End of School Party At Monarch Bay Club
It’s the end of the school year and that mean it’s time to party! And what better place to celebrate end of school than at the private beach of the Monarch Bay Club, where membership starts at $1,500 per month. How To Live The Ultimate Dot Com Lifestyle I have many internet products and services that makes me money while I’m sleeping. Continuity affiliate programs like Aweber, LeadPages, ClickFunnel, and others ensure a steady flow of income no matter what I’m doing or where I am in the world. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2MmlwMI via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2l9QQBT June 13, 2018 at 12:14AM
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Maximizing Your YouTube Videos – Part 2
You are now reading Part 2 of the series and we’ll be going over the last two important factors when maximizing your YouTube.com videos. This is important because we all know how important YouTube is when building brand awareness and this can be huge for someone starting out in the industry. The next two I’ll be discussing are very important and many people don’t take these seriously, but they need to be considered so you can maximize the return on your videos. Let’s jump right in and your feedback will be greatly appreciated. Inner LinkingYouTube allows bloggers to flourish and has a system in place to create playlists and channels. It’s a good practice for bloggers to create videos within the same niche and around the same topic so you can inner-link them all. However, you have to make sure you know what you are doing so it’s important to educate yourself about the entire process. For example, from my experience, there are two cool ways you can internally link videos. First, you can link by adding text within the video and have the user click through to another video. This is very simple to do and YouTube provides you with the complete interface to get all this done. Next, you can direct people to your personal channel, which will have all your other videos listed. However, if you have multiple channels, then it’s important to send them to relevant channels with related videos. I like creating multiple channels around “1” topic and send people to a corresponding channel if I feel it will provide them with additional information. Average Time WatchedI was watching a video by Brian Dean from Backlinko.com and he mentioned something very interesting about YouTube videos in reference to ranking them. For example, it’s one thing to have views, but a completely different element is average time watched. The longer a video is watched, the better because this means you are providing more value than your competitors. Many people often use manipulative software to increase the views and time watched, but YouTube has a sophisticated algorithm in place to make sure the views are quality. For example, First, how many times a person comes back and watches the video is a great way to show you provide value. I have gone back and watched a video 1-3 times when I really enjoyed it. Secondly, the commands of stop, pause, and play all have a very important part because this is natural human behavior. Think about how many times you pause and rewind to go over some information you missed the first time around when you are watching a video. This is all natural human behavior and YouTube is aware of this so use it within their algorithm. Third, interacting with videos while watching and some of these include reading comments, clicking on text, and advertisements within the video at different times. Wrapping it up…YouTube is a video sharing platform that has been growing each year and is huge for bloggers looking to expand their brand. I’ll admit I don’t use it as much as I should be, however, I do have some videos that have not only converted into profits, but also send relevant people to my blog. The easy part is uploading your video and the MOST difficult is getting started with research, creating, and editing. The good news about this process is that once you have created a video, then, going forward, you won’t have as much trouble as before. You’ll get use to creating videos just like you have with writing content for your blog. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2LJMpZV via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Jwtt4p June 12, 2018 at 05:13AM
When Saving Money Actually Costs You More
Most of the personal finance experts out there will tell you that the first step to getting a handle over your money situation is to curb your unnecessary spending. Sure, getting a fancy drink at the local Starbucks might only cost you a few bucks and, in the grand scheme of things a few bucks is hardly going to make a difference in your life. But your daily latte habit can add up awfully quickly. Five bucks a day, every day of the year, is creeping up to almost $2,000. That’s enough money to pick up a new iPhone outright, possibly with enough left over to cover your monthly plan for the year too. It’s nothing to sneeze at, so this kind of advice of getting your spending under control is generally sound… but it’s incomplete. Because cutting corners (and cutting costs) purely for the sake of saving money could actually end up costing you more in the long run. Let me illustrate with a few examples. Free WordPress ThemesWordPress is one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon man since sliced bread. It can be used most commonly to run a blog or other content-based site, but it is equally adaptable to power any number of other types of websites, including forums, business pages and online stores. It’s great and it’s got a huge, supportive community. And best of all, it’s free. This doesn’t mean that you should necessarily be using it right out of the box, however. If you use the default theme that comes with WordPress, your site is going to look really generic and first impressions matter. And while there is a huge directory of free WordPress themes, you may not want to use those either. The allure of free is certainly enticing, but unless you are already skilled and knowledgeable in how to adapt and customize these themes, you’re just going to end up spending more time (and money) in turning that theme into something you can really call your own. And even