How To Choose The Best MLM Leads

How To Choose The Best MLM Leads

by: Jeff Schuman

What are the characteristics of the Best Mlm Leads? This is a good question to ask before you spend any money buying leads to build your MLM business. Before we get to that letกs take a look at why you would want to buy MLM leads in the first place.

Over the years the multilevel marketing business has gotten a black eye because of the over hyped promises of money and freedom. Very few people have ever achieved a high level of success in any MLM business. And even fewer have ever been able to maintain the level of achievements over a period of time.

That does not make MLM companies bad. Nor does it make the opportunities they afford the average person as a way to make extra money or even as a way to drastically change your lifetsyle. It can be done and using MLM leads is a great way to do it.

There are 2 big benefits to buying MLM leads.

1. It gets you away from approaching your friends and relatives. If you have been in more than one MLM business over the years you may have already approached them and used up your credibility when you were unsuccessful.

2. This is a duplicatible way to build your business that you can pass on to your downline. Any successful network marketing business will tell you that one of the main components of success is duplication. Anyone can buy leads and work them over the phone or thur the internet with the use of an autoresponder.

If you are unsure of how to work a lead over the phone I would suggest getting the book ‘recruit Your Way To Millionsก by Fred Stegge. After reading this book you will be able to explain what you do and what you offer to a new prospect in 30 seconds or less. http://www.teamschuman.com/recruityourway

If you are unsure of what an autoresponder is or how to use one read this article I wrote กHow To Effectively Use An Autoresponder.ก This is an absolutely essential business tool if you are going to succeed online with your MLM business.

http://teamschuman.com/articles/article15.html

Now that you understand some of the benefits of buying MLM leads and how to market to them letกs take a look at what are the characteristics of the Best MLM Leads.

1. How many times are the leads sold? Many MLM lead companies sell their leads over and over. You will be contacting a prospect that has already been marketed to. Personally I like eads that are exclusive to me.

2. How old are the leads? Would you rather contact a prospect that has expressed an interest in the past 48 hours or in the past 48 days. Being able to strike while the iron is hot so to speak is a great benefit of a fresh lead.

3. How many leads do you get for your money? Obviously the more leads you can get for the best price the more leads you can buy at a time. This is especially important when you are first starting or when you are helping your downline get started.

4. What is the quality of the lead? Nothing compares to a lead that contains both a phone number and email address along with a few qualifying answers to questions like กHow much can you invest to get startedก or กHow soon do you want to get startedก or When is the best time to contact you?ก If a prospect is answering these type of questions you are getting a much better quality lead than if you just have a name and email address.

5. What is the response rate? This will improve as your skill level at working your leads improves, but the fresher higher quality leads will give you a better response rate even when your skill level is low.

6. Do your leads come with any extras such as an autoresponder, training on how to work leads, prewritten email marketing letters, phone scripts, your own website, flash presentations, etc.

These are the top qualities of the Best MLM Leads. Be careful when choosing a place to get your leads. Not all MLM Lead companies are created equal. It is going to be the single most important decision you make when trying to grow your MLM Business. Make the wrong choice and you will waste your time and money as well as the time and money of your downline. Make the right choice and you can be building your business successfully for years to come.

Copyright 2004 Jeff Schuman

About The Author

Jeff Schuman has made over $35 Million Dollars in sales in his 20 year sales and marketing career. His Best Mlm Leads website contains the best mlm leads companies available today. His TeamSchuman.com website contains the best make money, and make money online websites anyone can use to get started making money from the comfort of their own home.

http://www.teamschuman.com/bestmlmleads

http://www.teamschuman.com

This article was posted on November 01, 2004

by Jeff Schuman

Ways to Promote your Website

Ways to Promote your Website

by: Anton Ferraris

Now a days thier are many ways to promote your Website. Knowing your target is very important in promoting your website.

What are the ways to increase your traffic?

1. You need a very interesting content and also update your content. Search engine loves to spider website that updates itกs content.

