The Inbound Marketing Blog

First-year drivers, and anyone under 25, save yourself some trouble, take what I have learned through mistakes and years of living the reverse Boy Scout’s motto, and equip your car with these items in your first new or new-to-you vehicle.

I live in my car. Ok, not literally. That might make it tough to type this article. What I mean is… I spend a lot of time in my car. Forget the shower, driving is where I do my best thinking, singing to the radio, making up my own songs, and just pondering plans for the future. Through twelve years of driving legally, I discovered twenty-four items that one’s car must always, positively, never be without. These items are in no particular order of importance.

1. Insurance Card – Red and blue lights in your rearview and a siren means you have been stopped by the police and the first two items the officer will ask for is your license and registration. Keep a current insurance card in your glove compartment. Even if you have insurance, but accidentally left the card at home the police will have no mercy. It’s not worth spending half the day at the municipal court standing in line to get your ticket dismissed. Take it from someone who has learned the hard way.

2. Flashlight – My grandfather told my father to keep a flashlight in his car at all times and my father passed that knowledge on to me. Not just any flashlight will do, only a big a** flashlight that could be used as a billy club if needed. Not to mention the obvious illuminating benefits, you might have to put the beat down on a car jacker. You can you use it as protection if you ever have to make a pit stop at a roadside public restroom George Michael wouldn’t even frequent (see Google for 90s George Michael public restroom reference).

3. Batteries – What good is a flashlight with dead batteries? Strike that, there is still the aforementioned benefit, but batteries make it even better. Batteries are convenient to keep in your car not only for the flashlight backup, but also to replace the juice in a garage door opener or gate opener. Plus, if you get bored, it’s always exciting to put the top end of a fresh 9 volt to your tongue. Kids, do try this one at home.

4. Towel – I got this car item tip from “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and it makes a lot of sense. You never know when you might spill your Super Jumbo Colossal Gulp and have nothing to clean it up with. Towels are very multi-purpose, it may have to be your blanket one night or a costume to crash an East Indian wedding party buffet. Get 20 more items inside! Read the rest of this entry »

It was the spring of 1997 and I was a sophomore in high school. I was in Austin, Texas, with about 25 other classmates from my high school. We traveled down to Austin to watch other schools, large and small, participate in the state one-act play contest. We wanted to soak up everything we could about state-quality plays after losing disappointingly in the competition circuit a few months before. Can you imagine being the theater instructor or one of the parents chaperoning such an event? With male and female high schoolers ranging in age of 15 - 18 with varying maturity levels and hormones ranging, I did not envy them. Needless to say, it was an interesting road trip.

Our theater instructor Ms. Murphy had to drive one of those school provided white utility vans hauling her share of the kids for five hours south on I-35 and around town while another parent did the same. We were “her kids” since she never had any of her own. We loved playing tricks and mind games with her, almost as much as she liked playing them on us. Every year her house was toilet papered and forked - not because we didn’t like her. We loved her. That’s why we didn’t throw eggs.

Guess which famous stars we ended up seeing in person? Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/ERXAPYDX60RR

I have recently been writing in my personal blog more so than this blog, as you can tell since I haven’t updated since December. I am kind of struggling with knowing when write there and when to write here since a lot of what I DO I’m personally interested. I don’t just have a job for a job’s sake. I like psychology, persuasion, blogging, testing, and writing for its own sake. Over the years through my personal blog I have actually met and cultivated relationships with others which I normally would not have been able to do, since I express myself better through text than verbally. Business blogging I feel should be viewed from the outside looking in and should provide some type of value to the reader to use in his/her field. Read the rest of this entry »

Discussion boards are a good source of anchor text backlinks if executed correctly. Be executed correctly, I mean without SPAMMING. Can it be done? The answer is yes, but it’s not for the lazy or not persistent. In order to have a signature link which is attached to every post you make, you need to have what I call credibility factors. Below is a list which will greatly increase your chances.

1) Longevity in the forum - The longer the better.
2) User or rep points - The more the better.
3) Post count - The more the better.
4) Quality and length of posts - Don’t make your responses too short.
5) Giving more and taking less - Contribute more by answering more questions than asking.

With these factors in mind, below is the procedure for properly promoting in forums without SPAMMING.
Your goal is to participate in the forum long enough to EARN the right to have a couple of anchor text keyword-rich link signatures. You don’t need to draw attention to the links, but every post with a signature link becomes a linkback to the main site and helps it appear higher in Google.

1). Find 10 on subject active forums/discussion boards/bulletin boards with lots of threads, high PageRank and low Alexa. Make sure the forums you choose do allow signature links (some don’t allow it, check the board for others who have them).