then, many of these free themes do not come with the cleanest of code and you could open up the floodgates to all sorts of other complications and frustrations that just end up costing you more in the long run anyway. When you invest in a premium theme with strong support or, better still, you invest in a completely custom theme developed by a professional, you get a better end product right out of the gate and you position yourself with a much better shot at success. The Bulk Buying BingeI’ll admit that I’ve fallen into this trap more times than I care to recall. Let’s say that you go to your local grocery store to pick up a few things for the week. You’re living on your own, so you don’t actually need that much. When you go to grab your one-liter carton of milk for $2, you notice that the four-liter jug is only $4. On a per-liter basis, the larger jug is half the price, because you’re getting four times as much for only twice as much. It’s the better deal. So, you decide to pick up the four-liter jug instead… but as mentioned, you live alone. Inevitably, you get closer to the expiration date and you find yourself trying to come up with creative ways to use up all that milk. This is upsetting and you’re certainly not enjoying yourself. In the end, you end up dumping half the jug down the drain anyways because it expired. You thought you were getting the better deal, because it worked out that way on a per-unit basis, but you ultimately spent $2 more than you probably should have in the first place. Like the latte effect described above, that $2 isn’t going to make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, but all of these little habits and decisions add up. When you think you’re getting a “good deal” on something, you have to ask whether you’re actually getting what you need out of it. Entry-Level EquipmentNot everyone needs top-of-the-line equipment for everything that they do. Let’s just make this clear. The average person will only use a fraction of the horsepower found under the hood of the top-tier iMac Pro, which costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $17,000. That’s enough money to buy a decent commuter car. At the same time, you don’t want to cut corners where corners probably shouldn’t be cut. Let’s say that you want to get into vlogging, but your budget is decidedly modest. You get the cheapest camera you can find, you pick up a really cheap Chromebook, and you have the bottom level plan from your ISP. You think you’re saving money. On the one hand, it’s great that you want to get started. On the other hand, your efforts to save money are ultimately going to cost you in the long run. The cheap camera isn’t going to produce the kind of quality you want to have if you want to be a successful vlogger. The cheap Chromebook can’t run proper video editing software, so you’re stuck using less than ideal web-based applications that are severely limited. And then your cheap Internet plan means your upload speeds are abysmal and your computer is rendered useless for hours at a time. I’m not saying you should always splurge for the best of the best, but you do want to be strategic with where you spend your money. Upgrading to a more powerful computer and a faster Internet connection could be among the best investments you can make in your online business. Not All Spending Is EqualThe key takehome lesson here is that you shouldn’t be trying to save money purely for the sake of saving money. If you spend hours on end with compulsive coupon clipping, not only are you wasting your time doing something with minimal ROI (you could be working on your business instead), but you could end up buying things that you don’t actually need. You’re getting them because they’re on sale and that’s it. Money is a tool. And like any other tool, you have to learn how to use it wisely and for maximum benefit. Oftentimes, it’s worth spending a little more upfront, because it’ll save you from a lot more frustration and expense down the road. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2sO2F5h via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2MgTbHN June 11, 2018 at 05:03AM
Maximizing Your YouTube Videos – Part 1
YouTube.com is amazing to promote your blog and content. It has been used by millions to generate niche relevant traffic to their blog and even generate money. YouTube.com does pay when views hit a certain threshold, however, the EXACT value is known to me. What I can tell you is YouTube.com can be amazing to drive traffic and maximize your results. For those of you new to YouTube, you should take some time and learn what’s important, however, it doesn’t take much because of the resources available to you. If you are serious about blogging and building a brand, videos are definitely important. I believe they are the best to engage readers while building brand awareness because they resonate with everyone all over the world. I’ve created this two part series to explore how YouTube can be used to maximize your potential, but it’s important you have some of the fundamentals down. Let’s explore the following:
ViewsThis is something that is very true and should not be avoided. Becoming popular on YouTube is distinguished by views and they have to be legitimate. YouTube will rank your videos depending on the amount of views you are getting because it gives them a good idea of the quality. The longer the audience watches your video, the more value it must be providing…right? However, it’s important not to invest any money in buying views because they are NOT relevant and the likelihood of them watching for a long period of time is very slim. To achieve this without any issues, I encourage all of you to take the time and create something special from the start. There is no substitute for quality, even if you publish after 2 months. DescriptionJust like when doing SEO on your content pages, it’s important to optimize your videos, too, because this will help you rank within YouTube. They provide you with a description area, which will allow you to put a couple of hundred words together and it’s important you make them as targeted as possible. You want to make sure you include your target keywords within your title and description. YouTube also allows you to link out from this section to any URL and I would