Merle’s Mission Ezine- Jan 31, 2010

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                         Merle's Mission Ezine                       
                 "The Best of the Net Straight to Your Door"   

                       
http://www.MerlesWorld.com
Issue #10  ISSN: #1527-3105                   Jan 31, 2010

"Published Since 2002"

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Merle, Publisher/Editor                      Merle@MerlesWorld.com

My Blog: http://Merlesworld.Blogspot.com/

Follow Me on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/msmerle

My Social Networks: http://www.retaggr.com/Card/merle
http://www.MerlesWorld.com

DONATIONS Wanted: If you enjoy this ezine, please make a donation
by PayPal http://tinyurl.com/3gzpa -Your small gifts will help
support my website and this newsletter and buy bones for "my kids".
Yes, the four legged kind.<grin>

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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> 1. Editorial- Wisdom from Merle

=> 2. Feature Article-"Are Your Ears Burning?- 20 Tools
                       for Tracking Social Media Marketing"

=> 3. Webmaster Resources

=== !!!  Sponsor Message  =====

21 Page Report Twitter- A How To Tips and Tricks Guide

Learn everything you need to know to get up and
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1) EDITORIAL from Merle
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Hi Kids,

Oh baby, it's cold outside....Brrrrrrrrrrrr..No matter what I
do I can't get warm today.  I stepped outside to go run some
errands and thought I walked into a freezer instead. At least
it's not snowing.  The only thing winter makes me want to do
is hibernate....now where's my blanket.(grin)

Have you heard the song "Pants on the Ground"? If you don't
know the story behind it it was performed for American Idol
tryouts by a 62 year old man.He didn't make the cut but his
song did go viral on YouTube. If you missed all the fun you
can find it posted on this blog below. I get a kick out of it
every time I watch it.

Don't look now but it's almost Valentine's Day so if you have
a honey might want to start getting that gift together. My
fav is chocolate so send away. See you next time.

Merle
Editor/Publisher
http://MerlesWorld.com
http://MerlesMission.com

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"Are Your Ears Burning?- 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing"

By Merle http://MerlesWorld.com

Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter make
it easy for people to come together and share opinions,
experiences and thoughts on a number of topics. Smart
companies understand this and are using the power of
social media to connect and inform their customers,
and potential customers. Referred to as "Social Media
Marketing", it's a smart way to open the lines of
communication between you and your prospects.

Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging,
micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking
communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and
music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing
and more. With so many different sites and ways to
participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all
your efforts.

Participating in social media doesn't take a lot
of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses
want to know that all of this investment in time is
paying off. Before launching a campaign, you should
have a firm grasp on what it is you're trying to
accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting
more ezine subscribers? Having more people download
your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want
to work on your company's brand image. Whatever it is,
you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, "If
you don't know where you're going, you'll never get
there”. Have your game plan intact before getting
started in marketing yourself, or your company with
social media.

There are many different forms of social media,
so it's impossible to use them all. Pick three
or four, and funnel the majority of your efforts
there. Even if you won't be working them all,
at the very least you should claim your name
or company name on as many social services as
possible. You don't want to find out later that
someone has the user name that you want. If
you need to see if your chosen user name is
available try http://Namechk.com which checks
dozens of social media networking and bookmarking
sites all at once to see if it's available.
Claim your name now so you won't end up
being sorry later.

So how do you monitor all the buzz? How do
you monitor your brand and protect your hard
earned reputation? I thought you'd never ask.
There isn't one fool-proof method but there
are many services and tools out there that
will make it easy to see who's talking about
you online. Some are free and others will make
you pull out your wallet.

These "online reputation management" tools, as they're
often referred to, will help you to  define keywords,
or phrases you wish to track and then watches for any
mention of your company name, products, or services.
It's important to defend and monitor your online
reputation. Similar to High School reputations,
protecting your image online is the name of the game,
and just as in real life, everyone has one to
maintain.

Let's take a look at some of the measuring and
tracking tools at your disposal:

1)http://BackTweets.com : A search engine for
Twitter. See who's tweeting your links and
more. Can also sign up for email alerts of
new findings.

2) http://Addictomatic.com : A little different
than the others , you type in a keyword, topic
or phrase and out it goes searching the top
blogs, news sites, Google, Technorati, Ask,
YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Topix and more. You'll
be given a personalized results page to
bookmark with everything it finds related to
your topic.

