DonnaAbreu.com » Uncategorized

Lifestyle, stop and smell the coffee!!

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:03:23 +0000

Start living the Lifestyle of a Home Based Business Entrepreneur. If you have chosen to do this full-time, begin enjoying the Home Based Business Possibilities. Here is what I mean:

Sit on your deck, and have a cup of coffee one morning. Enjoy the moment of not rushing around. Take in the sights and sounds of a Morning. The clouds, blue sky, birds…and drink an entire cup of coffee. Enjoy that moment.
Before you get to work on advertising or blogging, exercise. Take advantage of the fact you can jog or walk around the neighborhood, work out from home. Enjoy the notion and the silence of the house. Crank up the music, exercise your body. Enjoy the moment you are in, you are at HOME working out!!!!
Take one day and make your Home Office yours. What I mean is, decorate it, have fun with. Remember your not in a cubicle. Make it alive, make it a place you want to work from on a daily basis. This is your new work home, don’t wait to make sales to build the office of your dreams…make it a reality today.
Buy Work from Home Clothes. I really believe that if you have specific clothes that you wear as a Home Based Business Entrepreneur, makes a vibe. Whether they are casual or business casual, make them yours!! Comfortable, Creative, but new, that have new Energy.

This is the most exciting time of your Professional Life. Enjoy the little moments. Don’t get worked up about every detail of every day. Don’t forget to take small moments to enjoy the lifestyle.

GOAL SETTING….

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:20:46 +0000

You know running a Home Based Business is no different functionally than that of a Fortune 500 Company. The difference is, a Fortune 500 Company, has been planning for and will be planning for the years to come. However, all of those Companies, started from a Garage “See Amazon”, small 100 Sq Foot Home Office “See PayChex”, or the bedroom of a Teenage Boy, who sold a chunk for 700 million “See FaceBook”. Here is what they and you have in common:

Each one of these People had a Desire and Passion for what they do.
Each Entrepreneur had a “Y”. A Clear, Definite, and Emotional “Y”.
Each Entrepreneur had an Emotional and Logical Strategy. What does that mean…lets jump into it…..

First, you MUST in achieving any goal, believe in who you are and what you are doing. If you don’t have belief, you will never achieve your short term and long term goals. Yes, you can have moments of brief financial gain, kinda like winning a couple hundred bucks on a slot machine, but not coming close to why you are building a business. Understand, if you don’t fully believe in what you do, and have a real passion and desire for it, you will never be able to weather the ups and downs, because your not emotionally committed.

Second, your “Y” may be the most critical element in your plan. Understand, that building a Business, a real sustainable business, will require you to deal with alot. Ya’ know, the Internet provides an incredible service in hope and opportunity for abundance, no question. However, it also feeds into the most deadly disease out there….Instant Gratification. There are so many websites and blogs and forums that feed into the notion for $19.95 and one hour a week of work you to can be an Internet millionaire. That is simply not true. Never has been, never will be. You most likely got involved in your Business Opportunity, because they were able to tap into your emotions, get you excited or scared about your life, your future, or your income. Well, this is how you construct your “Y”:

“Y” must be real, tangible, and emotional.
“Y” must be something that you would commit to no matter the price or consequence.
“Y” must be something that if you wrote it out would contain “POWER” words, and generate call to action feelings.
“Y” must be the thing that will make you work nights, weekends, mornings, holidays, picnics, days out, cause you to miss on some of life’s moments until you achieve your goals.
“Y” must be the thing that you draw on when the world is telling you to stop and give up…your “Y” tells you to move forward, your close, don’t stop, you are a champion, you will succeed.
“Y” must be your Business Partner, when your family and friends have long deserted your idea, business, and are piling on the negativity.
“Y” must be the reason you celebrate the good times. It is the reason it got you there…

Without a strong “Y”, you will find that you will give up on dreams, goals, and aspirations. You will allow doubt, complacency, negativity, and laziness into your Business and Your Life. I promise you that once you attain a clear and real “Y”, the rest is just so easy….

What Provokes Action?

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:56:14 +0000

The most difficult step in any Work from Home Business, is action. The question really is why? I have often felt that most people are simply not mentally ready to be an entrepreneur. What do I mean?

Well, to be an Entrepreneur, you must have a proper mindset. Mindset, that will allow you to work your business on a daily and consistent basis. The mindset of an entrepreneur must be willing to do the following things: First, be a student. The vast majority of Home Based Business Entrepreneurs do not have a marketing and advertising background…so what do you do? Well, the Internet and Bookstores are chalk full of study materials on Internet marketing and advertising. If you find that PPC is a way that you want to build your Business…then find every piece of material possible out there, and study PPC everyday. Do not overwhelm yourself in one sitting, you will never master anything that way. Study elements each and every day.

