Life as a WAHM

Why Be Part of the Brand New Internet Marketers Guild Blog Co-Op?

The Internet Marketers Guild

I myself really enjoy finding great blog articles to read but, have a hard time finding just the right topic sometimes. I have joined many blog communities only to find that most have blog listings and not an actual description of any individual post. This means I spend a long time searching out blog descriptions, that seems as if they may have what I am looking for, and sometimes end up at a dead blog or one with way outdated info. To me that is a time waster!

If I am interested in learning about a particular subject, I will look for a blog post much sooner than a ‘news’ type of site. Bloggers are real people! News sites are.., well.., I will not get into that now.

I also like to comment on blog post to help build backlinks. To do this effectively, I need to find articles that are of interest to me and that I have enough knowledge about to give added information so, I am an asset to the original post. No, I do not leave comments like “Great Post Thanks”.

I am also getting into Social Bookmarking. To do a favor to anyone that watches my bookmarks I need to find good informative blog articles to pass along.

These are a few of the reasons the Blog Co-Op is laid out like it is.

1. We have different sections for each topic (Family, Web Site Building, Marketing Help, Natural Health…).

2. By requiring that members make a new thread, with a ‘mini post’, that tells a little about each of their articles, other members (and guest) will know if they are truly interested enough to visit. By narrowing it down, the blog author will get more targeted traffic and the visitor will save time by finding exactly what they are looking for.

3. This also gives the member a chance to post a page backlink to each article they write.

As the blog Co-Op grows we can help each others rankings by visiting, bookmarking, commenting, and sending friends to other people’s articles. The only way this can work is if everyone involved, not only post their article threads but, they must also visit others blogs. If all you want to do is post your stuff and expect everyone to help you but, you are not helping them – then this is not the place for you.

The blog co-op is to be a team effort! Trying to make it on your own is getting harder all the time. The ‘Big Names’ in blogging already know this. They have built themselves a group to comment, tweet, bookmark… We can do this also; we are getting organized to help each other build!!

You are not expected to go visit every post that is listed in the blog co-op area. We know that you have a particular interest in some things and no interest in others. I know nothing about the latest new fangled diaper bag and at this time do not really care to read every blog about them (I choose to ignore the fact that one day I maybe back in diapers myself). BUT, if I do come across a person that is having a baby I will know which section to send them to so they can read about them.

The Internet Marketers Guild is a membership site. You can join for free but will have limitations on where you can post and will not allow you to read some upcoming sections. The paid membership allows you to run a sig line and post in all areas of the board. We went with the monthly fee to eliminate the people that just want to post ads and run. We want serious members to have a great place to post and share without all the ‘junk ads’.

To be a paid member cost less than buying a banner ad on another blog or site. At $3.50 a month you can post and meet other serious marketers. We also have 6 mo and yearly options that will give you a discount.

Remember this site is BRAND NEW! In fact this is the 1st post I have made even talking about the Blog Co-Op section. Yeah, it’s that new. Cait and I have been making threads in the Co-Op section so you can see what a mini post is like.

We have run many a free forum and know that forums are a great place to met people and learn but, the free boards had us spending hours a day deleting spam. I would much rather spend my time talking with you or visiting your blog than chasing down spammers!

So, stop over and take a look around.

Look forward to Blog Building with You!!

Oh yeah, once you join be sure to fill in your Skype and Twitter names so other members can find you. These 2 things show up under your picture on every post you make but, can only be seen by other members.

Sheryl Loch

The Internet Marketers Guild

Follow TIMG on Twitter
Find the Blog Co-Op on FriendFeed

Internet Marketers Guild Forum

I wanted to introduce you to The Internet Marketers Guild. We are a Brand New Community with New Ideas.
Here are a few things that we have set up to make this a viable place for all types of marketers to use. Ok, we are not set up for the spam and run type marketers. You will see how we are avoiding this and why farther down.

We do ask that you do a few things…

All members are to fill out their profile as completely as possible.
A real picture of yourself is highly recommended. Most people like to have a real image of who they are talking to. We will be stressing how to make a good solid connection as the base of networking.

We have a special Skype and Twitter button that have been added to the profile overview next to every post you make. Be sure to place your Skype and Twitter name in your profile area of your user control area so, members can connect with you. Communication is an absolute must when networking. We have a variety of topics to read and post in. Some forums will only allow Guild Members to post. Sig-lines are exclusive to Guild Members also.

Guild membership is a small fee to support the site and enable us to do a few little extra things for you along the way. We strive to keep the Guild a great spam free place to post, share your info, view and participate in the exclusive areas…without being over ran by people that just come to post ads and run (the post ads and run people have been the cause of many forums and communities to fail).