3) http://Buzzoo.net : All about Internet buzz,
it tracks several different websites to bring
you what's "hot" right now.

4) http://Surchur.com : Search for the latest
and greatest on topics that are popular right
now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs,
social news sites, photo and video sites for
your chosen topic.

5) http://Commentful.Blogflux.com : This service
watches for comments on blog posts, Digg, Flickr,
and others and notifies you of any findings.

6) http://AlertRank.com : A better way to organize
and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report
emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what
it finds.

7) http://BoardTracker.com : A search engine
for forums only. Monitor discussion boards
and be notified by email when a thread matching
your search terms is discovered. Free to use.

8) http://www.google.com/alerts : I've been
using this "secret weapon" for years. Simply
type in your name or company name and receive
daily emails of results found. They do the
work, you receive the links. Free and nice.

9) http://BrandsEye.com : An online reputation
management tool with a real-time, concise overview
of your online reputation. Multiple levels of
services and pricing available. Starting at $1.00.

10) http://Twazzup.com : Another Twitter only
search engine.

11) http://SiteMention.com : Type in your url
and find out what's being said about you. The
results returned are gathered from Google Blog
Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace,
Digg, Delicious and many more.

12) http://Brandwatch.net: This service tracks
your brands, companies, even the competition.
Sign up for free weekly updates on any brand.
Their detailed reports break down what sites
like you, your most talked about features,
weekly summary of all blogs and forum activity.
Very similar to the old "press clipping" service.

13) http://Trackur.com : A tool that scans
many websites including blogs, news, image and
video sites, forums and notifies you of any
mention of your brand, products/services.
Easy to use and affordable. Prices vary
depending on need, a personal account is
only $18.00 a month, corporate account $88.00
a month with other options also available.
Try a "personal" account free for 14 days.

14) http://FiltrBox.com : This one searches
online news sources, Twitter and others to
find out what's being said about you or your
company. Pricing is based on the number of
users, but there is a free version that
provides "5 filters" and 15 days of what they
call "article history".

15) http://SocialMention.com/alerts : Just
like Google Alerts but for social media. Enter
your keyword phrase and email address to be
notified of any new findings. Searches blogs,
microblogs like Twitter, bookmarks, comments,
events, images, news, videos and more.

16) http://BlogPulse.com : A search engine
that searches only for data posted to blogs.
Enter your keyword, hit submit and off it
goes to gather results.

17) http://BackType.com : Billing itself
as a "conversational search engine" they
index millions of conversations from social
networks, blogs and other social media.

18) http://sm2.techrigy.com : Industry insiders
claim this to be the leading social media
monitoring solution online. Choice of free
or paid version. Free is limited to five
searches and 1,000 results. There are three
paid professional levels: Gold, Diamond, or
Platinum.

19) http://ReputationDefender.com : This paid
service finds out everything there is to know
about you online, and if negative information
is found they try to have it removed. Different
types of plans are available such as "My
Reputation", "My Privacy", starting at only
$14.95 a month.

20) http://Topsy.com : Topsy will track your
tweets that have been retweeted so you can
find out who's been sending you all that
"link love". Type in your Twitter user name
and you'll be amazed at what you find.

If you'd like to track incoming traffic from
your various social media profiles, an easy
way to do it using Google Analytics can be
found here http://Tinyurl.com/kuc9rL

Just as there are many ways to market your company
using social media, as you can see, there's a
multitude of tools and services at your disposal
to track and see if all of that hard work is
paying off. Smart companies realize the
importance of social media in their marketing
efforts and are utilizing it on some level.
How smart are you?

----------------------------------------------

"Blah...Blah...Blog..Rantings by Merle"- The Blog that's
loaded with online marketing techniques and strategies
that will help you increase your website traffic and make
more money online. Tips and tricks for online entrepreneurs,
and marketers to grow your net biz. Visit today-
http://www.mcpromotions.blogspot.com/
Follow me http://Twitter.com/msmerle

You may reprint the above article as long as the
sig line is kept intact.
---------------------------------------------

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3- WebMaster Resources
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Here's a brand new freebie PDF (no opt-in required)
from my good friend Marlon Sanders:

http://getyourprofits.com/z/2358/CD8126

---------------

Are you frustrated of being stuck at the newbie stage?
Learn how to expand your business beyond it!

