There are a handful of things that I would say I am full-fledged, die-hard fan of. One of the ones at the top of the list is easily Harry Potter.

From book one to book seven, the story still blows my mind when I reread the books. The descriptive detail, the character development, the intricacy of the story from one book to another is amazing. As someone who has always dreamed of writing a book, I can’t help be be impressed by the world J.K. Rowling created for her characters.

Another key part of the stories for me is the growth that you get to witness those characters experience. Throughout the story, different challenges and milestones arise for Harry, Ron and Hermione to work their way through, learning vital lessons and gaining invaluable experience along the way.

Take for example a particular chapter in The Half Blood Prince – entitled “Felix Felicis.” Spoiler alert: if (and I can’t imagine how this would be true) you have neither read the book, nor seen the movie, I am going to give away a minor part of the story. Nothing major, I’m not going to ruin the book for you. I just wouldn’t have felt right about not warning you.

I’m sure some of you can already see where this is going, but this chapter really impresses me – it says a lot about how we all think, act and ultimately succeed and fail in our lives.

Towards the beginning of the book, the newest teacher at the school introduces Harry and Ron’s class to a potion they’ve never seen before, called Felix Felicis, commonly known as “Liquid Luck.”

After explaining what this potion does (exactly what it sounds like) Professor Slughorn announces a contest during that day’s lesson – with a vial of Liquid Luck going to the winner who (spoiler) of course, turns out to be Harry.

For a while, the vial of potion isn’t mentioned much, and Harry does a remarkable job of not wasting it until he needs it. That need presents itself in the form of Harry’s best friend Ron.

The previous year, Ron had joined Harry on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team (sorry to all the non-fans out there, but there’s really no avoiding a certain amount of words that don’t exist or make sense outside of the story. Long story short, Ron was the goalie in a wizarding sport called Quidditch. I won’t go into the details of the game, save to say that it is awesome.). The problem was, Ron was a lousy Quidditch player. He could hardly ever save a goal, and was therefore scared stiff.

The source of Ron’s poor Quidditch playing wasn’t a lack of skill however, it was nerves. Harry had noticed this in the past and was determined to help Ron get over his problem.

Harry came up with an ingenious solution to Ron’s problem. With a big match coming up, Harry got Ron to drink some juice that had been spiked with Felix Felicis – (spoiler alert!) or so it seemed. There was, in fact, nothing in the juice at all.

The match went amazingly well and Ron, of course, was the hero of the day.

Now, on the surface, this seems like an incredibly simple and almost superficial way of making a the point that our own beliefs are what govern our success. Our negativity can hold us back while faith in ourselves propels us forward, but there’s a lot more going on here than a simple placebo effect.

The thing is, Harry did a lot more than trick Ron into thinking he had good luck for the day.

When Harry let Ron think he had been slipped some Liquid Luck, he was actually giving Ron permission to believe in himself. That is what made all the difference.

Anyone who’s been struggling to succeed has come across the same basic mindset and personal development principals; things like the law of attraction, positive energy, holding an unwavering belief in your own success.

At the end of the day, it’s fairly easy to decide to believe something, even to convince yourself or the people around you that you believe it. Actually giving yourself over to, and genuinely benefiting from that belief, however – that’s something else.

A lot of the time we need permission to actually believe these things. Now, when I say “permission” to believe these things, I don’t mean we need someone to tell us it’s okay, I mean we need someone, or more often something to validate things for us. Until we feel like we have proof that the thing we want to believe is actually possible, it’s hard for us to give ourselves over to it fully.

A lot of the time we simply can’t believe in our own success until we’ve received that validation – it’s just another example of how we get in our own way.

Of course, once we receive that permission, once we see the validity in the belief, it becomes possible for us to truly own it, like Ron did.

Ron was lucky to have someone in his life who was able to give him the validation he needed, but in most situations, a little slight of hand and a simple placebo isn’t going to do the trick.

