Problems Sending Email?

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Mar 8, 2011

I’m pretty sure the most complex function on the Internet is the process of sending email. It seems like such a simple thing. But, if you’re experiencing problems sending email, you know first-hand how all of a sudden this seemingly easy function can become extremely difficult to handle. I’m no email expert, but I’ve certainly had my share of problems sending email. And, that’s where the problem always seems to be…in the “sending” of the email rather than the receiving side of things.

If you’ve proven emails you send are not getting to their recipient, try these 3 steps to make sure your bases are covered.

1. Setup reverse DNS on the IP your domain name runs off of. Don’t worry, I don’t have much of a clue what this means either. Just call your hosting company and have them check on if this has been done.

2. Set the SPF record. On my server, I would login to my WHM account to change the setting.

3. Make sure you’re not on any blacklists by performing a quick (and free) blacklist search.

Facebook Edge Rank Defined

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 22, 2010

Well, you can’t really calculate it yet like Google Page Rank, but you can at least know what facebook is looking for from your wall posts and page posts when “it” (the facebook system) decides what posts of yours will be visible to your friends in the “Top News” area and/or the “Most Recent” area. And, unknown to many as I come to find, many of your posts are probably not even seen by your facebook friends…even if they click the “Most Recent.” Here’s a good description of Edge Rank and a couple of diagrams to go along with it. Thanks to Mari Smith for presenting it.

Join me on facebook to see the discussion.

And, here’s a great article describing a test that was run over a period of weeks to essentially get better Edge Rank, although, they termed it more as just experimenting on what it takes to get more people to see your posts. But, it’s Edge Rank none-the-less. Thanks to Cindy Rold for posting it on facebook.

The two just seemed like a perfect match for each other on this post to bring it all together. Plus, I just wanted to put both of these resources here in one place so I could refer to it later.

Contact Facebook Support

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 20, 2010

As your facebook profile or fan pages get more attention, you’re going to eventually have something go wrong with your facebook account and you’ll be searching forever for support of a facebook help issue.

Facebook might accuse you of being a spammer or one of your facebook “friends” might even turn you in by reporting you as an abusive wall poster. Maybe you just want to get your main facebook name changed and you know you can only change it once, which you’re already done.

There are countless reasons why you will eventually need to contact facebook customer service eventually. And, like many web-based systems of today, there is not a phone number to be found anywhere for support help. No, facebook supports its system entirely through support forms…dozens of them! If you have a facebook issue, use this resource for facebook support forms featuring 120 forms to use for your specific facebook support issue.

This Domain Name Scam Never Quits

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 11, 2010

Just a quick note that this domain name scam continues to propogate. First time I saw it was last year but there are postings all over the Internet about this domain name scam. Here’s the question that came in from one of my clients:

“I need some advice from someone who knows more than I do about these things. As you can see below a company, which we cannot find out anything about, is about to use my domain all over Asia. At the moment and in the near future I do not plan to go to Asia with my work, however I am thinking that to say nothing could be a problem for me. Do you have any thoughts?”

And, here was the email she received. For her privacy, I kept the domain name out, but the message is important to identify with in case you get one too:

Dear President,

We are the department of Asian Domain registration service in china. we have something need to confirm with you. we formally received an application on October 7, 2010. one company which called “Sitar Holding Inc.” are applying to register “herdomainname” as Brand name and the following Domain Names:
herdomainname.asia
herdomainname.cn
herdomainname.com.cn
herdomainname.com.hk
herdomainname.com.tw
herdomainname.hk
herdomainname.in
herdomainname.tw

After our initial examination, we found that the Domain Names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark. these days we are dealing with it, hope to get the affirmation from your company. if your company has not authorized the aforesaid company to register these, please contact us as soon as possible.
In addition, we hereby affirm that our time limit is 7 workdays. if your company files no reply within the time limit, we will unconditionally approve the application submitted by “I’ve removed the company name so as not to give them any more publicity!”.

I found a very interesting blog post about this issue that was posted back in 2008. Amazing that it’s still relevant today.

So, there you go. If you get an email like this, don’t worry about it. It’s a scam. And, I support the blog post’s mentioning that the most important domain names you need to own are still your .com, .org, .net, .us, and maybe squeeze in a .co if you have some cents still in your budget. Beyond those, you really don’t need to worry about registering multiple out-of-country domains unless of course you are in another country than the U.S.