http://simplestepstosuccess.com/?e=msmerle

------------

"Top Ten WebProNews Videos of 2009"

WebPronews brings you the top ten videos
of the year by views:

http://tinyurl.com/ycp63yq

--------------

"Five Search Marketing Predictions For 2010"

"Staring into a crystal ball is a dangerous
undertaking, especially when you’re attempting
to predict the future of a market as dynamic
as paid search."....read on below....

http://tinyurl.com/yf8b6cl

-------------

Really love the free shoemoneyx course!
Highly recommend it
http://www.shoemoneyx.com/r/merle@merlesworld.com

---------

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you really need this package of sales graphics. These
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Download yours now and receive a free bonus header
graphics just for purchasing.
http://www.merlesworld.com/sales-graphics.htm

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"Pants on The Ground"

If you have any doubt that social media can spread your name like wildfire maybe you haven't seen "Pants on the Ground". This 62 year old man from Atlanta tried out for American Idol with his special creation. No, he didn't make it past Simon but his video spread like crazy on YouTube and now he's been invited to sing his song on the Red Carpet at the Grammys. If you haven't had the plesure yet, enjoy!

“Pool Your Business Resources Together to Get Noticed”

Just like exercise, business marketing is cumulative. Each effort, though small, builds on the ones before for a magnificent result. As you work to get yourself known in the Internet business world, it may be time to capitalize on the resources and knowledge of others in the form of business partnerships.

Going into business with others can be scary but it can also be quite profitable. Once you begin getting your name out there and building relationships with others, you'll find people will start seeking you out for your information. Before long, you'll have requests for any number of things beneficial to your website. Many won't cost you a dime, but will still create exposure and advertising.

Guest Blogging

Maybe you have a blog and have gained a following. Being a constant commenter on blogs raises that visibility even more when you engage in conversation with the blog owner and other visitors. All of this could morph into opportunities to show your talents in their arenas.

Guest blogging is like being asked to appear on a talk show. You can guest blog for a day, a week or two, or even on a continual basis. Depending on the blog owner, you may get a byline where you can list your website link. If they allow links in your blog posts (where relevant), then use them to promote your websites, blogs, and products or services.

Guest blogging is a two-way street. You can ask others to guest blog for you too. They will, in turn, let their readership know where they were will be appearing and that means extra promotion for your website and blog too!

JV Giveaway Events

By growing a list of people who have shown an interest in what you have to offer, you're creating more potential customers to create a relationship with. One of the best ways to do this is through joint venture events.

To become a contributor, you have to be invited to participate. With the giveaway event, you offer a free gift to members who sign up to come to the event.  To receive your free gift, members have to visit your website and sign up to your list to gain access.

Not only are you getting your name out there with the members but also with the other contributors. One stipulation of your contributor status is to promote the event. Through the other contributors, you're also getting some free promotion for your own website. Members who enjoy the information available at these giveaways will most likely share with those they know who would be interested as well.

Through these and similar events you open the door to relationship building again and again. Business associates may find that partnering with you again is advantageous to both them and you. As with any partnership, each half will bring strengths the other person may not possess. For instance, if you have a product, but lack the technical resources necessary to increase your marketing efforts for it, try partnering with someone who may not have a product but can handle the more technical aspects of the partnership.

Free Download- "Susanne Myers Hillbilly Housewife & Online Success Story"

Download this 28 page report of an interview that Nicole Dean did with Susanne of http://www.HillbillyHousewife.com on the success of her Internet businesses.

Nicole is an expert in affiliate marketing and runs a site that sells excellent PLR content, you can find her site at http://easyplr.com/go.php?af=977615&u=www.easyplr.com If you need PLR content, she offers well written articles an an inexpensive price.  She really knows what it takes to run a Net biz and does an excellent interview, asking all the right questions.

Download your PDF copy here and find out what Susanne has done to turn a profit online.

http://merlesworld.com/e-books/SusanneMyers.pdf

“Download 100's of graphics gifts for FREE”

Here's an exciting new giveaway that just opened it's doors - the Graphics Giveaway 3 by Odinn Sorensen and Eric Tan. It's exciting because I have just checked it out and have counted an incredible number of  products being given away for free.
http://graphicsgiveaway.com/version3/members/id/374

As part of this event, a lot of my top Internet marketers colleagues have ripped the price tag off their products to give them away to you. What's the catch? The thing is there really is no catch. This is an event that makes it so easy to just login and download a whole host of top quality gifts.

