AlanAllport.Com

My broadband wireless Internet is due to change to a new Internet Service Provider tomorrow – and I admit that I’m feeling a little nervous – well, more than a little nervous actually!

My nervousness is not being helped by the fact that the broadband wireless router for this new service hasn’t arrived as yet and with my old service being disconnected tomorrow, I obviously at least want to have all of the equipment that I’m going to need for any chance of a smooth changeover all ready and waiting for me to hook up.

I’m certainly going to be waiting with baited breath today and early tomorrow to see if anything turns up. I guess if the worse comes to the worst I still do have a couple of mobile broadband services that I can use to tide me over, so I shouldn’t be entirely Internet-less thank goodness.

The only real reason for making the change is to save some money – my new provider has given me a much better deal with a much lower price for a much better download quota.

I’m in the UK and for those who’re interested I’m changing from BT (British Telecom) to Talk Talk (formerly Tiscali). I have to say that I’ve never really liked BT very much – I’ve always felt that were overpriced for what they delivered and was persuaded to change from my previous broadband provider (which was Tiscali, interesting enough) by a sales phone call. This is very unusual for me, I don’t normally agree to stuff from receiving a cold-call phone call (and I don’t really recommend it).

Anyway, wish me luck that I don’t get left without Internet access during the transition!

I’ll update you with how it goes in due course.

Ok, I’ll come right out and say it. Having had some time now to think about Google’s latest changes to its algorithm, ranking or indexing criteria or whatever, I think that it’s definitely more positive than it is negative.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that it’s maybe even saved me from myself to some extent. I don’t pretend to be a perfect human being, I definitely have my moments of not being happy with myself for some of the decisions I make in business and in life. So what exactly do I mean in this context re: Google farmer? I mean that if crappy, spammy pages and poor quality backlinks can be successfully used to get good Google rankings and therefore bring in good amounts of dollars, I’m weakly human enough to probably try to get myself some of that – however bad it makes me feel on the inside.

Now before you all decide to cast aspersions at me for that last statement I suggest you look inside yourself and tell me that it isn’t true of you too. No? Well, you’re obviously a much better person than I, and I’m truly grateful that such paragons of virtue would be bothering to read my simple little blog posts.

Let’s face it, Google definitely has a vested interest in trying to make its search results as relevant as possible – it is in business to make money after all. It genuinely wants good information to be provided by the Websites it serves up to searchers on the first page of its results for any given keyword phrase. Any business knows that if it doesn’t provide what its customer wants, it ain’t going to be in business longterm irrespective of how successful it is short-term.

Put your hand on your heart and tell me that you haven’t yourself been extremely pee’d off at doing a keyword search when you’ve been genuinely looking for something Online only to be served up a plethora of Websites all giving you a load of keyword-stuffed, barely literate content that just doesn’t answer the question you had when conducting that search. I know I have.

Now, I am as aware as you that there are a lot of people who have had accounts frozen at ezinearticles, just to cite one example, and I’m sure that not all of them deserved this. It always seems to be the way that a severely blunt instrument always gets used in cases like this taking out the innocent along with the guilty – I’ve never liked the idea that specific subjects seem to be targeted wholesale in these scenarios rather than an attempt to just weed out the poor quality articles within those subjects. I guess it’s just easier to do it this way.

So, nothing is perfect. The good news is that ezinearticles does seem to have unfrozen some accounts that it froze upon the owner of those accounts petitioning them, so it doesn’t appear to entirely have deaf ears.

I think the big lesson to come from all of this is that we should all attempt to make sure that we put out genuinely good quality, helpful, useful content, wherever we place it Online, whether on our own sites or those of other people.

And I for one don’t really think that’s a bad thing.

I’ve now started posting content following the 3 tier approach advocated by Sitesell and Ken Evoy – your home page is your single tier 1. Tier 2 are all of the pages that appear on the home page menu (recommended about 10 to 15 of these) and tier 3 pages are only linked to from the tier 2 pages – this is a very good way to design any Website.

The recommendation is that you build 30 pages of content before you put any monetization options on your Website – this will be much slower going than most of you are used to, but the idea is that it will be easier to get indexed in the likes of Google and get listed in Web directories if you present yourself purely as an informational Website initially.

I’m really enjoying the process of building the pages so far – a little cumbersome using the SBI Web-based sitebuilder block building procedure, but you can use your favorite html sitebuilder if you wish – and the Site Build It Action Guide is definitely one of the best, most commonsense guides to building not just a Website but a Web business that I’ve ever read – it’s really a very exciting process and the guide itself has a way of keeping motivation levels high.

There’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes that goes on here so we’ll see how this works out when there’s more content on the site.

In addition to putting the initial batch of content on I’m thinking about the exact strategy I intend to follow as far as promotion/backlinking is concerned going forward – I have to admit that this is something I’ve not been exactly brilliant at in the past so there’s a good chance that some outsourcing is going to be used here.

Anyway, if you want to check out this Website/Web business option that I’m so enthusiastic about, click here now.

Ok, here’s my second post on the SBI case study I’m conducting.

