Get a Free Optimum WordPress Installation
February 3, 2010 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Notices, WordPress
Do you have a blog? ,… and if you do would you like more?
Well,… I've got a special surprise in store for you guys.
Every week during February I'm going to be giving away one free Optimum WordPress installation.
You may have seen the promo link for Optimum WordPress in the right hand sidebar but anyway if you'd like to know more then go and check this out. Then come back here and leave a comment below and let me know you'd be interested in getting one installed for free,…
yes FREE as in "no strings", no signups, no conditionals …just a complete GIFT for any of my blog readers that would like to get the latest, most secure, feature packed super charge WordPress installation.
Just leave a comment below to get Optimum WordPress for FREE: it can just say something like,.. "OK,..cool…I'd like one",.. or "yeah gimme one". The best comment will get the Free install so that may entice you to be a bit more creative and explain why you'd like one and anything else you'd like to say.
If I only get one comment then the freebie goes to that commenter regardless of message length (but it does have to relative and polite or the comment will get deleted anyway,.. along with all the spam and bot comments!)
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New Awesome Article Writing & Submission Software
February 3, 2010 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Cool Tools
Hey you guys,
during this past week I've been engaged in some projects producing articles and then getting them submitted.
I've had an interesting time with this and through it I encountered many challenges in finding sofware that worked and getting a really powerful article writing and submission system going.
After getting totally frustrated with 3 other pieces of submission software I finally found one that works.
In factit works better than I could have imagined and is ultra powerful with many great features and is simple to navigate and work.
Get this,.. once I'd inputted my account and author profile details it then went out and in 4 minutes and 53 seconds it created 1098 accounts in the various article directories. It then received all the relative registration emails and automatically activated over 800 confirmation links in 20 minutes. Then in another 5 minutes it submitted my article to over 400 directories (all targeted by category) and had over 100 of them accepted and published instantly.
I could hardly believe my eyes.
If you're interested to find out more and get me to leave some screen shots and video I'll make them but first leave a comment and let me know you'd like to know more or I won't bother with it.
Cheers
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Keyword Focus
November 23, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Notices
The Reason My Blog Posts Are Thinning Out On This Blog!
The more time I spend online and build blogs and websites the more and more I realize that this WHOLE game revolves around keywords.
I get lots of clients asking me to make them a blog or a CMS site for which they have grand designs of using as a platform to launch their online career and/or some latest product, gadget or service.
The startling thing is that they all have their focus in the same wrong places. What I mean is that they're invariably focused on design, trendy or cool sounding names, graphics, appearance, all kinds of blogging and site features including optin forms and newsletter blasting,.. BUT,.. they fail to focus on and give any kind of real attention to where their customers, clients and site visitors are going to come from.
WHAT ARE YOUR KEYWORDS FOLKS?
Unless you know from the outset what market you're competing in/for and what the specific keywords are that relate to your market, product or service then you're just wasting your time and your blog or site is going to be left to toss around like a cork on an open sea of competition.
Take this blog for instance,.. The Russ Rave,… it's a classic example. Sure I like my blog and I'm quite content with its appearance and layout and cool backend functions but what about traffic? I mean targeted traffic? This blog is so wide and diverse in its topics ranging from Copywriting and Internet Marketing, to WordPress themes, plugins, videos etc.
Whilst I get traffic across those areas its really spasmodic and hardly worthwhile. I mean, theses days the whole blogging scene is really streamlined and focused. Gone are the days when you could start a blog about "blogging" and expect to be successful,.. because you're competing with the Darren Rowse's, the Yara Staraks, the John Chows, The Gideon Shalwicks etc. And then there's the "make money online" niche (if it can still be called a "niche"… more like a monolithe!) In that niche you're up against the Frank Kerns, Mike Filsaimes, John Reeses, Lee McIntyres etc. So you have to be pretty dedicated and focused if that's going to be your ball game.
