Is Derek Gehl A Scam?

I was surprised to see questions around whether Derek Gehl is a scam. I can see a couple of reasons for this – there is a natural skepticism people have when high income results are associated with a product, and I believe the early marketing really focused on this. It has changed now, thankfully, because this is most definitely not a scam.

Another reason is that some people use negative marketing tactics to get your to read their review/sales pitch. They present it as though it is about to reveal some missing information – such as a Derek Gehl scam – only to be a sneaky marketing trick designed to get your attention and lead you to their affiliate link.

One of the criticisms of Derek Gehl’s products is that the affiliate program is quite lucrative, and as a consequence, many people promote it quite aggressively. Let me be upfront and say that, yes, I am an affiliate. However, I also bought the full course myself (Insider Secrets) – paying full price – years ago. I have also bought subscriptions to the IEC, which is a truly excellent product as well.

Does this mean I recommend all of Derek Gehl’s products? Actually no. I was never that impressed with the software, though many people use it. There are cheaper versions out there. And it isn’t the only course you’ll ever need. I’ve found gems in other courses on more specific things – like Web 2.0 marketing (Charles Hefflin, Jack Humphrey, Michelle MacPhearson), traffic generation (Traffic Kahuna, a number of others), and a few specialized things along the way. Marlon Saunders, for example, provides excellent dashboards for creating your own product, website graphics, and affiliate program.

But Derek Gehl’s Insider Secrets is a great all-rounder. And I believe it’s a lot better than the one originally made by Corey, as I pointed out in the Derek Gehl review. No disrespect to Corey, maybe he would have updated it in the same way.

A 2008 version has just been released, and they offer a trial version of $2.95, which is excellent value. That way you can test the waters and see if it fits your needs before outlaying a lot of money.

Is An Article Directory A Viable Online Business?

There was a big craze in setting up article directories amongst webmasters about a year and a half ago. They seemed to be popping up everywhere. This was in conjunction with the popularity of article marketing at the time – many webmasters had the experience of writing articles, and when the free scripts like Article Dashboard came along, everyone seemed to jump on the bandwagon.

Fast forward a year or so, and some have survived, some haven’t. Most of them haven’t carved out the authority of the leader in the field, Ezinearticles.com. But there are still some good ones around.

Should you start your own article directory? And if so, what can you expect form it?

One thing is certain – an article directory is not going to make you rich. And it still needs to be marketed like any other website. Because the articles are not originals, you probably need to do a little bit of extra work in some ways, to gain enough incoming traffic from the search engines. I think this is where a lot of webmasters fell down. They failed to appreciate that the payoff may come a bit later. And if they weren’t skilled (or semi-skilled!) marketers to begin with, they faced a lot of competition.

One of the mistakes I’ve seen is webmasters setting up a general directory. With many things, the best thing that could be done by a prospective article directory owner, is to niche it. This helps focus your site in terms of content, helps with LSI factors in the search engines, and provides a point of differentiation.

We already have a premier general article directory – Ezine Articles. And because of all the links from article directory owners using the free Article Dashboard script, that parent site has a very strong page rank. It’s actually a great place to submit your articles because of this.

So, rule number one, is to choose a niche.

Be prepared for the fact that an article directory will take some time to manage and promote. And be prepared to build some incoming links.

If you use article directory software like Article Friendly, you’ll have an advantage with content because you can set it up so that Article Marketer sends you all their articles in their database. You can pick and choose your topics too, so it’s possible to do this with a niche directory.

You can make money from adsense (or other contextual advertising), and from cultivating a relationship with your list. But it’s not instant riches. Like any web business, it does require some work and expertise to really succeed.

Easy Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is simply the act of using your own, or other people’s visitors to send you traffic, sales and referrals. The ‘tell a friend’ scripts are an example of viral marketing.

There are simpler methods of viral marketing, however. Probably the easiest is article marketing. You don’t even need a website to do this, and many people promote affiliate products this way. It is preferable to have a website, even if it’s just a simple page hosted on squidoo or hub pages. Most article directories don’t allow you to send traffic to affiliate links directly.

All you need to do is write articles and submit them to the many article directories. To learn how to do article marketing, click here.

You can submit to niche specific directories, and even some people’s websites directly. It’s a good idea to submit to as many article directories as you can. This maximizes the traffic you get back to your site.

Features Of A Good HTML Editor

What are the features you should look for in a good HTML editor? For one, I’d give wordpad and notepad a miss. You can use them, but you’ve got no way of checking your HTML code is right. You’d be surprised how easy it is to miss a closing tag, or mistype something. This is especially true when you’re nesting tables.

