icemanbaldy

How I'm Becoming a Trust Agent on the Web

I just turned off my Kindle after finishing another great book on about using the internet to optimize my web presence by becoming a person of influence and trust in the way that I operate online and in the manner that I'm using the web to further my business relationships. The book is Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith and it's full of some outstanding advice for the new online marketer and truly resonates with seasoned marketers like myself who have been online for several years promoting our products and services through innovation and effective social media tools. It's one of the best books I've read on the subject and I made a few notes that you may find helpful to improve your own marketing efforts.

The book is focused on the core competencies inherent in any individual who wants to be a trust agent. I'm working to build my capabilities and what I offer my audience in each of these competencies with every action that I take online. Consider what I've been doing with my own sites as a result of reading Trust Agents and reflect on how you might use what I've learned to improve your results.

Be a game changer. I've decided to make my own game in the black online entrepreneurship niche. Using my blog, my forum, my network, my online newspaper and my contributions on a variety of social media networks and other platforms, I'm working hard to become a recognized expert--if not THE expert--on all things related to black online entrepreneurship.

Be a member of the community. I am an active member in many of the communities related to my niche while also making an effort to reach out to others who share my interest. I'm eager to help and although I have my own products and services for sale to others, my primary interest is in freely helping others to reach their goals through understanding how to use the tools available so that if they need additional, focused support, they can make an informed choice to use my expertise or suggest my services or products to friends.

Be willing to accept help. I've learned the value of leverage is using tools that are already available in new and innovative ways in order to better reach my targeted audience or build effective communities of black online entrepreneurs. I also understand the value of connecting with and utilizing the contributions of others to multiply my own efforts to magnify the influence I have throughout the internet.

Be a relationship builder. Relationships are everything online. Gone are the days where static webpages rules the internet and advertising or news was served to web users who simply visited sites to consume content. Online consumption is still high but based on a principle of interaction where each of us can comment, link, and share what we consume with our network of friends and online relationships. Business credibility lives and dies on the basis of our relationships and I've been working to connect with others by being helpful and connecting my connections with others who can help them to further their goals.

Be an effective communicator. Key to solid relationships is an understanding of how to master the nuances of online communication. Without the instantly physical cues of body language and not being able to hear tones or vocal cues, what you type or post online becomes a full representation of who you are subject to the subjective interpretations of the individual. I'm constantly aware of my message and I strive to maintain a consistently authentic presence if all of my work, my comments, and everything that I post on the wide variety of sites that I frequent or maintain.

Become the community. I've managed to build some fairly solid networks of folks who I follow and folks who I'm honored to have following me. Whether on Ning, my forum, my RSS subscribers, Twitter, Facebook, MyBlogLog, FriendFeed and everywhere else I have some significant presence, the goal is to build an army of connections who support and affirm the expertise and assistance that I provide online.

Demonstrate trust. I've also made an effort to provide evidence of my trustworthiness: my design is straight forward, clean, and it reinforces my brand identity; my site has been around since 2002, so longevity isn't a problem; there are a lot of great posts--over 700--so the volume of productivity is good; my domain name reinforces a professional identity and emphasizes the Iceman Baldy brand; and I've included an About page with links to all of my other social networks to include my Twitter and Facebook profiles.

Trust Agents provides a solid map for become a person of influence online. With everybody calling themselves a social media expert these days, it's great to read an excellent piece of work that actually defines what it really means to have an online reputation that speaks for itself and truly defines that kind of internet expertise worthy of our time, attention, and trust.

