“Cross Channel Mojo” promotion is over Dec 22nd, but there’s good news!

Posted by Jim in Email Marketing tips, Finding Cutomers, Mobile Marketing, Offline Biz (IM for Brick-n-mortar), Social Media, Traffic Generation 253 comments

The Cross Channel Mojo offer is closed.  If you purchased the package and are inquiring about your bonuses please contact my team and I by leaving a comment on this blog post.

Even if you DIDN’T order CCM, know this…

The most active discussion forum and best instruction in the world in this niche is ALWAYS being offered at OfflineBiz.com. The great people shown below are three of over 10,000 members of OfflineBiz.com waiting to help you inside our active discussion forums. You’ll find the most cutting edge and effective marketing strategies for ANY business inside OfflineBiz.com and you can talk about it with people that make a living helping other businesses!

The Death of Google (1996-2012)

Posted by Jim in Finding Cutomers, Hot Niche Markets, reputation and influence, SEO: Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Generation 10 comments

A bit dramatic perhaps, but if I’m right you’ll REALLY thank me.  I’m not foolish enough to predict the actual demise of Google, but they are changing dramatically right before our eyes and I think I can help us all win if we understand what’s happening.

My last article told you why I thought CONTENT was king and how to rank high in Google search results the right way. This article is my supporting proof to hopefully convince you I’m right.

My title could be a bit less dramatic, sure.  More accurately stated, this article is about the massive changes I see coming in Google search, and while I’m almost certain it will impact Google’s bottom line in a BIG way, I’m much more interested in helping you know what to do about it NOW to be in a great position as it starts to happen. Even if I’m wrong, I’ll have golden advice for you at the end of this article that will make total sense to you (I hope).

Summary:  This article is about how Google search will inevitably change very soon (I predict) and how to benefit from it starting now.

I’ll cover three things:

1. The facts we know
2. The only obvious conclusions I can think of as a result of these facts, and
3. What you can do NOW to position yourself for traffic, wealth, influence and greatness as Google changes.

Not only do I think trends are in play to wipe out a chunk of Google’s cash flow (Billions annually as browser users “mature”), I also think that the famed Google search engine algorithm is in jeopardy of being increasingly irrelevant very soon for billions of search terms.  Even if these observations are well ahead of their time, I’ve got some golden advice for you anyway. If I’m right about the time-line though, I think you’ll be calling me a genius as early as a couple years from now.

Bold predictions perhaps, but see if you can find any holes in my logic.

We know these facts:

• How Google Makes it’s cash: Google generates most of its revenue currently from Ads running via Adwords/Adsense etc.  If you search for “how to build a dog house” you’ll get paid ads mixed in with what Google thinks are the best sites on the web on the subject based on it’s complex and highly secretive ranking algorithm.
• We are starting to ignore ALL ads: The WHOLE WORLD (especially online) is caring less and less about what advertisers have to say about themselves (paid advertising), and they are caring more and more about what other users and independent reviewers have to say. It’s an undeniable trend.
• We (Google users) are getting smarter and we have opinions: Google users will learn soon (and most have already learned) that the “organic” or “unpaid” results on Google are where the true experts and most respected results are. Sure, paid search results are monitored by Google for “quality score”, but it’s still a game of who has the most money and time to put into writing creative ads. The paid ads do not reflect the quality of the business, knowledge of the expert or usefulness of the content behind the ad. In other words, for good reason we as consumers are caring less and less about paid ads even on Google.
• Google wants us to rank content online and WILL increasingly respect our choices: Google recognizes the need to get end users into the game of “ranking” content, providers, businesses, experts and everything else.  This is why Google came up with the +1 system you see everywhere now. Those ranks will inevitably begin to mean more and more over time. How do I know this? Why else would Google allow us to “vote” on virtually every piece of content online if Google plans on ignoring our votes? I think we’ll see some anti-fraud measures added to the +1 system and Google will take the votes increasingly seriously over time. Sure, they may keep their “algorithm”, but just as with Local Search we’ll start to see the customer feedback really driving the ship. The challenge for Google will no longer be tweaking the algorithm, but will become preventing +1 fraud.
• Ignoring consumer preferences and FORCING us toward paid ads would hurt Google: Any unbiased ranking system can not possibly allow “paid” positioning to be confused with “most popular” results. Sure, Google will still run ads, and sure, some people will still click, but who do you trust more if you are buying a book about building a dog house,  1,000 of your voting peers, or a slick ad writer?

The big question:

If I’m right, where are we heading given the above facts that I think are indisputable?

What will Google do as all these trends unfold and the changes begin to effect their bottom line?

Some of Google’s options once this loss of ad revenue scenario plays out (these are my theories only):

• Start charging us a pay per use/membership fee to use Google (not likely)
• Stop allowing us to vote on content and hope we’ll trust their super secret ranking algorithm forever instead – while also hoping that we’ll accidentally continue to click on and respond to paid ads (this option would almost certainly lead to Google being replaced by a better search engine that allows and respects our votes)
• Google will find a way to snap up experts, top content producers etc. like they snap up small companies now and find ways to cash in on their content. Don’t think they’ll do it? That’s how they run YouTube now with “invitation only” revenue sharing. It won’t be Adsense either – that’s already “uncool” in most corners (and fewer of us will be clicking ads remember?)
• Get a govt. bailout because they are too big to fail (joke)

Regardless of whether or not it plays out exactly like I’m betting it will the following advice is pure gold:

• Create great content and post it all over the place online. Content will clearly RULE both short term and long term online. Any SEO tricks, built in a week websites, set-it-and-forget-it marketing efforts etc. will all DRY UP and be useless at an increasingly faster pace.
• Actively seek the votes and support of your audience as you crank out high quality, low cost (or free) content.
• Monitor your influence and take steps to increase it.
• Engage with your audience. Be in constant conversation. Ask for tangible feedback and support from them.

