Marketing | Robb Sutton

The Palm Pre Commercials are Terrible

July 31, 2009 By Robb Sutton 3 Comments

Labeled the iPhone killer from Palm…who just happens to be losing more and more marketshare by the day to Blackberry and Apple…the Pre is supposed to be the next level of technology advancements for smart phones through the use of numerous web based apps. Other than being tied to the worst carrier available in the US (Sprint), the Pre should show some sort of promise out of the ailing Palm lineup. To launch their latest technological wonder, Palm released a series of commercials in expensive time slots.

The Monk Commercial from Palm

I am sure most of you guys have seen this Palm Pre commercial before. Other than show us fantastic monk choreography…what on Earth does this commercial do to sell their phones? One of the beautifully fantastic features of Apple and Blackberry commercials is their ability to show you the phone functioning in a unique setting. In this commercial from Palm, we are far more interested in the monks than we are the phone! In this 1:00 minute slot, the phone is featured in about 10 seconds worth of footage. Now…I don’t know about you…but that does not make any sense.

This…among other things…is why the Palm Pre will never reach the Blackberry or iPhone level. Sad too…if you would have asked any smart phone user 5 years ago about Palm…they wouldn’t have forecasted this rapid loss of smart phone market share.

If you have not gotten a chance to check out the monk/Pre commerical…here is it for your viewing pleasure. Expensive and unique commercial…just doesn’t cell phones.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: commercial, iphone, palm pre

eBook Publishing – Do I Give My eBook Away for Free or Charge Money?

July 28, 2009 By Robb Sutton 1 Comment

In today’s online arena, eBooks are a fantastic way to build lists, generate revenue and spread your words to a large audience. eBooks can gain you reputation in a niche and bring credibility to your site in ways you never though possible while at the same time generating affiliate and direct revenue for your business. By publishing eBooks on your blog or website, you are participating in the most popular form of making money online outside of pure affiliate marketing. When you look into publishing your first or 12th eBook on your website or blog, you have to look into the options and see what kind of eBook publishing method is going to best suit your needs and end goal. When you look closely at popular eBooks, online eBook publishing falls into two basic categories.

Free eBooks for performing an action
Purchased eBooks

Unfortunately, for many eBook publishers, the decision on free or paid for their latest eBook is not an easy decision. Before we jump into what you should do with your eBook as you prepare to publish it to the eagerly awaiting online world, lets take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each eBook publishing method. The following article weighs the benefits and drawbacks of paid vs. free eBook publishing. As I continue to dive into eBook subject matter, we will cover eBook content and subject matter in a later article. For the purposes of this article, assume great content on a particular subject matter.

Free eBooks for Performing an Action

In today’s online world, blog readers and search engine visitors have grown very accustomed to getting everything for free. First, I want to dispel the myth…nothing is free. While your reader did not shell out any cash to pick up this form of eBook, the end goal is revenue generation and list building. By giving away a free eBook on your site if your visitor signs up for your newsletter, you are putting off a small amount of money up front with the hope that the reader will perform another call to action in the future that generates revenue for your blog. In most cases, your free eBook also contains revenue generating links that further increases your bottom line. The term “free” is coined because no money changes hands at the time of download.

Benefits of free eBook publishing…

Drastically more downloads than paid eBooks.
Does not have to be as unique or in depth as a paid eBook, but if you want it to really be successful…the more in depth and unique…the better.
Generates email lists through newsletter subscription services like Aweber for further affiliate and direct sales opportunities.

Drawbacks of free eBook publishing…

No direct money through the sale. Reader could never generate revenue for your blog.
Highly specialized techniques can reach the wrong hands and diminish you brand name (more on this later).

When you look at your eBook and contemplate whether or not you need to give it away for free or charge money, you need to look at other sites and blogs in your niche. Are they giving away for free what you want to charge for? Are there other, more in depth and popular free versions out there already? As you consider the competition, you are going to have to follow their lead in some ways.

