“I’m excited about this webinar, both because of the topic and because Connie and I are doing it together,” said Cates recently. “I don’t know of any other program aimed at the Getting Started Online market that provides the type of instruction and hand-holding that we do with the DotCom Jumpstart.”

The webinar is the first of a 5-part series that is dedicated to helping people get started online in the fastest, easiest way possible. It includes both webinar-based instruction and question and answer sessions to ensure there are no roadblocks to success.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with new and emerging online business owners who are ready to create their Online Success. She is a Master Teacher with over 50 information products to her credit and a 12-year track record online.

Connie Ragen Green is a former teacher and real estate appraiser who has been online for 3 years. She has authored more than 1,000 articles and specializes in helping beginners get started with affiliate marketing and information products.

More information is available at http://DotComJumpstart.com

The Early Days

I’m sure that as far back as history goes, people were dreaming of Passive income. Imagine, sitting in your cave, having foot delivered to you – even having cooked food delivered. Without ever having to venture out in the summer heat or the freezing cold.

So even though no money was exchanged, there was that dream of having everything you needed provided for you – with no effort.

Additional Disclaimer: My passive income experience does not date back to the early days, just in case you were wondering.

Royalty

While historical scholars may disagree, it’s possible that Royalty may have been the next best thing to passive income. After all, you sat there, others served you, you didn’t really have to work – other than to pronounce a few laws here and there. Definitely a passive lifestyle, once you got past the conquering and fighting for your kingdom phase.

Additional Disclaimer: I am not royalty.

America’s Frontier

Fast forward a few hundred years and picture yourself in the early twentieth century. By then everyone recognized what Passive Income meant – it meant having your own oil well, cranking out profits for you, day after day. To current times, it’s still mighty handy to have your oil well royalties pouring into your banking account.

Full Disclosure: I own OnlineOilWells.com

Recent Online Passive Revenue

There have been several periods of Passive Income explosions online. Here are some of the highlights:

Automated Sales Process – With the growing Internet of the mid-1990’s, marketers could now set up a sales page and a download page – and know that their customers could get their product, even if the marketer took a vacation! The revenue just kept coming in – with no outward effort on their part.

This was probably the first use of the phrase “I couldn’t turn it off if I tried.”

Associates and Affiliates programs – In 1996 Amazon was the first to announce a way for “regular people” to get paid to refer customers to them online. That method of revenue has exploded to a multi-billion dollar industry.

Whether you earn passive revenue as an affiliate – or you are the business owner with affiliates sending you business, it’s often a no-effort method for earning revenue.

Autoresponders – With the invention of email-based autoresponders in the late 1990’s marketers now had a way to send automated sales messages. That meant that they could pre-schedule messages to go out, even when they were not in the office. This led to the ongoing stream of “I can’t turn it off, even if I try.”

Adsense – Google shook the world of Passive income with the announcement of the Adsense program in 2003. Suddenly you could put ads on your website and earn revenue when someone clicked on them – with no effort on your part. It was totally passive revenue.

The checks from Google continue to escalate to this day with the advent of site-building software that rapidly churns out one site after another, each dedicated to earning Adsense revenue, quickly and passively. While the rules for the types of sites required to pull off this seemingly effortless feat continue to change, many people continue to use Adsense revenue to both augment and replace their income.

Automated Income Streams – Currently the Holy Grail for Passive Income, many programs purport to have the perfect system. All involve a little bit of work on your part up front, then “set it and forget it” and the checks start pouring in.

Is it a myth? CAN you create passive income online? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

As for me – while I have enjoyed all of the methods released in the modern era, I believe there is always room for improvement. So I’ll be taking a new course on automated income starting Tuesday, July 14th.

Join me and others, as we learn the latest passive income program.

Video tutorials first became commonplace in the pre-sales materials leading up to a big product launch, especially those following Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. Those tutorials often appeared on blogs after an optin.

In the past year an increasing number of video tutorials have appeared on the optin or sales page for a product. Many of these illustrate how to use the product being offered. But many of them provide solid tutorials on a process, then show how you can use the product to automate that process.

Two of my favorites are Armand Morin’s videos at PlacementLocator and ProductPadlock  In the first, he demonstrates the full process that shows you the pain involved with doing it the “long way.” Then he presents the solution which is, of course, his software.

In the ProductPadlock video he makes you aware of the surprising statistics on intellectual property theft – then again provides the solution in his product. In both cases he could have described the problem and solution in writing, but it would not have been nearly as effective as seeing the demonstration in video.