Here's a taste of what's on offer for free.


- Web Templates
- eCover Makers
- Design Software
- Designer Guide
- Graphic Tools
- Headers
- Buttons

...and many more!

Sure, not all gifts being given away are great but I've personally gone through the lot and there's are some real 'gems' inside. The type of products that only last month you've said to yourself: 'Wow that looks an excellent product but I just can't afford to buy it'. Well now you don't have to :-)

A word of warning to you, this is a proper example of a limited time only event. The downloads are available for just 14 days. So take advantage now and download a fantastic selection of high-value gift products, you won't want to miss out.
http://graphicsgiveaway.com/version3/members/id/374

Twitter- “A How to Tips & Tricks Guide”

What's one of the most popular social activities on-line lately? If you said "Twittering", give yourself a gold star for paying attention. Twitter is a communication and networking tool that's huge with many Internet Marketers, and growing quickly. It's everywhere, and everyone is talking about it.

So what is Twitter and why should you care? It's very similar to instant messaging.  You set up a profile, people can choose to "follow you", and
you can choose to follow others. You send short text messages to your "followers", called “tweets”. The messages are short, no longer then 140 characters and are centered around the theme, "What are you doing now?" With such a small space you'll have to learn to be very creative. It’s the hottest thing when it comes to social media marketing.

If you’re new to Twitter and have no clue what I’m talking about then check out this 21 Page Report that will teach you the basics and get you up to speed quickly. It’s only 5.00 and it comes with resell rights so you can turn around and sell it yourself. Now that’s a pretty good deal. Download your copy now at http://www.merlesworld.com/twitter/index.html

"Join the Graphics Giveaway Event"

Hi Kids,

Odinn Sorensen and Eric Tan have worked together for the third time to bring us yet another highly anticipated event, Graphics Giveaway 3... with a huge amount of ready-made products contributed by top marketers around the world for everyone to download at no cost.

Graphics Giveaway 3 will be launching on January 18th and running until February 1st. This event not only offer great graphic products, but is also a great opportunity to help you build a list of prospects for your design/graphic niche market.

Join now: http://graphicsgiveaway.com/version3/partners/id/374/email-1

Odinn Sorensen really knows his stuff when it comes to running a professional giveaway. Apart from knowing that his previous popular event, "Daddys Birthday Giveaway"... he'll be running GG3 with his very own software platform that has supported many great giveaways.

Eric Tan has had many years of experiences as an internet marketer and a web designer, his recent "Home Business Giveaway" with Brad Smith was highly successful. Rest assured you are partnering up with two reliable marketers and all the traffic you are going to send will be in good hands.

Join here: http://graphicsgiveaway.com/version3/partners/id/374/email-1

NOTE: The Partner Upgrade on this giveaway is very attractive, so I definitely recommend that you grab it to improve your gift ranking, get more subscribers and earn greater commissions.

Have a great day!

Merle

“Become a Constant Commenter”

They say that you can spend too much time on the Internet. If your business is based there, you most likely spend a great deal, if not the majority, of your time online. So, while you are there, why not do everything you can to make all of that time count.

It cannot be stressed enough that the key to long term business with a stable customer base is relationship building. Customers who feel that connection will stay with you. The same goes for readership. And, that's ditto for building rapport with business associates.

To that end, become a constant commenter. Don't just be a silent witness but get involved in social networking, business forums and blogs. If you've been on the Internet any amount of time, you've most likely found sites and blogs you regularly frequent.Take some time to learn about these sites and others who frequent them.

Blogs

Blogs are fun places, because there you can interact with others who also like the blog. You can write your comments about new posts, read what others have posted and respond to them as well. You may get into a lively conversation with the blog owner.

Think about some of your favorite blogs? Have business associates suggested their blogs to you? Mention their name when you post your first comment to give them credit for leading you there. It can be hard to keep up with so many different blogs on a daily basis. Subscribe to their RSS feeds and then use a feed reader to view the updates in a quick and easy fashion.

When you get the updates, go take a look. If you find something that interests you, comment on it. Commenting says that you have read the post and have an opinion.

