Follow me on Twitter!

Have you signed up with Twitter yet? Why not? It's both harmless & fun - and it can be an invaluable networking tool.

If you follow me, I will definitely follow you. Twitter is a powerful thing...

http://twitter.com/rustylshelton

What's your IM experience been like?

For me, it's been a journey that started way back in the early 80's when mom got involved with Herbalife. I wasn't a part of that because I was a long-haired teenager with more important things to do, of course. But I saw her work with it, struggle with it and ultimately fail. What's more, I watched that process repeat itself over and over throughout the 80's, 90's and beyond.

It was always something.

Mom has always describe MLM as 'herding chickens' because of the phenomenon known as program hop-scotch. You know what I mean. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Mom would build downlines that would never go down. They just went sideways because people would sign up because they knew and liked her but they couldn't duplicate what she did. They didn't know how. So what they would eventually do is simply jump at the next 'opportunity', and then the next, and the next and the next.

'What do I do now?' Everyone asks, once they join one of these things.

That's always the problem, but it's not the only problem. Mom's two great triumphs BOTH collapsed through no fault of hers. One company imploded due to an owner who destroyed his own business and the other, the famous Formula One, was destroyed by the Texas attorney general on bogus health-related claims. The claims were found to be false (and that attorney general, Dan Morales, later went to prison for being a crook) but the damage was done. The dreams and thriving businesses of many thousands of people simply swirled down the drain.

Mom saw two(2) rapidly growing (and PAYING!) down-lines disappear overnight. Like they say in the acting business, 'Don't quit your day job'.

She's tried this and that since then, but those two heart-breaking failures (which were NOT her fault) took their toll. She's just never been able to mount a similar campaign since. Worse, she can't can't go back to her friends and relatives again with something new. That well has long since run dry.

But with my own eyes, I saw the potential. The fact is, mom would be a multi-millionaire by now if one or both of those two programs had not collapsed. There's no doubt about it - and that brings me to the subject of my blog. In training for my new career in the Houston Medical Center, what spare time I have has been devoted to learning how to re-think multi-level marketing (MLM) in the 21st century. The Internet has changed everything and now it is possible to create growing and paying down-lines in solid companies without ever having to talk to your friends and family about it. In fact, for me it's been kind of 'my secret life' since I really don't discuss my online activities with my associates in the medical field. It's best to keep that separate.

What I'm trying to say is that there has never been a better time to get involved with Internet marketing as a second source of income to supplement your job. I'm comfortable with saying that I've figured out how to do it without interfering with my work or taking away too much time from my home life. Funny thing, but my wife expects me to talk to her and stuff (wink). Not only that, but my clinical instructors and the hospital staff expect me to give my full attention to the patients that we care for.

The Twitter Bowl

With the current economic climate, this year’s Super Bowl wouldn’t be expected to be as super as it usually is. People won’t be spending as much money on parties, advertising budgets are cut, and people just aren’t as excited about big events. So what is the Super Bowl doing to remain successful this year? Social media.

Thanks to technology, the NFL is able to generate buzz by Twittering about all the happenings in Tampa this week. By rolling out a Super Bowl Twitter feed, the NFL hopes to get people talking and raise the level of excitement to that which normally surrounds the Super Bowl.

Get a Free $99 Ticket for Women That Win Event January 30th!

Here is your chance for one of 3 FREE tickets to the amazing Women That Win Event this January 30th in at the Boca Raton Marriott in Boca Raton, Florida.

The first three people to link to http://TenGoldenRules.com from a blog, Twitter or a Website will get the tickets. How is that for a link bribe :)

I will be presenting at the event and all speakers get some promo tickets, so please let me know when you have a link up and I'll see you at the event!



Ten Golden Rules CEO Jay Berkowitz Keynote Marketing Presentation

The Ten Hottest Strategies for Internet Marketing on Slide Share

Have you used Slide Share?

Slide Share is a free tool to view Power Point presentations. I recently followed a link to my presentation posted by Affiliate Summit "The Ten Hottest Strategies for Internet Marketing" and I was tickled to see it has had over 2,200 views!