There is, at the end of the day, only one person that can give any of us the validation they need to maintain the beliefs that will carry them to success.

That person is you.

While Harry and Ron’s example illustrate our need for permission to believe in ourselves, they don’t unearth any magical (yes, I chose that word intentionally ) solution.

So where does that leave us? Back at square one?

Not exactly.

I honestly believe that needing permission to believe in themselves in one of the biggest things holding most people back. What else could explain the difficulties faced by so many people who know what to believe, who practice positive affirmations and create vision boards and so on?

There are people who know what to believe, who know what to do. They’re just subconsciously waiting for someone or something to give them permission to act upon that knowledge.

Waiting for that permission is, in my mind, the final obstacle. The last step you take as you get out of your own way and swing for the fences.

Recognizing an obstacle is always the first, and most important part of overcoming it.

Accepting the fact that you may be wasting time waiting for permission and validation is the best way to give yourself both of those things.

Take a good look at your life, your goals and your future. Recognize that the biggest thing holding you back might be that you’re waiting for someone else to give you permission to believe in yourself, waiting for someone else to show you that you really can succeed.

It’s time you gave yourself that permission. It’s time you showed yourself, and the rest of the world, exactly how much you are truly capable of.

The Network Marketing or MLM industry is rather a profitable business model. However, if you are struggling to generate leads for your business, it can be more aggravating than anything else.

How do we solve this problem?

Does It Make Sense To Buy MLM Leads?

My answer is an emphatic no!

The reality is that the great majority of purchased MLM leads aren’t really serious about starting their own network marketing business. They are mostly tire kickers and you will end up spending a lot of wasted time and energy with no real results in the end. Buying MLM leads will not get you the results you would like or deserve.

What Can You Do Instead?

There are a couple of important things you should do.

First. Learn attraction marketing.

Second. Learn who your target market is.

The fundamentals of attraction marketing are that you provide leadership and value to your target market. This way, they will seek you out, rather than you chasing after them.

Cold calling and chasing down prospects is an extremely irritating and inefficient way to run a MLM business. Always remember that attraction marketing is about being the leader your prospects are looking for. It’s about branding yourself, and it’s about providing value to your prospects.

That’s a quick overview of attraction marketing in a nutshell.

But I highly recommend that you become a student of attraction marketing if you are not already, because it will change your entire business. It can and will allow you to have a much more enjoyable business, with less frustrations, and it can save you quite a bit of time.

Now we need to establish who your target market is. Your target market is made up of two different types of people. They don’t include the guy you met at the coffee shop or your family and friends.

This is not to say that there won’t be anyone at all in your group of friends or your family that may be interested in your opportunity. I’m just saying you are not going to be building a very successful business if you only sponsor your Aunt Martha.

This is where you must think bigger. Much bigger.

Instead of wasting your money and your time on buying MLM leads, focus on generating your own from these two target markets:

1. Current network marketers. This is tough for some to understand at first. I had a tough time with it in the beginning, but once you really grasp the concept, it changes everything.

They don’t need to be sold. They don’t need to be convinced. They get the business already. Keep in mind that you are marketing yourself to other network marketers by being a leader and providing them value. You are not marketing your business upfront.

2. The second group is people who are actively looking for what you have to offer. Remember, it’s extremely unlikely that your whole family is looking for a home business, so you need to market to the people who are. This is why you shouldn’t be marketing to them, but instead marketing to those people who are.

You will need to do some research and really become a student of marketing to do this effectively, but it will open up an endless amount of leads for you if you are willing to do the work.

The bottom line here is that with the amount of people out on the internet every single day, there are ways to generate more leads than you will know what to do with for your MLM business.

In the end, my advice is that you should not buy MLM leads unless you want to waste your time, energy and money. When all is said and done, all you will have to show for buying MLM leads is hundreds of wasted phone calls!

…including walking on water. Well, running on water, actually – but still pretty impressive.

