions live, as all of the ones I did attend were truly exceptional and I came away from each one with actionable steps to build my business.

More about my System experiences later, including photos…

Categories: Internet Marketing
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Got back from Orlando yesterday. What a great trip! I almost didn’t go because I woke up Thursday with a sinus headache and felt like I wanted to stay in bed. Not a good way to feel when the main reason for going is the networking! But I packed some apple cider vinegar in my luggage and over the next day or so drank enough vinegar spiked herbal tea to chase that stuff away.

On the plane to Orlando, I met Mike Young, an attorney who specializes in Internet Marketing law. We talked all the way to Orlando, just the nicest guy. He was on his way to JV Alert, which was being held in the same hotel as the Stomper Net conference. There were internet marketers everywhere you looked! I still wasn’t feeling great so I forgot to take a picture with Mike or anybody else the first day.

Got checked in, then went downstairs and registered. Started running into people I knew within 10 minutes. Ben Mack, who I met in Baltimore. Dennis Isip, who I met in Florida and had lunch with in the Ft Launderdale airport. Gary Ambrose. Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. Dan Kelly. Robert Butwin. It was great to see people I’d met during all those trips I took last year!

Plus I met new people from all over the world — Angela Wickenberg (Sweden), Nikoforas Fokas (Greece), Kirk VandenBerghe (Hawaii) and more. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating — going to offline events is the single most important thing you can do to explode your profits and grow your business!

On Friday morning, John Reese was the keynote speaker and afterwards I went up and introduced myself and took a picture with him. Really a nice guy, surprisingly humble and down to earth. Check out all the pictures here.

I also met Leslie Rhodie and Jason Potash, took pictures with them of course. Ken McCarthy couldn’t make it (I think it was due to weather) and he asked David Bullock to take his place as a speaker. I had heard about Dave last summer from James Johnson over at Black Enterprise, and when I met James Scott at LeadSupreme East, I found out that he and Dave were friends. So when I saw Dave’s name on the schedule, I dragged James over to make the introduction.

That turned out great because Dave was hanging out with Sherman Hu and his lovely wife Sarah and I ended up hanging with them for the next few hours. We went to Sherman’s WordPress Blog presentation, then afterwards we all went to lunch with Don Crowther. Listening to these guys talk about business was amazing and intoxicating!

Finally managed to get a picture with Andy and Brad at the very end. I had talked to Brad on the first night but could never catch Andy standing long enough to talk to him.

All in all it was a fun trip and I’m very glad I went. Some great things are going to come out of it too — Mike Filsaime and Gary Ambrose both agreed to help me launch my long delayed product “Advanced Testimonial Strategies“. I’ve gotten to know Mike and Gary a little bit over the last year and they have both been so nice to me, real sweethearts.

Finally, last but not least, I met Willie Crawford — just walked right up to him and started talking. Another down to earth guy just doing his thing and taking care of business. I asked him for an interview and he said yes. I think it’s time to start my own radio show! Stay tuned…

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Back from Florida, where the whether was sunny, but in Houston it was rain, rain, rain. Both ends of the trip were delayed, especially the return leg — 4 hours of thumb twiddling in the Fort Lauderdale airport. Glad to be home.

Met a lot of cool people, will post pictures soon. Still need to get someone to figure out why only the first picture in each album will display.

The biggest takeaway for me was the importance of JVs and alliances with people that you consider competitors. That’s how Agora and other big info publishers grow their businesses, by renting each others’ customer lists, even though they are competitors.

The other big lesson was the importance of establishing your backend strategy and putting it on autopilot so you can focus your efforts on the front end (getting customers and leads into your funnel). Most online marketers have this reversed, putting the frontend on autopilot and trying various backends.

Categories: Internet Marketing
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Finally got my act together and installed Gallery2, a program that allows you to share photos online. I managed to integrate it with WordPress, so it’s pretty cool. For some reason only the first picture in each album displays, so I’ll have to get someone to troubleshoot that for me since I spent much too many hours playing around with it.

Also put some pics in the header, although most of the pics are closeups and don’t work too well in a wide header. Anyway, it was fun but now I have to get back to work.

Categories: Internet Marketing
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That’s a good question. The answer: all over the country.

It’s been a crazy year. I’ve done more traveling in 2006 than all the years put together since my children were born (1997).

