I actually made a site using this Affiliate Theme that describes some of the great features of Affiliate Theme. I figured by testing it, and putting it on display, I would be able to “put my money where my mouth is.”

You can see my review site at Affiliate Theme Review. I’ll keep it brief here, since you’ll get all the explanations there in detail, with some videos that I’ve made just to describe it.

Affiliate Theme is a wordpress theme that should be exciting for all affiliate marketeres, and everyone interested in making money online. This project has been in the works since August 2008, and is not just a theme.

The customization level is amazing, but my favorite part is that it’s VERY friendly towards non-tech-savvy people. With just a few clicks you can be set up. In fact, my site Affiliate Theme Review is something I set up in under 1 hour. If I can do it, so can you.

When I said it’s more than just a theme, what I meant is that you get a ridiculous amount of support to go with it. Tutorials on how to set it up, customize everything, and anything else you can think of along the way.

That’s not all either. In the members resource center, you get to listen to many podcasts done with the top affiliate marketers in the game. That means, you get yourself a new site within an hour, and you get tips on how to turn profit.

I was personally sold on this idea pretty quickly, and I have no regrets. I’m going to be putting out several personal development products soon, and I’ll be using Affiliate Theme for them, without a doubt.

Check out Affiliate Theme, and the Affiliate Theme Review site.

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Editor’s Note: This article is guest posted by Hunter Nuttall

There are lots of people out there looking to make a career out of blogging. And there are blogs out there that teach all in the ins and outs. But while you’re learning all the intricacies of ad placement, plugins, and copywriting, make sure you don’t lose sight of the fundamentals. If you don’t get these three ducks in a row, nothing else will matter.

1. Understand how much work is required.

So many people see that somebody like Darren Rowse is making a lot of money blogging, so they decide they’d like to do it too. But they’re just looking at the upside. It’s like seeing that George Clooney makes a lot of money for doing movies, so they decide they’d like to do movies too. Can someone direct me to the nearest movie role that will pay $20 million to someone with no talent or experience?

People tend to overlook the years that Darren spent writing 20+ posts a day before two of his many blogs finally took off. Mehdi from Strong Lifts worked 70 hours a week for a year to get up to 13,000 subscribers, and he still wasn’t making a full time income. Steve Pavlina blogged full time for 19 months to get up to $200 a day ($73,000 a year).

These people (and most other successful bloggers) worked much harder than average for extended periods of time before they took off. So when a new blogger quits in frustration after a few months, it shows that they had unrealistic expectations. Blogging is much harder than you think.

2. Pick the right niche.

Given that blogging requires tons of work, you’d better enjoy doing the work or you won’t make it. Maybe you’re interested in unicorns today. But will you still be interested in them a year from now? If so, will you still have new things to write about them? Remember that you’ll need to write an indefinite number of posts over an indefinite length of time. You need to pick a topic that you could never get tired of writing about, no matter how long you live.

It’s risky to pick a topic that’s new to you. If you just started golfing today, then you probably shouldn’t be so quick to commit to blogging about golf for the rest of your life. Think about interests you’ve had for years. Is there something you know a lot about, that you spend a lot of time doing, that you never stop talking about? If so, consider blogging about it!

It might not be easy to decide on a niche. From the time I first learned what a blog is, it took me seven months before I knew I wanted to blog about personal development. Take your time to pick the right niche. Focus on picking something you can base a great blog on, but also consider whether there are enough readers and advertisers in that niche. If you love Jupiter but there aren’t any successful blogs about it, that might mean that it’s not going to work as a topic. Don’t be afraid of a little competition, because it’s proof that the niche has potential.

3. Treat your blog like a business.

A blog is not simply a job you do from home. You can’t just spend two hours writing a post and then expect to be paid for your efforts. That only works if you’re an employee or contractor.

When you have a job, everything you need to make money is in place. You have your assigned role, and there are other people who have their assigned roles. Maybe you’re a programmer, and you’re great at cranking out code that meets the requirements you’re given. But that by itself doesn’t make money, does it? The company also needs marketing people to find clients, business analysts to determine what they need, documentation specialists to write the user manuals, accountants to manage the finances, executives to work on strategy, and so forth. The company needs the combined efforts of all these people in order to function.

When you start any kind of business, including a blog, you’re giving up the support system you have with a job. You can’t just write posts and expect other people to do the rest. It’s all you!

You’re the VP of Marketing. You’re responsible for building traffic. Are you reading enough other blogs, leaving enough comments, writing enough guest posts, responding to comments and emails, etc?

You’re the Chief Financial Officer. You’re responsible for overseeing the cash flow. You need to decide on monetization strategies, implement them, and monitor them. Will you use AdSense? What size will the ads be, and where will they go? What products will you promote as an affiliate? How will you get people to buy them? How much will you charge for your products? Will you invest in a custom template, relevant ebooks, and paid advertising? How much can you afford to spend?

You’re the Director of Human Resources. You’re responsible for taking care of your staff (which happens to be just you). How much vacation time will they get? How will you keep them motivated? What policies will you put in place to guide their behavior?

You’re the Chief Executive Officer. You’re responsible for making sure your blog is headed in the right direction. Do you need to switch to another blogging platform? Do you need to change your posting frequency? Do you need to use guest bloggers? Do you need to do more research on your topic? Do you need to have a meeting with any of your subordinates?

Oh, and don’t forget about the actual blogging! That part is a job, belonging to the senior blogger, who of course is you.

Are all your ducks in a row?