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• Interview With 'Trust Agents' Chris Brogan and Julien Smith (danpatterson.com)
• The Evolution of A New Trust Economy (briansolis.com)
• Trust agents by Chris Brogan - Essential how to use social media - reading for people in travel and tourism (nomadshostels.com)

28 Days of Diversity

via 28daysofdiversity.com

Instead of trying to keep up with each person featured in Wayne Sutton's 28 Days of Diversity, I thought it would be better to feature the new website dedicate to all of these outstanding individuals. I hope you enjoy the series as much as I have and visit it each day during Black History Month to be exposed so someone new who is doing great things as a media influencer.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Announcing 28 Days of Diversity: From SocialWayne.com (icemanbaldy.com)

Announcing 28 Days of Diversity: From SocialWayne.com

Announcing 28 Days of Diversity: People of color impacting the social web. Day 1: Angela Benton

Wayne Sutton is One to Watch. Check out his blog at SocialWayne.com. As a salute to Black History Month, Wayne will feature a social media influencer of color for each of the 28 days of February. If you're trying to figure out how best to use social media in your business, this is a series you won't want to miss.

How to Create an Online Media Conglomerate

Once you've discovered your passion for online media through a niche where you have expertise and significant reach, how can you grow even bigger and nurture a community of people who share your interests?

Although there is no perfect path to fame and recognition (hopefully some measure of fortune will follow), I've grown a humble personal electronics blog into a five-factor online media organization that is helping me to become a thought leader in social media for black entrepreneurs. Consider the following as ways to grow your own media conglomerate:

Start with a blog.

A blog is at the foundation of your social media campaign. You will use your blog to frequently comment and post about those individuals and activities in your niche of interest to you and your target audience. Individuals will subscribe to your blog while you bookmark entries from your blog and send status updates about your blog to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social sites. As you become popular, and assuming your content is pretty good, people in your niche and elsewhere will link to your blog as an authority site.

When searches are conducted on your subject matter area, your weblog will be at the top of the search results. Your blog can become a powerful marketing tool all by itself. You should use other marketing efforts to exploit the strength of your blog as visitors join your community and your related sites while inviting their friends to so the same. You can see what I mean by looking at my blog at IcemanBaldy.com. My blog does well in managing my brand by itself while also pointing to several of my other web properties and building a community at the same time.

Organize a social network.

Ning is one of several free platforms available for creating your own social network. I use Ning to host BlackWebpreneur Network. BlackWebpreneur is a place for collaboration between business owners who have on online presence or who need to establish an online presence. Each member can create a profile page that highlights their expertise while posting content to an integrated blog along with pictures, video, and music of their choosing. All of the individual member contributions work together to create member-driven content for the benefit of all on the network.

Beyond using profiles to establish an online presence and connect with other entrepreneurs, there are also opportunities to interact with others in forum discussions and groups that can be created by members. By being the owner of your network, you become a de facto information maven and a key influencer in your niche.

Administer a topical forum.

Topical forums are very similar to social networks but use threaded discussion board formats which are preferred by some users over the multimedia bias of social networking profile formats. Topical forums tend to be better for search engine optimization and informational searches generally.  It's also easier to grow forums as the registration requirements tend to be more straightforward and users find updates and content easier to follow. You can visit my forum at Black Internet Marketing Forum.

I like having my own forum even more than having my own network because I own the system software, the content and the server space and don't need to rely on a platform provider and whatever changes that provider might decide to make on the system that can work to my benefit or detriment.

Become the Source of News in Your Niche.

This is a relatively new area for me. If your blog has a well-defined topical area, you may not need to fuss with this one. I've decided to use my blog for industry insight and personal commentary while trying my hand at an online newspaper focused on black entrepreneurial challenges during the start-up and early phases and using profiles of other entrepreneurs as encouragement and inspiration. Of course, the newspaper points back to my other web properties and does its part to grow my overall network and enhance my expertise. Check it out at The Hustletown Chronicle.

Summary

As your influence grows, you can use your combined online media presence to develop other offerings in your niche. Establish additional streams of revenue by offering products and services (books, seminars, consulting) that meet the needs of your niche. Your blog, forum, network or other web properties can provide excellent exposure for these offerings and many more. Capture attention through your blog content. Create interest by engaging your audience through your helpful expertise and social interactions. As your relationship with your target audience grows, capitalize on their desire to use your expertise in further developing their business. If you've been effective in your efforts to provide long-term value for your target audience, actions that generate ongoing revenue will encourage you to continue growing at an appropriate pace.

