Spending Your Money Wisely

Good morning subscribers. Over the past two weeks I have
received a few emails form subscribers about how they can
rebuild their retirement or offset their lost income as a
result of job loss.

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart because
the current economic situation affects all of us. I don't
know anyone who is not in trouble except for the very
wealthy. That leaves the rest of us in the same boat.

The challenge here is desperation. We're all fearful that
the economy is going to take a long, long time to resolve
itself, so what are we supposed to do between now and then?
We watch our monthly finances dwindle.

So desperation makes you make stupid decisions. The emotion
moves you instead of logic, and it's easy to make the wrong
choice -- a choice that wastes money you can ill afford to
throw away.

I know people that hop from MLM to MLM hoping that the
next one will make them millions. I know some very lucky
people who have made millions this way, but for the general
public it doesn't usually work that way.

My advice to you is to study your options carefully. There
are essentially two different types of MLMs: ones focused
on selling products to consumers and those focused on
selling services to businesses. In either case, you have to
ask yourself two very critical questions: "Am I a great
salesman?" and "Would I buy this product?"

If you have no sales experience or you stink at it, then
MLM is not the way to go. To be successful in MLM you need
to be an animal who lives for the hunt, never gets
depressed when prospects show disinterest, and focus on
building your funnel of leads and converting them to sales.
If this isn't you, then keep exploring alternatives.

The problem with most MLM's is that they encourage you to
sell products to your friends and family. This gets old
real fast. Most of us have only so many friends. And in
many cases, the products don't work as advertised, and when
your friends find out, you risk losing them forever.

Many MLMs try to make it easy for you by providing you a
replicated web site for a fee -- usually a steep fee. I've
seen some sell for a few hundred and others for a few
thousand. Their strategy is to get you to send traffic to
your site and encourage people to purchase their own sites
so they can do the same. They promise great wealth. They
feed off your desperation and dreams.

So what other options do you have? I've begun focusing on
LocalAdLink because for me it makes perfects sense. This is
not something I have put all of my eggs in one basket type
of thing. It is merely a side business, but it compliments
my online consulting.

LocalAdLink was started by a serial entrepreneur who once
owned Shopping.com and sold it for 9 figures. In searching
for the next business venture he decided to create a way to
give local businesses prominence in the sponsored listings
on Google and over 9000 other highly trafficked web sites.

For a fixed monthly budget, a local business can select a
few keywords and a few zip codes and laser target promotion.

Since I create web site for clients, this is a natural
up-sell for me. And because of the low monthly subscription
price, this service is affordable for any local business.

And the service works. There is no cap on the number of
times their ad may be displayed. It works for businesses
who have a web site and for those who don't because
LocalAdLink creates a landing page with everything you need
to know about the business including a map, directions,
pictures, videos, reviews, business description and
reviews.

Every local business suffers from the same challenge:
getting found online. LocalAdLink solves this problem. Do
you see how this is different from selling vitamins or
Southern Living or replicated sites to your friends and
family?

Now if you have no sales experience, and if you don't
normally sell to local businesses, then LocalAdLink is not
a path you should follow. But if you do have sales
experience, and if you know many local businesses in your own
backyard, then you might be able to make some cash to
offset your losses. This is one viral marketing opportunity
that I personally stand behind.

Best of all, there's no money involved. If you want to act as
an Account Executive and simply place orders for businesses
and receive a monthly recurring commission for as long as
your clients subscribe to the service, then you can sign up
at no cost -- no hidden charges or fees or gotchas -- it
works like an affiliate program.

But if you want the ability to market this service with
others and enjoy a wider and deeper commission structure,
then you can sign up as a Brand Builder for a very minimal
investment -- but only go down this path once you discuss
it with trusted friends who might share an interest in
selling this service in your area. If you can't generate
interest, then it's not worth doing, right?

You can learn more here:

http://spidy.localadlink.net/home.asp

OK, I wanted to continue our discussion about the mistakes
businesses make with their online presence. Last time I
touched this subject we spoke about bad type treatment.
Today I want to touch upon poor color treatment.