If you’re looking to make it as a blogger, you have to take care of the basics. Most bloggers fail because they don’t have the fundamentals in place. There will be plenty of details to tend to along the way, but make sure you start by getting these three ducks in a row.

Hunter Nuttall wants you to stop sucking and live a life of abundance. Visit his blog to learn how to improve your life and your income.

If you like this article, please vote for it on StumbleUpon.

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Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. -Albert Einstein.

OIOPublisher goes by the great slogan, “Time to take out the middle-men…” and they certainly do that by making blog monetization extremely simple. By taking out big advertisers, you get to put the 50% commission right back in your wallet.

This means you can make a bigger profit, while lowering prices, which in turn means attracting more advertisers. All this with a lot more control than if someone else was managing your banners and links.

They make it simple, so you don’t have to keep track of who owes you what, or when their links expire. The plugin sends out e-mails, tracks clicks, and duration of advertisement.

This just leaves you with the need to check in with your paypal account, and deduct money for that one thing we all like to do… spending!

What’s the catch? How much? One simple payment of $37, and you get absolutely all the features that come with the plugin. Actually, it’s much more than just a plugin. It has full publisher support, a marketplace that helps you sell your links, and a social blogging component that connects you with other bloggers in a way that’s sure to boost traffic .

If you want to you can check out the purchasing side of the plugin by viewing the various links in my advertisement page. Once you’ve determined to give it a try, click here, and see what your missing.

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After a night of studying with my best friend, a glass of sweet Ressling wine, and some good sleep on a couch, I had an interesting dream. I woke up, and the first thing I thought to myself was, “Wow, there’s a good blog post! No. There’s TWO great blog posts!”

For a moment I thought to myself, “Ok, this is great, I’m going back to sleep, and when I wake up I’ll write about it.” Have you ever fallen into the trap of having a great idea and promising yourself to remember it and act on it later? That is called LIEING to yourself.

In Never Lose A Great Idea Again, I shared with you some of my techniques for holding on to my ideas. There are some buckets, or places to record your ideas, that work wonders towards remembering and acting on those sparks of genius at a more convenient time.

Sometimes you can’t wait. Sometimes inspiration strikes in the middle of the night and you just find that you’re in a state of flow. You drop everything – you start to write.

By getting myself right up and onto my laptop, instead of just recording my ideas in the moleskin that was laying by my side, I was able to improve my blogging in three ways.

1. I wrote a post for Lifehack titled Using Questions To Control Communication.
2. A post for John Chow titled The Power of Blogging, Coffee Cake, and a Dream.
3. I was inspired to write this post, and remind myself that sometimes it’s important to drop what you’re doing and follow your inspiration.

How has dreaming impacted you in your writing, blogging, or life?
____
Photo by eye of einstein

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As soon as I walked up to Steve and Erin, I could automatically sense their aura. They just radiate confidence and tranquility. They’re both really nice, and very present. What I liked about talking with them was that I could tell their mind wasn’t elsewhere, it was with me.

The community that surrounds the Pavlinas is really nice as well. Exactly what I imagined everyone at the meet up to be like. Very friendly to introduce themselves, and quick to make me feel welcome. I also got to meet a fellow blogger, Jenny Mannion, who I’ve been interacting with via e-mail for a while. Many other great people were there, but without any blogs to link over to. I gave out some business cards while I was there, so if you find this post, please comment below, it was great meeting you!

Steve Pavlina Talks About Blogging

We asked Steve what the key to making money online was. (paraphrasing)

It’s all about traffic. It’s like getting people into a warehouse. Once they’re there, you could put up signs and sell things, such as coffee, and based on the shear number of people there, someone will buy, and money will be made.

The next obvious question was, how do you get the traffic to come. I hoped he would say something other than content is king, and he did! (paraphrasing)

Honesty. I write about what I believe, and am not swayed by current trends or hype. Aside from being transparent, the trick is to write to people on an individual basis, rather than standing in front of a podium. People want to feel connected with the writer, so you want to cater to that.

Personal Development and a Special Message

During the end of the meet up, Steve and Erin did a short Q&A session to address some of the questions that were on our minds. Richad, the youngest member of the group (I believe he was 16), asked a really powerful question.

What is your message to the younger generation? This kind of took Steve by surprise, since with a shocked expression he replied “Younger generation? But I’m only 36!”. Yes, Steve is also a really funny guy. However, Steve and Erin took this question very seriously, and both replied with what I consider two cornerstone life lessons.

Steve Pavlina (paraphrasing)

Pursuing money and financial abundance is not what we’re here for. You could be really good at what you do, and make a lot of money doing it, but still be unhappy doing it. Joy and happiness is what we should strive for, and we can do this by taking the things we already love to do, and getting good at them. By doing the things that we love, we will not only generate value, by bringing genuine value into the world, but we will be happy NOW, instead of chasing the happiness at the end of some rainbow.

Erin Pavlina (paraphrasing)

Live consciously in all the decisions that you make and thoughts that you have. Do not follow the leader, just be conscious of yourself as an individual.

Well said guys!

The overall experience with the Pavlina NYC meet up was a great success. It was a pleasure meeting them, and everyone else that had attended. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read their blogs, you can do so now, by clicking through to Steve or Erin.

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Since I know that this blogosphere is such a giving and selfless one, I’m going to ask you to once again come together as a community. This experiment, just like Gotta Get Goals, will benefit both the bloggers and the readers of those blogs.

Feel free to use this banner on your post!

