Entrepreneurs-Journey.com Down-To-Earth Advice For Bloggers and Internet Marketers

You may not know this about me (unless you follow me on Twitter where I tweet music video clips from time to time), but I’m a huge fan of the progressive and vocal trance scene. That’s dance music for the uninitiated, although the genre of dance is massive in terms of all the categories and sub-categories, which includes genres like techno and rave music, which you might be familiar with.

In the case of trance music, the leading DJ, at least in terms of a popular vote run by DJ Mag, is Armin Van Buuren. Armin has been number one for three years running and as DJs and trance producers go, he’s about as prolific and talented as they come. I’m a fan, that’s for sure.

One of the things I enjoy often late at night when I’m in the mood for music is to trawl around YouTube watching video clips of the latest and classic trance tracks. There’s an absolute library of great music in YouTube, and of course it’s all free.

Armin Van Buuren is not only the number one DJ, he is also co-founder of a music label called Armada Music. One of the very smart things I’ve noticed Armada is doing is making heavy use of YouTube as a marketing channel.

At least 50% of the tracks I listen to on YouTube come from Armada, especially if I follow a music trail going from one track to the next following the “similar video” recommendations provided by the YouTube algorithm.

Watching Armada use YouTube is interesting, because the music is free, but obviously the company makes money. I believe Armada, and labels like them, are pioneers in adopting new media, rather than fighting it. There’s a lesson in this case study for any of us who want to leverage the web for exposure of creative output, even if their is a profit motivation behind it.

The Profit Model For Music Has Changed

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Many years ago (almost five years ago in fact) I wrote an article about what the music industry might look like in a digital distributed world.

My premise was that thanks to networked portable devices and the Long Tail, bands would survive because distribution networks would allow them to reach their fans much easier. In effect, I was preempting the arrival of the iPhone and stating something similar to Kevin Kelly’s concept of 1,000 true fans being enough for a creator (like an artist, author or band, etc) to survive.

You can read the full article here –

The Music Industry Evolution – How Localisation, Social Networks, Niche Markets and the Long Tail Will Change Music Forever

In summary, I talked about having some kind of portable device you could take to you local gig to purchase music by the band playing right in front of you. No longer would the band need to go through a big label and no longer did the fan need to head down to the local shop to buy a DVD, which in the case of the small fan-base artist, probably wasn’t even available in the shop.

I was talking back then in theory about what is true today. We have iPhones and similar devices with access to the web and iTunes that we can purchase music with, and music artists don’t have to be super-popular to survive, they just need a hardcore fan base, just like a blogger can do well with a small fan-base, relatively speaking (I’m one such example).

Now We Have The iPad

If there was one thing I didn’t see coming, though it probably was more obvious than I thought all those years ago since iTunes and the iPod already existed, it was that Apple would be the dominating force for the introduction of these technologies. They’re doing it again with the iPad.

Of course the iPad is yet to be proven a success, but seeing its release did give me a little portent into a possible future, which I for one would like to see eventuate.

Before I explain the future I see, if you’ve never heard of the iPad, go check it out here at the Huffington Post –

Apple iPad Review (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

The possibilities of a device like this are significant, too many to talk about here comprehensively. This device isn’t quite a laptop, but it’s more functional than an iPhone. It can run programs in full screen, which is quite usable, unlike an iPhone in some situations, yet isn’t quite as robust as a personal computer. It’s light and thin, so can easily fit into a backpack or bag, but won’t slide into your pocket.

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I’ve had quite a number of members and subscribers ask me about what we should do as bloggers and information marketers regarding the new FTC revised guidelines on testimonials and endorsements in the USA. There’s quite a lot of information circulating about what to do, but it’s difficult to know who to trust. Even the lawyers are not certain of how the rules will be enforced as this is all very new.

Now, here’s what Jason has to say…

With the new guidelines from the FTC that came into effect on December 1st, a lot of people are wondering if their site is compliant. In my previous post on the new FTC regulations on JohnCow.com, I gave some general examples and definitions but now I want to help you take action. I’ve put together some questions that you need to ask yourself in regards to all your websites (it does not matter if it is a personal blog or commercial storefront).