Real Estate + Social Media = Naomi Trower -- One to Watch

Real Estate + Social Media = Naomi Trower | thehustletownchronicle.com

This was added to THC (The Hustletown Chronicle--my latest project) as a prime example of an entrepreneur who has combined her passion for social media with her considerable experience in real estate to dominate a niche market. Naomi Trower is One to Watch.

White Papers and Black Business

The White Paper Pundit

A question came up on my forum about the definition of white papers and it occurred to me that many people may not realize the power of white papers as marketing tools.

The White Paper Pundit is a great blog with links to free white papers and tips about how to more effectively create your own. If you read my post about becoming number one in your niche, you may realize that white papers are a popular way of giving back. The blog is written by Jonathan Kantor and you may want to bookmark his White Paper Standards as a step-by-step guide to creating a solid white paper.

Four Keys to Becoming Number One in Your Niche

This is a quick and dirty marketing lesson from my dining room table while having a cup of coffee. Leave you competition wondering where the hell you came from with these four simple maxims.

1. Be present. Use your weblog or interactive website to establishes your expertise. Make this site your headquarters where everything else that you do both points to and originates from this center.
2. Get social. Make sure your presence is attractive through being easy to navigate, free of unnecessary clutter but chock full of ways for visitors to join your network, email list or RSS feed while also being able to share your posts and invite others to join or visit your site.
3. Be engaging. Your site or blog needs consumable content that feeds a need for information and/or entertainment. Either answer burning questions or provide instructional insight, or entertain the curious--whatever you do, give folks a reason to visit and more importantly, a reason to come back.
4. Give back. Keep your site open as a portal to your personality and perspective. When people comment or link to your site, let them know you appreciate the love. When you're asked questions, answer them promptly and professionally. Reach out to those who are members of forums or networks that you belong to and provide them with any help that you can provide without being concerned about how you can personally benefit. Make objective recommendations about products or services that others might find helpful.

By being present, getting social, being engaging and giving back you will become a virally successful expert in your niche. As you continue to grow a following and dominate your niche, over time you'll create enough interest in your products and services to more than compensate you for your generosity.

Planet Mogul: A Multimedia Black Business Resource

Planet Mogul features a radio show, topical blogs, business directories and a resource repository neatly integrated within a crisply designed site. The principals offer excellent perspectives on entrepreneurship and the resource links point to some of the best tools and content on the internet. The site is more of a portal to featured links rather than offering its own content; however, the video-hosted radio shows are very good and will likely become a very popular feature if continued with regular frequency.

Small Business Email Marketing Software | Small Business Trends

via smallbiztrends.com

All you ever wanted to know about several email marketing clients has been gathered nicely together in one place. This is a wonderful summary of many of the more popular applications.

Great Resource Sites for Entrepreneurs on a Budget

These sites have enough free stuff to keep you happy about being broke. The ebooks, articles and so much more are all excellent.

The Kauffman Foundation - The world's largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship.org - Fostering Entrepreneurship Worldwide

 

ZeroMillion - Resources, support and collaboration between entrepreneurs globally

Eliminate Spam -- Spend Time Taking Care of Your Site

Some people wonder how the Black Internet Marketing Forum continues to grow so quickly with so little spam given all the automated ways that people try to join your social network for the sole purpose of frivolous marketing. I can tell you that I've had my share of spam on my forum in the past and until I actually took some proactive steps toward getting rid of it and disallowing it in the first place, it was a real source of frustration and diminished forum value.

