Go here now to watch the video.

The video also shows how you can get three months of the Academy for only a dollar.

With the help of this secret weapon, the Academy started
making five-figures PER month from the very first week we opened
the doors.

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Sterling and I *don’t* just read a lot of books, we highlight and discuss them, then make mind maps about how to use the information. We thought it would be fun to experience and share this process with the whole community each month by choosing a book to focus on. We’re still working out the details of what to do with it, but here are the ideas that we have so far…

1. Recommend a book on the site and podcast
2. Have a giveaway each month where one or more people will win a copy of the book
3. Discuss the book on the blog or in the upcoming member forums (launching in the near future)
4. Find out what the you think about the book, what you liked most and how you plan to implement what you have read
5. Share with the community what we liked most about the book
6. Share with our private members (again, coming in the near future) a recording of Sterling and I discussing the book (something we often do anyway on the phone) as well as a mind map of our favorite takeaways and how we plan to implement the information in our own businesses

We’d love to hear what you’d like to get from this “book of the month” feature in the comments. So, that brings us to the inaugural Book of the Month.

No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy

If you’ve listened to the podcast for awhile then it’s no secret that Dan Kennedy is a valued mentor to both me and Sterling. He has significantly impacted the way we think, helping us to be smarter business owners, make more money and design our ideal lifestyle. It’s been said that Dan Kennedy is a millionaire maker.

Our pick for this month is Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs.

Read this book and in just a few months make more money than you have in years. Sound unbelievable? That’s Dan Kennedy’s specialty. Dan “Millionaire Maker” Kennedy has helped many thousands of entrepreneurs create “the wealth surge experience.”

This book is filled with Dan’s personal experience in building wealth for himself as well as helping thousands to do the same. We don’t want to oversell it, so we’ll just leave it at that.

We’ll be giving away copies of the book on this month’s podcast episodes. You can also look forward to the opportunity to get special content based on this book.

Buy the book here: No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs (No B.S.)

Discuss

So, if you’ve already read the book (or once you’ve read it) let’s hear it! What did you like best? What didn’t you like? What is one way you will implement the the information in your own life and business?

Please also leave a comment if you have an idea in general about what you’d like to see happen with the Book of the Month feature.

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.

To get our list of Mind Map solutions please go to:

http://www.internet-based-business-mastery.com/mindmaps/

What are your favorite ways to use a mind map? Do you use it for business development? Do you use it to flush out your personal goals? Lets see what all the different ways of using mind maps are so we can add them to our world!

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You can also download a higher resolution version here.

Now we’d love to hear from you. How do you implement your GTD system? What tools do you use?

Items mentioned in this video:

• Freemind
• Mindjet MindManager
• Mindmeister
• Mindomo

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.

That is, until several weeks ago when that magazine subscription I bought to help my daughters grade school earn money for this or that, finally paid off. I got a subscription to Entertainment Weekly, simply as a guilty pleasure, and there it was in all it’s glory! An article saying that Donald Trump was about to put on the Celebrity Apprentice and it was going to star Rock and Roller, Gene Simmons. This excited me for several reasons…

No, I’m not a KISS fan. Never like the music, but I do enjoy listening to Gene Simmons.

I mentioned before that I have really benefited from listening to the audio for Sex, Money, Kiss book, because of Gene’s insights into marketing and self promotion. I had just listened to his book the week before I saw the news.

The week before I listened to Gene, I had listened to Donald Trumps latest book, Think Big and Kick Ass. I listened to it 3 times in a row, actually, I really wanted to absorb the “Think Big” message.

The idea of seeing Gene go head to head with the Donald sounded entertaining to say the least.

Episode one was awesome, Gene was in charge from the very beginning. When the celebrity teams where supposed to sell hot dogs in New York, and the other guys on the team started trying to think of ways to sell hot dogs for 10-100 bucks, Gene just got on the phone and started calling his contacts telling them to bring ten GRAND down to the hot dog stand. His team killed in the end, because of Gene’s big thinking.

Episode two was more of Gene taking control and ended the same, in triumph. It was enjoyable to watch and actually made me walk away thinking, where am I not acting certain and in charge? Loved it.