2. increase your content and number of pages. The pages will act as small gates way to your website.

3. Offer free or prizes for the visitors. This would make the visitor to advertise your website and make them return to your site.

4. Free link exchange with other website. Better if you exchange with similar website.The most popular way to increase traffic.

5. Pay for one way links to your website. One way is better than exchange link. Search engine recognize the one way link as special.

6. Creating Articles and submit it to other website. It would also work as a one way Link.

7. Post your website to Classified Ads. Some are still free.

Don’t also forget offline advertising cause it is still very important.

This are ways i used to increase my traffic. If you follow my steps then it would greatly help you and increase the traffic in your webiste.

About The Author

Anton Ferraris is a successful Network Marketer on the Internet as Group Leader of SFI Marketing Group. And webmaster of www.therichandhappy.com. Your free to post my article for free as long as you don’t change the content, keeping the links, and also include the info about the author

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 25

by Anton Ferraris

Feed me Satisfy the Search Engines and Your Site

Feed me Satisfy the Search Engines and Your Siteกs Visitors With KeywordRich Content

by: Julia Hyde

Search engines love content. Graphics may make your site look great, but a nice picture does not attract a search engine. Or a searcher for that matter. Good, relevant content does.
Search engines aren’t all that different from people. When faced with a ton of choices, they want to know which sites are the best. And, the best sites are the ones that give the most accurate and relevant information.
Good content serves three main purposes:
1. Search engines will rank your site higher for keywords and phrases included within your content.
2. Users will return to your site, and recommend it to others
3. Other sites will link to you, which will improve your linking popularity and make your web site visible to the spiders.
But, how do you get good content? Simple. You write it, or get someone else to write it for you, using keywords and phrases your visitors will actually use on a search query.
Feeling a little hot under the collar? Relax. Itกs not as difficult as it sounds. Anyone can learn to write for crawler search engines. It just takes a little planning, detective work and focus. Ready to begin? Follow the steps below and youกll be writing like a pro in no time.
1. Determine which keywords and phrases you want to target
Before you sit down to write anything, youกll need to decide which keywords and keyphrases are relevant to your site. One of the best ways to do this is to use the Word Tracker keyword tracking service at www.wordtracker.com. Word Tracker receives its data from the Dogpile and Metacrawler search engines and estimates search counts for all other search engines based on its market share. You can sign up for a day, a week, a month or a year.
Another good way to find keywords your visitors are using is to look at your siteกs server logs. These will tell you what phrases people are using to find your site. Some keywords will be too competitive. For example, the keywords ‘real estateก will return hundreds, if not thousands of search results, and may not place your site near the top, but กHouston Real Estateก or is more focused and targeted to a particular query.
If you want your site to be included in local and regional searches you may want to design your site with local searches in mind, even if you also market globally. How do you do this? Just include local keywords such as address, city, state, province and zip code in the header or footer of your web pages. For example:
XYZ Business Consultant, 3657 Acacia Avenue, Santa Cruz, California 95067. Tel: 408 746 8954. Located close to San Jose, CA.
That way you have a much better chance of getting a first page listing on a localized search.
2. Scatter your chosen keywords and phrases throughout your text.
Letกs say one of the keyphrases you want to target is กcotton duvetsก. Youกll want to weave this phrase throughout your copy without making it sound stilted or contrived. Remember, you still need to persuade your prospects to buy your product, so don’t be tempted to write paragraphs like this:
กOur cotton duvets are the softest cotton duvets around. Check out our affordable cotton duvets in our online cotton duvet store now.ก While itกs obvious what your keyphrases are, the two sentences don’t exactly encourage your visitor to place an order. Be subtle. Use your keywords to emphasize your point and insert them where they naturally fit, without compromising flow and readability.
3. Review your headings, titles and hyperlinks
Use your keywords in headings, subtitles, page titles (found in the blue bar at the top of your Web browser), bold face and hyperlinks, because these stand out to the search engines. For example, returning to the cotton duvets you may want to change your กcontact usก hyperlink to กcontact us now about our luxurious cotton duvets.ก Or, กlearn more about how our cotton duvets can keep you warm and snug this winterก
4. Post keyphraserich, informative articles on your site
Another great way to fill your site up with keywordladen content is to post relevant, informative articles. Every article you post on your site adds more contentcontent that the search engines thrive on. And, if you write each article as if you are giving the spider a good, healthy meal full of essential keywords, theyกll devour every word, and index it for future use.
You can also post your articles on article directories such as GoArticles, Article City or IdeaMarketers that offer free content to ezine publishers and website owners. That way youกll spread the word about your site, get some great back links and even free publicity.
5. Publish a Newsletter or Ezine
Newsletters and ezines are another way to add content to your site. If youกve written articles already, you get to reuse them, and you can create a newsletter archive section on your website.
6. Post a blog or weblog
Blogs or Weblogs are frequently updated journals. that point to articles elsewhere on the web, and to existing onsite articles. The popularity of blogs have spawned blog services such as Typepad and Blogger which make it easy for nontechies to update their sites and add them to an existing web site. Because both the search engines and your siteกs visitorกs love new, updated information, blogs can be a great way of adding content to your site on a daily basis. You can use a blog to announce company news or comment on industry news, announce new product details or to create a กbrandก or กpersonalityก for your company.
Before you begin publishing your blog, think about what you’re customers want to know. Then, answer their questions on a daily basis. It won’t be long before youกll have them, and the search engines hooked.