You can do a few easy things to almost eliminate spam entirely from your website or weblog:

• Use human verification options like Captcha or other image scripts that require an actual person to examine a series of characters that are unreadable by character recognition software and require manual input.
• Manually approve memberships or comments by requiring answers to screening questions where you determine if the answers are sufficient. This will require constant monitoring so that you don't allow membership request to pile up and will slow down the growth of your site or individual willingness to provide comments. You have to pick between the lesser of two evils.
• Monitor site activity and comments. I have my forum set up to notify me via email when there are pending memberships and my network activity is set up to post to a special Twitter account via RSS feeds. I use these automated functions to stay on top of what's happening with my sites so that I can intervene when necessary to remove or disallow any spam content that other attempt to post and ban any current offending members who may have slipped through my safeguards.

These methods require additional time and effort from you or others designated by you to watch over your sites. Depending on the level of spam you may be receiving (or will receive once your site becomes popular), the time you invest minimizing spam will pay off in focused member interactions that are free from frivolous and unnecessary distractions.

The Fastest Way to Make A Million Dollars -- My Cash Building Strategies

A lot of my blog readers want to know about the fastest way to make a million dollars online. Here's a free headstart. It's a free ebook courtesy of the Black Internet Marketing Forum. Thirty-nine pages, 319KB via direct download. Enjoy!

Open Books on the Iceman Bookshelf: Stuff You Might Want to Read

In my ongoing quest to improve my expertise as an online marketing go-to person, I've cracked open several good books that I hope to finish before the next millennium. This is what I'm reading right now:

Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. It's a comprehensive guide that is really eight books in one that covers topics to include Establishing a Web Presence, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Online Advertising & Pay-Per-Click, E-Mail Marketing, Blogging & Podcasting, Social Media Marketing, and Mobile Marketing. It's a whopping 894 pages so I might be reading for a while.

Clear Blogging. How People are Changing the World and How you can Join Them. This book is an updated tutorial on how to become an effective blogger while also providing interviews from key bloggers who are making a impact in a variety of fields. Even if you're a veteran blogger, you'll find that this book offers some helpful advice on the future of blogging and what you need to do today to be prepared for blogging tomorrow.

The Social Media Bible. I don't know if which came first--this book or the Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies volume--but this big boy holds its own at 821 pages ot tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. Also copyrighted in 2009, it promises a comprehensive overview of social media to include providing a social media framework, an introduction to tools and applications in fifteen different categories, and mini-exercises and assessments to help you conduct a social media audit and craft a strategy for your business.

I've also got a few titles stored on my Kindle wireless e-book reader. I've got plenty of books, now I just have to find time to read.

I'm Having My Blog Critiqued: Be Careful What You Ask For

I've joined a new forum created by Darren Rouse of ProBlogger--it's called the Problogger Community. One of the features of the forum is weblog critiques from Bloggers who are fairly expert at what they do who offer tips for improvement for any brave blogger willing to submit their site for a critical review. I am one of those brave bloggers.

Since submitting my blog for review in the forum, I've received several comments that have helped me to improve my blog. Some of the comments are related to general layout suggestions and others deal with more advanced issues like search engine optimization and HTML coding errors. I'll continue to tweak my sites (yes, some of the comments even addressed how my weblog integrates with my other sites)with an eye on getting better and increasing their reach.

Iceman Baldy's Organizational Design: Part Two of A Three Part Review

In Part One, I covered my primary interests along six priorities. In Part Two, I'll review secondary and support initiatives that assist me in promoting Iceman Baldy sites and services which include:

• Squidoo lenses
• Twitter accounts for Iceman Baldy and BlackWebpreneur
• A Facebook profile and Fan page
• A LinkedIn profile
• Ning network marketing

Part 2

Do You Squidoo? Squidoo is my secret weapon for powerful promotional automation. I use Squidoo's platform to create standalone pages (Squidoo calls each page a lens) about topics where I have an interest in sharing my expertise. Using pre-formatted modules, I create sections on my pages that effectively present my content to lens visitors. These modules might include pictures, special graphics, text formatting, or even Amazon, eBay or other linked content where I receive a share in the revenue generated from clicking on those links.

