The Underdog Millionaire Blog » SEO

The Birthday Roundup-Other Blogs I REALLY Like

Joshua Black — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:00:41 +0000

Today’s post is going to be the last of the birthday blog posts. I thought I would share a few blogs with you that I think are really going the extra mile.

These guys (and gals) don’t just re-hash the current flavor-of-the-month content that can be seen on many of the blogs out there. Instead, they are hard-hitting, unique business owners that have really developed a niche name for themselves.

Many of these blogs are geared towards small business owners, but not all. I think that if you are going to be a competitive entrepreneur, you really need to look at a variety of sources for inspiration.

Now, I am not going to over-load you with the over 50 different blogs that I try to follow on a regular basis, but I do have a special handful for you that really do something above and beyond.

So, without further adieu, here they are:

Heavy Hitters That Blog About Blogging:

If you have been in the blogging world for any length of time, then you already know about these guys, but if you are just getting started, this is the kind of blogging that you can aspire to.

Problogger- This is a site started by Darren Rowse. He has been blogging for years and has grown his empire to over a million dollars a year, just from blogging, advertising, and selling products.

Entrepreneur’s Journey- This site is run by another Aussie, Yaro Starak. He is a real underdog story, who is now one of the biggest independent bloggers out there, providing TONS of free content and audio interviews from rags-to-riches stories of Internet entrepreneurs all over the world.

Specialists:

This is a group of bloggers that have picked a successful niche and have gained a really solid following, due to the content they provide, the atmosphere they create, and the personality that really comes through in their blogs.

Ittybiz- This is the marketing blog of Naomi Dunford. She has created a cult-like following all based around her razor-sharp personality and her sailor’s mouth. This is not re-hashed marketing advice. Almost every blog post that she writes should be printed out and saved as reference material. Plus, she’s freakin’ hilarious.

The World’s Strongest Librarian- This blog is home to one of the most eclectic guys on the blogging scene. It’s run by Josh Hanagarne, a strong-man/librarian that is also battling with a cure for Tourettes Syndrome. His posts range from spectacular book reviews, to random thoughts, from weight lifting advice, to sage wisdom. Always worth a look on a daily basis.

Men With Pens- This is a site for writers. Not only does this group own their own web design and consulting company, but the frequent posts here offer some really good advice for fine-tuning your writing and improving your value to your market.

ProCopy Tips- This is a copywriting blog that, in my humble opinion is a place that is a hidden gem, discovered by only a few. It’s run by a life-long direct-response copywriter named Dean Rieck. He gives away some great basic copywriting advice and even posts frequently on Copyblogger.

The Simple Dollar- This is a personal finance/money blog by Trent Hamm. He has a cult-like following as well. He covers everything from investing, to debt removal, to bankruptcy and has authored a few books. Great site if you like money at all.

My Friends and Underdogs:

This is a group of up-and-coming bloggers that is really trying to make a difference in their respective markets. They haven’t hit the big time just yet, but I know they will, just based on the content and services they provide. These guys are definitely people to keep and eye on.

Tommy DePietro- This guy is serious business. He runs a MLM marketing advice blog, has a ton of videos and is very passionate about his work. Tommy is really going somewhere. He has been a frequent commenter on the Underdog Millionaire since the beginning.

Alex Whalley- Alex is a really honest guy with a big heart. His blog focuses on keywords, SEO, and niche marketing. His posts are very thorough and he has come a LONG way in a short time.

The Big Red Tomato Company- This is a small business blog run by Matthew Needham. He’s got some great ideas about consulting, small business marketing, and creating information products. Matthew is a real stand-up guy and we occasionally bounce ideas off each other since we are in the same niche.

Josh Garcia- This guy is another one that has slowly grown alongside the Underdog Millionaire. Josh is all about generating leads and giving great marketing advice. Definitely worth a look. You will see his blog comments all over the Internet.

I think that should just about do it. Hope you enjoyed the list. Of course I’m sure I missed a few great blogs out there. Give me the name of someone that you really think is doing an amazing job of creating content?

Help your fellow Underdogs out and let’s get this post Tweeted all over the Net!

