Learn the Secrets to Successful Media Buying.

Written by two media buying experts that have made a small fortune online, Ryan Gray and Ralph “Ruck” Ruckman, this training manual blows the lid off the inner secrets of how to effectively and profitably buy media advertising to promote your products or services.

Especially great for the small business owner who needs to take their business marketing to the next level. Mastery of the material in this course is guaranteed to produce results. You’re investment protected with a 60 day money back guarantee.

Some of the topics covered in the training material  include:

Section 1 – Quick Start Guide To Media Buying

• Get the only “Media Buying Dictionary” online
• The introduction to media buying
• How to plan your media buys
• How to prepare your media buys
• How to optimize your media buys
• How to scale your media buys for maximum ROI

Section 2 – Getting Your Media Buys Up And Running

• Learn the difference between Niche Networks VS. Direct Site Buys
• Never-Before-Seen tips to use when approaching large Advertising Networks
• Knowing  when you should start using an Ad Server
• A powerful FREE Ad Server you can start using right now
• How to understand credit terms with media buying
• How to figure out if your offer will work or not
• How many landing pages / creatives you should test
• How to find banner inventory that converts
• Important things you MUST remember when media buying

Section 3 – Running And Optimizing Your Media Buys

• *Secret* tips to make your Click Through Rate (CTR) Soar
• How to use frequency capping to optimize your media buys
• How to Day Part your media buys
• How to scale up the hours that convert the best for your media buys
• International Media Buying Tips
• Increasing your media buy effectiveness & reach with Re-Targeting
• *Monster Re-Marketing Traffic Source*

Section 4 – Media Buying Traffic Sources And Setup

• How To Setup A Media Buy- step by step instructions
• A huge traffic source – get the inside scoop
• Traffic Source “X” – serious media buying for serious marketers
• 5 media buying traffic sources you can use right now – the key to getting off to a fast start
• And much more

This manual covers everything you need to develop and execute a media buying strategy to accelerate your business success. Knowing how to advertise effectively on the Internet is key to your long term growth. It really doesn’t matter what business you’re in – marketing to your target market is what separates you from the also rans – learn this important skill and your future will become much brighter.

If you’re ready to put your advertising dollars to work in places where you really get a bang for your bucks – learn to use media buys – this manual dishes on all the information you need to get started. Crush it!

Get Your Free 6-Part Media Buying Icon Manual Now – click below

To Order the Media Buying Icon guide – Click Here!

I confess. I used to read in bed, and occasionally watch TV there as well; but I read an interesting health related report, and have since removed both from the bedroom. And as the report claimed, I honestly sleep much better without the clutter and the dstraction.

And clutter is exactly what Social Media can become if you let it overwhelm you. Be selective in who you follow, and just as important – who you let follow you. It’s amazing how just a little discrimination in how you use Social Media can cut down the noise (just another form of clutter – right?).

My mailbox has been overrun in the last few days with people hawking someone’s latest get rich quick scheme using Social Media. “Make tons of money with Twitter” – “Facebook your way to Fame and Fortune”  – you know the drill.

I do think Social Media should have a place in your marketing plan, but it’s only one of the possible roads to success. I believe your marketing plan should have balance – Social Media is one of your tools, nothing more.

Let me know your take on this. Is Social Media a help, or just a hindrance and distraction to your marketing efforts?

UPDATE: Thesis is currently at version 1.8.2

Thesis has been upgraded to version 1.8.2 to be fully compatible with WordPress 3.2. If you have upgraded to versoin 3.2 of WordPress, you need to upgrade to the latest version of Thesis as soon as possible.

Thesis, a great WordPress Theme, and one we use on all of our WordPress blog sites has just gotten even better. Thesis, from Chris Pearson of DIY Themes, has been dramatically improved in both speed and function.

Here’s a partial list of some of the new features and benefits of Thesis 1.7:

• Improved SEO (search engine optimization) control gives you even more opportunity to tune your posts for maximum search engine targeting. The new improvements allow you to control SEO functions, including robots meta tags,  down to the page level.
• Setup options can be saved and restored so if you have favorite options you like to set on each of your sites, this new option makes it a snap to setup.
• Thesis 1.7 features faster page load time due to improved coding and organization.
• JavaScript libraries included – such as, Add jQuery, Prototype, MooTools, and jQueryUI that makes access to these libraries just a click away.
• Improved Home page controls give you improved SEO options and granularity of control.
• Improved hooks for easier coding.
• Headline filter allows you to control
• A 301 redirect function for affiliates allows easy linking to your offer page.
• Great tutorials and an awesome support group are the icing on the cake.