For the most part, I try to include linked content that enhances the subject matter of my lens thereby increasing its usefulness and the chance that my links will be clicked. I've also included modules for discussion topics, voting, debates, and social picks where my readers rank links and/or add links to an interactive list. Like many other power-users, I've used Squidoo to create a lensography--a lens that showcases my work on the internet. I've also linked lenses together by making several lenses that relate to a shared topic and having a navigational link module incorporated at the top of each.

The possibilities are entirely up to your creative use of the platform. Squidoo is a popular destination for informational searches. Good lenses rank well in search engines and put some nice change in your pocket if you use popular revenue modules.

All A Twitter About Twitter. You would be surprised at how many people still don't know what Twitter is. Fewer still effectively use Twitter to market their businesses. Twitter is not a substitute for blogging nor is it intended to be the sole means of connecting with your readers although some people don't use anything else other than Twitter for their online networking. Twitter is a quick, easy, convenient, and wildly popular platform for anybody know what you're up to right now. Using excellent third-party developed tools, you can really maximize your use of the platform. My Twitter accounts are scheduled to automatically post updates from my weblogs, my forum, and my network.

The power of Twitter comes in being selective about who you inform, what you inform them about, and how you inform them. If you want to strictly use Twitter for social updates with a small circle of friends, you can do that too but if you're reading this weblog, you probably have sense that there's much more that can be done. A good starting place to get your bearings and a view on some great tools is my resource page on strategic internet marketing with Twitter.

Ning is the Thing. If you've ever wanted to own the social community that you belong to with control over the look feel and content, then Ning is indeed the thing. By making full use of the profile page features on the networks that I belong to, I'm able to actively promote my weblog and websites while broadening my connections with like-minded people. Being in control of my network also builds my credibility and enhances my reputation as an expert. The BlackWebpreneur Network is just one illustration of how I've used Ning to create your own community.

Linking in with LinkedIn. If you left MySpace to join Facebook over concerns about spam and too much non-focused friend collecting with not enough targeted networking, then LinkeIn may be the next logical step in managing your connections. Often used by professionals to maintain contact with past associates while reaching out to current colleagues, LinkedIn is also a great place to connect with other business owners and online entrepreneurs. LinkedIn, more than other sites, requires that you maintain a high level of professionalism in order to develop relationships with others on the site. Spam and self-serving promotions are discouraged and unwelcome--this is a place for serious networking only. I'm been able to effectively use LinkedIn to reach a new group of determined professionals and I'm looking forward to growing my presence on this very promising site.

In Part Three, I'll review those tools and resources that help me most in maintaining all of these efforts through effective promotion, social aggregation, and social bookmarking.

Don't Let Distractions Become Your Undoing

This is a post that I began writing some time ago and then I got caught up in other things and don't believe it was ever posted to my blog. As you can see, I've been busy and haven't had an update here in a few days. I was busy doing productive and profitable stuff but far busier wasting time on socializing and not striking the right balance between making conversation and making money. When I read this post as a note in my to-do file, I was inspired to complete it and post it here as a reminder to myself and advice for others.

It's so easy to get caught up in developing new business and working on new projects that you may not realize how much you're neglecting your current clients and loyal customers. We've all been guilty of losing track of time and not keeping in contact as much as we should. It seems the busier you get, the easier it is to stay busy but you've got to make the time to keep in touch.

It does take discipline. It also takes an organizational system. Whether a calendar, electronic organizer, contact management system or assistant (real or virtual), you need some help to make sure that you are an effective manager of time and relationships.

