What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know (TM) - The Blog For Original Content Infopreneurs

Making Money From What You Know - Your Life Is Unique Content

Many people I come into contact with who are interested in making money from what they uniquely know (also known as original content infopreneuring), get stuck on one point--they have trouble identifying what they know!

I have the opposite problem, I have more topics that I'd like to develop than I have time for!  But then again, I've got an infopreneur's mindset, and been creating content since I was 6 years old!

But for the rest of you, let's get you unstuck very simply with this thought--your life is unique content!

Now let's demonstrate this in action with a real-life example using something that recently occurred in my life that's ripe for becoming the core of a new information product and service line for me.  It'll also explain why I've been on a bit of a hiatus from blogging and podcasting the past few weeks.

I just went through a very challenging 2010 personally, which centered around the fact that I was trying to do something about my living situation in Las Vegas.  I was getting antsy to move on and free myself from the shackles of a house my husband and I bought here as a way to help out some family members, which ended up in our hands during the worst possible real estate market.

It took a few months, but after two prior last-minute escrow fallouts, my Christmas present was the house finally sold a few days before that holiday.  We stayed on for about a month after the close, and just recently moved stuff into storage and started staying in local extended stay hotels since we're not 100% sure where to hang our hats yet.  It's fun--someone else cleans the bathroom and makes the bed, and I don't have to cook!

Wishing Won't Make It So In The New Year

Editor's Note:  I wrote this at the end of last year, but it's every bit as valid today as we head into 2011.  So please read on and I wish you a very happy New Year!

 

So I’m in one of those moods you often get towards the end of the year, where you reflect upon the year that’s almost gone, and the promise of what the New Year could bring.

  

It’s been a great year for me with my 6^th book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!(TM) finally published after several years—and in case you haven’t heard why that was the case, you can check out my 60-minute author interview teleseminar for free CLICK HERE.  And I’m very proud of the fact that in a time that’s still pretty challenging in most of the world, I sent out in the form of that book a message of empowerment, of believing in oneself, of valuing one’s unique knowledge and then giving those who decided to take action, all the tools they needed to succeed in 327 pages and 38 chapters.

  

I know I’m doing my part to help people who "get it", achieve the life they deserve every single day.

 

At the same time though, I realize that in my efforts to bring these messages to the world, I’ve only just scratched the surface.  There are so many people out there who still don’t know that there are choices to being a former white-collar professional now forced (so they believe), to be working for FedEx or UPS delivering holiday packages, and hoping that they get to stay on post-holiday and move back up to some kind of managerial position one day.  And yes that’s an actual AP news story that I saw on the web the other day.  Sure they need to pay the bills, but…

  

There are choices to the local businesses going out of business I see all the time (and I’m sure you do too) because of the economy, because of the competition, because of a massive snowstorm killing holiday sales, because (fill in the blank).  Sure there are tons of factors that affect a business’ ability to make it through very challenging times, but…

  

And there are choices to being a starving artist too.  A couple of months ago I went back to Southern California for a visit, and at the Santa Monica Pier there was a young man with a beautiful voice singing Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do, I Do It For You with his cup out playing for tips.  He also sang an original song for all of us hanging out at the pier.  Sure it’s really, really tough to break into the music business, but…

  

 

Holiday Gift Idea Buzz For What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!

What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!(TM), my 5-star Amazon rated comprehensive guide to infopreneuring and marketing has been getting great buzz as a holiday gift idea.

It was featured in an Examiner.com Working Moms' Holiday Gift Guide:

http://Budurl.com/WorkingMomsGift

And in The Lucky Canuck Holiday Gift Guide:

http://BudUrl.com/HolidayGiftGuide

And as a way to avoid regifting on AOL's popular WalletPop Blog:

http://BudUrl.com/Regifting

It's not too late to "give the gift of empowerment" to yourself or others and get incredible holiday bonuses with 24/7 shopping if you act by 12/31/09--check out the details CLICK HERE.

Make your holiday gift giving easy with 24/7 shopping, no lines, no camping out, no regifting, and a gift that can positively impact the lives of its recipients long after the holiday season is over.

