Want to make money online? Here’s 10 Proven Ways!

In tough and uncertain economic times, people are taking charge of their economic future and turning to the Internet to earn money. The Internet is filled with legitimate ways to earn from home if you know what to look for. This article provides realistic advise on how to earn from reputable online sources and run your own profitable home-based business successfully.

Let’s get started. Here’s what you need to know to make money online consistently and legitimately.

1. Do set yourself up with an online place of business – get a domain address. For $10 or so per year, it’s worth it to book your own domain name. It makes you look more reputable, permanent and more accountable. Separate yourself from the sketchy programs out there by having your own domain name. Your website with a domain name is your place where you do your business and the location for all your programs, products, services or resume. If you have other websites from various affiliate programs you are involved, that’s fine, you can add the links to those programs on your domain based website.

2. Do book a website hosting account with a reliable hosting company. It doesn’t matter if you use WordPress to create your site, or a Content Management System provided by your host, but DO get an account that gives you 100% control over your site to add content, pages, widgets, images, video, search engine optimization, stats tracking, sub-domains etc. The days of a 3 or 4 page bland static website are long gone. Today, website owners can (and should) add tools, gadgets, blogs and other resources on their site to make it more customer friendly, search engine friendly, and social media friendly. Effective sites engage the visitor with live chat options, video, member areas, commenting and more. If your hosting provider doesn’t include site analysis and traffic tools, Google offers a free program that is very helpful for tracking important data related to your site traffic. It’s called Google Analytics. Website hosting will be in range of $10 – $50 per month.

Now let’s look at proven successful revenue sources.

3. When it comes to earning from online sources here are some proven successful ways to making money online:

a) Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing means that you sign up with a company as an Affiliate, refer business to those companies and you collect a commission for sales. You will be amazed at the growing number of large brick and mortar companies that offer affiliate programs. You’ve likely heard of Amazon but what about the Affiliate programs offered by WalMart, Pay-Less Shoes, Orbitz, Old Navy, G.I. Joes, ABT Electronics and American Express to name just a few. How each company pays commission and how much varies but with a high traffic website and precision marketing you can generate tidy income from affiliate marketing sources. Don’t be afraid to look outside of recognizable retailers for good Affiliate Marketing ideas. ClickBank.com for example, allows you to promote thousands of digital products. Vendors post their digital product to ClickBank, you promote it, when a sale is made you collect a commission. ClickBank handles payments and refunds so your only job is to pick the products you want to sell, promote, and collect commission. Pick a number of solid reputable affiliate marketing programs, but only a few so you can focus on those and only those to see success. I have to include a shameless plug here for my own company, Worldprofit.com. Worldprofit includes in our Earn-At-Home Program a number of Affiliate Marketing products, reseller opportunities as well as a comprehensive sales and marketing training program. As the economy has fumbled, affiliate marketing and work at home programs such as what we offer at Worldprofit have exploded.

b) Blogging: Don’t stop at Affiliate Marketing, money can be made from popular blogging sites by adding in advertising revenue from sources like Google Ad Sense, this is called Monetizing. Food bloggers, celebrity gossip bloggers, expert columnists and many more are generating sweet advertising revenue by including ads on their high traffic blogs. The ads are generated from an Advertising program such as that offered by Google and many others. They key to this revenue source is high and ongoing traffic. You will also need really unique frequently posted niche content to generate a following and get steady traffic.

c) Sale of Products: Of course you have seller options such as E-Bay for selling products either new or used. E-Bay is not a new idea for making money online but it is a source that many people have been relying on for years. Wholesale items, overstock products, collectors novelties, bankruptcy sale items, fire sale items, garage sale items – even houses – are just a few examples of what people are selling on E-Bay. Those who are reliable sellers earn status as trusted sellers and can earn significant money selling products.

d) Site Flipping: Flippa is a website that through an auction process, allows you to buy or sell complete niche websites, many with an existing customer base and verifiable traffic. If you are clever and have built up a successful online property you an sell it on Flippa. It’s a similar concept as buying a home, fixing it up and selling it. In this case though you create a site for a nice market, monetize it, grow traffic, a prospect list and a customer database, then simply sell the site. For someone who doesn’t have the interest in creating a site and all the work of building traffic and customers, a ready-made website can be purchased. Take a click over to Flippa.com to see new for sale listings, active listings, browse, price range, sold sites and more.

