More and more website owners are taking the next step to virtual private servers (VPS) after realizing the limitations of a shared hosting plan.  If you’re a small to medium size business with e-commerce on your site, have a popular blog or have any other resource-intensive type of site, then shared hosting wouldn’t be the [...]

Yesterday Affiliate Window had the honour of presenting at the IAB’s third annual Travel Forum. Following on from the success of previous years, the day promised to be varied, informative and relevant. Alongside a line up of guests from big travel brands and respected agencies, Affiliate Window was invited to speak about running a successful affiliate programme in the travel sector. As the account manager for Opodo and the lowcosttravelgroup, I was asked to represent the network with a rundown of the key points for travel brands to keep in mind, as well as highlighting case studies from recent successful campaigns.

Other speakers included Expedia’s Faye Sheppard, Microsoft Advertising’s Caroline Mastoras and Big Mouth Media’s Anneli Ritari. There were many useful talking points thrown up by the presentations, with the role of social media, re-targeted ads, SEO and mobile all up for debate. A whole spectrum of approaches to online campaigns were put forward; from new technologies being explored by Microsoft, to a case for a more 1950s view of display campaigns advanced by Adam Pattinson of Specific Media.

Presentations given on the day are now available via the IAB website.

Many thanks to everyone at the IAB for organising the event, and a special thank you to Jon Mews for chairing proceedings with a particularly special sense of humour!

Katherine Eames, Account Manager

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Last night, I had the pleasure of attending Fashion’s Night Out at M&S, in association with Vogue. Hosted by M&S TV ads very own Lisa Snowdon, the evening was a glamorous showcase of the new M&S styles for Autumn/Winter; debuting key pieces for the season including the aviator jacket, military style and vintage cool outfits which are all featured in the new TV campaign.

Watch the new TV campaign here – launched yesterday featuring all the girls, Twiggy, Danni, Lisa, VV and Ana.

The evening also entitled attendees to 10% off Womenswear, Menswear and Lingerie to give customers the chance to get their hands on all the new styles seen in the catwalk shows! Caryn Franklin also offered her expert advice in trend workshops, giving hot tips on the newest items to add to your wardrobe this season.

A huge thank you to M&S for such an enjoyable evening!

Katy

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Most of the people who choose to read this blog are interested in how to get out of the rat race and start working for themselves. This “dot com lifestyle” doesn’t have to be achieved through blogging, of course, so what other options do you have?

Eleven years ago, Peter Trevellian published a book called Escapology. The book has now been updated, revised and expanded for an audience in 2010. In fact, this is the tenth edition of the book and it serves as the subject of today’s review.

What’s Old Is New Again

Some people may scoff at books like that were originally published more than a decade ago. After all, things like Twitter and the Apple iPhone didn’t even exist eleven years ago. However, some of the content is “evergreen” and the rest has been updated to fit with contemporary life.

The book, which appears to be only available in e-book digital download format, spans over 400 pages and it describes various strategies of how you can “build passive streams of recession-proof income” and how you can “make insane amounts of money anywhere in the world.” We all want that, right?

Some of the e-book can be considered a tutorial or a guide, but a lot of it is based on real life experiences, not only of author Peter Trevellian, but also many of his readers, clients, and acquaintances. All in all, Escapology contains “101 easy ways to escape 9 to 5, become financially free, and have the time of your life.”

How to Escape the Nine-to-Five

The idea is that everyone is different and what may work for one person may not work for another. If you hate getting your hands dirty, a job as a construction worker probably isn’t appropriate. This is why Escapology offers 101 different methods for you to consider.

The first two chapters aren’t methods at all. Instead, they remind you that losing your job is “your lucky day” and that you shouldn’t get a job if you want to be rich. That’s because you’d still be trading hours for dollars, regardless of what hourly wage you manage to earn. Passive income streams, when implemented properly, have limitless potential.

Shown above is a brief snippet from the table of contents. You can learn how to be an Internet entrepreneur, for instance, as well as a passport broker, consultant, and a wealthy author.

Two Examples of Escaping

The actual content of the lengthy book may be interesting and valuable, but it is not without its faults. I found a great number of typos and other errors littered throughout the text, including errors in headers and titles.

Can you spot some of the issues with the excerpt above? They’re not sinful, but they do take away from the overall professionalism of the piece. Ironically enough, this is taken from the chapter for how you can make a large amount of money as a copywriter.

Instead of taking a flat fee, the author suggests that you take a percentage of the increased profit that your customers will enjoy as a result of your services. This opens up greater potential, but of course it comes at a greater risk as well.

One of the strangest methods described among the 101 strategies outlined in the book is to start your own religion. It starts off with a discussion of Jim Jones, but it goes on into how starting your own religion can be quite profitable. This reminds me of a South Park episode.

