A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend of mine and fellow Mac user, and the subject of .mac came up. Up to that point, I had been using my .mac account primarily for the purpose of storing files in the cloud, to access from multiple computers. It worked ok, but transfers were slow, and syncing was buggy at times.

Then my friend told me about Dropbox.

Dropbox is a simple, free, and easy way to share and store files online.

And get this…it works.

Dropbox is made by the creators of 1Password (another great application, by the way). In minutes I downloaded the software onto both my iMac and my Macbook Pro, configured them to share files, and I was in business.

How does it work?

It’s really easy. Once installed, a tiny Dropbox icon sits in your toolbar. Whenever you want to access your Dropbox, click on the icon. A window will open that holds your files. You can drag any file you want into that window and it will be uploaded to the cloud. Once I uploaded some files from my laptop, I logged in on my desktop and the files were right there in my Dropbox. Amazing.

What about syncing?

Dropbox makes syncing super-easy, too. You don’t have to do anything. That’s right – your files are synced instantly to your computers and the web. And if you make a change on a document in your Dropbox, the changes are automatically sent to your computer(s).

Share files with anyone you want. Dropbox’s shared folders let you collaborate with others easily. If you’re working on a project and one of your team members makes a change to a file in the shared folder, the changes are instantly sent to everyone who has access to that folder. But don’t worry – your members can only see what’s in the shared folder – nothing more.

Sharing photos is just as easy. Dropbox already has a photos folder when you install it. Just create a folder inside that and load your photos into it. Those photos will be viewable on the Dropbox web interface, accessed by a special url that you can share.

The bottom line: It just works. It’s fast, it’s seamless, it’s easy. I haven’t found one single thing wrong with it so far.

Dropbox has two versions. Dropbox Basic is free and lets you synchronize up to 2GB of your files, folders, photos, and music. If 2GB isn’t enough, you can upgrade to Dropbox Pro for $9.99/month or $99/year. The paid option gives you up to 50GB storage space.

I’m using the free version and I haven’t even come close to my 2GB limit. Since I use this primarily for sharing between my own computers, I’m constantly adding and removing things from my Dropbox. For now, the free version is perfect for me.

If this sounds like something you can use, go check it out at GetDropbox.com.

P.S. Though I use Dropbox on a Mac, it works with Windows computers too.

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In this book, bestselling author, Seth Godin, compares marketing to an ice cream sundae. Godin describes the comparison – “All these tactics (blogs, e-mail, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, Google AdWords) are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor. If you start with ice cream, adding cherries and hot fudge and whipped cream will make it taste great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs . . . yuck!”

Godin refers to boring brands as “meatballs”. The boring brands may still be beneficial but they don’t create word-of-mouth attraction. Let’s take Budweiser, for an example. Seth shares with his readers, “When Anheuser-Busch spends $40 million on an online network called BudTV, that’s a meatball sundae. It leads to no new Bud drinkers, just a bad case of indigestion.” This marketing tactic just entertains the existing Bud drinkers – it does nothing to promote the product itself. Will this campaign spread virally? Probably – but again, it’s not likely to bring in any new customers.

In Meatball Sundae, Godin frequently refers to “Fourteen Trends”. These are trends that are changing the way ideas are perceived and spread in the New Marketing.

Here are just a few of the “Fourteen Trends”:

• Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities
• Extremely short attention spans due to clutter
• Google and the dicing of everything
• Infinite channels of communication
• The shifts in scarcity and abundance
• The triumph of good ideas
• The wealthy are like us
•  New gatekeepers, no gatekeepers

Godin always does a great job of getting us to think outside the box, and making things seem crystal clear.

If you have a product or organization that just isn’t catching on, then you should grab a copy of Seth Godin’s book; Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
It’s a good read. 

P.S. Other books by Seth Godin that I’ve read and highly recommend:

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Both are easy reads but packed with great stuff. Mine are right here on my bookshelf, always within arm’s reach.

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If you’ve been thinking about building a website and have done a little research on how to do it, you might have heard of SBI. SBI is short for SiteBuildIt, which is literally an all-in-one site building, hosting, and marketing product that makes it possible for just about anyone to build a profitable online business.

I’ve been asked about SBI quite a bit lately, so I thought I’d write up a quick review of the product and my personal experience with it.

The SiteBuildIt process is broken down into four clearly defined steps: CTPM (Content -> Traffic -> Presell -> Monetize).

Let’s start with C- Content. When someone goes online for information, they’re usually looking for a solution to a problem, right? Where do they go to find that information? They go to a search engine. High quality content will show up in search results, so SBI focuses first on helping the user create valuable content. You’ll do extensive keyword research using SBI’s tools even before you choose your niche, or create create your site. This is a huge step, and definitely the most important piece in building the framework of your online business.

In the world of SBI, T stands for Traffic. You’re never going to be successful without qualified traffic. The content you create, combined with the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that you’ll do – again, using SBI’s tools – will deliver qualified traffic to your site.