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

Click the image to get the FREE Underdog Millionaire wealth Pack!

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.product-pricing-strategy.com
http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

_________________________________________

My Gift to You- Join The Underdog Millionaire Movement

Joshua Black — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:00:54 +0000

As my personal thanks to you for being a
loyal member of the Underdog Millionaires
I would like to give you the opportunity
to join the movement… for FREE.

I was racking my brain trying to think of
a way that I could create more of a community,
where being part of this group would really
mean a lot to its members.

I mean, it’s one thing to read my rantings
and ravings everyday, but it’s another thing
altogether to be part of the conversation,
to stand for something that is much bigger
than you.

…to show to your prospects and customers
that you are not just the average small
business owner.

You are someone that really wants to make a
difference in your customer’s life, no
matter what business you are in.

So, I created an area on the UM blog called
“join the movement”

You can see it here:
http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/join-the-movement

There are 3 parts to this:

1. You are taking an oath (based on the
Harvard MBA oath, but modified for us) and
showing your customers that you are not
just some scoundrel looking for a quick buck.

2. You get a really cool badge to place on
your website or blog that you can display
proudly to all of your customers, showing
that you have taken this oath.

3. You get to add your name or business
name in the comments area, along with a link
to your business. This is PERMANENT proof
of your commitment to your customers and it
will also help you increase your search engine
rankings as the site grows.

There is a link back to the movement page
if the person clicks on the badge, and there
everyone will see that you are a DIFFERENT
kind of business owner, one of the top 1%.

Click here to join the movement now:
http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/join-the-movement

I have to be honest with you. I originally
intended on making this a membership site
opportunity, where business owners would
have to pay in order to take the oath and
display the badge.

However, I really want to thank you for
being part of this growing site and I thank
you for all of the purchases of my products
that you have made in the past.

…and I thank you in advance for the purchases
you will make in the future.

So, here is my gift to you and your customers.

I want you to be as proud of your small
business accomplishments and I am, and I
want you to be a bigger part of the conversation.

So, let’s not dilly-dally any more. Join the
Underdog Millionaire small business movement
and show the world what you are capable of.

While you are at it, you can click around on
the blog and look at any past articles that
you might have missed.

Feel free to leave comments as well.

Click here and take MASSSIVE ACTION to help
the future of your business:

http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/join-the-movement

Until tomorrow,

Joshua Black

P.S. If you don’t currently have a website,
I’m sure you know by now that you need to
get one.

Work today to get that started, and when you’re
ready, you too can join the movement.
http://www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog/join-the-movement

*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

Small Business Branding- Too Many Eggs in One Basket?

Joshua Black — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:42:51 +0000

One of my favorite quotes is supposedly
from Andrew Carnegie. He said “put all
of your eggs in one basket and then watch
the basket.”

Too many people give out the advice that
you have “too many eggs in one basket,”
meaning that you need to diversify your
business in order to protect yourself
from a disaster.

Hogwash I say!

What’s good for Andrew is good enough for
the rest of us…

I think that it’s important to have multiple
streams of income and multiple streams of
customers, but if you water down your
business and pull it in too many directions,
you won’t stand for anything in your
customer’s eyes.

Let’s say you are an expert on ice cream.
You have the best ice cream shop in town and
some crazy friend of yours says that you need
to diversify.

You open up an oil change shop down the
street and then an on-line poker site a few
months later.

Now, where you were once known as the ice
cream kind, people will have no idea what
you are famous for.

Just look at all of the huge, international
brands that have watered down their original
message with over-diversification.

Clorox has about 100 products with their
name on it, where it used to ONLY mean the
best bleach.

The same holds true for Nestle, all of the
major car companies, and about 1,000 other
brands that you can quickly find on the shelf.

What was once an icon name for a single business
or product has been watered down into a
little something for everyone, which becomes
memorable to no one.

When you are building your business, make
sure that you stick to your original core.

Of course you need to grow and expand, that’s
the name of the game, but make sure that you
still stand for the reason that people came
to you in the first place.

Stay as the best ice cream shop in town and
expand on that idea.