Second, in the mindset of an entrepreneur, is personal development or mindset training. For alot of folks in this Industry or others, they see it as “hogwash”. The fact of the matter is to many, far to many successful have built business after business, and abundance by taking care of their mind. You must train your mind in the most positive way. The power of Thought, Intention, and Positive thinking can lead any Entrepreneur through any Business. Once you have developed your “Y”, you can see yourself and your business through and trial and tribulation.

Third, and as equally important is Goals. Now tomorrow, we are going to go through the elements of goal setting, and to do so on a daily basis. The fact is, there must be an end to justify the means. Why are you working so hard….this is why you are working so hard. Why are you spending time away from family…this is why you are spending time away from family. Goals, are your light that will guide you through on your business. They are there to reinforce every reason you had to be self-employed.

Look, being an entrepreneur is advanced citizenship…you gotta want it real bad. Anyone can be successful when times are good, the Entrepreneurs with the right Goals, the right attitude at being a Student, and the Right Mindset, will be a part of the group that survive the bad….and reach their ultimate abundance!!!!

7 IRRATIONAL THOUGHTS….

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:00:30 +0000

A lot of us suffer from irrational thinking which can affect our lives in a dramatic way. It can seperate the successful people in life from the unsuccessful ones, it can mean the difference between loving someone and hating someone, it can be the difference between peace and war. All wars, Yes I mean ALL, are caused by irrational thinking.

In this post I will look at seven common irrational thoughts and hopefully if you suffer from irrational thinking it will help you to change.

1. If someone criticises me there must be something wrong with me
There are many reasons why people criticise each other but it does not mean there is something wrong with you if they do criticise you. It means they have a differing opinion to you which is fantastic as without differing opinions in the world it would be a terrible place to live.

2. I must always seek approval in order to feel good about myself
Many people have thought this at one time or another in their lives, however it becomes damaging when it is an entrenched belief. There is no way you can please everybody all the time so there is no point in even trying. Seek approval from yourself and if you’re happy and feel good that’s all that matters. Yes it’s nice to have other people’s opinions but don’t go out of the way to please other people.

3. I won’t try anything new unless I know I will be good at it. Many people suffer from these types of thoughts. Trying new things in your life is a way for you to grow and learn more about yourself. You don’t have to be good at everything in your life but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy new experiences even if you are not good at them.

4. It’s not my fault my life didn’t go the way I wanted
I have news for you; it is your fault. This doesn’t make you bad and it doesn’t mean you are a failure. You have control over your thoughts and therefore your actions. You thoughts and actions will determine your life. If you constantly blame others for the way your life has turned out you have given all your power away to other people. Take the control back and take responsibility for your thoughts and actions.

5. I am inferior to everyone else. That’s just the way you feel, which doesn’t make it true. You have qualities that nobody else can touch and other people have qualities that you can’t touch. Recognising your strengths will build your self confidence recognising others strengths will build their self confidence but don’t put yourself down when recognising that somebody else is better than you at something.

6. I was rejected which means there is something wrong with me. This is over generalising like the person who was rejected in a relationship, they think it always happens to them and they must somehow be unworthy of love. People reject others due to differing ideals, just like you do, but it doesn’t mean you are in any way unworthy it just means your ideals don’t match someone else’s ideals.

7. If I feel happy about life something will go wrong. Another common irrational thought. You deserve all the happiness you make for yourself; your past is your past, if there are still issues lurking from your past that is blocking you to feel happy about today speak to someone about it. Do not tinge your present and future thoughts with bad memories or else your present and future thoughts will get infected and your life will always stay the same.

How to stop your irrational thoughts

Simple! Just catch yourself every time you have an irrational thought or self defeating thought and replace the wording of your internal thought. For example:
You are driving on a beautiful day and a bird decides to shit on your car. You might think:
“that always happens to me, why do they always shit on my car”

“It’s about time I got the car washed”.

Look for the keywords in there “always”, this is an untruth. If birds always shit on his car his car would be floating in the stuff. So catch yourself with untrue statements such as:

“always” e.g. I always get caught in the rain (If that were true you’d be a fish)

“I never……………………” e.g. “I can never get a parking space.” (If that were true you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere in your car without stopping).

“I couldn’t……” e.g. “I couldn’t walk a mile” (have you tried?).

