Hey there – thanks for stopping in at the blog. I want to tell you about a cool thing a bunch of bloggers are doing. We could use your help. It’s called the 12for12k Challenge and here’s the scoop.

Danny Brown, a social media p.r. kinda guy who lives in Canada, but comes from Scotland, and a bunch of people who think it’s a cool thing, donate a bit of cash every month for a charity. Every month has a different charity, but they are all doing amazing things around the globe to help save and improve lives of everyday people who need a hand. If you think that will never be you, think again. You’d be terrified if you knew how quickly everything could go from being just fine to not knowing how you’re going to keep a roof over your head. The plan is, if, together, we can get just 12,000 people (through the power of social media) to donate 10 bucks, we can give 12 different remarkable charities $12, 000 each.

Neat, huh? We really can all come up with $10, no matter what. Here’s what you do if money is crazy tight and you are thinking, yeah, right: Just do it with the last $10 you have. Face it, by itself 10 bucks is not gonna save you from being broke. If all you have is $10, you’re in trouble, no matter what. (I know these things from experience, gang.) So just give it away. You’ll love how good it feels. It’s so worth it.

There are lots of other really cool people involved in the 12for12k. I know some of them, at least by reputation and I know others via Twitter. The problem is, if I name some of them, then I feel all guilty about the ones I DON”T think (or know) to name. I hate that.

Oh well. Gina LaGuardia, Mike Scheleter,, John Haydon, Doc, – OK, so here’s just a couple. Now, maybe each one of them will see this and they will list a whole bunch of other cool peeps in on the 12for12k Challenge. Join us. Really.

SO, go check out these tweeps, drop off your $10 and leave me a comment naming some other cool folks who are in on the 12for12k Challenge!

If You Have a WordPress Blog- You NEED This Course!

If you’re writing for the Internet in any capacity, SEO is a technique you just need to learn- or spend your hard earned money having someone else do it for you!  And if you have a WordPress blog- or write for a client with one- the resource you must have to learn SEO for your WordPress blog is launching tomorrow.

If you read my blog with any regularity, you know that I don’t just jump on the bandwagon and promote every product that comes down the pike. I don’t believe in asking you to spend your money on something  just because it’s the latest launch by a guru. I recommend products that I personally use and trust. WordPress SEO is a brand new teaching product from Michael Martine, aka the Remarkablogger. Michael is one of the absolute BEST sources to learn all about blogging from, hands down. He’s smart, he’s real and he shares so damn much valuable information for free that when he creates a product for sale, well, what can I say- it’s worth the money a hundred times over.

So where do you need SEO help on your WordPress blog? The short answer is everywhere, but in the spirit of a little more clarification, you need to look at some of these elements:

Your Title

Do you have your keywords in your title? Your title is what shows up in the browser window and if you don’t have a special plug-in, your headline will become your title. Is that to your best advantage?

Your Post Slug Name

If you’re asking what a post slug name is, you need to get your hands on WordPress SEO! The post slug name is the virtual file name of your post and it becomes part of the permalink. You need your keywords here to if you want the search engine spiders to find your post.

Headings

Do you use the Kitchen Sink feature in your WordPress toolbar to format the headings in your blog? It’s a slick little feature and when your headings are jazzed for SEO, it’s another way to draw attention from the spiders

Text Content

Of course, content really is still king. Every freelance writer needs to make sure their content is informative, entertaining and readable- otherwise all the SEO in the world won’t do you a lick of good.

Tomorrow is Launch Day For WordPress SEO

WordPress SEO is a homestudy course that includes audio, viedo and an ebook all created by the Remarkablogger. It’s kind of like having Michael stop in and share his wealth of knowlege right on your own computer screen!

If you’re still wondering if WordPress SEO is going to give you the boost you need to learn how to use SEO on your WordPress blog, Remarkablogger has created a little sample for you! Check this out:

Word Press SEO Secrets Sample

Hi there,

I have a question that I would love to hear some feedback on! In all honesty, why do some Internet Marketers make it so difficult to unsubscribe from their programs?

I have a habit, like a lot of us, of checking out a fair amount of “free trial” in membership programs. I tend to take people at their word- when I get an offer for a “free trial” I operate under the assumption that what that means is I can try something for free (or shipping and handling” and then, if I decide I want to cancel it, that is perfectly acceptable and will be something I can easily do.

Now, don’t get me wrong: Obviously, people offer “free trials” because they want people to continue in the program. Fair enough. It’s a great way to create residual income and most marketers provide some very valuable information for your money.

But, why do some marketers- including some of the biggest names out there- make it so difficult to unsubscribe? Often, the trial period is up before you even receive your trial information in the mail. Many times you need to track down the marketers help desk to find out how to cancel. Some of the biggest names in marketing have so many different products- each with their own help desk- that you can spend days trying to track down the appropriate one if you have a question.  Some of them don’t even bother to send you an email response that they have replied to your help ticket.

Why? To me, this is just lousy customer service. After all, if your product is as good as you say, then you’ll make plenty of money from it, won’t you? Isn’t there something to be said for integrity of your name and reputation? Or is shoddy customer service- and making it extremely difficult to unsubscribe- what I should expect when I take you up on your “free trial?”

There are a lot of Internet Marketers out there who are straight up men and women and approach there businesses with supreme integrity, dignity and humility. In my opinion, a few of them are Naomi Dunford at www.ittyBiz.com; Michael Martine (Remakablogger) at http://michaelmartine.com/ Dave Navarro at www.RockYourDay.com, and Rich Schefren at www.strategicprofits.com.  These are just four marketers that have recognizable names that are absolutely the most straight up respectable people I have ever had the privilege to do business with. I have learned SO much from each of them- from what they teach and – equally as important – from how they do business.

If I didn’t mention a name in that extremely small list, that doesn’t imply in any way that I don’t think you belong on that list. Those are just the first four names that came to mind. If you have experience with a great marketer who does things in a fabulous way, PLEASE feel free to leave their name/link in the comments.

There are a couple of names that you are very familiar with that, in my opinion, don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of ever belonging on that list. No skin off their noses, frankly, because they’re still getting my money every month, despite repeated requests for cancelation. For now, I am not putting their names here. Frankly, I don’t know if I should or not. I hate badmouthing people (publically, anyway!) but then again, if I’m getting ripped off, then so are a whole lot of other folks.

So, leave me some feedback here. I really want to know why some people provide such lousy customer service- and yet keep making thousands and thousands of dollars- while there are others that would never allow themselves to make a living off of disregarding their customer’s requests.  To me, if I cancel a service and then keep getting charged for it, that’s just plain theft. It really sucks and it isn’t legal. So why do they do it and most importantly, how do they get away with it??

Let’s hear from you- marketers and customers- What the hell is the deal with integrity in certain Internet Marketers??