Another Great Turnout at Profit Again in 2010

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 25, 2010

Zakary Barron from Constant Contact and I had another great turnout at Profit Again in 2010. Our workshops are typically just 3 hours from 9 to noon during a weekday so you can get your work done during the rest of the day. Looks like we might start doing these once a month as we always have a waiting list. Keep checking our Denver Internet marketing workshops page on the HereNextYear.com site and sign-up for the Tuesday Triplet and receive notices whenever we have another upcoming workshop.

At every session, we cover social networking, blogging, WordPress, SEO, video, email marketing strategies and other essentials. And, yes, that’s just 3 hours of jam packed content. Hope to see you at the next one!

Domain Name Registration and Registering a Domain Name

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 25, 2010

Yesterday included my second speaking gig for the week and sure enough someone walked up to me and asked me afterward where a good domain name registration company might be. As I’ve been recommending to people for more than 6 years now, I suggested BestDomainPlace.com. Now, let me explain why I do that.

1. Money – BestDomainPlace.com is a domain name I registered to point to my domain name reseller account. When you buy a domain name, or anything else offered at BestDomainPlace.com, I get a tiny commission for the referral. So, sure, I’m in business to make money. No big secret there. But, there’s more to the story…

2. Domain Name Education – When you buy a domain name through my site, you’re going to get educated at the same time. Anyone who buys any service through BestDomainPlace.com should send an email to me stating that they bought something there. In return, I send a mini-ebook along with a 40-minute recorded audio file of how to strategize using domain names. We sell this product in Action’s Store on the HereNextYear site, but you’re going to get that for FREE when you buy a domain name through the BestDomainPlace.com system.

3. Domain Name Search – The system also has a nice domain name search feature where you can search for available domains and then see several choices of additional, but related, domain names. So, if you want to register the domain name “realestate.com” you would search for its availability only to find it’s already taken by someone else. That’s fine, just pick one of the examples that comes up on screen as optional available domains.

4. Free URL Forwarding – Another great feature of your domain name ownership through this system is FREE URL Forwarding. This feature allows you to register a domain name and then point it…or “direct” it…to a website or even an individual page on a website. Many domain name registrars charge extra for this feature.

5. Domain Name Ownership – Using my preferred vendor for domain name registration allows you the business owner to register your domain name on your own. You don’t need admin to help you and you sure don’t want your web designer or services company to register your domain name for you or in their own name. Your website might be considered as the “heart” of your Internet marketing campaign as I’m always presenting, but your domain name is the equivalent of your DNA! You must have ultimate control of your domain name or your entire effort can be brought to a screeching halt.

So, those are the five main reasons why I continue to promote and support my BestDomainPlace.com domain registration system. And, I’d be hard pressed to change to anything else. Good luck!

P.S. If your curious what system I use to get commissions on domain name referrals, checkout my write up on the best domain name affiliate program on earth.

Joel Comm Presenting Now at AffCon 2010 in Denver

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 21, 2010

Here’s Joel Comm presenting at AffCon 2010 in Denver doing a great job of introducing the group to iPhone apps and being more of a Babe Ruth kind of Internet marketer….either go big or go home as the saying applies.

I originally saw Joel Comm speak at Big Seminar a couple of years ago. He’s the author of Twitter Power and The AdSense Code.

So far, he has a pretty softball speaking gig going on here showing a bunch of pre-made videos about what he’s done. Hopefully we’ll get to some actual to-do’s but that doesn’t really matter. Joel Comm is the keynoter. Joel is the one to kick things off. Joel is the one that AffCon really needed last year to kick off the conference.

Ah! There we go…Joel is starting to talk about Mobile Marketing; a hot topic. If you’re in any kind of marketing, you should be at AffCon 2010 in Denver, Colorado. Still two more days to go! You could be here today or even tomorrow. Join us!

I’m on a panel at 12:45 talking about the challenges of blog platforms. It’s called the Blog Builders. Hope to see you here!

Join Me at the BlogWorld Conference 2010

Posted by Marty Dickinson on Jun 10, 2010

The BlogWorld and New Media Expo and Conference 2010 is going to be the most important and opportunity-generating show it’s ever had. If you think my 3-hour workshops are “educational,” or you enjoyed watching Joel Comm speaking at AffCon 2010 in Denver, well, multiply that by about 100. The networking, the learning, the ability to talk with Internet pioneers is enough to keep you full of cutting edge tactics to try for the next six months!