While your comments can be short and sweet ones, I don't suggest making a habit of only swinging by to say Hi and little more. Saying things like “Great post” can also be misconstrued as you didn't actually read the post at all but are piggybacking on someone else's feedback or only there for the link back to your own site. 

A rule of thumb you can use is this: If you can contribute to the conversation with quality information or questions, do so. If you can't - don't leave a comment on that particular post.

Becoming a regular commenter on your favorite blogs may lend itself to more ways to promote your website. You may be asked to become a guest blogger for these blogs. Then, you'll get a bio to talk about yourself and your website business.

Forums

Business forums can help you find answers to professional questions about running your business, business plans, joint ventures and the like. It is a give and take gathering place where everyone can benefit. The keyword being "everyone." Keep in mind, most forums don't take kindly to visitors who are there to simply promote their website and not participate.

Use these forums as they were intended to be used. Comment as much as you can where it is relevant. Give advice and ask your questions. Offer links where appropriate and just become friendly to others.
You are no doubt using your signature line to promote your website. Others will actually click on it when they trust you. Some may even have constructive comments about your site to help you move along. You may not have gotten those helpful hints if you didn't participate.

Commenting on blogs and in forums is one way to show that you are involved. As others get to know you, they will gladly click on your site link and recommend it to others.

PS-

Automatic Blog Wordpress Plugin gets fresh new articles each and every day and posts them automatically to your blog. You get FULL ARTICLES to your blog, at least 300 words long!

It's so "Set-it-and-Forget-it" simple! You install it in less than 3 minutes and then it works automatically! Don't wait... Go ahead and check it out.
=>> http://automaticblog.net/?e=msmerle

43 Problogger Posts for Making Money Online Blogging

There's a lot of different reasons why people choose to blog. For some it's personal and for others it's to make a buck. No matter what your reasoning if you're a blogger or a "wantabe" blogger don't miss this guy's post. He points to some of the best posts published by ProBlogger.net which is one of the most heavily visited and popular blogs online today. Topics covered include how to make money blogging, designing a blog, WordPress and much more. If you have a blog you're sure to learn something and if you don't have a blog but plan to someday make sure you bookmark this valuable information.

"How to Avoid Bad PLR Content"

"How to Avoid Bad PLR Content"

What makes for good private label articles? Listen in as Nicole Dean gives her two cents on the subject. Nicole owns a site that produces quality PLR content very inexpensively since 2006.

In this video she tells you what to look for before purchasing content to ensure you don't get burned.

video








Other resources to check out for PLR content are: http://www.plr.me/affiliates/uid/msmerle_2
http://www.private-label-club.com/?plc=12788

"Is it Ethical to Use PLR Content in Your Online Business?"

PLR stands for "Private Label Rights" when you purchase articles or some ebooks with PLR rights you can edit them, or use them as is, and place them on your website,blog or ezine, however you see fit. It saves you a lot of time when it comes to finding content to use without having to spend hours writing and composing.

Nicole Dean, owner of EasyPLR.com offers an in-depth look at PLR, what it is and is it ethical to use in your online business.



Other resources to check out for PLR content are: http://www.plr.me/affiliates/uid/msmerle_2
http://www.private-label-club.com/?plc=12788

Free Ebook- "Traffic Generation Tactics"

Hello and "Happy New Year!". It's hard to believe that 2009 is over already. I had so many goals and things I wanted to accomplish and I think I only made it through about 1/4 of my list. Well, at least I have one, right? Most people make resolutions right now, ones that they usually won't keep. Me, never make em. The way I work is to continually set new goals, short term and long term ones that I want to acoomplish don't need a holiday to remind me to do that. If you've set "resolutions" good luck with that, but it just doesn't work for me.

To start out on a high note I'd like to offer you this free ebook written by Boogie Jack that I stumbled across today when reading his ezine. He's an excellent writer, covers all topics of web design, and traffic and also enlightens us with his philosophy. Boogie is the "real deal" been working the Net since before you even knew what it was . Traffic Generation Tactics can be downloaded here
 http://www.merlesworld.com/e-books/TrafficTactics.pdf

It's 28 pages in PDF format and covers a variety of tips and ideas you can use to generate traffic to your website or blog. I promise you're going to love it.

Image courtesy of "The Stock Solution" http://www.tssphoto.com/index.php