So,.. what I've decided to do is to dedicate myself and my time to breaking out into other more defined niches and create blogs specifically around that. It's not that I'm not interested in "making money online", its' just that my performance so far in that niche has been woeful (making the odd sale) but I do make money online by building blogs and CMS sites and selling associated services and products around that,- so that's where I'm going to really focus. It just makes sense really. So I'll have a blog for Wordpress and blog technical support and stuff, and a blog for website design, a blog for SEO etc etc. I'm actually working on them right now and spending a bit of time to get the keywords right so that I can highly for certain phrases that I know will get me some very targeted unique visitors who'll be looking for exactly the things I'm offering.
I'll be posting specific URL links later as my other blogs and sites evolve! <<< WATCH THIS SPACE >>>
In the meatime,.. this blog THE RUSSRAVE will stay active and published and will just be treated as my personal soapbox and "home" platform where I'll post stuff from time to time and just see how it evolves.
The reason I'm doing this is to be laser focused on promoting and marketing via keywords that are specific to the markets of which I'm interested in pursuing.
Please feel free to leave a comment if you wish.(we're CommentLuv enabled so you'll get a linkback to your blog)
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27 Random Things About Me
October 28, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles
Ok,… so as indicated earlier in my About page,- here's 25 26 27 random things about me that you may find interesting, abstract or just plain weird!,.. and BTW ,- they're in no apparent order (just like my life!). I'll add some nice interesting images from my photo album later,… but for now this will have to suffice.
- I drink copious amounts of tea! This must stem from my English heritage where everyone drinks tea. Our family was no different and we'd constantly have the kettle on. I guess I'd probably consume around 10 cups everyday,.sometimes a bit more. I prefer Lipton's Yellow Label (sponsorship offer please Mr Lipton!), and it certainly helps keep me moving and awake because apart from having good natural anti-oxidant content it also has as much (if not more) caffeine in it than coffee (yeah, I was amazed at that when I first heard it too). My average going to bed time would be around 1.30 am to 2.00am and sometimes as late as 3 and 4am at least once a week. I get up between 10am and 11am usually,.. sometimes at noon and sometimes 8am.
- Jobs I've had (those I can remember). *Painting & decorating apprentice, * Newspaper delivery boy, *Gardener, *Waiter, *Newsagency shop assistant, *Warehouse manager (2), *Music store salesman (3), *Desk sales clerk, *Professional musician/entertainer, *Music Sales rep (4), *Door-to-door fire extinguisher salesman, *Market Stall attendant/salesman, *Restaurant and events photographer, *Advertising Space sales manager, *Life Insurance sales agent, *Home products show and expo presenter, *Water filter manufacturer, salesman/marketer, *Painting & Decorating contractor, *Real Estate Agent, *Seminar salesman, *Property developer/marketer/entrepreneur, *Property renovator, *English teacher, *Internet entrepreneur (which my wife says is " not a real job"!) Whew!,.. that's it… now you know why I don't like Linkedin (you should see my "education" list….. it's a doozie!)
I've produced 8 kids with three women (oh yeah,… and I confess there's been lots more women to boot but I've been "serious" with at least three of them). With my first wife I had 5 kids (all grown up and left home now except the youngest boy who's presently 15. I have 1 boy (Brandon,… who is 12 and lives in Australia with his mum) under a defacto relationship that ended when Brandon was about 3 or 4 years old, and the other 2 boys (Channon 4 and Natthan 2) to my present wife Pet (I think this shall be the last,.. I can't afford any more,- this has cost me a freaking FORTUNE guys…so don't you go trying it at home!!)
I'm unofficially what you could call an "anti-establishment-arian",… meaning that I loathe government control and incompetent and arrogant bungling at higher (and lower) levels of government office. In Australia one thing I hate is the evolving Nanny-State mentality and control that is becoming very prevalent across all states in the nation. ( I could harp on for chapters here but will be polite and sensible and just leave it at that!).- I like to go cycling on my mountain bike,..especially when Brandon comes to visit.. or when there is someone else to ride along with. I have an ambition to someday take a bike tour around the provinces of Thailand and at the same time raise awareness for some kind of humane or local interest or to spread the word about the healing ministry of Jesus amongst the Buddhist peoples,…. which sounds like a formidable or even arrogant task (to some),.. but you'd be surprised how receptive simple people can be to hearing stories of miracles and historic consequense,.. especially when it has so many natural and healing benefits that go with it. ( More on my "Christian" perspective in later bullet points!….. oh I know,.. you can't wait!!).
