So it’s time for blogs of the week again!  Your weekly fix of what’s hot in the Internet Marketing world and who we should be keeping an eye on.  To be honest, I’ve found it harder than normal this week to pick good quality posts out of the many that I’ve read, although I think you’ll enjoy the five that I’ve found.

Where Will You Be In 100 Days? – This is an interesting and very timely post from Connie Ragen Green where she’s challenging people to drive their businesses forward over the next 100 days.  It’s interesting to me both because it coincides with a push to deliver better content on my blogs, and also as she mentions mentoring.  I’ve been asked in the past to mentor several people and have always said yes.  In each case I’ve requested that they perform a few simple tasks so that I can be certain that they’re serious and I usually never hear from them again.  That changed this week when I was overwhelmed by the sincerity and commitment shown to me by somebody looking for a mentor.  I won’t mention him by name here, but I know that he’ll be making a name for himself in the very near future!

Ebooks And Affiliate Marketing Go Hand In Hand – I’m a big believer that we can all have whatever we want in life as long as we’re willing to put in the work.  It doesn’t have to be hard though, as Connie Ragen Green explains in this great post.

How To Write A Killer Blog Post – This is a great guest post on SearchEngineJournal.com.  We all like to think that we write great posts, but if we’re honest with ourselves we often could do better.  This post breaks everything down into the component parts that are important and I believe we can all learn from this.  Check it out!

Remember These 5 Copywriting Formulas – Michel Fortin is an incredible copywriter so when he gives copywriting tips, I listen, and I would recommend that you do too!  In this post, he pulls together 5 top techniques for writing great copy, all of which link onto more comprehensive content.  I’ve printed it all out and added it to my copywriting file before he realizes what he’s giving us and starts charging for this great content.

SEO being trademarked, AGAIN!?! – Finally, this post caught my eye yesterday.  Apparently, someone’s actually trying to trademark the term “SEO”, even though he seems vague about what SEO really means.  Have a read – it’s actually quite funny!

Do you find these weekly posts valuable?  Please let me know in the comments below.

Is Your Blog Really Sick? 8 Health Check Points – I’ve mentioned Patsi’s blog in the past and it says something about the quality (and abundance) of her writing that I’m continually including her posts in my blogs of the week.  In this post, she’s taking a quirky look at how we can measure the ‘health’ of our blogs.  I can certainly relate to some of the sicknesses that she’s alluding to with my own blog and I’m sure that you’ll relate to it too!

One Foolproof Trick to Blast Writer’s Block – As bloggers, we all know what it’s like to sit in front of the computer screen and have nothing to write about.  I’ve partly overcome this by scheduling my blog posts in advance (see ‘Organize Your Blogging‘) but even this strategy leaves us vulnerable to the dreaded writer’s block.

Another of my strategies is to regularly read blogs related to copywriting such as the excellent Copyblogger.  In this guest post, James Chartrand (who’s actually a woman) shares a great strategy for beating writer’s block that I’ll be putting to good use in future posts.

Create A Blogging Strategy & Avoid Burnout – It’s taken me some time (about 3 years to be precise) to realize that a blogging strategy is key to successfully growing your blog.  Don’t you love it when you think you’ve got something figured out then you read something that blows your preconceptions out of the water?  Well, that’s what Lynn Terry’s blog post did for me!

I consider myself well read in terms of what makes up a successful blog.  I know that consistent, regular quality content is all that you need.

Wrong!

Want to know why this is just the tip of the iceberg?  Read Lynn’s post…!

18 Blog Tips to Help You Succeed in 2010 – In this guest post on DailyBlogTips, Tony Hue share with us the basics for having a successful blog.  In my opinion, if you take everything in this post and combine it with the content in Lynn Terry’s post (above) you can’t fail to make it as a professional blogger!

Use it or lose it! 5 Tips on How to Keep Your Blogging Regular – Darren Rowse knows a thing or two about blogging.  In fact, he was co-author on THE book on blogging professionally!  One of the things that I really like about him is that he’s just s quick to share his failures and his successes.  When he does this though, he always does it in a way where we learn the lesson with him and come to the end of his post with new knowledge to apply to our blogging.  This post is a case in point – check it out to see what I mean.