2). Create and fill out two profiles completely on each forum using at least two different names- avatar (100 x 100 uploaded picture of self or anything else), add interests, location, as much info fields as they ask. A sheer giveaway is a hastily put together profile lacking info. Each character needs a full name, email, and identity - where he/she is from, occupation and whatnot. That’s two different profiles in 10 forums, 20 profiles in all. Keep all of these on a spread sheet.

3). After fleshing out the character profiles on each forum, find unanswered and recent questions (don’t answer ones that are too old) and answer them. Ask questions. Introduce your character in the “Intro” forum area (most have them). These are non-commercial statements, questions from a true person who would join the because of interest in the forum.

4). Make at least fifteen posts with TRUE VALUE per forum before every considering a signature link, more if necessary. This may take a few days. It’s best to start the day before the end of the month, that way it will say you’ve been a member since the month before even if it was only a couple of days. Longevity counts.

5). After those initial 15 posts, add a maximum of two official signature links area linking to appropriate pages on the site using relevant anchor text. Don’t put the links in your profile, or it looks like you are trying too hard and a moderators SPAM-Dar may go off.

Example, a signature link for a medical spa site wouldn’t have a signature link that says www.daireds.com, it would link to, something like “Dallas Medical Spa.”

6). Use different anchor text for each forum and link to interior pages as well as your homepage, since this is a good opportunity to get some deep linking.

7). Maintain these characters over a few years and you can change out the links when new pages need quick indexing or linky goodness.

That’s how you do it. Make sure you read their rules and terms of service. Many will say “no advertising.” Since you are not calling attention to the link and moderators and forum owners shouldn’t ban your account. Don’t get discouraged if some forums kick you out, the benefit of a one way, relevant anchor text rich backlink outweighs the cost.

If you are like many. You are wondering
what the heck is TWITTER.

If you are like SOME, you have already
realized that Twitter has become one of
the most revolutionary communication tools
on the planet.

Heck, even the new President of the USA,
Barack Obama, uses Twitter. In fact, he
has more followers that ANYONE in the world.

Why is Twitter one of the most revolutionary
communications tools? Read the rest of this entry »

I just found out I’m guaranteed success! I always found this saying to be funny since I could relate. I couldn’t take it any longer and decided to look up what it meant along with its origin. Apparently, Bob’s Your Uncle means you have it made, or you’re “all set.”

Bob’s Your Uncle Wikipedia Entry
——————————————
Bob’s your uncle is a commonly-used expression known mainly in Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth countries. It is often used immediately following a set of simple instructions and carries roughly the same meaning as the phrase “and there you have it”; for example, “Simply put a piece of ham between two slices of bread, and Bob’s your uncle.” Want to know the deep seeded secrets on the past history of this saying? Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I know this picture is creepy. Get over it.
When I was a wee lad, I had an affinity for Pee Wee.
One Halloween, in 1988, I even convinced my parents to
buy me a Pee Wee costume from the local Ben Franklin’s.
The assemble had a cheap Paul Rubens’ face mask which
was molded from flimsy painted plastic with a stretchy string
to hold it on It also came with a thin gray plaid cotton fabric
pull over shirt and pants fashioned to look like a suit with a
red tie. I fancied being able to“do the Pee Wee dance” to the
song Tequila standing on my toes. Why did I like Pee Wee?
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m in Los Angeles, California, right now, not far from LAX, seeing one
of my business and personal heroes and his guest speakers give a seminar.
This guy has influenced me in many ways over the last seven years since
I have been on his email list His style of marketing, coaching communication,
and the specific advice he has shared has influenced the book titles I have
read, the relationships I have had, my choice of occupation, and my own
business-based exit strategy plan. Even now I am using
some of the health rituals he has researched and shared. I have learned
a lot about business, psychology, and principles of offering true value from
him, have no idea how my life would be different if I would have never
discovered him (even though I never met him in person until today).

For the next three days, I will be engrossing myself with what this man
and the people he has deemed worthwhile have to say.
His name is Eben Pagan and what he teaches is powerful stuff all based
on book research and mentoring that has mapped some of the greatest
minds and thinking of our time.

I highly suggest you check out his programs:

MasterMindGuru.com

GetAltitude.com

DoubleYourDating.com

Everyday, a seven-year-old native Panamanian boy catches a red frog on a large green leaf and sits near the beginning of the trail to Red Frog Beach. He holds the frog in the leaf, and then shows it to tourists as they make their way down the trail to the little island secretly known to only the most perceptive wanderlusts. Why does he do it?
Read the rest of this entry »