e) Freelancing: If you have a specialized skill or knowledge, have a look at freelancing sites such as Elance.com. Over 1/2 a million jobs are posted every year on Elance. This is a site where you can post your unique skills. Both companies and freelancers (called contractors) can post their jobs/skills. It’s unique in that you can access specific jobs including work for programmers, writers, designers, consultants and so forth. There are so many options, take some time to review these mentioned and keep an open-mind about what is available. Other sites offering a similar service include FreeLancer.com and Freelancejobs.org By posting your profile to these sites and taking on contact work you can earn considerable income.

f) YouTube.com Not everyone is destined for instant success like Justin Beiber after simply posting a video to YouTube. There IS money to be made with YouTube, that fact is a certainty. YouTube’s partner program allows you to post videos and earn revenue as your audience grows. Remember the scared baby video? What about the talking dog videos? Those videos and lots more are generating a steady source of income for someone due to the popularity of those videos. Initially the income can be very small, but if your video becomes hugely popular your commission checks will grow at the same time. Get good at it, get a following and then release videos to keep that source of income growing. Visit YouTube’s Partner section of their website to read success stories and how the program works.

g) Multiple Streams of Income. Here’a final thought on earning from online sources. Multiple streams of income is the key to consistent revenue, pick a few programs or options and focus on those to EARN something before you move on to the next. Make sure you are not spread to thin and can devote adequate time to building those sources of revenue. You need to have the time, commitment and an advertising budget to promote on a consistent basis.

4. Realize you must work your business every day to expect to see results. Don’t expect overnight success, or even success after a few weeks. If you are in this for a hobby fine, but if you want to build an online business with a steady source of full time income realize that it will take time. It’s a slow build and a lot of work.

5. Understand that CONSISTENT marketing and promotion is critical to your success. Ever notice that Coke is always advertising? Coke is continually in your face reminding you they are there. They sponsor events, they run TV ads, Super Bowl commercials and taste-test booths. The reason is simple. Every business, big and small must constantly promote their product or service. Your online business is no different. Promotion is a daily task. How much you earn is directly related to how much time and effort you invest in marketing your product. Learn about the power of social media including FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, YouTube, and so many more. If you don’t have a blog get one, and post unique content daily with rich key words related to your products/services/business and include integrated links to social media for maximum exposure.

6. Factor in that you will have to allocate and spend some of your hard earned money on advertising. Any successful business requires that you put money back into it. If you think you will build your earnings relying exclusively on free methods of advertising you will be disappointed. Yes, you can promote your business using free sites, and free services, but accompany that with actual paid ads at reputable sites. Don’t limit yourself to the major search engines like Google and their Ad Words program. Also consider Safelist Advertising and Traffic Exchanges. Safelist advertising once spurned as the poor man’s advertising vehicle has gained popularity and is free to get started with very low cost advertising options. Traffic exchanges work in a similar way and are worth consideration. For best results in either Safelists or Traffic Exchanges be prepared to pay for ads to see the best results. If you are on a tight budget combine both free and paid methods of advertising, and make sure you have an Ad Tracker software program so you know which ads are generating clicks and from which source.

7. Set goals. Are you going to make $100 today? $500 this week? How much? Once you have set your goals, set your plans for how you will accomplish this. What are the daily, weekly, monthly tasks you will do to make your financial goals a reality? Don’t allow your self to get distracted or pulled down with tasks that don’t get you closer to where you want to be. If your day ends with no commission report or sales report that says you earned SOMETHING today, rethink your plan for tomorrow. Get up early and get busy.

8. Have a positive attitude, I can’t stress this enough. Put a smile on your face, believe, then do. In my work as a trainer and consultant, I talk to people everyday who have had mixed success in building an online business. The people I have watched grow and build their own successful business are those who think positive and take action. Don’t be brought down by negative people, the know it alls, the ones that rain on your parade. Be mindful that while they are talking you down, you are doing something to improve your financial situation. Let that negativity slide off your back and propel you forward to work harder, and smarter.