Register Now through my affiliate link and use the discount coupon EBIRD. The reason you want to use the discount coupon (good only through July 15) is to get the best deal of course. The reason you want to sign-up through my affiliate link is because you will have the best experience at the conference! Here’s what will happen.

The show is on for 3 days, October 14, 15, 16. After each day worth of sessions, I will hold a one-hour group meeting with those who have signed-up through my affiliate link. Together, we will go over highlights from the sessions we attended and share contacts of interesting people we met.

It’s impossible for one person to absorb everything at a multi-day conference. And, I’m lucky if I meet more than about 20 people at an event like this because I get in such lengthy deep conversations with people that I forget to move onto the next contact! By sharing networking connections together, we will multiply our connections and network exponentially!

So, checkout the details, and
just sign-up. You’ll thank me later. Take advantage of the earlybird special discount and make sure to sign-up through my affiliate link. Then send an email to me that you have done so and I’ll add you to my list.

[Note: Yep, as an affiliate I'll be getting some commission for this sale, but I'll be putting that money to use...for you! More details later.]

See you in October at the BlogWorld Conference 2010.

Best Domain Name Affiliate Program

Posted by Marty Dickinson on May 26, 2010

I participate on a lot of industry forums where web designers, seo guys, AdWords campaign managers and other Internet service providers hang out and talk about a variety of topics. Year after year I see the same question come up where someone just getting started with one of these businesses is looking for a domain name affiliate program.

In case you’re not sure what an affiliate program is, it’s a way for you to become a virtual salesperson for someone else’s product or service. Meaning, you get paid sales commission whenever you make a sale but you don’t have to ship any product or do any support on the back-end.

If you have clients of any kind, you should be recommending a way to them register domain names. Many people use GoDaddy or Network Solutions or one of thousands of other domain name registrars, for example. Not all domain registrars have affiliate programs. Some do, but they have heft up-front charges or pay next to nothing commissions or are just plain shady somehow.

About every six months I poke around the web to find the latest and greatest domain registration affiliate program that might meet or exceed my stringent criteria of endorsement. And, every year, I come back to the same system I’ve used since 2003 and have recommended to who knows how many thousands of business owners, authors and speakers.

Here are my qualifiers of what I look for in an affiliate program for domain names:

Proof of Residual Payment – If I’m going to put my effort into promoting anything online, I want to be assured I’ll be paid for my efforts and I want my commissions to be automatically deposited into my bank account. And, I want those payments to be recurring by the month and year.

The one I use: Pays every month right into my bank account and every time a customer renews a domain name, I get another commission payment. These add up over time and every year those renewals just double! Never has a payment been missed; it’s always automatic and I can cross reference my payment with online reports down to the day of the transaction.

Proof of Domain Name Rights – I remember a client that had some hosting company in Australia that gave them a free domain name with their website hosting. After repeated downtimes, the client decided to change their hosting. Their Australian hosting company told them to go fly a kite! Any system I recommend to others has got to give the client rights to their own domain name.

The one I use: It is your domain name, registered in your name, controlled by you when you login to your own account.

Proof of Process – The system has to “work” and be easy to use by even my most non-technical clients. After all, the domain names will be registered in their names by them.

The one I use: Yeah, well, it has a bit much on the upselling attempt which might get a little in the way of usability for the customer, but even when the company upsells one of my referrals, I get even more commission for the sale.

Proof of 24/7 Support - Nothing is more irritating than having a domain name registrar company that only supports your domain names by email. There are just some times when you have to pick up the phone and call someone, y’know?

The one I use: When the support department answers the phone, the person on the other end is always English speaking and answers in the voice of the name I gave my domain name registration website, which is “U Own it Domains.”

Proof of Involvement – I want the affiliate system to allow me to be involved. If I recommend the domain name system for someone to register domains and then they do so, I might get a call someday with a question on the operation of the system. Say for example, the customer cannot get logged in and for whatever reason they don’t see the support phone number on the registrar’s website. They’re probably going to track me down and contact me as the recommender (yes, this has happened before). I need an administrative area where I can login as the affiliate and find that customer and at least get access to their customer number so I can help them get support. This demonstrates to the customer that I am involved in the process and the product. And, I will have a devoted domain registration customer for life as a result.