AdWords Tip: Identify Negative Keywords

A useful PPC optimization strategy that is often overlooked is including negative keywords in your campaign. Negative keywords are used in AdWords to prevent your ads from being served for irrelevant searches. To paint a clearer picture, assume you are bidding on the term “bass” because you sell bass guitars. If you are bidding on “bass” with broad match, your ad could be served in searches for “bass fishing”. Anyone searching for “bass fishing” is unlikely to purchase a bass guitar from your site. If you included the term “bass fishing” in your negative keywords, you would not be wasting the impression and possible click. In addition, by adding negative keywords, your cost per click is likely to decrease as your click through rate increases.

Understanding negative keywords is only half the battle. Many advertisers know about negative keywords but do not utilize them because they have trouble identifying them. Common sense can certainly get you a starter list of negative keywords, but to really be effective, you will need to constantly be adding negative keywords to your campaigns.

The first way to identify negative keywords is to look for them in your current campaigns. Run a keyword performance report to see which keywords convert poorly over time. Add those phrases to your negative keywords.

There is also a very simple way to identify negative keywords you may not have thought of. Just run your broad keywords through any keyword suggestion tool, like the one provided in AdWords. Look through the list and identify any phrases that include your keywords but are irrelevant to your business. For example, you may have never considered that when bidding on “packaged food”, your ad will be showing up on searches for “packaged food poisoning”. However, if you ran “packaged food” through a keyword suggestion tool, “packaged food poisoning” would be right there for you to see.

More Wikipedia Content now Served on Yahoo! SERPs

Wikipedia deep links and images are now being served in Yahoo search as part of an attempt to add more third-party content to its results. Now when a Wikipedia page is served in Yahoo’s search results, four links to sections within the article will be displayed along with an image from the page.

With this new search engine real estate, your company’s Wikipedia page is even more beneficial. Make sure your page has relevant section headers and an enticing picture.

Constant Contact Teams Up With Ten Golden Rules For Internet Marketing Strategies Presentation

Constant Contact and Ten Golden Rules will present, "Ten Free or Low Cost Tools to Market Yourself and Your Business in a Recession." The event is set to take place at the Westin Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on January 29th at 7:30 am. This presentation will feature leading edge internet marketing promotions and advertising strategies for marketing in a bad economy and to maximize traffic to your website.

For $20 guests will learn topics such as:

• How to maximize web site traffic by using Free Search Engine Optimization techniques
  
• Ways to measure the cost to acquire a lead and a sale
• Idea's for building your company’s position on high traffic Social Media sites

For information on registration please visit our Internet Marketing Strategies Presentation page

Avoid PC Transmitted Disease

Tired of your computer giving you aches and pains? As more and more jobs require constant computer interaction, more and more people are suffering from tendinitis from over-mousing, back spasms from office chairs, and blurred vision from staring at the monitor. Here are some tips to help you stay healthy while you compute:

Mouse A tablet is a better alternative for your wrist than a traditional mouse, but if you can’t get used to using a stylus or if it is cramping up your fingers, choose a mouse that matches the contour of your hand. Also, find a wrist rest that matches the front edge of the keyboard in width, height, slope, and contour.

Keyboard Split keyboard designs are preferred because they allow you to maintain neutral wrist postures. When selecting a keyboard, look for adjustable feet, as this will accommodate a wider range of keyboard positions and angles.

Chair Your chair should be at a height that allows your feet to be flat on the floor and your thighs to be parallel with the floor. Always practice good posture and do not bend your head excessively forward or backward. The back rest should support your lower back.

Monitor Make sure your monitor is clean. The top of your screen should be at or below eye level and the screen should be tilted backward about 10 degrees. A safe distance of 20”-26” should be between your eyes and the screen.

Mobile Social Networks Will Be the Rage In 2009

As more people upgrade their mobile phones, such as to the iPhone, Blackberry, or Google Phone, I believe mobile social networks will be noticed more this year.

With Facebook and MySpace having their own mobile version of their sites, many newly created mobile sites are already hoping to be the next best thing. A site meant to use on the go is Brightkite, which allows users to post updates from wherever they are, as well as ‘Check In’ from a specific location. This may be interesting for those who want to meet the people nearby and see what they’re doing at a particular point in time. Privacy is very important to Brightkite and allows their users to control who sees what.

ZYB is another interesting mobile social network site that allows you to sync your contacts’ phone numbers and other information, as well as their social networking activity all in one place. You can also share calendars and photos and see what your friends are up to. You can set any data to be visible to the public or only show information to the friends in your ZYB contact list.

Right now, I’m sure many people are hesitant to join such websites due to privacy reasons, so make sure the mobile site you are thinking of joining really stress that. Otherwise, skip it.