Hostgator Review

Click here for Hostgator (remember, CODE ‘cybermonday2010′ gets you 50% off!)

It’s rare that web hosting goes on sale.  And by rare, I mean NEVER!

Today, Cyber Monday, Hostgator is running a sale where everything is 50% off!

So, if you think you need web hosting, or you’re thinking about building a website (or your second or third site)…  Or if you have an inkling that you might like to build a site in the next year…

Grab this super inexpensive web hosting deal!

Now, I wouldn’t be doing much good in this post if I didn’t do a Hostgator Review and explain a little of why I’m pumped about the deal…

Hostgator Review – What Is Hostgator?

Hostgator is a web hosting company that lets you rent space on their web servers, so you can store your web pages and things on them.  That’s the gist of web hosting.

The thing about Hostgator is that you can get super inexpensive web hosting because it’s such a large company.  Plus, depending on your hosting plan, you can manage unlimited domain names.

For instance, I have a Hostgator account that runs about 90 of my websites.  All I pay is the $80 or so a year and that group of websites makes me $X,XXX’s a year.  I haven’t found anything to be cheaper or more reliable and I’ve looked all over.

Hostgator Review – What I Like

I like the cost, of course!  Hostgator is cheap.  It’s dependable.  It’s scalable.  If I need a bigger plan, I just upgrade.  Support is really awesome too.  I’ve dealth with them a number of times.

Hostgator Review – What I Don’t Like

There was an issue with this site actually that forced me to upgrade out of the Hostgator environment.  That issue was that MarketingHackz hit the front page of Digg 4 times in 3 weeks.  The largest of which caused the server to go down for 13 hours.

All told, we got 151,000 unique visitors in the 9 hours we were up…  I can only imagine how many visitors we would have had if we had stayed up the whole time!

The forced me to migrate this site out of Hostgator to a hosting package that’s $300 a month.  (Yeah – $300 a month!)

So, you can imagine how ecstatic I am that Hostgator offers the packages it does for $5 a month!

Hostgator Review – Overall Thoughts

I like Hostgator a lot.  I recommend it to all my clients and my coaching members.  You can run lots and lots of sites on it, with lots and lots of traffic.  If ever you grow out of Hostgator, you’ll have a site that’s making you enough money that $300 a month is easy to come up with!

Click here for Hostgator (remember, CODE ‘cybermonday2010′ gets you 50% off!)

http://extraordinarymind.net The League of Extraordinary Minds is a powerhouse of business masterminds all providing free training and coaching to business owners and professionals.

I wanted to take a quick minute and let you in on a new program I’m really jazzed about.  It’s The League of Extraordinary Minds.

Rich Schefren has joined forces with Jay Abraham to launch the Extraordinary Minds program – both of which are experts in their own right!.

I actually got a chance to take part in a preview call that outlined what’s going to happen.  The League of Extraordinary Minds is going to feature top experts (50+ actually) who take part in discussion groups and panels, all surrounding a certain business topic.

The topics are yet to be announced, but I expect that they’ll range from social media marketing, internet marketing, phsychology and business processes.

Here’s just a few of the League of Extraordinary Minds players:

Some of them you might have heard of.  Some you might not have.  There are authors, CEO’s, entrepreneurs, marketers and industry leading consultants…

• Steven Covey
• Michael Gerber
• Dan Ariely
• Jack Trout
• Jay Conrad Levinson
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Robert Cialdini
• Brad Smart
• Lou Adler
• Neil Fiore
• Brian Tracy
• Fran Tarkenton
• Paul Zan Pilzer
• A special 70 minute long message/session from Tony Robbins!
• Plus many more in the 50+ great minds on the team.

Here’s a quick summary from the League of Extraordinary Minds website:

“Two of the biggest names in marketing, Jay Abraham + Rich Schefren are hosting a series with the most powerful (and impressive) collection of world-famous experts to help entrepreneurs tackle their biggest, most immediate and important business challenges, issues, problems and opportunities.”

Personally, I think The League of Extraordinary Minds is going to be more educational than the 5 years I spent in college!

I will be bringing you more news about the League of Extraordinary Minds as the training starts.  Maybe I’ll do a blow by blog recap of the discussion panels as they happen..  We’ll see though!

Make sure you go to the

League of Extraordinary Minds

site to site up!

My buddy Brian Clark just sent me an email saying he’s reopening Teaching Sells today!

Now, you might have heard about Teaching Sells.  It was heavily promoted when it first launched.  But I don’t ever like mentioning anything that I’m not intimately familiar with.  I actually am a charter member, having signed up for the course a couple years ago.

To this day, I have to say Teaching Sells is one of my most valuable assets.  Between the video training, and niche content creation tutorials and the private label rights content library – it’s awesome.

If you head to Teaching Sells, you’ll be able to download a free PDF report (or audio version) called “Forget Everything You Know About Making Money Online (And Start Making Some).”