About The Author

Julia is an independent copywriter specializing in advertising and search engine marketing services. To learn more about how Julia can help boost your companyกs profits visit her site at www.juliahyde.com. You may also like to sign up for Marketing Works! Juliaกs monthly ezine. Visit www.juliahyde.com/form.html or email Julia for details.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 09, 2004

by Julia Hyde

5 Powerful Ways to Make Money Online with a Websit

5 Powerful Ways to Make Money Online with a Website

by: Michael Turner

There are many ways to make money online and the best way for you is to simply be creative with your skills, knowledge, and abilities. However, the following five options are powerful ways to make money online with a website and definite something you should consider.

#1 Knowledge

You can always sell your knowledge, which many times is the best way if you are an ขexpertข of any type or subject matter. People are looking for your knowledge and input, regardless if it is self taught, learned in college, or wherever. People are always looking for answers online, so if you sell your knowledge you can simply make money from what you know.

#2 Affiliate Programs

Become an affiliate for products based on your website theme and then simply promote these programs where you earn money from referrals. It is easier than it sounds and only takes you creating a website full of rich content.

#3 Hard Goods

Selling hard goods is a traditional way of making money and it transfers to the online forum as well. No matter what hard goods you have to sell you can certainly find a buyer online. Create a website that focuses on your goods, have a good shipping plan in place, and then start selling online.

#4 Ebooks

Selling ebooks, articles, and other written materials is also a powerful way to make money online and if you are good at writing it is certainly something you should consider. You can have your own website selling prewritten topics or else you can also write on demand, whatever works best for you and your web business.

#5 Auction Goods

Auction web sites are also very powerful ways to make money. The reason for this is you can sell a wide variety of products, do not necessarily need your own website although it helps, and can change your products from time to time as you need to. Many people enjoy working and selling via auction sites because any number of things can be sold from old personal items to new products as well.

The best way for you to make money online is for you to do something that you like and enjoy. When you do some thing you like and enjoy you will be able to commit yourself to doing it fulltime. The reason for this is working online can be difficult at times and if you do not enjoy it then it will be difficult for you to be successful making money via your website.

About The Author

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part miniseries. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 05

by Michael Turner

Viral Marketing! Are You Missing Out?