Let’s take a look at the Make Money Online niche. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of free eBooks on the net all promising to make you an online millionaire if you just follow the steps they did. Now…many of these eBook publishers have not made one dime online, but there are several highly successful online marketers that are giving away their information for free. If you expect to jump into this market with a paid eBook, you are going to watch the sales drop off the map if you sell even one. Since there is so much competition that is already free, you are going to have to follow suit unless you are immensely successful (and everyone knows it) or you are coming to the market with a completely unique idea.

Free eBooks are one of the best ways to grow your presence online. They increase your subscriber count and make you money down the long haul even if you don’t see the direct result right away. I highly recommend that everyone have at least one free eBook publication for that reason.

Paid eBooks- Publishing eBooks for Money

As you look around online, you will see numerous, highly successful paid eBooks that are published on blogs just like robbsutton.com. These eBooks have generated revenue for blogs and websites through the direct sale of online content. Successful eBooks with timeless information can bring in revenue for long periods of time with minimal work after the eBook is complete and published.

Benefits of paid eBook publishing…

Instant money generated from the sale.
Still builds credibility and lists for eBook publisher (just smaller numbers than free).
Your information is more protected by the money qualifier before download (relates to specialized techniques comment above).

Drawbacks of paid eBook publishing…

Smaller amount of downloads over free for obvious reasons.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to spread the news, but you have to give up profit to achieve true success.
Needs to be very in depth and sometimes highly unique in the marketplace to be successful.

Typically, paid eBooks are unique in the marketplace. Their content is not easily found anyone else’s blog for free and it is relevant to a large audience. Either someone else has not filled that gap in the industry, or you have found online success through a new resource that is unique and can be replicated through your instruction. When a reader pays and downloads a paid eBook, they need to feel like they received something of real value that will add value to whatever subject you are writing about. There are numerous, highly successful paid eBooks on blogging, health and wellness, money and other subjects that affect us in our daily lives. If you already have a strong name in the industry, a paid eBook can bring you another huge source of revenue that was previously untapped.

To better illustrate the thought process that goes into the paid eBook decision, I will outline why I went with the paid option on Ramped Reviews on robbsutton.com. In Ramped Reviews, you will find step by step instructions on how to start a review blog, deal with companies as you seek and receive free product to review on your blog and how to treat your blog like a company instead of a hobby that you just do on the side. The following list is why I went with a paid eBook.

Ramped Reviews is unique to the industry, so the competition is extremely low.
I have had published success on large blogs that gives credibility to the information.
Not everyone should have this information (protecting techniques comments above). I did not want bloggers that were not serious about review blogging using this information to bug companies online and then use my name to say why they did it. If you are not willing to shell out the $20.00 it takes to buy the eBook, then you are not serious enough to contact companies for free product.
The return on investment is HUGE. I have received over $70k in free product to review…so 20 bones is nothing in comparison.

As you can see…there are several different factors that I considered before deciding to publish a paid eBook. Most importantly, I did not want this highly successful information to get in the hands of bloggers that are not absolutely serious about writing reviews or running their blog as a business. I like to think of the $20.00 as a fee of entry into the world of review blogging.

Do I publish a free or paid eBook on my blog?

As you can see by the lists above, there are many different considerations you have to ponder in your quest to publish an eBook on your blog. In most cases, if there is a large amount of free competition in your market, you need to release a free eBook to help grow your list and your blog. If you are in a market with low competition and you have unique information that will really help other readers reach their goals, a paid eBook may be your ticket to another revenue source on your blog.

One thing is for certain, there is no one right way to publish an eBook and you need to weigh your individual needs against the positives and negatives of each method. I do recommend that you at least giveaway one eBook (or something else valuable to your readers) for free to continue list building and blog promotion. After that…it is up to you on paid or free.