With Thesis you rarely have to touch the underlying code to modify and fine tune your site since the Thesis control panel puts everything at your fingertips. With the new version of Thesis this benefit is even more powerful.

If you build websites in WordPress, you truly owe it to yourself to take a hard look at what Thesis has to offer. I’ve purchased several premium themes over the years, this is the best one out there for my money.

For more information visit the Thesis 1.7 page.

Can you make money in affiliate marketing?

The short answer is yes you can.

Is it easy?  – decidedly not.

We just posted an article addressing the pitfalls of Affiliate Marketing on SBOguide.com. If you are considering throwing your proverbial hat in the ring and giving affiliate marketing a go, I think you’ll find the article timely.

Check out this and other articles aimed at giving the small business owner a fighting chance on the Internet at SBOguide.com.

Ever since I started the Small Business Internet Guide and the associated website, I’ve been looking for ways to make them more useful, increase readership, and in general provide a better service to small business owners. After all, we’re all looking to use the power of the Internet to improve the performance of our small business or professional service.

So naturally, like most business owners, I frequently search the Internet for new ideas and tools that might help me accomplish that goal. Increasingly, no search is required as these offers magically find their way into my inbox.

What you will find when you start searching the Internet looking for that kind of information is a growing army of gurus, some I suspect real and some self-professed, that are willing to offer you advice – usually free or of little cost to start, then increasingly expensive to continue on for the “good stuff”.

This is how it seems to work. A guru, let’s call him or her Guru A, will purport to have discovered a method to accomplish nothing short of miraculous results by using some “new” tool or discovered secret methodology. There’s usually a sense of urgency associated with this promotion, so you need to act quickly or you might miss out. Of course if you do miss out, as the story goes, you will be ground into the dust under the boot of your competitor’s that do decide to grab the offer.

After conducting Internet searches like this over time, you will discover a cadre of “usual suspects” lovingly known as “super affiliates” that are ready to dispense this advice. The informal organization of gurus is like a wheel with spokes; at the center of the wheel is the guru that has developed the latest product and offer. Each of the spokes leads out to an affiliate guru who beats the bandwagon about what a great opportunity this is – usually with some additional incentive thrown in to buy this offer through them. How can you resist? And bear in mind that some of these offers can create a staggering amount of revenue for the guru and his or her affiliates.

Like an Offer de Jour, the cycle repeats and a new guru with a new offer moves to the center of the wheel; and all the gurus along the spokes (the affiliates) beat the bandwagon anew. With the current recssession, this has reached a fever pitch with several offers being released to appeal to and capture the unfortunately growing number of out-of-work people.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against affiliate marketing, it provides a legitimate income for lots of small business owners; its the “churn” that bothers me. Certainly there are good products and methodologies that could help us grow our businesses; that’s the maddening part. The problem is that it’s very difficult to separate the real products and services that might help us from the hype that will only waste our time and money. Discovering which guru really has the goods is the challenge.

So what to do? One thing that we can do is use a forum like this expose products and membership sites that we have found to be truly helpful in growing our businesses. Please don’t hawk your affiliate products here unless you have actually used them and found them to be truly worthwhile.

I invite your comments. If you’ve discovered a tool or idea that helps your business grow – please let us know.

In closing, I offer the following suggestions:

Resist the temptation to be hooked in by each new offer. They all sound good, and they may even seem like something that might work. Above all, avoid being distracted by the “churn” I spoke of earlier. Pick one method and work it exclusively until you succeed. If you don’t find success after three months of real effort, then, and only then, should you consider something else. Be sure to learn the basics of Internet Marketing before you do any of this. The saying Knowledge is Power is very true in this business. Just a little is dangerous, but don’t think you need to become a master of the process to get started either. Experience is a great teacher.

As a primer I recommend a no cost course offered by an Australian named Ed Dale. He will eventually try to sell you something, but it will most likely be something that can help, and you can always just say no to any offer Ed might make. There is no obligation to take the training.

This no cost training is called the Thirty Day Challenge. Be sure to check this out. You will need to register a domain name and obtain hosting to participate. Get your domain name at GoDaddy – they usually have a sale going on for around $7.50. There is a link on this page. Get a .com name if at all possible. Ed’s course will provide advice on picking a domain name. So wait until you get into the course before you do anything. You need to develop a plan – the training Ed offers will help you think about your options.

This knowledge will allow you to evaluate these “offers” when they inevitably come your way, with deeper understanding as to whether they make any sense or not.

Thank you for visiting sboguide.com/blog.

This blog is a companion to sboguide.com and enables us to better dialog with our site visitors.

Please send us your suggestions and comments. Our goal is to help small business succeed.