Monday Apr 2nd, 2007: Issue #787
You may wonder what became of Friday’s Kickstart. You may even be one of the many people who emailed me to ask where it was.
The first of those emails arrived at about 6pm my time and caused me to question the sanity of the enquirer. And then, very quickly, to question my own!
You see, up until that moment, I had been totally convinced, all day long, that it was Thursday.
Talk about a senior moment!
So even though I know in my heart that today is Sunday, I’m writing to you anyway - just on the offchance that I’m wrong. 
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There was a big launch of a new article writing software package last week from a man I have a lot of respect for. The program is called Content Composer and it has been developed by Jason Potash - one very canny guy.
It costs $297 and so affiliates are getting a very nice payout.
But not me. At least, not yet. I’m not promoting it (look - no links!)
I haven’t bought it, and so haven’t used it. My only experience of the software was to watch the promotional videos. And I don’t think that is enough to warrant me giving you a ‘recommendation’.
It may be very good indeed (Jason’s other products, including the excellent Article Announcer which I use a lot) are superb. And it is very tempting to kid you that I know what I’m talking about. But you know that isn’t my style.
One thing is for sure though. Jason is very keen to help people write effective articles that will actually do them some good. I applaud him for that.
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Speaking of articles, I’ve written a small program that can help your article marketing in a big way. Right now it is free to use, so take advantage of it while you can!
Here is the idea.
Writing articles to post on article directories is a great way to get links back to your websites - both from the directories themselves, and from the bloggers and website builders who use your articles.
But there is a small problem.
It is rapidly becoming clear that posting the exact SAME article on many directories - as well as on your own website and blog - leaves you wide open to fall foul of the search engines’ war against duplicate content.
The solution is to post significantly different versions of the article on each directory - and even more significantly different versions on your own sites.
Easier said than done.
In order to help, I’ve written a piece of software that I call the Article Multiplier.
Go to http://www.youcanwritearticles.com/multiplier.htm to access the beta version.
It is very simple to use. On the first page, type in (or paste from a text processor) your article’s title, body copy and resource box. Then click on Submit.
Note 1: Don’t copy from a word processor like Word because all kinds of hidden extra characters will be added to the text. At the moment, this program only works with plain text files.
Note 2: Paragraphs should be separated by a blank line (like they are here in Kickstart).
You’ll then be taken to a second page which will ask you to write alternative versions of each paragraph, your title and resource box.
This will take a bit of time, so don’t rush. The results will be very worthwhile.
I suggest that you actually write the alternative paragraphs in a text editor and copy and paste them into Article Multiplier because it doesn’t yet save anything.
When you’ve filled in all the boxes - don’t leave any blank - hit Submit again.
You will then be presented with nine alternative versions of your article that are all at least 50% different from any other version.
Some programs that do this kind of article ‘rearrangement’ give you more outputted articles, but they tend to only look for 30% differences. I personally feel that 30% is too low and prefer fewer alternatives with a higher percentage of difference.
The program recommends where each of the nine output articles can be used - simply copy and paste each one to a text file and use them from there.
The results that you’ll see from your article marketing will skyrocket.
Naturally, there are many options that can be built in to future versions of this software - and a deal more automation. If you have any ideas, let me know. Meanwhile, please use this beta version and let me know how you get on with it.
It’s basic, but hey, it’s free!
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The judging for the best posts on the forum - http://kickstarttodayforum.com/ - didn’t take place at noon on Friday as promised, because as far as I was concerned, noon on Friday never actually happened!
It is done now though.
I originally promised that there would be three winners. I lied. there are five.
In no particular order …
* David Raynor for opening up a can or worms about Vista. http://kickstarttodayforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=97
* Denise for not being afraid to ask questions.
* MarkE for starting a fascinating thread about link strategies - http://kickstarttodayforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=93
* and Rob for being an unashamed techie and providing excellent answers.
* Finally, Martin Luxton for giving us all a great sitebuilding idea - http://kickstarttodayforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=103
It is a shame to single anyone out, because there have been a lot of really good posts. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!
There will be more awards in the weeks to come so you could still get your hands on some free advertising on the forum.
If the winners would like to email me, I’ll send each one a coupon code to get them a one-week featured link ad absolutely free.
See you in the forum!
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The decorating in our living room is now almost done. Just another coat of paint to apply today and we can move all the furniture back.
Phew, that is three rooms in about two weeks.
It all seemed like such a good idea when we started, but now, with all the aches and pains, I’m questioning my sanity.
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Kickstart is read by a wide spectrum of people. Some are professional Internet marketers, some are semi-pro, some make pocket money online, some are absolute beginners and some have no interest in making money online whatsoever.