The one I use: I have a simple and secure login admin console to login to that gives me all kinds of reporting capability to help my customer when I need to.

Proof of Longevity – A new domain name company that just started up yesterday is not one I’m going to put my trust in being around next year. Most of my domain names I register for 5 years or more. I can’t afford to have some bigger company buyout some little registrar company I’ve signed up with only to have their entire process, back-end management area, support methods and pricing change on me mid-stream. It’s just not one of those things I want to worry about.

The one I use: GoDaddy uses the same technical backbone. Think of GoDaddy as a big giant affiliate for this company where the actual machinery is stored to make the domains happen. That’s some pretty big longevity factor there!

Proof of Protection – If someone is trying to steal my domain name, I want to know about it and I want to know that my registrar has protocols in place to identify when domain thieves are at work.

The one I use: You can hide your domain name identity from public view with some slightly higher paying costs for each domain and if anyone tries to steal your domain by transferring it, you will get email notices which you can de-authorize and keep the rights to the domain name.

Proof of Competitive Pricing – If I’m promoting someone’s domain registration system, I should get a discount on domains I want to buy for myself. Plus, people I refer to the system should see that my pricing is competitive too. Which brings me to my next point…

The one I use: Sure, there are systems promoting $3 domains now….but you have to get a hosting account with them or buy other services for a certain amount. Prices with my system are low enough to be competitive and stand on their own.

Proof of Partnership – As an affiliate, I need to be able to prove to my clients and people I recommend the system to that I am in affiliation with the domain registration company. The way that happens is by the affiliate company supplying a website and purchase process that has my name on it; a way for me to integrate my name and my message on their website. Think of it as “co-branding” where both the registrar and I share ownership in a website.

The one I use: Allows me to have a custom header image. So, I can add anything I want. My logo, my name, the affiliate company, whatever.

Proof of Customization – Finally, I need to be able to get into that website offered by the domain name affiliate host so that I can customize my message to people I’ve referred.

The one I use: Can customize many areas of the website and all of the pricing. Plenty of customization to allow me to make it my own for sure.

Proof of 2-Tier Affiliate Tracking – This seems to be a serious limitation of other registrar affiliate systems. Once I find an domain name affiliate system that accomplishes all of the proofs I need as listed above, I need to be able to recommend it to other service providers who might become affiliates too and get a commission from sales THEY generate. This is called “tier 2.”

The one I use: Gives me a completely separate website that I can customize to promote as an affiliate program. After I signed-up for the 2-tier affiliate level, called a Super Reseller, I was able to login to one area and get access to the control panels of both my main affiliate account and also my Super account.

“So, okay Marty, let the cat out of the bag already! What is the golden egg system you recommend?”

Well, first of all, let’s put it this way…

#1) If you’re looking for a great place to register domain names, I suggest BestDomainPlace.com.

This website is my affiliate website. So, when you buy domain names through it, yep, I’m going to get a commission from the sale. There are several reasons why I recommend this website to my clients for their domain name registration, but two additional important reasons are cost savings and control.

But, look at the “partnership” between the two companies, affiliate and affiliate system provider. It’s obvious that I’m promoting it and it’s obvious that there’s some other system that I personally endorse.

#2) If you’re looking for a domain name affiliate program to recommend to your own clients, go to BestResellerProgram.com and you will see the two options. Pick the one that is only $97 setup fee. I think they charge this amount just to weed-out those who are not really serious about promoting the system. To someone that has two or three small clients to recommend to will be totally turned off by a $97 affiliate price. But, heck, I make that back every year just by the “discounts” I get on the domain names I purchase for myself! Then, tack on the year after year residual income I get from my domain customers renewing their payments. It all adds up, I can tell you that for sure.

#3) Once that $179 pays for itself, you will want to tell other service providers (like I’m doing here) that an affiliate program for domain registrations exists. If you have contacts in the Internet marketing or business area (and who doesn’t these days??) consider signing-up for the higher level 2-tier affiliate recommender level for the $197 also found on the same page at BestResellerProgram.com.

And, once you do either of the 3, (sign-up to buy domains, sign-up as an affiliate, sign-up as a Super Reseller), be SURE to send an email to me at Marty@HereNextYear.com so that I can send you my personal checklist for a whole slew of tips for using these three tools.

