I have a blueprint that I follow when I want to write a new eBook.

Start by asking yourself the following questions and write down your answers.

1: What is the main focus of your eBook. What do you want the reader to learn from reading it?

2: What kind of research do you need to do to find a quality solution to this?

3: What is the best order to present your information so that the reader is taken step by step to a logical solution?

Now, as you answer these questions you will build the outline of your eBook.

Next, I always do the following:

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With the Free tools available of the Internet, it is now easy to create your own short promo video for whatever subject you want.

Here is one that I created for my Web Design Company.  I used a couple of still images and just uploaded them to Animoto.com

This is very easy and very cool.  Now anyone can do this and it’s free if you don’t mind leaving the short commercial at the end.

Hello All

Recently I have been getting a lot of requests about Membership Sites. People want to know how to set them up, how to manage them, what the costs are.

As I am a full time web developer this is one area that I have always been interested in.

A number of my clients are involved in Internet Marketing and have been requesting that I setup these type of sites up for them.

I can honestly say that one of the best purchases I have made for my clinets when it comes to Membership Sites is:

This power script is easy to install, allows multiple levels of membership including FREE members.

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When you decide that you need to hire someone to get a project done, you have a number of options. You can go directly to a company that specializes in doing Web Design / Product Creation, or you can go to specialized Freelancer sites that you can hire the specific skill needed.

My company, WebYabber.com is focused on web design, graphics creation and product development for a number of clients. From mini-sites to full blown corporate identity packages, to eCovers to PDF creation of your next hot selling eBook, we can do it all.

Of course, you can also go directly to one of the big “Hire a Freelancer Sites” listed below to hire the skill you need to get your project done.

Elance – The largest online freelance site. Probably the best site if you want a large professional job. However if you are looking at a smaller job or you want to cut costs to the bone you may be better off with Rentacoder or Scriptlance. Elance charges the freelance providers to just be listed on the site, whereas Rentacoder and Scriptlance only charge the providers once a project has been selected.

Rentacoder – Probably the second largest coding freelance site. Worth checking out. When you get a project done through Rentacoder you put the entire project fees into an escrow account. You don’t release the fees until the project is complete. This is good because it gives reassurance to the coder that they are going to pay you, but it also can be difficult if you have a large project, because you have to pay the entire amount into an escrow account, although you can put the project into stages and pay based on each stage.

Scriptlance – This site has the lowest costs but it doesn’t have some of the features of Elance and Rentacoder. Not as professional but good if you want really cheap coding.

Getafreelancer.com – Another reasonably good freelancing site

Guru - quite a large outsourcing site

Use Site Build It to build your web site

Site Build – It may be a better option for you than hiring an outside contractor. This software will give you high ranking on the search engines as well as have your own email list and hosting all included. It is a much easier option and has several tools included that help you to build your own site without any knowledge of HTML. The best thing about this tool is that it helps you to get high rankings in the search engines and has lots of bonuses included. You can also hire someone to use the Site Build It software and do everything for you if you want.

Technical Outsourcing Site:

Technical outsourcing

With the holiday season just around the corner, I know lots of people are concentrating on this time of year. It seems to many of us that the time between holidays like Thanksgiving and X-mas is a slow down while we gear up for the next plateau.

How many of us live our lives this way? The A to B approach of things and not seeing the landscape along the way.

I write this in the Goals area of my blog as I think it fits. I know when I was younger, I would become so focused on a goal that I often missed other opportunities that I was oblivious to. I had my blinders on and was attempting to reach that goal no matter what.

As I climb in age, I hope that I have gathered some wisdom around me. I can still focus on a goal, but now I can also see my surroundings. I see those moments in time that bind the two together… The Glue Of Life.

Reaching a goals is a good thing. But being blind to everything else around you while doing it is not healthy. Not for you, not for your family and relationships, and certainly not for your business.

When we become so focused that we miss our surroundings, we also miss opportunities to grow. We miss the things that enrich our lives. We miss the Glue…

I am a big believer in the power of the mind. That what we place inside of it determines what we ending up receiving in our lives. We become what we think about. When I look back on all the successes I have had in my life, they are all based upon what I was thinking about before the success came to me.

I see this as being tied into the Glue Of Life. It is in those in-between moments that we can make giant leaps forward in our thinking. When we are participating in those moments, we become much more aware of what is going on.

I no longer live my life for those moments of recognition. That Thanksgiving Day or that Xmas Time. I live my life for the Glue and all the moments that come between those other points that we as a society hold so dear.