This is my personal favorite as I have joined and looked over so many blog communities that are not getting anywhere and I am determined to make this

benefit everyone involved.
We will be adding features as we grow, as of right now we are focused on the Blog Co-Op. We are in hopes that if you have a blog, we can all work together to help promote each other. The old way of asking others to help you and you give nothing back will not cut it here. It is a MUST that you be willing to visit, comment, bookmark, and connect with other bloggers involved with similar interest. On the outside the Blog Co-Op is a simple information based system, driven by members interacting and making connections on each others sites.. But what is happening behind the scenes will give you an extra punch. That is all I can really say, we are doing something different, and yes it is all white hat. Just keep good track of all your statistics, as we should all be doing anyway.

People don't want to be marketed to they want to be communicated with. So by posting what you know and love, people will be drawn to who you are, and may take interest in what you do.

If you have any questions there is a forum entitled “Site Related Questions” If there is not a topic relating to your question started there, please start one, ask your question and one of the team members will answer it. This will allow someone else to be helped or discover something new they hadn’t thought about. Most of learning is discovery.

Keep this in mind where ever you are. You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

We look forward to getting to know you better.
Have a great day!

Thanks,
Sheryl Loch and Brad West

Visit our new community ~ Internet Marketers Guild

Find us on Twitter
The Internet Marketers Guild on Twitter

The Internet Marketers Guild
Blog Co-Op on FriendFeed

Santa is in the Web 2.0 age!!

Santa has JV’d with Norad so you can track him on Twitter! Blitz the Elf will be handling the Twitter. He’s a super cool elf!

Yes, the old fart is keeping up better than I am.

Of course he is the biggest name in marketing! You can not go anywhere that people do not know a gazillion facts about him.

Every year he has the biggest launch ever! I will say that he also never has a glitch in his delivery system. No excesses that the server went down. No blaming the product manufacturer. NOTHING stops this guy!

This year he has even stepped it up so, he can have better customer notification.
He is on Twitter. Ok, maybe not him but, he has worked out a JV deal with Norad to promote him by keeping everyone up to speed on his location. That’s right you will know EXACTLY when he is hand delivering your gifts! How, many other marketers hand deliver?

Ok, for the next tip we can learn from Santa. He has Google Maps and Google Earth that will follow him in Real Time! Take that guru’s not even you get that from the Google Gods!

I would bet my life that his email inbox is filled with letters like no other. I am not sure what kind of team he has but, they get to everyone of those letters! Yep, they read them all. That in itself must be a huge task! Then top that with all the snail mail. Holy crap, no guru I know of could ever answer all that and still get their product delivered on time.

Just a thought, he does not even need an affiliate program. Look how many people promote his name and never use an affiliate link. Yeah, we do it because we want to! Ok, in my case I would like a Mac (if he has an extra).

Ok, all you good boys and girls be sure to follow him at Norad Santa on Twitter, he also has his site set up at Norad Santa Tracker.

All you bad boys and girls, you know who you are – Straighten Up! Maybe you should make some Magic Reindeer Food and see if you can kiss ol’ Rudolph’s butt a little and get Santa to stop anyway!

I am now off to get cookies and whiskey to leave out for him.

Merry Christmas!!
Sheryl Loch

Technorati Profile

I wanted to give you another site where you can register for free and get yourself seen.
Not only will people be able to see your happy face – they can see the comments you are leaving on blogs. You can see my page Sheryl Loch at Backtype

How would that help you?
If you leave great comments then others will see you have something to offer.
It also allows you to follow other people. That is cool if you have a favorite blogger & want to see where they comment.

Setting up your account is easy as any other site. Put in your Name, Email, upload a photo, and give a mini introduction about yourself. Once logged in you can click on EDIT PROFILE and fill in your entire super special ‘about me’ info. You can also DESIGN PROFILE so your page stands out a bit.

To register go to BackType click to sign up.

Once you have signed up and logged in you will now need to go to your DASBOARD and click the ACCOUNT text link. Here you can choose if you would like to receive notifications about actions. You can also choose to moderate comments before they are posted to your page.
For example, I only have 3 things checked on this page;
*E-mail when someone starts following me Share Notifications
**E-mail when someone shares one my comments
***Open Links in a new page.

Now click on the text CLAIM COMMENTS (in the TypeBack Tool Bar on top).
Here you will see the box to insert the URL of your blog or site that you use when you leave comments at anther persons blog. If you are like me you may leave different site links depending on the article, you will need to post each link in a new line in the box!