“I’m hopeless at……………”e.g. “Oh, I am hopeless at talking in a group.” (usually said whilst talking to a group of friends).

“It’s terrible……” e,g. “Isn’t it terrible that it’s raining?” (Eh! No, it’s not terrible).

There are a lot more irrational thoughts out there and you have to be conscious to catch yourself thinking them. I hope this article helps you to catch your irrational thoughts and brings your life into perspective.

A LETTER TO YOU…..

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:11 +0000

Dear Voyager, Dear Dreamer, Dear Friend, Dear Entrepreneur,

The reason you are reading this letter right now is because you have expressed an interest. An interest in business, an interest in more life. You are interested in improving your business, or creating a new business. You are interested, most of all, in improving your life.

If that is true, then this letter is indeed meant for you. Because this letter is written to share with you the Truth.And the truth is this: Only a small fraction of people in the world will ever start a business of their own, and, once started, only a few of themany will ever improve their business to the point that they have actually positively transformed their life.Understand, it is not a rule that very few people will transform their lives…emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, financially…but it is close to that. When you understand the forces that fight you at every step, you will begin to understand why the odds are so much against you.

Force # 1: The Law of Momentum.

Think about your car. Imagine yourself driving along at 60 miles per hour. You suddenly see a dog running across the street. Your eye tells your mind, Alert, Alert, Alert! By the time your mind converts the message from your eye into an actionable decision, your car has moved 132 Feet. Your mind tells your right foot to step on the break. By the time your foot responds your car has traveled an additional 44 Feet. Your foot responds and steps on the brake. By the time your car stops it has traveled another 66 Feet. In only 3.5 Seconds your car has traveled a total of 242 Feet from the moment your eye warned your mind, which told your foot, which pressed on the brake, to tell your car to Stop!

Your life is exactly the same. It operates under the law of momentum.Your life has a momentum all its own. You are like your car, going down the freeway of your choice at 40 or 50 or 60 or 90 miles an hour. Something catches your mind’s attention. Your mind deciphers what that something is telling you. Your mind then says, Stop, or Turn, or Slow Up, or, even worse, can’t make a decision because of lack of information, or too much information, or simply becomes frozen with fear of the unknown. Your mind sends either a clear or an unclear or no message of instruction to your “foot” on the peddle of your life, and your foot does what you have asked it to do.

But, by the time your foot acts, it could be, too late, too early, or the wrong action to take.

But, whatever it is, it takes a long, long time for your foot to press down on the brake of your life’s momentum.

In some cases it can take years!

Yes, Momentum challenges every one of us. But, it is only the First of Six Laws.

Force #2: The Law of Stagnation

But, Momentum isn’t the only Force you have to contend with in your life. There is also the Law of Stagnation. The Law of Stagnation accrues over time and experience to organize your life – your body, your emotions, your mind – into an automated set of responses to all the messages coming to your body, your mind, your emotions. Over time, and over the accumulated experiences you have had, you learn to organize information into a set of predictable responses…don’t touch the hot stove, don’t fall in love, don’t take chances beyond those which provide predictable positive experiences. These standardized responses become your habits. And your habits form your personality. And your personality defines how you do what you do without ever asking why you do it. This characteristic of man forms the Force of Stagnation, and is even more difficult to overcome than momentum. So it is that someone who has been taught that creativity is risky business, stops being creative. So, too, once you adapt yourself to being practical, as opposed to creative, over time it is less and less likely that you will come up with a creative idea. Thus, the Law of Stagnation tells you that you are not creative, and every pore in your body knows that to be true. Because, of course, you aren’t. But, the truth is far different than that. It is not that you are not creative, it is instead that you have chosen not to be creative in order to avoid the risk of making dangerous decisions that threaten your life. Which brings us to The Law of Small Steps.

Force #3: The Law of Small Steps

As the Law of Momentum and the Law of Stagnation take their part in your life, so does The Law of Small Steps. This could also be called The Law of Caution. Or The Law of Inertia. This Law describes the world as a dangerous place. Once you learn that it takes a long while to stop the car of your life when it’s going too fast; once you learn that your life is like a giant ship that is very difficult to turn; once you see what happens when you challenge these two laws, your mind, your body, your emotional centre begin to adjust to the mandate that a journey is no more than a measured number of steps. And that it is best, if you are going to travel safely while intending to reach your life objective, in other words, travel in comfort, it is best that you take each one of those steps slowly. That life best lived is a life of small steps. What happens when one begins to live in accordance with The Law of Small Steps is that it becomes, over time, difficult to take large steps, or fast steps, let alone giant leaps. A life of small steps creates a momentum all its own, a stagnation of a very special sort. Just try it. Go outside. Walk down the sidewalk while taking small steps. To take small steps quickly is a weird and awkward exercise, isn’t it? Do you see what we mean when we say that the Law of Small Steps forms a momentum all its own? Do you see what we mean when we say that the Law of Stagnation as created by The Law of Small Steps possesses an energy that is peculiarly difficult to change? Do you see why the Law of Small Steps has such a powerful impact on a life’s momentum? Well, then, let’s take a look at Law #4:

The Law of Failing Imagination.Force #4:

The Law of Failing ImaginationAs true as the first three laws are, the fourth law, The Law of Failing Imagination, is produced through an unfailing inability to avoid the affect of the first three laws. As one experiences the Law of Momentum, the Law of Stagnation, the Law of Small Steps, and their forceful impact upon our choices, one loses his or her natural ability to imagine, to envision, to see the patterns that make up the world, to conjecture, to create, to paint pictures that don’t exist anywhere but in your mind’s eye. And as one gives oneself up to the forces that press down upon every human being in the course of a life, as one passively declines to move forward of one’s own volition, as one gives in to the static drivers from which all conclusions are reached but the most active, the most creative, the most dangerous, the most risky, the most joyful, at each and every automatic step forward the imagination begins its steady decline. What use imagination when my feet know exactly where they are going to be placed next? What use imagination when the mind knows exactly what the day is going to look like, and the next, and the next, and the next? What use imagination when there is nothing but the same to imagine? What use imagination when the primary skill is that of memory? Because in the world of the Six Laws, Memory becomes the primary Life Force.

Force#5: The Law of Failing Memory

But, even as Memory becomes the primary life force, we begin to fail to remember. The first thing we begin to fail to remember is our selves. Who am I becomes a meaningless question when the answer is so obvious…why I am he or she who lives like this! In a plain world in which imagination serves no purpose unless it be to stimulate my lowest passions. And even then, fantasy, which is imagination’s poorest cousin, only serves to stimulate old memories and desires, the desires of adolescence. Thus it is that pornography and other consumables fill the airwaves, fill the down time, fill the flat places within which our lower selves live. Not live, exactly, because habit and automation of the Self is not true living, is not true feeling, is not true creating, is not true experiencing, is not truly human at all! It is instead, the function of a being who has forgotten what it means to be a being. Who has forgotten what it means to be awake. And, because one has deadened his true being by giving in to the 6 Forces, even our Memory begins to fail us. Our true memory is replaced by our automated memory, the dead shadow memories which live in the cells of our automated responses to momentum, stagnation, small steps, failing imagination…the dumbing down of our selves.

Force#6: The Law of Self Negation

All of which leads to The Law of Self Negation, in which the Self is reduced to the No-Self. The No-Self which believes that this is all there is. The No-Self which lives in the locus of cynicsm, which believes that this world is the only world. That these forces are the only forces. That this life is the only life. That there are no Miracles because we long ago failed to see miracles. That there is no Mystery because we long ago failed to be awed by Mystery. That there is no meaning because we long ago failed to believe in meaning. That there is no Surprise possible, because all surprises long ago became repeated as no surprise, and the one before it, and the one before it, and the one before that. When we live safely, act safely, dream safely, and pray to safety is it any wonder that the threat to safety is the only surprise we are moved by? When we are threatened, we are alive. When we are threatened, we are awakened, if only for a moment, but even then, after a time, it becomes harder and harder to threaten us. We choose not to be threatened. We deaden our senses to threat. So even those who would threaten us, find it almost impossible to threaten us, we who are willing to take small steps, to live slowly, to awaken only at the last moment, even then, when the threat is no longer a threat but an actual terrorizing reality. And so it goes, and so it is, and so it will be until we choose instead to live by the Law of Affirmation.