So, there you go. My recommended process for evaluating domain name affiliate programs and my official recommendation for the system I use. Now go get signed-up and start referring this system to your clients! It just works.

Don’t Fall Prey to the Get Started on the Internet Ploys

Posted by Marty Dickinson on May 21, 2010

Whenever the economy goes downhill, every Internet marketing millionaire under the sun goes into hyper mode to devise the next great scheme to inspire people to get started making their millions on the Internet. I guess this product is always on the mind of Internet marketers…especially Internet marketers who make how-to Internet marketing products. But, I’m seeing even more new so-called “systems” being made available this month than the last 6 months combined.

Why? Because layoffs are still happening. People are getting more desperate than ever. And, the last holdouts, those who have scoffed the Internet for years are finally giving in, so to speak, and trying to figure out how to take the plunge and start making millions online.

The truth is, I don’t care what process or system you buy into. If you are new to the Internet, you are going to have to go through the wickets just like everyone else. You’re going to learn some things the hard way. You will attempt to learn some things on your own and get massively discouraged when things don’t quite work the way you planned…even if you follow their systems step-by-step. You’ll be scratching your head wondering why Internet marketing comes so easy to everyone but you.

You’re going to spend some money and see little or even no return. You will be tested to see if you have what it takes to persist.

How’s that for some Friday encouragement? Not very inspiring is it? Well, I’m just telling the truth. Whether you follow someone’s proven system or go it alone, nothing comes easy on the Internet or any other part of operating a business. Even the hotshots you’re getting emails from that want to tell you their stories of how they got started online and how non-technical they were and how they didn’t do any work or didn’t even have a computer…have gone through the wickets to get to where they are.

Some have made their millions faster, some slower. But all have three things in common, these are:

1. Crash and Burn – If you think every Internet marketer just came from some corporate job and one day, threw a YouTube video together in the backyard and made millions from it going viral, well think again. They’ve all had ideas that were tried but their hopes and dreams of immediate success just vanished before their very eyes. But, that didn’t stop them because they were….

2. Starving for Success – Every successful Internet marketer I know was so hungry and even starving for success that nothing stood in their way. If one thing didn’t work, they changed course and tried something else. They lived and breathed Internet marketing because making that success was more important than anything to them. The question, “How many hours of my day do I need to spend on (fill in the blank)?” NEVER entered their minds!

The crash and burn experience and their starvation for success wasn’t enough either though. They needed one more thing…

3. Charisma – You’ve seen the speakers on-stage with their jokes, stories and sales pitches that you just can’t say no to. Many Internet marketers do not have that kind of charisma, but some have charisma in what they write. Or, they have charisma in how they participate on social networks. Some simply have more of a psychological or scholastic charisma in that they have a knack for looking at statistics and predicting what kinds of promotions people online might respond to.

One of my former clients who went off on his own makes $50K a month online doing just that. No speaking gigs. No books written. Just has a knack for looking at stats and promoting affiliate products online.

So, my point is that you should beware of falling prey to the get started online pitches you’re hearing about because most of them know first-hand that most people will not have the experience, the starvation or the charisma to work through their systems and methods. But, they also know you’re not going to ask for a refund either. They’ll gladly take your money though!

If you do buy into any Internet marketing educational products, be easy on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t “get it” or discover it’s more work than you thought. Because any process to make a dime online will be a process and something to achieve over time. Enter into the process with that in mind and you will have peace of mind and accurate expectations.

So, What CAN You Do to Get Started On the Internet?

If you have a few bucks to spend, I suggest buying my book, Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. They tell me it’s on shelves in bookstores around the world. My portion is the first 190 pages or so.

Then, head over to facebook and “Like” my facebook page that I’ve setup where we discuss all kinds of different Internet marketing related topics.

If you’re really strapped for cash, you should at least sign-up to be on my main email list. When you sign-up, you’ll get immediate access to my new whitepaper that describes the 6 steps of the A.C.T.I.O.N. process, a step-by-step guide for starting online or taking your business to new levels using the Internet.

Finally, I’ll just close this blog post by saying, getting started online is no overnight process. You’re going to need to really focus on this and make the commitment to persevere for an entire year. Make it a part of your life and your lifestyle. That’s when you will start to see the rewards. Let me know if I can help along the way. Good luck!