That’s it for this week.  As ever, I’d love to get your thoughts about the posts that I’ve shared as well as any that you think I’ve overlooked.  If you have a blog of your own and you’d like me to consider including your posts in the future, please let me know.  The best way to get in touch regarding this post is via the comments below.  I personally read and reply to every comment.

Have a great week!

I thought it might be interesting to share my list of gadgets to see how this compares with yours and hopefully, to inspire some of you to pick up some new tech during the holiday season so that you’re armed and ready for the coming year.

With that in mind, here are my top 7 – in no particular order:

iPod Touch 64Gb – It’s been a year now since I got my trusty iPod Classic and it has served me incredibly well.  I love the amount of storage that’s available and tend to stuff it with podcasts for when I’m travelling.  However, the small screen lets it down for video, so it’s either the iPhone or an iPod Touch.  In this case, the Touch wins due to the larger capacity  – although I’ll probably move to an iPhone next year, too!

Livescribe 4Gb Pen – This has to be one of the coolest gadgets out there at the moment!  It not only records up to 400 hours of audio, it can also record up to 64,000 pages of notes – all of which can be later uploaded to a PC.  Better than that though, is the ability to sync the audio and the notes so that by simply tapping on a point in your written notes, you can hear the audio playback associated with that point!

Imagine using this in conferences or seminars, not to mention in business meetings or even lectures!  If I’d had this as a student, I’m sure I’d have found revision way easier…!

Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Microphone – I tend to do a lot of audio recording – particularly for videos.  However, as a musician, I’m paranoid about getting good quality sound.  I can’t stand it when audio online is of poor quality, so I tend to record much less when I’m away from home.  In my home office, I have a traditional microphone setup which feeds my PC via a Behringer UCA202 USB interface, which is perfect for a fixed location, but not very portable.  With the AT2020, I could take the mic anywhere I travel and always have the ability to create a quick audio or video.

You’ll find similar quality Audio-Technica mics in professional recording studios, so that quality that they produce are likely to be better than any PC mic that you may already have.

Kodak Zi8 HD Video Camera – As I just mentioned, I love to create videos for Internet Marketing and I do most of these using Camtasia.  I’ve been looking at investing in a Flip Video Camera and considering whether I would get the use out of one.  Just at the point that I was ready to buy, Kodak went and released the Zi8 which threw a spanner in the works!  This camera not only offers a higher resolution than the Flip, but it also offers the same resolution at a higher frame rate (for smoother videos), has better color saturation (in my opinion) and offers external storage on SD-cards.  This last point was always the concern that I had with the Flip and it’s now removed by going for the Zi8!

One small point concerns the audio.  I’ve heard that the Zi8 doesn’t like battery powered external mics and that these can cause hum, so if you want to use an external mic for your recordings, do yourself a favor and buy an unpowered mic!

Canon Powershot G10 – This has been on my wish list for a few years now!  I love taking pictures, but hate lugging my digital SLR with me when I travel – especially when UK airport regulations mean it would have to be checked in…!  When I’m visiting these various destinations around the world, I like to have a camera with me so ideally, I need something that’s versatile but still portable.  Earlier this year, I grabbed a Nikon Coolpix S560 from the airport which is great for grabbing shots and versatile enough to give me some degree of control.  But it’s not the Canon Powershot G10!

This baby has 14.7MP and a 3″ LCD and has full manual override options – just like on my SLR.  Interestingly, Canon have released a G11 which has less pixels and a smaller LCD.  In my opinion, the G10 is the perfect pocket digital camera.

Amazon Kindle – I guess the Kindle is on every techie’s wishlist this Christmas!  Since it’s now available outside of the US too (although you still have to buy it from Amazon.com) it’s got to make it a more interesting platform for Internet Marketers.  I for one will be looking for ways to incorporate it into my marketing during the course of next year, so it’s kind of a basic requirement that I have one…!  (hint, hint, Santa sir!)

MacBook Pro 17″ – Because of my day job, I’m required to use a PC.  That means that I carry a PC laptop and have PC’s at home.  At the same time, all my Internet Marketing and Web Design friends are showing me their shiny new Macs and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous!  In my opinion, the MacBook Pro 17″ is the perfect laptop to take on the road if you’re a serious Internet Marketer.  It’s not just that it’s incredibly reliable (especially when compared with PC’s) it also looks really cool and the graphics are awesome!

