UPDATE: Turns out that Yaro is closing the doors on his programme at midnight tonight, that’s Friday 30th October ! (Judging from the countdown clock on the sign-up page, I think that’s midnight Eastern Time, 4am Saturday morning in the UK.)

So if you’re at all interested in what he calls “… By Far — The Best Business Model Ever Conceived Online !”, then I strongly suggest that you get over to Yaro’s web site NOW !

When I started blogging, I started to look around at how the top bloggers did it. One or two names kept recurring in my research. The one I saw most often was that of Yaro Starak.

Both of Yaro’s blogging courses run on a membership basis. It was on the back of his experiences in running these, and the questions that he got about how he did it, that he realised that there was a huge demand for good solid information about how to set up and run profitable membership programmes.

But can you believe that this guy ran not one but two highly profitable membership programs in a year whilst travelling around the world ? This video tells you more  …

How has this happened ? I mean, here I am, a self-professed “blogaholic” and yet I am ashamed to note that I haven’t posted here for more than two weeks. (Blush !)

Well, I guess I shouldn’t beat myself up too much. Some people are very effective blogging just once a month, so I guess that this just proves that there is no right or wrong. And besides, I have had some catching up to do recently and I do have several “irons in the fire” at the moment.

But it’s important to “step away from the mouse” every now and again and that’s what I did yesterday. I had a lunch time appointment and because it was a beautiful autumn day, I walked. As I did so, I had an experience that I am sure most people are familiar with. (I’m actually searching for its name: not deja vu, but it must be something like it. Let me know if you have any ideas on this !)

You know what it’s like to turn a corner, look at a building that you are familiar with only to suddenly find that a new shop or office has replaced what you are used to seeing. I kept having that feeling yesterday ! (”Jamais vu” ?)

At least six times in the space of half an hour, I heard myself muttering, “Well, that’s new … how long has that been there ?”

And as I turned for home, besides thinking that I should get out more (LOL), I realised that if there’s one thing that you can be certain about in life, it’s that things will change !

With that in mind, be aware that Twitter are making changes as the popularity of their service continues to grow.

First, they are making it easier for users to report spam. If you check out the drop down menu that you see when you click on the Actions icon (the little gear wheel) on your list of followers, you’ll see that you can report a member for alleged spamming. More on this on Twitter’s blog.

Also, there are indications that Twitter are tightening up on people that tweet duplicate content, not just on one account but on multiple accounts. Obviously, this is also spam related. It’s most likely to affect people that use the various services available to schedule automated tweets.

I have had people blast 20+ different tweets at my timeline all at once, seemingly ALL affiliate links … what a turn off ! Besides being anti-social, this kind of practice could also be against Twitter’s Terms of Service.

Personally, I see the next few weeks as being extremely interesting for social media in general and Twitter in particular. I have seen a few articles lately that suggest that it is becoming a truly viable method of driving off-line traffic, so with the holiday season on the horizon, smart retailers will be looking to take advantage of every trick in the book to maximise their income.

And sometimes, you know that it’s not actually going to change things, and you recognise that it may make you look a bit stupid … but you just have to go ahead and do it anyway.

You might well ask, “What’s bought this on ?” … I’ll tell you.

Since the weekend, I have been struggling with a feeling that I was on the slippery slope … You know, a slight tickle in the back of the throat … a slight puffiness  around the eyes … a little bit of sniffling … And sure enough, over the last couple of days, each of those symptoms has developed in to that most common of medical conditions, a cold.

Well, I say a cold. I suppose it might still mutate in to a fully fledged dose of swine flu. But I seriously doubt it. But what’s most annoying about it is that this is the first cold that I’ve had for more than 18 months. I suppose I was due to catch one sooner or later !

And yes, I know that I will get better, I know that it will pass and I know that there are a lot of people in the world with a lot worse conditions that makes a common cold look like a walk in the park.

I know these things because I was forcibly reminded of this by a good buddy of mine that I talked to earlier today.

Basically, he kicked my backside … he told me to put my attention elsewhere to help take my mind off things.

