I got my wish for Christmas, a new Kindle! Because I spend a lot of time reading, this is one of the coolest gifts I've gotten this year.  The Kindle has a lot of fun features and it's added a whole new experience to reading.  

But even with all the Kindle cool features, most of which I never knew it had, I actually had one very specific reason for wanting a Kindle this year…

I purchase lots of ebooks online which are documents in PDF format, but since I read all day in front of a monitor I prefer to print out my documents and get cozy in my recliner before I start reading. The problem with printing out ebooks and PDF's is that it's a huge drain on my printer's ink supply, not to mention the reams of paper I go through. 

With the Kindle, PDF files can be easily downloaded. I can connect my Kindle to my computer, drag and drop all my ebooks and PDF files and have them downloaded in a matter of minutes, I love it.

Last night alone I read 2 ebooks in bed that I've been wanting to finish for months.  

The Kindle actually makes reading easier

When I told my husband I wanted a Kindle for Christmas, his comment was…

   "Why do you want a Kindle? You read on the computer all day, isn't a Kindle just a smaller version of a computer screen?" 

No, not at all!  Amazon designed the Kindle to read just like a book, only they made it better. The high contrast no glare screen doesn't strain my eyes, which can be a problem for me when reading actual books. With the Kindle, there's no strain whatsoever, I personally can appreciate that

The size of the Kindle is ideal, it fits perfectly in your hand and they've positioned the forward and back buttons so that a simple click of my finger quickly turns the page.  I can highlight passages, make notes and with the Wi-Fi capability I can easily click over to the web, very cool!

Unfortunately the Kindle screen is not backlit, so I need an external light if I want to read in the dark, which I do sometimes in bed when hubby is sleeping. Right now I have a small desk light that I use but Amazon makes a clip on light that, by the way, I just ordered. It clips right on to the Kindle and should work much better for those late, dark nights   

On the flip side, the Kindle is perfect in bright sunlight, there's no screen glare and my eyes don't feel any strain when I'm reading anywhere outside.  Overall it's just easier on your eyes, period.   

Another feature I'm really having fun with is the audio or text-speech option that let's me listen to my books instead of reading them, however I found out that the audio feature doesn't work with non-Amazon downloads, in other words my ebooks and PDF files are not compatible with the audio function, darn ;-\  But it works great for the Amazon downloads.  I might not be able to listen to my ebooks but I'm looking forward to downloading a few novels I've been wanting to get and letting my Kindle read me a few bedtime stories

Do you have a Kindle?  What do you think of it? 

Since my last video, I've gotten lots of email from folks that want to get started making their own video but they're just not sure how to get started, but I also think that if you don't have a camera it's just something else you have to think about and do.

Well, a few weeks ago I was in the same situation, I didn't have a camera either so I used my laptop camera which I found was extremely awkward because you can't situate a laptop just anywhere and the angles aren't really good. 

Since my daughter got married a few weeks ago, I decided to use that as my opportunity to get a video camera, but after looking around and considering the options I decided a camera with a video option was the best idea.  I didn't want to deal with separate cameras for photos and video so I found the Olympus Stylus 1010 10MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom; a great option for me. For the price it's a great little camera, for the novice and professional use.  I can take it anywhere and whatever I decide to shoot, photo or video, I'm all set.

Here are some of the features the Olympus 1010 has:

- 7X zoom – this is for great up close images, it will even quality capture the tiniest print. If I'm trying to demonstrate something it won't be blurry or hard to see.

- 10.1 megapixels – This is where the picture quality comes in and I can't say enough about the quality on this camera.

- It also has shift sensors that guard against blurry pictures and if you take a lot of pictures there's always a few that get deleted because they're burry. This camera helps avoid that.

So if you're anxious to make a video for your blog or website, here's what you need to do:

1. Go shopping for a camera; I happen to like the Olympus Stylus 1010 but check out your options.
2. Get to know the camera, read the instructions, the Olympus is pretty straight forward and easy to understand, that's another reason I like it.
3. Take your first video.  Play around with it a little and get comfortable with it.
4. Download your video to your PC.  The USB connector comes with it and it's easy to download your video.
5. Upload your video from your PC to YouTube. 
6. Create your post on your blog and import your video from YouTube. That's it, you're done!

It took me about 30 minutes from the time I created my video to loading it to my blog post.

Ok, now it's your turn.  Let's see some videos!

If you have your own online business you don't want to be a slave to it; that causes burn-out.  That's where online outsourcing comes in. It's how you will improve your efficiency and experience the freedom to do the things you enjoy.  After all, isn't that why you decided to have an online business in the first place? 

Online outsourcing is offloading the menial, time consuming tasks that prevent you from doing the things that earn you actual money, things like product promotion, marketing tasks or connecting with others. 