So there you have it – my top 7 gadgets that I hope to get for Christmas this year!  I’d love to hear feedback on any of these and in particular, what YOU’re hoping to receive!

Anyway, my friend told me that she was about to register her first 2 domains with GoDaddy, as per her instructions.  At the time, I suggested that there might be better companies to use for Internet Marketing purposes and that I would recommend Namecheap (who I use for all my new domains).  However, since she was provided with step-by-step video tutorials showing GoDaddy’s interface, she was reluctant to take my advice.

Moving forward a few weeks, she came back to me yesterday needing help as both of her sites were down!  As far as I could tell, it looked like the DNS had got messed up.  She told me that it was not the first time, but that previously, the sites had magically re-appeared after a few hours.  This time, it was nearly 2 days that they’d been down!  She was also really upset that in spite of having videos to follow, she’d had to figure it all out herself as the user interface had been completely overhauled….!

As of today, we’ve got her domain transferring across to Namecheap, with a small saving thanks to a discount code.  For the record, you can save money at Namecheap using these coupon codes:

• To transfer your domain – SWITCH2NC
• For new domains – SNOWNEEDLE
• For 50% off 1st month VPS – VPSBOMB
• For discounted hosting – SNOWSTORM

On that last point, I should add that my preferred Web host is Hostgator.  Their current coupon code is ‘SNOWMAN’ and will give you a 20% discount off your order.

I’d love to know what experiences other people have had with their domain providers, whether GoDaddy, Namecheap or any other company.  Please leave a comment and let me know – good or bad.

It’s only taken me 2 years, but I finally got round to starting my newsletter!

John’s Tech Newsletter will be published every 4-8 weeks and will cover the technology behind Internet Marketing, as well as business tips and product reviews.  I’m aiming to make it as valuable as possible as a way to reward my regular readers so expect every issue to be packed with useful information!  In a moment, I’ll let you know how you can influence the topics that appear in future issues, but first….

Whether you’re an experienced marketer or are just starting out, there’ll be something for you in John’s Tech Newsletter, so why not subscribe using the box below the ads on the right.

Go on – I’ll wait here till you’re done….

Done it?  Great!

Since the purpose of a newsletter is to help the readers to learn, this is a great opportunity to get your questions answered.  Please use the contact form on this site to submit your questions or thoughts and I’ll answer them in the next available issue that has space.  I may have some opportunities to add URL’s in some articles, so please mention this if you’d like me to link to your site when answering your question.

I’m also open to considering guest articles with full bio and URL (no affiliate links though).  Again, if you’re interested in contributing, please get in touch.

Finally, I will be accepting a limited number of ads in my newsletters.  Initially, there will only be one ad position for sale per issue.  If you’re interested in advertising, again, please use the contact form on this site.

If you’ve read this far and haven’t subscribed yet (it’s over there on the right, under the ads) now’s your chance!

Enjoy!

A little girl called Macy Johns in Florida has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease which has been found early enough that treatment is possible.  However, since her family lack the necessary medical insurance, they can’t afford the treatment.  Several high-profile Internet Marketers have got behind Macy to try to get the community to help to raise the funds necessary to save her life.

I’m not going to go into the full story here (you can read much of it on the Warrior Forum in this thread) however what I will say is that I personally believe this to be a genuine case where a small donation at Macy’s site can make a huge difference to this little girl.

Please visit http://macyjohns.com/ and make a donation.  Whilst you’re there, why not sign her guest book so that she knows just how many people in the world are thinking of here.

If you’re not able to make a financial donation, then how about the following:

• Tweet about it
• Blog about it
• Pray about it

Whatever you can do, just take some time to do SOMETHING for Macy.

Please.

Before I do, let me tell you how I came across this….

I’ve been working for quite some time on monetizing my blog (which was part of the reason for the recent re-design).  I’m constantly looking for new ways of doing this, and new opportunities to get involved with.  Because of this, I have WAY MORE podcast content on my iPod that I could ever hope to listen to!!!

Last week, I was in Poland on Business and on Friday evening, was flying back home.  I’d had a tough week, so on the plane, I wanted to do nothing more than rest, and not be bothered by anyone!

