8. June 2009 by admin.

Summer time is almost upon us.  I do love summer even though it is accompanied by swarms of biting insects.  The good thing about summer is the fact that Spring is almost over.

Now don’t take me wrong.  I do love Spring because it brings many song birds to our yard.  It brings colorful flowers.  My fruit trees, berry bushes and grape vines come alive again with the anticipation of delicious fruits later on.  The animals of our forest have their babies and young bambies romp in our fields.  Plus Spring is the most productive time of year for eager entrepreneurs to build their business.

So why would I want Spring to be almost over?   Because so many people are looking to build their empire and regain control over their lives, a lot of less-than-honorable individuals come out of the woodwork and attempt to make a fast buck off the hopes and dreams of others.

It seems that this Spring brought out a slew of Internet Matrix programs with the allure of the promise to make you wealthy overnight by doing little or no work.  “Join our forced matrix program and our heavy hitters who are just above me will fill your matrix for you and all of your dreams and wishes will be fulfilled.  All you have to do is pay $2, $5, $7, $10, etc and we will do the rest for you.”

Now  $2, $5, $7, $10, etc isn’t much money and many people spend more than that on lottery tickets every day so what’s the big deal.

As I see it there are two main problems here, maybe three.  It’s kind of like an alcoholic or heron addict.  Just one drink won’t hurt you and then another isn’t bad either.  Before you know it you’re lost.  Maybe that’s why lotteries work so well.  People figure “What’s $1 or $2?  Then they spend $1 or $2 daily hoping for the big homerun which never happens because the odds are with the owners.  They end up spending hundreds every month.

Eventually people give up on matrix programs because they aren’t getting rich like their sponsors promised.  The big heavy hitters are gaining more wealth while the people that join because of their promises continue to loose money, never to see any profit.

However, loosing the money isn’t the worst thing.  People just plain give up on ever regaining control of their lives, to taste the sweet taste of freedom from debt and money worries.  To me that is the greatest harm.

That being said, matrix programs or most any other networking programs on the Internet, if run by honest people who are loaded with integrity, will work.  You just need to understand the rules and how to play the game.

I will cover the rules and how to play the game in my next article.

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6. June 2009 by admin.

I look for many ways to advertise for free or for little money and I have learned a lot of things along the way.  At this point the main form of my advertising is Traffic Exchanges.

Do they work?  Well, yes and no.  If you are like most people who use Traffic Exchanges, you will use an affiliate landing page or website to post on your Traffic Exchanges.  If this describes you then most likely Traffic Exchanges are not working for you.

However if you designed and are using your own landing page then your Traffic Exchanges may be working for you.  I say “may be” because there are still some things you need to consider.

First, you must accept the fact that most people who use Traffic Exchanges are doing what I am doing and that is surfing to get credits so my site will be shown to others.  If you use more than one traffic exchange, like I do, then expect that the average surfer will spend about ½ to 1 second looking at your site.

This means that you must do something to your site to grab their attention in that blink of an eye.  This is where most sites also fail.  They throw in a lot of text or no text and just a cute picture (sometimes this can work provided the picture easily tells a story).  The text they do use is often too small to catch one’s attention quickly and the text does not inspire some action.

When you use a website or landing page that you made or that was mass produced by the company you are promoting, it is important that the “Call to Action” text is above the “Fold”, meaning the viewer does not have to scroll down the page to read it.

Also with all of the browser tools to protect you from hackers and other devious scum bags (I bet you can tell that I have a very low opinion of people who try to hurt others or steal from others.), it is important to not have fancy things on your landing page or website that you use for Traffic Exchanges.

For example, I use FireFox and with my add-ons a couple of things happen.  If the site I go to is a redirect site then FireFox asks if I want to “allow” the redirect website.  I always say “NO” and therefore never even see the site and I still get credit for viewing it.

I also recently added “Scripts” which blocks everything on the website except the basic content.  Then I need to choose if I want that cute audio to play, that stunning video to start, that statistics counter to activate, and so on.  While surfing I just ignore these and therefore never see your great flash presentation and so on.