Multiple streams of income is a whole another
story. This is where you need to focus all
of your secret powers of business.

If you are on-line, go off. If you are off-line
go on. There are customers in both places
that do not know about you, just waiting
for you to sell them stuff.

One of the best ways to expand your customer
base is the FREE way, and that’s with tons
of search engine traffic.

People rarely use the phone book any more and
if you want to hit a real pile of gold, then
you need to get your site at the top of the
search engines.

If you want to know more about how to get
there, check out my search engin optimization
report at: http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com

Have a fun and cash-filled weekend.
Until Monday,

Joshua Black
*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Download these other great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

_________________________________________

When Good Web Sites Go Bad…

Joshua Black — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:04:04 +0000

By now I’m hoping that you have some kind
of web site for your business, or that you
are in the process of creating one.

If you don’t, you are leaving a big bad of
money on the table.

It doesn’t matter if you own a nation-wide
business, or a local service business, people
aren’t using the phone book any more.

That being said, with the huge sea of web
sites out there, how are you supposed to
get noticed and gather new customers?

Well, that’s where the game of search
engine optimization comes in. I haven’t
talked about SEO in awhile, and I’ve had
a few questions lately, so here are a
few tips that you can use to get your small
business web site ranking higher than the
other guys:
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com/

1. You have to pick a single keyword
or key phrase to focus the site around.
The more specific you can be, the higher
you will rank.

2. You have to provide tons of content
that is frequently updated. To make the
search engines happy, you should post
something new at least once a month at
bare minimum.

3. You need to get links to your page
from other sources. This comes from
posting comments on people’s blogs,
writing articles, having other sites
link to yours, participating in forums,
the list goes on and on.

4. Your domain name should contain
your keyword as well. This delivers your
page into a nice package for the search
engines to look at.

Remember that the search engines have an
obligation to their customers to provide
them with the most accurate search possible.

It is your job to deliver that information
exactly the way they want to look at it.

If you want to know much more about SEO and
to find 75 surefire ways to get your page
ranking higher, check out:

http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com/

Now, get out there and do your business a
favor. Get your page ranking higher and
make a ton of money.

If you’re not on page one of the search
results, you will only end up with a trickle
of traffic.

http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com/

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

P.S. For those of you that have been
patiently waiting for the Ultimate Pricing
Report to come out, it’s going a little
slower than expected, but it should be
available just for the Underdog Millionaires
next week.
*******************************************
Copyright 2010, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Please download these great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.how-to-business-network.com
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.Facebook.com/underdogmillionaire
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

Do You Make These Mistakes with Your Web Site?

Joshua Black — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:37:24 +0000

I don’t know about you, but when I first started
making a website for my businesses, I tried to
put everything in there that I could find.

I tried to sell with my site, capture leads, have
a question and answer page…everything but the
kitchen sink.

The problem was that I gave my customers too many
choices, so they chose NOTHING.

You might be doing that with your web site too.

Before you start ANY marketing piece, including
your web site, you need to ask this question:

What am I trying to accomplish with my page?

Are you using the site for lead generation, like
I do with http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com ?

Are you using the site to sell a product directly?

Are you using the site to answer customer’s questions
about the product so they don’t have to contact you
so frequently?

Are you using the site just to talk about the history
of your company or about the you, the owner?

Whatever the answer is, make sure you only pick a
single purpose.

You want the customer to vote, either they are
interested or not.

If you give them a Swiss Army-type web site that
has everything except a toothpick, the customer may
appreciate all of the information, but they won’t
make that single choice as often.

Make them pick, are they interested in the single
purpose of the site or not.

If yes, show them the steps to move on.

If not, then you haven’t wasted any more time on
trying to get a lead that will never buy from you.

Now, once you have your site and you want your
customers to actually be able to finds it in the
search engines, get it ranking higher with the
Underdog SEO Report. Get on page one of Google fast.
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com

Have a great day. May your web sites bring you a
huge pile of business.

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

P.S. The new networking product is well on its way
and soon I will unveil it to y’all. In it you will
a ton of great ways to use the power of netowrking
to get more customers for free.

Great for the bootstrapping Underdog Millionaire.