The chapter continues with a discussion on Scientology, selling inspirational books, and a career as a new age counselor. Interestingly enough, the next chapter discusses how you can be an independent missionary and earn “infinite returns on your investment.” How’s that for unorthodox?

Jailbreaking Your Life

I can’t really say whether the guidance provided in this book can be utilized by everyone, but simply exploring the different options available to you can really open your eyes to what is possible. There are chances at passive income streams all around you; you just have to see them.

The e-book is very text heavy, but it does offer some unique perspectives. From getting rich with an invention to running an import/export business, from tracing missing heirs to rock concert promoter, there is certainly quite a range for you to consider.

The e-book sells for $49.97 and comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.

CLICK HERE TO BUY ESCAPOLOGY

A few things to tell you about today…

First…

“Social Media” is all the rage everywhere you turn. On TV. In Magazines. Newspapers. Movies. And more. You’ve probably heard “Facebook” and “Twitter” so many times now in your life that you’re probably tired of hearing about them.

But the big question is… is using Social Media really good for you and your business? I think for most entrepreneurs the answer is NO.

At least “no” because of the way most people are using it. I’ve always said that Twitter and Facebook are great for SYNDICATION efforts. There are some great ways to auto-publish links to your articles, blog posts, etc. with them. And that is definitely something you want to be doing.

But I see so many entrepreneurs spending hours upons hours of their time ‘chatting’ with people on Facebook or Twitter. Somehow they feel that because they are using those sites, and because the media is so ‘big’ on Social Media, that somehow their business is benefiting from it.

In many cases, it’s THE OPPOSITE. Spending hours of time on Facebook and Twitter is most likely LOSING MONEY for folks.

In most cases, the traffic that can be generated from those sites is often very untargeted or very unqualified. Facebook Ads is the exception and I highly recommend you test with it and use it to generate targeted, profitable leads if you can. That’s where you can buy ads that run across Facebook based on user demographics and interests.

If someone takes the same amount of time they spend on Facebook or Twitter and spends it setting up ad campaigns on Google Adwords, or creating some targeted, highly optimized content for their site, they will make more money in their business. I guarantee it.

Something to think about.

Again, I DO think those sites can help your business, but you shouldn’t be spending more than 5% of your “business time” on them.

I challenge you to use “Anti-Social Media” for 2 weeks. (Or longer if you can do it.) Don’t use Facebook or Twitter at all. Put all of your time into SEO efforts, setting up AdWords campaigns, and writing articles. You’ll be surprised how much faster your business grows.

The second thing to tell you about today…

Is an update on ME.

A lot of people have been asking me about my travels and my ‘experiment’ with minimalism. After traveling non-stop for 2 months, I can tell you one thing for sure…

IT’S TIRING.

It’s rough to go from place to place and constantly be on the move. It’s like it’s hard to ‘relax’ for very long because you know your current surroundings are only temporary.

And being without a “home base” of some sort, I believe, works against you mentally. Your mind is always aware that you’re just a perpetual nomad and in ‘motion.’ I think the key to being able to perpetually travel is to stay in certain places for long periods of time. Even setting up a little “home base” and then travel to and from that point.

What’s up next for me is to spend some more time in MY OWN COUNTRY. There are some great cities in the US that I want to experience. I also want to be in the US to spend more time with my family. I’m realizing more and more that that’s what is truly important in life. (Yes, obvious, I know.)

As many of my long-time customers know, my brother died about 5 years ago. And not a week or so goes by without being reminded that I wish I had spent more time with him while he was still alive. And I know that one day (even, though, I definitely don’t like to think about it) I’ll probably have the same thoughts about the time I spent with my parents.

So along with a lot of other areas that I want to have more balance with, spending time with my family is one of them.

I definitely still have lots of destinations on the “To Do” list and I still plan on getting to them all — but I have already come to realize that I need a more balanced way to continue to travel or I will reach a major point of BURN-OUT.

As for the minimalism stuff, I’m still a huge believer in it. Not necessarily in only having a few shirts and outfits, etc. but just not having tons of STUFF in my life that can become a distraction. I’m sure that I’ll be acquiring some new things as I set up a little home base, but I’m definitely never going back to the life I once had in regards to owning an overkill of stuff.

The one thing I’ve really experienced so far on my little ‘journey’ is getting some perspective. I’ve had plenty of time to think about my life and focus on what’s really important — I’ve also thought a lot about past choices and how things may or may not have been different.

More than anything, I’ve realized the value of BEING PRESENT. That life really is short and it’s passing by in the blink of an eye. And I’ve been doing an interesting “Time Machine” mental exercise (you should try it)…

Whatever you are doing today, or with your days right now, imagine eventually being 10 years into the future. And imagine being able to get into a Time Machine and visit TODAY (10 years earlier). Would you want to be doing whatever you were doing then? Or would you wish you had spent those days doing something else?