Officially named “Liquid Mountaineering,” this new sport is pretty straightforward in concept. Using the proper water-repellent footwear, get up to speed with a well calculated running start and continue out across the surface of a still lake or pond.

According to Liquid Mountaineering’s creators, the most important part – along with having the right equipment – is belief. It’s all about mindset, and truly believing that you can run across the surface of the water – skimming over the surface like a skipping stone.

Take a look at this video to see some of these pioneers in action:

Awesome.

Now, before any naysayers reading this rush to the bottom of the page to leave a scathing comment – I want to make one thing clear.

These guys didn’t really walk on water. I know that. This video is actually just a really clever piece of marketing, designed to sell the shoes they wear.

Hi-Tec footwear contracted a marketing company to help them put together a video that would go viral on the internet – and it worked. At the time of this writing, the video is closing in on 9 millions views.

I’d call that a success.

To simulate the appearance running on water, a special platform was developed that floats a couple of inches below the surface – creating a very realistic effect. You can see a “behind the scenes” video on Hi-Tec’s website.

Now, while the video may be fake, the message that these guys deliver (intentionally or not) is phenomenal.

“If you don’t actually believe that you’re going to walk on that water (accomplish whatever seemingly impossible task you you’re facing, it’s not going to happen for you.”

I don’t know about you, but personally, I think that’s an astoundingly poignant message to get from a video designed to sell sneakers.

Think about anything you’ve undertaken in the past, or are presently undertaking. Anything that required true effort.

In order to succeed in anything truly challenging, anything that really pushes the limits of who you are and what you know to be possible, you have to believe it will happen.

This is true in all areas of life – business and personal. Belief in the impossible defines the possible – and that’s really what this video is about – to me anyway

Now, I’ll freely admit – the first time I saw this video, I bought it. I was thoroughly impressed, and while I wasn’t making plans to run out and try it myself, I did think they’d managed to make it those few steps across the surface.

Maybe that makes me gullible. I’d rather think that it shows that I choose to live my life believing that extraordinary things can – and do – happen every single day.

To me, the world just seems like a much bigger, more interesting place when you have an open mind.

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.”
-Arthur C. Clarke

I forget things. A lot.

It’s sad, but true… just ask my wife: my short term memory holds about as much as information as an old school floppy disk (note to the kids out there: that’s not a lot).

There are certain times when my memory really shines, and I’ll pull out some obscure detail of an event months or even years ago that impresses not only my wife, but blows me away as well. Unfortunately, I have yet to unlock the pattern that triggers these sudden feats of recollective strength.

Until I crack the code, I’ve come to rely pretty heavily on ReQall, a service that has quickly become indispensable.

ReQall does what it’s endearingly misspelled name suggests: it helps you recall virtually anything you might be in danger of forgetting. The reason this service is so powerful is that it employs speech-to-text technology that lets you record a reminder using one of ReQall’s mobile applications for iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone. The reminder is then translated to text and added to your list based on various parameters.

More on that later.

Organizing Items With ReQall

ReQall has a simple, yet ingenious organization structure that classifies items into different groups such as To-Do’s, Notes, Shopping items and any custom categories you might want to create.

You can then view your tasks based on these criteria, in addition to time based lists, such as Today, Soon, Later, and Overdue.

This works really well, because it allows you to view items based on your current needs. Need your To-List for today? Just pull up the “Today” screen. Stopping at the store? Just hit the “Shopping” tab.

Another excellent feature enjoyed by Pro customers (an incredibly useful service for a mere $2.99 a month) is the addition of “Locations.”

When you first open a ReQall account, you get a brief trial period where you have access to this (and other) premium features. At first, you have two default locations: “Home” and “Work.”

Adding an item, either by text or voice (yes, it works with both) that ends with “at home,” or “at work,” will automatically assign the event to that location – and you can create whatever locations you want.