*******************************************
Copyright 2009, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Please download these great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com
http://www.Facebook.com/underdogmillionaire
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

Ranking Higher-Be the Haystack and Not the Needle

Joshua Black — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:32:36 +0000

If you’re trying to get your small business website
off the ground, it’s hard enough to build the stupid
thing, let alone have someone find it once you
post the web page.

If you are in an industry that has a lot of web
competition, then having your small site out there
is like having a needle in a haystack.

…so what are you supposed to do?

How are you supposed to get found by the people
that you want to find you?

…should you pay someone?

You could, but it probably won’t get you lasting
results. This is a battle that is best won on
your own.

Search engine optimization for small business
web sites can be very challenging, because you
may want to try and reach as many people as
you can, across a whole bunch of searches.

However, that is exactly the opposite approach
that you need to take to get your site ranked
higher.

You need to focus, grasshopper, focus.

Each page of your site needs to be focused on
a single set of keywords.

The more specific you make your keywords, the
better a chance you will rank higher for that
term.

If you had a site about baseball, you wouldn’t
just pick baseball, you might pick the 1962
New York Yankees.

Once you have your topic, you need to provide
the world with tons of content.

If you have a local business, make sure you
are optimizing your page around the name of your
city, plus the business niche that you are in.

If you can get that page up there, you will
receive a pile of free traffic.

This is traffic that you don’t have to buy.

This is traffic that you don’t have to beg and
negotiate for.

This is the web traffic you want, especially if
you are a bootstrapping entrepreneur.

If you want to know exactly what you can do to
move your page up the search engines and get it
ranking higher, check out the Underdog SEO Report
at: www.ranking-higher-seo.com

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

P.S. Tomorrow we will chat about something completely
different, stay tuned…

*******************************************
Copyright 2009, Outer Limit Productions LLC.
All rights reserved.

Please download these great products to help
your business earn huge piles of moolah:

http://www.ranking-higher.seo.com
http://www.Facebook.com/underdogmillionaire
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.underdog-success-formula.com

A Customer Grabbing Web Lesson From My Dog

Joshua Black — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:45:20 +0000

Today’s Underdog Millionaire Tip Sheet is
all about getting customers the easiest
way possible.

I mean, you can take the hard route as well
if you want, and there’s no such thing as a
free lunch, but I’m going to share a little
tip I learned from my dog this weekend that
will help you get more customers to your web
site faster.

I will say that my dog is pretty crappy at
making web sites and even crappier at typing,
but he sure is a good teacher.

Some how over the weekend he was able to
get into something that smelled just terrible.

I have no idea what it was (I think it came
out of a rabbit), but whatever it was, he got
it all over himself and it stuck to him so
bad I could still smell it after 3 baths.

Heck, I can still smell it now while I’m
writing this.

Anyway, after he found that special spot in
the yard, he went back to it again and again,
rolling around in the grass like the happiest
dog in the world.

No matter what I did, I could not drag him
away from that spot.

He found what he wanted and was determine to
keep having it until he wasn’t allowed anymore.

You can do the same thing with your web site.

If you design your site around a few carefully
chosen keywords, all made to give your
customers their favorite rabbit poop, you will
have them coming back again and again, every
time they need their next “fix” of their
particular interest.

When you build your site, check out the
Google Keyword search tool. It will tell you
the average search traffic for a particular term
and you will be able to pick less-competitive
keywords that you can optimize towards.

If you want to learn how to get your page on the
top of all the searches for a given keyword,
bringing in customers, like my dog after his
favorite stinky spot, bark on over to:
www.ranking-higher-seo.com

May all of your pages pull in ton’s
of cash for your business.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

Time to Start Your Engines Part 4…

Joshua Black — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:56:14 +0000

This is gonna be the last installment of
the search engine optimization series for
this week.

I put together a special product just for
this series and I’d llike to share it with
you.

If you have more interest in SEO for your
small business venture, check out the
Underdog SEO Report here:
www.ranking-higher-seo.com

There are 75 different tips to rank your page
higher, and many of them could get you to
number one all by themselves.