Viral Marketing! Are You Missing Out?

by: Alec Duncan

Many of you are reading this article because you would like to further promote your Internet business and are looking for new ways in which to do this. You have read lots of articles covering various Internet Marketing techniques and are still looking for the กHoly Grailก strategy that will take your website to a higher level. After all, others are achieving this so why shouldn’t you.
Here, I will describe a technique that, with some creativity and effort, can significantly boost your promotion efforts while at the same time setting it on autopilot. Is this the กHoly Grailก? For some it has been but like everything else it all depends on you.
กLess Work, Greater Resultsก
If this sounds good to you then do read on.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing is the creation of a message that gets passed on from person to person(s). It gives each recipient the ability to pass on your message to even more people with little or no effort. This is the strategy that helped make Hotmail what they are today. Each Hotmail user passed Hotmailกs message on to everyone that they emailed and it spread like wildfire.
Ok so we know Hotmail did it and at a time when it seemed there was more opportunity for this. Not true. Companies are still doing it and it is still working and it will never end. Some of the top websites today are using it and you are being exposed to it without even realizing it.
กOk so I know what it can do but how do I do it?ก.
Your Viral Marketing Strategy
Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:
What is it that my target market would love to get for free?
This question is easily answered with a little research. One obvious ways to determine what works is by seeing what works improving it. Visit your competitorsก sites and see if they are using any viral strategies and see if you can improve on this. If you have a creative mind or have access to a creative mind then it would be good to start something fairly unique to get a solid foothold on the market share. People are always looking for cool new things and love to talk about them when they get them so this would be a definite advantage.
How can I provide this for them?
This would depend on what you decide to offer. It could be something you pay a small price for as well as something you create. It doesn’t have to be something highly technical or expensive, just something people will enjoy or find useful.
For sake of simplicity letกs use a common example of this. Well written articles that identify with the readerกs problems and explains to them ways in which to solve it. This can be a great form of viral marketing.
There are so many articles written and published daily and the majority of these do not take advantage of viral marketing. Some authors just don’t know about it and some just don’t care. For those of you who care, one way you could make your articles viral is to add permission for others to reprint your articles in your author bio. Other webmasters that are interested in your content will simply grab the article and publish it on their site. Quick and easy! People love that.
If you would prefer them coming to your site first then you could have it additionally say something like this ‘to publish this article on your site see our guidelinesก with guidelines linking to your site. You can also use the landing page from this to let them know about other articles you have written that are free to be published.
How can I make this work virally?
Not to worry it already has. With each webmaster that publishes your article, for example, the potential that your article will be published by other sites that visit his site have just significantly increased. So now they promote your article then someone gets it from their site and they promote it and so on.
กOk now I have my article on lots of OTHER sites, how does this help me?ก
There are many benefits to viral marketing. One obvious one is traffic. Depending on what your article is about you can inform the reader that if they would like more information on the topic or an aspect of the topic that they can get this at your site.
Another benefit is link building. With your article spreading across the Internet you now have more and more inbound links to your site. You can add keyword rich titles in these which will help with your search engine rankings. You are not only able to link to your homepage but also to inner pages depending on how your article was written. Some authors overload their articles with links pointing to their site(s) but this technique is often frowned upon by publishers. Be smart about it. Envision yourself as the reader and use that to guide you in your writing.
Conclusion
Though I have only touched upon one example of viral marketing there are many more ways to implement this with the only limit being your imagination. You don’t need to implement them one at a time. You can have several viral marketing systems working for you at the same time with similar or different goals.
One thing you must avoid is reading this, thinking it sounds good and not trying it. One of the main reasons something won’t work is not giving it a chance in the first place. So to your list of marketing strategies add กGo Viralก and reap the benefits.

About The Author

Alec Duncan is the founder of Liกl Engine a Search Engine Optimization resource. Visit Liกl Engine for great SEO Tools and Internet Marketing strategies and also check out Developer Tutorials for web development tutorials.