I’m calling this one Caring Compassion Charity to stick with the theme, and here are the official rules:

1. In a new blog post, list and write about the top 1 or 2 causes that simply make your palms sweat, your heart bleed, and send tears rolling down your cheeks. Make sure you tell everyone why this cause is so important to you as an individual.
2. In the introduction of your post, explain what you’re doing with the Caring Compassion Charity project and “put a link and/or a trackback to this post”, for the purpose of giving readers the full rules and for me to compile the master list of all participants that I’ll link to in a future post.
3. As with Gotta Get Goals, don’t forget to put a link or trackback to the blogger who tagged you for Caring Compassion Charity in order to let your readers follow the conversation around.
4. Sharing your Caring Compassion Charity with your own audience, will also share them with the blogger who tagged you and the bloggers you tagged, as well as their whole audience!
5. There is no limit to how many bloggers you are allowed to “tag”, so go crazy. It will help their exposure as well as your own when they tag back to your Caring Compassion Charity post. That’s how this writing project works. Just make sure you e-mail the people you tag, so they know to participate!
6. Now just sit back and watch. As people open up what they’re truly passionate about, we’ll get a better grasp on what WE can do to change the world, and why it’s important.

My Cause is Children

Have you ever seen me with kids? They come in all ages, sizes, and colors and I love them all. Some would argue that it’s because I’m a big kid myself and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. I’ll be the first to run around, and play tag with a 3 year old. Some might argue that I don’t have any kids, and if I did, I wouldn’t be such a big fan anymore; I’d say you’re silly, and politely disagree.

Alright, so I like kids and enjoy playing with them, now what? Well… my heart goes out to those that are sick, hungry, cold, wet and unloved. That is why I am pledging to do more things for the kids. This will include:

• Spending more time and patience with all the children in my family.
• Having part of the money I earn from this site go towards children in need.
• Lending a hand, and being a friend, to any child that looks like they need one.
• Looking at the world, one person at a time.

I Tag

I’m going to keep my initial list small, but don’t forget to link or trackback to this post, so that I can tally up the results, and create a master list with results and links back to everyone that participates. If you don’t get tagged, but you want to participate, than go ahead, and tag someone else while you’re at it. No worries, I’ll still add you to the master list, and your voice will be heard.

• Aaron Potts – Today is That Day
• Wendy Piersall – eMoms at Home
• Liz Strauss – Successful Blog
• John Chow – Make Money Online
• Rick Cockrum – Shards of Consciousness
• Priscilla Palmer – Personal Development Demands Success
• Edward Mills – Evolving Times
• Jean Browman – Cheerful Monk
• Nate Whitehill – Unique Blog Designer
• Steve Olson – People Pursuing Freedom

If you’re not sure who to tag, feel free to tag someone from the personal development list, or the gotta get goals list.

What do you say? Can we change the world together?

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It’s time to get your feedback. How can I make AlexShalman.com more useful for you?

Since your opinion is the one that counts, I would like to pose this question to you every several months, to know which direction you would like to see this site go in.

Here are several topics that I would like to get your opinion on:

• Types of Posts - health topics, relationships, communication, goal setting, productivity, guest posts, or otherwise. Let me know what you would like to see more of.
• Posting Frequency – how many posts a week would you like to see on average?
• Design – I’m currently working with a designer to redo the whole interface. This is a perfect time to let me know what you’d like to see.
• Blog Features – how can I make your experience here better?
• Community – are there any features that I can implement that would help you connect better with other readers?
• What Frustrates You about AlexShalman.com? What is Best about it?
• Anything else – any other feedback you can think of.

Gneral ‘rules’ – All your feedback and suggestions are welcome. Even if I don’t get a chance to respond to everything, I’m committed to reading everything you have to say. The one thing I ask is that you keep your criticisms constructive.

Now it’s your turn. Let’s hear what you have to say in the comments below, or share them privately via the contact form. You can also give me feedback at the PDP Forums.

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You don’t have to be part of this personal development list to participate, but I urge you to check out some of these sites, since most of my favorites are already included in the list. The contest rules are list below the personal development list. Be sure to tell your friends about it, and spread the chance to win.