If you are in the last group, you must wonder what all the fuss is about. But I’m delighted that you find enough else in Kickstart to keep you interested!
For everyone else - with even the slightest hint of interest in online marketing - remember that our chosen topic is so huge that nobody is an expert on everything. In fact, there are many things that even the highest earning professional online marketer is a complete newbie about.
We all have questions about something.
The Kickstart forum has a section (called, not very imaginatively, ‘Internet marketing’) where you can ask any question about anything related to IM. And I would bet that someone will know the answer.
And if nobody does, I’ll try to find one of my many Internet friends who does know - and can drop in to help.
It is a great resource - let’s use it!
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Oh, and in case you ARE one of those people with zero interest in the subject, I’d like you to consider this: Last week I was hit by an unexpected medical bill, bought curtains and other decorating materials and had several nice meals out and a trip to the movies with my entire family. All of which was covered by the money that flowed into my PayPal account, with a bit left over for the taxman.
Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of extra income? It has taken me a while to build up my business to regularly reap significant rewards, but if I can do it, anyone can. Just a few short years ago the only thing I knew about the Internet was how to look things up on Yahoo. You have a big head start on me already.
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An Inspirational Thought
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What would you like to do one day?
We all have things that we say, ‘I’d love to do that one day.’ But do we really mean it?
Some of those ‘one day’ things we know we will never do - like walk on the Moon, or jam with the Rolling Stones - but there are many things that we longingly think ‘one day’ about that are perfectly achievable.
Yet we seem to be content to leave them in that ‘one day’ glass box that we can see in to, but never get open.
It is far too easy to relegate the ‘one days’ to the ‘never happens’ and yet isn’t life all about finding new experiences, learning new things and overcoming challenges?
Turn your ‘one days’ into ’some days’. Make a chip in the corner of the glass box.
If you were to devote just a few minutes every week to doing something positive towards achieving one of your ‘one day’ dreams, think how great you’ll feel.
If one of your ‘one days’ is, for example, to swim with dolphins, go out today to a travel shop and get a brochure that tells you all about it. Give your dream a basis in reality.
Move your dreams onto a different footing - change the ‘one days’ to ’some days’ and then convert the ’some days’ into ‘THAT days’.
Then you will be in charge of your life.
Wouldn’t you like to be in that position one day?
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Mark Twain said,
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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I’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about people I know being swamped with debt. Credit cards, store cards, bank loans, mortgages … and often worse.
When you get into debt it is like being at the bottom of a well. It’s dark, miserable, cramped and you can’t see a clear way out.
I’d like to share a technique that helped me to get debt free. I honestly can’t remember where I read it first, so I can’t credit the originator - but if anyone does know, please contact me and I’ll give due credit in a future issue.
The technique is called Cascade Credit Clearance and it works like this.
The first thing you have to do is be very honest with yourself. People who are deep within the spiral of debt are often very selective about remembering what they owe and to whom.
Write it all down - every single place you owe money to and every single penny that you owe.
Make a list - a very complete list.
Now you have to do some eye-opening research. You have to find out what the rate of interest is for each debt.
Companies are very tricky about the way they quote interest rates and often try to hide the real figure. Look for the APR - the real annual rate of interest.
Some of the APRs - especially those for store cards - will curl your toes!
The idea of Cascade Credit Clearance is very simple. You pay off the debts with the highest interest rates first.
In practice, this is how it works:
Add up all the monthly payments that you are committed to and see if your income allows you pay ANY extra over and above the barest minimum. Whatever extra you can find, however small, and however infrequent, is applied to reducing the outstanding balance of the debt with the highest interest rate.
This may mean going without in other areas of your life, but the reward is that your most expensive debt will be reducing fastest.
As soon as that biggie is paid off, you now must pay ALL of the amount that was being spent on the top of the list debt to the second on the list debt, plus whatever minimum sum it was already receiving.
As you can see, this will serve to reduce the second on the list quickly.
Then you do the same to the third on the list and beyond.
Each time a debt is wiped out, the total outgoing is applied to the next one down.
Typically, the debt at the bottom of the list will be your mortgage - interest rates on home purchase are normally the lowest of all. But when you get down to that being your only outstanding outgoing, you will be paying off far more than the minimum and your mortgage will be paid off years early.
Cascading Credit Clearance sounds too simple, but the most effective solutions to overwhelming problems often are simple.
It is getting started putting them into practice that is so hard.
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Fascinating Facts
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Who remembers the classic 1968 movie, ‘Krakatoa - East of Java’.
Did you know that it had one major flaw - Krakatoa was, in fact, West of Java.