This article was posted on July 16, 2004

by Alec Duncan

Can They Use Your Website In A TV Broadcast About

Can They Use Your Website In A TV Broadcast About Scams?

by: Elena Petrova

When you designed your website, you probably dreamt about how wonderful it would be if one day a popular TV program featured it, and you would become famous overnight, and make lots of $$$.

Well, practice shows that your dream for your website to be featured on national TV can indeed come true, but NOT exactly in the way you imagined!

A couple of questions for you to answer:

Can your website be used, without your permission, in a broadcast about scams?

Can your personal photo, without you knowing about it, be displayed in a TV program about illegal activities?

If you think ขNo way!ข, think again – it already happens!

(Reallife case study can be found at http://www.MediaDefamation.org)

And even more – it may turn out to be absolutely legal!!!

You wouldn’t think about it this way, would you? You probably think that if such a thing happens to you, you can sue the TV program and retire young and rich?

What a misconception!

Now, let me elaborate a little on the subject of defamation and defamation law, how it works offline and online.

The relationship between online and offline Media is very young, and therefore, unregulated. In fact, online publications are legally recognized as a public media on its own. This means, a publication of a defamatory statement on your website, forum or mailing list CAN be prosecuted in the same fashion as a publication in a newspaper.

But now, since Internet is considered a public media, any information that is published on your website may be also considered as being in a *public domain*, which means ANY information that is available online may be used by another media publication in their review of other publications. The use of this information will be legal.

What does it mean for YOU?

It means that a TV program or a newspaper can use a snapshot of your website in their publication or broadcast. They can use images of your website, and they are legally allowed to do it!

A TV program, for example, can show pages of your website when talking about the industry trends or to illustrate a topic of the broadcast.

Now, what if the program is about SCAMS in your industry?

For example, what if a TV program decided to highlight fraud in delivering merchandise or services purchased via Internet?

The TV broadcast could show your website in the beginning of the program, as one of many websites delivering this type of merchandise or services, and then go onto discussing fraud issues and interviews with victims of online scams.

It is apparent that displaying the pages of your website in such a context could hurt your reputation, even if the program did not name your website and only used its web pages as background images.

Legally, a TV program is allowed to use the pages of your website in a broadcast. Are they allowed to use the pages of your website in the context of illegal activities?

This is an uncertain issue.

As we already said, the relationship between online and offline media don’t have specific regulations.

Normally, a media publication is allowed to use any factual content related to a matter of public interest.

Since most illegal activities and their prevention ARE a matter of public interest, the media publication has the privileged defence of *public interest matter*, should you voice your disagreement with the use of your website and decide to sue the program for defamation.

Proving in court that the TV program was defamatory for you will not be easy. You will have to present hard evidence that such a publication could hurt your reputation as the owner of that business, and that there were people who identified you as the owner of the business shown in the program and that the program indeed portrayed you in the way that some people would *shun, avoid or ridicule* you because of the way your business was portrayed. You must also prove that such use of your website was unfair and did not fall under the privilege of *fair comment*, available to Media. You also may be required, depending on the defamation laws in your country or state, to present the evidences of monetary loss due to the broadcast of the alleged defamation.

Defamation cases against large media corporations can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, because of the tactics that those media corporations use to prevent the plaintiff (the person who believes he was defamed) from getting his case to the stage of court hearing. The plaintiff has to spend a fortune on lawyers (you do not want a low cost lawyer defending your defamation case against a large, experienced in legal battles media corporation), before the case is ready to proceed to the court and all requests of the defendant are satisfied. Then another fortune is to be spent on court hearings, which may also be sabotaged – of course, in legally permitted ways.

Even then, the outcome of your defamation case is unpredictable. It will, firstly, depend on your lawyers. Secondly, it will depend on your witnesses, who, by the time your case goes to the court, which can be a few years down the line, can forget most things related to the defamation issue, and therefore appear unreliable. And then the large media corporation still has the privilege of *fair comment* and *public interest matter*.