9. Accept that you will have failure. Get over it. Learn from your mistakes. Move on. If it was easy to build a successful online business everyone would be making millions.

10. Find a mentor or training program that fits for you. The web is filled with software, e-books, training programs, webinars and more. You have all of this information at your fingertips. Find the best sources and get started. Don’t make the mistake of learning, study, analyzing but never actually doing anything. You won’t find success thinking about it, success is the results of DOING something to make it happen.

**** What are your thoughts on online money making programs? Submit your comments below.

On the value and necessity for persistence if you expect to be successful.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. Winston Churchill who left the world so many memorable lines, said this one, too: “No young man should ever take no for an answer.” Allowing for the fact that these days “young man” would need to be changed to “young person”, what he said is as relevant today as it ever was, not least because of the challenging and seemingly unending dismal state of the economy, USA, Europe, the world.

Sadly, though I sound like an old fogey for saying it, today’s young people take no for an answer all the time, seeming to expect it, and certainly having little or no inkling of what to do when it hits them in the face. And this is a problem indeed, calling for immediate scrutiny and action.

To set the scene for this article, which can (kept and used) change your life for the better over and over again, go to any search engine and find the tune “True Grit”, composed by Elmer Bernstein for John Wayne’s 1969 film. Persistence, unwavering determination, in the face of obstacles big and small, is what true grit means. And that’s why, even in our adulterated days, it is in such short supply.

London, Summer 1977, your author, in a single day, learns the unalloyed value and usefulness of persistence.

It was 1977. London was packed with folks from everywhere who had come to find the England of their dreams and memories, and to see H.M. the Queen, celebrating (along with her husband, “always a step behind” Philip of Edinburgh),her Silver Jubilee, 25 years of her (mostly) happy and glorious reign. I was there, too, but not to gawk. I had serious business I meant to transact… if I could find anyone willing to transact it with me, young, green, determined.

The situation.

In 1977, I was a newly minted Ph.D. of well under 1000 days. My credentials — including that Ph.D. from Harvard — were impeccable. “That and fifty cents,” said my ever-practical and deflating father, “gets you a cup of coffee.” I took his point, not least because 1977 was a year of recession, where would be junior professors, from even the best universities, were having a very difficult time getting jobs, much less jobs they liked. I knew that only too well. Employers, academic or otherwise, did what employers always do in such situations if left unobserved: they raise the level of qualifications required… and slash the salary as much as possible.

That was why I was in London, to turn myself into the kind of gilt-edge property even the most supercilious of institutions would rush to recruit. My strategy went something like this:

* take my Harvard doctoral dissertation and cannibalize it for articles that could be sold to appropriate popular publications as well as published by appropriate academic journals.

* once the articles were published, use these to convince an appropriate publisher of my dreams (and I knew who they were) that I as a first-time book author was worth the money they’d have to invest to launch me and my book publishing career.

* Use the published articles and first book (remember, the first of many) to leverage a suitable position at a suitable (read “condescending and renowned”) institution.

Short, sweet, piece of cake — not.

The first challenge requiring persistence involved the cannibalization of my dissertation, mined for two very different kinds of publication: popular (newspapers and magazines) and academic. I wanted to publish at least 10-15 popular articles from what some (with consummate snobbery) called “ephemeral” publications… and an equal number for academic journals bearing lofty names and high credentials but few readers. By pursuing this two-pronged strategy I got maximum value from the dissertation and paved the way for its ultimate use as the launching pad for my publishing career and the Nobel Prize for Literature, which must, in due time, be granted. (Still waiting.)

Writing the articles, researching where to send them, organizing an efficient production process.

“Well begun is half done”, we say in New England, and fortunately for me the dissertation (entitled “Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee 1887″, covering the creation and perfection of English royal pageantry) covered events known, attended, and loved by millions of people. This apt selection of subject made the achievement of my objective the more likely than those who has selected more recondite (read “dull”) subjects. I wanted fame, acclaim, and all the trimmings therefrom and selected my subject accordingly.