Personal Development List

Aaron Potts at Today is That Day
Adam Alexander at Adam’s Peace
Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
Adam Khoo at Adam Khoo’s Philosophies and Investing Insights
AgentSully at Life Learning Today
April Groves at Making Life Work For You
Argancel at C’eclair (for those who speak french)
Ash aka Mr. Biggs at One Powerful Word
Al at 7pproductions.com
Alan Torres at Made to Be Great
Alex Shalman at AlexShalman.com
Alexander Kjerulf at The Chief Happiness Officer
Alexys Fairfield at Unraveling The Spiritual Mystique
Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net
Amber at Random Mangus
Amie Ragan at Psychology of Clutter
Amy Hedin at There is no Maximum to Human Potential
Andrea Learned at Learned on Women
Andrea J. Lee at Money, Meaning, and Beyond
Andy Wibbels at AndyWibbels.com
Anita Pathik Law at Power of four Way
Anmol Mehta at AnmolMetha.com
Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand
Antonio Thornton at AntonioThornton.com
Ariane Benefit at Neat & Simple Living
Ask Lucid at Ask Lucid Spiritual Development
Barbara Sliter at Creatorship
Belle Wong at Abundance Journal
Bill Perry at Lucid Blog
Billy Smith at The Organic Leadership Blog
Blogfuse at LifeDev
Brad Isaac at Achieve It
Brian Clark at Copyblogger
Brian Kim at briankim.net
Brian Lee at geniustypes.com
Brooke at Plain Advice
Bob at everyeveryminute
Cam Beck at ChaosScenario
Cara Lumen at The Success Magnets With Cara Luman and Your Second Wind Blog
Carlon Haas at Possess Less Exist More
Chris Cree at SuccessCREEations
Chris Marshall at Martial Development
Chris Owen at Pink Apple
Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com
Christine Valters Painter at Abbey of the Arts
Clyde at Feeling Good
Colin Beavan at No Impact Man
Conceive, Believe, Achieve at Conceive, Believe, Achieve
Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker
Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure
Cyres at Cyres Matters
Damian Carr at Soul Terminal
Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers
Darren Rowse at Problogger.net
Dave Schawbel at The Personal Branding Blog
Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet
Davers at Language Trainers Blog
David Allen at The David Allen Company
David Bohl at Reflections on Balance
David Finch at David Finch.com
David Richeson at 360 Degree Success
David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence
David Seah at David Seah.com
David Zinger at Slacker Manager
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
Dean Lacono at Law of Attraction for Beginners
Debbie Call at Spirit In Gear
Debbie LaChusa at 10 Step Marketing Collection
Debra Moorhead at Debra Moorhead.com
Denise Mosawi at Destineering.com
Des Walsh at Thinking Home Business
Devlyn Steele at Tools To Life Guide
Dick Richards at Come Gather Round
Dominic Tay at Personal Development for Winners
Don Simkovich at Hey Don
Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer
Donna Karlin at Perspectives
Donna Steinhorn at Rethinking
Dr. Charles Parker at The Core Psych Blog
Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog
Drew Rozell at Drew Rozell.com
Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity
Edward Mills at Evolving Times
Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business
Emily G. W. Lilly at The Science of Waldorf Education
Emmanuel Lopez at The Adventures of Motivatorman
Ellesse at Goal Setting College
Elly Jolly at Jolly Life Coaching
Enoch Tan at Mind Reality
Eric Napier at Quotation Collection
Erin Pavlina at Erin Pavlina.com
Frank Kanu at Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership
Frank Roche at KnowHR Blog
Galba Bright at Tune Up Your EQ
Gilad Buchman at Sigsug
Gleb Reys at Personal Development Ideas
Grayson at Modern Worker Blog
Greg Butler at Life as Art
Greg Frost at ChargedAudio.com
Gretchen Rubin at Happiness Project
Gustav at Success-is-in-you.com
Guy Kawasaki at How to Change the World
Gyanish at Diethack
Halina Goldstein at The Inner Travel Journal
Hilda Carroll at Living Out Loud
Heather Goldsmith at A Creative Journal
Henrik Edberg at The Positivity Blog
Honman at Open Your Mind to Prosperity
Inkedmn at The Cranking Widgets Blog
Isabella Mori at MoriTherapy
Itzy Sabo at Email Overloaded
Jackie at The Painted Veil
Jacklyn Ker at Inspiring and Empowing Lives
Jason and Michael at Black Belt Productivity
Jason Ivers at A Miracle a Day
Jason Womack at Fit and Effective
Jay White at dumb little man tips for life
Jean Browman at Transforming Stress Into Power and Cheerful Monk
Jeannette Maw at Good Vibe Coaching
Jeff Lilly at Druid Journal
Jeffrey Phillips at Think Faster
Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness
Jenny and Erin at Jenny and Erin
Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategy by Jeremiah
Jerry Hart at Blue Print to emarketing
Jerry Lopper at Personal Growth
Jessa at clairvoyantGuidance.net
Jim stroup at Managing Leadership
Jim Walton at Black In Business
JoLynn Braley at The Fit Shack
Joan Schramm at Accelerating Momentum
Joanna Young at Coaching Wizardry
Joanne at I’m Happy Fish
JodeeB at You Already Know This Stuff
Joe Vitale at Dr. Joe Vitale at Zero
John Pratt at John Pratt International
John Place at John Place Online
John W. McKenna at The Leadership Epidemic
John Wesley at Pick The Brain
Jon at Join The Secret
Jonathan at Smart Wealthy Rich and Freelance Folder
Jory Des Jardin at Pause: Meaningful Work
Josh Bickford at Reach For Magnificence and Reach for Magnificence
Josh Kaufman at The Personal MBA
Judy Martin at The Work/Life Monitor
Julia Rogers Hamrick at Julia’s Blog: Journal of the Journey Home to Eden
Julie Bonner at Declutter It
Kailani at An Island Review
Kammie Kobyleski at Passion Meets Purpose
Karen at Journey with Water Learner
Karen Lynch at Live The Power
Karen Wallace at The Clearing Space
Karl Moore at Karl Blog.com
Karl Staib at Karl Staib.com
Kathy Mallary at Coaching Biz Tips
