All posts by Alan B. Zibluk

A Few Reasons Why Your Business NEEDS Social Media Marketing

Did you know that 90% of all marketers say social media marketing has increased their business exposure?

Or that 66% of marketers that spend at least 6 hours on social per week have seen more leads? No matter what you sell and who you sell it to, using social media as a marketing tool can help you grow your brand and pad your wallet.

 

In your tweet and Facebook post sharing your new content, be sure to tag the experts you quoted so they see it pop up in their notifications.

Doing so makes it far more likely your source will share or retweet the link to their thousands (or tens of thousands) of followers, which drives traffic back to your website. It’s a win-win all around.

Social Media Is THE BEST Tool to Connect with (& Learn From!) Consumers & Industry Leaders

18 Reasons Why Your Business NEEDS Social Media Marketing

4. Social media marketing helps you understand your audience.

Part of what makes social channels like Twitter and Instagram effective marketing tools is the interaction you have with your customer base. By reading their tweets and status updates, you’ll gain insights into their daily lives and consumer behaviors, and answer questions such as:

  • What products are they buying and why?
  • What hobbies do they have?
  • What kinds of posts do they love to share?
  • What websites do they visit?

These insights have obvious marketing benefits. When you understand your customers, you can write better content and more compelling posts, which leads to more traffic. But the benefits can sometimes go far beyond marketing, helping you identify customer pain points, improve sales conversions and even refine your product strategy.

5. An active social media presence builds relationships with your audience.

Consumers see Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as social networks, not marketing machines.

That can be a challenge when you’re first developing your social media marketing strategy. A lot of companies instinctively take a hard sell approach, inundating their followers with discount offer codes, new product announcements and customer reviews. Then, when the account only brings in modest traffic gains, they assume social just isn’t a good fit for their brand.

But customers don’t want to be pitched to — they want authentic engagement.

When you stop seeing social as a way to pitch your customers and start seeing it as a way to connect with them, it can transform your brand. You help customers by answering their questions, entertaining and informing them with relevant content and even forming bonds over shared interests.

In #SMM, remember that customers don’t want to be pitched to — they want authentic engagement.

You’ll build connections with industry leaders and influencers, providing great stories for reporters, top notch products for promoters and interesting topics for experts to share with their followers. Over time, you’ll become more than a brand — you’ll become a part of a community.

And that comes with serious ROI. If you’re following social media marketing best practices, you’ll get a ton of exposure. That exposure brings in new leads. Over time, those leads become followers, followers become customers and customers become dedicated brand promoters, continuing the cycle.

6. Social media ads allow targeting and retargeting.

Why advertise on social media?

Because social media platforms offer highly targeted ads, which can be customized around your customers’ needs. Facebook ads, for example, can target customers by factors like age, location, education level, industry and even user behavior — e.g. the pages a user has liked. Using an ads management tool like HubSpot will give you even more insights into your ad campaigns. Connecting your ads to a CRM will allow you to see exactly which ads are turning prospects into customers.

Pro Tip: Install a Facebook pixel on your website to track how your ads affect customer behavior, and retarget your ads accordingly. Over time, Facebook will learn which users are more likely to click your link or buy a product, delivering your ads to the people most likely to convert into solid leads and sales.

 

7. Social media can help you get noticed at events and earn media coverage.

Whatever metric you use to measure the success of an event, it will always demand effective promotion. And that promotion always benefits from an active social media presence.

  • Measuring signups for a new expert webinar series? Facebook and LinkedIn will help spread the word.
  • Working to maximize donations at a charity fundraiser? Good social targeting will help you reach the big donors.
  • Attending a trade show to collect high-quality leads? A mature social media strategy will enable you to leverage influencers to amplify your message and bring attendees to your booth.

Brand Image Thrives on Social Media Marketing

8. Social media is key to customer service

Quick customer response time isn’t optional anymore. If there’s a problem with your product or service, your customers expect you to solve it right away.

Few companies are meeting those expectations.

A Sprout Social study found that customers want responses to social media companies within four hours, yet the average response time is 10 hours.

A @SproutSocial study found that customers want #socialmedia responses within 4 hours, but average response time is 10 hours. #SMM

This isn’t just a minor irritation for your customers — it directly affects your profits. A Twitter study showed that customers are willing to pay almost $20 more for future tickets when airlines respond to their tweets within 6 minutes.

And that isn’t just an isolated data point, either. Study after study has shown that consumers reward companies that respond to customer requests and complaints. A strong and engaged social media marketing presence will help you keep customers happy, and keep your public image positive.

9. A strong social media presence builds brand loyalty.

A report published by Texas Tech University found that brands with active social media profiles have more loyal customers.

It’s easy to understand why: when you’re engaging the public on social media, you’re building connection and rapport. You’re taking the time to provide your followers with useful information, help and entertainment, without asking for anything in return.

That shows customers you value them, not just as a source of revenue, but as people. Customers will begin to see you as an entity that cares about them, and has values, personality and vision. And in a competitive market, that can make a huge difference.

10. Social media is the perfect addition to your PR strategy.

Press releases are an important part of any marketing strategy, especially when you’re launching a new product or making a huge change in your company, but most people get the distribution part terribly wrong. If what you’re accustomed to is writing a press release and sending it out on PRWeb, you’re wasting your money.

Traditional press release distribution services are incredibly overrated.

Social media, on the other hand, provides you with a space where you can reach your target audience in a more personal, conversational way. And if your customers have questions, they can ask you right then and there.

The Right Social Media Marketing Strategy Can Help You Slay the Competition

11. Your competition is already social.

The crowded world of social media branding can feel very intimidating. Most brands have at least a token social media presence, and in some industries, multiple channels is the norm. For example, 91% of retail brands are using at least two social media platforms. So, what hope do you have of getting your brand noticed on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram?

It’s a lot easier than you think, because most brands aren’t doing it right.

Bigger brands may have sophisticated social media presences, but SMEs rarely do.

They start a few social media channels because it’s cheap, and it’s what everyone else does. Without investing in social media strategy, however, they rarely make a big impact. They post irregularly, rarely engage with followers and don’t develop a sophisticated voice. Social media remains essentially just a way for them to throw ads at customers now and then. And when that strategy doesn’t yield results, they put even less effort into it.