Force #7: The Law of Affirmation

Affirmation is the Law of All Great Works. Affirmation assures that Denial does not set in. Denial is the product of the first Six Forces which are the product of the first Six Laws which is the generator of all Passive Resistance. Passive Resistance is the Energy Field that is generated when the Negative Forces say No to Affirmation. Affirmation always produces the Forces that say No. Yet it is only Affirmation that can overcome those Forces once they appear in our Path. It is at the moment when those Forces appear, at the juncture when the collision between Affirmation and those Negative 6 Forces occurs that Living Memory, the Memory of Self, has the most power to overcome the Resistance of the Negative Six Forces, which are themselves the incubator of the Negative Six Laws. It is at that locus where I Am presents itself that life occurs. At that moment, that very instant where the forward movement of Affirmation and that Denial Movement meet, that life presents itself with all of its power. It is what occurs then when I AM that determines a human being’s existence. It is only then, where I AM presents himself/herself to the Forces of Being and Denying that Life exists. It is only then when The Force of Affirmation and the Denying Forces collide that true being, true revelation, true passion, the vibrant living ecstasy of which living is the name we give it. It is that which God has created. And it is dreaming which is the product of being. And it is through dreaming that we awaken Affirmation as the Force of All Good. Dreaming about our Life’s purpose. Dreaming about our Life’s Mission. Dreaming about our life’s Vision. Dreaming as a result of that sacred collision. Dreaming because I AM, and so are you.

USE TWITTER AS A TOOL….

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:00:10 +0000

How to Use Twitter as a Twool: By Guy Kawasaki

I may get more value out of Twitter than anyone else on the planet because I use Twitter as a tool—specifically as a marketing tool—for my website Alltop and my book, Reality Check. If the concept of using Twitter in a commercial manner interests you, keep reading. If it doesn’t, then you can continue to send and receive tweets about how cats are rolling over and the line at Starbucks.

Forget the “influentials.” You must buy into the theory that products and services reach critical mass because mere mortals spread the word for you. This defies the common wisdom that a handful of “influentials” shape what the rest of us try and what we adopt. In the online world, these influentials include Mike “I can go a week without Twitter” Arrington, Robert Scoble, Seth Godin, and to some extent me.

Reliance on influentials is flawed because the Internet has flattened and democratized information. Influentials don’t have as much special access, special knowledge, and distribution as you might think because of the growth of websites, blogs, and, of course, Twitter.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about influentials—if nothing else they can help you get to what some consider “nobodies.” But mark my words: (a) Nobodies are the new somebodies, and (b) it’s better to have army of committed nobodies and than a few drive-by somebodies. The most somebodies can usually do for you is a one day bump in traffic.
One more point: if enough nobodies like what you do, the somebodies will have no choice but to write about you. In this way, the buzz of nobodies begets the attention of somebodies and not vice versa.

Defocus your efforts. The goal is to get to masses of people because you don’t know who can and will help you. (If you knew exactly who they were and what they can do for you, then you’d focus on them—then we’d be back to focusing on influentials—albeit less known ones.) The catch is that defocusing isn’t actionable unless there’s an inexpensive, easy, and instant answer to reach massive amounts of people, and per dollar there’s nothing better than Twitter to do this.

Get as many followers as you can. I recently explained what I do to get more followers. Click here to read about my methods. Ignore people who tell you that it’s the quality of your followers not the quantity. They’re trying to make friends, not use Twitter as a tool. And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie.

The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point. If you think you “know” exactly who can and will help you, you are deluding yourself.

You will face the issue of whether your Twitter name should be the company’s name or your name. I have Guykawasaki and Alltop because you should try to get both much like preventing domain name squatting. My theory is people are more likely to follow a person than a company, so 99% of my attention goes to my Guykawasaki account. Also, someday you may sell your company, and the company account will probably go with the acquirer. However, if you go with your name, you need to not tweet only about your company—indeed, you have the moral obligation to tweet informative posts that have nothing to do with your company.

Monitor what people are saying about you, your company, and your product. You can do this here with the search features of Twitter. Be sure that you bookmark your search so that you won’t have to reenter terms. Or, you use a product like Tweetdeck to create a search. For example, I monitor this search [guykawasaki OR “Guy Kawasaki” OR Alltop] to follow what people are saying about me and Alltop. Searches like [how to Alltop] where you substitute your company or product name for “Alltop” are also useful to find tweets about using your product or service. You can also use Twilert.com to receive email notification of search results much like Google Alerts. When you find such tweets, take these actions:
People are pissed: help them out
People are confused: help them out
People who have questions: help them out
People are happy: ask them to spread the word

You will find that people are delighted by contact with the company and that no matter how rocky the relationship started out, they usually become fans and evangelists. By simply monitoring what people are saying about you, you’re using Twitter better than 95% of the companies out there.

Can I tell you a funny story? I once spoke to a group of large company social media folks. One was from United Parcel Service, and she said that her Twitter searches were inefficient because the string “UPS” is in so many words (“startups,” “meetups,” etc.) Undaunted, I searched for “UPS” in front of the group, and the first tweet that I found was a complaint about a UPS delivery! That brought a howl from the audience.