Keith Ferrazzi at Never Eat Alone
Kenton Whitman at kentonwhitman.com
Kevin Kinchen at Creative Power of Thought
Killeris at Attitude, The Ultimate Power
Kim and Jason at Escape Adulthood
Kim George at Doing What You Can Do
Kirk Nugent at Kirk Nugent.com
Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin
Krishna De at Biz Growth News and Todays Women in Business
K.L. Masina at Be Conscious Now
Leah Maclean at Working Solo
Laura at Organizing Junkie
Laura Young at The Dragon Slayer’s Guide to Life
Lee Nutter at bmindful
Leo Babauta at Zen Habits
Life Reflection at Universe in a Single Atom
Lilifixt at Feel Happy
Linda Salazar at Awaken The Genie Within
Lisa Braithwaite at Speak Schmeak
Lisa Gates at Design Your Writing Life
Lisa Van Allen at Finish Strong
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
Lodewijkvdb at How to be an Original
Lola Fayemi at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development
Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living
Luciano Passuello at Litemind.com
Lucid at Spiritual Suggestions
Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life
Lyndon Antcliff at LyndonAntcliff.com and Cornwallseo.com
MT at MindTWEAKS
Maddy at Illuminated Minds Want to Know
Malathy Badri at Laws of Universe
Manny at Success Books
Maria Garcia at Get Organized Now
Maria Palma at The Good Life
Marianne Williamson at Journal
Mark at The Naked Soul
Mark Forster at Get Everything Done
Mark LaPierre at The Winding Path
Mark McManus at Build Your Life To Order
Mark W Shead at Productivity 501
Martin Avis at Kickstart Daily
Matthew Cornell at Matt’s Idea Blog
Meg Haworth at Life Lessons From Your Soul
Melanie Benson Strick at The Success Blog
Merlin Mann at 43 Folders
Michelle at aMusing My Genius
Michelle Moore at Happiness Blog
Michael Port at The Think Big Revolution
Michael Vanderdonk at TOACH Performance
Mike Janssen at Opgestroopte Mouwen
Mike St. Pierre at The Daily Saint
Mr.Wang at Mr Wang Says So
My Everyday Planner at My Everyday Planner
Nancy Mills at The Spirited Woman
Nancy Tierney at Unconditional Confidence
Neil Patel at Quick Sprout
Nic Askew at Monday 9AM Blog
Nick Smith at Life 2.0
Nneka at Balanced Life Center
Organize-It at Organize-It
Pamala Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation
Pamm Larry at My Spiritual Dance
Patricia Singleton at Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker
Patti Digh at 37 Days
Paul at Paul’s Tips
Paul Piotrowski at Self Help Wisdom
Paula Kawal at Paula Kawal.com
Peggy Payne at Peggy Payne’s Boldness Blog
Peter at I Will Change Your Life
Peter Aldin at Great Circle
Peter Haslem at Necessary Skills
Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great
Philippe Matthews at Shockwealth
Priscilla Palmer at Personal Development Demands Success
Quint Jensen at Win Your Mind
Raymond Salas at Zenchill Powertools
Real Modern Man at Real Modern Man
Reg Adkins at ElementalTruths
Ricardo at Wake Up Tiger
Rich Schefren at Strategic Profits
Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness
Rick Cooper at The PDA Pro
Ririan at Ririanproject
Rob at 7Breaths
Rob Cooke at Leave the Office
Robert at Compassionate Council
Robert at Myselfdev
Robin Skeen at Robin’s Reflections
Robin Yapp at Yapp 3.0
Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz
Roger Von Oech at Creative Think
Rolf F. Katzenberger at Evomend
Rosa Say at Managing With Aloha Coaching
Ryan Marle at The Alpha Project
S.J. Yee at Personal Development for the Book Smart
Sam at Aquire Wisdom and Live with Passion
Scott Adams at The Dilbert Blog
Scott Berkun at Berkun Blog
Scott Bernadot at Keeping The Secret
Scott Ginsberg at Hello, My Name Is Blog
Scott H Young at Scott H Young
Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant
Secret Simon at The Secret of Life
Self Pursuit at Self Pursuit
Senia at Senia.com Positive Psychology Coaching
Seth Godin at Seth’s Blog
Shane Navratil at Zoomstart
Shauna Arthurs at Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path
Shaheen Lakhan at GNIF Brain Blogger
Simone at Dynamic Living
Simone and Mandy at Outfit Inspirations
Slade Roberson at Shift Your Spirits and Spiritual Blogging
Sleeping Dude at How to Wake Up Early
Sonora Jayne Case at Positive Realities Coaching
Sophiagurl at Life is just around the corner…
Spike at Organize It
Stephanie and Jeffrey at Brains on Purpose
Steve Beisheim at Jumping Ship Happens
Steve King at The Green Geek
Steve Olson at Steve-Olson.com
Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com
Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace
Stephen at HD bizblog
Steven Aitchison at Change Your Thoughts
Surjit at Gurushabad
Susan Sabo at Productivity Cafe
Suzanne Bird-Harris at Learning Curve Coaching
Takuin Minamoto at Takuin.com
Ted Demopoulos at Blogging For Business
Terry Starbucker at Ramblings From a Glass Half Full
Thom Quinn at Qlog
Tim Ferris at 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog
Tim Taylor at My Agapic Life
Tom Peters at Tom Peters.com
Tom Spanton at TRCoach
Tom Van Brunscot of Transformation Economy
Tony Chimento at Living Forward
Tony D Clark at Success From The Nest
Torlink at You Create Reality
Travis A. Sinquefield at Disorganizational Behavior
Travis Wright at Cultivate Greatness
Tricia at Loving Farewells
Trizoko at Trizoko.com
Trevor Gay at Simplicity is the Key
Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
Tuck Self at Rebel Belle Blog
Tupelo Kenyon at Tupelokenyon.com
Ubertech at Geeks Guide To GTD
Vera Nadine at Vera Nadine.com
Vickie at Contemplate This
Wade Millican at The Middle Way
Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership
Wan Qi at Meditation Forum Mantras
Wild Bill at Passionate Blogger
and these collaborated sites:
Burst Blog
Change This
Change Your Thinking
Daily PlanIt
Did I Get Things Done
GTD Wannabe
Jobman2
Joyful Jubilant Learning
Life Coaches Blog Stratagies for a Greater Life
Lifehack.org
Lifehacker.com
Transformational Girlfriends
Unclutterer