• May 4-8 - San Antonio, Joel Christopher’s Masterlistbuilder “Fun” shop
• May 31 - June 4 - Las Vegas, Carl Galletti’s Intenet Marketing Superconference
• July 17-26 - New York, Adsense Immersion/Lead Supreme Training
• Sept 14 - 18 - Baltimore, The Internet Marketing Main Event

My children complain about me being gone, but I did manage to bring them with me on the New York trip, so that helped. Plus I bring each of them a teddy bear from every place I visit.
I realized last night why more women don’t pursue internet marketing - all of the travel! The guys who make it big are on the road constantly, flying from place to place, often a new city every day. I spoke to Rich Schefren this past Friday — he was on his way to somewhere on the west coast, then somewhere else nearby, then off to London after that.

Joel Comm — same story. Travels all the time.

Mike Filsaime and Tom Beal have insane travel schedules. They were both at all of the events I’ve attended, plus many more that I didn’t, including many in Europe and other faraway places.

Talked to Stephen Pierce and his lovely wife Alicia on Sunday — they were leaving Baltimore for the west coast for a couple of stops before returning to Michigan later in the week. If they had kids, she probably wouldn’t have been there. Man, these are some brutal traveling schedules.

I can’t hang. Once a month is all I can manage.

In spite of all the travel, I’ve managed to complete a few projects:

• The Local Business Masters Course for SiteSell.com — to be released shortly
• Local Business Course as yet unnamed — 6 CD audio course with Terry Dean; the recording is done, now we’re doing the post-production work; to be released toward the end of the year
• Advanced Testimonial Strategies - Series of expert interviews with some of the guys I’ve been meeting at all of these events! It turned out really well, better than I expected … to be launched any day.
• Wrote an article for a national magazine, it should hit the stands in late October; will share details when the magazine goes to print and not before (things tend to happen when articles go into the editorial process, I think I’ll wait until it comes out at the other end)

Okay, enough of this chit-chat, back to the salt mines.

Categories: Internet Marketing
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Wow, I’ve gotten so many questions about Butterfly Marketing, it’s amazing. I truly thought that everybody had heard everything there was to know about BFM and were sick to death of the subject. That wasn’t the case and I’m glad to answer any questions about it. I’ve answered several individual emails but thought I’d post the answers to the most frequently asked questions here.

Q: Is BFM for newbies?

A: If you had asked me this before I purchased the package, I would’ve said “defnitely not”. But after seeing the level of support being given to inexperienced marketers and seeing some of the success stories, again by newbies, I honestly feel that with the system and tools Mike is providing, anyone with the desire and willingness to work will succeed. Mike has challenged and encouraged advanced members to help out the newbies, and that’s exactly what has happened. The way that the community has rallied around people who know absolutely nothing has been amazing to see.

Now, having said that, I will say that some of these are advanced concepts, so the “newbie” has to be willing to work hard to overcome the learning curve. If the word “work” scares you, or if you’re looking for money to magically appear in your back account as a result of buying BFM, then please do not buy it.

Q: Can you give me your no BS opinion on this product and what makes it different from the rest?

A: When I first heard about this, I was determined not to buy it. I refused to get caught up in the hype and went out of my way not to learn anything about it. But somehow I ended up reading a chapter from the manuscript and found it so fascinating I couldn’t put it down. Reading it gave me lots of ideas, and I wanted to read the rest of it. I decided that just because something was hyped up to the heavens didn’t mean that it wasn’t a good product, and was no reason not to buy it.

So I bought it and joined the private community created for Butterfly Marketers. There is a wealth of information being shared in that forum that makes it almost worth the price of the package itself. What makes BFM different from others is that it’s a complete system and the level of support provided by the community and by Mike himself. He says, “Everyone will succeed. No one will be left behind. You have my word.”

Most of the time when you purchase one of these “home study” courses, you’re on your own. In this case, it’s a complete system. You get the roadmap telling what to do and all of the tools to do it. I’m just getting started, so although I have some great ideas in the works, I don’t have anything to point to (yet). But there are plenty of other success stories to study.

One well documented case is a guy named Keith, who you’ll meet on the forums. Six months ago he was working at a job he hated, had a pregnant wife and was in debt up to his eyeballs (his words). He took the BFM system and put up 2 sites. Now he’s making $15K per month. There are other success stories but that’s one I remember well.

Q: Does this course teach you where to look for niches and how to market them?

A: Yes, you’ll learn how to determine whether a niche will be profitable, and learn how to find them. There are many overlooked or underserved niches out there, just waiting for someone to come along tap into them.

Q: Will I learn how to drive traffic to my sites?

A: The basic concept is to make the sites viral, and to set them up so that the bulk of the traffic will be driven by the members themselves. So the traffic will grow automatically. Of course it won’t hurt
to promote it, but the way the sites are setup, your members will do it for you. Viral marketing is not new, of course, but this is a fresh new way of looking at it.

