Internet Marketing with Mike Gillis

Of course, if you’ve read any of my previous posts or watched my videos on using url shortening services for recommending affiliate program and such, well this is different.

I still recommend using your own site with recommended links, but when your using mirco blogging services such as Twitter where you only have a limited amount of space to let people know about something, this is when the short and covert links are useful.

Before today, it didn’t really matter what service I used to shorten my urls for use with these micro-blogging services but after hearing and seeing the power of a new service that Paul Colligan notified me about called BudURL that allows you to track everyone who clicks through your link.

For a better review, here’s the YouTube video Paul did.

Also for those of you who have been wondering where I’ve been lately (no updates in awhile) I been sick with the flu but it’s almost all gone now, little bit of cough left but feeling much better.

Having a Google account allows you access to many free (and some paid) services that get greatly improve your business as well as make things easier for you. In order to setup a Google account and get access to all of Google’s applications and services, you need to sign up for a Gmail account (which is free)
http://mail.google.com/mail/signup

Once you have signed up for a gmail account, login and goto the Google home page, at the top right click on “My Acccount”. On your account page it will show you any Google products you have already setup which usually includes: gmail, talk, web history. Below that is a short list of some products to try out and a link at the bottom for “More”. Click the “more” link to get a full list of Google’s products that you can get setup.

Some of the big or most useful products that I have personally used and have also heard lots of positive results from include:

• Google Alerts – Get updates on a specific keyword or phrase for a specific time frame
• Blogger – Google’s blog platform
• Google Calendar – Schedule dates and quickly add events
• Google Docs – Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet
• Google Groups – Easy way to find other people that are interested and discussing in the same topic
• Google Picasa - Software that makes it easy to view, organize, edit and share photos on your PC
• Google Reader – Constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content.
• Google Notebook – Browse, clip, and organize info from the web in one spot be easily accessible
• Google Sites – Easily create web pages and share info on a free website or group wiki.
• Google Video & YouTube – Watch or upload videos and share across the web

Plus many more, you can also check out Google Labs for more products their working on or have been released from beta. Some other more popular products from Google are Google Adsense and Google Adwords.

Take a look around and see how you can take advantage of Google’s products in order to improve your business.

Many people use sites such as tinyurl.com or other url shortening sites when they are promoting affiliate products or recommended programs or services. (I have been guilty of this too) But you can increase your web presence using your own domain name and even get it ranked in the search engines.

Have you ever received an email with a link such as:
http://mikegillis.com/recommends
http://mikegillis.com/recommended
http://mikegillis.com/likes

I’m sure by now you have seen many other marketers doing this as well.

I have recently found some of my recommended links getting ranked in the top 10 of Google using this strategy. I’m going to briefly go over how I go about doing this.

First of all, I’m going to assume you already have your own domain name. Now you will want to create a folder called recommends, recommended, likes, or whatever you prefer. For each product or service that you recommend you will include in a sub folder.

Example: http://mikegillis.com/recommends/InternetMarketingTools (this is one of my older sites) Make sure to keep your folder name in all lower case letters and no spaces. The capitals in the example above is using anchor text in order to make each word separate and easier to read.

You can name the sub folder whatever you want, think about the keywords for the product your recommending and try to optimize for it. Inside of that folder you want to include an index.htm file, this file will be temporary until we create our cloaked link.

I use the Link Cloaker by GLH Software, all you need to do is: enter in the title of the page, I usually use the same title that’s on the main page for that product. Then insert your affiliate link and name the file something related to the product so you can find it easily. After filling out those 3 boxes, download it to your computer.

Next you will need to use cpanel or a ftp program to upload the file to your server where your created the index.htm file, delete the temporary index.htm file and rename your cloaked link to index.htm, now you should be able to go to the sub folder and see the product page with your affiliate link embedded in the page.

http://yourdomain.com/recommends/product

You have the option to include a blank html page in your recommends folder or leave it blank so if someone wants to check out all your recommended files, they can. This is how I prefer to do it, as it may end up making me more commissions.

See here for more recommendations

Do you know that by following a few simple tips you can get more tasks completed in less time. Some of these tips are very simple but they can create amazing results and you don’t have to worry about spending much money, maybe a few dollars.

The first tip you should start implementing in your business is getting a (yellow or white – 8×11) pad of paper to keep by your computer. This pad will be for your To-Do-List. At the top of the page, put the date for that day, then list the tasks that you want to get done. Every time you complete a task, cross it off.

At the end of the day, whatever tasks have not been completed, write them on the next page and then cross off those tasks. So at the end of the day everything is done (crossed off) Once you have added any unfinished tasks to the next page, spend a few minutes to list additional tasks that you want to get done.

Simply by using this strategy you will notice more things getting done and you will also feel better (less stress) since you know everything has been completed. You know that feeling when you didn’t get something done or forgot about something, it stays on your mind. Well this way if you remember something just put it on your list for tomorrow. You can also get a small notebook or journal for weekly and monthly tasks.

The next big tip is to organize your time better. As you probably already know and have experienced many times – getting Side-Tracked. Whether its from an instant message, looking at emails or just surfing around on the net. It doens’t take much to lose track of time and the next thing you know, you ended up working for 20 minutes and wasted over 2 hours.

There are 2 ways that I have found that can keep you on track. First, get a stop watch and set it for the desired amount of time you want to spend on that task. If you don’t have a stop watch and you’re short on money, try an Online Stopwatch (or countdown). Once your times up, Stop! (You can add it to tomorrow’s to-do-list) This isn’t just for when working, you want to set breadk times and some time for goofing around, surfing, playing games or whatever else.

The second way of staying on track, especially if you get side-tracked very easily. Get a program called “DoNotDisturb“. This program will allow you to block programs that may side track your during a specified time frame.

Some other ideas to keep in mind are:

- Separate your work life from your home life (get an office outside of your home or create an area in your home where you will not be disturbed.

- Create audio CDs from audio courses and listen to them while your driving to work or going out for a coffee. By using this tip, you will be able to use your time more efficiently and learn more faster.

- Filter your business files in one place to make it easier to locate files when you need them.
Ex: store all files in a folder called “Business” under your “My Documents” folder.

- Use the RoboForm Toolbar in your browser to keep track of all your login information, auto-fills and other additional features.

- Create a System for your business. This way you can teach other people to do these steps so you don’t have to. This is known as “Outsourcing” and will dramatically increase results while giving your more time to do what you want.

Here are some other good resources for getting more done and becoming more productive:

How Batch Processing Made Me 10 Times More Productive

10 Ways to Get More Done…

7 Powerful Steps to Overcoming Resistance and Actually Getting Stuff Done

Forget Multitasking (If You Can) – Five Tips for Getting Stuff Done

If you follow these time management and organization tips, you will see better results in a lot less time and will not feel so frustrated or stress out.