Remember the movie “Catch Me If You Can?”

Before Frank Abagnale, Jr. had even celebrated his 19^th birthday, he had successfully impersonated a doctor, a legal prosecutor, and a Pam Am pilot and bilked millions of dollars from the unsuspecting.

Now life had been tough for the young Abagnale. His family had endured so much. So to encourage the younger Frank to not let life’s difficulties get him down, Frank senior told his son the story of two little mice.

Despite his family’s problems, or perhaps because of them, it wasn’t hard for young Frank to decide which little mouse he would be. And to be an impersonator was what he chose.

Now even though I wouldn’t recommend you attempt anything that will put you on the FBI’s most wanted list, I will tell you this. If it’s internet marketing that you’re interested in…

You, too, need to learn to deal with and over-come obstacles. And one of the easiest ways to over-come obstacles is to reach out for help. There’s plenty available for you!

Get yourself over to one of the internet marketing forums such as the Warrior Forum. Read the forum rules, introduce yourself, tell people what you need help with. There’s a wealth of free information for those just getting their feet wet as well as for those that have been in the game longer.

Internet marketers by and large are a very helpful group of people. Don’t be afraid to reach out!

Have a technical challenge? Simply go to youtube and put your keywords into the search bar.

Get involved with a group of internet marketers that you can relate to. After you’ve read a few posts on the forums, you’ll get a good idea about whom you’ll be able to connect with.

Or if you sign up for an internet marketing course, there may be a forum you can join.   One course I  know of even assigns accountability partners.

And don’t forget Google. After all, where would we be without him.

Ultimately…

It’s all good, because…

Once you find you can deal with challenges and over-come them, you’ll begin to trust your instincts more. After all, over-coming obstacles is a skill no different than any other. No different in that it takes time, practice, and a few headaches to get from where you are to where you want to be. And know that…

It continues to get better, because…

Once you start moving forward and see your efforts changing things for the better, other aspects of your business should start to improve for you as well. Why? Because you’re now more energized and inspired to move forward because of the success you’re starting to see.  Success plays off of success!

So when your challenges feel too challenging, your obstacles seem insurmountable, and you feel like throwing in the towel, ask yourself,

Which little mouse are you?

The little mouse that churned that cream into butter.  Or…

The little mouse that drowned.

You bet on your success when you decided to get into internet marketing. Don’t lose the bet because you gave up too soon!

”GIVE ‘EM THE PICKLE…”  and other good stuff.    

“I’ll be back!”  The sweetest words you’ll ever “hear”…whether your blog is for personal use or business pursuit.  Certainly if you want people to visit your blog, you want them to return as well!

And no one understands this better than one of our brick and mortar friends, Robert Farrell of Farrell’s Ice Cream fame. In “Give ‘Em The Pickle…and they’ll be back” this business owner, author, and motivational speaker urges businesses to give customers the little extras that make them happy.

And so it is online as well. Give your readers what they’re looking for, and they’ll return again and again.

In reflecting on Farrell’s philosophy, I’m also reminded of the fact that no matter who you are, what your age, or what your status in life is…

 A SMILE IS WORTH A MILLION WORDS.

We were recently going through a small WA state town when I looked up and saw a lady in her 80s crossing the street in front of us. She was dressed in summer loveliness, wearing a beautiful light pink dress, a crisp, white straw bonnet, …and one of the most beautiful smiles I’d ever seen. I felt an almost visceral connection with her. She drew me into her beauty, both inside and out.

And so it is that you, too, can draw your visitors into your site in much the same manner. The care you put into your blog’s appearance, its upkeep, and how you present what you have to share will make your visitors want to return…again and again.

There are some things that capture our attention and remain with us for years to come. For me the “lady in pink” is, and will be, one of them.

Will your blog be your “lady in pink?”

 MAKE EYE CONTACT.

As we left our motel to return home from this same trip, I couldn’t help but notice the clerk on duty at the time. She was a young, very attractive woman, pleasant, and with a nice smile. But she was busy at her computer, obviously distracted by her work, and made no eye contact as we passed her desk. And as lovely as our stay had been…

…she left me with the feeling that she didn’t really care enough to take the time to look up.

Make “eye contact” on your blog.  Get to know your visitors by looking into their “eyes.” Read their comments, reply to what they have to say, build a relationship with them. Over time they will get to know you, to like you, and then to eventually trust who you are.

ABOUT “FACE”…or the “About Me” page.