Episode three… That is where the producers of the show as well as Donald Trump just wanted to slap Gene and say, “come on man, we want you on here as long as possible, you’re a entertaining asset to this season!” The Donald so desperately didn’t want to utter his famous catchphrase he nearly told Gene who to take into the boardroom with him so he wouldn’t have to can him!

I’m pissed at Gene Simmons. His actions robbed me of 10+ more episodes watching the extreme thinking of the “Benevolent Dictator”!

Did you see the show? What do you think Gene was thinking?

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So what’s the catch? It’s version 3.1.3. The current version is 5. But version 3 is nothing to sneeze at. So how do you get it?

1. Download the software from the Techsmith site here
2. Go here to register and get a software key

Of course, Techsmith is hoping you’ll get hooked on the previous version and upgrade to the latest one. That’s where the good news gets even better. Once you’ve a registered copy of Camtasia 3.1.3 you can upgrade to version 5 at the discounted price of $149 rather than the usual $299.

Thanks go to Paul Colligan for pointing this deal out to me.

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.

When I launched my first information product site I needed a hosting service (or services) that would provide me with:

• The ability to host multiple sites on one hosting account
• A shopping cart to interface with my merchant account
• Email list management
• Auto responders
• Affiliate sales management
• Excellent support

After days of researching and asking for referrals, I settled on using Third Sphere Hosting. They had all the features I was looking for, a very “internet marketing”-centric platform and endorsements from good sources. I was happy with their service for a few years, but since the beginning of this year, things have gone seriously downhill.

The biggest problem is that they don’t have phone support. They have a ticketed support system where you log in, leave your question and they get back to you within 24 hours (supposedly). The ticketed support worked for a long time, but as of a few months ago I never get a response.

Lesson #1: Never manage part of your internet business with a service that doesn’t let you pick up the phone and get quality support right away.

Two days before PodCamp NYC we couldn’t send critical information out to our list, because Third Sphere wasn’t working. I couldn’t get anyone to reply to me. Just this morning I sent and email out to my podcasting list. Thousands of people got nothing but a string of garbled letters from me in their inbox. Why? I don’t know. And I can’t get anyone from ThirdSphere to reply.

Lesson #2: Something will go wrong eventually and it will happen at the most inopportune time. Count on it. Be prepared. This is another reason why phone support is so important.

One of the reasons I signed up for Third Sphere in the beginning was that they had very reasonable prices and lots of features. Compared to the other leading services Third Sphere would save me about 50%. Now, I’m not just a “go with the lowest bidder” kind of guy, but such a good deal with good endorsements led me to jump and sign up.

Lesson #3: Be willing to spend the money necessary to set things up right.

So why have I hesitated to switch services? Why have I given them the benefit of the doubt? One of main reasons is that I don’t want to transfer my email lists over to another service. Any worthwhile email management service is very careful about letting people import lists from other sources. This is to prevent abuse of their system by spammers. It’s also for the sake of their other customers. The more abuse that occurs on a service, the more internet service and email providers will block any email from that service.

I know that in importing my list to another service I’ll probably have to send out an email to my current list asking them to opt-in again. Naturally this will reduce the size of my list. But really, it will just be a “cleaning” of my list. Yes, the total number of subscribers will be smaller, but the ones that stay on the list will be the most interested and responsive readers.

Lesson #4: Don’t be afraid to clean your list. Sure, the “ego-boosting” total size of your list will shrink, but the subscribers who matter the most will stick around.

Here are the services that I recommend and plan to use:

1ShoppingCart (email list management, auto responders, shopping cart, affiliate management and more)

Aweber (email list management and auto responders if you don’t need a shopping cart)

Globat (hosting that allows multiple sites on one account)

I feel like I’ve probably ranted enough, but for those still reading, here’s the list of my other grievances with Third Sphere:

• When I exported my database, only half the info was downloaded in a spreadsheet
• I tried everything I could to contact them without a response (support ticket, email, phone # on my credit card bill, etc.)
• In the last few years they haven’t increased storage or bandwidth limits despite the fact that the rest of the industry has
• The email system has embedded the wrong first name for a given email in the database
• They have sent emails that weren’t encoded right leading to garbage hitting people’s inbox with my name on it
• There system would tell me that a broadcast email had been sent when in fact it had not

I’m not sure what happened to Third Sphere. I was happy with them at one time, but things have gone seriously downhill. I won’t trust my business to a service that does not maintain quality or answer their support requests. Hopefully my experience will help you avoid similar problems.