- My favorite food is Thai food,.. I love Pad Thai and Gai Pad Mat Matmuang,..( a kind of mild spicy chicken and vegetable rice dish with cashew nuts, pineable and fried chili). Also really love pasta and bolognase,.. and lets not leave out the occassional pizza washed down with generous amounts of Cocacola.
- As a boy I went to 11 different schools over a 10 year period in both England and Australia. Despite the gaps in my education I ended up with a well rounded and capable academic experience that served me well in latter years (does anyone really learn anything substantial at school anyway?). So the life lessons and "how to deal with bullies" have come in handy over the years.
- I'm the son of a serial entreprenuer/ideas man who had/has some kind of Romany gypsy blood in him and couldn't stop moving around and trying out new ventures. He was a skilled painter and decorator for the most part of his life and he passed the trade on to me. I think every school holidays and countless Saturdays I spent "on the tools" with dad from the time I was about 9 years old until I was 16. Later, this came in handy when I was out of work I returned to the trade and stayed at it for 9 solid years and built a contractor business with 2 teams and had several apprentices working for me. Ultimately I gave this away as it was too stressful and tiring constantly managing the business and keeping my tradesmen in work.
- I started working out in the gym when I was 19,..and within about 12 to 18 months had become very muscular and as fit and strong as a racehorse. I kept up this training throughout my life on and off and even though now I'm a bit out of condition I'm still lean and muscular. So the argument that body builders go to fat when they stop training is just pure bunk. It depends on your metabolism and whether or not you've stuffed your system up (kidneys mainly) with too many steroids (which I NEVER took.).
- I have a brown belt in martial arts (freestyle karate) and although had plenty of opportuntiy to go for the black belt I never did (must be something to do with that danged drive to consistantly move on to newer things before completing those already in process). I also love Thai Chi which I practiced for many years (stiil do very occasionally) and I'd one day like to practice true Aikido and maybe even eventually go back to my original sensae Gary Johnson who has been a personal friend for over 23 years and is now a 7th dan Kiyoshi master and formally certified by the emporer of Japan (yeah.. go Gaz) and operates his own Martial arts academy "Munen-Muso" on the sunny Central Coast of NSW Australia with his lovely wife Leanne (also a 2nd dan black belt,… but I reckon she's tougher than Gary and could actually beat him up anytime if she really wanted to!).
- When I was in my last year of high school I became interested in playing guitar and singing. A primary motivator there was that being a "pop star" seemed like a much better idea than having to work for a living,..and it really didn't look that hard for all the famous people that were doing it. Although I did play "professionally" (like full time "half starving" musician for about a year back in 1979/80.) I mostly just played part time. I appeared on TV a few times,.. the height of which was in May 1980 when I was on "New Faces" with my singing partner Brian,… we won that show and went back on a couple times afterwards but nothing ever came of it except shattered dreams and dissapointments. During the 80's I had regular gigs playing in restaurants and small venues which helped with family finances quite a lot. Since then I've only ever played for my own enjoyment and for a while (quite a few years) I didn't really play at all. Now I play everyday and have my three guitars set up in my office,- which is really great and I just love it!
- My favorite TV show is Boston Legal (I have the first 2 seasons and part of season three on DVD). My favorite character from the show is Alan Shaw and I love the episodes where Denny Crane gets his gun out and shoots something or someone. The best episode ever was when Denny and Alan decided to get married for tax reasons and were challenged by the gay rights movement for making a mockery of them.
