Some interesting things to think about today...

Published: Wed, 09/26/18


Oh boy - it's misty outside, it's gray and a cold front is moving in. That down comforter is calling my name but I am trying hard to resist its allure! I have work to do after all. 

Today, let's chat about a few things that might make you think about strategies and protect your pocketbook and motivate you. 

First: Voice in Online SEO

I was looking at random stuff launching today (I - as a consumer - always shop from the launches because it's when the good deals happen). I saw a product about voice search and for some reason, I hadn't ever thought about that. But it's a thing - people asking Alexa or Google or Siri stuff and getting results.

One thing it made me think about was when I started researching voice search, I found out most people type about 40-70 words per minute, but they speak about 100 words per minute. That's why more people use voice activated commands instead of typing stuff out. 

It's also why I'm highly productive with work - I use my Notes feature on my iPhone and I work from anywhere, anytime - waiting in the car, etc. 

Younger adults primarily use voice. I know my kids do. Some things are funny when it comes to voice - have y'all seen that funny video about the Scottish men in a voice activated elevator? It's hilarious. Go look for it online. 

Anyway - the product I initially saw was Voice Rank and although I am NOT a fan of the automated content portion of the tool, I did go through the training on how to rank for voice search. That was very informative. They talk about what voice SEO is, how to become a search snippet (it even beats ad spots on Google), show you some cool free tools to use to make sure Google will see your site as voice search friendly according to their main factors, and more. 

I really enjoyed the training because it's for tech dummies like me and it's some basic SEO stuff that's slanted for voice search, so I hadn't really seen that slant before. 

Lesson #9 was my favorite! This can apply to any niche and even your text searches, not just voice. They may talk about local businesses on the promos, and if you're into that, great - it's even more relevant. But it's not just for local business issues. I know I ask Siri all sorts of questions for my niche needs, and they have nothing to do with local businesses. My kids use it for EVERYTHING. 

Here's the product - personally, grab it for the training and use portions of the tool but skip the content automated creation. Use PLR instead or write your own. 

https://jvz8.com/c/5810/312775

October Perks and Precautions

So normally in our industry, there are good guys and bad guys and some who are just merely clueless as opposed to being intentionally evil. Money is a driving factor for so many people. We all want and need money, of course, but for some, the desire is so strong, it overshadows their ethics. 

One of the things people get extra money with in our market are contests. It's great to see extra money come into your bank account because you won a contest. Nobody is arguing that point. 

And it's great when you took time to carefully select a vendor and product that you trust, you carefully went through the product or course to evaluate it, you shared it with your people and they trusted you enough to buy it and they liked it. 

All good. 

What's not great is when people see a contest, get so money hungry for the winnings that they agree to promote without any protection in place for you, the consumer, and they tell you to buy it solely because they have their sights set on that leaderboard.

I appreciate vendors who run contests - and those who don't. I don't care, really. Like I said, nice when it happens, but what I care about is whether or not someone took the time to create something useful that benefits both myself and my subscribers. 

Now coming up in October, JVZoo, who I love as a platform and as a company in terms of people, are running a big contest for vendors and affiliates with something like $20,000 worth of prize money.

That's fantastic, of course. They even surprised me by promoting my upcoming launch in one of their emails. 

So whether you're a vendor or an affiliate, it's good news for you.

What I want to do is advise you, as a consumer, to be careful in October. 

Because of the massive prize money, there will be those who just make a plan of attack to churn and burn their lists. That means they target the highest ticket or biggest launches just to win extra prize money. 

There are benefits to you as a consumer, too. More vendors will have discounted launches, affiliates might go the extra mile for you to create valuable bonuses - so that will be a win for you. 

If you've been in this business work any amount of time, you probably have a gut feeling about who you can trust and who just gives off that uneasy vibe to you. 

This coming month, be a savvy shopper. 

Implement these tips:

Tip #1: Does the vendor ever share value or show concern for you?

Be wary of people who only send out "swipe emails" that are hypey and don't offer tips on how to use a product or what to look for when you go through a course.

Tip #2: Shop from people who indicate that they actually reviewed something.

So many marketers promote because of prize money or because they feel uneasy saying no to someone. They promote because they want someone to promote for them. I promote only if something has value and benefit to some or all of my subscribers and if I myself liked it. Period. And I "vet" the vendors I promote. If I know they're shady, I won't promote. 

Tip #3: Look for bonuses - a variety of them.

Not everyone has a bonus, and that's fine. Sometimes, a bonus comes in the form of the affiliate taking time to share ideas. I like to do brainstorming sessions sometimes, and I have people email me saying how valuable the process was for them because learning how to think about a niche or strategic profiting is important. 

Sometimes one person will offer 800 articles, but you know they're usually poor quality, while someone else offers 10 articles that you know will be good. Which is the better deal? I'd rather have 10 ready-to-go quality pieces of content than a pile of 800 useless pieces I'll probably never get around to renovating. 

Tip #4: Buy stuff you can afford, want and need. 

Sometimes people buy anything and everything tossed their way. Never buy what you can't afford. You don't want your purchase to cause a strain. You also don't want to be one of those people refunding days later because you have remorse on spending money. That's not fair to the vendor, the affiliate or yourself, because refunders often get blacklisted - and then you won't be able to buy something in the future if and when you really need it. 

Look at tools and products and figure out if they'll benefit your business. Then, when you buy them, USE them. Set aside even 10 minutes a day to utilize what you buy. That short amount of time is plenty to eventually see a return on your investment. 

I hope this all helps. I'm going to work a bit more today, then I get to take baby girl shopping for her upcoming Washington, DC trip. Last night I watched a YouTube series (part of it so far) where a guy goes on a walking tour of NYC and I'm finding out SO much. And yes, I cried when they got to the 9/11 memorial. I'm going to be a mess when we see that. It touched my life so much watching it. I also can't wait to go to Little Italy and Chinatown, etc. So fun!

Tiff ;)

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