Whilst everyone will have different priorities, here are some of the things you might want to look out for when choosing an HTML editor.

1. Syntax Highlighting – By making the tags a different color to the text, it’s a lot easier to look back through the code when making adjustments. You can get editors that also validate that you’re entering correct HTML.

If you’re going to be working with javascript or CSS, look for an editor that highlights them all in a different color.

2. Suggestion of tags – Good editors will show you what you should be including (or could be including) with your HTML. A good editor will let you browse through the alternatives. This is especially useful when it comes to some of the properties associated with the different HTML tags

3. File Upload (FTP) – A built in FTP facility will save you a lot of time (plus you don’t have to worry about buying another program).

4. Easy conversion of text to HTML – By automatically converting text to HTML – that is, inserting paragraph tags, lists, headings, and other formatting tags – this feature will save you a lot of time, particularly with a content rich site.

Free Website Builder Software

When you want a free website builder, you’ve got a choice between blog platforms like wordpress, which can be tweaked into working as a regular website, other content management systems like Joomla and drupal, and a number of site builders like Hyper VRE.

They all have their benefits, it just depends on the type of website you want to build, and the structure of that website. If you want to add a lot of content,a and develop that website over time, I think nothing beats content management systems. They allow you to add articles and posts easily, there is a lot of other components that third parties have created that extend their functionality, so you can pretty much do anything you might dream of. In that sense, they really allow you full creative reign, and can adapt to a growing business.

Of course, other free website builder software like HyperVRE is good for creating a lot of small sites that you aren’t going to really add anything to later. They all have their uses.

Getting Links To Your Site

Building backlinks is the backbone of a successful website. Sometimes you want backlinks quickly, other times a slow, steady diet of links to your site is just what the doctor ordered. Both are important for the overall link structure of your site.

One of the important things to do when distinguishing the type of links you get is whether you’re primarily after traffic or PR value or text link relevance. A link can have all these factors, but some type of links have more of one or two types than the others. Article marketing is an example of a link that will provide traffic, but not much in the way of PR. The big article directories have good PR, but the sites that reprint your articles often don’t. There is still a lot of value in the process however, in terms of traffic.

The directories, including the software and general directories, can provide some PR. But, if they are from a directory with good PR, it is an authority site link, which is a good thing. Whilst the general directories tend to take a lot of time to get your link processed, the software directories are a lot quicker. They are a good source of immediate backlinks to your site.

Other types of links can include comments in blogs, social bookmarking links, press releases, reciprocal, and one way links from other sites.

Internet Marketing As A Sweetie

Sweetie Marketing is a term coined by marketing Mom and PR expert, Alice Seba. It is an approach to Internet marketing that will help you grow your business without stepping on anyone’s toes in the process.  It’s a more ‘ethical’ and IMHO, long term approach to building your business online.

Some ‘Sweetie’ tips:

• Start out by being honest.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of slick websites that promise big things and barely deliver.  Be honest to your potential customers by letting them know exactly what you have to offer.  And if someone comes to you for advice, be honest and let them know what you like about their product and what you would change.

 

• When you are just starting out, you will undoubtedly be asking a lot of questions.  Show your gratitude to those that help you along the way by letting them know you appreciate their kindness.  If possible, try paying that kindness back by helping that person with something they need assistance with.

 

• Helping other people will help you in the long run.  Even if you are just starting out in your home business, a day will come when someone with less experience than you will come to you and ask for help in getting started.  Perhaps they will want to know which autoresponder you recommend or advice on writing an ebook.

 

• If someone asks you a question and you know the answer to it, tell them.  Unless the answer to their question happens to be a top secret project you are working on, giving someone a bit of information isn’t going to hurt your business.  Who knows?  The person you are helping may one day become wildly successful and recommend your products to all of their customers.

 

• Building relationships and networking is essential when it comes to business success. Work to build real relationships with those you meet.  Rather than just strategizing about the benefits you will receive from the relationship, think about ways you can help that person.

 

• Some people will take your help and not give you anything in return.  Let that roll off your back.  The majority of people will respond by helping you in some way.  For example, if you meet someone who, you feel, would be a great business partner for another one of your friends, introduce the two of them.  Their joint venture could be a great success, and they will find a way to repay you.

 

• When you act in a considerate way and treat others how they should be treated, people will respect you as a person.  They will want to do business with you because they know that you will only be acting in their best efforts. They will also feel good about recommending you and your products and services to people they know.  This, of course, will further promote your business and help you achieve more success.