I'm an "action" movie nut and the Missus' can attest to that. When I get all
settled down in my favorite chair and armed with my remotes and watch the
latest action flick on DVD, I lose all concept of time and find it is a total escape
from the pressures of today's world.

With the surround sound cranked up and totally engrossed in the movie, a
faraway sound will make me pause the movie. "TURN THAT STUFF DOWN!!"
The wife is standing in the doorway with fists clenched on her hips, "What?
Are you deaf?"

Movie Night!

One night I was watching Bad Boys II with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Half way through the movie I had to pause and think about what the first
movie was about. The original Bad Boys was already an old movie and being
buried by all the new releases that came after it.



Of all the people that missed the first movie and  only watched the second Bad Boys,
I wonder how many will bother to rent or buy a copy and watch the first movie.

I don't think there will be too many because of that new release by Bruce Willis
or that new action-adventure by Claude Van Damme coming out on the weekend.
People are looking forward to the next latest and greatest, not the past.



So, what's that got to do with my Blog or anyone's Blog?

How much effort and time do you put into a post on your Blog? Traffic building
is an ongoing task with Bloggers and also maintaining that traffic at a level you
want it to be at. Just like movie goers, readers want to see an article that will
peak their interest and hold it enough to come back and read your next article.

Firing off a hurried post with weak content, thinking it will be adequate because
you have great articles in your archives is not going to cut it because that first
impression is like the "trailer" to a movie. A reader will view the current article
and see what the Blogger's theme is about and a sample of what is upcoming in
future posts.

In conclusion, this is a fast paced, hectic world we live in and the average time
a person spends reading an article on a blog is short and it is not very likely
that they will spend the time to read past posts. Your current article is what "rates"
your Blog in the minds of your readers

My company, Jazz Air LP is feeling the pressure of escalating fuel prices and
last week suspended "overtime" in my department as well as company wide.

Yesterday, it was announced that 270 employees will be laid off, which is the
first time the Regional Airline company had to take such measures. 

Air Canada has made reductions in staff and flights and this has effected my
Airline here in Canada. When Air Canada flights arrive in major airports across
Canada such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Jazz shuttles people to
destinations within the provinces as well as bordering United States.

Everybody in the airline is praying and upper management is lobbying for fuel
prices to stabilize and drop to a "normal level". What do I call normal? The current 
price of oil per barrel is around $144.00 and when all this mess started it was
around $90.00. Still high but it was at a level that companies and people
were accustomed to and the economy was running fairly smoothly.



The big argument here in Canada is that we could rely on our own source
of oil from the rich oil sands of Alberta to vast oil reserves off the coast of
Newfoundland to name a couple. However OPEC is calling the shots but
rumblings from Nation leaders are spurring discussions between Governments
that something has to be done and some sort of International Regulatory body
needs to be put in place.

Currently OPEC denies any oil crisis and although predictions see oil prices
climbing to $250.00 a barrel, they rule it out as pure speculation. The 2275
people laid off with Air Canada and Jazz know first hand that the price of
oil is causing a personal crisis that affects their careers and families.

Having an established Home Business makes more sense now than it ever
has before.

My Canadian Blogger friend, John, who I have mentioned in a prior article concerning
10DollarsWonder, exercised his right to freedom of speech and print. The outcome was
not pretty.

Rating Programs

I have rated a few programs over the last few months on my blog and on my Lens
in Squidoo. Just recently I reported a slow down in a couple of my programs and
although I did not criticize the program itself, I blamed it on "Program Hopping"
and members not having the foresight and patience to build their business. The old
cliché still rings true "it takes time to build a business". I know a lot of people don't
want to hear it and scurry to make a quick buck but the building of a steady monthly
income takes awhile.

Freedom Of Speech And That Box You Check

You know the little box next to the rules and regulations of a company or program that
you check verifying that you read them all...sometimes that can get you in some hot water.
You fill in all your information and your starting to get a bit miffed with all the information
they require. Aw C'mon...what do they need to know that for! When you finally get to the
conditions or rules you can either check that little "easy" box or "open" them and read
them all...then check the box.

My friend John, who's happy face is displayed in the sidebar of this blog, did his usual "thing"
of rating programs. In one particular "Cycler" he joined, he was advising his readers of his
progress and a reader asked for some personal insight into the program. You can read the
outcome if you click on this link; John's Blog and scroll down to the June 23rd (Monday) entry.



Now, I'm not implying John didn't read the "conditions", because he probably did. He has
a knack for reading between the lines and can see issues that makes him suspicious about
the honesty of a program. I guess I will probably be looking at the "rules" a bit closer in
the future. But then again, that's why I read John's Blog.