How To Win The iPod Shuffle of Your Choice

To enter for a chance to win an iPod Shuffle, simply reply to this post. You only need to reply once. Replying multiple times will not get you an extra entry. Check out the full feed RSS to find out how you can get a second entry. You get a third entry if you are a subscriber to my free newsletter. If you haven’t signed up to it, now would be a good time to do so. To get three additional entries, you can blog about it and send a trackback.

Once I have all the entries, I will use a random number generator to choose the winner. The more entries you have, the better your chances of winning are.

Update: The contest will run until September 27th.

Update for clarity: Just putting a list of ways that you can enter this free ipod contest.

• 1 entry for posting a comment below.
• 1 entry for joining RSS and posting a comment that I wrote on the bottom of the RSS post.
• 1 entry for an easy subscription to my free newsletter.
• 3 entries for making a blog post that talks about this contest.

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

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There was also a follow up post about stepping out of my comfort zone that was posted right before SOBCon began.

Below is a Flickr slideshow of a few of the people that I got a chance to meet during the Saturday of SOBCon. I’m a “ham” so I’m nearly in every photo. This should add nicely to the measly single photo of myself in the about me page.

Links to SOBCon07 Attendees

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It is now the beginning of SOBCon weekend, and I have just checked into my hotel room. Examined successful-blog, the site of our lovely hostess Liz Strauss, and am now preparing to get the best possible experience from this weekend. My intentions are to learn, so that I can give you guys some great info, to meet people and to have fun.

Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone

In my experience, the only way to really experience growth is to break out of your comfort zone. When I went to the Problogger meet in NYC, I didn’t really feel out of my comfort zone. After all, NYC is basically my home turf, and I brought a date with me to keep me company. Now I’m in Chicago, a place I’ve never been to before (I don’t even fly very often). I’m here alone.

I feel pretty comfortable doing this, but never the less it is a new experience. It is a big step for me. The only seminars that I thought I would be going to anytime in the near future would be personal development related (like the Landmark Forum). This whole blogging thing is opening up new doors and adventures for me. The best part for me is the people and the community. My readers make it all worth it. If just one person gets one thing out of what I’m doing here, it’s already worth it. Judging by the feedback that I have gotten over the months, you have made it worth it many times over!

I’ll have plenty of SOBCon updates coming up. So check back!

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As you’ve noticed, in order to reward the top commentators on this site I have added the Top Commentators plugin in the sidebar on the left. It basically displays the name of the 10 people that have left the most comments. If you have a site, this works out great because you get a link from a PR4 site, that’s ranked ~80,000 on Alexa and ~11,000 on technorati. If you don’t have a website, I would recommend entering your favorite charity as your URL in order to bring some attention to them.

If you don’t have the time to stick around the site and comment on every post, you now have three more options.

1. Text-link Ads: You can purchase a monthly link on this site that will be featured on the top left hand side of the site. Not only will you get the benefits of a PR4 site linking to you, but you’re sure to get some click-through traffic. TLA is now offering a $100 sign up bonus. The current purchase price of a monthly link on this site is $25. I would say that this gives you 4 months worth of links, but I plan to raise the price soon, so now is the best opportunity to jump on this bandwagon.

2. Post Level Ads: You can purchase a monthly link on a specific post.

Each Post Level TLA will:

• Be exclusive to one Advertiser.
• Allow Advertisers to have a full 80 character title and 150 letter description.
• Be positioned directly at the end of top posts making it ideal for click throughs.
• Each ad will be on a single page only.

3. ReviewMe Review: You can purchase a review from me for $100, and it will get it’s own separate and permanent post. I will do a thorough evaluation of your site or product. At first the benefit is some buzz and traffic generated towards your item. The after affects is that you’ll always have a link from this site. The site will grow, and so will the ReviewMe price, but your link will remain intact, serving you well for years to come.

Take advantage of these opportunities now, before the prices begin to raise. Otherwise, feel free to leave comments and enter the conversation. Either path you choose, I welcome you as an invaluable member of this community.

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Seven Ways To Entice Reader Participation

1. Contest

One of the best ways to get bloggers to participate is by holding a contest. Whether you’re giving away money, prizes or links; people want free stuff, and even more so they want to win. Start a contest, such as my Donation Contest or better yet, Darren Rowse’s Writing Project .

2. Meme

I am still surprised how many people don’t know what a Meme is. A Meme is a conversation starter, such as a question or assignment, in which you ask other bloggers by “tagging” (linking tag bloggers, they tag more bloggers, and everyone tags to the original question asker. A good way to draw attention to yourself.

3. Newsletters

Newsletters are supreme in permission marketing. They give you a great outlet from which to send updates and product information, without people having to visit your blog.

4. Ask questions

A great way to get your readers to talk to you is to ask questions. Something simple and thought provoking, that requires the reader to give their opinion or be personal. When people open up to you, they feel closer to you, so they’ll be sure to visit you (their new friend) more often.

5. Controversy

Post something completely new, or against the general consensus. Being opinionated (do not confuse with vulgar), establishes you as an authority, and gets people talking. If you manage to not fend off all your readers, it’s going to lead to many interesting conversations. Do not just rehash a story and say you don’t like it. Mix in a story or personal anecdote so your readers get to know you.

6. Comments and Forums

Make sure you have an easy to access comment section and interact with your readers. Make friends with your readers, and they’ll be back to see you. If you have a very large blog, consider putting in a forum. You’ll have an army of people evangalizing your brand, and referring friends.

7. Carnivals

Carnivals are great for small blogs, because they get you noticed. During your early days blogging, getting as few as 15-25 new readers, could be the difference between no one and someone visiting your blog. Submit to as many relevant carnivals as you can, have quality writing, and people will start talking.