What is YOUR Glue and are you missing it?

If you have been looking for ways to improve your life, I found that a simple formula works. I found these words so long ago in the famous book “Think and Grow Rich”. If you have not read this book, I suggest that you do as it gives some very good advise.

In the book, you will find many golden nuggets to enrich your life, but for me, the most important ones are these:

• Fix your mind on the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money”. Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter)
• Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such thing as “something for nothing”)
• Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
• Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
• Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
• Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you read – see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.

You can change this to anything you want in your life, it does not just have to be for money…

This is such a simple idea and yet very few people use this to get what they want out of life.

If you look around you and find the successful people, you can bet that they do something like this all the time.

What you focus your mind on, what your desire so strongly that you can taste it, is what you will get. But you need to be very clear about what you want, you need to have a vision in your mind about it. You need to think about it every day and you need to take action.

If you use the simple steps above, the things you desire in life will come to you.

Why is goal setting important? Because if you aim at nothing… That is what you are going to hit!

Whenever you see anything worthwhile being done anywhere, it’s because someone is behind it with a passion, a belief and a goal!

When it comes to your personal and business life, goal setting can make the difference between failure and success.

Much is said about goal setting.

But just how do you set and accomplish goals?

Is there some goal setting formula or strategy that can be employed to increase your chances of success?

Thankfully, YES!

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Whether you’re selling a product or service, the 10 tips below are your keys to writing great copy that communicates and persuades … to get results! These guidelines can apply to most any form of consumer marketing communications: sales letters, brochures, web copy, or direct mail. As long as your goal is to elicit a reaction from your reader, you’ve come to the right place.

1) Be reader-centered, not writer-centered.
Many ads, brochures, and Web sites we see talk endlessly on and on about how great their products and companies are. Hello? Customer, anyone? Think of your reader thinking, “What’s in it for me?” If you can, talk with some of your current customers and ask them 1) why they chose you, and 2) what they get out of your product or service. TIP: To instantly make your copy more reader-focused, insert the word “you” often.

2) Focus on the benefits – not just the features.
The fact that your product or service offers a lot of neat features is great, but what do they DO for your customer? Do they save her time or money? Give her peace of mind? Raise her image to a certain status? Here’s an example: If you go buy a pair of Gucci sunglasses, you’re not just looking for good UV protection. You’re buying the sleek, stylish Gucci look. So that’s what Gucci sells. You don’t see their ads talk about how well made their sunglasses are. Think end results. Now, what does an insurance broker sell? Policies? No – peace of mind. (See? You’ve got it.)

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I have concluded that as online writers we could learn a lot from direct marketers.

In this article I’m going to take a look at just one of those similarities: both direct mail packages and web sites lose almost all of their readers before the ‘task’ is completed. Both media struggle with conversion rates that typically hover around the 2% rate.

Most of us throw out or recycle direct mail pieces almost every day. And most of us know how many of our site visitors leave before buying, signing up, registering or completing some other task.

Now for the difference. Direct mail copywriters work extremely hard to minimize the number of readers they lose, at every stage.

How hard do you work to keep and convert your readers?

Here are three tips taken from the world of direct marketing:

Make a promise

First, your homepage should make it very clear what you do. As in the statement, “We sell printer cartridges”.

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As you know, I’m constantly making the point that the text on web sites is not given enough attention. Which is unfortunate, because the headlines on site pages make huge demands on the skills of any writer.

If you’re writing a headline or heading for a site page, here are four things you need to keep in mind, four elements that demand your attention, four separate ‘audiences’ you need to satisfy.

1. Make the reader feel he or she is in the right place

Every time someone clicks on a link and a new page begins to open, the reader is thinking, in one way or another, “Is this page going to give me what I’m looking for?” This is particularly true of first-time visitors. It is also true of any visitor on any page in your site, even a repeat visitor who is accessing a page for the first.

Matching the headline to the reader’s expectations is central to holding their attention and giving them a high level of confidence.

If the heading doesn’t match the reader’s hopes and expectations, their confidence in finding what they want will fall and your conversion rates will decline.

2. Make the reader feel good and want to continue

This is where a page heading takes on the characteristics of a print advertisement headline. The heading not only has to satisfy point number one, but also has to make a ‘sale’. That is to say, it has to sell the reader on the benefits of reading the page. Just as an ad headline sells the reader on the benefits of reading the body text.

By way of illustration, if I were selling my search engine copywriting skills, I might write a heading that says:

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