Of course, all of this information assumes that you have quality content backing up your decision…

Free image by tonx

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, The Web Tagged With: ebook, ebook publishing, list building, make money online

VS Commercial – "The Strong Shall Survive" – Battle of the Underdog

July 25, 2009 By Robb Sutton 2 Comments

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been following the Tour de France like any other cycling obsessed human on this planet. The HD coverage has come thanks to the people over at VS, and it has been one of the most exciting Tours to date. During the coverage, there have been some fantastic commercials that really get my motivation going. These are not commercials that make me want to go out and by the latest and greatest gear…they are commercials that make me want to push harder in my own life to achieve my dreams.

The following VS commercial has been played over and over again during the Tour coverage, but its message is absolutely perfect for us as bloggers and entrepreneurs. In life, we are always stacking up the odds to success. We might look at the competition and think…”I can’t make it”. This VS commercials reminds us that true come from behind winners do not consider the odds. When the competition starts…the winner is not decided by math and “passion has a funny way of trumping logic”.

As you go onto your next project or continue to push your current, remember that everyone had to start at square one and never under estimate the underdog. Bring your passion into your work and have the desire to do better. With that deadly combination, nothing will stop you. Inspirational messages like this VS commercial keep the blood flowing towards success.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Design, Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, motivation, passion

How to Get Your Guest Post Published on a Pro Blogger's Blog

July 22, 2009 By Robb Sutton 19 Comments

It is a known fact in the blogging world that the fastest way to grow your readership and attract new newsletter subscribers is to get one of your articles published on a pro blogger’s blog. By leveraging their large traffic and rss subscriber count, you are able funnel their traffic to your site by providing quality content on their large blog. One problem…large blogs are bombarded with hundreds…if not thousands…of pitches, guest post ideas and random emails on a daily basis. With hundreds of eager bloggers all begging for a spot on the Internets largest blogs, how do you stand out from the rest and get your article published?

Robb Sutton’s Recent Guest Posts

Before we jump into how I seek out high profile guest posts on large blogs, I want to show you that these methods actually work. Over the past week, I have been putting the push on robbsutton.com and Ramped Reviews to get more exposure for the blog and the eBook. As mentioned before, there is no substitute when it comes to traffic from high quality, large and targeted audience blogs. While there are other guest posts currently in the works, I wanted to point out two at this time (some of you may have found this blog through these recent articles!).

Now…I think you would agree that both Darren and Yaro are leaders in the industry when it comes to blogging and how to build a credible blog, so with subscriber counts in the 110k+ and 70k+ range…they can provide an extreme amount of positive exposure for your blog and newsletter if you blog is related to blogging and how to build a successful blog. I have seen fantastic results through these to guest posts and I am going to continue to find other blogs to market my content through.

How to Get Your Guest Post Published on a Pro Blogger’s Blog

Let’s jump right into it. I know you are just foaming at the mouth thinking about all of that targeted traffic you can generate through guest posting.

Guest Post Beginning Research

Before you even type that first word of your guest post, you need to do some market research and seek out top blogs in your niche. Obviously, if you are blogging about gardening, hitting up a high profile blog on blogging is not going to do you much good. Hopefully, at this point in your blogging career, you have a pretty good idea who the top bloggers in your niche are. If you do not…go to Google and start to search for popular terms in your niche.

Once you have found 3 to 5 top blogs in your niche, take a look over their sites and see if they feature guest posts on their blog. Many top blogs do not publish guest posts. You can still contact these blogs, but just know it might be a waste of time. Ideally, you want to contact blogs that are guest post friendly and have large subscription counts.

The Contact Phase in Guest Posting

Once you have your 3 to 5 blogs picked out, it is time to contact the bloggers and pitch your guest posting ideas. Before you start writing your pitch email, there are a couple of things you need to complete.