In looking at different blogs, I noticed that some included pictures (avatars). Others didn’t. For those that didn’t I found it harder to make that personal connection, to feel the personal warmth that I had enjoyed at others’ blogs.

Your face…with a sincere smile? It’s you! “Wire” your visitors to come back to you!

EDIT YOUR POSTS. – By their nature blogs are meant to be conversational and interactive. But this doesn’t mean that you should be lazy with spelling, grammar, use of language.

No one will condemn you if you have a few grammatical slip ups now and then or the occasional typo. But if your blog comes across as just plain sloppy, visitors will think you don’t care about them anymore than you care to correct a few missteps.

Take a few minutes and do a little “soft” editing. Read your posts over a couple of times. Spell check them, look for glaring errors. Does it read well? Is your message clear?

If you struggle with written language, have someone check your posts occasionally. It’ll pay off in spades…or in more optins! I can almost guarantee it!

But whoever you are or whatever you have to share with your readers….

BE YOURSELF. – There’s only one you! You may be just the reason someone visited your blog to begin with. And you’ll certainly be the reason that person returns!

A couple of weeks ago I went to my inbox and opened up an e-mail from my mentor, Dean Holland.  Though I’m always eager to get anything sent by Dean …

..this particular e-mail drained the color from my face!

The sense of accomplishment that I’d felt for the first two weeks of Dean’s Quick Start Challenge quickly came to a halt! Here is that e-mail from Dean:

1) Create and submit a video to www.Youtube.com

2) The video title must be:  Dean Hollands Quick Start Challenge

I didn’t know the first thing about the video world! But…

Having put two weeks into the challenge already, I hated to quit now! What to do? Ahhh, I then remembered that Dean’s support person, Craig, had just put up a members’ forum for us. So I registered at the forum, bared my non-techy soul, and asked for help.

It wasn’t more than a couple of hours before the help started flooding in. It seemed that using a web site named Animoto was the answer. In fact, one of our challenge members had actually made a video on how to use…..Animoto. Yes, things were looking up.

This video thing might just work after all!

And it did!

Here’s the 2^nd of my videos, a testimonial to Dean Holland for actually pushing me beyond my self-imposed limits. Nothing that will win a Telly award but to me it will always be a reminder that what we often think we can’t do, we can…and what we think we can do, we can do better than we ever thought possible.

Now run on over to Animoto. First click “Play Sample Video.” I want you to see what the possibilities are. You’ll be excited! (There’s a free version for 30 second videos. Paid options, too, of course… I chose the $30/year version.)

Now click “Get Started.” It’s self guiding. Really easy stuff! Select your music first. Really gets you in the mood! (Oh, and be sure to always click “save” as you create. It can be easy to forget in the excitement of making your very first production!)

When finished, click “Advanced Settings.” This allows you to put in your video title. Otherwise you may have trouble finding your video when you want to go back to it for editing, etc. Other than that?

Just have fun! And let me know how you do!

“Skilled, articulate, motivating, engaging, and sincere”…words that come quickly to mind when describing my mentor, Dean Holland.

Easily in the top 5% of all internet marketing courses I’ve taken, Dean and his Quick Start Challenge encouraged, motivated, and mentored me to…

1. Manage my time as well as value my time. By attaching deadlines to our assignments, it became critical that we make the most of whatever time we had. How surprising and gratifying to find that I could actually move forward in the challenge…even with a “found” 15 minutes. Those deadlines pulled the excuses out from under me…and gave me more success in their place.

 2. Take action – This is something I’ve always struggled with. I’m a thinker, an analyzer by nature. All well and good, but if it keeps you from meeting your goals, then all the thinking and analyzing in the world will return nothing more than empty promises. Dean forced my hand. He compelled me to act!

3. Lay the foundation for my success by having me set up my blog, get that first trickle of traffic… And enough traffic to experience the exhilaration of those first two optins.

Dean then tied our challenge together by giving us an…

4. Amazing community of like-minded individuals   Individuals who are not only true warriors for their own success but equally as passionate about helping others…

But most importantly? Dean gave me back the trust that I had lost with internet marketing. And that…you can never place a value on.

Thank you, Dean! Thank you so very much!

“Enjoy the ultimate push button solution! Overnight internet riches! How to make $4,000 a week while working at home!”

Really now. Don’t those ads sound rather scammy and pathetic?