What if you are not an expert at anything yet? Tap into this trend anyway by helping other true experts capture and share their great content online. I’m always looking for creative people with creative ideas that will expand my reach online and I’m willing to reward their efforts. I’m not the only one in that position either!

You’ll also find many “clueless” experts and content rich businesses in the world that could use help getting into position for the shifts that are happening. Convince them that content is king and then help them get it out there to their eager audience.

Author: Jim Cockrum+

How to rank high on Google long term

Posted by Jim in Finding Cutomers, SEO: Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Generation 18 comments

Want your sites to rank high on Google?

Here’s how:

Post the best content that other respected experts in the same niche willingly link to from their highly regarded sites.  Any other “shortcut”, trick, strategy etc. will ultimately fail you and possibly get your site punished in the ranking or banned.  Creating content that you could ultimately care less about is a waste of your time. Build something real instead.

Any questions?

My “Free Marketing 101…” book has launched and it’s TEARING up the charts!

Posted by Jim in Creative Ideas, Email Marketing tips, Finding Cutomers, Grow Your Business, inspiration, Outsourcing, Traffic Generation 127 comments

GET THE BOOK HERE

GET THE AUDIO VERSION HERE

The story behind this book:

I was approached by a major publisher nearly one year ago (the “For Dummies” publisher – Wiley and Sons) and they asked me to write a book about how to START or GROW a business (or spread and idea, a cause, an organization etc.) using free and virtually free marketing ideas.

After nearly a year of hard work on this book I think you’ll love what I’ve come up with.

What made me qualified to write this?

From the perspective of the publisher I’d achieved something that many others would like to accomplish. I’d grown multiple successful and creative online businesses…and had done it WITHOUT ever needing to invest a wad of cash. In the rare instances where I did spend any money it was either on inventory that would quickly sell for very nice profits, or it was nominal expenses like $5 for a video, or $30 to have a long audio transcribed into writing etc.

I’ve been a ravenous consumer of effective and “Free Marketing” concepts for over 25 years.

From here forward I’m considering the self appointed title of:  “World’s Foremost Expert on Free Marketing Ideas”.    You like it?   ;0)

Seriously though – the book is CRAMMED with my best ideas and the first few dozen reviews are all RAVING.   It’s so stuffed with great ideas that they asked me to shorten it but I refused. Since they initially asked if I had 100 ideas to fill such a book and I agreed…I decided to deliver those 100+ ideas on MY terms.

The final product is the best ideas from my nearly decade of success online. It’s not a cover to cover type of book though. Whether you have five minutes or six hours to spend with this book I hope you’ll walk away inspired (that was my goal).

I can sniff out winning ideas like a bomb sniffing dog on caffeine. It’s a gift and a curse, but I tried to capture that way of thinking and put it all into a single book.

Click the book image or visit 101freemarketing.com for more info.

Want to see the reviews from readers? Click Here for Amazon’s Reader Reviews Page

Tearing up the charts! It’s a #1 Top Seller Worldwide!

Can you help spread the word?

Finally, here’s my invitation to you to help spread the word about this book. I also explain where the proceeds are going (I’m not keeping them).  You’ll also see a video of my wife, kids and I seeing the book for the first time ever just a few days before it hit store shelves – it was a fun family moment!

Be Sure to buy more than just one copy!!

o   Booster seat for toddlers
o   Have any business minded friends? They’ll love you!
o   Have non-business minded friends with insomnia? They’ll love you too!
o   Christmas isn’t that far off!
o   Sell them on eBay? (or Amazon) and get most if not all of your money back? (the book is still at pre-launch pricing temporarily but that WILL change soon.)

Have a question? Leave a comment and someone will help you out.

Top Of Google? Master Google Places for high ranking and loads of traffic

Posted by Jim in Finding Cutomers, Offline Biz (IM for Brick-n-mortar), Traffic Generation 23 comments

Meet the stay home Mom of triplets that’s built an online empire!

I just interviewed Valerie VanBooven about how she’s used Google Places to drive amazing leads and traffic to her own business and websites as well as how she’s profited tremendously by doing the same thing for over 100 grateful clients. The full audio is below for you to enjoy!

You can also download the full MP3 using this link.

The full transcript of the call will be posted here as well asap.

Valerie has mastered the science of getting traffic for websites and businesses by tapping into the huge potential of Google Places and she’s put together a comprehensive video course that makes anyone a MASTER of Google Places (Google maps etc.) in very short order. About two hours of time is all you’ll need to get a full education!

It’s a known fact that Google is very secretive about the algorithm they use to rank websites in their search engines as well as on Google Places, but there are plenty of clues (and relatively little competition) when it comes to Google Places. This presents a HUGE opportunity to those of us that are paying attention. In the free interview that I’ll be conducting expect Valerie to share the most valuable tips and strategies from her comprehensive video training course sold only at LocalPlaceProfit.com. I asked Valerie for an exclusive “behind the scenes” look at her course so I could share it with you.

Here a link to two sample videos from her fantastic video course. Remember, the interview audio will be posted right here as well as on OfflineBiz.com asap after Wed. Members of OfflineBiz.com will also be glad to hear that Valerie has agreed to be a moderator on the OfflineBiz site if anyone has questions about Google Places or about how she runs her business.

Have a question for Valerie about Google places or driving traffic? Leave your questions or comments by clicking the comment button at the top of this post. You know I only bring you the best of the best training, so go ahead and order Valerie’s video training now.