Nothing says "amateur" more than a site that uses too many
clashing colors. Often this problem is in lock-step with
too many fonts. The designer uses words in different fonts
and colors in an effort to highlight the importance of
certain works or paragraphs. The result is a crossword of
colors and fonts, rendering the text impossible to read.

Frequently amateur designers will use white type on a dark
background. This may look chic in some places, but online
and in print it can be very hard to read a lot of reversed
text. The longer the white text, the harder the read.

Lastly, some sites just seem to feel the need to fill up
every square inch of the page with type and colors --
there's no clear white space. Again, the attempt to cram
too much into a single page creates a page that is
impossible to read.

Take a look at your sites. Check your use of colors. Show
some restraint. Pick two or three colors that work well
together and then strip your site down to just those
colors. Need ideas for which colors work together? Walk
down the aisles of your local book store and look at book
covers.

Take care. Watch how you spend your money. Beware of scams.
Watch your use of color.

Until next time,

Steven

P.S.: Alex is about 25% of her goal in raising money for her
trip to Washington, D.C. this summer for the Leadership
Conference. Buy a ClayPal. Every little bit helps her in
her fund-raising goal. Visit her here:

http://www.schneiderman.net/alex

Xara Web Designer

Good afternoon. Steve here with a fast review of a new tool
that could possibly change the way you approach designing
your own web sites.

Many years ago I learned of a company called Xara. They
have a reputation for creating some of the most powerful -
but very easy to use - design tools. They are all quite
inexpensive (usually under $50) and come packed with
features not found in other competitive products.

Well, yesterday afternoon I received a promotional email
for their newest product and I immediately visited their
site to check it out.

Now as many of you know, I create web sites for a living so
naturally I am interested in anything that helps me to create
better-looking sites -- faster. This may be the tool I was
looking for. It is outstanding.

Rather than repeat myself, click the link below to read my
full review on the Cool Tool Awards web site:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/xarawebdesigner.htm

There is a free trial you can download which I highly
recommend. All links and info provided in the review.

Is it better than XSite? Considering that XSite costs $197 and
this tool from Xara costs $49.99 I'd say it is worth your time
to look at it and download the free trial.

Take care,


Steven

Send Alex to Washington, D.C.!

Good morning, friends. What do you do when you need help?
Are you the stoic type who insists on trying to solve
your problems by yourself, or do you ask your friends for help?

For a long, long time I was the stoic type. I'm not sure if
it was pride, stubbornness, or the belief that I could solve
my own problems without anyone else's help.

Some of us are raised to believe that to ask for help is a
sign of weakness.

Well, one thing I've learned over the years is HUMILITY. I
used to think it was all about me and that I was in charge
and could handle anything thrown at me.

Then I learned a hard lesson.

So now whenever I am challenged, I do seek out help of
friends and family. I don't think I have ever asked my
subscribers for help before, but I consider all 1500 of you
friends, so could I ask for your help right now, please?

It has to do with my daughter ...

Click the link below to learn how you can help:

http://www.schneiderman.net/alex/

Until next time,


Steven

P.S.: If you can't help me right now, I fully understand
and thank you for being a loyal subscriber anyway. We're
still friends. And if I can help you by providing some free
advice, please let me know. ;)

Act of Conversion

Good evening, my friends. I hope all is well in your part
of the world. It's getting late, and I am weary, but I
wanted to write to you before I go to sleep. I want to talk
to you about conversion.

I'm not talking about sales conversions.

And while I am not talking about spiritual conversion, let
me use that as an analogy this evening.

I was born in the South Bronx, a borough of New York, in a
very traditional old-fashioned Jewish neighborhood back in
1958. My father had been an assistant cantor growing up in
the Jewish faith, and there was never any question that I
would be raised a Jew, educated in Hebrew School as a Jew,
and get bar-mitzvahed (transition to manhood at age 13) as
a Jew when I was of age.

My life was steeped in tradition.

And sometimes tradition gets questioned by a child.

I went through the process, got bar-mitzvahed at age 13,
and quietly came to the realization - as my parents
divorced - that I no longer believed in God.