- The most fascinating present day mystery to me is that of the alleged alien spacecraft crash landing at Roswell New Mexico in 1947 in which it is said that alien beings and a spacecraft were apprehended and then secreted away to "Area 51" which has been denied as being existent, by the US military… but I reckon that it's probably true and that the Stealth Fighter Bomber single wing aircraft was modelled along the lines of the captured alien craft. That's why the Stealth Fighter Bomber was designed in the 1950's (way ahead of its time) but didn't get launched until the 1990's because 1) the technology to make it wasn't available until then,.. and 2) people weren't ready for such radical changes to aviation and perhaps could have "made the connection" between the Roswell incident and the new avaiation technolgy and design. Anyway,.. that's what I reckon (told you I was whacky).
- I've never tried hang gliding but I reckon I'd like to. Bungy jumping doesn't apeal to me (OK,.. it freaks me out).. and I reckon although I've been on high scaffolding, roofs and high ladders when I was a tradesman, I think I'm probably scared of heights and have a phobia about falling out of high buildings or falling over baclonies of multi storied shopping malls.
- Although I was raised in Australia and lived there for 29 years in all, I never went surfing on a real fibreglass surfboard. Just body boards and such (which were awesome fun for sure!). Having said that I love body surfing and I'm very good at it (OK….. used to be very good at it). In 1994 I almost drowned in a tidal rip at Avoca beach NSW because I was too proud and overly confident that I could swim out of it. The jet-ski lifeguards hauled me in and I knew it must have been a close shave because I couldn't even stand up for about 10 minutes after I hit the shore. Since then I've been very conscious of the need for ample rest prior to swimming (especially body surfing) and to never be too proud to ask for help (before it's too late).
- I believed in Santa Claus right up until I was about 12 years old,.. and although I'd figured out the Christmas eve routine and heard from all my mates for about 2 years prior that "it's really your mum and dad doing it all",…I can recall being disappointed to finally hear that the jolly fat generous guy in the red suit was really a fake and that it was in fact "your mum and dad pretending". After that, nothing seemed the same and I started to harbour serious doubts about all adults and wondered what else my parents had been lying to me about,… the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny perhaps??….. oh nooooooo!!!!
- I have a healthy disrespect for most lawyers and see them as being parasites within a system that is somehow sincerely striving for function and balance (Not sure if my views are in spite of the fact that I studied law or because of it). The majority of them would be better assigned to the role of boat-anchor in Sydney harbour. I just don't get it about these freaking morons that charge $450 per hour to listen to your problems and then try to find ways to make your life and your issues even more problematic so that they can suck even more money out of you,… and charging $400 everytime they send a letter or fax to the "other party"…. it's just some kind of warped and cruel joke. I've heard it rumored that many lawyers upon leaving the stressfull life of law practice then go onto to very lucrative careers as Intenet marketers,.. must have something to do with the attraction of similar standards of ethics required by the two professions!
- I am interested in other languages and can speak a little French which I took for a couple of years in high school. I also learned a few cantonese phrases and how to count in Cantonese which came in handy when I was in Hong Kong on honeymoon in 2004 with my wife (the latest one!).,… Oh yeah… and I made a complete dick of myself in a restaurant in Ho Chi Mihn City when I tried to look smart by speaking in French to the waiter,… who had been raised in Paris!!!… OMG…what a freaking disaster (for me). I once took 10 lessons in Mandarin Chinese but never kept it up as the Chinese girlfriend I had at the time split up with me (very smart girl) so it kind of seemed pointless. One day I'd like to learn more but for the time being I'm focusing on speaking Thai which is going quite well. The trouble is that I'm spoiled a bit because my wife speaks fluent Thai and English and she interprets and expresses for me whenever I ask. Learning their alphabet seems like an impossible task because there are 44 characters and everywordisjoinedtogetherwithanotherandnospacing!,.. go figure that one out!
- Smartest thing I've ever done?,….marrying my present wife Pet (hi honey). I know she doesn't mind me referring (cataloguing?) her as my "present" or "current" wife,… but my first wife did object whenever we went to a function and I would introduce her like,… "and this is my first wife,… Jacqueline"!