Read their blog – You need to know exactly what kind of information that blogger is posting on their blog. Your guest post ideas need to fit into what their target, core audience is already reading. Submitting an article on how to grow vegetables to a blog that specializes in flowers is not going to yield the results you are aiming for.
Prepare 2 to 3 article ideas – Once you know what the blogger’s readers are looking for when it comes to content, come up with 2 to 3 article ideas to include in your pitch. This will give the blogger a choice on article topics that will best suite his or her needs.
Read the about page – If you are not a regular reader of that particular blog, read the about page carefully to get to know the blogger and their goals. You need to have a personal interest in who they are and what they are trying to accomplish with their blogging.

Now that you have this information ready, it is time to contact the blogger with your pitch. Pitch emails for guest posting articles need to be short, sweet and straight to the point. High profile bloggers get thousands of emails, so you do not need to waste their time with a long, elaborate email filled with a bunch of unnecessary information.

Joe Blogger,
I would like to submit a guest post for your blog Ramped Gardening to help promote a new eBook I just published titled “A Beginners Guide to Happy Gardening” (or your blog/blog title here). I see that you write a lot of how to articles on vegetable growing, so I have a couple of ideas I wanted to throw by you.
How to grow the biggest tomatoes in any soil.
How to prepare your soil for the winter.
A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries.
If one of these would fit the needs of your readers, I would like to write a guest post and get it back to you no later than a week from today.
Thank you for continually putting out great content on your blog. The article on “Why I Grow My Own Vegetables” really hit home with me as I too am tired of over processed grocery store goods.
I have attached a copy of my eBook to this email and I look forward to hearing back from you.
John Blogger
Growing for Dummies – dummygrowing.com
john@dummygrowing.com

As you can see by the email, there is a personal connection and no fluff. Just straight to the point with examples and proof that you are not just sending out mass emails to the world. Your goal with any pitch email is to start a dialogue on content.

I Just Heard Back! Now What?

You sent your pitch email to the top blogger in your niche…he responded with a great email back and picked a topic for you to write about…now the pressure hits. It is time for you to deliver the goods. Guest posts on any blogger’s blog should be some of your best content. This is your first impression on their readers, so if you want them to click your blog’s address or perform some call to action, you better bring your A game. You also need to bring your best content because your content is going to have to be approved by the blogger and it reflects on the other bloggers blog!

After you have completed your amazing guest post that is going to be soak up by readers like sun on a desert, you need to email it off to the blogger for review. Typically…and this might be overkill…I submit guest posts with two files.

Plain Text Document – I submit a plain text document (created with a simple text editor like WordPad or TextEdit) as an attachment to the email with zero formatting. The blogger can copy and past the contents of this file into their post screen and apply the formatting necessary to match it to their blog.
Formatted Text Document – I submit a second html formatted text document that has all of the headline tags, list tags and any other relevant tags inserted. Before I submit this attachment, I check several of the bloggers articles by using view page source source in FireFox. By looking at each of the posts code, I am able to determine which of the H1, H2, H3, etc. tags that particular blogger uses and format the post to their needs.

Then I send the email.

Joe Blogger,
Thanks again for the opportunity to guest post on your blog. I have attached the proposed guest post for your review. Included in this email are two files.
A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries – formatted.txt: A text document that is already formatted according to the tags that you use on your blog.
A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries.txt: A plain text document ready for formatting.
Please let me know if there is any further information that you need.
John Blogger
Growing for Dummies – dummygrowing.com
john@dummygrowing.com

Congratulations! Your guest post is live!

You did it! All of your hard work is paying off and your guest post is live. Your amazing content is engaging with Joe Blogger’s readers and they are visiting your site and signing up for your newsletter and rss feed. Life is great as you continue to watch the stats climb on your own blog…but you are not done yet.

You job as the guest poster is to keep the conversation going. Watch the comments section of your guest post and respond to the conversation that takes place. By engaging with the blogger’s readers, you are showing that you take guest posting (and their blog) seriously, and you are adding to the value of your guest post. The more you engage with their readers, the happier the blogger will be with the results of your efforts.