Like not to harp on the Facebook/Twitter stuff, but think of a day in the recent past when you caught yourself ‘surfing’ for several hours on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You know, when you were just chatting it up with people, etc. and you really didn’t do much to make more money in your business that day – heck, we’ve all been there and done that many times.

Don’t you wish you could have a ‘do over’ and get that essentially worthless day back?

Something to think about.

And if you have a dream to start a certain type of business or to do something you’ve been thinking about for a long time, DO IT. Don’t wait. Just go for it NOW. Often times the “worst case scenario” if it happens when pursuing that dream isn’t all that bad — so it’s definitely worth the risk.

Since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of having a video game company. And now, after putting it off for more than 25 years, I’m finally going for it. And even if it ends up not having the same success as other businesses I’ve had in the past, I really don’t think I’ll care. Because I know I’ll be a lot HAPPIER and excited about it. And at the end of the day, that’s really what matters.

So I challenge YOU… don’t wait. Do whatever you’ve always wanted to do TODAY — or at least get started with ‘it’ in some small way that you can accommodate in your life right now.

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

„Meet the largest European performance advertising network!“- that’s our theme for this year’s dmexco, the digital marketing exhibition and conference in Cologne, Germany, and one of the leading European events for our industry. Visit us on 15 and 16 September at our booth #G020/028 and meet our international team from zanox and our partner companies eprofessional and Affiliate Window for the first joint appearance under the new umbrella of the zanox group.

We’ll also present our clients with some new exciting cooperation potentials for retargeting and social network advertising. Our advertisers are now able to cooperate with all leading international retargeting providers: advertisers select the ones they would like to work with and can manage all their activities centrally via the zanox platform. We’ll also tell you more about our newly announced Facebook advertising cooperation next week

During the dmexco 2010, we’ll also award the most successful online agencies of our German network for the first time. The zanox Agency Award will be granted in three categories: Best Publisher Support, Best Programme Performance and Best New Business. Join us for the public award ceremony on Wednesday at 6 pm and for the big Agency Award Winners Party starting at 6:30 pm at our booth. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Graham Cox, the creator of the Ultimate Footer Ad has sent me a coupon code allowing you to get the program for only $37. The Ultimate Footer Ad is a script that helps you to increase newsletter sign ups. It can also be used to advertise whatever you want. The ad slides up from the bottom of your site and into view after a predetermined time that you set. The ad works really well because it’s almost impossible to not notice it.

While the Ultimate Footer Ad can be viewed as somewhat intrusive, it’s no where near as intrusive as the Aweber lightbox hover sign up form that takes over the entire screen. Bloggers who don’t want to run the hover box because of its intrusive nature will find the Ultimate Footer Ad to be just right. Best of all, the sign up from the Ultimate Footer Ad is almost as good as the lightbox.

You’ve heard me talk about the importance of building a mailing list. I have made over $4,000 in one day with my list. Building my newsletter list is the number one thing I work on and anything that can help me increase sign ups is going to get reviewed and tested. Here is a video of the Ultimate Footer Ad in action.

Use Coupon Code AFF37 To Get The Ultimate Footer Ad for $37

The Ultimate Footer Ad normally sells for $47 and it’s a great value at that price. However, between now and this Friday, you can get the Ultimate Footer Ad for only $37 by enter coupon code AFF37 at checkout. Alternatively, you can just click the link in this post as it has the coupon code hard coded into the URL.

Try Ultimate Footer Ad For 365 Days – Risk Free!

Ultimate Footer Ad comes with one year money back guarantee. Yep, you read that right. Download Ultimate Footer Ad and try it out for 1 full year. If your ad click rates haven’t at least doubled by then, just contact Graham for a quick, hassle-free refund, no questions asked.

The Ultimate Footer Ad is a fantastic product and is backed up with a fantastic guarantee. If you’re serious about building your list (or promoting whatever you want) you need the Ultimate Footer Ad. The price shouldn’t even be a consideration. If you can’t make way more than $37 from the increased conversions, then this business clearly isn’t for you.

Click Here To Get The Ultimate Footer Ad for $37

In less than two weeks time, I will be heading to ThinkTank in San Diego. This is a diamond mind networking event put on by Dr. David Klein (DK) and is attended by the who’s who of Internet marketing. ThinkTank is NOT a conference. Everyone knows that the real value of going to a major trade show is for the networking you do at the after parties. Well, think of ThinkTank as a three day long after party. It’s held on the beach of Del Mar. There’s food, entertainment and open bar. It’s an event where the really successful Internet people learn and share ideas with each other.

Everyone attending ThinkTank must sign an NDA (non disclosure agreement) agreeing not to reveal anything discussed during the three days. The only blog posts you’ll be seeing from me about it will be from the drinking and partying.