Please go check out my Give The Gift Of Empowerment Holiday Offer here.  And then spend the rest of the holidays relaxing and enjoying the season.

 

Get your FREE 3-chapter book excerpt and access to my author interview teleseminar!  CLICK HERE!

Happy Holidays & Happy Infopreneuring!

--Melanie R. Jordan, Everybody's Infopreneur Coach, Author of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know™ - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! and Host of infopreneur podcast What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast Available 24/7 at: http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMorePodcast.com

Don't miss a post--subscribe to this infopreneur blog What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know - The Blog For Infopreneurs feed.  It's easy!  CLICK HERE

Follow me on Twitter

Join my new LinkedIn Group Make Your Own Job! What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM)!

Friend Me On Facebook, What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) Facebook Fan Page

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, healthy eating and foreclosure investing, and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Check out Melanie's Other Blogs:

The Healthy Food Review where healthy eating with favorite comfort foods is deliciously possible! at http://www.TheHealthyFoodReview.com

Vegas Inside Scoop--for Las Vegas locals and visitors at http://www.VegasInsideScoop.com

Copyright SunLover Publishing LLC 2009

Using Public Relations As An Affiliate Marketing Free Traffic Building Strategy

There are probably many different tactics you're using to build traffic for your affiliate marketing efforts for the programs you represent, but there's a classic marketing method you may not have thought of—public relations.

 

For those of you who aren't familiar with what public relations is all about, it's essentially getting mentioned or quoted in traditional or new media, which results in free publicity (and traffic) for you and your work.  Unlike advertising, you can't pay for public relations, and you don't control the content or timing of your mention.  However, in return, you get credibility that advertising dollars just can't buy, mentions in places that may not accept ads anyway, and it's all at no cost to you!

 

So how can a public relations effort help you get affiliate commissions?  Here are two ways:

 

1.  Indirect Method

 

If you're like me, you've got high-quality, content-rich blogs, websites, Facebook fan pages, maybe a podcast blog like What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) The Podcast, maybe a vlog, etc., that people value, and are a fit for those who are within the target audience for the affiliate programs you're participating in.  And, of course, you should have a great sequential autoresponder database system in place to capture as much of these site visitors and content consumers as possible for opt-in lists.  If you don't already have this infrastructure for your marketing efforts, you'll want to check out InfoToolsForYou.com for the one I use.

 

Holiday Offer What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know Book

What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!™ “the” how-to guide on infopreneuring and no-cost/low-cost marketing, which I also refer to as "the gift of empowerment" is an empowering holiday gift idea that avoids regifting, and can have a life-long positive impact on its recipient long after this holiday season is over.

 

And now there's a special holiday offer that makes giving What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!™ as a holiday gift for yourself and everyone on your list an irresistible idea!

 

When you buy What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!™ this holiday season, you can get up to $1,189 in valuable bonuses directly from me.  Check out the details of my Give The Gift Of Empowerment Holiday Offer here.

 

***Buy 1 book and you get to attend my 4-night Bookinar this January (a $497 value) for FREE!

 

***Buy 2 books and you get the Bookinar PLUS my next live Strategic Social Media Makeover Training in January (a $497 value) for FREE--that's $994 value)!

 

***Buy 3 books and you get the Bookinar PLUS the Strategic Social Media Makeover Training PLUS a private 1-hour phone coaching session with me ($195 value) for FREE--a total of $1189 in bonuses! Just for buying 3 copies of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!™

 

Make your holiday gift giving easy with 24/7 shopping, no lines, no camping out, no regifting, and a gift that can positively impact the lives of its recipients long after the holiday season is over.

 

Please go check out the details of my Give The Gift Of Empowerment Holiday Offer here.  And then spend the rest of the holidays relaxing and enjoying the season.

 

Get your FREE All-Access Pass to my What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know Infopreneur Teleseminar Series (including hours of past replays) CLICK HERE You won't want to miss some of the very special guests that will be joining me!

Happy Infopreneuring!

--Melanie R. Jordan, Everybody's Infopreneur Coach, Author of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know™ - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! and Host of infopreneur podcast What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast Available 24/7 at: http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMorePodcast.com

Don't miss a post--subscribe to this infopreneur blog What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know - The Blog For Infopreneurs feed.  It's easy!  CLICK HERE

Follow me on Twitter

Join my new LinkedIn Group Make Your Own Job! What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM)!

