April 2008

You are currently browsing the articles from Asset Run Blog written in the month of April 2008.

See You At WordPress Camp

I’m looking forward to seeing some readers at tonight’s WordPress Camp at the Network Hub. If you are going, I recommend you get there early because the place will be packed. Nearly 90 people has RSVPed for the camp and I’m pretty sure the Network Hub can’t hold that many. A lot of people are going to have to stand or sit on the floor.

The event starts at 5:30 and runs until 8:30. There will be a networking reception afterwards at Steamworks in Gastown. The first round of beer is being paid for by Automattic, the creators of WordPress. Here’s the full schedule for tonight’s event.

5:30 to 5:50pm - Jeff Kee
WordPress for total website development

5:50 to 6:10pm- Monica Hamburg
Blogging & Social Media

6:10 to 6:30pm - Rebecca Bollwitt
Adding photos [flickr, permission, links, gallery plugins, badges] to your WordPress

6:30 to 6:50pm - Duane Storey
WordPress and mobile blogging - i.e. how to read and write from an iPhone.

6:50 to 7:10pm - Networking Break

7:10 to 7:30pm - Kulpreet Singh
Using WordPress to create a custom library, catalog, or other mashup-type site

7:30 to 7:50pm - Bruce Byfield
The joys of Amateur Blogging

7:50 to 8:10pm - Greg Andrews
Good Typography in WordPress

8:10 to 8:30pm - John Chow
How to make money using a WordPress Blog

8:30 to Whenever - BEER AT STEAMWORKS!!!

A few bloggers will be live blogging the event and I’m pretty sure others will be setting up a live webcam feed on Upstream.TV or Justin.TV. Follow me on Twitter to get the channels for the feed. See you tonight!

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Written by John Chow on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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Young Entrepreneur Miscellaneous Ramblings - April 30th 2008

Sorry about the lack of blog and interview updates, I have been working on a couple secret projects which will be announced over the next couple weeks.

Retire at 21 Updates and News

- Retireat21.com went from a pagerank 3 to a pagerank 4, when we first got our page rank it was a pagerank 5 and slowly dropped to 0 as we got slapped down by Google for selling text links with text-link-ads. How did you do in the PR updates?

- We have bought a paid review from young entrepreneur Carl Ocab, we want to give it to one of you who comments this post, $80 value!

- On Friday I will be announcing a revised version of the Top 30 Under 21 Young Bloggers List, if you want to be on the list, let me know more about here…

- We have a 125 x 125 advertising slot that is open, grab it now!

- If you are a reader of Retire at 21 or have a interest in young entrepreneurs, then follow me on twitter for the latest updates!

Whats Hot In The Young Entrepreneur World

- Young entrepreneurs are creating websites all over the place, seems a great time to create a website. I want to personally help you create your first website so email me if you need me!

- Wishing Cameron Johnson good luck in Oprah’s Big Give to win a cool $1,000,000!

- The Apprentice is on in the UK tonight at 9pm, looks like a great episode, hopefully Alex Wotherspoon gets the boot tonight “Your Fired!”

- Young entrepreneur Tyler Cruz speaks about his down time and the effects of it.

Internet Shout Outs

- Myspace.com lose Myspace.co.uk domain name, what would you do if you had Myspace.co.uk 2 years before Myspace was launched?

- Yaro Starak talks about Success when Traveling with Business

- Caroline Middlebrook launches her first Newsletter, make sure you do not to miss out on the next issue! Sign up to it in the top right corner.

Written by Michael on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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The Dot Com Lifestyle

Most people think the Dot Com lifestyle is about fast cars, exotic vacations, fine dining and partying all over the world. While that is all part of it, I want to show you what the Dot Com lifestyle is really about. The answer isn’t what you might think it is.

Anyone can join the Dot Com lifestyle. However, most will stay where they are because in nearly all cases, it will require a complete changing of one’s mindset. Changing a mindset is extremely hard to do. When you’ve been programmed since birth to do something a certain way (like get a good education so you can get a good job and work until you retire at 65), it almost goes against your nature when someone tells you there’s better way. For those who can do it, I welcome you to the Dot Com lifestyle club.

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Written by John Chow on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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Google PageRank Update In Progress

It looks like Google is doing another round of PR updates. I noticed that my rank has gone back up to PR4. It used to be PR3. Could it be that Google is starting to like me again? They still don’t have me rank number 1 for my name but they move my position from page 6 to page 5. Woo!

Looking around the Net I see more PageRank increase than decrease. Shoemoney is back up to PR6, from PR5 and Tyler Cruz has gone from PR0 to PR3. It looks like many of the PayPerPost blogs that were slapped with PR0 has been given some of their PR back.

I’m not sure what message, if any, Google is trying to send with this latest PR update. PR3 to PR4 doesn’t mean much. However, for a PPP blog that was slapped with a PR0, going back to PR3 means a bunch of PayPerPost offers just became available.

Did you blog PageRank went up or down with this latest update? I’ll be interested in knowing.