The truth is, posting to social media because you think you’re supposed to post will get you nowhere.

You’re better off with one really good social media channel than your competitor is with four semi-abandoned ones. If you take the time to develop your voice and strategy, post regularly and respond to messages and comments promptly, you can build a following your lazy competitors can’t possibly match — even if they’ve been on social for years longer than you have.

12. The social media marketing arena is a (fairly) level playing field.

Everyone can start a social media account for free, and most SMEs can dedicate either the time to maintain a social media channel, or the budget to outsource social media marketing.

Big brands do have some obvious advantages: better name recognition, bigger budgets that let them put together slick posts across multiple channels, and (in general) more influencers who already want to engage with their brand.

But SMEs have one big built-in social media advantage most big brands don’t: authenticity.

If you’re an entrepreneur with an inspiring story, a local company with ties to your community or an underground brand offering something new and exciting to early adopters, that can resonate with consumers — even if you don’t have a massive ad budget.

Ultimately, you don’t have to beat all your competitors at their own game to win on social media. You just need to find a way to connect with your own market in a way that builds your own brand. If you’ve got a good team and a strong brand voice, backed up by a solid product, that’s something you can do.

13. When it comes to newsjacking, social media is king.

In our media-saturated culture, it’s hard to tell when fate will throw a great opportunity at your brand. Sometimes your brand gets mentioned on a cable TV show, or tweeted about by an influencer. Other times, there’s a news story, meme, or pop-culture phenomenon that fits perfectly with your branding.

If you can jump in and engage with the story while everyone is paying attention, it can lead to viral posts, traffic boosts, press coverage and greater visibility for your brand. This strategy, known as newsjacking, works best if you get your voice out there while it’s still breaking news. If you join in too late, you’ll just look like another company trying to ride the trend.

To be one of the first voices out there, you need an active social media team.

Not only will that enable you to track and react quickly to current events, it will also ensure your message gets out, so that reporters, influencers and followers see your take while the story is still hot.

The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Sales and ROI

14. Social media marketing will get you more sales.

So, why is social media marketing important for your business?

Because it will get you more sales. Period.

Did you know that 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired customers through Facebook? Or that 84% of CEOs and VPs say they use social media to help make purchasing decisions?

Not surprisingly, when you stay in front of your customer base, they’re more likely to buy from you when they need the products you sell, but social media marketing does far more than increase brand presence. You can influence customer buying decisions at multiple points along the sales funnel, from amplifying the reach of white papers and blogs targeting top of funnel, to answering customer questions and addressing pain points, to incentivizing buyers with coupon codes. We even think it’s crucial for real estate agents to get on social media — and stay active!

15. You can find potential customers who don’t already know your brand.

Social media marketing enables you to search out customers looking for information related to your product — even if they aren’t familiar with your company.

For example, on Twitter, you can use Hootsuite to set up streams, following specific keywords related to your industry or products. When you spot people tweeting about those products, you can direct them to your site, or explain how your product can address their needs.

This strategy can also be valuable for customers who tweet about your brand, but may not be familiar with a new product or use case. By reaching out to them with new information, you can not only influence a sales decision, but also show customers how your brand is growing to better meet their needs.

16. Social media marketing establishes you as an authority in your industry.

From joining Facebook groups to answering Quora questions, social media provides ample opportunities to demonstrate your expertise.

By answering questions, giving advice and sharing relevant information, you can show your leadership.

If you use this strategy regularly, it can greatly increase your brand’s reach. Your answers to common questions will come up in Google search, as well as in particular social channels. Other users will start to retweet or share to your posts or refer friends and colleagues to your social media team when they have questions. And new leads, impressed with your helpful information, will be more likely to visit your site and purchase your products.

All without ever asking anyone to buy!

You Can’t Beat the Price (or ROI) of Social Media

17. The ROI on social media ads is unbeatable.

Social Media Signs Illustration Design

By boosting the right social media posts, you can bring in a lot of traffic at a fraction of the cost of targeted Google ads.

As of 2018, the average Google AdWords cost per click varied from $1.20 for travel and tourism, to $5.27 for education and employment. Depending on the keyword targeted, you can end up paying $50 or more for a single click. Cost per acquisition — the amount of money businesses spend on ads to acquire a single customer — varies even more, from less than $20, to over $200 for the legal industry.

Just take a look at some of the most expensive AdWords keywords:
  • “Divorce attorney” costs $31 per click
  • “Cloud computing” costs $72 per click
  • “Solar installation” costs $11 per click
  • “Car insurance brokers” costs $21 per click
  • “Press release distribution” costs $29 per click

With boosted posts, you have a lot more control over when your message gets amplified, which means you can spend your advertising budget more strategically by focusing on the posts that matter most to your audience.

Through targeted boosted posts, we’ve been able to send traffic via Facebook and Pinterest for as little as $0.12 per click. At the low end, that’s ten times more traffic per dollar than you get from AdWords

18. Social media marketing is fun!

Hosting a Twitter chat to celebrate a new product launch, getting your geek on while you A/B test Facebook ads, or sharing pop-culture polls for your followers to weigh in on doesn’t just build your audience — it also gives you a chance to interact with your audience, express yourself and show what your brand is about.

With all the work that goes into marketing and growing your business, getting a chance to build real connections with customers is incredibly rewarding. And when that one perfect tweet goes viral, or that Q&A session brings in a big traffic boost, you’ll feel like a rockstar!

Drive Revenue With Social Media

No marketing tool or technique plays a bigger role in influencing your brand perception than social media. Regularly interacting with followers, journalists, thought leaders and taste-makers can increase your profile, improve your public image and give your brand the sales it deserves.

Are you ready to rocket ahead of your competitors and take the social media world by storm?

Own A Piece Of Markethive – Lifetime Income Opportunity
Markethive, the first Social/Market Network built on the Blockchain, introduces The Entrepreneur Program

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

The Entrepreneur program is designed to leverage your system. Your free Markethive system is a market network, like a social network, but with powerful inbound marketing tools integrated into the system. This premier hybrid social network includes news feeds, blogging platforms, video channels, chat channels, groups, image sharing, link hubs, resume, profile page and peer to peer commerce. But more than a social network, we have also delivered to you “Inbound Marketing tools” like broadcasting, capture pages, lead funnels, autoresponders, self-replicating group tools, traffic analytics, and more. Plus, we are built on the Blockchain which allows Airdrops of 500 Markethive Coin (MHV) upon joining and micropayments for using the tools mentioned above. This is all free to you.