Sure, to the uninitiated they may sound exciting…and ring hopeful. But to those of us who’ve absorbed the disappointments that those ads invariably bring and survived despite them, we realize those ads are basically “come ons.” Furthermore they imply that if there are internet riches to be had…it happens overnight!

Now before your heart sinks to your toes or you get “tears in (your) ears from lying on your bed crying over…” spilt milk,  let me tell you…

The good news…

In a sense, there really is a push button way to online wealth!

But are you ready for the truth in that good news?! Well, the truth is…you gotta work to make it happen. “Ok, ok, I’m willing to work,” you say. “Tell me more!”

Ever heard the term, “The money’s in the list?” Well, guess what?

The money’s in the list!

That truth was there for us all along. Let’s just hope that this time we’ll listen. The money is in the list! If ever there was a goose “what laid that golden egg”, that list is your goose!

But to get your list started…and keep it going, people need to “know, like, and trust” you…as Dean Holland puts it. But this will only happen if you’re honest with people, give them quality information, and introduce them to solid, helpful products. And, yes, that takes work!

So let’s see how that happens.

Once your blog is set up and you’ve gotten a few posts on it…

1. Set up an autoresponder
2. Get a FREE quality report or video your list can download
3. Put 5 or 6 additional messages into your autoresponder
4. Put an optin form on your blog for people to join your list

And once people start joining your list? Well, you’re starting to lay the groundwork for creating your golden egg.

Over time if you respect your list with what you offer them, you will see your list grow…and continue to grow.

But “Show me the money! I only have people on a list!” Sure, the money’s in “the list”, of course; but the rest of the story is that it’s in the…

Automation of that list!

Because now you’re at the point where you can send out messages to 10s, 100s, then eventually 1000s of your subscribers with more quality content….and relevant products, of course!

Now “that’s the story of, that’s the glory of…”

Internet riches….the right…and lasting way!

Paid traffic or free traffic? Social traffic, paid advertisements through Google Adsense, word of mouth, PPC, search engine optimization, pay per view, Google adwords, CPM, Yahoo search marketing, cost per action…to name but a few!

Are you sufficiently confused about the different ways to get traffic to your blog or web site? Good! I hope you are. I hope you’re very, very confused! Because that’s my point.

You more confused you are, the more seriously you’ll likely take the information that I got from my mentor, Dean Holland.

SPREAD YOURSELF TOO THIN and end up with:

“Thin” results

“Thin” motivation since you have no success to inspire you

“Thin” hopes since hope is built on anticipation of accomplishment. And when you have no sense of accomplishment? Your hope disappears…and sometimes you never get it back.

And there’s no better person to emphasize this than a successful internet marketer. For example, Dean quickly admits he doesn’t even use paid traffic in his internet marketing business at all. (And because he doesn’t, he doesn’t teach it.)

Never has the phrase, “Jack of all trades; master of none” most likely taken on more meaning than it does in internet marketing. (And traffic is only one aspect of internet marketing! One aspect!)

This post isn’t about trying to explain the different types of traffic and certainly not to tell you which you should follow through with. It’s to tell you that you need to select one or two methods of driving traffic, get good at it and become successful with it. And then, and only then, try another method.

Success online is about CONSISTENCY OF ACTION. And there’s no way to be consistent if you try to learn more than you need to learn when starting out…and then try to implement too much. It’s just not possible to build any kind of consistency of action into this type of approach.

No consistency of effort? No consistency of results! And no success!

So how do you build consistency? By building it into your schedule! I admit to not doing a very good job of that at the moment. But it’s certainly a goal I will work toward.

But with consistency in effort you will find that over time your traffic will be cumulative. In fact, Dean tells us that he hasn’t posted to his original blog in probably 2, 3 years, yet he still gets traffic to it.

Now one more tip before closing out this post:

Track your traffic so you know how your efforts are paying off. One way to do this? Install Google Analytics on your blog.

Ok, so let’s get moving:

1. Select the traffic method that suits you.
2. Install a way to track your traffic
3. Build it into your daily schedule.
4. Drive traffic consistently.
5. Be successful!

Get it going. Move it forward. Take action. All sentiments of Dean Holland as he motivates, encourages, and inspires his students to dig in, focus, then complete…

The Week One assignment of his Quick Start challenge:

Print out the 7 Day Planner.

1. Select your domain.
2. Set up your hosting.
3. Get your blog up and start posting.

Goals set. Goals met!