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Written by John Chow on April 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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How To Build The Relationship with Your Readers

Successful blogging is all about building relationships. The relationship you create with your readership and other blogs will have a huge impact on your success as a professional blogger. Here are five tips on how to create that relationship. Feel free to add your tips in the comments.

1 - Get Personal

Creating a relationship means letting your readers know more about you. Most bloggers do this with the About page. However, I would recommend going beyond the About page with a personal post about your life every now and then.

I read many blogs about making money online and the ones that I always come back to are the ones that reveal the most about its author. If all you do is stick to your topic and never deviate from it, you’re going to have a hard time separating yourself from the millions of other blogs talking about the same topics. Readers relate to the writer, not the topic. Let your personal style come out by telling how the topic affects you. And don’t be afraid to tell your readers what you had for lunch.

2 - Post Some Pictures or Videos of Yourself

Readers can relate to you more if they can connect a face to a name. Your About page should have at least a photo of yourself. This shows your readers that you’re not trying to hide behind some computer screen. It also makes you more trust worthy. If you want to go beyond that and really get personal, upload some videos of you and your friends having Pho.

3 - Offer Many Ways for Readers to Contact You

At the very least you should have a contact page where readers can email you. The more ways for readers to get in touch with you, the better and faster you can build that relationship. Therefore, look beyond email and start taking advantages of services like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites. Twitter is proving to be a fantastic relationship building tool. It can also be a huge time waster so use it wisely.

4 - Answer The Comments

If a reader leaves a comment on your blog, then you should answer them. This especially true if the comment is a question. The blog comment system is the best communication tool between the blogger and his readership. You should do everything possible to encourage blog comments.

5 - Attend Trade Shows and Networking Events

One of the best ways to build relationships is by attending trade shows and networking events in your niche. I built many life-long friendships by attending events like Affiliate Summit, Blog World, Ad Tech and many other events.

You don’t even have to travel far if you don’t want to. Start with local events and work your way up. Use Meetup.com or another service to find others blogging about the same stuff you’re blogging. I’m sure you’ll find tons of event in your own backyard.

I’ll be speaking at a Wordpress camp this Wednesday. Seventy five people have confirmed RSVPs with another 36 maybes. Not only is attending this event a great way to build a relationship, it’s also a great way to build a readership.

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Written by John Chow on April 29th, 2008 with no comments.
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Social Networking with Auto Enthusiasts

Social networks seem to popping up all over the place these days. There are the big boys like Facebook and MySpace, but there are countless other websites devoted to niche online communities too. Car345 is one such online social networking site and it is devoted to “cool cars and hot contests.” In this review, I’ll go over some of the most notable features on this site designed for gearheads and auto enthusiasts.

Social Networking Powered by Ning

If you want to set up a blog, Wordpress seems to be the platform of choice. If you want to set up an online social network, it seems that the most popular platform is Ning. Siva, the guy behind Car345, decided to take the Ning route for his online car community, making use of the some of the most popular features.

Each user has the opportunity to set up a personalized profile page (more on this in a moment), but the key to having a successful online community is the ability to interact with other members. Car345 lets you do this in a few different ways.

These include the ability to write on the “comment wall” of other users, not only posting text, but also embedded videos, photos, and widgets (similar to Facebook apps). Discussions can take place in the forums and members are encouraged to upload as many relevant photos and videos as possible. As the site grows and matures, you may want to join a group of like-minded individuals.

Setting Up a Car345 Profile

To contribute to the Car345 community, you’ll need to sign up for a free account. The only information they require is an email address. After you’ve signed up, you can proceed to create your personalized profile page.

At the top of the page is a list of your latest activity. This feed tracks any blog posts that you may have written, any pictures you may have uploaded, and so on. Also on the profile page is a customized area where you can write (and upload) just about anything that you’d like. I’m not sure if you’re allowed to include advertising.

Below this section, you can include some gadgets and then there is a space for you to post an RSS feed in the sidebar. To further personalize your profile page, you can choose from a number of different themes too.

Contributing Content For Free

The beauty of owning a successful social networking site is that you really don’t have to create any content on your own. Instead, you can rely on your members to do this for you. They’ll want to upload funny videos and they are encouraged to contribute to their Car345 blogs. A member’s blog is not only featured on their own profile page, but the latest posts in the community are also displayed on the homepage.

This continuous flow of “free” content is under ideal conditions, of course. As it stands, there are only 11 members of the Car345 community. As a result, the site is pretty dead. I guess the hope is that through this review, they’ll be able to attract a larger user base.

Branding Issues

With all these features and ways to contribute to the online community, the biggest issue facing Car345 is branding. There really isn’t all that much that separates it from other similar Ning-based social networks. The site layout is pretty generic and the header image is not distinctive at all. I’ve also got to wonder about the rationale behind the name Car345. What is that supposed to mean? What is the significance of 345?

What About Those Hot Contests?

In an effort to not only attract more members but to also ensure that these new members actively contribute to the online community, there are no fewer than three contests going on at Car345. All of these are featured on the main page of the site.