On this page you can allow to comments from other sites such as Digg, Hacker News, Readit…to be imported in to your TypeBack page.

Now at the bottom of the page click IMPORT COMMENTS. Warning, this may take awhile to find all of your comments with the URL’s you listed. Also note that not every comment will show up! I believe it is possibly due to Backtype sending out spiders to gather comments and may not crawl certain pages. It could also be that those same ‘missing comments’ get found a bit later when the BackType program finds the page they are on.

BackType also offers to send your updates to TWITTER. If you are going to do this, use extreme caution! Most of your Twitter followers may not want to see all of your comment updates. Just make sure that if you do choose to try this watch your stream and see if you like how the BackType updates are delivered through your Twitter.

Now you are set up – as far as your page and comments go!

To see your own page like other will, you can click on your Profile Picture. This will take you right to your page. From the Dashboard you will be able to see not only your comments but, the comments of people you are following.

HOW TO BENIFFIT THE MOST FROM YOUR BACKTYPE!
If you are involved in something like the Internet Marketers Guilds’ Blog Co-Op where we will be encouraging people to post comments and bookmark each others blog articles you will have another advantage. Each person that comments on your blog that is also a BackType member could mean that your blog article will show up on their backtype page and give you another link and more exposure.

Now, it can get even better!

You can also add your BackType comment list to FriendFeed.In any of these 3 ways.
Just log into your Friendfeed account, go to your ME (mid way down on the left column) page & click to ADD/EDIT, there you can open the list of sites all the way & look in the 3rd column over & you will see BACKTYPE, just add your username & import all your comments.

The 2nd way to add your BackType to Friendfeed is to Log into Backtype,
Click on your Profile Picture so you see only YOUR comments and updates,
Part way down the right column you will see the RSS Feed for YOUR Profile,
Right click on it and then click on PROPERTIIES this will bring up a box,
Copy the RSS Feed link and then take it to your FriendFeed and add it just as you would a blog RSS Feed.

The 3rd way will be ONLY if you want to publish all your comments and the comments of people you follow. To do this you will log in to Backtype,
This will take you to your DASHBOARD,
You can find this RSS FEED also in the right hand column.
Open, copy and paste it into your FreindFeed just as you would a blog RSS Feed.

WARNING – if you follow a lot of people, it will post all their comments, Digg, ….It could really fill your FriendFeed stream fast!

I will soon be very active commenting since that will be a huge part of the success of The Internet Marketers Guild Co-Op. Even though the TIMGuild is not launched yet you are welcome to follow Sheryl Loch on BackType now.

If you would like to know when the TIMGuild Co-Op is ready to launch follow TIMGuild on Twitter and FriendFeed for updates. You can also find my personal (SherylLoch) Twitter and FriendFeed from either of the Guild’s accounts.

Wow, I just wanted a simple post.
I just noticed why I have been so busy! LOL!
Sheryl Loch

Hey guys,
I wanted to pass along a program that enables you to record Skype calls for free.
If you are like me sometimes you do an interview or may have a brainstorm with someone and would like to be able to record it for uploading to your site or even to refer back to. Now you can!

Call Graph is a beta program that allows you to record any Skype audio.
It is a simple download. I have not had any issues with using it.

Once you have it downloaded you will be able to adjust settings such as;
Automatically record Skype calls
Disable all notifications
Run at startup
Show toolbar when recording is in progress
Enable logging (open log file)

I do not have mine set to automatically record each Skype call. When I start a Skype call I get a small pop up asking if I would like to record. I think it is best if you enable the recording after you make sure the person on the other end knows. Sure the laws about recording calls on Skype would be similar to calls on your regular phone. Therefore, if you are going to record the call, ask before you start and then again after you start the call so, their answer is recorded.

Once you have recorded a call you can add tags, rename, and save to your chosen area.

I have not tried it yet, they say that it is fairly easy to load your recording into Audacity.
If you would like to learn about using Audacity, visit Lisa Hartwell’s free step by step video’s, Free Recording Software Audacity Tutorial

Using a headset will help with sound quality. It seems that the recording will pick up all background noise & really does make your Skype recording harder to hear.

It is also recommended that you reboot before your call. Be sure you do not start a bunch of applications before or during the call. That is how I normally get booted off is from far to many things running and Skype cuts itself off.

As far as I know this program only works with Windows. I am sure that Mac has something like it.


Here is the link to register and download Call Graph

Ok, this is just a quick one so, if you have any questions please ask.

Sheryl Loch

Here is a step by step guide of How to Set Up Skype