Friend Me On Facebook, What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) Facebook Fan Page

Check out more of Melanie's empowering publications on work-at-home lifestyles, healthy eating and foreclosure investing, and learn about her Marketing and Infopreneur Coaching Services at http://www.SunLoverPublishing.com

Check out Melanie's Other Blogs:

The Healthy Food Review where healthy eating with favorite comfort foods is deliciously possible! at http://www.TheHealthyFoodReview.com

Vegas Inside Scoop--for Las Vegas locals and visitors at http://www.VegasInsideScoop.com

Copyright SunLover Publishing LLC 2009

Original Ideas For Your Information Products And Services Where To Find Them

So for those of you who are familiar with my work through this What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) - The Blog For Infopreneurs, my What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast, my teleseminars, videos, my book, What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!(TM), or even some of my media guest appearances, I thank you for being part of my world, and you know that when I talk about infopreneuring, I'm talking about the creation of original information products and services. 

 

And to make sure we're all on the same page, an information product the way I like to define it, is one that can be delivered 24/7 without you having to directly do anything once it's created (of course you still have to do ongoing marketing), while the information service requires your active participation in order to deliver it.  The classic example is that a live teleseminar is an information service; the recording of it is the information product.

 

For those of you reading that for the first time, welcome and now you have a basic idea of my approach to infopreneuring and what it is.

 

I always find it interesting when people tell me how intrigued they are with the thought of being an original content infopreneur, yet at the same time, they're often stuck at trying to get a handle on what it is that they know that they believe would be valuable to others.

 

A common misconception is that a good infopreneur topic can only be something that's business-related.  Now certainly business or professional-related topics are almost always going to be in demand.  However, if that's not something you know about, no worries!  Hobbies and life experience are also valued.

E-zine Or Not To E-zine, That Is The Question

Back in 2001, when I started my public marketing efforts in support of my very first e-book about a popular legitimate work-at-home field, just the fact that you had a free e-zine was enough to make people sit up and take notice, and give up their e-mail address in exchange for getting that valuable content (well at least in my case it was valuable content, I can't speak for others).  I also carried that idea of an e-zine being a must-have through when I added my second topic in the healthy eating genre—Have Your Cheeseburger And Keep Your Health Too! which was my fourth book.

 

Now with my sixth book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), I never even considered doing an e-zine as part of my marketing efforts.  Why?  Simple!  Now there are so many more other valuable offerings that can be used as an incentive for someone to raise their hand and opt-in to a list, or other ways that people opt-in to be part of your world, that in many cases, the reaction among those you're trying to entice to become a member of your list to an offer of an e-zine is likely "that's nice, so what else you got?"

 

Subscribers have become jaded, and you've got to offer quite a bit to get them to join, and more importantly stay on, your list.

 

In my case it's pretty easy to make a "subscriber to Melanie's list = totally worth your time" value proposition.  My subscribers never miss knowing about one of my podcast episodes, blog posts, videos, teleseminars, or media guest appearances, or getting access to the replays so they can check out my content on their own schedule in true Web 2.0 fashion.  They get a free copy of my Treasury of Infopreneur FAQs e-book, a free 3-chapter excerpt from my book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), and subscriber-only discounts on that book and many other offerings.

 

Having An E- Book Doesn’t Make You An Infopreneur

Sometimes I find it amusing, and sometimes I find it downright scary what people on the internet will refer to as being an infopreneur.  From the monitoring I’ve been doing of the term on the internet lately, it appears that it can often be anyone who can create an e-book by either slapping their name on someone else's stuff through PLR rights (private label rights), or anyone putting together a few pages of “original” crap, who can’t spell or write, with a $47 to $97 price tag, is calling themselves an infopreneur. 

This bothers me for three reasons:

1.  Tainted Love

It taints the view of potential consumers of a legitimate e-book which is every bit as complete in content and quality as any print book out there.  If they keep seeing the term e-book associated with garbage, they’re not going to believe high-caliber e-books are for real.