Lesson #5: If you are using a service and start to see serious deterioration in service quality, jump ship sooner than later. Don’t let “giving the benefit of the doubt” hurt your business.

Lesson #6: Stay away from Third Sphere Hosting.

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If Sterling and I haven’t yet convinced you of why you should create and sell information products, then watch this short video from Brian Clark.

Besides their excellent information, I love these tutorials because Brian created them using some of my favorite tools.

1. Camtasia

Camtasia is a screen capture program that records your computer screen and audio. It’s the perfect way to make video tutorials. I’ve made an entire membership site before using Camtasia.

In full disclosure, I should mention that Techsmith, the creators of Camtasia, are sponsoring an event that I am helping to organize. In addition they provided me with free software to help them beta test the latest version of Camtasia. However, I was a fan of Camtasia long before that.

2. WordPress

The whole Tubetorial site is published using my favorite blogging software, WordPress. That the same software that runs this site and many other of my sites.

3. Mindjet

It’s no secret that Sterling and I love mindmapping software. We’ve recommended the free Freemind software in the past. In fact, if you sign up for our email newsletter, you’ll get Sterling’s video tutorial on how to use Freemind.

Mindjet is Freemind on steroids. When you’re ready to step up your mindmapping, Mindjet is the way to go. A great way to create your information product is to mindmap it and then record yourself walking through and explaining the mindmap, with Camtasia just like Brian has done in his tutorial.

—–

So give those tutorials and tools a try and see if they give you just the boost you need to create your first information product.

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.

What’s Your GTD Score?

First, it’s a great resource and review for anyone interested in the GTD productivity system. Review the checklist and determine your score.

A Magnet for Traffic and Inbound Links

This checklist is an excellent example the kind of foundation content that becomes a traffic magnet for your blog or site. People love checklists. Content like this is often called “link bait” (which is not as derogatory as it sounds). It’s the kind of content that web sites and blogs love to link to. It’s the kind of content that people like to submit to social networking and bookmarking sites.

All of this adds up to a lot of inbound links. The more inbound links you have, the higher your search engine ranking and the more traffic you get. Do you have strong foundation content on your site/blog that people will want to use, share and link to?

The Email List Optin

Notice that he has an email list right at the top of the email. If this was my site, I would provide the first 50 points of the checklist and then have people submit their email in order to get the other 100 points.

The Call to Action

Finally take note that this content is being used as pull marketing to find new coaching clients for the author. This method of marketing does several things for the author:

1. Brings targeted prospects towards him on their own terms (rather than him having to interrupt the prospect that may or may not be targeted)
2. Establishes his expertise
3. Begins a relationship of trust with the prospect
4. Makes his call to action more effective
5. Makes it much easier to close the sale when someone calls

I would put the call to action at the top as well as at the bottom. Regardless, this is an excellent example of what every business should be doing to attract new clients.

The Offer

Notice that he offers (at least at the time of writing this post) a session. This is something to entice leads to contact him. I also like that he attributes a value to the offer ($175). The only thing I don’t like is that it costs him time whenever a prospect contacts him. Whether it’s worth making this offer depends on how many of these inquiries he gets. Also, if he’s mart he offers more of a “what to do” session for the freebie and then sells them on signing up for more to get the “how to”.

I’m not saying that the free session shouldn’t offer valuable info, just that you have to structure it right to get maximum conversion of new paying clients. I do this with new podcast consulting clients. I give them a free evaluation of what they need done and by the end of the conversation they just want to hire me to make it happen.

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Just one good idea is all it takes to kick your internet business up a notch or two…or a hundred. Reading blogs from other successful internet marketers is one of the ways I fill my brain with these kinds of ideas. As promised on the last episode of the podcast, here are seven of my favorite internet marketing blogs in no particular order.

ProBlogger

Darren Rowse is an avid blogger. In fact, he makes his living from it. Everyday he posts tips that bloggers (or podcasters for that matter) can put to use to make better content, attract more traffic and make more money. Since I preach that every internet marketer/business should have a blog, I highly recommend you subscribe to and read ProBlogger.