Imagine the scene: I’m sitting there with my iPod on, pretending to be asleep (hey, you’ve done that too, haven’t you??) listening to some recent podcasts.  What I normally do is to start at the bottom of the list of podcasts (the earliest) and work my way up the list – but doing that would have made it obvious that I was awake!

So what could I do?

Despite that fact that listening to the podcasts in reverse order can sometimes be a bit irritating, I decided that I needed to do that in order that my “sleep” would be convincing!

A recent podcast that I’ve discovered is from “Blogger & Podcaster“.  They offer 3 different ways to subscribe to their content:

1. Paid Magazine Subscription
2. Free online magazine reader
3. Free podcast

I’d subscribed to the free podcast, as it suited my needs best and I had something like 50+ episodes to listen to!

Back to the flight….

I’m sitting there listening to the most recent few episodes, doing my best to pretend to be asleep, when I stumble across an episode about the “Blogger and Podcaster Media Network“.  This talked about their goal to provide regular, everyday bloggers like you and I with a Six Figure Income!!!  As I heard this (and the really exciting information that followed) I suddenly sat bolt upright – all pretences of sleep far from my mind!  I really needed to hear this!

You like me, have probably come across the likes of “The Podcast Network” for podcasters, and “b5media” for bloggers.  These sites act as a kind of media co-operative where loads of bloggers (or podcasters) sign up and receive aggregated ads from the network.  Advertisers win by being able to place a single ad on the network, but know that it’s going out to targetted audiences across the world.  However, this is the first such network that I’m aware of that’s targetted at bloggers and podcasters!

This isn’t what got me excited though.  It’s not what had me sitting bolt upright.  On it’s own, it wouldn’t have been enough for me to stop faking sleep…!

Would you like to know what got me really excited???

Anyone who signs up to the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network (BPMN) before 31st December 2008 will get an equity stake in the company!  This means that when they decide to IPO, we could have a significant windfall!  As they say on their site:

“Keep in mind, all members who register before December 31, 2008 will be given equity in the BPMN as a benefit of membership. In this case if you ‘snooze’, you really will lose.”

We also have a huge opportunity to build our own networks within the BPMN by having people sign up under us.  They estimate that doing so will net each of us something in the region of $500-$1000 per year for each person that joins.

This brings me to my competition….

I know that the majority of my readers are blog owners and I’d love to see you benefit from this too.  To that end, I’d like to ask you all to sign up with BPMN using my name (John Landells) as the referrer.  To make this more interesting, I’m running this as a competition….

The first 10 people to sign up with me (who are also members of Entrecard) will win 50 Entrecard Credits, as soon as I receive confirmation from BPMN.

If you don’t use Entrecard and you’re one of the winners, I’ll give you a free 125×125 ad on this site for a month.

See the video below for details of how to join:

Once you’ve joined, please drop a comment below to let me know (so that I can double check my stats and be sure not to miss any entrants).

To register, please go to http://www.bloggerandpodcaster.net/ and fill out the form.  Please remember to enter “John Landells” in the “Referred By” field to be eligible for the competition.

Good luck!

UPDATE:

I’ve just been in touch with the fantastic team behind BPMN and they’ve offered to donate a copy of “Perfecting the Pitch: Creating Publicity Through Media Rapport” by Ben Lewis to one person, to be drawn at random on 1st January 2009 from the list of subscribers referred by John’s Tech Blog!

As a huge fan of digital photography and Photoshop techniques, I was naturally interested in what they were doing, and then YouTube really got my attention…

As you’ll no doubt know if you’ve watched any of these embedded videos in the past, when they’re done, they give you a whole host of “related” videos.  Sometimes these catch my eye and sometimes they don’t.  Often when they do, I end up disaapointed that I wasted the time waiting for the video stream to download.

However……

This time was different!  This was so funny, I COULDN’T WAIT for the stream to catch up so that I could watch it all!  This was a really well made parody!

You’ve seen pardoy videos in the past on YouTube I’m sure, and they’re often rubbish!  They’re made by some Muppet with a Handycam who thinks he’s funny!  This one though, is seriously different!

Watch it here:

Enjoy!

I started out with a WordPress theme and then customised it to fit more in line with my color scheme and overall site design.  I also gave the header a subtle makeover as it was starting to look a bit bland.

Please use the comments on this post to give me feedback.  I’m always interested in reading other people’s points of view!