At the end of the day, if your defamation case is unsuccessful, you will be required to pay the legal fees of the defendant, which will double your legal bill, and can easily reach payments of $200,000300,000.

Now, you can see that dealing with a large media corporation in a legal way can be suicidal for a small online business.

So, what can you do to prevent using the contents of your website in a way you disapprove?

A mere copyright notice is not enough in this case.

You need to employ your imagination and make sure you spell in an unambiguous way that any use of your website content can be contemplated only with your explicit written permission. Add this statement to your Terms Of Use Agreement (if you do not have one, write it NOW!). Make sure there is a link to this Agreement on every page of your website.

For example:

* Your use of www.xyz.com website specifies that you agree to comply with this Terms Of Use Agreement. Every time you use www.xyz.com website you void to confirm your agreement with this Terms Of Use Agreement. The content available through www.xyz.com website is the sole property of XYZ, Ltd, and is protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. Except as otherwise explicitly agreed in writing, XYZ owned content received through the XYZ website may be downloaded, displayed, reformatted and printed for your personal, noncommercial use only, through the means of your home computer. You agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate, or in any way disclose the information received through the XYZ website to anyone, without XYZ กs prior written consent. All information published on XYZ website should be treated as private and confidential and the publication of such information on XYZ website does not specify that this information is in the public domain. Any reproduction, retransmission, distribution, selling, publishing, broadcasting or circulating of the information received through XYZ website, without explicit written permission of XYZ, will be illegal and prosecuted as such. *

If desired, a note that the information on the site should NOT be considered as being in *public domain* can be added to your Privacy Policy.

It may also help to create a special page named ขpressข and place there your press release, which you would like Media to use if they want to make a reference to your website. Place the link ขPressข on your home page where it cannot be missed. Request them to contact you prior to any use of your website in their publications. Put there all your contact details including phone and fax and the name of the person responsible for press enquires. Include on this page the information that you disapprove using your website contents and images, unless you gave your explicit permission in writing, and that the information on your website is NOT in the public domain.

This of course may not help against unscrupulous reporters, if they REALLY want to use YOUR SITE in a negative context; but in case if the reporters just browsing the Internet for a picture to use, they will rather select a site that does not have this warning.

Even if they use your site despite the warning, you will have a much better case and can complain to a broadcasting authority that the program breached privacy or other regulations specified in the rules for a broadcast in your country.

Media has multiple privileges in defamation cases, and this you cannot change. But as website owners we have our own privileges, too!

We have the privilege of writing our own Terms Of Use. Internet is a much less regulated field than any offline business, where you seldom have a way to make every customer sign your disclaimer and terms of use prior to using your service. On the Internet, by the mere use of your website, visitors may be bound by your Terms Of Use Agreement.

Don’t miss out on writing YOUR own rules of the game!

Copyright 2003 Elena Petrova

About The Author

Elena Petrova is the founder of the website MediaDefamation.ORG – a website devoted to dealing with defamation issues online. Visit http://www.mediadefamation.org today to learn about defamation law and how it works in regard to online publications.

This article was posted on August 05, 2003

by Elena Petrova

Getting in Shape: 10,000 Steps to Terrific Health

Getting in Shape: 10,000 Steps to Terrific Health

by: Tom Ogren

What if I could show you a completely simple, inexpensive, low risk, foolproof method to lose some weight, get healthy, and get in shape? Sound too good to be true? Well, it is true, and all it takes is a serious commitment and a $15 stepcounting pedometer.

It has been one full year now since I first strapped on a pedometer and started getting my 10,000 steps in a day. I’ll be honest, at times it has been tough, but the rewards have been remarkable.

I have no idea who first started the concept of getting in 10,000 steps a day as a way to get fit, but sometime in 2003 the idea started to get considerable press. The University of Minnesota thought so much of the idea that this year (2004) they passed out free pedometers to every single staff member of the University. I first read about 10,000 steps in a newspaper and then heard about it on the radio. I looked up pedometers on Ebay and bought two step counters for five bucks each. I gave one of them to my wife who loved it but within a month had lost it. I managed to hang onto mine and it worked perfectly for 11 months before it finally stopped working. These first step counters were mechanical and needed no batteries. You just clipped them on your belt, started walking, and they counted every step you took.