The Entrepreneur program is designed to add gold plating to an already stellar and unbelievably valuable system you receive for free.

The Markethive Coin – MHV Consumer Coin
Notably, MHV was listed on the first of many exchanges, including its own exchange [in development] in March in 2019 and is currently valued at $0.18. The Markethive coin will not be dependent upon speculative value as is the case with other cryptocurrencies and platforms, thereby creating eternal economic velocity in the entrepreneur ecosystem within Markethive.

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

Own A Piece Of Markethive Lifetime Income Opportunity

Own A Piece Of Markethive – Lifetime Income Opportunity
Markethive, the first Social/Market Network built on the Blockchain, introduces The Entrepreneur Program

The Entrepreneur program is designed to leverage your system. Your free Markethive system is a market network, like a social network, but with powerful inbound marketing tools integrated into the system. This premier hybrid social network includes news feeds, blogging platforms, video channels, chat channels, groups, image sharing, link hubs, resume, profile page and peer to peer commerce. But more than a social network, we have also delivered to you “Inbound Marketing tools” like broadcasting, capture pages, lead funnels, autoresponders, self-replicating group tools, traffic analytics, and more. Plus, we are built on the Blockchain which allows Airdrops of 500 Markethive Coin (MHV) upon joining and micropayments for using the tools mentioned above. This is all free to you.

The Entrepreneur program is designed to add gold plating to an already stellar and unbelievably valuable system you receive for free.

The Markethive Coin – MHV Consumer Coin
Notably, MHV was listed on the first of many exchanges, including its own exchange [in development] in March in 2019 and is currently valued at $0.16. The Markethive coin will not be dependent upon speculative value as is the case with other cryptocurrencies and platforms, thereby creating eternal economic velocity in the entrepreneur ecosystem within Markethive.

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

The Consumer coin, MHV, is being utilized within the Markethive exchange by way of airdrops and the faucet system which rewards associates using the platform, so the coin is used within the commerce of the system thus creating the velocity. The Revenue is a vehicle that is used to buy the Markethive coin back in the free market so it can be redistributed into the economic vortex of the system. This is a fundamental difference to the other systems currently out there today

The Next Level
First, we begin with the AIRDROP. That means you receive a 100% Matching Airdrop bonus on all referrals from you so you build quality leads, not just friends. You are also included in the Markethive’s Advertising Co-op and receive new associates via the ad campaigns and traffic sponsored by Markethive. So if you struggle with recruiting friends and traffic, then just sit back and let us work for you.

Friends or Associates
As a free member by referring 3 people you activate the Markethive faucet or micropayment system and all free referrers are immediately made friends, just like Facebook does. Access to friends is limited to internal messaging and posting on their profile newsfeed (according to their settings) just like Facebook.

Fetch.AI's (FET) Post-Binance Launchpad Sell-Off Continues
As an Entrepreneur upgrade and when your traffic signs up through you, they become nurtured leads we call “Associates.” This gives you access to all their data, verified cell phone, email, GEOlocation and the list and links to all the Social networks they share in Markethive.

Traffic Portals And Banner Program
You also share in our Traffic Portals, the traffic they produce, the revenue and the leads. Markethive’s many traffic portals include our Exchange, our Web Builder, our Commerce System, and our News Release sites. And we plan on releasing more on an ongoing basis. This one feature can produce for you a lifetime of success. We refer to them as money machines and share their success with you.

You receive the exclusive Banner Program to publish three sizes optional banners within the Markethive dashboard and all the traffic portals. This means you get unlimited Banner advertisements in all of our traffic portals and Internet properties. This offer is incredibly valuable. Markethive properties are already receiving significant traffic and as we grow, that traffic is exclusively yours as an Entrepreneur upgrade.

Entrepreneur Profile Page
All subscribers have a profile page, but upgrading to Entrepreneur turns your Profile page into a capture page. When any traffic decides to subscribe to Markethive through your profile page or any of your Markethive blogs, they become an “Associate” (a highly qualified and nurtured lead)

It essentially turns your Profile Page into a lead funnel acquiring the best quality leads on the Internet. With full data, their social networks verified phone, and text verified email and a contact management system that tracks data, stores dated notes, sends messaging and calendars events reminding actions on your Markethive calendar like callbacks, email, etc. And, of course, you also receive a 100% matching coins bonus from all direct registrations via the Infinity AirDrop Campaigns.

Become A Shareholder in Markethive (Limited Time)
You also get an equal ILP share after 12 months of continuity with the Entrepreneur program. This is only available for the first 1000 Entrepreneur upgrades. What that means… Liken to an ICO, your monthly payment is accrued and if you stay current for 12 straight months, we contribute to you a full 10% ILP which pay out a share of 20% of Markethive revenue for 20 years and longer.

Ethereum and EOS See All-Time High DApp Traffic
Receive matching ILP shares for all Entrepreneur Upgrades that come via your account and exclusive ICO like portals; Exclusive loyalty award program assigning a 10% share of an ILP for every 12 months of consecutive payments towards the Entrepreneur program. That is a minimum value of $1500. ILPs are the revenue engine for holders of these shares.

This offer is only assigned to the top 1000 active Entrepreneurs in the program by seniority. The Entrepreneur Program is $100 mth, so with all you get, we are basically paying you back as well for the contribution for life.

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

Summary
The 8 points of upgrade

1. Profile Page turns into lead “associates” capture page

2. 100% matching bonus from the airdrops via your “associates”

3. 100% matching bonus from your direct “associates” upgrade

4. Loyalty Program 12 straight months, we contribute to you a full 10% ILP

5. Unlimited Banner advertisement in all of our traffic portals

6. Equal share from Markethive’s co-op advertising

7. Traffic Portals seller classification

8. Receive your own ILP site receive matching ILP shadow shares

During Markethive’s crowdfunding, all Entrepreneur upgrades also receive their own ILP site, assuring matching ILP shares as a reward for sending funding business to Markethive via your own personalized website. Similar to an ICO Site.