Why do bad things happen to good people, I would ponder
many a wakeless night waiting for God to answer my
question.

It was not until I started going to church with my wife and
held my first new born child in my arms that I would begin
to understand that there were things far larger than I in the
universe. It wasn't all about me after all.

Imagine that.

Somewhere along the way of questioning the reason for
everything negative in my life, I suddenly became aware of
the goodness that surrounded every inch of my being.

I underwent the process of conversion and when my daughter
got baptized at three months of age, I got baptized with
her.

The entire event reminded me of the final scene from The
Godfather where Michael baptizes his child, and in the
background, as the poetic theme song plays, his minion
quietly kills off each of his adversaries.

Only in this case, I was kissing goodbye old beliefs,
haunting memories, and feelings of hopelessness.

But conversion does not come so easily as merely going
through the motions of change.

One needs to really, truly feel the conversion in their
gut -- in their soul.

And it took me many years to realize this.

Finally, at age 47, I was able to humble myself, drop to my
knees, and with tears in my eyes accept Jesus Christ as my
Lord and savior.

That's true conversion.

Realizing that there is something more powerful than you,
and that you're not really in control at all. That control
is actually the biggest and worst illusion of all.

What about you?

What traditions are you steeped in?

What belief systems are holding you back?

I'm not talking about religion now.

I'm talking about what feelings are deep in your gut that
you fear to question, what scares you about being
successful, what lies are you living based upon what your
parents and their generation taught you?

Because until you go through an act of conversion, I don't
think you can be free to accept and or change what your
future truly holds for you.

For me, the journey's just begun.

What about you?

Be blessed,



Steven Schneiderman

So what's the plan, Spanky?

Good evening. Just came back from my wife's 50th birthday
surprise party. It was three weeks in the making, and boy,
am I glad it's over. I never thought it would come together
and everyone would show up.

It was perfect.

She thought we were going to a hotel for brunch after
church, but when we got there we discovered we missed
brunch (the set-up). What she didn't know was that 30 of
her friends were hiding behind a wall in the back of the
restaurant. Just as she was sulking about missing brunch,
they all jumped out to surprise her.

I got her.

There's a certain satisfaction when a plan comes together.

When was the last time you felt that way in your business?

I know some people who have never felt this satisfaction at
all, and that's a shame.

It starts with a plan. It doesn't have to be a formal
business or marketing plan -- though that helps a lot.

But you need a road map, something scratched out on paper
that shows the steps you will follow to get to your
destination and achieve your goals.

I know, I know. So many of us are simply trying to stay
ahead of the tax man and just have cash flow. I understand
this all too well myself.

But if you don't have a plan to work against, what's the
sense of waking up in the morning? You need something to
reach for -- you need to know what you have to do to see
light at the end of the tunnel.

How long is your tunnel?

How dark is your tunnel?

Does it twist and turn?

Are you even going in the right direction?

Or are you even in the right tunnel?

Think about these things, please.

Where are you going?

How will you get there?

Answer these things in writing. Tape them to your mirror,
to your screen, somewhere you will see them every day and
then read them until they are burned into your retinas.

Then don't deviate.

Unless you have to.

Then have a plan B and understand how to work the detours
and what the inadvertent, unplanned trip or diversion will
do to your big picture plans.

If you are not thinking this strategically, then it's time
to start thinking this way.

And if you are having trouble getting started or getting
over the hump (the detour) then let me know what you are
facing and I'll try to give you some advice.

For free.

OK, last week I said we were going to start looking at the
biggest problems people are making online with their web
sites.

Lesson #1:

Poor Type Treatment:

Avoid using very small and VERY LARGE fonts.

Avoid using many different fonts on one page.

Don't center all of your text.

Limit bold, italics, underlines and highlights.

If you are doing all of these things to excess, you need to
fix it.

OK, one last thing for the night.

A new tool I like a lot.

It will help you to create better banner ads for your
products and services. It comes with ready-made templates,
effects, and videos teaching you how to use them
effectively.

Very cool.

Very affordable.

Worthy of your time to consider, please:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/easybannermakerpro/

Until our next lesson,

Steven