Here’s an example: I pick up my phone, hit record and say “Water the plants at home.”

ReQall uploads that audio file to their server, translates it to text and saves it as “Water the plants.” The note is tagged under the “Home” location so it will show up on that list if I need it.

ReQall also understands dates, times and scheduling – meaning I can easily remind myself to do something in the future such as “Call Mom tomorrow at 5PM” (will save itself as “Call Mom” with tomorrow’s date at 5 o’clock – so it won’t show up on today’s to-do list).

Recurring tasks are also easy. Simply type or say “Balance business checking account every Monday,” and the event will be created on a recurring basis.

Adding in a number of locations for different stores you frequent allows for automatically organized shopping lists – such as adding “Buy printer paper at Staples” or “Buy milk at Whole Foods.” The “Shopping” tab will display all of these items together, while the specific locations will break out the individual lists for you.

Add in GPS functionality that will give you an optional audio and pop up alert when you come into range of a saved location, and you’re set to remember pretty much anything.

Here And Now

The biggest area of improvement at the moment would have to be ReQall’s “Here and Now” feature. The name implies that it would produce a list of current items for your current location – unfortunately that’s not quite how it works.

According to ReQall support, the feature actually works more as a “Here OR Now” list – meaning it shows everything that can be done at the current time OR at the current location – meaning you’ll sometimes have something on the list that isn’t due for a couple of weeks, but it’s there because you’re at that location.

Fine tuning that feature into a genuine “Here AND Now” layout that showed today’s tasks for wherever you are would make this service an absolute powerhouse.

Fortunately, ReQall has a fairly responsive support staff (they use GetResponse for online support correspondence) and they’ve had a number of requests to update this feature. Fingers crossed!

In short, ReQall is extremely useful for organizing both personal and business reminders. It makes adding items to your current and future to-do and shopping lists extremely simple to do on the fly – and the web interface makes composing a complete list all at once extremely easy as well.

Successfully making money online involves a lot of important factors, not the least of which is maintaining an online presence for yourself.

You need to have somewhere online, some website or blog, where people can find and get to know you.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows where to begin setting something like this up, so I wanted to take a minute to share my results with Bluehost, the company my wife and I use to run the various blogs associated with our online business.

Bluehost Products and Services

Hosting and Registration

Bluehost offers an immense number of different services – more, in fact, than I could ever go over in detail in a single article, but the main ones are definitely worth covering.

Bluehost excels when it comes to domain registration and hosting accounts. Bluehost can host domains that are registered with them, or domain names that have been purchased from a competitor.

Bluehost’s hosting accounts have always been, in my experience, extremely reliable.

One of the biggest benefits of using Bluehost for your web hosting is the fact that Bluehost hosting accounts are not only affordable, but come with unlimited storage space and bandwidth – something other leading competitors put a cap on, or charge extra for.

Bluehost also offers the benefit of a free domain name with it’s hosting plans – the annual registration fee for your account’s primary domain name is waived – so if you’re only running a single site, all you have to pay for is hosting.

Email

Bluehost provides it’s hosting clients with unlimited email addresses, so no matter how large or diverse your business is, you’ll be able to set up as many email accounts as you like.

Bluehost provides a number of different web-based email applications that can be used to send and receive messages, but they also provide POP3 and IMAP support, allowing you to synchronize your email with whatever email application (such as Outlook, or Thunderbird) or mobile device you like. For the less tech-savvy, there are easy to follow tutorial videos on how to set this up.

Application Scripts

For those who want to run an application like WordPress to organize their site, Bluehost is ideal. They provide installation scripts that make setting up platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and dozens of others as simple as a few clicks.

Bluehost’s installation scripts make it possible for anyone, to easily set up a blog, ecommerce site, help desk, photo gallery or social network without having to learn how to install the software.