We are all entrepreneurs, and we know the future can have the greatest potential for those who take command and aggressively build their dreams. Markethive is dedicated to your dreams and not only has spent over 20 years perfecting our systems but have built this Entrepreneur upgrade to accelerate your path to success.

Click here, Markethive is Completely Free To Join

My Advice On Building a Link Building Strategy

My Advice On Building a Link Building Strategy

Link building is a crucial element when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization). 


Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay 

The reason for this is clear:

A link building strategy gets you traffic to your site and greatly improves your search engine rankings. 

If you can obtain a link from another site to your site, this signals to the almighty search engines that you have something worth taking a look at and they move you closer to the front of the line. The more links you get, the closer you get to the first page of search engine results when someone does a search for a relevant term. And once you are on that first page, you will start getting more traffic. 

"So, What should be the components of a good link building strategy?" You ask.

1. Valuable Content

One of the best ways to get inbound links is to ensure that your site offers valuable information to your visitors or valuable reference pages that relate to your business. . .or both. Once you have proven that you have quality content, other website owners will link to your site without you having to go out and ask them to do so.

Make sure your link building strategy includes a concerted effort to always provide information your particular market is interested in. If you know your market well, identify the kind of informations they are interested in and give it to them.

2. Keywork Related 

Make sure your content is not only informative and valuable but also related to keywords that direct relate to your market's interests.

Keep in mind that the highest quality links are those that are connected by a keyword or keyword phrase, not links that go from another site straight to your simple domain name. So, for example, if someone links from his site www.ABC.com to your site www.DEF.com, this counts for something. But not as much if the same person links the text "red apples" from an article in his site to your article on red apples within your site.

3. Outbound Linking

Many marketers often ignore outbound linking but for a comprehensive strategy, it is worth including it in your overall strategy.

Choosing to do some outbound linking (you linking to another site) provides additional value to your readers and inspires others to link back to you. This also contributes to your link building strategy and is viewed well by the search engines. Don't overdo it though. Just one or a couple of links per page will be fine. 

4. Join Forums and/or Networks

This may seem out of place in a Link Building Strategy but the reality is that Forums and Networks offer you easy opportunities to get valuable linkbacks to your blog/web site content. The secret here is to first, learn how the forum/network operates and what behaviours it will allow, and then engage with other members. This can be time consuming but once you start contributing and helping members in your market, you will find lots of opportunities to suggest links to your content. The fundamental principle here is to be helpful.

Having said this, there are many forums I could suggest, like Warrior Forum, however, there is one absolute must network you should never do without. It is called MARKETHIVE  and it's tools are absolutely FREE to use. Every marketing strategy should include its priceless features.


SIDEBAR: You can also try link building services although it's important to do your research first. If you choose the wrong service, it can get you penalized by the search engines. It's easy to see why people do opt for these types of services–link building is a long, tedious process and hiring someone else to do the grunt work may be well worth the required fee. But it isn't worth it if your site ends up going backwards instead of forwards in search engine ranking.


Although going out and seeking links is somewhat frowned upon, it works. And it's a win-win situation if you come across a website that offers something of value to your target audience. It's important to keep in mind that it's not only the quantity but the quality of your links that will get you where you want to be. Also, the very best way to ensure that you will get links to your website is to create top quality content. 

These are the basics I suggest when it comes to implementing your link building strategy.

Maxwell Jacobs is the Owner of http://SolutionsforHomeProfits.com. Check us out anytime for marketing tips and a free subscription to our cutting edge newsletter. 

John McAfee’s Guide To Help You Get To Your Destination

John McAfee’s Guide To Help You Get To Your Destination

I personally find John McAfee a fascinating, genuine and humorous character who enjoys life and truly believes at this time in his life, his god-given mission is to do anything it takes to “wake people up”, as he puts it, to the tyranny of governments and miracles of technology – Blockchain and Cryptocurrency which will free the people from the shackles of centralized institutions. I came across a blog written by John McAfee with his attempt to guide you through the checkpoints of Central America. He posted it in 2012 and tweeted it today in the hope it may help anyone traveling to join the protestors in South America. He certainly is a character and I had to have a little chuckle to myself as I read through the following…

  

The McAfee Central America Travel Guide

As all of my close friends know, I have not always been a teetotalling, drug-fighting citizen.  Prior to 1983, I was a synthesis of a corporate manager and drug dealer.  The drug dealer eventually won out, and for a period of time, that was my only occupation.  Well ….. taking the drugs that I sold also became a principal occupation.  This is not a secret, I tell anyone who asks, even the press.   Not many in the press reported much about it until Josh Davis’ eBook came out.  I am not ashamed of my past.  Our collective pasts make us who we are.  In 1983 I joined Alcoholics Anonymous and gave up alcohol and drugs entirely.  My exceptions are coffee, which some classify as a drug, and, occasionally, cigarettes.  Not proud of the cigarettes, I know they are bad.

During my drug-dealing days I became adept at those talents required of a successful drug dealer: clandestine travel through the Third World countries that produce and transport the goods; dealing with corrupt officials; dealing with drug lords and drug traffickers; successfully passing checkpoints; bribery, and in emergencies, the methods of escape.

I am a firm believer that all experience can be a valid teacher if a person listens to experience with unclogged ears.  Since it is a Saturday and I’ve had a tiring week, I will take a break from the task at hand and use what little I have learned to assist travelers that might appreciate the rewards of traveling off the beaten path in third world countries. It should also assist anyone engaging in questionable activities.  If a person does not directly harm another, then I try not to judge.  You might call this McAfee’s Travel Guide:

In order to make the most of your travels, you need to first understand that, throughout much of the Third World, there is a smoothly functioning “system” in place that has evolved over centuries. From the First World perspective, it is a “corrupt” system, and indeed, at the higher levels there is no other word for it, and this blog’s purpose is to remove the brutality and horror of such high-level corruption.  

At the lower levels, however, the system contains an element of grace and humanity, and this lower lever is all that most people will ever encounter.  You might still call this lower level “corruption”, but that’s not a helpful word if you want to acquire the most effective attitude for dancing with it. I prefer “negotiable”. It focuses the mind on the true task at hand when dealing with officialdom and removes any unpleasant subconscious connotations. So if you can view the following tools and tips as negotiation guidelines it will help bring the necessary smile to your face when the situation requires one.