Everyone Attending ThinkTank Pays To Attend

ThinkTank is invite only and cost $3,000. For most, the price will seem simply too high. However, the successful person who knows the value of spending three days networking with the likes of Shoemoney, Neil Patel, Jonathan Volk, Andy Liu, Amish Shah, Zac Johnson and others like them will find this the value of the century. I know that I will make at least a 10 time return on investment by attending.

Normally, the people on the attendee list can get into any event for free because of who they are (some are even paid to be there). This says a lot about the value of ThinkTank when a guy like Amish Shah, who made $6 million in a week with his last product launch, pays to attend ThinkTank.

ThinkTank is limited to just 50 people. DK keeps the numbers low so all attendees will have time to network with everyone. Here’s the bad news. There are only ten invites available for new attendees and DK has allocated only four invites for John Chow dot Com readers.

If you can see the value of spending of three days with me and the biggest names in Internet Marketing and being able to ask us anything you want, with great food, and drinks on the beach, then I highly recommend you go and apply for an invite right now because it will be gone if you wait. I look forward to seeing you at ThinkTank!

CLICK HERE RESERVE YOUR INVITE TO THINKTANK

I’m back in Vancouver for my fist Dot Com Pho since moving to Seattle. Of course, everyone got a big laugh out of that since I moved to Seattle only 6 days ago so I didn’t really miss any Vancouver Pho. While I like to say I came back to Vancouver just for Dot Com Pho, the truth is I came back for a family wedding (one of my cousins is getting married).

This episode of Dot Com Pho is a bit longer than most. However, I think you’ll enjoy it more because we got into a bunch of stuff that we’ve never done before. Stuff like stupid human trick. We also to got meet Dot Com Pho’s newest and youngest member and I got a real hand written letter in the mail from a reader! Enjoy the episode and tune in next week to see where I end up.

The people who choose to read John Chow dot Com come from all corners of the Earth and from all walks of life. Many of them are very interested in the world of Internet marketing, but that doesn’t mean that their other interests and hobbies are necessarily alike.

Some may like fast cars and others may prefer haute couture. Louis Yagera approaches an entirely different area of interest on this blog and, over the course of this review, we’ll take a look at what he has to offer.

Be All That You Can Be

Louis Yagera says that this philosophy in life is comprised of five different mantras and variations of these cycle through the main header image area on his blog.

In the screenshot above, for instance, he tells us that you can be all that you can be. This relates back to one part of his life philosophy: “Be as best as I can be.” The grammar isn’t exactly perfect, but you get the idea. He also says, “I am THAT I am” and that “life is a journey” and you should “enjoy the ride.”

His blog isn’t technically about Internet marketing. Instead, he focuses mostly on the law of attraction, meditation techniques, and — most recently — the power of “binaural beats technology,” possibly to achieve “theta states.”

Who Is Louis Yagera?

Currently residing in Valencia, Spain, Louis Yagera describes himself as a “pretty normal guy.”

He has a great interest, as mentioned, in the law of attraction and he says that mastering this early as a teenager helped him “find my ideal job as a software programmer” and “live in the area of my choice,” even though it’s a “nice place that I thought I could not afford.

Beyond the law of attraction, Louis also expresses great interest in progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, meditation, and other techniques. You’ll find an almost spiritual-like tone through much of the content on his blog.

Writing Style and Comprehension

It’s possible that I’m coming from a slightly different perspective, since I make my career as a freelance writer, but I found that Yagera’s style to be somewhat unclear.

Take the blog post above as an example. This post is meant to be an introduction to the site, as it is titled “If You Are New to this Blog.” I think part of it has to do with sentence structure, since there are many run-on sentences.

Writing style aside, those interested in meditation and achieving certain mental states may find the information provided on LouisYagera.com to be of some value. It is worth noting that while the publication date of each post doesn’t seem to appear in the post themselves, they are included in the permalink structure. I’d personally have the date visible somewhere in the post.

I’d also recommend trying to shorten some of the blog post titles, as the resulting URLs can be very long. This could be little more than a matter of personal preference, but there could be some SEO ramifications as well.

Enter to Win High Quality Binaural Tracks

Possibly in preparation for today’s review, Louis lined up some stuff to give away as part of a contest. Yup, it has to do with binaural beats again.

The kicker is that his contest won’t just have one winner. He’s selecting a total of eleven winners and they’ll be given a range of content that includes binaural beats technology.

The grand prize winner gets Gammadrone MP3s, Deltadream MP3s, and Insight meditation MP3s. Three other winners get a Gammadrone CD and the remaining seven get the Insight Meditation MP3. With the exception of the single CD, all the prizes are digital. I guess that’s how he can manage to have eleven winners.

The winners will be chosen on September 15. To enter, sign up for Louis Yagera’s newsletter on his site.