WordPress Plugins, a Widgets Junkie and Twitter
By Mark | July 23, 2008
Hi, I don't remember seeing you here before. If you're new here, welcome. If you despise the hype on the net as much as me & like a laugh, keep up to date with my latest posts by subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! The Anti Hype
I love Wordpress because it is so simple to create a site that looks good and can be easily updated. But even more I love the massive range of plugins and widgets that are available that make using Wordpress easier or help with everything from backing up to search engine optimisation. Yes, I’m a widget junkie!
I’ve been experimenting with Twitter although I openly admit to being a little sceptical since I personally take little notice of other people’s Twits - most seem to be promoting something or telling me they’re making a cup of coffee!
But today, Mark at Healthy Foods brought something to my attention that really caught my imagination.
This brand new plugin (like most Wordpress addons it’s free) has really opened my eyes to how Twitter can be a real traffic generator. There is an upsell to be fair, which actually is really exciting, but I’ve not gone for it yet. My Homer tendencies had me reaching for the credit card but I’ve got too much else going on right now.
What’s unusual about this plugin is that is does several things. The main part being it should really increase the traffic to your sites due to the viral nature of what it does.
Firstly it automatically posts to Twitter immediately you post to your blog. One job saved.
Secondly, there is a widget that goes on your own blog that immediately shows your latest Twits. Visitors at your site are likely to look at your list of Twits and, if your worth following, will start to follow you.
Thirdly, there’s the upsell. If anyone decides to download the plugin and buy the upsell then you get a share of the commission.
So by simply using a plugin to potentially generate more traffic you could also make some commissions without doing any more promoting at all.
I’ve decided to try to enhance this traffic experiment a little further and you may like to give this a go too.
Anyone posting a comment on Guru-Fodder (at any time) or showing up in my Recent Visitors box will, as always, be visited by me.
What I’ll now do, however, is Twit those blogs / websites so they will get exposure to my followers and perhaps my followers, followers. In addition, the link to those blogs will also show up in My Twitter Feeds on this blog.
So, for a simple comment here you will get two links - one from Twitter and the other from this blog.
Will that lead to more traffic? I can’t answer that but I can tell you - there’ll be no traffic from here if you don’t give it a go since no one will know you’ve visited!
To join just click the link at the bottom of the My Twitter Feed list or take a look at Tweet My Blog.
Looking forward to your comments.
Mark
If you know little about Twitter you’ll find these other resources useful
Ultimate Twitter Resource and Promotional Guide - (Here are the links to my previous Twitter columns: Using Twitter to Increase Readers and Make Friends, Don’t Take Promotional Personal with Twitter, and The Twitter Effect). My series of Twitter entries created quite a bit of buzz, …
Digsby: Get Twitter Followers and Nintendo SP? - Now I have been on Twitter for a little more than 10 months, and I have currently a little over 260 followers. I started actually using Twitter in March, in only five months I have gained 250 followers. How did I do it? …
Relationship Marketing via Twitter - Social networking sites like Twitter have rapidly saturated the Internet landscape and are flourishing. Is your organization capitalizing on this phenomenon? Zappos is using Twitter to connect with job seekers. …
Using Twitter in your Social Media Strategy - For those that aren’t aware, Twitter is a social network that allows ‘friends’ to communicate with each other in brief 140 character bursts of text (known as tweets). You can send these tweets directly through the twitter website, …
Topics: Back Links, Free Resources, Marketing, WordPress |
Homer Gets Hypnotised
By TheAntiHype | June 24, 2008
Image via Wikipedia
Conspicuous by his absence I called Homer to find out what’s new.
Marge answered the phone:
“Hello My Anti Hype. I’m afraid Homer is in a trance and has been for nigh on 10 days”
She didn’t seem over concerned. If your partner had been in a trance for 10 days how would you feel? You’d better not leave a comment about that in case they read it!!
“Well, I can’t say I’m too unhappy about that Mr Anti Hype” she continued. “He hasn’t spent one single $ on internet marketing in the past 10 days and that is the longest he’s ever gone without a fix”
I was itching to know what had happened.
“Well Mr Anti Hype (I do wish she’d be a little less formal) you know what he’s like. He starting receiving emails, hundreds of them a day, from various people promoting Dr Joe Vitale (you know the guy from The Secret) who has a new program called Hypnotic Marketing.”
“Something you said to him must have sunk in to his denseness because rather than simply buying the program as he would usually he decided to do some research into other hypnotic programs.”
“The last I heard from his “office” were the words:
Look into my eyes, not around the eyes, look into the eyes, your under.
“And that was it, he’s been in a trance ever since. I looked at his computer screen and there was a guy called Kenny Craig - his video is below - and I must say he’s very good! I imagine Homer felt he could learn his technique and increase his sales revenue. It seems Homer went under early on in the video but I can only assume he went very deep and couldn’t access the call back to reality.”