First of all, I have to say that the instructions provided by Sitesell and Ken Evoy for their flagship product, Site Build It!, are absolutely first class. If you fare better with the written word then there is a highly detailed, very professionally written, Action Guide that takes you from the very basic right up to as complex as you wish to go. This is provided in two formats, full and detailed and condensed (and the condensed is perfectly detailed enough if you aren’t a complete beginner). This guide is also available in video format if this is your preferred method of learning.

The instructions really are totally professional and several cuts above what we’ve generally come to expect in the IM arena (i.e. decidedly amateurish). The Action guide itself is also supplemented by several other downloadable guides that are available for no extra cost covering such things as developing the correct mindset for success, affiliate marketing, writing content that presells (this is a major cornerstone of the SBI way – you must first presell your customer to build rapport and trust before you can hope to sell them anything) and copywriting etc.

You can see from the above that you will get a full and complete grounding in Internet marketing via content-driven Websites by going the Sitesell/SBI way – and that is a really excellent thing.

A tortoise is sort of a little mascot for SBI. This is as far from ‘get rich quick’ as you can get (and if you still believe that ‘get rich quick’ exists I would say that you really do need the reality check that the SBI system gives you.

You really are encouraged to take it slowly and do proper keyword research (via a proprietary SBI interface that uses the Wordtracker keyword tool) to come up with three site concepts that further keyword research allows you to whittle down to the one that you will build your site/business around.

Now, I must admit that keyword research to the level you do it here is something that I struggle with, but I can definitely see the absolute value in this in terms of giving you the best chance of ultimate success with any site you build. It certainly gives you the best chance of deciding on a site idea that has a fighting chance of being both profitable and fulfilling for you.

What I also like about the SBI approach is the flexibility. You’re encouraged at the start of the process to think about subjects you’re personally interested in to form the basis of your initial keyword brainstorming, but SBI is also for those people who already know what subject area they want to build a site around, or those who already have an offline business that they want to build an online presence for – your given guidance as to how to carry out appropriate keyword research in these situations and how to come up with the angle, based on your research, that gives you the best chance of success.

I’ve now completed the keyword research phase, have decided on my site subject and have started using the excellent guidance provided on site structure (a 3 tier approach) to plan out the site layout.

I’ll soon be in a position to register my domain name (included in the SBI purchase price) and start building my site.

First impressions – if you’re a complete beginner, the total detail gone into by SBI may seem a little overwhelming at first, but the excellent quality of the teaching and the tools provided that make it relatively easy to find the individual sections of instruction that you’re looking for, make this an excellent way to start an Internet marketing career on the right footing.

Having come back to SBI after several years away I have to say that I’m very impressed with how they’ve kept up-to-date with the changes in the Internet marketing landscape over time – they’ve just about seamlessly incorporated these changes into the core, totally solid, information that’s clearly stood the test of time – the perfect antidote to ‘shiny new things’ syndrome.

In fact, I’d forgotten just how much sense the way SBI encourages you to structure a Website makes and will be doing this even with my non-SBI Websites going forward. It would be the perfect way to build Websites using XSitePro or Dreamweaver, for example.

If you can’t tell from the above, I’d just like to reiterate that I’m super-impressed with Site Build It! and wholeheartedly recommend it to newbies and/or the experienced who want a solid, ‘stood the test of time’ approach to building successful content-based Websites.

Check SBI! Out By Clicking Here

I am just starting a new case study involving the Website building program from Ken Evoy – Site Build It!

Now this is something that’s been around for a good number of years now – you could certainly say that it’s stood the test of time and then some and there are an ever-growing army of people willing to sing its praises and confirm how it’s helped them to develop an Online business up to and including providing them with an income that’s more then enough to provide them with a fulltime living and give them the much-vaunted Internet lifestyle.

Now this isn’t my first time using Site Build It! – I first put up an SBI! site back in 2003 – 2004 and very much enjoyed using the comprehensive toolset and instructions. I’ve decided to give the new, updated package a test drive and give you the benefit of my experiences with it – does it still provide the goods leading to a genuine, longterm Internet business after all these years in the ever-changing Online business world?

To this end I’ve signed up for a ‘two sites for the price of one’ deal that’s been offered over the Christmas holiday period. At the moment I’m going through the brainstorming process because I don’t have a niche that I really want to go into – just a few possible choices. SBI! encourage you to go with something you enjoy/know a lot about for building one of these sites because what we’re going to be doing here is going for an authority type site that you will continue to build on a regular basis – we’re certainly not talking 5 page microsites here.

I have to say that I am once again impressed having taken a quick look around the ‘back office’ area with exactly what is on offer as regards training materials and guidance – this is incredibly high quality stuff that focuses on what has been proven to work longterm – no ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ tactics here – and that’s very reassuring.

I really do like what Ken Evoy and the team have done here and I really think that this could be the very best Web business-building solution out there for the novice who is maybe technically challenged and feels the need for copious hand-holding along the way.

Just to give you an example of what I really like in the way they teach the steps needed to put your Website together in a market where you have the best chance to profit – they provide their ‘Action Guide’ in the form of a written guide, and a video guide so however you learn best is catered for here – and the quality is absolutely excellent – totally professional.