So how can you take advantage of this trend? As an information product marketer, look at where you can add a video tutorial to your optin pages or your sales page. What process would provide value, even to those who don’t purchase? It will go a long way toward leaving a positive impression when you provide value before they buy.

As a visitor, invest a little more time in watching the videos with an open mind. Instead of asking “what are they selling?”, ask “what can I learn from this?” When you see a new product offered or hear of one getting a lot of attention, visit the sales page to see what you can learn.

Video tutorials benefit both the sellers and viewers. Learn to make the most of them.

If you’d like to learn more about doing videos, I just downloaded an excellent new product. With step-by-step screen shots he walks you through EVERY step you need to take to crank out your own videos.

Whether you want to create short marketing videos, powerpoint videos (as you saw in Armand’s videos above) or live video lessons, you’ll find easy to follow directions here.

1. I wrote this article in response to a question I received from a customer. Because this was not the first time I had gotten this question and I knew it wouldn’t be the last, I had the choice of

• writing a personal response to one person
• writing a response, then saving it for future use
• writing an article that could help a lot of people and drive more traffic to my site.

I choose Option #3.

2. I posted the article in multiple locations. First I put it on my blog. Next I submitted it to EzineArticles, and I’ll next submit it to MyArticleService.com

3. I posted it in multiple formats. I took the original article and converted it to a video article. Then I submitted it to YouTube - and used the YouTube code back on my blog. Next I’ll submit it to several additional video sites.

And if I’m still feeling ambitious, I’ll pull the audio from the recording and post it to a podcast site.

Finally notice the blog where I posted this article. It’s totally dedicated to helping people get started online. While I have other blogs where I could have posted this, I felt that this specific blog would be the best location for it.

I know that both the article itself and the process that went into it will help you with your marketing. Go on over to http://StartHereOnline.com right now and enjoy!

Of course, I’m sure you’ve never strayed from your stated goal. But just in case you have, here’s a solution.

So what do you do when you wake up and find yourself off task? Add it to your Later List.

Here’s how your Later List works.

Create a new list or add it to your existing list. I use spreadsheets to organize my entire business, so I add it to my activity spreadsheet. If you use a spreadsheet call that tab “Later”

Each time you find yourself looking at something online that you did not purposely go looking for – stop. Copy the URL and paste it into your Later List.

If you like, you can add a short note – but don’t take over a minute to do this.

Then immediately close your browser and go back to your focused action.

The final step is to schedule a time each week when you give yourself permission to visit sites from your Later list. This is perhaps the most important step of the process.

Why? Because your subconscious mind knows when you’re trying to take away that “fun” site you were looking at. And if it thinks there won’t be another opportunity to go back to it, it may just refuse to get back to business. So be sure you give yourself a reminder to check that later list.

Now you need to get back to what you were working on!

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Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with Online Business owners who are ready to create their Online Success. Pick up your mini-workshop with more organization tips at http://OrganizeYourOnlineBusiness.com

Michel Fortin heard my frustration – and spent a LOT of time investigaing the cause. He finally tracked it down to a hidden file from a malicious software program – which was not picked up by any of 3 different Internet security packages. With the simple solution he provided, I was able to remove the file and am now able to see his excellent blog again at MichelFortin.com 

Many thanks to Michel for his time and care – what a joy to work with quality people!

Bad behavior is apparently some type of plugin or server program that protects your blog from spam comments. Whatever it is, it has blocked me from viewing legitimate sites like Miche Fortin’s blog and other blogs that I have been referred to. And when I tried to track down the issue and report it to the owner of this “helpful” plugin – I was asked to pay for the privilege of contacting his support line – and was blocked by Bad Behavior itself from reaching his contact us page!

The error message supposedly gives you a code and invites you to fix the problem yourself. But in following those instructions and links I never get to a page that asks for my code. I tried to get to the programmer’s blog – but I’m blocked from contacting him by the same type of error message. I tried to connect with his support site – which takes me to a paypal screen so I can pay him to report the problems with his program!

I run a clean computer with AVG security software. I’m using IE7 with security privileges wide open. I’ve dumped my cache, my temporary files and done just about everything I can think of – with no results. I continue to get this error message when I go to those sites.

I am a 12 year online veteran and I don’t often encounter something that boggles me, but this fits that category. The error message suggests I use Firefox – but I will NOT be forced into a choice I don’t want to make. Is that the purpose of this “security software”?