Some of the best ways to stay in touch with your customers leverage what you're already doing. Here are a few quick ideas:

• If you have a website that features news or a current events or topical weblog, either syndicate your best items or posts from a specific period of time and send those to your customers in an email summary.
• If your product or service would be even better if your customers only knew of some common shortcuts or tips that would help them analyze, evaluate, install, own or use (A, E, I, O, U) your product, send these tips over a series of notes or messages or offer it as a free and helpful guide. This might also be a way of generating some viral traffic by including a link to your site and products throughout the compiled document.
• Use an email service to offer a course or series of articles that your customers would find helpful. Like the shortcuts and tips idea above, this offering shows for concern for your patrons and builds some reciprocal goodwill that will pay dividends in the future.
• Commit to an editorial calendar and publishing schedule that makes sense for you with all you have going on. Track the frequency of your messages and try not to lose touch with your customers for more than a month. Find complimentary offers and products that you can offer for free so that your messages are received positively and eagerly.
• Respond to comments and messages from others on your social networks at one time during the week during a period dedicated to this activity. It's important that if you join these networks that you also contribute and communicate with friends but you have to manage the time you spend on this or you won't get anything else done.

Effective communication is an art but the systematic efficiency of your communication is where you need to apply some science. Create a methodology that works for you and as you follow through on keeping in contact, you'll create a networking habit that will become second nature and solidify your bottom line.

Your Internet Business Portfolio: Know When to Hold 'em, Know When to Fold 'em.

Things change quickly in internet time. New ideas are born and often die before most folks even find out about the initial thought. Such is the case with OnOffOnOff.com, the social network I created for those who love social networks. I billed it as the place to satisfy your social networking addiction. The irony is that I found I didn't have time to keep posting stuff and more importantly, during the month it was up and running, I didn't see enough interest or visitor traffic to justify the effort.

It was a good idea but without real interest or more effective marketing, it became less fun and more work than worthwhile. There's a fine line between giving up on something too quickly and knowing that you're spending time being distracted by a project that may have little to no payoff. In my case, deciding to discontinue the social network has allowed me to integrate what I was doing there within my niche network. I've essentially narrowed the focus in a space where I know I have an interested audience.

My desire to share social networking tips and resources is even higher now that I'm not trying to reach everyone in the world who uses social networking sites. I also had an opportunity to put the free forum creation application, Lefora.com, to good use and can provide those who are curious about using it with my own experienced based recommendation.

When you're working toward establishing multiple streams on online income, don't be quick to jump from one thing to another--give each project proper time and attention to make a solid evaluation of whether it will work for your or not. If you make a little money, that's a good indication that with proper effort and time you can make even more.

Likewise, don't be afraid to try new things as your time permits and current projects become stable and repeatable on their own. You'll have success and you'll experience failure. The key is knowing when to stay and play and knowing when to walk away (or when to run).

Creating A Memorable Domain Name

Ideas for the most creative and memorable domain names often come from asking yourself a question and then checking a search engine for possible answers. If you find that your search keywords or phrase has a lot of results but there is no definitive domain listed among those results, you may have stumbled upon a great domain name opportunity.

Here's a personal example: One day I was wondering what was the most popular website in the world. I searched for the phrase, the most popular website in the world on Google and the search box results showed over 90 million possible results as I was typing the words.

The actual results returned various sponsored ads and a list of links based on others who asked the question or sites promoting themselves as the most popular. Oddly enough, the actual phrase was not being used as a domain name.

So I bought it.

It took a little longer than I would have liked to become active on the internet after I changed my DNS settings, but I'm pleased with my choice. I can proudly proclaim that I literally own http://TheMostPopularWebsiteInTheWorld and maybe it will generate some traffic to my other sites.

I don't know if I'll try to generate revenue on a site with the domain name or if it may become a domain that I flip for a profit some time in the future. For now, we'll just see how much traffic is generated out of pure curiosity and my own small promotional efforts.

Here's a personal example: One day I was wondering what was the most popular website in the world. I searched for the phrase, the most popular website in the world on Google and the search box results showed over 90 million possible results as I was typing the words.

The actual results returned various sponsored ads and a list of links based on others who asked the question or sites promoting themselves as the most popular. Oddly enough, the actual phrase was not being used as a domain name.

So I bought it.

It took a little longer than I would have liked to become active on the internet after I changed my DNS settings, but I'm pleased with my choice. I can proudly proclaim that I literally own http://TheMostPopularWebsiteInTheWorld and maybe it will generate some traffic to my other sites.