My Evil Bonus: When you submit articles to a carnival, you can specify what they should use as the anchor text. Provide quality writing to many carnivals, and you’ll be ranking page one for your chosen term.

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Topics:

• How to guarantee the success of your online ads
• Tips for packaging your inventory and maximizing ad revenue
• Online Advertising Basics – Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
• Advertising in RSS feeds – the next big thing?
• Marketing Beyond Google, Yahoo, AOL & MSN with Scale, Quality and Safety
• It’s all in the creative – how to create successful online ads
• Targeted Ad Networks – Cost Per Influence Vs. Cost Per Thousand
• Ads in Online Video – the future of interactive advertising?

Speakers:

• Erick Schonfeld (Business 2.0)
• Henry Copeland (Blog Ads)
• Jim Coudal (Coudal Partners)
• Mike Hudack (blip.tv)
• Jay Adelson (digg/revision3)
• Darren Rowse (ProBlogger.net)
• Greg Stuart (IAB)
• Carla Hendra (Ogilvy)
• Matt Freeman (Tribal DDB)
• Jeremy Allaire (Brightcove)
• Chas Edwards (Federated Media)
• Steve Rubel (Edelman)
• Andrew Goodman (Page Zero)
• Michael Walrath (Right Media)
• Steve Olechowski (FeedBurner)
• Alyson Racer (New York Times)

I’m excited about both SOBCon and FOOA. After these two conferences, I’m going to be much more knowledgeable about blogging and online marketing. So if you’re into that sort of thing, you’re going to love that this blog will be discussing many great ideas on making money online and effective blogging. If you aren’t interested in that sort of thing, well than I promise I’ll give you plenty more of what you’ve already learned to love from me.

If you’re going to be there, let me know, I’d love to meet up.

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I have previously mentioned that I will be attending SOBcon. You can get more info about it at SOBEvent.com, but I’ll tell you the gist.

Purpose
We will demonstrate to 250 bloggers how to take their existing blogs to the next level through interactive presentations on publishing, design and branding, tools, analytics, social networking, marketing, and coaching, from the perspectives of the blogger and the audience.

Some of the speakers include, Wendy Piersall of emoms at home. If you remember, I did a guest post for her not too long ago, about having a magnetic blog .

Edit: I through this post up in a hurry, in order to qualify for Wendy’s contest. First person to make a new post about SOBCon and e-mail her wins. I WON!!! So excited! I’ll put some more info on SOBCon below.

If you’re going, or thinking about going, contact me. I’d love to see some people that read this site regularly or live in my area (New York/Jersey).

I found a press release that was put out on SOBCon. It’s like a little review of it and is found on PRWeb .

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This is my first weekly update for the Donation Contest, which is ending on April 15th.

Subscribers to the website increased by a whopping 20% according to feedburner. While the posts traffic accounts for only 1.67% of the sites visits in the past 7 days, this is due to the explosive traffic drawn to yesterdays post Seven Questions That Will Change Your Life.

Another side effect and what has generated the most buzz about this donation contest is the amount of backlinks that it received – the current count is 15 backlinks, which means that I am putting $15 into the donation pool, so far.

It’s not too late to participate!

Like I said, the contest is running until APRIL 15TH. Get on the bandwagon and help me donate money to a good cause. Everytime you post the following line into your blog or website, I will put $1 into the donation pool. On April 15th I will pick one of the “lucky linkers” and donate ALL THE MONEY (up to $500) to a legitimate charity of THEIR choice. Good deal huh?

You can copy/paste this line. All links must be intact for the entry to be valid.

Alex Shalman at Practical Personal Development (a blog about self help and personal growth) is hosting a Donation Contest in which you press a button and he donates a dollar.

I did mention that this contest has generated a lot of buzz, some good and some bad. One group of people think it is very evil of me to use a charity to gain publicity. Another group of people think that it’s a wonderful thing that I’m donating money to a good cause, and I’m being smart about promoting this site. The comments section is the perfect place to voice your opinion on this subject.

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The article I wrote was titled Ten Secrets to Creating a Magnetic Blog. I’ll give you the break down, but I want you to go read the actual article over there – and make sure you comment. Wendy told me I get $1 for every comment left to my guest post (just kidding!).

This list is based on what I get from my favorite blogs and these are the reasons they keep me coming back. You may have your own reasons – if you’d like to share them please go over to the article at Wendy’s blog.

Comments will be closed for this post.

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For this week my favorite articles are:

1. Leo of Zen Habits made a guest appearance at The Good Human blog last week. He wrote a very practical article titled Going Vegetarian and Vegan – A Sustainable Choice. Read and enjoy.

2. Brian Kim illustrates The High Correlation Between Sales and Self Improvement, and says that:

Sales is literally self improvement baptism by fire.

Sales forces you to become better.
It forces you to learn new information.
It forces you to apply that information.
It forces you to aim for a clear goal and to achieve it.

3. Jesper from Practical Self Development 101 has submitted an article for your viewing pleasure – Why action-focused problem solving often fails.

4. Steve Olson addressed a very controversial issue as he defends The Secret and Oprah against a landslide of critics. I’m sitting this one out on the sidelines – but he does make some interesting points.

5. We all tend to be bogged down with fatigue from time to time – Sania Wyatt, this communities current Top Commentator, lets us in on 8 Easy Ways To Beat Fatigue.

If you have any articles that you think I NEED to see then post this in the comments section below. I can’t guarantee that I will have the time to read everyone’s articles, but if I do read them and I think my readers will find them useful I will include them in a future Sunday’s Speedlinking.

To see the previous speedlinks and other posts I have made in the past you can visit my archives section.