- Dumbest thing I've ever done?,…. getting married at the ripe old age of 23 years and 2 months!
- Most awesome thing I've ever experienced,… childbirth of my own kids (as a witness and not a mother!!!). For those fellow "dads" out their you'll know what I mean,.. and for all those not yet having experienced it,.. get busy copulating and you'll see,… otherwise just visit your local hospital and ask if you can sit in and watch (joking… only works if you're a med student!)
- Dumbest thing I ever said ,….."actually honey,… your arse does look a little lumpy in those old jeans!". Actually,.. the next dumbest thing I ever said (out loud in fact) was to the counter assistant in the pirate DVD store in Burma… "I can see Rambo 1, 2 and 3. on the shelf ..but do you have Rambo 4?"… honestly, the shop quickly emptied and I realized that in that part of the world they don't understand things like "humor" (or freedom of speech). I understand that old man Rambo (AKA Sly Stallone) is banned from Burma… yeah… officially!!!
- Smartest thing I ever said,.. (to my first wife) "Goodbye"
- I have grappled with having a short temper all my life and have a tendency to want to whack any opponents or would be smart arse assailants to the ground (probably comes from having had an overbearing father and being the subject of much bullying whilst growing up I think). This is in stark conflict with my fundamental "Christian" values and I have a hard time dealing with the "turn the other cheek" instruction,.. even though I am trying to deal with it. My wife said she'd gladly stand toe to toe with me in the kitchen slapping me across the face backwards and forward until I got used to the idea,.. maybe that would help!
- I have a subliminal ambition to act in movies and would one day like to give it a go. In fact I did have a small role in my school's productions of "The Log of The Bark Endeavour" and "1001 Arabian Nights" when I was 12 in 1970 which were masterfully written and produced by my favorite 6th class teacher and multi talented Mr John Speight,.. and I did take a drama class in 1983 in Sydney with Greg Bepper (he was in the Mad Max movies). My ambition will probably never eventuate "Hollywood style",… but hey, now that we have Youtube the sky's the limit right?
- I am the second son of a second son (it's meant to have some kind of prophetic significance) and was one of 5 sons my parents raised (a job they did to the best of their ability and which only reqiuired 2 years of therapy to iron all my kinks out). All my brothers live in Australia (one lives mostly in Korea as he's an airline pilot) and one of our brothers is deceased having fallen victim to suicide in 1991 at age 28. Mum and dad are still alive and live on a few acres in the upper Hunter Valley region of NSW. My dad is still as mad as a hatter and likes to talk to dogs, horses, birds, insects and any human beings that don't mind listening to him rave on for hours on end about any topic even though his favorite is the Holy Scriptures and man's quest to find his own identity and fundamental relationship with the universe!
- I don't subscribe to religion and although I have embraced lord Jesus as my personal saviour and role model for ideal human conduct and attitude towards living and harmonising with my fellow human beings and the planet in general. I don't subscribe to mainstream Christianity as I see it filled with way too much dogma, rigmarole and hypocracy. The closest denomination I would subscribe to would be Pentecostal Full Immersion Baptist but even amongst this sector there is much misinterpretation and self righteous hypocracy ("With their lips they worship me but their hearts are far removed",- Jesus). The closest label that I might apply to myself would probably be along the lines of "a free radical and self confessed hypocritical aspirant to Jesusian prinicple". I believe in, fear, and love God with all my heart and I pray for the world and it's leaders to rise above the error, greed and carnage that must some day come to an end in order for us (that remain and that are saved) to live harmoniously on the planet as was originally intended.
So that just about wraps up the list folks. As I mentioned earlier, I'll add images soon (everyone loves a picture to go along with a story don't they?). I'm sure I'll feel the temptaion to add to and amend this list later (hey,.. I do already), but I'll probably leave it as it is.
Thanks for reading,.. and feel free to leave any comment you like.
…. and finally,… God bless you my dear readers!
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Welcome to The RussRave
October 24, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Notices
Hi there,.. thanks for stopping by.