I don't know if I'll try to generate revenue on a site with the domain name or if it may become a domain that I flip for a profit some time in the future. For now, we'll just see how much traffic is generated out of pure curiosity and my own small promotional efforts.

2009 Blogging While Brown

Dante Lee was kind enough to share information about the 2009 Blogging While Brown conference to be held in Chicago, Illinois on June 19th and 20th of this year. This is the second event of its kind for bloggers of color from around the world. This year's theme is "Living Well by Doing Good." Read more about what you can expect by visting Dante's blog or the Blogging While Brown website.

8/29/98 Friday Freebie: The Black Internet Marketers Guide to Squidoo

This guide will provide needed assistance to those internet marketers and business people who are new to Squidoo or curious about its use as a tool for building traffic, visibility, and expertise for their businesses and services. Squidoo is among the most popular and profitable of the social networks available for serious marketing initiatives. An understanding of how to use Squidoo to its fullest potential will distinguish your marketing efforts and pay both tangible (cash) and intangible dividends (visibility and search rankings) over the long term.

Get the Black Internet Marketers Guide to Squidoo at our forum. It's a free download and you are free to share it with your friends.

A Quick Lesson from the Harvard Business School: Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

Times are tough and the need to step up your marketing game is more intense than ever. Professor John Quelch of HBS provides some quick strategies on how to compete for fewer customers spending less money during difficult financial times. Good, fast reading: Marketing Your Way Through a Recession — HBS Working Knowledge.

BuzzologySurveys: African Americans More Likely To Blog

According to this source, BuzzologySurveys: African Americans More Likely To Blog, a higher number of African-Americans blog than exist in the general population. I'm working on compiling a resource site of popular African-American blogs that I've come across that is evidence of the growing popularity of black blogs. Being an election year, the number of people blogging has increased dramatically as people around the world are using the internet to discuss this historic period in American politics. Black blogs have been front and center as the action transpires everyday. Blogs on art, entertainment, and popular culture are also growing and receiving attention from a diverse readership. What are you waiting on? Get going on your own blog and give people a reason to seek your expertise as a means of expanding the market for your products and services.

Something Special for the Millionaire Minded: Ice Cold Lessons in Internet Marketing

I've added an email course to my product line. It's called Ice Cold Lessons in Internet Marketing. It's currently scheduled to run for 26 weeks and I'm considering making it a year-long, free weekly email course of 52 lessons depending on it's popularity. Once the course has run its first term, I'll publish an ebook option for those who want to download it in full. You can start receiving it immediately by signing up below.

I want to get on the fast track to online success. Please sign me up for your free weekly Ice Cold Lessons in Internet Marketing.
Name:
Email:

2008 African-American/Black Market Profile

African American purchasing power will be over one trillion dollars by 2012 according to Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). MPA has issued a new edition of the “African-American/Black Market Profile" via this press release: MPA Press Releases--2008 African-American/Black Profile. Market profiles for African American, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Teens are available for immediate download at no cost here. MPA’s Market Profiles provide vital information for marketers targeting specific segments of the population.