Press Credentials

The most powerful tool a traveler can possess is a Press card. It will allow you to completely bypass the “documentation” process if you have limited time or limited funds and don’t want to deal with it. I have dozens stashed in all my vehicles, in my wallet, in my pockets, in my boats.  You might ask since I claim to be an upstanding citizen, why I would need such deception.  It is because I am one of the few white men who chose to live part-time in the interior of the country.  I was one of only three white guys living in the district of Orange Walk, for example. I have cars and enjoy driving and I travel frequently.  Not a day went by without having to go through a “checkpoint” of some kind.

 

I am paranoid about being caught without one when I need one. They have magical properties if the correct incantations are spoken while producing them. A sample incantation at a police checkpoint (this will work in any Central American country):

(Spoken before the officer has a chance to say anything) – “Hi, I’m really glad to see you.” (produce the press card at this point). I’m doing a story on Police corruption in (fill in country name) and I would love to get a statement from an honest police officer for the story. It’s for a newspaper in the U.S. Would you be willing to go on record for the piece?” You can add or subtract magic words according to the situation. 

Don’t worry about having to actually interview the officer. No sane police person would talk to a reporter about perceived corruption while at the task of being perceived to be corrupt. He will politely decline and quickly wave you through. If you do find the rare idiot officer who wants to talk, ask a few pointed questions about his superiors and it will quickly awaken his sensibilities. He will send you on your way.

The press card is powerful but has risks and limitations. Do not attempt this magic, for example, at a Federale checkpoint in Mexico on a desolate road late at night. You will merely create additional, and unpleasant work for the person assigned to dig the hole where they intend to place you.
 

Documentation

Documentation is the polite word for “cash”.

 

The real art of producing documentation is the subtle play of how much to produce. In some countries, a policeman makes less than a dollar an hour. At a checkpoint, a policeman will usually share his proceeds with the other officers lounging by the side of the road and with the police Chief. The Chief will get about 25% in countries like Colombia and Panama, so if there are three officers total, then a ten-dollar contribution will end up with about $2.50 in each person’s pocket – a good take for someone making about a dollar an hour in legitimate salary.

Nothing irks locals more than someone who produces documentation in excess of what is expected. It ruins the system for the rest of the population. The Police begin to expect more from everyone, and the populace is then burdened beyond any sense of reasonableness. I might mention that checkpoints for any given location in most countries are set up no more than once a week, and frequent travelers reach accommodations with the authorities so that they are not unnecessarily burdened to the point that they are single-handedly putting the policeman’s children through school. The police are, by and large, honest people with hearts, and few truly abuse the system.

So to give more than is reasonable is a crime against humanity. The following are some hard and fast formulas that I have learned from trial and error over the years:

Documentation is inversely proportional to traffic density – the higher the traffic, the less you pay, the lower the traffic the more you pay. This is simple economics: The police must make their personal quota from whatever traffic there is.

If you stop at a checkpoint and there are four or five cars in line, you can be assured that less than a couple of dollars will be expected from a Gringo. Smart folks carry a half dozen cold cokes and beers in a cooler in the backseat and simply reach around, grab one or the other and hand it out the window with a smile. In the late afternoon on a hot day, this will be received with far more appreciation than a few small coins. If you hand a cold drink to all of the officers, you could easily talk them into giving you a protective escort to the next town.

In low traffic areas, in addition to having to pay more, you will also entail more risk. It’s never good to travel lonely roads in Central America unless you are very experienced or closely wired into the authorities. However, if you’ve come down to do a dope score or are determined to visit sweet Crucita in some remote village and have no other choice, then strictly adhere to the following:

Do not get out of the car, even if ordered to do so. Your car is your only avenue of escape. It’s a ton or more of steel capable of doing serious harm to anyone foolish enough to stand in front of it, and once underway is difficult to stop. The checkpoint police in Central America never chase anyone down, in spite of years of watching U.S. Television and action movies. It’s too much work, plus they could have an accident. It’s not worth it for an unknown quantity. And they won’t shoot unless you’ve run over one of them while driving off. It makes noise and wastes a Round that they must account for when they return to the station – creating potential problems with the higher-ups. Not that I recommend running. It’s just that outside of the car you have lost the only advantage you have.

Smile and, if possible, joke. Say something like: “I’d like to stay and chat but I’m in a hurry to meet a girl. Her husband will be back soon.” This will go a long way toward creating a shared communion with the officers and will elicit a shared-experience type of sympathy.
Don’t wait for them to talk. Take the initiative. Have your documentation ready as you pull up and simply present it to the nice policeman while beginning your patter similar to the above, or whatever patter is comfortable for you. Never hand cash directly. Slip it in inside your insurance papers, or some other paperwork relating to your car or your journey, with about an inch of the banknote discretely sticking out. I use a Cannon Ixus 530 setup manual with the front and back cover removed. It’s small, light, and looks like it could be important paperwork for almost anything.

Remember: 50% of the police who stop you in some countries can’t read. This is a powerful piece of information for the wise.

Once the officer has removed the banknote, which will be immediate, reach out and retrieve your laptop manual (or whatever you choose to use), smile, wave and drive off immediately without asking permission, but slowly, without looking back. Doing the job and leaving quickly without appearing to hurry off is the key here. Don’t give them enough time to assess you.
The above is a failsafe formula for back roads of Central America if adhered to explicitly. Expect to part with at least 20 bucks. If, on approaching the checkpoint, you judge the police body language to be insolent or agitated, change the twenty for a fifty.

If something goes awry and the above, for some reason, has not worked, then pretend stupidity. Ask them to repeat everything they say and act bewildered. If ordered to get out of the car, smile broadly and simply drive off. Again – slowly.

If drugs or other contraband are planted in your vehicle by one of the police while another has your attention (a very common occurrence), understand, above all, that there is a zero probability that you will be arrested, unless you add to the “offense” by pissing someone off or otherwise acting unwisely. The intent is to scare. Under no circumstances deny that it is yours. Say something like “Damn, I thought I left that at home”, or “That’s the second time I’ve been caught this week.” This will show them that you are a good-natured player and will probably negotiate. Denying ownership of the contraband will be seen as confrontational – an attitude that brings high risk when dealing with Third World authorities. The “documentation”, however, need not be much. 