After the dust has settled and the guest posting event has come to a close, write a short email thanking the blogger for publishing your guest post. If you had a great experience over this time period, mention that you would like to try this again sometime in the future. If the partnership was beneficial for both parties involved, a future guest post will be welcomed.

Guest Posting on A-List Blogs

That is the nuts and bolts of how I approach guest posting on pro blogger’s blogs. While some of these actions might be going overboard, I have found that it is extremely efficient and rewarding. The next time you go to propose your guest post to a top blogger, really sit down and contemplate what you can bring to the table. The more value you present in your content and your interaction with other bloggers, the more long term relationships you will grow for future success and partnerships. Blogging is all about fostering and maintaining relationships with your readers and other bloggers, so you need to treat every one of these partnerships with respect and professionalism.

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, guest posting, how to write a blog article, pro blogging

Unique Blog Designs – Theme Wars – Premium WordPress Theme Battle

July 21, 2009 By Robb Sutton Leave a Comment

I woke up this morning to find an email from Unique Blog Designs crew outlining their new site Theme Wars. Pretty cool concept really. Theme Wars is going to host premium themes that you can pick up through their store, but…even cooler…they are going to pit these themes against each other for your votes. Just think of it as a premium theme cage fight! Anyway…two themes are already up and running for your votes, so go check them out at Theme Wars.

Here is a snipit of the email from the UBD crew…

Hey there,
We know you’re busy, so we’ll keep this short and sweet.
Today, UBD is announcing the launch of a new WordPress theme
store!
Theme Wars is our new theme store with a twist. Top designers
battle and the community votes for the top WordPress themes.
Every week there will be a “Weekly War” between two themes,
and you decide who wins! Luckily for you, we still build both of
them!
We have filled the Theme Wars store with a bunch of awesome
WordPress themes to choose from, all including easy to use control
panels!
We also have a support forum and resource center packed with
tutorials so that you can take your blog(s) to a whole new level!
Theme Wars is also going to be completely GPL compliant, which means
all of the themes can be used on unlimited websites!
Oh yeah, don’t forget to vote on this week’s war – click “Vote Now”
on the home page.
To your success,
UBD Team
(Josh, Matt & Nate)

Knowing the quality that comes out of Unique Blog Designs, I would expect to see some pretty kick ass themes in Theme Wars over the next couple of months.

Click here to check out Theme Wars and vote for your favorite

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, The Web Tagged With: Blogging, theme wars, themes, unique blog designs, wordpress

Blogging Needs More Heros and Success Stories

July 20, 2009 By Robb Sutton 12 Comments

What fills up a stadium full of fans? The love of the game? No…the fans pour into stadiums, tune in on tv and read articles on the internet with the hope they can be apart of greatness. How many times did you grandfather tell you about perfect game when you were a kid? How many times has your father told you about his friend that overcame a huge obstacle in life to achieve success? When Lance Armstrong takes his first pedal stroke in the Tour de France, viewers come out in record numbers to watch and cheer hoping for another come from the back victory. Underdogs in playoffs around the world are cheered on as they go after the impossible defying all odds. When cancer patients push through the pain and beat the disease…we cry with happiness and bring motivation to the next fighter. What is the common theme amongst all great things in this world…a hero.

What is a hero?

A hero is not a perfect human being that has achieved greatness with ease. A hero is a person who has overcome adversity to achieve new heights of success that touch us to the core. They arouse feelings of joy and pain as we watch these super humans pull up towards the front…defying all odds. Perfection is boring. In life, we want to see people pull themselves from the wreckage to achieve greatness. It is this imperfection that draws us closer to these individuals as we can relate where they came from and how they live. Through struggle and persistence, these hero’s showed us that a regular person can still make it in life. A regular person can fight and bring about change by pushing forward. Hero’s show us that it can still be done no matter what the world says. Hero’s tell a story and give us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Why does blogging need more hero’s?