Another thing that’s not mentioned on the sales page is the training that Mike is making available. Not just short training audios and videos but real training via teleseminars and webinars. He keeps saying that “everyone that wanted success and is willing to work for it WILL have it.”

If I get any other questions, I’ll add them to this FAQ. In the meantime, if you’re so inclined, take a peek: http://www.sharonsays.com/bm The last time I looked, there was less than 40 packages left.

I truly believe that if you’re willing to do the work and apply the concepts, you will succed. And If you purchase BFM based on my recommendation, I will personally help you to get the most out of your package. Mind you, you still have to do the work and take action! If those words don’t frighten you, go ahead and visit the site for more info: http://www.sharonsays.com/bm

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Sharon Says check out Butterfly Marketing

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple months, you’ve probably heard about Butterfly Marketing. Here’s a product who was promoted a bit too well and as a result, turned off a lot of people because it was being shoved into their faces too much.

That’s how I felt, and at first I refused to even look at it. I’ve seen how these things work: lots of hype, big build up, a frenzy of buying, then… nothing. You get the product and feel like you’ve been duped. Great sales copy but like the Wizard of Oz, nothing behind the curtain.

So when I heard about Butterfly Marketing, that’s what I thought of it. Then I opened the door just a crack and took a look, kind of like “well, I’ll take a look but I’m not buying”.

After reading about it, seeing the proof of income video, and adding up everything that was included, I decided that Butterfly Marketing had been a victim of the hype machine, that there really was something unique and different about it.

So I took the plunge. Yes, I confess, I purchased it on January 31st and I’m very glad I did. The past two weeks have been fun and exciting. Here’s what happened: as soon as I purchased I got an email asking me to join a private forum for BFM owners, which I did. So did 900 other purchasers.

Overnight this thriving community sprang up and it’s totally dedicated to helping everyone get the best out of their packages. Newbies, intermediate and advanced marketers alike, people of all levels of expertise. There are some people who don’t even know what HTML means, and people are pitching in to help them get up to speed.

The other thing that’s been so surprising is all of the unadvertised bonuses that Mike (the creator of BFM) gave us. He has other sites that people actually pay to be a part of — $97, $147, and $250 memberships. And he’s giving all of us top level memberships in those sites. Sites like InstantBuzz and ListDotCom, which allow you to build an optin list. These memberships will give you a jump start on building your own list. He’s also giving us all of the products he’s ever created, and that’s a pretty long list. He says that “nobody will be left behind”, everyone who’s willing to do the work will succeed. It’s really unbelievable.

Of course the best thing is the BFM package itself, which tells you exactly what to do and includes all of the scripts and software you need to do it. To me, that’s what makes it different from all of the other products I’ve seen come and go. They might tell you what to do, but not how. Or give you some scripts, but you need a programmer to get them to work.

So I’ve been pretty busy the last couple weeks trying to grasp all of the concepts, getting to know others in the community, and brainstorming ideas for my first Butterfly Marketing sites. Stay tuned to this blog for the results.

I posting this now because some readers have asked why I didn’t promote Butterfly Marketing and they thought it was because I didn’t recommend it. That’s not the case, it’s just that I detest hype and the “in your face” emails that I got about this product. I figured that you had gotten them too, and I didn’t want to be part of the hype machine. I wanted to wait and see what was really behind the curtain.

But now that I’ve looked beyond the hype, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you what I’ve learned so far. There’s an air of excitement and optimism on the forum that’s refreshing and contagious. As people are getting their packages, they’re reporting back and posting questions and others are jumping in to help. It’s such a positive thing and it’s only going to get better.

Like all big product launches, there were some glitches. It’s taken longer for people to get the package than they originally thought, especially those overseas. This is because everybody’s so excited that they want it to arrive overnight.

Another not so cool thing: some people actually asked for refunds for some of the products they had previously purchased that are now being given to us as bonuses, those memberships to ListDotCom and Mike’s other sites. Not nice. But there are always a few bad apples in any crowd of 900 people, that’s just life. But for the most part it’s a great community and getting better every day.

I’m really glad I looked beyond the hype and took the leap of faith. Mike really does overdeliver to the extreme. It’s really going to take my business to another level. Stay tuned…and if you haven’t taken a look, please do so now while the course is still available. (Of course there’s a money back gurantee.) Sharon Says check out Butterfly Marketing

Categories: Entrepreneurship, Website Building, Internet Marketing
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