While I recommend that you go check out the actual information from the FTC itself at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm (warning, it’s a boring read but it’s always good to go straight to the source), the following checklist should help considerably…. but remember we are not lawyers and are not offering legal advice, this is simply a guideline to consider.

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One of the Internet marketers who I respect the most is Indian Dr. Mani. What is special about the Doc, is that he really is a doctor, and devotes the money he generates online to heart surgeries for children, which he even does himself!

Dir Mani’s written a new book – a real physical book – that you can order now (today if possible to help the book rank well in Amazon).

The book is called…

Think, Write And RETIRE!

Your ULTIMATE guide to being an Internet Infopreneur and turning words into MASSIVE wealth – Easily!

As a blogger who makes a living from what I write, I wholeheartedly recommend what this book teaches, and if you order a copy from Amazon today you can grab a bunch of bonus gifts too.

Full details are here.

I have a couple of quick updates for you today as I have to run away from the house with the cleaning lady here.

Help! My Business Sucks!

Andrew Lock who I refer to as the eBay expert with the cool British accent, has recently started producing a web based television show called Help! My Business Sucks!.

The show focuses on entrepreneurship and Internet marketing, with Andrew as the host. If you are looking for another example of a new way to use Video online to spread your message, educate and entertain, take a look at what Andrew is up to.

The show can be found at – http://helpmybusiness.com/

Perry Marshall AdWords Update

Next, some important advice from Perry Marshall – the only AdWords expert I follow. I’ve been on his newsletter for years now, it was one of the very first I subscribed to and one of the only ones I remain a subscriber.

Perry sends out actual advice to his newsletter and rarely promotes any other products than his own. I’ve never seen him participate in an Internet marketing product launch, so if you are sick of “launch emails” and you are looking for a great newsletter covering Google AdWords, general Internet business, lead generation and conversion advice, you can’t go wrong with Perry’s Newsletter.

You can join his free AdWords e-course, which is great, and that will get you on to his newsletter too.

Google AdWords New Feature: Automatic Matching

Perry recently sent through something I thought was critical for anyone currently running a Google AdWords campaign, regarding a new feature called Automatic Matching. Perry presented a warning regarding this feature, so if you have never heard of Automatic Matching, here’s some advice you need to read…

Google is phasing a MAJOR feature into the AdWords
program. If you log into your account you’ll see a notice
that says,

“New! Automatic matching has been enabled in your
account. Your ads will now show for additional relevant
search queries based on the keywords, ad text, and landing
pages in your ad groups. You can opt out by visiting a
keyword-targeted campaign, and then clicking on edit
campaign settings.”

If you edit your campaign settings, you’ll see a check box
that says:

“Automatic matching: Show ads on more search queries
without adding keywords.”

And in your ad groups at the bottom of your keyword list,
you’ll see a new column labeled “Automatic matching total.”

What this means is, if you’re bidding on a keyword like
“dog grooming”, Google may show your ad for a keyword
like “pet grooming brush” even though you’re not bidding
on it at all.

The question is, do you want this?

First of all, there’s no way to know for sure unless you’re
using conversion tracking.

In fact, you should disable this feature immediately unless
you have conversion tracking enabled and hold Google
accountable for the quality of traffic they’re sending you.

***DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE UNLESS YOU TRACK
THE CONVERSIONS FROM ‘AUTOMATIC MATCHING’
TRAFFIC.***

Automatic Matching traffic will seldom be better traffic,
except maybe for people who simply do not know what
they’re doing in AdWords.

AdWords advertisers who learn this game from me are
always control freaks. They don’t want to just take what Google
gives ‘em. (Hey, that’s how you gain an advantage that Google
doesn’t have.) The ideal way to do this would be to use
the bootstrapping technique I’ve taught for years, which is:

-Campaign 1 has bids set at, say, $1.00 with Automatic Matching OFF
-Campaign 2 has bids set at, say, $0.75, with Automatic Matching ON

This will shift all the Automatic Matching traffic into Campaign
2 and you’ll have complete control of it.

Source: Perry Marshall Newsletter

Perry went into more detail than the above excerpt, but I don’t feel right publishing his entire newsletter here (although I almost did!).

Unfortunately I’m not sure if you can get back-issues of Perry’s newsletter, but if you want more info along the lines of the above, take his free e-course and you will never miss another newsletter.