“As I’m enjoying a few extra dollars to spend on myself, I’ve not done anything about getting him out of his trance just yet. Kenny told me all I need to do is turn up the volume on his computer speakers and he’ll come out as though nothing has happened”
“I’m not ready to do that yet as I’m researching a program that could change his perspective on reality first”
“I’ll let you know what happens Mr Anti Hype.”
So, I feel I’m somewhat to blame with this. He really should have bought Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Marketing. It’s low cost, really good and would have saved Homer his latest indignity.
At least Marge is happy!
The Anti Hype
Topics: General Guru Fodder |
Let’s Disqus - Video Comments?
By TheAntiHype | June 20, 2008
Disqus - surely you mean D I S C U S S?
Actually no, Disqus is another of those great sites that uses an unusual spelling of a common word.
I started using the Disqus service today and you need to know because it affects you.
Quite simply - Disqus is brilliant.
Ever wanted more interactivity on your blog? How about talking - yes, not only can your visitors leave text comments with this service, voice comments and even video can be created directly on your blog.
Disqus has taken blog comments to the next level.
Give it a try - you’ll be asked to create an account as you leave a comment - the benefits are huge. Comments you leave on any blog that uses Disqus will have your profile attached and others will vote for the quality of your comments.
Spammers are out in the cold and good commentators will reap the benefits - if you leave great comments do you think others may be tempted to visit your blog? It’s what the whole Social Bookmarking movement is all about.
Am I ready to use a webcam to leave my comments - I’m not sure yet. For now I’ll be using voice only - the problem is I don’t look at grumpy as TheAntiHype all the time and my cover may be blown!
I’ve left a short message below as an example of how it works.
I highly recommend it and here’s the co-founder explaining a bit about the service and the company.
The AntiHype
Topics: Blog Videos, General Guru Fodder, Social Bookmarking |
The Help Desk Guru!
By TheAntiHype | June 13, 2008
“Hi, I’m (name removed so as not to add to unemployment figures) and I’m your HelpDesk agent” (Sounds like the opening gambit at an AA meeting - not that I’ve been to one)
“What can I do for you today?”
Yes, I’m sure you’ve been there too. The trouble is it all too often goes rapidly downhill from this point.
“I’m trying to move my site from the existing hosting service to my hosting account with you and I need a little help in understanding the process.”
“Do you have Mysql”
Here we go - a techie trying to live in the real world. I thought of saying “no, it’s just a cold” but thought it would only confuse matters.
“Does it matter? I’ve fully backed up the whole site and have it on my hard drive”
“OK just ftp it to your account”
“But what then? The FAQs say only part of site can be restored from back up”
“Just a minute” - sound of thumbing through HelpDesk reference manual volume 4
“You’ll need to send a request to the help desk to restore for you”
“Aren’t you the Help Desk?”
“Yes”
“Then why am I sending you a request when you know what I need”
“It’s the way the system works”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please rate the quality of your HelpDesk assistant.
I’d rather not on the basis I’d hate to be accused of accelerating his departure!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Hi, I’m (different name but again removed so as not to add to unemployment figures) and I’m your HelpDesk agent”
“I received an email telling me my files had been restored but their not in my cPanel under File Management”
“Let me look into it for you - I’ll be pleased to help”
Sounds promising!
“No, they’ve not been restored”
“Why have I received an email telling me they have?”
“We sent another message after that saying that the username has already been used on that server”
“I don’t understand what that means but where have you restored the files”
“We haven’t - we need you to give us a new user name”
“But why tell me you’ve restored the files if you haven’t?”
“We haven’t restored the files because we need a new username”
I just lost the will to live! What is he talking about?
“OK, I have no idea why you can’t use the username I created when I opened the account but now try XXXXX”
“I’ve added it to the ticket”
“So what happens next”
“I really don’t know what they’re going to do about this”
“Is this the Help Desk?”
“Yes”
“Perhaps you could H-E-L-P”
“The best thing to do is wait for them to respond to your ticket - it won’t be long”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How do you think I look with a beard? I could have grown one by now as I wait with baited breath for the HelpDesk guru (had to slip that in) to let me know how they’ve HELPED! Still it won’t be long.
I’ll post again as soon as I have a reply.
The Anti Hype
P.S. This is really happening as I post - in relation to another blog I’m trying to move. I do have some understanding of what needs to be done but for someone like Homer, who as you know is technically challenged, this would be even more of a nightmare!
Topics: Customer service, General Guru Fodder, Humour |
Big Brother Syndrome
By TheAntiHype | June 12, 2008
Image via Wikipedia
You really don’t know.
I didn’t.
Who is watching you? Right now I mean.
It’s the big brother syndrome. In city centres, shopping malls, museums, even on the roads we are being watched by video cameras.