I was in New York last month, to give a talk on Long Island, when my first stepper quit on me. I was one day without it and withdrawal symptoms were quickly setting in. I went to a Sportsmart and for $14.95 bought a digital replacement, the one that I’m wearing right now. It is a Sportsline 330 brand and it doesn’t count calories or miles, just steps. But that’s exactly what I want it to do.

As I write this I have exactly 3,627 steps on my pedometer. This means that I have plenty of walking yet to do today, but I know that I’ll do it.

I am a writer; it’s what I do for a living. Last October I had just finished writing backtoback books. I had no sooner finished writing Safe Sex in the Garden, for Ten Speed Press than I had to immediately dive into working on, What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn, for Time Warner Books. As a result of the almost constant work on those two books I spent close to a solid year glued to my computer. Now, computers are handy beasts, no doubt about that, but working at one is hardly what we’d call good exercise. I had gained weight, some 30+ pounds of it, and I was 56 years old, fat, and out of shape.

I finished the last book, sent it off to the publisher and bought my first pedometer. That very first day it arrived I put it on and went out and walked until I had my 10,000 steps. Quickly I found out that this took time, effort, and energy. That night my legs were a little sore but I felt really good about myself. I was doing something positive, something that might well get my big rear back in shape.

I discovered that pedometers work best if there are no clothes covering them. They have to be free to be able to register each step and need to ขfeelข the movement. Also, shorter people get a ขbetter dealข with step counters. If a 6 footer and a 5 footer both walk five miles together, the shorter person may well get in all of his 10,000 steps, while the taller one may well still be a few thousand short. I’m 6’ 2ข tall myself, so I need to get in plenty of mileage to get my 10,000. Shorter people claim though that they have to work harder and step faster to keep up with their long legged companions, so I suppose it all works out in the end.

Most of my life I have worked out and tried to stay in shape. I’ve boxed, jogged, lifted weights, done calisthenics, played tennis, hiked, done isometrics, you name it, and I did it. And all of these things worked too, to a point. But none of them worked half as well as putting on that pedometer and saying to myself, ขTom, you will get in at least 10,000 steps every single day from now on. Rain or shine, feeling great or not, busy or not, you’re going to get in the 10,000 steps every single day.ข

I am one of those people who love to plan things out, sometimes in excess no doubt. For many years I’ve kept a list (100 Things I’m Going to DO Before I Die) and I take my list seriously. If I put something on my list, I’m going to do it. If I tell people I’m going to do something, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and try to do it. I like to think that bottom line, each of us is only as good as his or her word.

At any rate, for this past full year now I have gotten in a minimum of 10,000 steps every single day. During that time I lost almost forty pounds and got into pretty decent shape too. My resting pulse is lower; my blood pressure (which had been high) is perfect, my pant’s waist size dropped from (I’m embarrassed to admit!) size 44 to size 34. A few months ago I knocked off one of the things on my list of 100. I climbed Mt Whitney, at 14,497.7 feet in elevation, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. It was a 19hour, extremely tough hike and without all the groundwork I’d done with that pedometer there’s no way I’d have ever made it. Since climbing Whitney, I’ve found that every time anything I’m doing seems at all hard, I suddenly think, ขHey, you climbed Mt. Whitney!ข and then whatever it is no longer seems all that hard at all.

A Dozen tips: Making your pedometer work for you:

Buy a simple stepcounting pedometer. Don’t bother with more expensive ones that count the calories and the miles. Just the steps.

Decide to get in your 10,000 steps a day, no exceptions, and commit to it.

Wear a belt and clip the pedometer on over one of your hips and it will count steps better.

Put your pedometer on as soon as you get up in the morning. No point in not getting ขcreditข for any steps you take.