I have several websites, a family and a home to look after and I can't do it all; and I don't want to. There was definitely a time when I tried and what happened? I got nothing done, I also got burned out. There just comes a time when you have to improve your efficiency by working smarter.  

But not everyone knows 'how' or even 'what' to outsource. But there's also the question of "How do I outsource when I'm not making enough money to pay someone?"  

The answers are in Outsource Weekly. This is a 52 week subscription that is put on by Jimmy D. Brown & Nicole Dean.  It's an email course covering everything you need to know about how to get more done in your business without doing it all yourself. You’ll learn what you can outsource, when the right time is and exactly how to do it.  Jimmy and Nicole bring so much expertise to the table and they are excellent teachers!

Members receive a new lesson every week for an entire year that will show them how to get more done in their business without sacrificing every second of their day to it. 

How this outsourcing course can help you?

If you run an online business and want to spend more time doing things in your life that you love doing AND grow your business to profitable heights, this course is for you and this course is especially for you if you:

• want to save time.
• want to have more free time (away from your business to do other things).
• want to save money in your business and still get things done.
• think you can’t afford to hire help because you can!

Outsource Weekly provides the information and tools to teach you how to successfully use online outsourcing to help you spend less time on your business yet still make money.  The self-paced lessons and assignments are intended for both the beginner and the more experienced business owner.  The entire course is designed to help you in several parts of your business. With each topic broken down into individual weekly modules, outsourcing won’t be overwhelming or costly.

If you're thinking about subscribing it's a wise decision but I also want to tell you that if you subscribe to Outsource Weekly and then unsubscribe and re-join the program at a later date you will have to start from the beginning.  There is no picking up from where you left off.  I don't know for sure but I actually think that may be intentional.  My experience has been that no course is beneficial if you don't follow it through to completion and this course, like any course Jimmy and Nicole put together, builds on itself, the deeper you get into it the more you have to gain.  Stopping and starting only sets you back.

However you can be assured that a full refund is available anytime within 60 days of purchase if you are dissatisfied for any reason.

Here's how you can get started outsourcing so you can work more efficiently while finding more freedom for yourself.

I'm always considering new ideas for my business, not only in the technical aspects like SEO, finding great content and tools but I like to think about new directions and finding new ways to make money and then help others do the same. 

The problem for me is I do too much thinking, tinkering and jumping around from one idea to the next, so much so that I sometimes lose focus, by the way, email is a big culprit.  I'm also guilty of not stepping out of my comfort zone and connecting with others enough.  

Well today that changed in a big way.  After listening to Nicole Dean's success casts the other day at 'Nicole on the net' I really started to think about what I'm doing and not doing with my business.  This kind of thinking can be life altering because it forces you to think about the direction you're going and the decisions you're making. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do but it's good to reassess now and then.  

So after listing to Nicole she convinced me to connect and focus more on what I'm doing by joining Mom Masterminds.  Yes, this is for moms but you don't have to be a mom to join, in fact everyone that markets online stands to gain a lot from this internet marketing knowledge center. 

I decided to start with the free membership just to test the waters, I'm the 'try and buy' type, what can I say  .

After signing up I went straight to the forum and introduced myself.  Just talking about yourself and telling others what you do, your hopes, dreams and goals helps bring to your own mind where you are going and what you really want.  Try it sometime; it can be an eye opener. 

Next, I signed up for Kelly McCausey's free 9-day Mom Masterminds e-course.  The course is nine days and I'm only on the first day of course, but Kelly started with something very powerful. I immediately received the Mom Mastermind's Oath.  This oath contains a commitment that you'll make to yourself and your business. There's nothing like making a personal oath for getting you motivated and keeping you on track.   I recommend printing it out and then reading and checking off each statement, signing the bottom and placing it on your wall as a reminder of your solemn commitment to yourself.  It's an excellent way to kick things off for yourself. 

Later on I moved to the Mom Mastermind’s learning center which is packed with audio and video as well as PDF documents and even a sales letter builder form, survey letter builder and all kinds of info for creating virtual products. Just tons of quality stuff. 

I have no doubt, based on my introduction to Mom Masterminds that I'll subscribe to the full service, there's just so much I've already had the privilege of exploring.  But what's even better about a service like this is the connections and networking that you will make.  Stepping out and getting connected, chatting with others who have the same problems and issues as you will help you immensely with how to start a home based business on the internet and move forward.

With this kind of interaction, there's literally nothing that can stand in your way because everyone is there to help.

I'm sure there are other Mom Mastermind Member's that will agree.

Anyone?

In case you haven't heard 'Stomping the search engines 2' has just recently been released. There's been a lot of buzz around about it and it's gotten quite a bit of attention and it's brought to you by the Stompernet folks Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins. 