Becoming a blogging hero - Blogging Success - Tell a story

Truly successful bloggers have a heroic story to tell. When you look at the Jeremy Schoemaker’s, Darren Rowse’s, John Chow’s and Zac Johnson’s, you see stories that end in success. These bloggers did not start off successful. They built themselves up from real issues in their own lives that range from large debt, getting fired from jobs and even health issues. The reason they are successful and touch the lives of so many is because of their success story. Their pull from the wreckage, defying all odds story touches the lives of their readers as they continue to climb the ladder. Readers are able to engage and relate to these bloggers on a very personal level.

The successful bloggers are not just another copycat. They are originals with original stories. As others try to imitate their success…they fail because they lack the foundation of a personal story behind their blog. Blogging needs more hero’s to jump up from the wreckage and achieve greatness. With more and more eager bloggers all looking to make their next easy fortune with their words, the blogging world is getting saturated with boring crap that is not a story…it is purely just an attempt at income.

When you start looking at your blog from an objective level, are you telling your story? Many times…we leave out the most personal aspects in our lives and replace them with boring attempts at income production. The transparency in life and your personal involvement with your readers is what is going to grow your blog to record levels. By bringing your story to your blog, you can become the hero in your niche. Where others falter, you will succeed by connecting with your readers on a deep level that can only be achieved by sharing your failures as much as your successes.

There is and always will be bland blogs that are void of feeling and personality. It is your job, as a real blogger, to bring that emotion back to the web. When you write your blog posts, they need to be an extension of who you are as you continue to pump out content related to your niche. Use the transparency in your life to connect with your readers. Even those who do not share the same feelings and experiences as you do…will respect where you have come from and where you are going. Fight the urge to create an anonymous, lifeless blog by stepping out and being vulnerable. By stepping out and sharing your life and experiences with others…you are able to create your own heroic story through your blogging.

Everyone has a story to tell…what is yours?

Shadow image by yosoyjulito
Duck image by Roby©

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, success, successful blogging, tell a story

Blogging: If you build it, they will come…

July 7, 2009 By Robb Sutton 1 Comment

When it comes to building a blog and increasing traffic, the “Field of Dreams” if you build it, they will come pipe dream is no longer a reality. As much as we wish we could just throw up our mind blowing, life changing content on a screen and the readers will come in large masses to soak it up like lemonade on a hot day…that just is not reality. There was a time when you were able to see a glimpse of this when blogs were new and quality bloggers were scarce, but now we have hundreds of thousands of blogs with thousands of quality writers all competing for the same readers day in and day out. So as you start your new blog with dreams of making the big time, what can you do to increase your chances of success?

Time to be Unique

If you are expecting to copy another bloggers successful formula with the hope that it will work for you as well…you are sorely mistaken. The #1 reason that blogger was successful and you will not be is because he or she was unique in their niche. They found a way, probably through a lot of testing, to find their own voice that attracted readers. By copying this success, you are just becoming another run of the mill copycat that will eventually fall off the end of the web.

Blogging is a form of self expression, and you need to bring yourself into your blog as much as you can. Find your own voice and unique way of presenting your content. The more transparent you are…the better results you will see as readers are attracted to you and your thoughts. In your blogging, you are going to be your greatest asset, so you need to start treading yourself in that manner.

High Quality, Link Bait Content

You are never going to reach a large audience without high quality, link bait content. High quality content is a no brain’er when it comes to blogging. If you don’t plan on taking serious time shaping your brand and providing reliable content, you might as well not waste your time deleting the “hello world” article. Your sole focus in the beginning of your blogging career should be on content and consistently delivering that content to that very special 10 readers you have a day (I know…2 are your parents, 6 are your friends who don’t really care and the remaining 2 are what you are building your blog on…they are probably your most important 2 readers ever). Once you have a proven track record, you are going to start to see other blogs and media sources link to your content.