Granted, most people don’t take advantage of all this protection.  Eventually they will, thanks to the scum bags of the world who are too lazy to earn a living in an honest manner or who just want to make others as miserable as they are.

Finally, I shut off my sound when I surf, just in case an audio or video does start.  Listening to anything except soft background music while I am surfing is totally annoying to me.  I take that back.  I do sometimes surf while watching TV.

With all that has been said, how does one successfully make use of Traffic Exchanges?  Great question and I really don’t have any great answer because your results for what you are doing may be different from mine.  This means that you need to TEST your advertising to see what works best.

[Side Bar: I just came across a new service this morning that does the testing for you, in a general way.  They test many different forms of advertising and then they post their results so that their members can get a good idea of what forms of advertising and advertising sites to use.  Of course you still need to test for your own results for your landing pages or ads.]

This is what I have done and will be doing to make my advertising efforts more productive:

•    I make my own landing page advertising websites so I can control how they look and work plus track my results.
•    My focus is (or should be) on building a relationship first and then selling.  To do this I need names and email addresses.
•    To get names and email addresses I must give something of value in exchange for their contact information.
•    I am working on making my landing pages more captivating to motivate viewers to take action and give me their contact information or at least visit my main website where they can give me their contact information in exchange for a valuable gift.

You may be saying to yourself: “This is a lot of work and I don’t have the skill or tools to make my own website.”  I didn’t have the skills and tools either and I learned the skills and got the tools.  It’s that important to your success.

I believe this is the number one main reason why so many people fail at developing a successful online home-based business.  We have all been taught from birth to look for and expect the easy road and the fast road to our destination with little or no work.

Well, in the real world it just doesn’t happen that way.  There is no passive or “we do all the work for you” programs in existence unless you have the money to have someone else do it for you.

This is my offer: If you are serious about making a successful internet business and you are willing to work, then I will help you, up to a point.  I had to add “up to a point” because I will not do the work for you.  I said I will “HELP” you.  That’s a big difference.  As of today, my help will not have a dollar price on it.  If I get too many people taking me up on my offer, I may have to rethink my offer.
Since very few people will ever see this article then I don’t expect to be bombarded with a lot of requests for assistance.

Also keep in mind that I am not a guru, a master web designer, or anything else.  I am just an ordinary (well I really think I am much more than ordinary) guy who loves helping people.  Now that I am retired, I don’t get the opportunity to help as much as I used to and I kind of miss that.

Send me an email at gary@MasterYourUniverse.com if you would like to talk further.

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6. June 2009 by admin.

[BIPIP = Believe In Passive Income Programs]

[FF-WDTWFYP = Fall For - We Do The Work For You Programs]

Do you become weak in the knees every time you see those “make a gazillion dollars in one week through passive work” ads?  Isn’t “passive work” a conflict of words?

Do you reach for your wallet every time you get an email with the subject saying: “Limited positions for our no-work Rags-to-Riches Program”?

Hmmm, I might just try that subject line to see how many people with FF-WDTWFYP join me.  On the other hand, maybe not.  The last thing I want are people who only want a hand out instead of a hand up.

I just read that The US Government has recently released figures that estimate no fewer than 300 Americans fall prey to a fraudulent enterprise every 60 seconds of the day.  When you fall for the BIPIP and FF-WDTWFYP lines then you stand a good chance you will be one of those 300.

Yes, there are many good ways to make a lot of money on the Internet.  However, unless you have lots of money for advertising, they all require some work on your part.  In most cases the work is easy and the learning curve is short.

You will need to plan to set aside at least 50 minutes of actual productive work each day and stay with your chosen program for at least 97 days (note: the first 28 days are critical) if you want your business to be a success.

If you are the type of person who has been struggling to make money online and you are willing to do some work and you would like to work with me, please email me at gary@masteryouruniverse.com with “Hand Up” in the subject line or click this link: mailto:gary@masteryouruniverse.com?subject=Hand_Up

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