They have chosen an approach to make a living that is universally considered by the locals as “not fair play”, and they should not be unjustly rewarded for it. Sure, they did go to the effort of distracting you, and someone had to go to the trouble to plant the dope, so they deserve something, but $5 is the maximum you need to pay. If they ask for more, then you can safely become indignant. They will shut up. The locals won’t tolerate police that takes too much unfair advantage of the system, and your obvious awareness of the correct protocols will alert them to potential trouble if they push things.

If you actually are carrying contraband, of any kind – drugs, guns, Taiwanese sex slaves – whatever, and are caught, then the actions that you take within the first few seconds of discovery will have a profound impact on the rest of your life. The reality is: You have been caught. The officers have options:

1. Arrest you and charge you, where you are likely to confess to other people about exactly what you were carrying and how much – thereby limiting the policemen’s ability to make off with much of the cache. Or:

2. Come to some arrangement with you that is mutually beneficial and that does not include your demise or create any undue risks to the officers’ jobs or safety.
Option 2 is obviously preferable. To anyone not fond of prisons, that is.

Your first order of business is to assess your situation. If you are in a town or even near one with reasonable traffic driving by, then the chances of your demise, or incurring harm to yourself, are virtually nil if you keep your wits about you. If you are on a lonely country road, and there is only one officer, or even two, your risks could be high, so you will be handicapped in your negotiations.

On your side, you have the option to go to jail and tell your story to lots of people, which generally restricts the officers’ abilities to make money on the encounter. The higher-ups will take it. On their side, they have guns and threats. Ignore the threats. You are fully cognizant of the fact that their sincere hope is that some accommodation can be reached that enriches their pockets and allows you to leave the area without compromising them.

So — first things first. Smile. There is no circumstance under which a smile will handicap you when dealing with authorities.

Be friendly in your speech and immediately and fully acknowledge your situation, and theirs. This puts them at ease and sets the framework for negotiation. Be polite but firm. Let them know that they will not be able to walk off with your entire stash, and do this early on. It creates more reasonable expectations in their minds. If your contraband is drugs, offer them a small hit while talking. It re-enforces, subconsciously, the idea that the dope is your possession and that they are partaking due entirely to your goodwill. If you are transporting sex slaves, then I must say first that I cannot possibly condone your chosen occupation, but offering each one of the policemen a taste of the goods may well seal the deal without any additional cash thrown in.

It’s important to be firm without any semblance of hostility. If the policemen tell you, for example, that they are going to confiscate all of the goods, then, with an apologetic manner that implies an unfortunate certainty, say “I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible”. Shake your head sadly as if you had divulged: “My mom just died”. And this is the point to present them with an absurdly low offer. If you are carrying 20 keys of cocaine or a half-ton of marijuana, then offer them $50. Alternatively, you could offer them a one-ounce bag of the weed or a gram or so of the coke. If it’s sex slaves, tell them they can look at the bare breasts of one of the least attractive women (in parts of Southern Mexico, this might actually be sufficient).

They will be taken aback at your offer, but it will place any unreasonable expectations they may have in a stark perspective. As a rule of thumb, if you are near a populated place, you will ultimately settle by parting with an amount of cash equal to about 10% of the wholesale value of the goods. On a road with infrequent and unpredictable traffic, maybe 20%. If you are on a desolate road, especially if the body language is not comforting, you may have to bite the bullet, give them the entire wad, plus your car, and ask for a ride to the bus station. Don’t expect the police to accept the drugs or contraband as payment if you are near a populated area. They would obviously be seen transferring the goods to their vehicles. If you are not carrying sufficient cash, then you are unprepared, and shouldn’t be doing shady deals in Central America.

Never display fear or hostility. Smile throughout, and crack what jokes you can.

Name Dropping

Knowing the name of the country’s Police Commissioner and Armed Forces Chief, and the Chief of Police for each county or town you will be driving through can be very helpful. Knowing all the mayor’s names will not hurt any either. Name-dropping is a powerful tool in the Third World, especially for gringos, if used appropriately. Telling a cop in America that you are friends with the mayor or the police chief will seldom help you avoid a traffic ticket, and may even increase the charges. 

In Belize, offending the Police Commissioner will immediately get a policeman fired, with no repercussions to the Commissioner, and, depending on the offense, may even get the officer “erased”. So it gives an officer serious pause when you say: “The drugs belong to Commissioner (insert name). I am delivering them to a friend for him”. 

If spoken with authority and condescension, they can have a dramatic effect. No policeman in his right mind would try to validate the story. Resident Gringos, for odd reasons, are prized as friends by wealthy and prominent locals, so it would not be out of the question to be close with the Country’s Police Commissioner. If the cop asks any specifics, like, how you know the Commissioner, pull out your cell phone and say: “I have the commissioner’s number, why don’t we call him and you can ask him yourself.” You need to have solid self-assurance, or at least some large cojones, to pull this off, but in a tough situation, this can work miracles.

A small amount of research is necessary before using this approach. You need to know, for example, whether the police commissioner is really dealing drugs (almost all are). Every local inhabitant in the country will know this information (there are no secrets in the Third World). The policeman will certainly know.

You don’t have to be doing something illegal in order to use the name-dropping approach. When a friend of mine first moved to Belize, two policemen stopped him late in the evening while he was driving a golf cart across the bridge to San Pedro’s North Island. Before he could provide the proper “documentation” for a bridge checkpoint, one officer harshly demanded his drivers’ license, which he provided and then shut up. The officer’s attitude was not in harmony with a normal checkpoint situation. While he stared at my friend’s license, the other dropped a bag of weed on the back floor of the cart. (he didn’t smoke weed by the way.) When the first officer “discovered” the bag my friend said: “I hope you won’t tell the Commissioner about this. He’s a very close friend of mine and I wouldn’t want him to think anything bad about me.” The first officer divulged that they were only joking by planting the weed. He apologized and waved my friend through.