I confess now (but never would then, insouciance being an essential part of a Harvard degree) that this was demanding… and needed discipline, focus, and persistence. It also required at least a one-way ticket from Boston, Massachusetts to London, for you see the overwhelming majority of these publications were there. Money being tight I worked hard to get it. I won’t say I resorted to cutting grass and baby sitting… but it was close.

And this is why on a sweltering Summer day, so hot English mates stripped thereby exposing the whitest of flesh, that is why, I say, I was standing on Fleet Street, my lengthy list of publications in hand, poised to enter the Daily Telegraph and ascendant celebrity.

That confident pipe dream lasted for 5 minutes, maybe less. No, the features editor wasn’t in; what’s more if she were, she wouldn’t see you anyway, Harvard man that you claim to be. Yes, this mere receptionist all but kicked me out shouting “Get out maggot.” I was shocked… and it was but the prelude to a very, very long day of being turned down by newspapers great, mediocre, and provincial, many of which I had thought (only that morning too) beneath my superior notice Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

And so it went, with only fellow countryman Johnny Apple of the New York Times agreeing to see me. He was a true gentleman, he was, the late Johnny, for all that he told me (in the nicest possible way) that hell would freeze over… not least because some of my article subjects the revered New York Times was paying him to render. And that was that.

The “luck” that is persistence.

And so it went until at last I was at the end of my day, my tether, and my list… just two more places left to reject me and my once vibrant ideas. I was bushed, crestfallen, irked, with a dollop of self-pity (I’m sure) in the mix.

And so I entered the offices of the Associated Press, London, one of the most important journalistic operatives on earth. And there I commenced to tell my story to a bored clerk, the clerk who had the power to crush 1/2 of my available prospects… a giant to a fly. And then, then, a disembodied voice bouncing off the wall divider… “Did you say your name is Jeffrey and that you’re from Massachusetts?”

It was as if the voice of God.

And in less time than it takes me to tell you, there was a chipper person before me with an American smile and directness. “You look terrible” my benefactor said, “Come in and tell me what’s on your mind.” And I did, to a length which only his good nature and courtesy would have excused. But from this encounter, which so easily might not have occurred, everything else, everything else ensued… for Reporter Jeffrey, whose surname I to my everlasting chagrin long ago misplaced… published a story titled “A Massachusetts Yankee in Queen Victoria’s Court”… a marvelous story, a story of intelligence and timeliness, well written too. And this story ran everywhere on this planet thanks to the giant reach of the Associated Press.

But I had one more place to go, The Times, the paper Charles Dickens dubbed “The Thunderer”. And here again, nirvana for the Features Editor saw me, knew AP reporter Jeffrey who was indeed from Massachusetts, and told me to prepare one article for her perusal. It was on her desk the next day… and accepted at once; the first of five articles bought by The Times and syndicated to the world; articles which my soon-to-be editor Roger Machell read in his office at Hamish Hamilton, that exquisite house I so longed to be part of and thanks to my AP benefactor now was. How I would like to see that man again and shake his hand, for he — and my own persistence — were decisive in shaping my life.

*** Your response to this article is requested. What do you think? Let us know by posting your comments below.

What to Expect from an Online Moneymaking Opportunity

There is no limit to the number of online business opportunities right now. So many of them are vying for space out here on the Internet that it becomes difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, you don’t want to waste your time and money looking for the right opportunity. You have to be discerning here. The following are some things that you need to look for.
Get Hold of a Proven Method
Though there might be umpteen methods to make money online, the one you should choose is something that has been proven. Visit online discussion boards and use social networking groups to find people who have really made money online and see how they did that. Try to use those methods. You may choose something like an SEO business, for example, or an affiliate marketing business. These are things that people have really made money from.
You Need a Mentor
Everyone starts sometime, just as you are starting with your online business right now. That’s all right, but things will go much more smoothly for you if you are able to get hold of a mentor. Your mentor should be someone who is interested in Internet marketing and has already made money from it. Only such a person can coach you in the right methods and techniques that you can use to earn your wealth on the Internet.
What Tools Will You Use?
Internet marketing is a very huge term; it includes a lot of things. There are several tools and features that you can use to make money through the Internet. So, what tools is your chosen method going to use? Does it talk to you about SEO, about blogging and article marketing, about using social networking websites, about using autoresponders, about generating email lists, about product branding and purchasing resell rights? These are all the things that you should take a look at. Look at the technique of the thing. The most important thing is that you need to be convinced with what methodology they are planning to implement.
Are the Methods All Legit?
This is a very important thing to check. You don’t want to be part of a scam and get embroiled in a legal tussle for no fault of yours. Hence, when you are choosing a method on the Internet, don’t be swayed by those get-rich-quick schemes that sound too good to be true. Most times, they are illegal and can get you in trouble. Also, when you are using methods to promote your business on the Internet, stay on the legitimate side. For instance, when using SEO, try to make sure that you use one of the white hat methods. These are some of the basic things that you have to bear in mind when you are trying to choose any opportunity to make money online. An important ingredient is, of course, the right education. There are many fantastic ecourses available right now that you can take advantage of. It is always good sense to attend a good SEO course, because this is what becoming popular on the Internet is all about.