“Listen,” he said, “What do you like to do ?”

“Well, you know me,” I said, ” I like to do a lot of things !”

“Yeah, I know, but what absorbs you, what takes up your attention so much that you aren’t aware of the passage of time ?”

I sat and thought about that. After a while, he interrupted my train of thought.

“I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking that there are several of those things. So let me make this easy for you … of all those things that you like to do, that make time fly, which of those have you not done a lot of recently”.

That was it … the penny dropped.

“Blogging.”

He had to check that he’d heard me correctly.

“Blogging !” I repeated. “OK, I did write a blog entry yesterday, but it was the first for a whole week and I don’t nomally go that long without blogging. And when I finished, I realised that I had missed doing it !”

This time, the silence was on the other end of the line … eventually I heard my friend say “Whatever ! Anyway, I hope you’re feeling better soon.”

“I’m already feeling better !” I said.

I hung up, and turned to my PC. I pulled the keyboard toward me and typed …

Blog yourself better

Today sees the publication of a totally new free report, The Top 10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog !

It’s my belief that almost any business that has an online presence, no matter how small, would benefit from having a blog of some kind.

In this free report, I explore the arguments in favour of having a blog. It’s never been easier to have a great looking blog at almost zero cost. For me, the potential benefits, both tangible and otherwise, make it a no-brainer.

The release of this report is important for me in another way. It marks the launch of the rog-blog.com Mailing List. As I say in my report, I see members of a mailing list as “best friends” because these are the first group of people that I will share my best stuff with.

When I spot something particularly interesting or useful, mailing list members will be the first to know. For example, I already have plans for not one but two more free reports.

I really want this report to have the widest possible circulation, so please use the opt-in box in the sidebar to get your free copy now.

Please feel free to blog about the report … Oh, and by the way, I’d really love to hear what you think of it. I’ve set up a special page where you can leave your comments.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I should stress that the cash goes to a charity of your choice and that this is only “a research project” at this stage. They also cite the laudable intent of impacting the volume of spam, suggesting that even at 1 cent per email, that would cost spammers millions of dollars each day.

They say that the system would be entirely voluntary and “opt-in”. They go on to suggest that …

“CentMail will essentially be free for the majority of users who already give yearly charitable donations. … By making these donations through CentMail (as opposed to directly to the charity), users will spend no additional money, but will be provided with CentMail’s service.” (Source: centmail.net/faq)

I really don’t have a strong opinion on this one way or the other at the moment because I don’t know enough about all of the underlying issues. But I can foresee problems. For example, overlooking the fact that although the US is, of course, probably the largest internet user, it’s not the only one ! Besides, my favourite charities may not participate in the scheme.

There will also be those that consider that this is fundamentally against the ethos of the internet, that access to it should be largely unrestricted.

Whatever happens, the way I see it is this. If you’re using the internet to foster a relationship with your prospects and customers and it suddenly costs you money to send them email, you had better have fairly deep pockets or some alternative way of keeping that relationship alive. Social media may be one way, but the best alternative may be your blog.

What do you think ?

(Photo from sxc.hu by Nbauer.)

I’d like to thank everybody that supported Blog Of The Day. It was an experience that taught me a lot and I aim to apply what I have learned in my blogging in the future. I should also add that there were some great blogs that I couldn’t include in the awards, simply because there were not enough days !

Finally, two things: first, I started out with the intention of making occasional awards for Commendable Comments … but I just didn’t have the time to read all the comments for all of the posts on all of the blogs I looked at. Sorry folks.

Secondly, I will continue The rog-blog.com Blog Awards in some format in the future. I haven’t dcided quite how, but it won’t be daily. More likely weekly or monthly. Watch this space for more news !

So here it is: a review of the winners followed by the revelation of the winner, The Blog Of Blogs. My congratulations to the winner !

Today’s winner was one of the first blogs that I looked at when I started my coaching with Alex Jeffreys. At the time, I remember being mightily impressed and having revisited it several times since then, my initial feelings about it have only been strengthened. This guy is one to watch.