Generally, the tactic of planting drugs on people is only practiced in heavily trafficked tourist areas. The police in tourist areas are handicapped because tourists generally don’t “pay their due” to the police, or to any other functionary. Tourists consider it “corrupt” to have to pay policemen to do their jobs or to pay them in order to have the freedom to drive down the street on checkpoint day. The police, therefore, are forced to resort to unethical means in order to make a living in these places. I understand this well, yet some character flaw in myself won’t allow me to reward someone who plants drugs on me. My friend feels the same.

Gifts

Gifts occupy different strata in the system of negotiation. They are used when some future consideration is required, or after an official favor has been provided. Gifts can be small or large, depending on the circumstances and the wise person will have an ample supply ready for any event. I operate seven small businesses in Belize.  When I first opened them I refused to acquiesce to my business manager’s advice about gifts. I naively assumed I could skate by without them.  I was wrong, I finally allowed the guy to stock up on resources so that he could do the job I was paying him to do:

Now… to be fair to the authorities ….. I have no way of knowing whether these “gifts” were actually given to the authorities.  For all I know the business manager that I hired started his own retail outlet somewhere and is still living off of the proceeds. It’s difficult under certain circumstances to get at the facts.

Favors, likewise, are part of the system. They have no negative connotation, and they require gifts whose magnitude reflects the magnitude of the favor.

One common “favor” that is considered questionable is to gift an officer in the armed forces to provide armed support for a drug deal, a revenge raid, an armored car heist, or any similar function. It’s a very common occurrence but it’s deemed to be morally sketchy by most of the populace. The reason for this, I believe, is the sense of unease created by the image of highly organized, insolent, largely illiterate men with fully automatic weapons catering to the whims of anyone with spare change. 

The general consensus is that the system of “negotiation” should stop at the gates of the military. The military should uphold the system, not practice it, as my friend and philosopher Paz once said. This is no more illogical than policemen as “officers of the peace”. The fact that SWAT teams exist and every policeman carries a gun and is trained in violent tactics, should alert us to the fact that practicing peace is not the means of choice for maintaining peace.

Written and Posted by John McAfee, November 24, 2012

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

Deb Williams 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

 

 

Link Building Tools List

Link Building Tools List

Anyone involved in Internet marketing knows that link building tools are an essential part of success. There are many such tools on the market. These kinds of programs will continue to grow as long as incoming links are so important to the life of your online presence.

 

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Here are just a few tools that can help you out:

1. SEOmoz Linkscape

SEOmoz Linkscape is a backlink tracking tool. If you opt for the free version, you can see how many unique links you get to each page of your website, as well as the rank of the page and of the overall domain. The paid version allows you to analyze other websites as well, such as those of your competitors. You can see how many links they get, the quality of the links, and the keywords that they are targeting, all of which is very useful in your own campaign. 

2. Yahoo Site Explorer

Yahoo Site Explorer is a well-known and popular free tool. It allows you to determine the number pages within a domain that are indexed by SLURP, Yahoo's own search engine crawler, and analyze relevant data regarding inbound links. You can also export the results you find useful into a TSV (tab-delimited file).

3. Majestic-SEO

With Majestic-SEO, you can track link information for any domain, whether it be your own, or your competitors or other sites. If you do own the domain (and you can verify it), you can get more detailed data which includes aspects such as unique links and anchor text. Similar to SEOmoz, this comes at no cost if you are taking a look at your own site and you can purchase credits to get information from other websites. Some of the data provided is downloadable, and this tool offers a "daily update" feature with an updated journal of new inbound links.

4. Raven

Raven supplies a complete set of link building tools including a Links Manager that helps you manage the link status, contacts and tasks related to each link. Another popular feature of Raven is that it automatically alerts you if any changes have occurred on an active link. For examples, if the no-follow attribute was added, if the anchor text was changed, if the rank changed, or if the link was removed. Reports and data can be generated and downloaded. 

5. BuzzStream Link Building

BuzzStream Link Building is one of the costlier packages and its main focus is to supply tools that help automate redundant tasks in relationship building, not just link building. Distinguishable features include finding contact info, tracking email, Twitter automation, managing link prospects, monitoring backlinks for anchor text, no-follows, banned words and outbound links, general tracking activities, tracking conversions, and more. The management and conversion tracking elements of BuzzStream are what makes it unique in the list of link building tools. 

There are many more such as these to be found, both free and paid, and the number available continues to rise.

BUT The Very Best Resource… 

for building links and establishing a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy is MARKETHIVE. Check it out NOW!

Maxwell Jacobs is the Owner of http://SolutionsforHomeProfits.com. Check us out anytime for marketing tips and a free subscription to our cutting edge newsletter. 

9 Effective Tips on How to Advertise on Other People’s Thank You Page

9 Effective Tips on How to Advertise on Other People's Thank You Page

Posting a comment on another person's thank-you page may have no effect on your website at first glance but you know how first impressions can be misleading. And in this case, what you see first isn't what you get. If you want to generate traffic for your website for free, you can do so just by saying "thank you" on other people's websites.


Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Tip #1

Identify who you can thank because the more people you thank, the more inbound links you get. First, check your sales invoices and determine which of your paid customers have websites of their own. You'll pay a visit to each and every one of them soon. If you have suppliers, distributors, retailers, joint venture partners, and other types of business associates, you'll have to visit them, too. How about other Internet marketers who occasionally visit your website? This is the time to profit from a little bit of give and take between each other.

Tip #2

Determine where to say thank you. Not all websites have "thank you" pages, but almost all websites will allow you to interact and say your piece. For those without "thank you" pages, look for the page that allows you to comment and at the same time enjoy considerable traffic.

Tip #3

Now, it's time to start writing your thank-you message. Personalized messages always work better, but it's understandable if you sometimes don't have the time to customize each message. During these instances, it's better to create a thank-you page for each group. Have a generic thank-you message for your customers then create a separate one for your colleagues, suppliers, and so forth.

Tip #4

Remember to identify yourself. If your personal name carries weight in the Internet then by all means, use your name when posting a thank-you message on another website. But if you're not that popular yet then it might be better to use your business name or include it at least with your personal name. This will help people remember you more.