You’ll discover why you need to forget all the “get rich quick” crap and start building a real online business… just like all the real “gurus” have been doing (and telling you to do) all along.

Plus, they’ve got 3 case studies that demonstrate 3 different ways people have taken advantage of the Teaching Sells training.  You’ll also see why being an “expert” at the training you sell is completely optional.

Plus, you’ll get all kinds of free bonus reports, process maps, and quick start guides!

The free report actually has so much info in it you might be able to implement the Teaching Sells program without having to go through the course.  If that’s the case, that’s awesome!  It just means you’ll be getting into the game that much sooner!

But definitely check Teaching Sells.  The home page video is awesome!

For more info on strategic social marketing, check out the PDF and the full video at: Social Media Stinger

Social marketing is about interacting with people and building friendships. It isn’t about blitzing promotional material to everybody on your social media lists.

One of the things I like about the Stinger Strategy is the fact that it’s geared towards companies forming personal, one-to-one relationships with their prospects and clients. There’s a lot that can be said for companies who are approaching social marketing in this way.

Strategic social marketing isn’t about mass mailing or mass marketing. It’s about building and developing relationships with people of like mind who share the same interests.

The bottom line is you can interact with anybody. Whether that be an author, newscaster or a movie star – you can talk to anybody you like.

I really can’t wait for more companies to get into social media because I think a lot of things are going to change going forward. Obviously there will be paid models, because social sites are going to figure out that businesses will pay to be included, but that won’t change soon.

So check out the video above, and if you like what you see head over to social media stinger. And if you like what you see here, make sure you grab the RSS feed.

I have to admit – I’m becoming more and more disenchanted with Pay Per Click – especially in certain niches.

Over the last couple months, I’ve been turning out little information products, all catering to certain niches, with great results. But I’ve found that when I add PPC into the mix I get my ass handed to me!

Believe me, I know how to set PPC up correctly and keep my quality scores high – but the traffic flowing to the site is less than stellar.

So, after talking with a few of my mastermind friends, I learned about this niche profits program that really has a lot of people buzzing.

Now, I signed up for the course a couple days ago so I could get access to their niche finding tools, but I wanted to let you know too.

The program is Niche Profit Classroom and you can get a 7 day trial for only $1. Believe me, the tools and software that’s included is worth at least 1000 X times that – no joke.  Plus they do lots and lots of training on getting free, high quality traffic to your site (which lots of other online courses DON’T do…)

Anyway, check out the video by clicking here. If it sounds like something you’re interested in, I highly recommend at least trying it out!

It’s been a while since I’ve been out-and-out impressed by a web service.  When you’ve been immersed in this industry as long as I have, you get a bit jaded.  Everything seems to fall in the ‘not again!’ category.

About a week ago, I found a phenomenal way of spreading your message virally.  And no it isn’t with Twitter.  Well, indirectly it does involve Twitter, I guess.

But that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about 3 things you can do with Su.pr to get mega traffic.

1. Testing post titles

   We all know that post titles will make or break you.  If you have a good title, you’ll get retweeted and dugg – even if your content is shit.  Most people simply retweet if the story looks good or is from a reputable author.  (Both are perceived characteristics)

   Why not test post titles out and link to other good content?  So if you’re going to write a post on productivity, test the title of the post in su.pr and see how many people click through the link!

2. Determining what kind of followers and fans you have

   Every once in a while, I go into su.pr and throw in a video game link or a link to a particularly beautiful picture.  Then, I keep track for about the next twenty minutes to see what kind of followers I have.

   Personally, I have a business oriented following who generally don’t care for my game/pic references.  I do make them suffer through them here and there though.  I know not to get too crazy with my Twitter/Facebook postings.

   The other thing this does is help you understand what they do want to read.  If you get 4 times as many click throughs for time management info, perhaps you should write about it on your own blog or make some cash by building a little information product.

3. Su.pr shows you the best posting times

   Perhaps my favorite su.pr feature is the posting times.  The shortening service tells me exactly when to post to get the maximum response.  It’s a bit like writing a controvesrial blog post and waiting until after your book comes out to through it on your blog (aka the Tim Ferriss method).

   The beauty is that it doesn’t have to be a blog post at all.  It can be an affiliate link, a link to a buddy’s site, or a picture of your dog lapping down your first cup of coffee for the day.

All I have to say is su.pr rocks.  My hat’s off to the guys at Stumbleupon who came up with the concept.  Bloggers and author’s – make use of it while you can.  There are bound to be ‘me-toos’ in this space very quickly, but few have the power of Stumbleupon to leverage.

Without marketing, nothing happens.  The world’s best products fail, great ideas are lost and fortunes are squandered.

With that, I want to know what you’re primary marketing project is right now.  What are you learning about?  What are you confused by?  Where do you think your company needs to go to succeed in 2010?

In the comments, I invite you to ask one question.  That one question is going to be answered in a teleseminar on Friday, July 17th at 3:00 PM EST.  If you can’t make it, no worries.  I’ll send you the replay.