Before you eat breakfast go out and walk around the block quickly; get in some steps right off the bat.

Keep checking your pedometer often through the day; have an idea all the time of how many steps you already have in and how many you still need.

Whenever you drive somewhere, never park close; always park far away and get in some extra steps.

On long drives stop often and go for short, fast walks. At rest stops walk around the entire rest stop once or twice on each stop.

Try to take at least one long walk each day, one where you get in 3 to 4,000 steps.

No matter what, try and get in at least 7 to 8,000 steps each day before the sun goes down.

Don’t go to bed at night unless you have your 10,000 steps. If it is 11pm and you’re dogtired and you only have 6,000 steps, well, get out that door! and start walking.

Every time you’re standing at the sink, waiting in line, looking in the mirror, bounce up and down and pick up some extra ขsteps.ข They all count. Walk around while you’re talking on the phone. Never ask someone to go get something for you while you sit there. Get up and get it yourself…more steps. Use every excuse you can to pick up extra steps.

Okay now, here’s a challenge from me to you. I dare you to go get a pedometer and commit to the 10,000 steps a day. I dare you to get in as good a shape as I’m in right now. Yes, you’re a busy person and this takes time. But life is short and why shouldn’t we invest our time in something that will make us look better, feel better, in something that will make us stronger? Go on; go for it. I double dare you.

About The Author

Tom Ogren is the author of five published books, including the revolutionary, AllergyFree Gardening. His groundbreaking work on landscape plants and allergies has been featured on NPR, CBS Evening News, HGTV, NBC, and Fox News. Contact him through his website, www.allergyfreegardening.com or through www.Allegra.com.

This article was posted on October 20, 2004

by Tom Ogren

Top 10 Places to Find the Most Popular Blogs

Top 10 Places to Find the Most Popular Blogs

by: Andy Wibbels

Summary: Understand blogs by reading blogs. Hereกs how to find กem.

The easiest way to get acquainted with the conventions of the blog format is to start reading them. The more blogs you read, the more youกll get a feel for the depth and breadth of style and subject matter they have to offer.

Here are a few sources:

Blog Monitors

Blogdex (http://blogdex.com/)

Daypop (http://daypop.com/)

Technorati (http://technorati.com/)

These three sites monitor millions of blogs every minute of every day, searching for the top key words being mentioned in blog posts or in the most popular links and sites. Itกs like being in a huge convention hall eavesdropping on billions of conversations at the same time. This is a fantastic way to do market research and to see what everybody is buzzing about. The collective กhiveก of blogs is often called the blogosphere. Often, links and news bubble up in the blogosphere first, even before they reach your evening television news program.

Blog Search Engines and Directories

Blogarama (http://blogarama.com/)

Globe of Blogs (http://globeofblogs.com/)

The Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/)

Just like web sites, there are also directories and search engines devoted to cataloging the evergrowing global network of blogs. Try searching by topic or geographic location.

Search Engines

Google (http://google.com/)

Yahoo! (http://yahoo.com/)

A9 (http://a9.com/)

As usual, Google and friends to the rescue! These are the more traditional and widely known search engines. Type in some topic and the word กblogsก and see what results come up. The more specific keywords, the more likely you are to find bloggers talking about what you’re interested in.

Blogrolls

And number ten is the blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll, which is a list of a bloggerกs favorite blogs and websites. If you find a blog you like, try checking out the other sites that the blogger likes. You might find other valuable sites and blogs to read. The more your read blogs, the more youกll catch the nuances and conventions that have made them the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to publish online.

About The Author

Andy Wibbels is a blogging evangelist and creator of the Easy Bake Weblogs seminar that has helped hundreds of small businesses all over the world leverage blogs and RSS news feeds to increase profits and save time. You can download his free special report on business and blogs at http://easybakeweblogs.com/.

(C) 2005 Andy Wibbels.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 18

by Andy Wibbels