The great age of commentary is here. Here’s how to take advantage of it and make your blog distinguished and profitable.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
When I was growing up, America’s opinions were shaped
by a handful of influential people whose advice on any subject
under the sun (but usually national affairs and politics) could
be read, first, in newspapers… then heard on the radio and television.
These are great names, masters of pungent comments, wry humor,
intelligent observations,  and refined styles all their own. Here
is my (partial) Honor Roll… one could add many others, the
very best of the very best:
Westbrook Pegler of the United Press (died 1969).
H.L. Mencken of the Baltimore Sun (died 1956).
Edward R. Murrow of CBS (died 1965).
Walter Winchell of New York Daily Mirror (died 1972).
Paul Harvey of ABC (died 2009).
And now another name, destined for greatness and the prosperity
that generally accompanies it, can be added to the list:
YOU!
I’m here, your advisor and friend, to assist your rise to global
eminence, as Internet blogger and meaningful commentator par excellence.
The Internet has made it possible to become such a commentator.
You now have a power, and at your fingertips too,  previously reserved to the few;
now available to anyone.
You are now able to comment on and draw forth the true meaning
of  events great and small, events of cosmic significance and the  little
secrets that someone (usually office holder or government official)
didn’t want anyone to know, thus motivating the commentator to be
sure to disclose.
Now you can be a new, soon to be important voice… a voice of humanity,
intelligence, stern admonitions and home truths, resoundingly delivered.
In short, you can be an unceasing engine for truth, justice, and the
improvement of mankind, in a style and with a spin all your own.
Kool.
Here’s how to begin and prosper.
Most bloggers, think small, picayune, trivial. You cannot.
Their authors, that is, chew more than they  bite off. (Sadly, I cannot take credit
for this telling mot. Mrs. Henry Adams rendered this artful observation on the
ponderous American author Henry James. She later killed herself, but probably
not as a consequence of this remark.) Your view must be different, broad, cosmopolitan,
catholic in the best (non-sectarian) sense.
If you want an important blog, write on important subjects. This formula is
tried — and true.
Always talk directly to your readers.
The great commentators of any age and culture never address the world
en masse. They talk directly to you, as in a personal conversation between
someone with Something Important to say… and someone anxious to learn
it, all of it.
Use your blog to tell stores.
People need more than facts, assertions, and (worst of all) windy
pontifications to attract them, though this is what they get from most
blog writers.
People have always liked… and will always like… interesting tales. Great
communicators like Jesus, Gandhi, Franklin Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
were expert at capturing the full attention of their audiences… and what’s
more, keeping it with stories with a beginning, middle, end.
Develop a format. Make it your signature.
All the great commentators, like the ones listed above, delivered their
comments in a certain, defined way which the folks who followed them
immediately recognized. You must do the same.
Enter into the lives of the people you are commenting on… and the
ones you are delivering your comments to.
The best commentators enter into the situations and conditions, nay
into the very skins and brains, of the people they are writing about.
This is what gives their comments an edge and credibility.
The goal of the great commentator is most assuredly not to
set up a card board effigy of the person he is writing about. That’s
unfair, inadequate, infra dig.
The objective, instead, is to show that you truly understand the
people and events you are writing about… then make your comments
about them, pungent, fair, honest, aphoristic accordingly.
This is not easy to do… but it is what great commentators do…
and which makes them irresistible to readers.
Avoid pedantry, but never the chance to instruct.
The purpose of a blog is NEVER to show how smart you are. It is
to inform, educate, edify and instruct your readers, all done with
the lightest, but always sure, touch. In short, it about enhancing
their smartness…never merely dazzling with your own.
Thus, don’t  use your blog as the opportunity to demonstrate how
clever and intelligent you are. Commentators are not, and always eschew the
opportunity to be, ponderous. That’s the role of too many professors from
the Academy. Such people do not flourish, in blogs or elsewhere,
because their readers flee andante.
You must capture and enthrall them, not as professors do by forcing
attendance, but by entrancements, the apt selection of topics, the
masterful presentation of what you have to tell… and the unique way
you present it.
Master the great information sources you will come to rely upon
to glean critical facts for your comments.
Read, on line now, the New York Times and  Washington Post,
to name but 2 key sources. These publications, soon to be history
because of the Internet, will inspire you with both facts and story
ideas. Scrutinize them closely.
Use too the Associated Press reports and those of UPI and Reuter’s.
They are crucial for providing both story ideas and the hard details
which give your commentaries backbone and grit.
Learn to master the art of searching the great search engines,
where the crucial supporting information is available whenever
you require it,which means whenever you want a comment
taut, never flaccid, girded by fact.
Use the Wikipedia, one of the greatest information sources ever. It is
a noble idea, essential to commentators, ever available. Bravissimo.
One last thing. Set your blog publishing schedule… and stick to it.
Your readers want, indeed insist upon, predictability and regular
delivery of your blog. Give it to them. If your publishing date is
each Thursday at 12 noon Eastern time… adhere to it, religiously.
“Punctuality,” as King Louis XVIII of France observed, “is the
courtesy of kings.”
Nowadays your readers are the sovereigns, each and every
one. Succeed with them… and your results and benefits, financial
and otherwise, are assured, abundantly so. These are your masters,
your audience. Treat them accordingly and soar.