The biggest prize is a Garmin nüvi 660 portable GPS navigator. In order to win this, you need to write a post in your Car345 blog. This should help to provide the site with more original content. One of the other contests is to try to invite as many friends as you can to join car345.com. If you choose to sign up, please enter my name (Michael Kwan) and my email address (michael -at- michaelkwan -dot- com) in the referral box during the sign-up process. I wouldn’t mind a free Flip Video Camcorder.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR A FREE ACCOUNT WITH CAR345

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Written by Michael Kwan on April 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Andrew Lock Interview | Be Prolific not Perfect | Maverick Business Advice

Andrew Lock Interview

Todays interview is with Andrew Lock, a friend and all round awesome human being. If you have not heard much of Andrew before, then I believe it will not be long until you hear a lot more.

Check it out now: The Andrew Lock Interview

There is so much good stuff in this interview, that we can take away and use today. Here are just a few of my big AH HA’s from this interview:

be ‘prolific not perfect.’

‘good enough is good enough’

“follow your passion, not the money”

and above all, focus on speed of implementation

Andrew’s answer to this question to: “If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were first making a name for yourself, what advice would you give yourself?” is my Fav:

What a great question, now I just have to come up with an adequate answer, don’t I?! One of the things I would do is focus on speed of implementation. In the early days I used to believe (foolishly) that the person who has the best product is the one that wins. I learned the hard way that that thinking can make you go broke! It took me 6 months to produce my first information product, and if I was doing it again today I’d create it in a week or two, no more. Remember, there’s no shortage of brilliant ideas. I’ve got more ideas than I know what to do with, so ideas aren’t the problem – you can come up with your own or get them from others. It’s implementation and marketing that are the biggest issues.

If I was starting over again I’d remind myself every day to be ‘prolific not perfect.’ In other words, produce a product FAST, promote it FAST, and then when there’s some money coming in you can tweak it and make improvements. I’ve struggled hard to come to terms with ‘good enough is good enough’ as my mentor Dan Kennedy puts it. That’s a great quote to stick on your monitor or your office wall. ‘Good enough is good enough.’ It’s not about having the best product, it’s about having the best marketing. Sony learned that lesson the hard way with Betamax, and now Toshiba learned it the hard way with HD-DVD. In both cases, those companies had (arguably) the best products, but they weren’t the best marketers, and the results say everything. It took Sony years to get over losing the Betamax vs. VHS battle and they lost millions, probably billions in fact. Think of all the VHS decks and cassettes that were produced over the years until recently.

Find out more about Andrew at http://andrewlock.com - and make sure to Check out his Video on the home page (it is FUN and a great example of Video SELLING)

Written by Michael on April 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Make Money Online with XY7.com

I met XY7.com at Ad Tech in San Francisco and even got a chance to party with them at their hospitality suite. XY7.com is an affiliate network with a more personal touch. They’re not a huge machine like CJ or Linkshare. Building relationship is the name of the game for this affiliate network. Every new publisher gets assigned a personal account manager to help him get up and running.

XY7.com has many exclusive offers and they’re not limited to just CPA either. They also offer CPC advertising as well. While XY7.com offers many cost per sales deals like other affiliate networks, most of their offers are lead based. Lead offers are the favorite playground for most PPC affiliate marketers because they’re generally easier to convert. XY7.com has offers that pays as much as $25 per lead.

Below is a video from Randall Cornett of XY7.com explaining what his company is all about. Randall is my personal rep at XY7.com. He’s a great guy and he told me that if any John Chow dot Com readers wishes to join XY7.com, he’s look after them personally. Having more income options is always better than living by the Google.

Sign Up for XY7.com

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Written by John Chow on April 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Make $10,000 in 37 Days From Facebook

Brian Campbell of the Internet Marketing University wants to show the power of Facebook but using it to make $10,000 in 37 days. Why he needs 37 days and not 30, I have no idea.

I’m doing a live demonstration about how to I’m going to earn $10,000 or more on facebook in only 37 days, starting completely from scratch. I’m teaching this group how I’m doing it.

If you want to find out how you can make some big money from Facebook, you can follow Brian’s progress at his Facebook page. These things normally end up with the guy falling flat on his face, or making the required amount. It should be interesting to watch. Good luck Brian.

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Written by John Chow on April 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Did The Corsair Survivor Survived?

In the last Dot Com Pho video, you saw the 32GB Corsair USB Survivor flash drive get dunked into a water mixture of hot sauce and chili oil, then ran over by a car.

While the drive survived physically, we were not sure if it still worked because we didn’t have a computer to plug it into. Stephen Fung took the drive home and plugged it into his Hackintosh to see if the Corsair Survivor was indeed a survivor. The video below shows the result.

Special thanks goes out to Karen at Corsair for letting us torture her newest flash drive. We had a lot fun doing it. We were thinking about tossing it off the 40th floor of the Shaw Tower but decided against it because we figure it might hit someone on the ground and kill him. At least the flash drive would have survived.

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