encourage you to link to your website. The good news is, you have several resources available to you to do the right type of research. For example, keyword research is the most important and you can use tools like Keyword Planner to perform research. However, I recommend you pay close attention to your competitors because you can learn a lot from them. They have been in the industry for a while and have done all the research, so you can collect a lot of data from them. Comments or VotesComments have been huge for bloggers because they provide a lot of information. You can get feedback or even content ideas from what others have to say. However, YouTube uses them as a ranking factor by understanding that votes and comments mean value. The more value your video provides, the higher the votes and interaction among users, which are all good signs. What can you do on your part? Make sure you reply to comments just like you would on your personal blogs. This will help people understand what your video is about if they have trouble. This will also encourage people to vote up, which is very important to maximize your video and increase rankings. However, Never ask people for votes because YouTube will catch on to this and ban your video or account from their platform. There is NO substitute for value. In part 2, we’ll be going over some other elements that are important to build and maximize your videos. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2sTPVt2 via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2xVO1Oo June 10, 2018 at 05:18AM
How to Invest in Your Happiness
Perhaps second only to love, money is probably one of the most popular subjects when it comes to quotable quotes. We love to talk about it, because money makes the world go around. It’s with money that we can aspire to live better lives filled with massive mansions, fast sports cars, and the fanciest new toys and gadgets on the block. A common turn of phrase that you’ve likely heard before is that “money is the root of all evil.” In the movie Boiler Room, we’re told that “anybody tells you money is the root of all evil doesn’t [expletive] have any. They say money can’t buy happiness? Look at the [expletive] smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What’s up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.” You know the popular saying that money can’t buy happiness? Actor and comedian Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” Some people will tell you that money (and the pursuit of money) is a necessary evil, one that we need to keep a roof over a heads, food on the table, and a big screen TV in the living room for binging on Netflix original programming. A joke that I once heard was that while money itself may not be able to buy you happiness, it can certainly buy you the expansive oceanfront property with unobstructed happiness views. But I digress. And all kidding aside, I don’t think anyone reading this blog is taking on any sort of “greater than thou” perspective on the subject of money. We want it and we want all the things it can buy and we shouldn’t feel ashamed for desiring wealth. We just need to think about money in a slightly different kind of way. The way that money can be used to buy happiness, so to speak, is that it can provide you with the freedom to no longer worry about money. And this can easily be applied on a number of different levels, each of which is unlocked as you accumulate varying levels of wealth and earn varying levels of income. If you’re struggling and living to paycheck to paycheck, you probably should avoid eating out too often, for example. By contrast, if you are reasonably financially secure and have enough of a buffer, you can probably eat out as often as you’d like. And when you get to the restaurant, you can order the steak if that’s what you want to eat. It’s not about the money, per se, as much as eliminating (or at least minimizing) the impact that money has on your decision making process. If you want the latest iPhone and you know that you can easily afford it, then you won’t give a second thought about ordering it. If you’re still saddled with student loans and credit card debt, that’s probably not the wisest solution. To this end, there are effectively two very big ways that you can invest in your happiness. First, you want to reduce (or eliminate) the burden of debt. If you know that you owe money, that’s always going to sit in the back of your head and it should have an impact on your decision making process. That’s only responsible. That’s why you should never pay for something on a credit card that you couldn’t have afforded to pay for in cash. We’ll ignore the tangential topic of “smart debt” for the sake of simplicity, at least for now. As an extension of this, after you’ve eliminated the burden of debt, you should get to the point where you are not only accumulating wealth, but the money should be working for you. Depending on your level of risk tolerance, this could take on all sorts of different forms and it’s probably something you should discuss with your financial advisor (or similar professional). When you invest in your child’s college fund or your retirement fund, you are providing a greater sense of financial stability and financial independence, because you won’t have to worry about paying for little Timmy’s education or funding your later years (if you ever retire at all). The second way to invest in your happiness is to invest in yourself. If you feel like you are progressing and growing as a person, you’re going to be happier. These could be professional development programs, personal coaching programmings, fitness courses, or any number of other possibilities. This is going to vary considerably from individual to individual. Learning and exploring your interests and hobbies, professional or not, helps to bolster your internal sense of self-worth and how much you value yourself. This is very different from the fleeting joy you may experience when you buy “things.” It’s certainly exciting when you get your hands on the newest iPhone, for example, but that sense of joy fades quickly as it just becomes another part of your day-to-day life. But investing in yourself is something that pays dividends for years to come. And investing in your financial independence and security is something that can alleviate you from worrying about money, which in turn leads to more sustained happiness too. Money can buy happiness. You just have to know how to spend it. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2JwjKqD via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2sT3EjB June 09, 2018 at 05:21AM