This is my 3rd article on Autoresponders. The first concerned MLM Affiliate programs
and the second was about Blogs and Autoresponders.

Over a month ago I was reading one of my favorite Blogger's post and in the sidebar
was "Follow Me On Twitter". At first I thought it must be the name of another Blog
the Author has, and made a mental note to check it out later. The worst part of my
mental notes is that after a few minutes, I can't remember any of them.

Later I was on another Blogger's site and seen the same caption. This time I decided
to follow the link and see what this "Twitter" was all about. "Follow me on Twitter"...
I know when my wife's in a twitter I definitely don't follow her, I head in the opposite
direction.  I guess that's why my instincts were telling me to not click on that link
in the beginning.


Courtesy of iStockphoto

After signing up and getting in the rhythm of posting updates of published articles on
my Blogs, I began getting some members reading my stuff. In three short weeks, I had
25 people "Following me on Twitter". You have 140 characters to broadcast your
message several times a day and I also receive emails from Twitter informing me
that some one is following me and therefore interested in what I am writing about.
So far I am getting 7 to 8 of these messages a week.

I have added the Twitter widget to the sidebar of this Blog so if you are interested
you can checkout the webpage which explains how it works plus an informative
video tutorial

In my last article about "Lists" and Autoresponders I discussed the pros and cons
of building an MLM Affiliate business with leads or prospects.

I get a lot of advise and knowledge from some of the top Bloggers and being busy
with my Biz I don't always get a chance to read what's new or the latest and greatest
traffic building technique. I call it learning from the Masters. In these blogs they have
a subscription form that you fill out and you will be informed be e-mail of new Posts and
updates.

By doing this they are building a "List" of their own. When the opportunity arises they
can send their Autoresponder subscribers, "Affiliate product" offers or ask them to read
a recent post with an "pitch" inserted in the article. There are some people that don't
like being sent advertisements but there are others that jump at the chance at getting
a discounted product that "works" for a popular Blogger.



An example of this was a recent "competition" between two Bloggers in a race to develop
the most popular site and who could sell their Blog for the most money. They were some
great downloads and products used by both camps to cut out a lot of leg work and
a lot of readers opted to purchase these through discounted prices and the Bloggers
benefited through Affiliate commissions. Some were put up as prizes with a chance to
win some expensive tools for free.

In conclusion, I feel a Blogger has a greater benefit through building a List and having
a sizable subscription base in their Autoresponder, than a Blogger that doesn't use one. 
Mainly because of the variety of information and products a Blogger can present instead
of a single product or company information package that an MLM Affiliate has to offer.

In my next post in this series of e-mail campaigns I will write about a website that is
gaining popularity by the day, that can replace my need for an Autoresponder and it's free.

This article was supposed to be about Autoresponders and Blogs but I thought I would take
a little break from Business and do some Birthday shopping for the "little woman".

My wife's Birthday is coming up and she is always complaining she doesn't have enough shoes
and boots to match her outfits. So, it was off to the Mall to do some window shopping and see
if anything perks my interest. Eventually I came across a unique store and went in found the
perfect gift...I hope she likes it.



The other day the wife got a bit frazzled when everything started to get a bit too hectic and she
yelled out, "OK!, that's enough! I don't know whether I am coming or going, time for everybody
to slow down!

I can't wait until she opens her present and see the expression on her face, I should be in her
"good" books for another few days.



 

List building is an interesting subject that I have seen debated in Forums. I have
had positive and negative comments about the "List" from my Uplines and Administrators.

The rule of thumb is that a person who sees or reads messages and Ads about an
opportunity 7 times will become more aware of the company or product. Statistics
have proven that a percentage of people will join MLM programs when exposed
to multiple Autoresponder messages.

However in my case it has rarely happened. I remember I joined a program a couple
years back and it was step by step plan to build a downline. I joined a list of Affiliate
programs and a "List" provider with a monthy subscription fee. I followed the "plan"
and spent hours researching the documents the Admin provided about list building.

Spending Money and Buying Leads

I was totally ready and was paying for 90 "fresh" leads a month. There was nothing
could stop me. The "leads" were fed into an Autoresponder and I was on easy street
to getting my first paycheck. About 3 months later, after giving it a fair trial...nothing!

OK, let's sit back and have a look at this. I am shelling out about $150.00 a month
and have a back load of leads in my Autoresponder and I am promoting everywhere
the "plan" told me to but with zero results. Meanwhile the people on "top" were
boasting how their "coffers" were overflowing with money. 