Blogging with iPhone Video Update and Lessons Learned

You may have received updates about my tutorial video on blogging with the iPhone. I recorded several takes last night in my state-of-the-art dining room tabletop studio but could not get the audio to work once I transferred the video to my computer. I'm using a JVC Everio hard drive camera that has caused difficulty for others trying to do the same thing but had to give up after several attempts and a puppy begging for my attention. As soon as I get the audio figured out, you can look forward to this and other video seminars and reviews. Watch out Paramount, here I come. Interestingly enough, while working through my silent movie demonstrations of remote blogging, I discovered several disadvantages of iPhone blogging: 1. Whether you use the keyboard in landscape mode or portrait orientation, you MUST review your entry for spelling errors. I pride myself on being a fairly critical editor but for all its ease of use and predictive text glory, the iPhone keyboard is not as error-free as the chicklet keyboards found on Treos, Q's, iPAQ's, Blackjacks, etc. I would purchase a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone without a second thought but so far Apple has not released drivers for this use and probably won't as they believe the virtual keyboard is sufficient. It's good, just not great for extended typing if you don't have extended patience. 2. Lack of copy and paste functionality continues to be a big problem. You can't drag over text and use a hotkey combination to copy, place your cursor, and then paste. Bloggers need this for easy hyperlinking within their entries. On the iPhone, the only workarounds I've figured out are to share a page link by emailing the link to your blog email address and editing the content of the message around the included link or worse, writing the web address out on a piece of paper and retyping it into a blog post. Depending on the number of links you want to include in a message and the length of the addresses, this is only practical for short messages with easily transcribed web addresses. 3. While I'm on the topic of hotkeys, shortcut functions seem to be missing on the iPhone. With Palm devices, you can customize shortcuts to allow you to insert preferred text strings when the shortcut commands are executed. This feature is great for inserting long names or email addresses and any other text you use often. Given the probability that you will make typing mistakes with the iPhone, it would be wonderful to have the ability to create custom shortcuts. Bloggers would use them for writing HTML to avoid the back and forth shifting between letters, numbers, and special symbols on three iPhone keyboards and when logging on to social networks and forums that require your email address as your account name. It's all about ease of data entry and minimizing mistakes that waste time. This post is long enough and since I'm using my iPhone, I need to re-read it to check for errors. Scrolling up and down within large text boxes while using the on-screen keyboard would be my fourth issue with using the iPhone for blogging. The screen doesn't always respond to the fine level of scrolling required to do this quickly and you'll need to play around a little to get the cursor placed. All in all, it works and hopefully it will get better as the phone software and hardware are enhanced. The video is coming soon and once it's up, you'll be among the first to know.

Thinking About Getting Your Book Published in 2008? Check out This Post Called Black and Self-published.

Black Business Women Online offers this great post by Lashanda Henry on how to get your book self-published using lulu.com. This is the first in a series of posts on the subject of self-publishing. Lashanda is quite the Black Webpreneur and she maintains several well-developed websites.  She is a great example of how to get your e-commerce thing going online.

Do you Need A Web Consultant for your Black Business?

This article at Problogger by Laura Kulpa offers the Pros and Cons of making a decision to invest in a web consultant. You can profit from the experience of a professional and avoid wasting your own time on a site that remains deficient after all of your hard work but you'll cut into your profits because good help ain't cheap. If you're serious about making a living for yourself on the web, you'll likely need to invest some time in learning some of this stuff on your own anyway. Take a look and consider your options.

Downloadable Website Building Checklist

Black Enterprise ran this article about a website building checklist from Maisha Walker's Message Medium. The checklist will help you to break your (large) goal of launching your Website into small steps that can be accomplished one at a time. Before you know it, all the items will be crossed off your list! You can get the checklist here.

Haiku Blogging to Stay Focused

Looking for a way to make the most of your internet marketing time online? Try Haiku Blogging as suggested in this post by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits as referenced by Darren Rouse of ProBlogger. Leo offers four key ways of becoming more productive and minimizing distractions by limits on your blogging hours, communication, promotional activities, and stat checking that are certain to keep you more focused on providing value and getting paid.

African Americans Still on Wrong Side of Digital Divide

New information has been released suggesing that African Americans Still Lag Online - eMarketer. Internet usage is tracked by Race and ethnicity for Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and others from 2006 and projected through 2011. Although the gap is closing, only 12% of internet users will be African American in 2011 with non-Hispanic whites comprising 70.3%. Today, the numbers for internet usage are 11.0% for African Americans and 73.3% non-Hispanic whites. The percentage of computer use within each set of users is higher than the internet usage but the overall low level of internet usage in our community needs to become much greater as the internet becomes even more influential for communication and informational media than radio, television or print media.