What is the Future of Blogging? Exploring Some Ideas
With blogging being such a vast industry, it’s important that you stay ahead of the curve. This means to think about the future and start making the tweaks right now instead of later. This is how some of the MOST successful people in the world started because they visualized the world now and where they think it’s heading. With that said, You have to explore and understand what direction blogging is going toward. For example, if many of us would have visualized mobile usage then we would have made mobile-friendly tweaks earlier on instead of waiting last minute…right? I’ve worked with many bloggers over the years, all with several different years of experience. Here’s what I noticed happening and what you can do to better equip yourself going forward. Let’s look at blogging and where it is heading… Brand AwarenessHave you noticed many of the top bloggers are focusing more on brand, which is mainly their personal names? Here are some of the MOST popular blogs I can think of from the top of my head: JohnChow.com, ZacJohnson.com, NeilPatel.com and MatthewWoodward.co.uk. It’s not as valuable as to use a keyword as your domain like SEO.com, etc., because people still find it hard to identify with the author. However, by building your brand around your personal name, it means more when people throw around your name in forums, content, and other communities. In the future, more focus will be given to your brand equalling your personal name because it’s this aspect that will build your credibility as someone valuable within your niche. SEOOver the years, we have seen enormous changes within Google and this has been catered toward the user experience. Search engines are all about the user experience and making sure people find what they are looking for. However, this is not enough because searchers have to find valuable content and one that provides a complete solution so it’s up to search engines to provide this. Google has already announced changes like LSI keywords, valuable content, freshness, “target” keywords, and mobile-optimized. What’s next? Keep focusing on SEO and make sure you add a combination of different keywords within your content. For example, long-tail keywords, LSI keywords, and those that are highly targeted. Next, make sure you use a combination of different anchors to build links to cover all the different keywords you have within your content. This will help your page rank for different more “targeted” keywords, increasing the user experience. Content = ValueIt’s all about value because something has to separate the best from the mediocre…right? Google has invested a lot of resources into finding out which sites and content is providing the best value. For example, they look at things like activity, bounce rate, links, DA, and PA to establish some sort of value bar. Going forward, you should be focusing on writing the best content for your readers even if this means cutting down the frequency at which you’re posting. Nothing can replace value, no matter what niche you’re in, so follow these steps before you write:
This will allow you to have enough information to find out when you have created something special or simply mediocre. RelevanceHow do you stop websites from manipulative link building? You can give people control over links pointing to their website like the introduction of Disavow. You can also strategically make sure it’s difficult for them to build unnatural links by focusing on things that really matter. Google has put enormous value on relevance because this shows the right intent. For example, websites will only link to relevant websites when the value is there…right? Why else would anyone link unless they are trying to manipulate the search engines? Going forward, relevance matters and will continue to grow in importance, but there is a great way to make sure you find value in this. How? Write the best content because then people have no choice but to link to you. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2JlRQ4G via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2sMKN9O June 08, 2018 at 05:21AM
Because You Want To (Not Because You Have To)
I try my best to read a good variety of books in my spare time. Part of this has to do with leisure and entertainment, because reading for pleasure is one of life’s greatest joys. Part of this also has to do with personal and professional development, as I seek key insights that I can apply to my own life to improve it in some way or another. I also find that reading a good variety of books helps to inspire new ideas that I can explore and write about myself, which is precisely what leads me to today’s post. A Real Life Hack?It is certainly true that you can learn a lot from reading books by successful entrepreneurs and marketing experts. It’s also true that you can derive some terrific insights and inspiration from what may otherwise be perceived as a guilty pleasure. A good example of this is a work of fiction called An Unwelcome Quest. It’s the third book in the Magic 2.0 series by American author Scott Meyer. The basic premise behind this satirical science fiction series is that the world as we know is nothing more than a computer program. It’s a simulation and we are nothing more than lines of code. As such, the program can be adjusted and changed if you simply rewrite some of that code, which is exactly what a number of characters discover they can do. They “hack” the program, effectively granting them a series of “magical” powers, like levitation and time travel. Whether or not you are personally interested in these types of stories, you can see how they can be fun to read for people who do like them. There’s a healthy dose of comedy thrown in there, as these works are meant to be satirical, and there’s plenty of “geek appeal” for people who like that kind of thing too. But reading a book like this can’t possibly be useful, can it? A Walk in the Park?