Actually,.. I really mean that sincerely because I'm sure you're busy and must have a ton of other things to be doing,. so thanks for dropping in to check out whatever it was that brought you here.
At this stage I'm still developing and tweaking things so please excuse the somewhat "plain-ness". I did have what I thought was a really neat screen Action-popup offering visitors some free e-books (actually they we're really great eBooks) but I'm finding more and more people are becoming less impressed with that massive barrage of free stuff and so I just took the Action popup page down for now.
If you'd like to subscribe to the list for getting lots of free insider benefits including tips, tricks, interviews ebooks, videos and webinars please feel welcome (otherwise,.. get lost!,……. just kidding!).
If you'd like to connect with me personally please just send me a message via my contact page and we'll chat real soon! I won't bite you and if I can help you in any way or arrange some kind of JV or plug for you (provided its an interesting cause) just let me know because I get over 2,000 visitors per day to this blog (but only in my dreams… it's actually closer to about 150 at present).
Ok… have a snoop around,… hope you find something interesting or some images or graphics worth stealing.
Cheers,.. and have a great day.
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How to Find Out Which Platform a Blog or CMS Uses
October 22, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Newbie Help, WordPress
Have you ever visited a blog or website and been curious or needed to know which platform they are using to generate the website?
Here's a brief tutorial on how to easily find out.
You can try it out on the page that you're on right here on The RussRave. If using Firefox click on the "View" tab in the top left hand corner of your browser.Then select "Page Source" from the drop down menu of the "View: tab.
You'll see the html source code page display on your screen and somewhere towards the middle or top of that page you'll see the blog/CMS title like this
<title>The RussRave</title> and immediately under that you'll see ,…
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress abc" />
Where you can see "generator" content ="Wordpress" means that the site is built on Wordpress. If it was Joomla or Drupal you'd see wording indicating that platform as the content generator.
If you're using Internet Explorer you still click on the "View" tab in the top left hand corner of the browser and then select "Source" from near the bottom of the drop down menu.
Hope that's of some use to you. If you have questions or comments please feel free to leave a comment,… for which you'll get backlink credit to your own blog via the CommentLuv plugin I have installed 
Cheers,.. and have a great day.
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WordPress Affiliate 1.0 Plugin
October 18, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Cool Tools, WordPress, internet marketing
I’ve just been invited to test review a new plugin called WP-Affiliate1.0 which I must say is pretty neat.
Here’s how it works:
Once the plugin is installed (very simple via a one-click zip upload) you configure the settings in the admin panel that allows you to determine how many links you’ll display either before or after each post. You can also elect to show the links in a panel either only on the posts page or on the home page or both, amd you can control the font, the size, colors and border all very simply too.
It works with Clickbank products but one of the cool things about it is that when the links get clicked, the redirect doesn’t go straight to a full-on clickbank sales page, but to an information landing page about the product where you can get more details and even download free samples and materials.
My verdict on this new plugin is that it’s a winner and I’m sure there are bound to be some other updates and inclusions as its development continues into the future.
You can see the plugin in action right here under this post in the box that says "Related Products". If you like this plugin you can leave a comment and I can give you more details of the impending release as it happens.
Cheers,.. and have a great day.
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Giving Too Much Free Stuff Can be Bad For Your Business
September 26, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Newbie Help, internet marketing
I try to keep my subscriptions on other people’s lists to a minimum. For the simple reason that I like to remain as focussed as possible on objectives and tasks, and the thing is that getting inundated with emails that are all clambering for my attention isn’t a good thing.
Presently I have hundreds and hundreds of emails unopened in my inbox even though I had it down to under 10 just a couple of months ago. So although I intended to go through and read many of them I’ll now just be bulk deleting the majority simply because they’re probably no longer relevant.