How to get thousands and thousands of responses to your blog… and what to do when you get ‘em.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Of course you already have a blog, right? You are, I mean, on the cutting edge of the Internet, yes?

Well, if you are still blog-less today is indeed your lucky day, because I am going to show you right here, right now how to use your blog to get not a few but a positive avalanche of the best prospect leads on earth. And the great thing is, you can start today, this very minute.

Now affirm and reaffirm this: when you’re in business, running a business blog, the objective is and always will be to generate terrific prospect leads… and follow them up to make money.

It’s easy to forget the objective when you’re publishing a blog which can all too easily be seized by the shear joy and vanity of seeing your name in print. Folks, if you need lovin’ and crave adulation get a dog. They give unqualified affection. But don’t subvert the purpose of your blog.

Nothing sells itself, absolutely nothing.

I have amongst my marketing students some of the very brightest people around… and when they make a mistake, I know the pedestrian run of mankind and marketers are making it, too, in spades.

One of the most rooted errors of these folks is the pernicious, invidious notion that their blog and its contents will sell themselves; that what they are promoting and selling in their blogs needs no introduction, nor powerful words of recommendation; it’s good enough on its lonesome.

In a word: rubbish! In two words: complete rubbish!

Dear friend, there is nothing in this world, not the policies and messages of presidents, popes, and sovereign kings; not the very finest example of the most potent of salubrious medications; not the safest swiftest modes of transportation…. absolutely nothing sells itself.

Once you have realized this essential truth of business, you enter a new, higher level of commerce and marketing… for you are now a puffer in the Great Age of Puffery…. and your daily objective is clear: to puff better, more artfully, more carefully, more successfully than any other puffers on this planet. He (or she) who puffs the most, the best, reaps the most.

Thus, say you intend tomorrow to publish a jim dandy article on some subject of note and significance. The duffer puffer, the one on the bottom of the marketing heap, merely publishes the article, with this unvoiced sentiment: “Here’s the article. Make of it what you will. I can’t be bothered to tell you why you should read it… perhaps I don’t even know.”

And some dare call this marketing.

Now, try this instead…

(puff the day before you publish the article.)

