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back to top Featured Article: Were You Born Walking? (C) Copyright By Stephanie Mulac Wow, I heard it again today, “I’m not stupid, really I’m not!” This was a comment from a Newbie who was expressing her frustration with the mountain of concepts and skills she was facing while trying to get started in Internet Marketing. And what does she currently do for a living? She’s a biologist! Yes, a biologist with accreditations a mile long and she felt the need to “convince” me she was not ‘stupid?’ Her statement would have surprised me if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve heard it hundreds times over my 15 year career in the computer industry. There is something about computers and technology that reduces the best and the brightest to their knees. They somehow feel that because technology is all around them, that they are inept if they haven’t absorbed it all by osmosis. And yet, as I have posed the question over and over, did they feel “stupid” the first time they got behind the wheel of a car because they couldn’t drive immediately? Could someone who had never seen a cockpit, jump in the seat and fly high into the sky? And yes, were ANY of us born walking? At one point or another in all of our lives there was a task or a skill that we knew nothing about. And likewise, after learning, studying, practicing… we now perform that skill without a second thought. So why then should the Internet be any different? Why should registering a domain name or building a website be considered a skill we were born with? It is all about learning and taking little steps. It is about starting somewhere and building a foundation from that point forward. But most importantly, no one should ever make you feel like a second class citizen because you don’t know the proper html coding to create a hyperlink – in fact, you’re not even “stupid” if you didn’t understand the first part of this sentence! It is critical that you develop a mindset that you are embarking on a new and exciting adventure in whatever you are in the process of pursuing. It is a grand and glorious time of learning! Each day you will add to your bank of knowledge and accomplish something that you previously may not have even known existed. And the learning never stops! Because, yes, it becomes addictive. Once you take that first step, you want to take another, and another and pretty soon, much like the infant learning to walk you are exploring the whole room. And no sooner than you make it across the room, you realize there is another room adjacent to the first. Then there is the outside world to explore – what great excitement THAT will be. And so on and so on… This, my dear friends is how you should approach each day and each new task that is facing you on your journey to Internet success and marketing fortunes (or any other endeavors you are pursuing for that matter!) Like the little child who is exploring new territory for the first time, you too should bring that same enthusiasm into your world. And when you fall? Don’t think you’re the first and get your head right that it won’t be the last! Embrace the mistakes that you make along the way, because in reality, it is from the mistakes that you will learn the most. What is revealed to you through the course of faltering is a greater education about something new. Even the noted Marketing Guru’s have words for it that place a positive spin on the whole concept: They “test” their copy, and they “sample” their audience. They don’t call it “trial and error,” but in essence that’s exactly what it is and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Because what works today might not work tomorrow, and what is a hot seller this week may be outdated by technological advances that are already in the works around the world before you get up in the morning. And through it all, you will be better for the experience, so embrace it. Mistakes are NOT fatal! They are stepping stones to new avenues! So the next time you hear someone say, “I’m not stupid…” or the next time you start to utter those words yourself, stop dead in your tracks and picture this in your mind’s eye: A little child pulls himself up and takes his first step, then takes a shaky second step and plops to the ground. He looks up at the expectant adults holding cameras nearby and says, “I’m not stupid, really, I’m not!” Hold this picture in your mind and you will never again feel compelled to apologize for your lack of knowledge in an area that you have never experienced before, I promise! -=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=- Reprint permission granted with this resource box intact. Stephanie Mulac is the publisher of 90 PERCENT ATTITUDE. Subscribe to her FREE Motiviational Newsletter and Bonuses. http://www.90percentattitude.com/90pa_newsletter.htm For Newbies & Pros alike, she also Highly Recommends: Everything Needed To Build a Fortune Online! http://www.90percentattitude.com/pbi/ ============================================= This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subscriber Comments, Keep Em Coming :) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It's been a quiet week on the feedback front, and I haven't had time to look up any "cool links" for you guys this week, sorry about that. Hopefully things will get busier this week, huh? ;~) (Hi guys, this is where i need your feedback, send it on in so I can post it here. Include your link in your sig for that extra bit of free advertising, ok?) Got something to say? Drop me a line. Know of a cool site? Drop me another line. Got any ideas for making the ezine even better for you? You know the drill: Drop me yet another line... I really enjoy hearing from you all. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ back to top Featured Article: The WRONG Way To WRITE Articles Copyright 2005 Steve Shaw As you no doubt already know, writing articles is probably the most effective way to promote your web site. It's a very simple principle - publishers want a vast quantity of good quality content that they do not have to pay for; you provide that content, with the proviso that at the bottom of your article, they include your resource box with a link to your web site. It's a win-win situation. With your article published on heaps of web sites, and in several ezines, it's enough to set your traffic counter spinning. However, I see many articles that are simply not written in a way that will maximize the benefits for the author. Minor mistakes can turn an article that would otherwise get published several times and achieve a great deal for the author, into an article that is barely published and discarded by most publishers into the trash. By avoiding these common mistakes, your article will appeal much more to publishers, and you will see the results from your article submissions vastly improve: 1. Do Not Write A Solo Ad Many authors make the mistake of submitting articles that are actually little more than solo advertisements for their web sites. Containing little helpful information, they read like a sales letter and then urge the reader to visit their web site - and that's before you get to the resource box. The chances of such an article getting published are virtually zero. Publishers are looking for an informative article, a quality piece that they can publish in order to benefit their readership and their visitors. This means that including a link to your own web site in the article body is generally a no-no, unless for example, you are linking to a helpful article that adds further to the information you have included and is in context. Your article should not read like a promotional vehicle for a particular product or service. 2. Do Not Include Affiliate Links The site of an affiliate link within your article is a big turn-off for publishers - unless your article is highly informative and of an extremely high quality, but that is quite rare. Generally, if you want to maximize your chances of publication, avoid including affiliate links in your article. You can sometimes get away with it, if for example you include a link to a straight domain that actually forwards via your affiliate link to another web site. The publisher might not notice, as it appears to be a straightforward web site link, but I find it quite sneaky and dishonest, and I would not generally recommend it. 3. Avoid Spelling Mistakes The sight of a spelling mistake in an article is another big turn-off for publishers. It turns what could otherwise be an acceptable article with good chances of publication, into a poor quality article that will end up in the trash. Publishers are busy people - they don't have time to edit out your mistakes. But the main point is that spelling mistakes leave a Very Bad Impression - it points to a lack of care on your part, and reduces the credibility of the information provided in the article. Take a minute to run your article through a spell checker - there's a free one online at http://www.spellcheck.net/ - before you submit it. You may be surprised at what you failed to spot. 4. Do Not Include Hype In Your Resource Box While your resource box can include a link to your web site, it should not read like an advert. I see many resource boxes that read like over-hyped promotional material more at home on a classified ad page. Your resource box should contain some brief information about you as an author, with a link to your web page - nothing more. A badly written, overly-promotional resource box can cause a publisher to reject your article, even if your article would otherwise have been accepted - the simple reason is that such a hyped-up resource box would 'lower the tone' of their publication, and turn off their readership. That's obviously not what they want to do. Just respect your potential publishers, and keep your resource box brief and to the point. As long as you avoid these common mistakes, you are on the right track, and you should see the results from your article submissions greatly improve. -=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=- Steve Shaw provides systems and software for effective e-marketing. Find out more about how to publish articles for profit online with his popular free ecourse, available at: => http://www.takanomi.com/publish-articles.php ============================================= This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
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