I am calling upon the site owners to stop using this software. I don’t know who you think you are blocking, but if other IE7 users who are running anti-spyware and anti-virus software cannot get to your site – how many visitors are you losing? Who are you blocking with this software?

And now to complicate matters webinars have been added to the mix. Not only can you listen and learn, but you can also watch and learn even more. And while you used to be able to listen to a teleseminar in your car or on a walk, it’s more difficult to get the most out of a webinar if you’re not in front of your computer.

So with so many great teleseminars and webinars offered, how do you choose between them? After all, it seems like there are two or three per night. Here is the “triage” process I use to decide what to attend.

1. Is this information that will generate revenue? If it is, I go on to the next question. If it is not going to help me make more, I have to choose. If its just “nice to know” I generally skip it. Is it likely to be the ONLY time I’ll ever hear this person speak? If this answer is no, I use my time for something else.

2. Is this information I currently need for my business? You are involved with specific tasks and projects in your business. If this fits into those – and will show you an easier, faster, more profitable way to do what you’re doing, join in.

3. Is this information that I am considering using next in my business? While it may not be something I need this week, it could be something I’m planning in the next month or two. If not, I’ll skip it.

4. Will this save me time or money? Time management and productivity are my hot buttons. I’ll listen or buy just about anything that will show me how to save 10 minutes per day. If that’s important to you as well, put it on your list.

5. Is there a replay available? Even if I decide it’s something I want or need to attend, I’ll listen to the replay in preference for attending live. A replay allows me to time-shift, leaving evenings free for my family. It also allows me to speed through the sections I already know and review the parts that need more explanation.

Making wise choices in your listening and watching cycle are critical to your personal and business success. Since most teleseminars and webinars are offered in the evenings, it means you are trading time with your family for listening to someone else. Choose wisely!

Dr.Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who coaches business owners to Online Success. She shares her personal productivity systems at Organize Your Online Business. Claim your complimentary mini-workshop and watch it on your own schedule.

Articles create incoming links, leading back to your site, boosting both your traffic and your search engine rankings. And articles remain active and archived for years, continuing to bring you benefits long after you wrote.

So given the many benefits of articles, it’s in your best interest to learn to write them and write them quickly. Yet many people say they either do not like to write or they take hours to write a single article. Here are five ways to improve the speed with which you write as well as dilute the pain involved with the process.

1. Take a typing course. If you are still hunting and pecking with two fingers on your keyboard, you’re costing yourself time. Take a few hours to learn to type faster and you’ll gain in productivity for years to come.

2. Write in short spurts. Set your timer for 5 minutes, then start writing. Don’t pause. Don’t think. Just write. At the end of that time you’ll have at least a half page written – and it will make sense. That will give you the confidence to write faster.

3. Write regularly. Get up every morning, write one full page on a single topic – and you now have an article. When you get into the habit of writing, you write more easily and more quickly.

4. Talk it onto paper. If you talk better than you write, use a recorder – or talk out loud as you type. You can have a transcriptionist to put your words onto paper or you can use a program like Dragon Naturally Speaking. There are even programs that let you call in your dictation, then they email you the finished article.

5. Repurpose your content. When you write a long response in a forum, use that content as an article starter. When you do a teleseminar, transcribe the recording, then chop it into articles. When you write an ebook or a report, divide it into articles. Always be on the lookout for how to reuse and repurpose your content.

Use these tips to help you start to write more articles faster than ever before. And you’ll reap the rewards for a long time to come.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with Business Owners to help them create Online Success. Learn about software to help you write articles more easily.

Willie is this week’s guest on the Recession Relief webinar.

http://www.techtamers.com/cmd.php?ad=421683

Over the years Willie has used just about every business model available online – and been successful with them! And while he started with a chicken cookbook – he’s come a long way since then!

His topic for this webinar is Joint Ventures – how to find JV partners to help you promote your products, how to work with them, how to cultivate these valuable relationships and how to use them to skyrocket your profits quickly.

And he definitely knows what he’s talking about! He’s one of a handful of JV Brokers – those people who know ALL of the movers and shakers, what they’re looking to promote, what tools they need to promote, and how you can leverage their relationships.

Bottomline: Willie is not only someone you want to know, he’s someone you want to listen to. And this is your chance.

Remember, each of the Recession Relief webinars are totally complimentary! So again – this is a great opportunity to get inside information on a topic that can make a huge difference in your business.

http://www.techtamers.com/cmd.php?ad=421683

Willie’s webinar is Thursday evening, January 15, so don’t hestitate on this one.