Ask for help. Don’t be shy about asking people on Twitter to spread the word for you. If they like what you do, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. It’s as simple and transparent as that. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for some of us), most people don’t have the chutzpah to ask for help.

Alltop would not be anything close to what it is without the Twitter community. Twitter users suggest new topics as well as sites and blogs to include on those topics. Many have gone so far as to suggest a topic and compile a collection of feeds for the topic. And then they help us market the site too. Holy kaw!

Make it easy to tweet on your behalf. Twitterfeed is a service where any RSS feed can automatically appear as your own tweets. Bloggers do this, for example, so that their blog posts automatically appear as their tweets.

I took it to the next level by asking Mario Menti, the Twitterfeed creator, to make a special webpage where people could sign up to allow us to automatically post Alltop news as their tweets (click here if you’d visit the webpage). Approximately 177 people did so.
I want to make sure you understand what this means: 177 people agreed to repost all Alltop news as their own tweets. This took automated tweeting to a historical new high—or low depending on who you asked.

Then my new book, Reality Check, came out, and I made an offer of a free copy of it to anyone who signed up for the Alltop Twitterfeed. Another 280 people signed up—bringing the total to approximately 450 people.

We counted, and these 450 people had a total of 140,000 followers. This meant that whenever we announced a new topic, the 140,000 followers of 450 people received notification. These 450 people had followers in common, so their tweets didn’t reach 140,000 different people (see next section), but this was the Mother of Retweeting.
Right about now you should be asking yourself, “Why would people help Guy like this?” The answer is that these Alltop evangelists see spreading the news about Alltop as a service for their followers. They believe that Alltop’s information is good and useful and will help their followers access information on the web. Thus, the primary motivation is not a $30 book, but the satisfaction of helping others. This is a very important lesson: people must believe that what you’re marketing is great for their followers, and they must trust you. Here’s a guideline for creating something great. Here’s how to build trust. Here’s a complete explanation of evangelism.

Create an email list. One issue with 450 people tweeting 140,000 followers: if people followed some of the same 450 people, they got duplicate announcements. I started receiving about five complaints a day—still, the math was good: five complaints from 140,000 exposures? I can deal with complaints but, in a sense, my idea worked too well.
What I could not deal with was the unintended consequences of automated tweeting. For example, Republican members of the 450 people probably didn’t appreciate the Obama.alltop announcement. I was afraid that someday a pastor (and her followers) would wonder why she tweeted about Hunting.alltop, Buddhism.alltop, and Pregnancy.alltop.

Clearly, some of the people needed to choose which topics they tweeted and how the tweets were worded. Also, some of the 450 started to lose followers because of the frequency of Alltop updates (we often announce three to four new topics per day). I certainly didn’t want these people to lose followers because of me—if there’s anyone in the world who understands the trauma of losing followers, it’s me.

Can I tell you another funny story? Yes, some of the 450 people lost followers because of the Alltop tweets, but many told me that their followers found the Alltop tweets more interesting than their own tweets, so that they had more interaction with their followers because of the Alltop tweets!

To fix these issues, we created the Alltop news and announcements email list. Through this list, we announce every new topic, and we let the recipients decide if they want to tweet it (or email it) to others. Also, they can obviousy edit and create their own tweet or message.
We told the 450 people using Twitterfeed about it, so that they could drop the Twitterfeed mechanism and use the email notification instead. We opened up the email list on the night before Thanksgiving and in six days approximately 600 people signed up for it. That was surprisingly high, but what’s even more interesting is that only fifty of the 450 Twitterfeed folks stopped doing it.

I thought the majority of people would drop Twitterfeed and disappear completely or switch to the email list. You’ve heard that synergy is when 2 + 2 = 5. This is Twitter synergy where 450 – 50 = 1,000 because we signed up more people by offering an alternative. With the email list, we must have tapped people who were hesitant to entrust their feeds to us but wanted to help in some other way. Thank you God.

Make it easy to “post to Twitter.” One day I met with Rashmi Sinha, the CEO of Slideshare. We got to talking about how she increased her traffic, and she told me that a “Post to Twitter” link was the most effective mechanism. When people are viewing a Slideshare page like this hilarious one about getting old, they can click on the “Post to Twitter” link under the frame and a window opens with a preconfigured tweet to send to followers.
According to her, this was much more effective than the various sharing and email forwarding schemes. I thought her idea was absolutely fabulous and copied it. Now there is a “Post to Twitter” button on every Alltop topic page. Approximately twenty people a day do this. On average they have 350 followers, so this provides us with another 7,000 or so impressions per day. More is less when it comes to offering people multiple ways to spread the word by clicking on rating services like Digg, Delicious, and Yahoo Buzz, pick one and be done with it. I pick Twitter because it doesn’t involve a popularity contest to get on any front page—instead, all your followers will get the tweet.