Quality back-links, in my opinion, are still going to be your most important source of search engine traffic. As far as I can tell, back-links still have the greatest affect on search engine rankings, so the more quality back-links you have to your blog…the more new readers you will attract through search engine results.

You can’t do it alone…

Kevin Costner even had some help from his family when building the baseball field, and you are going to need the help of other bloggers in your quest to make it to the big time. Start interacting with other bloggers in your niche through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. As you begin to see some positive results of your work and build enough of a good reputation in your niche, you are going to want to start submitting guest posts to other top blogs to increase your spread on the web. If you already have a positive relationship with these bloggers, it will be easier to step forward and ask for a little help by providing quality content for their blog.

It is also a great idea to start conversing with the technical minded individuals in web design. You are going to need to call upon their services in the future and give and take relationships are much more beneficial in the long run. Start looking for ways to help out others in the industry because that good web karma is going to pay back to you 10 fold.

Welcome to the Big Leagues

If you repeat that formula…over and over again…you should start to see a pretty significant following. A lot of beginning bloggers look at the incomes brought in by the world’s top 1% and think…

Wow…that looks easy…I could do it too! In one month I am going to quit my job and make a killing blogging!

Ha! I wish it was that easy and the #1 main reason that these top bloggers make it look so easy is because they are very good at blogging. Time and practice makes perfect, so remember that in your quest to become a top blogger. Nothing comes overnight and building anything that is truly successful takes time and hard work…

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: Blogging, building a successful blog, increase traffic

The Key To Success and How To Be Successful

July 6, 2009 By Robb Sutton Leave a Comment

What is it that successful people know that you don’t? What makes it so that they can realize success and prosperity over and over again while you are just struggling to tread water in this unsure world?

There has to be some secret, something you don’t know, something that would break you into the life that you always dreamed of if you could just figure it out. If you could only tap into that greatness that those successful people found, then you too could walk out of the wreckage and grab the dreams that you have always had just one step out of reach.

The Key To Success

So what is this key to success that will catapult you forward? Today is your lucky day because I am going to reveal the secret to success so that you too can live the life that used to be only a dream. The key to being successful in life and in business is really two fold. Each of these aspects are mutually exclusive and require each other to realize positive results. There are people in this world that try to achieve new heights by only implementing one of these fantastic ideas, but they end up failing and fall into complacity with their lives as they stand that moment. To truly be successful…you need two very important traits…

You must have the willingness to take calculated risk.
You must never give up.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? If it is so simple…then why isn’t everyone successful? Let’s break it down a little bit further in our quest to live a better life.

The Willingness To Take Calculated Risk

At the start of every successful marriage, there was one thing that had to take place. One person in the relationship (normally the man) had to take the risk and ask…”will you marry me?” Now…hopefully he had a pretty good idea of what they answer would end up being before he asked, but it was still a calculated risk that he had to take in the pursuit of a happy family life.

We take calculated risks on a daily basis without even realizing it. Most of the time, the risk is relatively low as it has become a part of our daily routine. You take a risk every time you get behind the wheel, eat fast food or even walk across the street. To be successful, you have to apply these same types of situations to your business decisions. Are you willing to invest money to see a large return? Are you will to start a business during a recession? Are you going to act on that idea that you have been holding onto for years? All of these are questions that require an action that is based upon an associated risk that returns a reward. Often times, the decisions that carry the largest amount of risk reap the largest rewards.

So why don’t more people take risks in their professional life? Fear. The fear of rejection, failure or losing the little bit they already have keeps individuals, like yourself, from stepping out and taking calculated risks. We find ourselves coming up with excuses for our current position in life stating it could always be worse. That statement is not false, but it also keeps us from achieving greatness by being content where we stand. When was the last time you took any risk?

You Can Never Give Up

99% of the time, people give up right before they achieve their goal. In business and in life, there are going to be barriers to your success. There are going to be people that don’t understand. There are going to be friends that down deep do not want you to succeed and they will put down your efforts in an attempt to keep the status quo. You are going to fail along the road to success more times than you succeed.