But the thing I really wanted to talk about is when you get on someone’s list and that person or marketer is really worthwhile and has good content and good supportive material that you would find useful,.. but then they start sending you invitations to get even more free stuff (lots of it in fact is very good,..and surprising that such good bbooks and programsare actually free). The thing that I’m saying is negative is the fact that these freebie offers are coming in every 2 or 3 days (sometimes more) and what I’ve noticed is that many of the offers are enticements for me to sign up to a new list with which the original marketer is affiliated (that’s good for him because he gets the referal commission,.. many of which are ongoing under micro-continuity programs) but it just means that you start to get more and more emails from other marketers that eventually end up being so intense that you just have to opt out of a whole bunch of lists.
Personally,.. I think that any marketer loses credibility and also reduces his or her own effectiveness by spreading themselves too thin over too many programs. Wouldn’t it be better to say focus on two (maximum 3) programs within a particular group that you really believe in and just totally focus on them. Write articels around them, blog about them, tweet about them, comment on them etc etc. That way you don’t end up aggravating people with endless offers with "this is the answer" connotation and thereby eventually lose credibility and just creat confusion (and mistrust?) in the eyes of your subscribers.
I’ll admit that I’ve personally been a bit slack in promoting what I believe are two of the very best programs for internet marketers to get involved with. These particular guys are the real deal when it comes to proving a track record of results that are totally free from all the typical guru hype and BS that abounds on the internet.
I’ll be featuring more about these two marketers shortly,.. but for now I just felt that I should make a point about being barraged by way too much free content. If you’ve got good free content to give to your list,.. then my recommendation is to limit it or drip-feed it to them so that it can be received fairly and given more serious attention too. I think we’re all getting a bit fed up of the "get in quickly" "this closes at midnight" "act before this dissapears",… I for one am just sick of seeing all of that even though it’s true that scarcity does motivate people to act,.. there are better ways of doing it.
Have a great day!
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Nerd Blogger Strikes Again
September 10, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Newbie Help, WordPress
What is it with these geeky guys that think they can come along and introduce a whole bunch of tricks, and cool techniques that will turn plain old WordPress installs into awesome Internet Marketing and Blogging power machines?
I was right in the middle of developing some pretty neat plugins that would flat out transform the basic IM abilities of WordPress that I was planning to charge $97 for and I reckon that would have been good value.
But along comes that brilliant (and very annoying) nerd genius Robert Plank and he creates a website loaded with videos in which he shows anyone and everyone how to turn their WordPress blog into a freaking Ferrari featured machine! He completely blew my plugin development plans out the window and then goes and adds even more features that anyone can start to apply right away using his insightful nerdy knowledge for which he’s becoming famous (read "infamous").
So I figured,.. what the heck…. if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, so I decided to feature Roberts "Nerd Blogger" here.
Get in now while the price is still low,…
…..to your WordPress and Blogging success!
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Brad Callen Customer Service Sucks!
August 30, 2009 by Russell Hall
Filed under Articles, Guru Focus, internet marketing
Brad Callen Sucks
Brad Callen without doubt produces some excellent products and clearly understands SEO and Keywords very well. I invested in his Keyword Elite 1.0 a couple of years ago and it has been great. I still use it quite regularly as a major keyword tool.
The only problem I have with Brad Callen is that whilst his products are great, his customer focus and support really SUCKS!
Let me explain that by saying that I have experienced two counts of lousy customer service and lame responses from Brad Callen’s people where problems and complaints were dropped at the point where my requests conflicted with Brad Callen’s policies (namely,.. I win,- you lose!). Ticketed response issues were just ignored and left hanging when it was realized that my issues of discontent would require actions that they were not prepared to make,- actions that would have required Brad Callen and his team to bend a little and to consider the customer’s issues as having more merit than nuisance value. For all the money that Brad makes it wouldn’t hurt him to reinvest a little of that back into keeping his customers happy and satisfied. Perhaps one way of making such an investment would be to employ more capable and customer focused staff that give real attentive service rather than offering trite and self preserving company policy jargon that purely serves (or so they think) Brad Callen Inc.