Keep checking back for the follow up stuff as I progress with building the first of my new SBI! Websites and I encourage you to check out this excellent product for yourself at the link below:

Click here for Site Build It!

It’s finally finished and up and ready for you to download – what? My FREE Internet marketing ebook library, that’s what!

It’s a collection of seven ebooks each one focusing on one key area of Internet marketing and Online business in general.

The titles are:

SEO Tactics

PLR Profits

Affiliate Income

Viral Traffic

Web 2.0 Blueprint

Joint Venture Secrets

Blogging Cash

If you’re a beginner who wants to start an Internet business, or a more-seasoned marketer who wants to learn some new profit-pulling tactics, these ebooks will be an excellent starting point.

And we’re not talking flimsy couple of page reports here either – these are genuinely full ebooks numbering around 50 pages each with plenty of meat (and this is a vegetarian telling you that!)

I think you should get down to the link below and check them out – all totally for FREE:

Free Internet Marketing ebook Library

Just a quick post to let you know that I’m in the process of putting up a new Internet marketing site which is going to offer you the chance to own a free Internet marketing library, so look out for the announcement soon!

I’ve been a bit lazy at the start of the year but I did get something done today – wrote 8 articles (intended to right 10, but I’m not perfect).

What have you done towards furthering your IM business so far this year?

If you’ve made yourself a promise that you’re really going to get it together this year then the sooner you start the better.

I know you’ve probably heard ‘take action’ coming at you from all angles so that to hear it again feels like your mom nagging you, but you have to agree it’s surely the best piece of advice you’re going to be given when it comes to starting or developing an Online business (or anything else you want to achieve in life come to that).

Anyway, I’m giving you that piece of advice yet again – take action – just do it – now!

I’ll let you know when the free Internet marketing library’s available.

Well, here we are, another new year has just started. Where do they all go to, eh?

Now is the time when traditionally we’re all encouraged to make resolutions of what we’re aiming to achieve over the coming year. Now, I must admit I’m not exactly huge on New Year’s Resolutions, I don’t usually bother, but I can see that it’s probably not a bad idea to choose this specific time to make some plans about exactly what you intend to get done either personally, professionally or both.

Of course, most people make those plans and give themselves the warm, fuzzy feeling inside as a result, like just making the plans themselves is equivalent to having done something. But, of course, you haven’t actually DONE anything by making a plan to do something have you? No, if those plans are going to come to anything concrete, you have to follow through with them and turn them into tangible success.

So, I want you to make yourself a promise that this is the year when you get something off the ground as far as that Internet marketing business you’ve been promising yourself goes. Make yourself that you’re going to follow through and take action this time and not allow the inevitable road blocks to completely derail you as you have in the post. This time promise yourself that you are going to work your way through all of the problems you face because you owe it to yourself and your family to do so.

I’m definitely planning on 2011 being my best year yet Online and I’m determined that I will not let anything knock me off course this year. I’ll be unveiling some exciting stuff soon so stay tuned to find out what that is and I promise as I go through the year that I’ll be providing a lot of valuable free stuff to help you out in your Internet marketing business.

Best Wishes

Alan

Don’t Just Dream It – Do It!

Hope your Christmas celebrations went well and if you’re still enjoying a holiday, good on yer.  I guess I’m still enjoying some downtime, but I’ve also managed to do some work as well – hell, I enjoy it, so why not?

And isn’t that what you’re looking for? Doing work that you love so that it’s not a chore and it isn’t frustrating and stressful?

If you’re looking to start an Internet marketing business – and I guess you probably wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t anything you’re interested in – then affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to start, and information products from Clickbank is a decent way to get into affiliate marketing given that commissions all the way up to 75% are on offer.

If the above scenario floats your boat then you’ll be delighted to learn that I’ve been slaving away over Christmas – started on Christmas Eve and just finished today – putting up a new Internet marketing site that gives away a free report entitled Clickbank Profit Systems. Just click the link and complete the email signup form and you’ll be taken straight to the download page – and as a bonus, you’ll also receive a free 7 part email course entitled The 7 Keys To Internet Marketing!

Check it out, it might just be the start of a new career that’ll enable you to kick that job you hate into touch!

Hope you have (or had – if you read this later) a very merry Christmas, if you celebrate it!

I’ll be heading out in a few hours for a Christmas lunch at my sister and brother-in-laws along with my mom. I hope you are surrounded by family and/or friends at this time.

If you can find the time when you’re all stuffed with food and don’t really feel good for anything but falling asleep, try to think about how you’re going to take your business forward in the New Year so that you can make the soon to be upon us 2011 your best year yet.

Remember, you’ve got a week between now and the start of next year to get your mind working on a plan of action. If you’ve always wanted an Online business but never started to put any plans into action, determine that now is the time that you’ll do it – no more excuses! If you already have your own Online business, make yourself a promise that you’ll work hard to make 2011 your best year yet.

I have lots of big plans that I’ll be rolling out as the year gets under way to give you the information and knowledge you need to set up an Online business on the right footing and take it forward to ultimate success.

Stay tuned!