The Key to Success - Never Give Up By learning from your mistakes, ignoring your negative influences and pushing forward, you can achieve your goals. Far too often, we let outside influences directly affect our actions instead of motivating us to work harder. Successful people learn on a daily basis and apply that knowledge to their next adventure. As you look towards the future, remember to never give up in your pursuits because you are the only one that can stand in your way. Your mind will play tricks on you as you start to believe others that are telling you it can’t be done. Just imagine if Thomas Edison gave up before that final attempt that brought light to the world. Truly successful people use their failures as motivation to do it better next time…not to quit…

As you go through life…

…analyzing your next move. Take a close look at past decisions and learn from those outcomes. What could you have done differently that would have yielded a different result? Did you need to take a little bit more risk? Did you give up right before you were about to make it? Use that new knowledge and apply it to the future. You never know…your next successful act could just be the one that makes it…

Key/Door Image by Engin Erdogan

Filed Under: Economy, Lifestyle Design, Marketing Tagged With: how to be successful, key to success, risk, success

Ramped Reviews eBook Released – Free Review Product and Pro Review Blogging

July 2, 2009 By Robb Sutton 6 Comments

It is finally here! The ultimate eBook guide to review blogging. Ramped Reviews takes you step by step through every process in review blogging.

The Story Behind Ramped Reviews

As my cycling blog continued to grow, there was one question that continually flowed across my email inbox.

How do you get all of this product in to review?

For those of you that don’t already know, the reason my readers were asking this question was because Mountain Biking by 198 had seen over $70,000 in review product before it’s first year anniversary. I started searching the web looking for a resource that spelled out exactly what I was doing with MTB by 198 so that others could replicate my success with getting in free product to review for their blog. After a lot of searching and frustration, I realized…there was not a resource on the internet that taught bloggers, website owners and small publications how to get in free product to review for their readers.

After seeing this gaping hole in the internet marketing world, I decided to take on the task of creating an eBook that taught bloggers how to become pro review bloggers that receive thousands in free review product. On that day…the concept for Ramped Reviews was born. Since that day, we have pouring every bit of the review process into this eBook that is now available.

What do you get in Ramped Reviews?

You get every single step in the pro review blogger process.

Why bloggers get free product to review.
What your site needs to have before you start the pro reviewing process.
How to contact companies in your niche about free review product. (including a high converting sample letter)
The review process and how to write a successful product review including SEO review tactics that have landed my reviews on the front page of Google.
What to do after the review process is complete.
How to turn your product reviews into cash.
How to rapidly grow your blog through your free review product and product reviews.
Bonus Material

As you can see, Ramped Reviews is a complete resource for bloggers looking to get free review product for their blogs. This eBook took months to complete as we were exhaustive in finding every bit of information you guys need to be successful. We did not want to create an up-sale product that only gave you half of what you really needed. Ramped Reviews is a complete guide to pro review blogging and receiving free product to review on your blog.

So how do I get my own copy of Ramped Reviews?

Simple! Follow this link and click purchase.

Buy Ramped Reviews Now

For $20.00 (not a 19.99 marketing trick to make you feel like you won something…a flat 20 bones!), you get everything you ever needed to know about review blogging and getting in free product to review on your blog. As you can already add up in your head, this eBook will more than pay for itself with that first trip from UPS or FedEx.

My experience in the corporate sales and marketing world has allowed me to see massive success in a very short amount of time. Ramp up your learning curve and maximize your success rate by purchasing Ramped Reviews. It will be the smartest step you have taken into the pro review blogger process.

Special Thanks

A special thanks goes out to Justin Shattuck and the crew over at Just The Web for their help with the design and editing of Ramped Reviews. They are the best for a reason!

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media, The Web Tagged With: getting free product to review, how to write a review, ramped reviews, review blogging