For more information, check out the full write up on my personal site.  If you just want to listen in, it’s only $7 (sign up here). 

So, ask away!

In case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’m knee deep in training and membership courses. I’ve been building them out for years now, but lately I’ve been doing longer, more in depth ones.

I thought you might be interested in one I’m planning on launching in the next week or so. It’s called AnalyticsMaster.com.

To make a long story short, I discovered a system that lets you funnel your organic blog traffic into a companion site. The process is pretty easy and I want to share it with you.

I scheduled a webinar to step you through the process tomorrow (Tuesday, July 7th) from 3PM EST to 4PM EST. To get access to the mind-blowing webinar – check it out here.

I shared a ton of tools that’ll get you started.

If you’re still interested in learning more about the course, sign up for the updates below, or head over to the Analytics Master information page to get started.

Believe me when I tell you this system will take your existing traffic and generate real cash out of it. I did it by building Creating Slogans because of a #1, first page rank for the term ‘Best Slogans’ and this site, MarketingHackz.com.

Within 6 days, Creating Slogans sold out at 1000 memberships..

Yesterday, I listened to a call put on Eben Pagan and Dave Lakhani.  The interview was put on to promote Dave’s new book, How To Sell When Nobody’s Buying.  There was a lot of great points, but there was one in particular that I took away from the chat.

It was that of partnering with your real world clients so that when they needed your service, you were the natural selection.

Looking back on all the client’s I had over the years, I can honestly say that my best ones were the ones I, in my mind, had partnered with.  This includes mom and pop retail stores and multi-million dollar colleges.  There was way more to those transactions than basic client/provider services.

So, after pondering that thought, I came up with 5 steps that should get you in your next client’s door.

Step 1: Decide who your client needs to be

Nothing in life is achieved without first making up your mind and laying down some sort of groundwork.  That being said, decide who you want your next five clients to be.

Looking in my queue here, I have a well established local greenhouse, a pretty big car dealership, a women’s health organization and a couple others.  Those are the clients I am targeting specifically.  A few of those are through partnerships with marketing agencies.  A couple are from my own contacts.  But I want those five to be my next clients.

Step 2: Figure out what they need. Find their pain.

Every organization has a target market.  Before even meeting your prospective client, figure out what it is.  Examine their current advertising trends and learn from what they’re doing already.

Are they leading edge?  Do they convey personality?  Are they progressive in their technology?  Answer those questions and then start to figure out how it is you can help them.

The clients I went over in Step 1 are all pretty progressive.  Yes, even the greenhouse wants to gain a social media presence for contests and promotions.  The car dealership has an off-road branch (atv’s, motorcycles, etc) which lends itself to the ‘fun’ of social networking.

Step 3: Find your in

Strategic partnerships are wonderful things.  If you have a personal contact that you can use to get face time – use it.  If you can align yourself with the agency putting their TV commercials together, do it.  Any good business person is going to entertain the notion of partnering for a common purpose.  Don’t abuse it and you’ll be golden.

Step 4: Demonstrate your expertise

Once you get face time, make sure you show them that you’ve got what it takes to ‘ease their pain.’  That might mean a couple hours of free consulting.  Or it might be showing them how to use Twitter to gain followers.  The end result is usually that they contract you BECAUSE you know their business.  You’ve made it your personal priority to understand both them and their target market.

Step 5: Over deliver

The difference between someone referring you to their friends and partners is often based on how much you deliver over and above what was previously agreed upon.  It might be something easy like signing them up to an email newsletter which keeps them up to date on new trends or topics.  It could also be more difficult like weathering support issues.  Either way, it’s up to you to treat them like an honest to goodness partner.

Selling in this economy is harder than it ever has been.  If you approach your prospect as a partner rather than a client, I guarantee you’ll find rewards in the end.

The bottom line, make a decision and commit to an action plan.  If you do that, you’ll be wildly successful in business and in life.

So tell me, what has worked for you?

Slogans are a crucial part in any business or project.  In fact, the truly successful people in the world have ‘personal slogans’ that they use the weigh and measure every action they take.  These are people like Peter Drucker and Tony Robbins.

I’ve been digging pretty deep into slogans, taglines and offers for a while now.  Things like:

• How to create catchy slogans
• How to make taglines actionable
• How to elicit a positive response from only a single sentence
• How to use a slogan or a statement to guide my day to day business

So I decided to put together a webinar about what I found.  You see, having a successful slogan is as much phsychological as it is catchy.  There are cerain requirements that need to be met in order to work properly.

Here’s a short video I put together about Geico and how their slogan rocks:

To sign up for the webinar, enter your info below.  It’s will take place Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 3 PM EST (Noon PST)!

** The webinar replay is now available at Creating Slogans

To stay up to date on future releases and future Creating Slogans events, sign up below!

Your partner,

Jason
@jasondrohn