You might recall that Stompernet offered an e-biz training and coaching membership that charged $800/mo. of which I've been a JV partner for and I had no doubt in my mind that this was a service that offered extreme benefit to its members, after all if you know anything about Brad Fallon, he's extremely knowledgeable in Search engine optimization and he makes thousands a month from his sites, so suffice it to say he knows his stuff and his monthly service was, no doubt, full of powerful information.    

But I had a problem with the $800/mo. price tag – who starting out online can really afford that?   It just wasn't attainable for most online business owners.

Just recently, however, Stompernet hosted their live event 'Stompernet Live6' in Atlanta, I didn't attend but I did hear rumors that something big was about to happen.  I did however keep my fingers crossed that Andy and Brad would come to their senses and bring their pricing to a more realistic level or at least come out with something that would be affordable for everyone.   

The good news arrived!

Over this past weekend I received an unexpected package in the mail which to my surprise was a press copy of 'Stomping the search engines 2.0 and the 'Net Effect' which is a monthly publication that Stompernet has developed.  As I opened the package and read through The "Net Effect" I was completely impressed with the quality information they put in it.  Then I listened to the CD's that came along with it and it truly blew my socks off. It contained extremely potent information. I really felt privileged to have a copy …yes it was that good!

When I received this there was no information on pricing so, being the skeptic I am I assumed this was going to be another high priced item. So I jumped on my JV link and took a look. There was no commitment to cost but I was assured that it was going to be affordable to all. 

Then just a few days ago, they came clean with the Stomping the search engines 2.0 announcement and guess what?  The cost is $0!  FINALLY!  Brad and Andy wised up …but what's the catch you ask?

No Catch … but here's the deal

Stompernet isn't trying to hide anything; there are no hidden costs or traps they're trying to catch you in. Their motivation is simply to offer you information that you will find valuable enough to subscribe to …and trust me – I have no doubt that you will!  By the way their monthly subscription will be $39.99 a month should you choose to subscribe.

Shipping and handling will be about $10-$15 for the U.S. and perhaps slightly more for international

So let's sum up

For the cost of shipping and handling you will receive:

'Stomping the Search Engines 2.0 (valued at $497) and the 'Net Effect' publication.

If you choose not to cancel, you will be charged $39.99 in approximately 4 weeks for the 'Net Effect' subscription; however you can cancel at any time.  There will be plain instructions inside the front cover of every 'Net Effect' publication where you can easily cancel or manage your monthly subscription.

My two cents

I've been thoroughly impressed with how Brad and Andy have risen to the occasion and made their products available to everyone.  I've purchased many high ticket products myself and I get tired of the hype and squeeze it puts on everyone's wallet, so it's a breath of fresh air to be able to see others get in on such quality training.  

I hope you enjoy the publications

Tune into Brad & Andy's video for the latest on what's been happening over at Stompernet. 

If you've been paying attention to the internet's social behavior lately you've probably noticed that social networking has become a big part of the internet's makeup.  

Sites like eBay and Amazon have been highly active in the recent past but they've slowly been surpassed by social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, in fact Facebook was just recently valued at over $15 billion.

So what does that mean for you?  

These sites aren't just for high school kids or college students to gather, they have become incredible marketing tools. As these social networking sites continue to grow, and they are growing at a phenomenal rate, they are precisely what the Web 2.0 revolution is about.

As marketers complain more and more about dismal traffic rates, low eBay sales, problems with Google cracking down on Adwords advertisers, and SEO getting more difficult we're seeing sites like Myspace and Facebook rise to the occasion.  Why? Because they are making it easy for us to tap into the immense amount of traffic they generate so we as business owners can turn it into revenue.       

Imagine if you could harness the millions of hits that Myspace and Facebook get on a daily basis. Alexa.com estimates that these networks get as many page views does Google! Therefore, if you could redirect just a small fraction of that traffic to yourself, just think of the amazing results you could see. 

If you have an existing business, you are missing out on thousands of leads and sales if you are not investing time marketing on the social networks. If you don't have a business, social networks also give you a very easy way to build one.

This is good news for anyone with an online business or anyone looking to create one, but it's not obvious to everyone how to tap into the revenue generating part of the equation.

Well in my quest to figure it out myself, I found Ryan Moran.  Ryan is a college student who has basically cracked the code to making money with the social networks like Myspace and Facebook and it's not through the use of spam or illegal techniques. In fact one of the things I like so much about Ryan is that he comes from a humble upbringing and he's completely honest and ethical about how to use these tools to rake in six figures.  One of the interesting things I found out about these sites, Myspace in particular, is that it use to be a huge target for spammers. In fact some of my research on Wordtracker turned up tons of things like how to hack into and spam Myspace which is probably why I've heard several times that Myspace is dead. 