Copyblogger

The skill that will increase your pay more than any other marketing skill is copywriting. Knowing how to write good marketing copy is like knowing how to print legal money and take it to the bank. No one will market your business as well as you could. Whoah! It looks like someone hit the marketing cliché button in my brain. Let’s move on…

Copyblogger by Brian Clark is a great reference for writing powerful online marketing copy. A daily dose of his blog will increase your bottom line.

SEOmoz

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another one of the most valuable skills that an internet marketer can learn and employ to boost her traffic (and hence bottom line). Whether or not you hire someone to do your SEO, you should really have an understanding of the basics. There’s no better resource than SEOmoz.

Not only that, but The SEOmoz crew really get the importance of engendering community on a site. Anyone looking to build or strengthen an online community around a brand, should study this site carefully.

Alice Seba

Alice Seba is a single mom and successful online entrepreneur. I first discovered her blog after seeing her regular posts on John Reese’s internet marketing forum. I was very impressed by her down-to-earth, no nonsense and genuine approach to helping others succeed in their business. She really knows how to connect with her customers/readers. She also knows how to balance self-promotion with quality content.

Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Jeremiah is a smart guy. He really understands the massive shift taking place online. He works for PodTech as a web strategy consultant. His clients are corporate and so his content has that slant to it. Nevertheless, there’s plenty for small or solo internet business types to learn from him…especially when it comes to social media marketing.

I had the privilege of meeting and chatting with him at CES in January. He’s equally nice as he is smart.

Entrepreneur’s Journey

Yaro Starak is the second Aussie on this list (along with ProBlogger). I’m telling you, there’s something in the water down there (or is it UP there?). These guys are sharp.

Yaro’s blog gives you a look inside the life of a hard-working, successful internet entrepreneur who is striving for lofty goals and sharing his successes and failures as he does. His posts are always well thought out, full of very applicable information and often very motivating.

Jason Van Orden

OK. OK. This is my own podcasting tips blog. But what can I say? If you want to know my latest thoughts on how to use podcasting and social media to communicate with your market, then you should read my blog.

——–

There are plenty other blogs that I could have listed, but this is a good sampling of my daily reading. I highly recommend subscribing to and reading each of the blogs listed above.

Now…I know someone is thinking, “But where’s Seth Godin’s blog?” (NOTE: I really like Seth’s ideas and they have definitely influenced me, but his blog post titles drive me crazy. I can never tell what a post is about at a glance.)

So now I invite you to chime in and share your opinion. What internet marketing blogs are on your “must read list”?

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We have a gift for you–a digital copy of a classic book on how to write powerful ad. Many expert copywriters consider this book to be the foundation for their skills.

Also, are you wondering what gift to get the internet marketer in your life? Or maybe you need to drop a subtle hint your spouse as to what you want to get (and who says you can’t buy yourself a little something). In any case, we’ve put together an Internet Business Gift Guide with suggestions for any budget.

Go now to claim your gift and check out the Internet Business Gift Guide

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REMEMBER: Please take our Internet Business Mastery POLL and get a
FREE video tutorial on how to use the Mind Map.

Quick Update!

• Click here to see Jay’s favorite ARTICLE SUBSCRIPTION service!
• Dan Kennedy’s Latest book on Wealth Attraction!
• Sterling’s Top Recommendation

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Our holiday break has turned into a longer than expected hiatus, but we will be back next week with 7 Tips for Creating an Ebook that Will Generate Profit.

Until then, here is a great resource that we just had to let you know about right away. Take a listen to this brief episode to get the scoop, then go here to get it for yourself.

Update (Jan 15): Some people have had trouble signing up for the articles subscription service. There is an error with the article website. I will be checking into it and getting back to you. – Jay

Tags: internet marketing, online business, internet business, ebay tips, entrepreneur, e-myth, entrepreneurship, eBay secrets, internet based home business, online auction, ebay, make money

Thank you for subscribing to Internet Business Mastery feed. For instant access to your free audio gift and a risk-free trial of our proven step-by-step program for starting your own profitable internet business, please visit http://www.freeaudiogift.com.