I like the look and feel of his blog, though I know that for some a black background is a bit of a turn-off. Personally, I like it in this context. However, as regular “BOTD” readers all know, whilst good looks are important to me, they are definitely not the only thing that I’m looking for.

One of those other things is great content and this guy gives really high quality information both in text and video form. One of the other things that I like is that it’s primarily a blog about blogging … the longer I study this subject, the more I’m convinced that it is key to successful marketing online.

I know that this is not his first blog and the fact that he’s got tons of experience in this arena comes through in what he does here. However, he’s also used this blog as a platform to launch a great series of videos on how to “do” Wordpress blogs. I’ve had a peek at this and I have to tell you that it’s excellent.

I know that he’s already earning good money from his blogs and he’s been very up front about his goals. My guess is that he will exceed them.

Matthew Wolfe is definitely one to watch, and so is his blog, matthewwolfe.com.

Congratulations Matt, your Blog Of The Day Award badge is on its way !

First, I like the look of her blog … but (and I have to be ruthlessly honest here) I’m not quite sure why ! It’s clean and sleek and not too cluttered. Always good things in my humble opinion. But whenever I visit, there’s a logical part to my mind that says, “That header shouldn’t work …”

But it does ! I don’t know why, but I love it !

Second, the content is great. It’s written in a lovely, conversational style that I find very engaging. More importantly, there’s good value there too.

Third, it’s clear from reading her posts that she’s really “getting” what Alex Jeffreys is teaching his students. Not only does she discuss this, but she also describes what she’s learned and how she’s applied it.

Which brings me to the “clincher”.  As a confirmed tech-head, I am a bit loath to even countenance the idea of outsourcing the workings of my blog, my “baby”. But I realise that as my internet business grows, this is something that I will probably have to consider in the longer term.

So when I read today’s winner’s article about outsourcing via eLance, I was naturally intrigued and ultimately reassured. Not only does she explain the why’s and wherefore’s, she also explains how she went about it and the results that she got (which we can now see so clearly). She even gives us a recommendation.

So for all of these reasons, today’s winner is Karen Kalata for her post about outsourcing on karenkalata.com.

Congratulations Karen, your award badge will be with you soon !

Where do we begin with this guy ?

Well, he’s pretty well up on Wordpress, the ultimate tool for serious bloggers. Check out the Wordpress Blog Assistance tab on his blog. On more than one occasion, I found myself consulting his blog for details of how to do some of the more basic things that newby bloggers need to do, like setting up a gravatar or the “widlink” widget supplied to us by Garry Parkes.

And he’s prodigious in his output. Only last week, Alex asked him to develop an idea on blog copywriting. Within a week he has produced a series of videos that are about to go on to YouTube. Personally, I can’t wait to see them. Oh and if you check out his blog entry about these videos, you’ll see the names of some of the top dogs in internet marketing that he’s worked for. Social proof or what ? !

Another thing that I’m eager to find out is exactly what numbers he makes at the end of Alex’s traffic contest. I figure that this blog is going to be at or very close to the top of the heap.

Add to all of this the fact that the tone of his writing is enthusiastic but not overwhelming, and it’s personable and sincere.

So today’s Blog Of The Day Award goes to Rob Canyon for escapetoprosperity.com.

Congratulations Rob, your Blog Of The Day badge will be on its way to you shortly.

But first, I have been asked about how you can enter for this award. Well, there is no formal application process – for the most part, I will be going from the list of blogs set up for the “widlink” widget that we were told about when we started. Students of Alex that have not done so yet should get Garry Parkes to add their name and blog URL to that list by posting in the relevant thread in the “Welcome” topic of the forum. Of course, interesting posts from our forum are likely to send me to people’s blogs too. Generally speaking, I will find you but don’t let that stop you from drawing attention to yourself with a comment on my blog !