Tomorrow, you readers have an incredible gift coming. I persuaded internationally known author and commentator Dr. Jeffrey Lant to let me have, in advance of publication, his latest article. It details the truth about the relationship of Snow White with those with-it guys, the 7 Dwarfs. You won’t believe what one of the most perceptive commentators around has discovered about Snow… and those Dwarfs. Can you say ‘Happy.’ You certainly will tomorrow….”

With these fast-moving words, you are keeping your audience, your present and future customers all, on the very edge of their seats. You want them in a pother of anticipation and excitement about What Happens Next. You, cleverkins, are ascending in the crucial business of puffery; selling the sizzle, not the steak. And you’re frolicking all the way to the bank.

Remember, puffing is not something occasional or episodic. It is not merely one essential thing in marketing; it is the essential thing and it must be regarded accordingly… from this moment on. Let me make this point absolutely, crystal clear:

If you want to sell a product, you must puff it.

If you want to sell your service, you must puff it.

If you want a person to read your blog, you must puff it.

If you want that same person to read an article in that blog, you must puff it.

Get the picture?

A few more hints

Your puffs must appear prominently in your blog, at least 1 at the top of the first page.

They must be short, enticing, action oriented. They must radiate a single imperative message: Look at all you get, look how delicious it is, grab it, grab it now…’

Here’s another example.

“Wow! I’m ecstatic to tell you that I’ve snagged another one of Dr. Lant’s superb articles. Yesterday nearly 400 of you smarties emailed me with your thanks, congratulations, and sincere appreciation for his last insightful article. Now I’ve got another for you. Stay tuned… you’ll have it in just HOURS. Make sure to email me at once with your reactions and compliments… it’s another winner!!! You can reach me by email (email address here); cell phone (number here)… or land line (number here.) And I want to hear from each and EVERY one of you!”

You must get on with the essential business of puffing each and every day, without exception, that you want money.

And, I guarantee you, that as you improve in your puffery, you will improve your prospect responses, dramatically.

And your bottom line? Why that will improve, too, and dramatically so if and only if you follow up each and every response, as quickly as possible, with a special offer. In other words, thank the respondents, thank them as soon as possible… and always give them a thing (or two) which makes you money. Thus are you benefited as you benefit your fast-responding prospects.

There are many things, of course, which factor into consummate blog success. They include

* having good content, interesting, practical, timely;

* publishing according to a schedule, never missing a deadline;

* writing directly to your readers, always using “you”;

* keeping every word of text short, peppy, upbeat,

* and, always and forever, every single day, puffing.

Because if you don’t puff, if you do not encourage, recommend, admonish, excite, and motivate you are leaving the crucial act of marketing in the hands of those least able to discern for themselves what to do. That decision must be yours. You and only you must advance the necessary reasons for acting as you want them to act. That crucial aspect of marketing belongs to you… and you must do this every time you want results. Like today.

5 tellltale signs you’re not really interested in business success… you just like talking about it.

By Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author’s program note. This is one of the dozens of articles I’ve written about success. All are prescriptive, honest, detailed… the kind of articles you use a refrigerator magnet to post for the one in your house who talks the best game about success… but never does what’s necessary to achieve it. (That could be YOU!)

I’m writing this report for those who engage mouth… but nothing else.

Who try to make you feel small by always prattling on about the BIG things they mean to achieve… but somehow never do.

These people need help and they need it instantly. I aim to provide it… and I’m going to call on the spirit of Harry S. Truman, once president of the United States, to assist. I’m in a big pro-Truman phase right now, not least because I’m again reading one of the best written and most intelligent presidential biographies, David McCullough’s “Truman.” It is so rich I only permit myself to read a bit every day, because I know how good it is and how distressed I’ll be at its conclusion.

For this article’s theme music I’ve selected Paderewski’s Minuet in G, a piece Truman knew well; Paderewski himself had shown Truman how to play it… and on one memorable evening during the Potsdam conference of 1945, he played it to the most distinguished audience in the world, headed by the other two of the “Big Three”, Stalin and Churchill. The elegant music of another, more graceful age incongruously rose into the night air drifting over the macabre ruins of prostrate Berlin. You’ll find it in any search engine. Play it now.

Getting on with the job.