Well fortunately for all of us, Myspace isn't dead, in fact it's alive and doing very well, in fact judging from the popularity and utter success people are getting from Myspace and Facebook I think they've fixed the problems with spammers and hackers, and Ryan, through all white hat strategies, has given us completely honest and ethical ways to use these tools to bring in as much money as you want to bring in. 

If you're looking for a completely fresh, exciting and very doable ways of using social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to bring in more money than you’re making now …lots more, then have a look at Ryan at "Spacebankers".  Watch the videos and you'll realize, as I have, that Spacebankers will open up a whole new world on what you can accomplish with social marketing.

It can be a lot of fun too! 

I've just installed the latest and greatest version 3 of BANS (Build a Niche Store).  If you're not familiar with BANS, I did a Bans Review earlier in the year.  Since then the BANS folks have made substantial updates to the product.

Unlike past releases, Bans v3 comes with an installation guide as well as a separate user manual.   Both go into step-by-step detail on getting your site up and running quickly. But if you should have a problem their help forum picks up where the manual leaves off.

After your store is installed and ready to configure I noticed that the admin panel is a bit different and much easier to use.  All your pertinent store setup information is on one page and easily understood. 

For example, there are about 6 windows that cover things like:

• product categories you want for your store
• site title and description tags
• product layout choices
• affiliate details
• product info and navigation choices. 

One very cool feature is the affiliate link cloaker. No longer will your ugly, long affiliate link display at the bottom of the screen, instead a more professional link will display that is more comprehensive and much cleaner looking.

But one of the best things about this new version is there is geographical targeting.  You can target several more countries expanding your reach or you can target the listings on a local level, all the way down to zip codes.

Also, I noticed it's a lot more search engine friendly elements were added to the individual content pages.  In addition, automatic site map generation was added and you have a bit more control of your individual pages; things like adding additional content both before and after the item listings on your pages as well.

If you're already a BANS user you might want to consider upgrading to Ver3.  The upgrade is fairly simply, complete instructions will be provided.  I actually had a missing header in my setup but I checked it our on their forum, got a quick answer and I was good to go.

As promised, I wanted to give you an update on my Guitarstruck.com website. 

I just made my first sale …Whaahoo!  

First thing this morning after getting my first cup of coffee, I took a look at my Commission Junction status and low and behold I made my first BANS site sale!

OK, you might say, big deal, one sale, not too exciting …I agree, but this is a good indication that the site has potential.  It's on the right track and as it matures, as I add content on a regular basis and promote it, it could do quite well.  So what's so great about this product and how it works?   

You can take a look at my BANS review, but basically after my site was built and I was happy with its look and feel, I added as much content as I could think of.  I actually placed the content pages on my navigation bar before the list of site categories.  This gives the search engines a look at my content first.

My content consists mostly of articles; I even went the lazy route and added articles from Chris Knight's, http://www.zinearticles.com/ site.

I did however, write one article myself and submitted it to a several article directories, but so far, most of my content consists of other people's articles.  I'm adding more articles as time permits but I'm doing it gradually since the search engines are suspicious of a lot of content added all at once.

Then I submitted my site to as many popular free directories as I could. There aren't many FREE ones left, but these are a good start.

http://www.dmoz.com/
http://www.jayde.com/
http://www.dmegs.com/
www.onemission.com/d.pl

I do recommend adding to these directories as well.  They are paid directories but as you make money from your site, put some money back into your business by submitting to these directories as well.  It's a very worthwhile investment.

www.uncoverthenet.com/directory
http://www.goguides.org/  
botw.org    
dir.yahoo.com 
http://www.gimpsy.com/
http://www.site-sift.com/
http://www.wowdirectory.com/
http://www.joeant.com/

Again, as time permits I add my site to more and more directories

Also let me add that last Saturday morning, I spent about 2 hours exchanging links with prominent sites.  Saturday mornings are often a time for me to work on linking strategies …just one of my routine habits

I noticed that on Jan 25 my site was indexed by Google and today I'm getting about 10-20 visitors a day to my site.  No, it's not very much but the day I made my sale I had 19 visitors, that's a 5.3% conversion …not too shabby since my site has been up less than 3 weeks.

So there you have it. I spent about 6 hours installing and customizing my store. Over the course of the next week I spend about another 8 hours writing an article, adding article content to my site, submitting to directories and exchanging links. 

I agree, this is a very small start, but definitely a good one and I'm psyched to start building my next BANS site, but I'm also thrilled to let you in on my success because this means that it's doable for YOU as well. 

So if you're at all on the fence about what product to use for building a profitable webiste, I highly recommend BANS, it's definitely a well thought out piece of software, designed for ease of use and capitalizes on a very lucrative business - EBAY!

For my next store I think I may narrow down my niche a bit more. Not sure what I'll be doing but it's fun to think about.

Got any good ideas?

Click here to find out more about BANS Build A Niche Store