The issues:
The most recent issue revolves around the new release of Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite2.0 which is truly an excellent product that can perform some amazing tasks that just blows many competitors right out of the water. This is the way I felt about K.E. 1.0 as well. The problem is though, that whereas other marketers of similarly excellent products will provide free lifetime upgrades on the original version, Brad Callen insists on a fee of $97 to upgrade from Keyword Elite 1.0 to keyword Elite 2.0. He (actually, his staff,.. but I assume under his complete authority and approval) insists that KE2.0 is not an upgrade of KE1.0 and that it “doesn’t merge” and therefore represents a completely new stand alone product. To that I say “Brad Callen,..you are full of S.H.I.T.”. Of course KE2.0 is an upgrade (granted it is a major upgrade) because it essentially performs the same job as KE1.0 and has simply had some features added to make it compatible with keyword control and marketing in 2009 rather than that of 2007 (a massive time span in the Internet perspective). And of course it doesn’t “merge”,.. I don’t know of any upgrade that does “merge”,..that’s why we call them “upgrades”,.. because they replace the previous version,.. that’s like saying WordPress 2.8.4 won’t merge with 2.6.3! Clearly, Mr. Callen and his team think that customers such as me are complete idiots. Having said that, I expect that with due respect to other purchasers of the original KE1.0 that many have probably by now paid the upgrade fee of $97 because they realized they needed it’s functions to stay competitive. Most people don’t have the time or inclination to complain and insist on fair play as I have and so they relent to coughing up the money.
This is a disgusting and dirty practice Brad Callen,.. and you should be ashamed of applying such nefarious and narcissistic policies just to increase profits.
I could hardly believe the gall of Brad Callen’s customer service manager (Charles Livingston) when he proudly announced that KE1.0 customers “will receive a very large discount, via this coupon code at launch”,.. yeah,.. a hundred bucks off $197 which equates to getting slugged for $97,.. something that your average village idiot wouldn’t notice.
I noticed that the “ticket” that I opened with Brad Callen Inc. (AKA Bryxen Softaware) was declared “closed” immediately after the not-so-brilliant customer service rep Charles Livingston had provided only one reply which was just full of company rhetoric and self serving BS. So I then re-opened the ticket and left another message that clearly indicated my disgust and pointed out their lack of integrity and opportunist attitude. Of course, I got zero response and the ticket was again declared closed! This reminded of the previous time in November 2008 I made an inquiry via Brad Callen Inc. (AKA Byxen,.. rhymes with “thick-skin”) and encountered Nancy Fahey. At that time I was complaining about a forced-continuity issue regarding SEO Mindset Club, and the fact that my “FREE” copy of SEO-Elite was deactivated when I ceased to agree to ongoing monthly charges for the SEO-Mindset membership. I also was locked out of the remainder (3 weeks of it) of my SEO-Mindset membership that had been paid for by the $29.95 that I’d been charged and was refused a credit. The brilliant Nancy, told me that the $29.95 charge was justifiable because I had received the benefit of the “course” (that being the free book “SEO Mindset” that I paid $16.95 to have delivered,.. plus the first 30 days “free” trial membership to SEO-Elite membership club). When I argued the point with Nancy that “Free” means FREE, and that I should at least have my 3 weeks of SEO-membership (that I’d paid for) reinstated,..I was completely and bluntly ignored despite sending two more polite follow up requests.
I just let that one slip by and thought I’d put it down to experience and just console myself with the fact that the free “SEO Mindset” book (plus $16.95 deliver costs) was quite brilliant and I learned quite a few worthwhile things from it.
But when this latest issue with the KE.1.0/2.0 smoke & mirrors routine occurred, I decided to do something about it by writing this blog post at least as an expression of my extreme dissapointent in Brad’s apparent lack of forsesight and valued customer focus.
I doubt that my efforts to have my complaints heard and noticed will make too much difference to Brad Callen Inc and “Thick-Skin” software, but if it at least raises some awareness and just slightly annoys Brad Callen as much as his company policies and actions (or lack thereof) have annoyed me then I will feel justified.
In conclusion let me confirm that your products and your ingenuity are quite brilliant Brad Callen,.. it’s just your customer focus and belligerent attitude that TOTALLY SUCKS!
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