But have you ever given a moments thought to who is watching your blog posts without you knowing?
Yesterday I mentioned that Willie Crawford was following me on Twitter and following that post Willie commented to say that he also reads this blog.
I had no idea.
But that got me thinking at a slight tangent. How did someone as busy as Willie Crawford find my blog in the first place and when did he start reading it?
Was it a forum post somewhere, a mutual “friend” on one of the social sites, a link on Digg or Stumbleupon? The possibilities are almost endless.
One thing I can almost guarantee is that he didn’t do a Google search for Guru Fodder (but if you had Willie you have no trouble finding me!)
I’ve drawn two important conclusions:
1) Every link you leave to your blog is important. Yes, I’ve always known that but this highlights the point that we never know who might follow those links and what that might lead to.
2) Every post is important because you never know who is reading what you write. Do you want a potential employer, customer, JV partner, friend or whoever to judge you by a post you threw together because you just didn’t have the time to do it properly?
I know I don’t.
The AntiHype
Topics: General Guru Fodder |
What Have Jack Humphrey & Willie Crawford Got in Common?
By TheAntiHype | June 11, 2008
Call me a sad old Anti Hype if you must but this week two particular things raised my spirits.
I wrote a short post about Utility Poster and the owner of the program, none other than Jack Humphrey himself (see Authority Site Center) took the time to visit this blog and personally post his thanks for the review and links.
And then today, the legendary Willie Crawford started following me on Twitter.
Now I have no way of knowing whether this is because Willie reads Guru Fodder or whether he is just adding to the number of people he follows. My guess is he’s busy enough without aimlessly following people so I can only assume he has an eye on me - Hi Willie 
Now the real reason I’m chuffed about these events is that not only have two high profile guys shown some interest in me but the online life can be a little lonely when you’re not sure who really is paying any notice of what you are doing. To get confirmation that you’re not just talking into thin air is very encouraging.
Thanks guys - I’ll try not to say bad things about you!!
The Anti Hype
P.S. If it’s good enough for Willie Crawford maybe it’s good enough for you! Follow me on Twitter.
Topics: General Guru Fodder | 3 Comments »
Go Angry
By TheAntiHype | June 9, 2008
Ever get angry about something?
Working from home it is sometimes difficult to let of steam as there’s no one there to listen.
I found Go Angry this week - a great idea where you simply post what you’re angry about.
You may get some comments from other visitors - possibly some advice - but even if you don’t it’s a great release to offload to the world what you’re angry about.
Give it a go, it’s therapeutic!
I may need to go angry for guru fodder - we’ll see how the day goes!
The AntiHype
Topics: General Guru Fodder | 2 Comments »
Why An Internet Marketer Changes Direction
By TheAntiHype | June 7, 2008
What really caused Eric’s change of direction?
I used to read Erics Tips but stopped when I unsubscribed from most of the lists I’d signed up to because I was sick of the endless pitches - all dressed up as providing information I needed but in reality were just trying to get an affiliate sale.
Now there is nothing wrong with affiliate sales - it is in fact my favourite business method - but what is wrong is the blatant pitches of product after product that people haven’t even taken the time to look at themselves.
To be fair to Eric he did always give a review of the products but he still suffered from my mass cull because I always felt somebody other than my own best interest was at heart!
Today, I was asked to comment on what Eric had said at his blog and I particularly picked up on his headline
I’m tired of contributing to the hype machine
To quote Eric:
I’ll still promote some other people’s products if I feel it is warranted, but I’m definitely stepping out of the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” guru game. The problem with that method is that I’ve ended up promoting some products that my readers didn’t really need.
My other gripe with the guru “pitch fest” is that I’m seeing an increasing amount of deception in some marketers’ marketing materials. It seems that a lot of marketers have pushed the “hype” envelope to the point where they think it’s OK to flat out lie to make more sales.
Oh, yes. Thank you Eric for that. If only more people would reach the same conclusion.
However, the reason for this post is the conclusions I drew after considering what Eric said in his post and reading the link he provided to:
Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
That post starts off with a story about the Gillette business model. You know give away the razor and people pay an ever increasing price for the disposable blades. Once there was just a blade, then twin, then lubrication strips etc etc
The conclusion drawn is that the internet is moving to a big giveaway - indeed this is true with free information videos sprouting up almost every day.
But there is a big difference. The free razor was a ploy to get people used to disposable blades and into the mindset that new blades were purchased on an ongoing basis thereafter because the razor on its own was useless.
The internet “free” model works on a different principle - Reciprocation
Simply put “I owe you one for that” - a feeling of obligation.
In other words give away free information and some people will feel obliged to buy something. That is quite different to needing to buy new blades because the old ones are blunt.
Business works on the principle of making a profit.
It does not give stuff away for free for nothing!