Tip #5

The first line of your message must be short but sweet: it explains why you're saying thank you. Customers are obviously thanked for their support and patronage of your products and services. Don't use flowery speech. Go straight to the point but be sincere.

Tip #6

Your second line must include mention of your products or services as well as your desire to provide more aid or support. Going back to our sample thank you message for customers, your second line could appear something like this: "I hope that Product X will be able to help your online business run more smoothly". 

Tip #7

Use the third line or sentence for any additional information you feel is pertinent to the person you're thanking. If there is none, then you must proceed with inviting the person and indirectly, the other readers, to drop by your website. This is where you post your website URL as well for your latest updates. If you already have a new promotion running, this is also the place to mention it.

Tip #8  

If you're asked to provide a link to your website then yes, of course you should post it as well.

Tip #9

Never forget to include targeted keywords in your thank-you message. You might have to be a bit tricky doing that, but those keywords can help make your thank you message optimized to improve your search engine ranking.

Good luck with your inbound marketing efforts.

Maxwell Jacobs is the Owner of http://SolutionsforHomeProfits.com. Check us out anytime for marketing tips and a free subscription to our cutting edge newsletter. 

Understanding WordPress Traffic

The New Fuss About WordPress Traffic

Understanding WordPress Traffic

If you're getting 1,000 visitors per monththat's a sufficient amount of traffic. Not only is it less difficult to check traffic within WordPress, but additionally, it saves you time as you don't need to return and forth between dashboards. It's important to not forget that traffic to your site can and will fluctuate. You're getting a lot of traffic, but the erroneous visitors. Besides generating traffic, social networking may also be used to make new thoughts and expand your knowledge.

wordpress traffic

The Foolproof WordPress Traffic Strategy

In case you have access to 10 different phone numbers than you will want to set up 10 distinct emails. You can readily get the info about your blog as soon as you install it on your WordPress blog. A fast google search of what's my IP address will inform you of your existing address. The list continues, but however you opt to go about it, be creative and informative.

Every blogger would like to increase their site traffic by adopting different strategies. For a WordPress blog, it's also very significant to optimize your blog in line with the related search phrases. Apart from the mentioned above, you may also try out giving away free e-books or articles in addition to classified ads. You may also write articles on other websites provided that you place a little resource box following your article. The terrible news is that, as a result of its popularity and the no-bullshit temperament of the website, it's extraordinarily tough to breakthrough.

Integrating newsletter by means of your blog is a fantastic suggestion to bring more visitors to your site. So to raise traffic you will need to sure your site must load fast in few seconds. Among the scariest situations, you're able to run into while managing a site is a sudden drop in traffic. Eliminate the strain of having multiple browser tabs open to looking at your site traffic. Before using WordPress for a high-traffic website, you have to make sure the website is prepared to deal with higher traffic volumes. Plan out your internet website and think about who you're marketing to.

WordPress Traffic

After you work through the join process you will get a telephone call or text message with a validation code. You can find big quantities of traffic on your website by employing the next methods. There are hundreds and hundreds of WordPress plugins that let you add social sharing buttons.

A WordPress statistics plugin is a crucial thing for your site. It's extremely hard to find the ideal WordPress plugins since there are over 29,000 plugins offered in the WordPress plugins directory. Some of the greatest WordPress plugins are those which make social sharing and SEO simpler. There are many WordPress plugins that may help boost traffic and user engagement on your site. WordPress includes lots of plugins that you may use for a proper search engine optimization of your pages. WordPress is continuously optimized to minimize the number of database requests necessary for regular operation. WordPress has powerful features that let you automate the procedure for generating new visitors to your site or blog.

Things You Won't Like About WordPress Traffic and Things You Will

In some instances, you observe organic reductions in traffic. The quantity of traffic you should become also is dependent on the degree of interest in what you do. You should observe no activity dependent on the preview post URL.

Definitions of WordPress Traffic

It is possible to add insight in internet forums of your specialty. There's a whole lot of advice on ways to get visitors to your site. Our day-to-day writing prompts can provide a jump-start, too. Have a look at the Discover to locate bloggers who share your interests. If you wish to make money, you need to work for it, and you will need to do lots of effort to attain effective and positive popularity of your site. Craigslist accounts are likewise a feature and it'll detect whether it is needed before the creation procedure. Don't forget, you'll need to visit each email account which you've set up and click the link that Craigslist sends to every email account to activate each individual Craigslist account.

The Pain of WordPress Traffic

Alternately, when you have any questions at all about the above-mentioned ideas to improve traffic (or about building traffic in general), don't hesitate to ask. Bearing that in mind, one of the very best things that you can do increase visitors to your website is split test your headlines. One of the best methods to improve website traffic is to compose your blog based on the search engine preference or algorithm and for that utilizing search engine optimization is a powerful technique. You will understand a location where you are able to log in. Finally, should you need to focus more time and energy on marketing, you can seek the services of a group of experts to handle the technical elements of your WordPress website. If you're unfamiliar, you should have familiar. For instance, attempting to keyword for something like dog shampoo is going to be a little harder.

Corporate America Advice from Sergeant Luther Rizzo

My favorite comedy television shows growing up were Cheers and MASH.  I admit I watched way too much TV at the time.  I should have been studying more.

The quote below is just so perfect for today’s work environment.  Just change Army to Corporate America and it applies.

This is from Season 8 Episode 25 called “April Fools”.  It first aired on March 24, 1980.  It is hard to believe that was almost 40 years ago.

I worked with a hardworking man once.  He was passionate about his job.  He would come in early and leave late.  He would work weekends.  One day his boss told me in casual conversation the bosses didn’t liked him because he smiled too much.  I don’t know how anyone can succeed with such negativity.  It makes me think of this quote.  As long as you are miserable they are happy.

Have a great weekend!

Alan
Alan Zibluk
Bethany, CT
http://alzibluk.com

 

Singing Doll Comforts Elderly Woman with Alzheimer’s

This is my mother Joan Barbara.  Music therapy works.

This is Day 1195 for my wife and I as her primary caregivers.  My wife is the one who found this singing doll at a Goodwill store in Ohio.  She is also the one who recorded this video.  My wife rocks.

We have had some difficult times with her.  Still this is one of the better moments.

Alan Zibluk
Bethany, CT
http://alzibluk.com