Offer advice deals to Twitter users. This is something that I don’t do, but I would if I ran an ecommerce company. You can Twitter to offer special deals to your followers—for example, check out what Amazon does by clicking here and what Whole Foods does by clicking here. Also, check out the stream of Twitter deals here. You’ll see offers from companies using Twitter as well as the deals that Twitter users have found (probably including company employees acting as “regular” Twitter users). How can you not love something like Twitter that is fast, free, and far-reaching for pushing out special offers? (Power tip: if you need to enable several people to tweet and to schedule your tweets, check out a service called Brightkit.)

Tell the complainers where to go. Some people will disagree with this use of Twitter. Don’t let this worry you because at some point everyone pisses off someone on Twitter. Therefore, letting a vocal few limit your use of Twitter is a big mistake. If they don’t like what you’re doing, tell them to stop following you: end of discussion. And rest assured that “Twitter spam” is an oxymoron because following you is completely opt-in.

This is how to use Twitter as a tool. I hope the Twitter community helps you as much as it has helped Alltop and me. With some effort, you may come to view Twitter as I do: the best new marketing twool of this century. Tweet long and prosper.

HOW TO KEEP KEYWORDS IN CHECK FOR COPYWRITING

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:32 +0000

Keyword density is one of the bigger challenges that you have to face when implementing any SEO strategy. You don’t maximize your SEO copywriting if you use too few of those keywords, while you risk getting penalized by the search engines (Google in particular) if you use too much. For most SEO implementers and web masters, the trouble is with striking that perfect balance. Here are a few tips for finding that safe ground where you maximize your content and minimize penalties at the same time.

Stick to Tradition

The SEO community is one with a very long memory span: many SEO forum members can remember trends up to half a decade back. And for the longest time, SEO practitioners have been using a time-honored number for the keyword density in their website content.
Generally, the ’safe’ number you’ll see most Internet marketers use falls between 3% and 5%. With a density like that, it’s almost impossible for your content pages to get penalized for keyword stuffing. That’s a pretty big advantage of sticking to the tried-and-tested number; your pages stay relatively safe despite changes in the ranking algorithm, which tend to come pretty often with the search engines.

Market and Market Alike

There’s a wide array of free SEO analysis tools nowadays, and they offer you an alternative way to answer the keyword density question. After all, you don’t necessarily have to use the analysis tools on your own pages.

Sites that make it to Page 1 on any search engine are usually the ones with the ideal combination: lots of content, innumerable one way links and – not least of all – just the right concentration of keywords. The fact that those pages are among the Top 10 results means that they must be doing something right, something that you should be doing yourself.
Aim those analytical applications at the Top 10 pages and see for yourself how much they use keywords. Now, it’s highly likely that you’ll end up with a normal distribution of values instead of a single number when you look at all the search results on Page 1. Just pick the average or the number that’s at the very middle, and you should do fine.

The Professional Touch

Of course, the easiest way to take all the guesswork out of any SEO campaign is to just get a professional marketing company to take care of SEO copywriting for you. Those companies already have their own established methods for finding the keyword density that’s needed to get you to Page 1. And having all those professional copywriters on your side won’t hurt, either.

A professional marketing company is also a worthy investment because you get to pay for their experience in the field. It may not sound like much, but experience counts for a lot when you’re trying to preempt the changes that will happen with the next ranking algorithm. SEO is a battle, and the victor is usually the one with the better prepared strategy.

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR PASSION….

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:00:09 +0000

What is Passion? Passion is a force – sometimes and uncontrollable force – that infuses life with meaning, joy, and even outrage. In any event, passion fosters commitment and determination. Passion is an urge or desire that consistently calls us to action, often radical action. Passion can be used or misused. When guided by the wrong motives, passion can be very dangerous. When guided by the desire to help people lead bigger, richer, fuller lives, passion has the potential to help create a better world. Passion is the fire that burns within. It often starts as a spark or a flame and eventually turns into a blazing fire that stirs the soul. Passion is that incredibly compelling emotion that enables us to go places others are afraid to go, to try things others are afraid to do and be the kind of people others are afraid to be! Passion creates the energy and drive required to do what others think is impossible.