Things are given away for free for a reason and as consumers it is up to us to identify why. Do those guys in supermarkets give away pieces of cheese or chocolate because they’re just real nice guys? Or maybe they think you’ll like it so much you’ll not be able to resist the discounted first purchase.
So, is - $0 the future of business?
Yes and No. Free will always be used as the lure - it is the current “gimmick” to get us to buy something and in the main it works really well.
We’ve seen sales, 2 for the price of one offers, buy one get one free offers (remarkably similar to 2 for 1!!!). There will always be “free” but it will never result in no money changing hands.
SIDENOTE - For some reason this came to mind as I was writing - Do you know why you “have” to shampoo your hair twice?
A marketer was once asked to help with poor sales of shampoo. He simply added the words “shampoo, rinse, shampoo again” to the bottle and sales were effectively doubled as the liquid was used twice as fast. Simply brilliant!
Returning to Eric, I commend him for his stance. He doesn’t want to be a grey-haired CEO working 60 hour weeks. I’m with you on that Eric (I’m a bit late on the grey bit though ) He talks about getting out of business to do other things like spending time with his family and other issues with greater long term impact.
The most important point about life is that we have a choice. I choose to work from home - like Eric the life of a CEO is not for me. As far as I know we have a limited time on earth and there is no point getting to the last day with regrets.
Go for it Eric & good luck.
By the way Eric, I’m in no position to be critical of your tactics but there is something incongruous about adding a “pitch” for 7 Figure Secrets at the end of a post that says you are cutting out promotions.
The Anti Hype
Topics: General Guru Fodder | 2 Comments »
D Day Landings
By Mark | June 7, 2008
Image via Wikipedia
64 years ago today, on 7th June 1944, thousands of young British, American & Canadians lay dead or dying on or near the beaches of Normandy, France.
The D Day landings of 6th June had been a success!
The beaches had been secured and progress had been made towards the initial target city of Caen as the allies commenced the offensive against the Germans to recapture Europe.
As I was thinking about Guru Fodder yesterday and the battles we face to avoid getting at worst scammed but more likely parting with a few £ or $ for a product we don’t really need, the thought of those young boys 64 years ago started to haunt me.
Many were still in their teens, barely out of school and during the night of 5th June they were transported, afraid and alone with their thoughts, towards enemy lines and a battery of guns ready to greet their arrival on the beaches of Normandy. The sea was rough following a storm and many were sea sick as they ventured into the unknown.
So many didn’t even reach the beaches as their landing craft, no doubt operated by young frightened soldiers, lowered their ramps in deep water only for those poor souls inside to leave the craft with heavy backpacks and guns to drown in water too deep for them to stand.
Many young men died as they attempted to reach the beaches, shot down as they waded through water up to their waists with no place to hide from the enemy guns.
Total allied casualties for the first day are estimated to be 10,000 of which some 2,500 lost their lives. A further 9,000 Germans are believed to be killed or injured.
THE EXPECTED LOSS OF ALLIED TROOPS LIVES WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER.
Despite 10,000 casualties in just one day, the landing operation was deemed a success.
Imagine being one of those boys who was a casualty, a mother or father to one of those boys, or a comrade in arms. Would you see that as success? Knowing that you were expected to be maimed or killed? I guess that’s cannon fodder.
So today, when you receive an email from some guru promoting a product and targeting you as guru fodder, spare a moments thought to those events 64 years ago.
Those poor guys were the real fodder.
Mark
Topics: General Guru Fodder | 2 Comments »
Utility Poster - How To Write Blog Posts When You Have Writers Block
By Mark | June 6, 2008
I was away from my PC for a week - yes, I’ll admit it was a holiday not a glamorous all expenses paid business trip to Vegas!
The week before I was all set to write 4 or 5 posts and stack them for automatic posting in my absence but, as usual “stuff” got in the way. The result was a quiet blog for most of the week and on my return I spent 3 days clearing out the spam emails and returning calls before I could even think about writing again.
I’d looked at Utility Poster some weeks ago when Jack Humphrey first launched it but as I was considering joining Authority Site Center I deferred doing anything about it.
Today, I finally caught up with myself and decided to take another look at Utility Poster so I don’t get caught with a dead blog for a week or more next time I’m away. Simply put, this program can help generate backlinks and posts in a few minutes that otherwise (at least in my circumstances) wouldn’t get created at all.
Jack’s video explains what it does far better than I could although if you take a look at Utility Poster - Finding Gurus you’ll get a great idea of what can be created. That took me less than 5 minutes.
No, it won’t take the place of your usual blog posts but it will supplement those with quality articles, that will also create some welcome links for you, when you just don’t have the time to write a full post.
So, if you are a blogger who sometimes struggles with getting enough posts written you may want to take a closer look at Utility Poster.
Topics: Marketing, Social Bookmarking | 1 Comment »