For today’s tip, if you are just starting
out with a web site or you are planning to
make one, pay close attention to the actual
web address. The search engines take this into
account as well.

Make sure that your web address contains the
keyword(s) that you are trying to optimize for
in your page as well.

The search engines like one neat, tidy package
of content all related to what the user typed
in the search box.

The closer you can get to that, the higher
you will go up the results page.

Be sure to check out the Underdog SEO Report.
I put in every single strategy that I use and
some more stuff as well.

I didn’t leave anything out.
http://www.ranking-higher-seo.com

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

Time to Start Your Engines Part 3…

Joshua Black — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:07:59 +0000

I’ve still got more to say about search
engine optimization today, so let’s get this
party started.

In case you are just signing up, you can see
the previous posts on the blog here:
www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog

Today’s Tip Sheet about SEO for your small
business page is all about the links.

No, not sausage or golf courses, I’m talking
about the number of other sites that have a
link back to your pages.

The search engines love when other people
like what you have to say.

When someone likes what you’re selling or
promoting, they link to your page with a
comment to their readers. Most times you
won’t even know what is happening.

Say, for example you had your own blog and
your own list. You might have really
appreciated something I said, or a piece of
swanky advice that I gave on the Tip Sheet.

You might then, in turn, tell your list
about how I helped you. This is one way of
getting links.

You can pay for them, and you can fabricate
them through article marketing and multiple
web sites.

Google uses something like 100 different
characteristics to determine your ranking in
the search results for a particular keyword.

Of those 100, linking is one of the most
important beyond your actual content.

Google figures that if 10,000 other sites are
talking about you, then it must be a hit, so
it wants to provide the Google users with the
most popular and relevant content first, so
it moves your page up a few notches.

Just look at the stupid hot air balloon family
and all of the press they are getting.

Overnight, you could create a blog about it
and start to rank really high based on all of
the news sources that want the latest dirt
on the dumbest family on earth (just an example
but you get the idea).

Now, all of this SEO stuff might seem a little
complicated, but there is a ton of free resources
out there to help teach you the basics of HTML
and where to change little things on your page
to make the search engines do the happy dance.

Remember that you MUST get a web page if you
want to run a business of any kind. Customers
expect it to prove that you are legit. It’s a
sign of credibilty these days.

The phone book is dead.

Even if you are selling pots and pans door to
door like Zig Ziglar, you need to have a pots
and pans web site that exaplains your biz.

Wow, got a little preachy there today, didn’t
mean it. Oh well.

That’s it for today.
May all of your pages hit number one.

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black

http://www.Facebook.com/underdogmillionaire
http://www.UnderdogMillionaire.com/blog
http://www.sales-letter-system.com
http://www.closing-the-sale.com
http://www.information-product-report.com
http://www.UltimateUSPcreator.com
http://www.Underdog-success-formula.com

Time to Start Your Engines Part 2…

Joshua Black — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:37:06 +0000

I’m gonna continue the talk about optimizing
your web pages today.

In case you are just signing up, you can see
yesterday’s post on the blog here:
www.underdogmillionaire.com/blog

Again, If you don’t have a web site for your
small business yet, you need to get one.

OK So, on with the show…

Today’s Tip Sheet about SEO for your small
business page is all about the “long tail”
niche markets.

Let’s say you have a bakery and you want to
try and create a page for “cookies.” Well, there
could be millions of sites ahead of you, all
trying to get that coveted #1 slot.

But, what if you found a keyword (through some
diligent research) that no one else was optimizing
for, and it fit your market perfectly, such
as “organic seaweed cookies.”

This may be a term that you can easily modify
your page towards and get a reasonable amount
of traffic from the number one spot.

Once you have created a few pages in these
obscue categories, you can move on to compete
for the big ones.

Did you know that it’s not always a great idea
to optimize a page for broad keywords anyway?

You may get a lot of traffic, but the people
that buy are typing in much more specific terms,
like “Australian imported Christmas Cookies.”

Go the long-tail route and get your page
on the fast-track to more traffic and more BUYING
customers.

That’s it for today.
May all of your pages hit number one.

Until tomorrow,
Joshua Black