Harry Truman was one of the most quintessentially American presidents the Great Republic has ever had. He was hard-working, conscientious to a fault, direct speaking, humble about himself but determined to improve America and the world using the powers of the office he venerated, and graced. He had the profound American belief that problems were not obstacles, but challenges… and that they could be solved, all of them, if folks just got down to the essential business of solving them.

His approach, of course, might have been so very different. Being President of the United States, he could have pontificated in endless wordiness about what he was going to do… then returned to the White House to play the poker he loved with the buddies who made him laugh and relax, promises forgotten.

Or he could, following in the footsteps of one of the most revered of leaders, Franklin Roosevelt, give way to feelings of inadequacy, a man of slender skills dwarfed by one of history’s giants. But he didn’t go this direction either, despite a famously indiscrete toast by Winston Churchill who said, “I must confess, sir, I held you in very low regard. I loathed your taking the place of Franklin Roosevelt.” With friends like these… Untimely delivered to be sure, but a sentiment the majority of the American people shared with Churchill and which they, along with Churchill, changed as they came to know the man and his methods better. Then, Churchill rendered his revised opinion thus:

” ‘He is a man of immense determination. He takes no notice of delicate ground, he just plants his foot down firmly upon it’. To make his point, Churchill jumped a little off the wooden floor and brought both bare feet down with a smack.”

Now, be honest, would anyone call you a person of “immense determination” with an acute desire to solve problems and a practical willingness to do so as soon as possible? We have now arrived at the moment of truth, where you need to be a person of total veracity and integrity. Can you rise to this absolutely essential level? If so, it’s time to transform your habits so that you can create success after success; to start having and quit merely talking about it.

1) Shift from talking about to actually having success.

So, when was your last success? The longer ago the date you now provide, the bigger your problem. Successful people are starkly “now” oriented. They won’t tell you about the successes of years ago; the successes that matter are the ones of recent date. Thus, just how far back you have to go to find a meaningful success constitutes a very clear indication of just how big a problem you have.

2) You must be confident enough about your judgement to make decisions.

Successful people are decision-making people. They know that the achievement of success, then the maintenance and expanding of this success is a function of not just hundreds, but thousands of decisions:

Should I buy this inventory at this price, or not?

Should I invest the company’s assets in an interest paying account for this amount of time, or not?

Should I inform this very difficult customer that my firm cannot handle her business anymore, or not?

Should I fire this, hire this, advance this, demote this particular individual, or not?

Review the life and condition of any successful person, and you will see a steady increase in the number and importance of decisions made. Leadership, prosperity, success is all about the ability to make complicated decisions without regret, without second guessing yourself.

3) Successful people will work with you to work things out.

There is a marvelous phrase in the Bible that says simply, “Come now, let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1-18) This is precisely what successful people do. Of course, they want to make the best deal, but they realize the best deal contains substantial benefits for the people they are negotiating with; in other words, it is mutually beneficial. If the parties are mutually content, the deal is not only satisfactory for now, but keeps the door open for subsequent deals. And this is the best deal of all.

4) Successful people know the point, grasp the point, and keep their eyes and mind on the point.

Successful people are focused people. Life, already short, cannot be wasted; carpe diem is their motto, guide, and objective. They know that this day will end; that is a given. What is not a given is what benefits they have garnered from the day. The fact of a day is God-given; what happens in that day is determined by each of us. People who talk about tomorrow, next week, next month are fooling themselves and are rightly shunned and disregarded by people who regard procrastination, sloth, and inertia as completely unacceptable and root them out accordingly.

5) Successful people anticipate what people they are working with might need and gather it in advance.

Successful people are perceiving people, thinking people, aware people. They brainstorm options and are thoughtful about what may happen and how to prepare for it, for the ease and comfort of all.

Is this how you are? Or are you always a part of the problem, never part of the solution?

In this regard, consider what Floyd Boring, one of President Truman’s secret service agents, said about him:

“He never came on as being superior. He could talk to anyone! He could talk to the lowly peasant. He could talk to the King of England… And that was, I think, his secret.. He never got swellheaded — never got, you know, swagly.”

Ask yourself if anyone will ever regard you this way… and work hard to make sure they do.