And written goals at that.  Using Dean’s 7 Day Planner I will know exactly where to put my focus throughout the week.

“Take this seriously.” And I will! Goals that are written down will give you a 15 to 30% greater chance of being successful than if you don’t. Will that motivate me to get my “pen and pad” out?!

And to further encourage his students to complete their assignments? Dean has dangled the proverbial carrot before our hungry little eyes and pocketbooks with…

Prizes!

Simply follow through and your efforts will pay off with…yes, a prize!

 And for the person who follows through and is “the best of the best?” A big prize! A treasured spot in Dean’s personal mentoring program. A prize worth $5,000!

Fail? You can’t possibly…as long as you…

Simply follow through!

But now let’s drive this down to a more personal level. What makes any of this important to me…or to you? Oh, I suppose we’re all part of Dean’s challenge, because we have nothing better to do with our time?

We love paying for hosting, selecting a domain, setting up a blog just ‘cause it sounds like a lot of fun. Right?! Well, let’s hope we’re enjoying this challenge to some degree despite the obvious work involved, but seriously… If we know…

Why we’re doing what we’re doing, then we’ll be much more motivated to continue on!

And that’s another of Dean’s points!

So ask yourself…

Why are you part of this challenge? Or any challenge in life? Really, why? I’m asking. You need to answer…for the sake of your success. Dig deep. Discover yourself!

So you can learn new skills?

So you can be successful at online marketing?

So you can make money?

So you can help yourself and others?

So you can feel better about your life and accomplish more?

So you can live in Melbourne in a beautiful home and have more free time to spend with family and friends?

So you can……?

You get the idea. Drive it home to the point where you feel it. Reeeealllly feel it. I know why I’m doing what I’m doing. I want to feel a sense of pride, accomplishment, to have more freedom so I can pursue the other interests I have, and to be able to help family and friends when they need my help.

But despite knowing why we’re doing what we’re doing, no one works well in isolation…at least not for long. And Dean understands this so has built into our challenge a sense of…

Community, the glue that ensures we pull together and that encourages us to help each other..

Dean has been purposeful and intentional in making sure we develop relationships with others in the challenge. Indeed he knows that our success depends on it and that in reality…

 “Anything done for another is (actually) done for oneself.” Pope John Paul II

“I can do that,” exclaimed Derek Paravicini when asked by Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes to hold up three fingers.

But even though Derek was unable to do so, he remained confident and self assured in his attempt. And when asked if he wanted help?  “Yes, please,” says Derek…without either hesitation or embarrassment.

For those of you who love music, particularly piano, you may remember Derek as the extraordinary musical savant from Britain. Derek is now 32 years old and has been blind and severely intellectually impaired since birth.

Now Derek doesn’t necessarily know what he doesn’t know, but there’s much we can learn from his sense of self, his passion for life, his childlike confidence and the trust he has in his teachers and those around him.

So what does this have to do with internet marketing? Everything!

It’s about accepting our limitations, then moving forward by asking for and accepting help from others. It’s about trusting another human being.

Working at home online can be extremely isolating. It’s all too easy to withdraw into yourself and try to go it alone…thinking you can figure everything out yourself.

Huge recipe for failure! Not only that, it’s a very unhealthy way to try to function. Even introverts, in the classic Jung sense, need social interaction. We all need a certain sense of community to inspire us, to communicate and to build relationships within, to motivate and uplift us when we’re struggling, and to give us the energy to push ahead.

Much of this we can learn from Derek. Much of this we can learn from a good mentor…as well as the skills and resources that will complete the picture for us.

Now go find a mentor. Then give him your trust. That’s what makes him a mentor.

But never doubt the absolute necessity for one. And sabotage yourself  if you do.

How I wish I’d had a Dean Holland, the mentor I now have…years ago. How I wish I were where I’d be if I’d had him then. Don’t make the mistake I made in trying to go it alone and in not understanding how critical a mentor is to your success.

And if I still haven’t convinced you of how important the right mentor is, then let me ask you. Do you know of anyone who’s become a success in internet marketing without having a strong mentor? No, neither do I. I rest my case. Maybe you should, too.

Watch Derek…and be inspired.

As ideas comes to me, I put them in draft form for posting later. This post I felt was important enough to go ahead, finish, and put it out there for those of you who might benefit from it. 