The P in the CTPM process stands for Presell. This concept focuses on over-delivering original, quality content to your visitors so that you meet their needs. Pre-sell your visitors so that they have confidence in you. Relevant high-quality content builds trust, and that is critical to the next step.

The final step is to Monetize your site. At this point you’ve got a site with steady traffic, and your visitors trust you. With the SBI Monetization tools, you’ll learn now to sell your hard goods, e-goods, services. You’ll also learn about monetizing through Google Ads and affiliate sales. You want to make money, right? SBI will show you how.

My experience with customer support was excellent, and there’s a helpful and very active forum for networking and getting support from other SBI users.

Keep in mind that this is not a program for overnight riches, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this is not for you. This is a program that will guide you through building a business step-by-step, so that it will be successful. Building a business is hard work, and you have to do that work if you want to succeed.

I chose not to renew my SBI membership, but now I’m actually re-thinking that decision. When I joined SBI I had already been building sites from scratch, so I felt limited by the site builder. I’m used to working with HTML, not a step-by-step theme creator, so it was hard for me to wrap my brain around the process. That said, I truly believe that the research tools alone are worth the price of membership.

If you’ve never built a site from scratch before and haven’t a clue how to get started, SBI is perfect for you. Or if you just want to learn everything you need to know about site creation & marketing, do your research, and host your site all in one place, then check it out. Membership comes with a money back guarantee, so there’s absolutely no risk.

P.S. I literally just found an incredible resource as I was writing this, and thought I’d pass it along to you. It’s an 82-page e-book written by four successful Work-at-Home-Moms who use SBI, and you can get it here for free. Although it’s clearly written for WAHM’s, the material in this course is perfect for anyone who wants to build an online business and work from home.

To access the download, enter your email below and hit submit. If you’re new here, you’ll receive two emails. The first email will include a link for you to click on – this tells me you’re saying “yes, I really want this!”. Click that link and the second email will follow shortly, with your download link to the course.

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What’s the single-most important thing you should do before launching a new website? Research. You’ve gotta do it – keyword research, market research, niche research. If you skip this step and don’t do your homework your site probably won’t get too far – or you’ll at least have to re-do all your hard work later to fix your mistakes.

I’ve been working for a little while now with a new product called Market Samurai. Market Samurai is still in development and I first heard of it through Ed Dale’s 30-Day Challenge.

Market Samurai started out as software to help with keyword research, but has grown tremendously and is now an indispensable tool for market research and niche research as well.

Now, there are lots of tools available for keyword and market research, but Market Samurai does it all in one place. You can start a project and use the tools to really drill down to find the best keywords and information for your product. Sure, there are free tools that do this, but they they don’t work together and end up taking up tons of time.

Market Samurai is made up of different modules, some of which are still in development:

* Keyword Research
* SEO Competition
* Find Content
* Promotion
* Publish Content (in development)
* Monetization (in development)
* Adwords (in development)

The modules listed as “in development” are just that – in development, and will be released soon. That said, even just the modules that are currently available are well worth the cost of the software. The cost to purchase is a one-time price of $149 – that’s less than the cost of a consultation with most SEO professionals. There are no recurring fees, no annoying upsells, and nothing else to purchase – ever.

There are also free video tutorials on their website that explain clearly everything you need to know. A friendly user forum connects you with other Market Samurai users – also free.

My experience so far with Market Samurai has been fantastic. It works, and it makes it so easy to find the key information that I need for my clients and for my own sites.

Not quite sure? Want to check out Market Samurai for free before you buy? No problem. I took advantage of the 40-day free trial, and once I was convinced of the value, I purchased the upgrade. The trial version won’t unlock every features, so once you’re sold on it (which you will be pretty quickly) you’ll want to upgrade to the full version for all the modules and upgrades as they become available.

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Are you new to affiliate marketing? Would you like to learn the secrets on building a profitable affiliate business? Well, you can, and here’s how:

Jeremy Palmer of QuitYourDayJob.com just released his new course, The Black Ink Project 2.0. The Black Ink Project is a step-by-step video course that will show you how to plan, build, and market a profitable affiliate site from the ground up.

The course consists of 15 sessions in video format, plus tons of supplemental material to help you reach your goals. I’ve personally read the material from the original course and have participated in the member forum, and I can assure you that this is how you build a profitable affiliate business.

I will say that if you’re looking for a product that promises overnight riches or a get-rich-quick scheme, this product is not for you. Building a successful business takes time and hard work, but if you’re serious about success, The Black Ink Project 2.0 will walk you through it every step of the way. It’s priced way less than it’s worth, and Jeremy offers a rock-solid 60-day money back guarantee (though you won’t need it!).

Order the Black Ink Project 2.0 and get instant access to the training videos, as well as the extra worksheets, templates, and more.

I look forward to hearing YOUR success story!

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