Suspicion set in and wondering if this was all just window dressing to entice people,
like me, into their money trap. "You can do it...I have already made a quarter million in the
first two months." I fired off an e-mail to the Admin and asked him what gives?
The answer I received was, "What is your problem, you have a big list there. I don't
see your point." I replied that my point was $500.00 down the tubes and no payday,
plus another month rolling around and I was expected to shell out another $150.00.
I don't think so!



No such thing as...let me put a couple people in your downline to help you get started
since I am making thousands of dollars a month.  The thing that puzzled me was that
not one person in my Autoresponder answered any broadcast message that I sent
or joined one of the programs. 

Learning A Lesson

As I pointed out in my previous articles, you learn by your mistakes. Doing a bit of looking
around in Forums and getting some feedback from Uplines in my other programs, the
consensus was that buying leads is a complete waste of money and offers of "free"
prospects is a waste of time. I learned that the hard way.

When a person subscribes to my Autoresponder, I send them a welcome message and
if they don't respond in two days I know they aren't interested. I still send weekly
broadcasts because some of my "Active" subscribers are recent members in my downline
and I send them updates and the latest news. These are people that joined my biz but
still were automatically subscribed to my Autoresponder.

Meanwhile, I am not tuned into my e-mail inbox waiting for a confirmation message to
appear that one of my "leads" has joined my biz, because it will be like me winning the
big one on the lottery but then again...you never know when it will happen.



On the flip side of the coin there are experienced Marketers who use their Autoresponder
like a big funnel and send endless messages and occasionally get signups but for me when 
people subscribe and get the information about the business that's all I am concerned with.
I am not going to "hound" them constantly.

In my next article, I'll discuss using Autoresponders with Blogs. I welcome any comments
about people's experiences with Leads.

My Father will be 87 years old next month and he and my Mom are visiting me
here in Milford, Nova Scotia for a couple weeks. Dad has had his share of health
problems in the last couple of years and recently he was diagnosed with a Bone
Marrow - blood problem linked to leukemia. The Doctors are keeping him stable
with regular blood work and the occasional visit to the Hospital for Blood infusion
which brings up his "good" blood and it rejuvenates him

It will gradually worsen over the next months and years but Mom and Dad still
live in their own house and are managing with everything. Dad loves to tell stories
about the "old days" and I listen with fascination at times and lately he puts in
more personal details than he has before. I wrote "at times" because there are those
more memorable stories he recalls where I know the events but I still like to hear him tell it.

The Big One...WW II

My parents were born in Hemsbach, Germany and immigrated to Canada in 1954.
History classes in School taught me a lot about World War II. Reading books,
TV, and watching movies about the war was usually depicted from the Allies
point of view.

Dad told me about a different part of the war. His involvement as a Merchant Marine
drafted as "support division" to the German Navy. He'd pause and seemed like his eyes
would moisten when mentioning about a good friend lost here and a school buddy
was killed there. Death and destruction was a part of everybody's lives that were 
involved.


The Bismark

Amazing stories like when his ship was in the same harbor that the great German
Battleship, Bismark was steaming for while being hunted by the Royal Navy. Dad's
ship had a radioman who was sworn to secrecy about messages he was reading that
were sent back and forth between German Command and the Bismark. Years later
after the war the Radioman recalled "Command" ordering the Captain and the crew of
the Bismark not to surrender no matter what. While Dad was on duty on his ship the
Bismark was being hammered by the British warships and sunk 200 miles out to sea.

1944 in the same harbor, the Bismark's sister ship Tirpitz was in port for repairs. 
On a Sunday morning, Dad heard sirens that warned of incoming enemy aircraft 
and went to his battle station. He heard explosions and a friend next to him fell 
to the ship's deck as a piece of burning shrapnel hit him in the leg. The Tirpitz,
a mile across the harbor from Dad's ship had been hit by English bombers and
she lay over on her side critically damaged.


The Tirpitz

These true stories can take Dad up to 2 to 3 hours to tell with a lot of detail and I 
take it all in and try to imagine what it was like. This is a fast paced world we live in
today, trying to keep the "wolf from the door" and spending some time with family
and friends. When your parents call or visit and want to share some stories with
you, remember, no one can stop the hands of time. It's too late when they are gone
and wish you had listened to more stories of their past and your heritage.

Just what the Doctor ordered, make four Forum posts and go to bed.

In my last article I learned from yet again, a failed opportunity. This time it was 
not the company, it was me getting involved with a downline builder for that
company that I lost faith in. They never delivered on what they "guaranteed" so
I couldn't promote the program because I knew the people in my downline were
not going to get the service that I was promoting. Nope! Just couldn't do it.