“Not able to upload pics after upgrade, error after upgrade, fatal error after upgrading..” Take a look in forums, and you’ll find all sorts of problems people have had when upgrading WordPress to a newer version. Not good when this happens!

Two steps forward and one step backward…at least that’s what it felt like today.

A few days ago I noticed there was an upgrade available for WordPress. And I now know the problems you can have if you don’t treat this “delicately.” You do, too.

Sure, there’s a relatively small chance you’ll have any difficulty if you’re hosted on a really good server and all. But why take the chance. And peace of mind? What’s it worth to you?

My initial instinct was to just close my eyes, hit upgrade, then hope for the best. But I knew that even if it worked ok for me this time, it might not the next! And then I’d still be faced with an eventual mess…plus I’d still have to get comfortable with a process I wasn’t familiar with. So I put “updating wordpress” into the search box in youtube, took a look at a few videos, then picked what I felt was one of the best of those I saw and followed through.

I bit the proverbial tech bullet and decided to do it all the right way. Maybe you should, too.

NOTE: When I went into file manager in my cpanel and tried to download the wp-content, htacess, and wp-config.php files, I couldn’t get it to happen. For whatever reason it worked when I downloaded each of the three files separately rather than all together. It might just have been a quirky “thing” that won’t happen to you…or else it could have been the technophobe side of me sabotaging my efforts!

Yes, this page is all…    

About Me! Ok, so that sounds a bit self-centered, I know. But the reality of the internet these days is that it is all about me, …and you, and all the millions of others who go online each day to get information, to share experiences, and, above all, to connect with others.

No doubt… The world around us and the internet that shapes so much of our world is rapidly becoming more and more social. Hugely social!

And for those of us interested in being a part of this amazing environment as internet marketers, there’s only one thing that you can bring online that no one else can, no one.

And that’s you, who you are. Without your own personality, your own individuality, that uniqueness that identifies you as you, there could never be that social component that a very social place such as the internet increasingly demands of us all.

We all probably know this at some level, but sometimes we need the assurance of having this confirmed by someone who lives this reality. By someone who has also enjoyed the rewards from understanding this… I’m fortunate. I now have this assurance in a way that I never quite did before because of my new internet marketing mentor, Dean Holland.

Just recently I joined Dean’s Quick Start Challenge. And one of the first things he tells his students is that as an internet marketer you have to be yourself. I can hear him now, “Just be yourself!”

So here I am, just being myself. My background? In teaching. More recently I’ve worked as a weight loss counselor, presenter, and facilitator for a weight loss company.

About five years ago, maybe more, I became interested in internet marketing, mainly because of the potential for independence and self expression it held. I also knew that with a strong desire and hard work there was the potential for a lot more. The chance to eventually be able to make choices that would reflect who I am as well as choices that would affect people who are important to me as well…

Overall my internet marketing “career” can probably be best described as…emotionally draining and intellectually over-whelming. I started with hopes as high as the sky…but often ended up feeling like it was all so much pie in the sky. Lots of disappointments, an occasional dusting of hope, plenty of frustration, sleepless nights, tons of worry about what I should do next and whom I could trust. I was truly the uninitiated.

But since I’m not inclined to bore you with more of what is probably pretty obvious by now, I will tell you that after about four years or so I actually made my first “dollar” online! To be precise it was $101.17.

Yes, it was one sweet check when after all that time it finally arrived in the mail. But when I thought about all the time and effort it’d taken me to get to that point, it was pretty devastating. I had written and re-written tons of content, day in, day out. Working it around the already tight and unpredictable schedule of a full-time job…

But it did teach me three, no four, things:

1. There is money to be made online.
2. I found I had the dogged stubbornness to stick it out.
3. It also gave me the realization, sometimes sinking realization, that although we all have time to invest in what matters most to us, it’s limited…for us all. And we never know how much or how little we have left of it…no matter our ages. And what I knew, for sure, is that I didn’t want to waste years more of it if I could find a better, easier way to reach my goals. And the most important thing? I found that there was indeed…
4. A better, an easier way…  Again, with a strong mentor, someone who had already driven down the road I’m on right now. Someone who could make my ride, and your ride, so much smoother and help me get to my destination so much quicker.

Accept that your success demands a mentor. It’s hugely relieving once you do. With a straighter and more clearly defined path, the wheels will roll a whole lot easier and will allow who you are to shine through with much more brilliance.

Thanks for offering that to me, Dean. Thank you for the Quick Start Challenge. I’m ready, ready to roll!