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For this week my favorite articles are:

New to blogging? Here is your solution. Gleb Reys presents Perfectblogger, a site containing a blogging glossary, blogging tools, blog software and of course a blog covering the buzz around… you guessed it, effective blogging.

Westegg presents a review for one of my favorite books, How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. It’s a quick to read list.

Danish Ahmed, a blind, albino, Pakistani as he defines himself has been in the personal development business for 15 years. Although I haven’t heard of him before I’ve stumbled upon an inspirational short movie of his titled The Love Movie. It’ll make you want to acknowledge someone close to you and tell them how you feel about them, at least it did for me.

Are you being taken advantage of? Fed up with the way someone is treating you? Christine Kane explains how You Teach People How To Treat You. She gives a four step process for establishing this power in yourself:

1 – Start by Knowing What You Want (and What You Don’t Want)

2 – Learn from your Current Situation

3 – Honor It and Practice It

4 – Teach Yourself How to Treat You When That’s the Only Choice

Henrik Edberg, from The Positivity Blog had a post yesterday titled 9 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Personal Growth. Number 5 really resonated with me: Worrying about/listening to what others think.

In my opinion one of the greatest personal development killers would be a toss up between family, peers and romantic partners. If you’re around someone that is making bad decisions, looking down upon your efforts to grow and is being a negative energy, you will be affected. Being such social beings, other people really do have a great influence on us, whether we want to believe it or not.

I won’t get into the reasons of why someone would want to hinder your personal growth, but there are probably just as many cases where they motivate you to pursue such goals. I don’t go around quoting the bible, but this is one of the quotes on my desktop background.

He who walks with wise men will be wise,

but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

Sure you can transcend above and beyond everyone around you, but you could probably do it better and faster if you had more positive influences.

If you have any articles that you think I NEED to see then post this in the comments section below. I can’t guarantee that I will have the time to read everyone’s articles, but if I do read them and I think my readers will find them useful I will include them in a future Sunday’s Speedlinking.

To see the previous speedlinks and other posts I have made in the past you can visit my archives section.

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For this week my favorite articles are:

Ririan writes about the 22 Ways To Overclock Your Brain, a detailed How-To on getting the most out of your cognitive abilities.

Please read this very quick article on Ten Foods You Should NEVER Eat!, these calories are absolutely obscene.

This article, by healthbolt, makes the one I was going to write about quitting soda obsolete. What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?

After looking through all the articles in my archives page I’m sure your eyes will get a bit tired. For this I suggest reading improve your vision without spending a penny for some practical tips on… improving your vision.

So what’s with this whole organic food hype anyway? What makes it better than the rest? If you’re still unclear about this issue, visit Lucid Nutrition, and let them explain the issue with Buying Organic Produce .

If you have any articles that you think I NEED to see then post this in the comments section below. I can’t guarantee that I will have the time to read everyone’s articles, but if I do read them and I think my readers will find them useful I will include them in a future Sunday’s Speedlinking.

To see the previous speedlinks and other posts I have made in the past you can visit my archives section. If you don’t have the time to look through too much information right now just pick something from the Most Popular Posts section in the sidebar.

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For this week my favorite articles are:

Alec Gullon started blogging about Life and Growth just this month and produced an interesting article titled Drink More Water, which you will find very much complementary to my Liquid Motivation article. Have a look at both.

Life Coach Alvin Soon writes about breaking out of your comfort zone in his post, How To Suck And Still Be On Top.

Stretch or die. Because if you’re not growing, you’re dieing.

Craig Harper, a personal trainer and motivational speaker, writes about being proactive and defining what success means to you. Check out Craig’s Don’t let “life” happen to you. Also, Craig appears on a radio show, which you can syndicate from his website. If you’re like me and think Australian accents are entertaining, have a listen.

Seth Godin, breaks down peoples perception of belief with 4 simple sentences.

People don’t believe what you tell them.

They rarely believe what you show them.

They often believe what their friends tell them.

They always believe what they tell themselves.

If you have any articles that you think I NEED to see then post this in the comments section below. I can’t gaurantee that I will have the time to read everyone’s articles, but if I do read them and I think my readers will find them useful I will include them in a future Sunday’s Speedlinking.

To see the previous speedlinks and other posts I have made in the past you can visit my archives section.

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I present you with five essential plugins that you don’t want to blog without.

Show Top Commentators: This plugin rewards the top commentators by providing back links from my site. This should improve their google ranking and possibly send some traffic their way. I will increase the Top 5 to Top 10 once the comments get to double digits.

MyBlogLog: Ok, this isn’t exactly a plugin, you’re right. It is a pretty cool thing to have up on the site though. This is another reward system for my readers, as it provides a way to interact and check out each others blogs. As you can see my community is a bit lacking in the people department, so don’t be shy and join!

Subscribe to comments: This plugin puts a check box after the comment box so that you can get e-mail updates to the comments and come back to reply. In case you haven’t figured it out, I want you to comment, because I want to know what you have to say, so comment.

Feedburner Feed Replacement: This plugin converts all the RSS feeds to feedburner so that I have better tracking functions. How does this benefit you? It makes me happy, which will trickle down to you, somehow.

Related posts: The link that most other sites offer to this plugin is not functioning, so here is the latest one. It was a bit of a pain to install so I enlisted the help of Charley. I expect this plugin to get my readers to look at more pages, since older articles will be more readily available.

If you go over to my first post, you will see some of the other plugins that I’ve used when launching this site in mid-December, 2006. I will keep you updated whenever I get a really good batch of plugins in.

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