My First Forum Post

After looking through the Forum links I was sent, I started at the top with the
MMG forum. After reading some of the rules and regulations and getting my profile
updated I went to work starting a Thread about S4PMI. I repeated that process
with the 4 top forums and was kind of proud of myself.

The next morning I received an email that I had a reply to my post on the MMG
Forum. Holy Mackerel! That was quick. All pumped up and excited I clicked on the
Link to the reply. Apparently, I had started a duplicate thread about the S4PMI
business and the reply stated that the S4PMI's Admin was a bit on the shady side.

Not what I was expecting. I had performed a "search" prior to starting my Topic
and didn't get any results but when typing in the URL, I got an archived thread
about "Search For Profits". OK, the author of the reply was right about that but
he was not getting away with calling the Admin a crook, when I already had been
paid a few times.



What ensued, was a battle of words and ended up with my Thread being deleted by a
Moderator of the Forum. I couldn't believe it...my first posts and poof!...it was gone. 
Taking it all in stride, I again learned from my mistakes. On my following thread and 
posts I ignored any "baiting" replies and stayed on my course. I came to realize that 
the Forum members I had the debacle over where long time MMG'ers and had a lot
of experience under their belts and warning people of programs and companies that
smelled a bit fishy to them. Why one of them attacked S4PMI's Admin I don't know
but I have been with the program for over 6 months and have been paid every time,
and until someone can prove otherwise, he is an honest man.

Surviving My First Month With Forums

Eventually, after a few warnings from Moderators, and getting to know the individual
rules of each Forum, I was into the swing of posting about my opportunities every
second day and having success with inquires about my programs and some signups.
MMG was the only Forum I had initial trouble with but it has been "quiet on the Front"
since then.

After the second month I added the Figbiz to my Forum topics in an effort to build
up that business as well. Soon, I plan to get more involved with Forum discussions
over the various topics as my time table allows. Having my Blog in my signature will
also build traffic and over time, Forum members will respect my comments and replies
as I become more experienced.

A Final Word

Wondering how to get started? The quickest way I can suggest is to visit a popular
Forum and read through the topics and discussion and see how Threads about an
author's opportunity is started and maintained. Don't be afraid and jump right in with
both feet and if you make a mistake, A Moderator or Administrator of the Forum
will let you know where you went wrong.
 
We learn by our mistakes and be cautious of members who may want to mix it up with
you. Over time you will be recognized by Forum members and they will believe what you
are writing. Your goal is to maintain that trust and post what you truly believe in.
Happy posting everybody!

I never had any success with the Global Domains International Affiliate program.

I would sponsor people for the 7 day free trial but they would not upgrade...and it's only
10 bucks a month. I think the problem is the 1 dollar factor. For every member in your
downline you receive a dollar a month as long as they are subscribed. Geez...all that
work to recruit someone and only get a dollar a month. When I was shopping around 
looking for programs to build my Home Business, I received autoresponder emails
about the GDI compensation plan explaining the "Power Of One", and how those one
dollar bills can add up very quickly and wondered why they kept "pushing" that topic.

So, I figured it must be an issue with some people. When you look at the compensation
plan, you need 10 people just to break even before you see any profit. Where GDI
has already "glutted" the market, the most signups will be coming from "new" people
entering the online business world and recruiting 10 people as a "newbie" is no
easy task.

After a couple months, I got an invitational email to join 3in7, a GDI downline builder.
"Guaranteed" (There's that word again and it got me suspicious back then) to put 3 people
in your downline in GDI in 7 days. You guessed it; never happened. For some reason I
couldn't get it going and and didn't feel right promoting a program that never fulfilled
their "guarantee" to me.

Out of that debacle, I did learn something from a GDI member that was doing great with
the company and attributed his success to Forum posting. Actually he was a Doctor and
building his GDI business as his time schedule allowed. By posting to 3 or 4 popular
Forums everyday or every two days he was and still is building his downline. The first
3 or 4 months there was nothing happening but then slowly he began getting replies 
to the posts he was making on his thread, and interest turned to signups.

As members joined his downline he encouraged them to follow his lead and post on his
threads or start new threads if the Forum allowed it. Essentially, his Forum threads
became downline builders.
 

I decided to try and duplicate his success by using the same method for my programs.
That was about 4 months ago and strangely, just in the last few days I began getting
some interest and response to my Forum posts also a few signups. Just like the Doc
ordered, his prescription was working.

A word of caution that every Forum has different rules and standards. You must read
the rules and regulations for each category within a Forum to stay "legal". Popular
Forum topics also get good ratings in the Search Engines especially if your content
is fresh and original.

In my next article I will discuss Forum posting and how I found out the hard way that
not all Forums have the same format and rules.