The Business Case for Passion

Is there a business case for cultivating passion in your organization? Is it really a competitive advantage? Can passion make a difference in terms of accomplishing your organization’s objectives? Consider the benefits:
1. Passion intensifies our focus. In a complex world where we’re moving at .com speed and we’re bombarded with information, it’s easy to get distracted. Passion gives people the courage to say “No” to distractions by staying focused on the bigger “Yes.” It’s the magnetic force that keeps people working on things that make the business more competitive.
2. Innovation and creativity become key factors in adding value to the customers we serve. Approaching the business with a fresh, new perspective requires people who are fully awake, fully alive, and who have an active, intense, engaged focus on making things better. Innovation requires that our minds work furiously when we come to work. Passion activates our minds, expands our awareness (we observe more intensely), and challenges us to think outside the conventional box.
3. With intense pressures to perform it’s easy to cut ethical corners and compromise doing what’s right. It requires passion to protect and promote the values driving the business. To say, “No” to a questionable business deal that will generate a lot of revenue takes guts. It takes the courage and passion to stand upon your convictions.
4. People with passion raise the standards of performance in an organization. They have a tendency to hold others accountable and tolerate nothing less than the full-blown commitment of everyone around them. Their commitment to a higher standard becomes contagious, spreads throughout the entire system, and eventually becomes a part of the fabric of the culture.
5. People with passion create an electric, exiting work environment that energizes others. They contribute to building the kind of culture that attracts world-class people.
6. Passion creates a sense of urgency that is required of every organization going through change in today’s highly competitive world. Passion is the enemy of apathy, complacency, and procrastination. Passion is usually dissatisfied with the status quo.
7. Passion helps people deal with fear. Change is scary – for anybody! But when our passions are bigger than our fears we develop the courage to step outside our comfort zones, risk more, fail faster, and learn like crazy.
8. There is less attrition and absenteeism in a passionate work environment, where meaningful work and a heroic cause energize people. People don’t want to miss the thrill of the journey and the significant things going on at work.
9. It seems that the cultures of many firms is corporate America and around the world breed a political correctness that is socially acceptable. Unfortunately, it’s not conducive to the burning fire or radical passion that is required to bring about revolutionary change. Dramatic change and complexity are requiring an unprecedented effort from the contemporary work force. Passion will be the key to PERSEVERANCE in the midst of this change.
10. Perhaps the most exciting benefit that comes from cultivation passion is an organization is the contagious enthusiasm it generates. Passionate people ignite enthusiasm in the rest of us. Something so alive in them awakens something that needs to be alive in us. Passionate people inspire hope and enthusiasm. That’s why they’re so attractive to be around. There’s an intensity, a commitment, a PASSION with which they approach their work – it’s inviting and tantalizing, it’s heroic and alluring, it’s inspiring and provocative all wrapped up in the same package.

Six Ways to Turn Desire into $$$$$$

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:04:02 +0000

The Method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps:

Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of Money.” Be definite as to the amount. There is a psychological reason for definiteness.
Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. There is no such reality as “something for nothing”.
Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once!! Whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after waking up in the morning. As you read, see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.

Bottom line is to provide definiteness and structure to your desire. Make it real, make it daily, this will be the only way to make it happen!!! Unleash the Champion in yourself and your Business today….

“Nobody Said It Was Easy”

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:20:22 +0000

Do you have your New Years Resolutions written down? You can see mine in the previous posts.

I heard this song today in my spin class, and it made me think if how many people enter this industry thinking it will be easy.

I’m sorry to tell you… there is no such thing as a get-rich-quick scheme/opportunity. If someone told you they would make you rich on the interent “easily”, then they were lying. They were probably more interested in making a sale and getting your money.

To build a TRUE business online, takes work my friend. It takes hard work, dedication, persistence and SACRIFICES!

If your “Why” is strong enough, then you can get through the tough times. There WILL be bumps and hills and mountains. There were (and are still) many times I felt like giving up. But I kept drudging forward.

If you want it badly enough, then you will find a way.

So write down your goals for 2009, say them out loud, review them every day.

I’d like to share this song I heard today with you. It’s a beautiful one. I dedicate it to my Dear brother… I love you!

“Nobody said it was easy… No one said it would be so hard.”

And a favorite quote of mine…

“We have one life to live.
If you’re looking for more out of life,
take responsibility and make a change.
No one else will do it for you.”

Here is the song by Coldplay. Click on this link to listen, or right-click and select Save-As to download the mp3.

Enjoy! And make the best of your 2009. Life is gift. It’s up to us to live it and make it the very best.

http://www.DonnaAbreu.com/Nobody-Said-It-Was-Easy.mp3