An e-book is just an alternate method of publication.  It’s an additional delivery method to meet the needs of an author’s audience who wants to access the content right away, avoid shipping charges and save some trees.  For the author it provides a way to keep the content easily updated, and it yields a higher profit margin than a print edition ever will.

Bookseller Amazon even gives quality e-books a major push on its site by pushing its Kindle reading device and all the titles available.  So there’s further proof that the e-book is a legitimate and desirable format.

Take any of the 6 books I’ve written, like my new one What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM).  They are all highly regarded and available in e-book format, and four of them, including the new one, are also available as print paperbacks through any major online retailer (and yes I’m working on the Kindle edition)

URL Shorteners How Your Marketing Efforts May Be Sabotaged By Them

So I’m an absolute fiend for tracking data—I guess it comes from my Marketing Research roots.  The first job I had in my Marketing career straight out of college with my shiny new diploma was as a Marketing Research Analyst for one of the country’s largest banks.  It wasn’t my first choice as I was hoping for a more creative aspect at the time, but it paid big and I wanted that marquee name on my resume—at least back then when I used to care about that kind of stuff.

 

Today, one of my best friends for tracking responses to all kinds of marketing efforts is a URL shortener.  If you don’t know what I mean, here are two examples: http://Budurl.com/WhatYouKnowFacebook and http://BudUrl.com/WhatYouKnowPodcast. 

 

There are many such URL shorteners out there including TinyUrl (I have a client who calls them "Tiny Earl" which always cracks me up), SnipUrl and others.  Usually a URL shortener is the ally of the serious marketer who wants to know how to fine tune their efforts, or pretty up an otherwise lengthy and ugly longer URL.  But recently I discovered that using URL shorteners is actually throwing a bit of a monkey wrench into my marketing efforts, and I’ll bet you may be experiencing the same thing without even realizing it.

 

It all started a few weeks ago when I was preparing to send a message to my e-mail list to let them know about the latest What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast episode, some new blog posts and other news, and I noticed for the first time ever, I was getting a SPAM assassin score back of 2 rather than my usual zero.

 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with using sequential autoresponder database systems, SPAM assassin is a helpful tool on most of these systems that pre-screens your intended e-mail message before you send it out to your database and lets you know how likely it is that it will get caught in a spam filter or even blocked by an ISP.  Any score below 5 is supposed to be okay, but this is one time that you actually want a grade of zero if you can achieve that.

 

 

Attention Job Seekers You Don't Need A Sandwich Board

As mentioned in a top news story this week, a recent British graduate job seeker was having trouble finding work in London’s tough economy decided to do something to make him stand out in his job search, so he put on his dress for success wear and added a large sandwich board that advertised that he needed work, and would work for free for 30 days, after which he could be hired or fired.  Then he walked around in front of a high concentration of employer’s headquarters hoping someone would appreciate his effort.

He claimed success, and it did work in that within 5 hours he claimed to have a job offer and he got many business cards for making additional contacts.

 

So what’s wrong with this picture?

This student is obviously bright, creative, resourceful and a risk-taker.  All entrepreneurial qualities, yet he was using them somewhat misguidedly in my opinion.  Why humiliate yourself, when you can empower yourself?

 

And it‘s no disrespect to him because what he did absolutely took guts.  But just how empowered is he going to be in the workplace when he starts off being known as the guy who was willing to work for free? 

 

Plus, isn’t he also lowering expectations for other student job seekers?  Now other employers who always want to squeeze all that they can out of a worker, are likely to capitalize on this and seek out candidates who are willing to work for free before they commit to hiring them—they may even make it policy.  And if they hire him, what kind of negotiating power does he possibly have?  They already know he’s desperate to get paid work—what are the chances he gets the kind of job offer with the level of pay and benefits he really deserves?

 

Sure this guy is burdened with student loans and dim employment prospects, but this is because he didn’t have a Plan B.  It’s not news that the economies in most places in the world are absolutely awful.  People with years and years of knowledge and expertise are having the corporate ladder pulled out from under them.  And I know it’s getting worse because I’ve never gotten more invitations to connect on LinkedIn from C-level and other Managers and Execs than I have recently.