That’s a short excerpt from An Unwelcome Quest when a group of the characters are forced to trudge through a forest trail, slashing away at wolves and staying on guard for other possible, life-threatening dangers. The context is less important here than the actual message we can all take home and apply to our own lives. Let’s say that you enjoy writing and you enjoy telling stories. You decide to get yourself a free website on WordPress.com or on Tumblr where you can share these stories with your friends. You do it for fun, because it makes you happy. Then, somewhere along the way, you learn that you can actually make money from blogging. Maybe you stumbled across this blog and it opened up a whole new world of possibility. So, you start to learn about what it takes to be a successful blogger, paying much closer attention to considerations like SEO and ad networks and affiliate marketing and list building and mobile friendly design and all the rest of it. You learn about content strategy and how you probably should be blogging at least once a week, if not more often. This isn’t a problem at first, but then your well of ideas starts to run dry. You feel like you would rather go shopping or play video games or ride your bike than sit down at your computer to pump out your next blog post. What was once a pleasurable experience — writing something on the Internet for everyone to read — has turned into an obligation. A chore. A burden. Do What You Love?No matter how pleasant the original activity may have once been, it can “become hateful if you feel you must do it.” At that point, you might feel like you’re not blogging because you want to, but rather because you have to. Does this mean you should give up on blogging entirely and go chase some butterflies in the park instead? No, not at all! It just means you need to recognize why you are experiencing these feelings in the first place, so you can figure out how to work through them. The truth of the matter is that doing what you love doesn’t mean that you’re going to love every moment of it. There are going to be hard times and frustrations. You just need to remind yourself why you WANT to do this in the first place, whether it’s blogging, Internet marketing, app development, web design… or a quiet hike through the woods. from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2HpbRkZ via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2JszoDa June 07, 2018 at 05:21AM
How to be Mentally Tough in Blogging – Part 2
Welcome to Part 2, where we’ll be discussing the importance of having a tough mentality when blogging. If you haven’t read Part 1, then I encourage you to go back and go through so you can view other important elements before moving forward. For those of you who are new to blogging, it’s important to understand the importance of having a tough mentality in the online business. Just like any other endeavour, blogging can be very tough, especially when this is your main source of income. You need to be strong to deal with competition, your audience, answering questions, research, etc. However, many people don’t consider mental toughness an important element of success and they are setting themselves up for immediate failure. Let’s jump into Part 2 and we’ll be looking at the following:
Embracing FailureTo toughen up your mentality, it’s important you embrace failure and consider it a learning process. Many bloggers, when they fail at something, will let it emotionally drain them, but the successful ones will learn and find ways to use it to their advantage. Just like embracing change, failure is a great way to bring out change within your business while making changes for the best. I believe everyone will fail at something when starting a business and it’s how they handle it that will define their success going forward. Going forward, if you hit a roadblock, make sure you write it down and find ways to overcome it. This way, you know what to expect when going forward. Never Regret MistakesI talked about this above and want to go into this a bit further. Everyone will make mistakes and it’s important to never regret them. I believe it’s your mentality that defines one thing as a mistake and others as a success, but what if you can change all this? For example, let’s say you can consider mistakes as a success as well simply because you have learned something. This means you’ll always stay positive and be able to make the right decisions to continue growing while moving forward. Always remember that mistakes are a learning process and you should try pull value from these mistakes. The next time, you’ll avoid them and even turn them into a positive outcome. Sleep and ExerciseI can’t do any work without enough sleep and exercise, which is why this is very important to me. This is also important to ensure your mind stays strong at all times. Exercise has been proven to release endorphins within your body, which is your body’s natural pain killers. Both sleep and exercise will help you stay positive during tough times and this is very important if you want to build a strong mental connection with your business. Here are some other benefits of sleep and exercise:
Staying PositiveAbove, I mentioned having a positive mentality and how important it is to your success. This is because having a positive mentality will ensure you push forward when all else is failing. This will also allow you to push forward in the right direction when you are around negativity, especially those telling you to give up. Either way, the importance of having a positive mentality is important to build a strong mentality. For example, In blogging, having a negative mentality will force you to say the following:
However, with a positive mentality, you’ll be saying the complete opposite, which will help you move forward.
From the above, you can see how a slight difference in your mentality can mean the difference between success and failure….right? from John Chow dot Com https://ift.tt/2sM1yls via Daniel via Blogger https://ift.tt/2kVKVAh June 06, 2018 at 05:06AM |
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