Before I get to the awards, one last point which is a plea for help. As you can probably tell, I am relatively new to blogging and I am just loving it. I am also a dyed in the wool techy and although I make no particular claims to be a Wordpress expert, I have managed to find out most of what I needed to know, either on my own or with the aid of Google

But, I am still having some problems with embedding images in my posts. If you look at yesterday’s post from the front page of the blog, the Blog Of The Day badge seems to show OK. If you click on the blog entry’s name, or access it through the permalink, then it doesn’t show ! The HTML source in each case looks the same to me. I won’t go in to this any further here, but may do so in a separate post. In the meantime, if there are any real Wordpress gurus out there that can put me straight, I would love to hear from you !

One other thing, the award on any particular day is not necessarily going to be for a post that was put up on that day. So some of the awards will be for stuff which I came across before Alex’s competition started, or for things that have taken place over an extended period.

OK, enough with the preliminaries. Here we go …

Friday 31st August 2009

Today’s winner is, without his knowing it, partly responsible for the idea of my Blog Of The Day awards. He has a regular Friday post on his blog called Something For The Weekend and I was totally gob-smacked to find that I got a mention in his first special “SFTW” for fellow-students of Alex Jeffreys. A regular feature like this is a great way of making people want to come back to visit your site again and again, as well as providing encouragement to your fellow students.

Aside from that, I just love the look of this blog ! When I look at this it, I realise that I have got a lot to learn about the look and feel of blogs. The use of images and excerpts is great and the whole thing looks clean and sleek.

His post for Friday is a detailed analysis of his traffic for the previous month, followed by an outline of his plans for Alex’s competition. As I write this, I see that this post has already attracted 18 comments, so whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working !

So, the winner for Friday 31st August is David Walker for www.davidwalker.tv

Congratulations David !

Saturday 1st August 2009

As I have been looking at various blogs in my research, it’s occurred to me that there could well be separate categories for certain achievements. If I went down that path, then Saturday’s badge winner would be a leading contender for the Dogged Persistence Until The Problem Was Solved award.

The background to this award is from a post on the forum for Alex Jeffreys’ Marketing With Alex 2.0 students. Or two, in fact, because I raised the same issue myself. I won’t go into the technical details because it’s been done much better in the entry on the winning blog.

But the background is interesting. The question underlying the post was how you treat your customers as distinct from your prospects. For me, it seems common sense that those that become your customer have automatically self-selected themselves as your best prospects for future sales. And as such, they really deserve special treatment. The question then becomes, how do you give them that special treatment ?

One way is to put them on a separate email list on your auto-responder. That way, you can strengthen the relationship that you’ve already established with them. You can do things like give them freebies or maybe access to Members Only areas of your web site. You can also prime the pump for new launches, maybe offering them incentives for product launches that you have coming up.

So, for a thorough investigation of this important problem, and for a detailed explanation of how to solve it with AWeber, the winner for Saturday 1st August 2009 goes to Gil Dotan (aka spidersilver) for www.gilscorner.com.

Congratulations Gil.

Sunday 2nd August 2009

Today’s winner would also be a strong contender in the hypothetical Grace Under Pressure category, if there was such a thing. Not only has she overcome the loss of her initial blog installation, working diligently to restore it, she has also produced a detailed how-to document that describes exactly what you need to do should you be unfortunate enough to end up in the same boat.

These things on their own would probably be enough to win Blog Of The Day. But there is even more …

Strictly speaking, the clincher is not really on her blog. It’s hidden in a link on one of its other pages, but these are my awards and I feel free to bend the rules if I want to !

So, I strongly suggest that you visit this page on shirleycheung.com, follow the link on it and enjoy what you see. Then congratulate Shirley Cheung, not only on what you see there, but also on her winning the rog-blog.com Blog Of The Day award for Sunday 2nd August.

Well that’s it ! I have created a separate page with the rog-blog.com Blog Of the Day Roll of Honour, and the winners names will be posted there day by day

A massive post to bring us all up to speed ! Congratulations if you’ve made it this far Please let me know what you think of my selections. If you have any nominations of your own, please leave a comment.

PS: Award winners, I will be in touch later today with your “badge” !