Support

Another area where Bluehost really shines is their technical support. With a 24/7 call center, you can always get the help you need. In addition, there is an online knowledge base, containing articles and instructions to help users through common problems, as well as an incredibly convenient online chat that is also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Having logged into the support chat a handful of times, I have yet to encounter a technical support member who hasn’t been knowledgeable and prompt in solving the issues I have run into, even when if I’m looking for help in getting something within a platform like WordPress working.

Bluehost’s technical support is knowledgeable and competent to help not only with their own products, but also with the different applications they provide installation scripts for – making it extremely easy to get the help you need, regardless of the type of site you are running.

All in all, I have personally had a great experience with Bluehost, and recommend them to anyone who asks me about a hosting provider – especially if I know that person is interested in running a WordPress site.

Well, I just finished reading Switch by Dan and Chip Heath, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book focuses on the necessary elements to effectively creating a change – in your personal or professional life or in your business or organization.

Elephant, Rider, and Path

The book investigates change through three metaphors: two for different aspects of the personalities of the people affected by a change, and one representing the environment surrounding that change.

The three-pronged analogy is borrowed from a book the authors read prior to writing Switch called The Happiness Hypothesis by a psychologist named Jonathan Haidt (I haven’t read this book yet myself, but it’s been added to my ever growing list of required reading!).

I could honestly go on forever about the details of this metaphor, because I think its nothing short of brilliant, but I’ll try to keep it brief.

In a nutshell, your personality is made up of two main components (similar to Freud’s ego and superego) – an Elephant and a Rider sitting on that elephant’s back holding the reigns and attempting to guide the elephant along.

The problem is that the Elephant sometimes wants to go in a direction that rider disagrees with, and since the elephant is so much larger than the tiny Rider, there’s not a lot he can do about it – he can only pull on the reigns for so long until the Elephant wears him out and does whatever it wants.

Examples from the book of the elephant’s emotional tendencies are failing to quit smoking, cheating on a diet or saying something you don’t really mean in a fit of anger. Our “Elephants” represent action – not thought or analysis, just response to the world around us.

The Elephant represents emotional responses and instincts. The problem is that those emotions and instincts are often counter to the changes we need to make in our lives – so we need to convince the Elephant (ourselves) to move in a less than comfortable direction.

The Rider’s job is to direct the Elephant down the right Path (the third part of the metaphor), even when that path is difficult to travel.

The Rider is our analytical mind – the part of us that can see around obstacles and look at the bigger picture.

The problem with the Rider is that he can spend too much time over-analyzing a change and then nothing happens (that familiar “spinning your wheels” feeling we’ve all felt when undertaking a new challenge).

The third component to Haidt’s metaphor is the Path – which is simply the environment surrounding a change. This can be the culture, the attitudes of the people around you or systems that are already in place that help or hinder your efforts.

Seeing The Metaphor In Action

Throughout Switch, Dan and Chip Heath demonstrate effective change with a simple, three part process based on the metaphor described above:

• Motivate the Elephant
• Direct the Rider
• Shape the Path

Each of the steps in this process is the focus of one of the books three main sections. Essentially, you need to get the Elephant moving, give the Rider a clear destination to travel in (preventing him from spinning his wheels) and shape the Path you’re traveling on to eliminate or avoid obstacles.

All three of these sections is further broken down into three smaller pieces, and the book is full of examples of all off the different components.

As you read, the authors introduce you to wide variety of changes (and the people behind them) that they studied while writing this book. These changes range from individuals to companies, from departments to entire corporations and governments.

Why This Book Works So Well

Let’s be honest – the concepts this book are based on aren’t the kind of thing that sounds thrilling to everyone. In spite of that fact, the authors did a very good job of making it an extremely entertaining book to read.

The simple fact the book is broken into well organized sections – and those sections broken into isolated stories that make a point and reinforce each other – keeps the content of the book fresh and interesting from beginning to end.

Add in that the authors added in plenty of small side notes that are full of humor and personality and you forget you’re reading a “personal development” book because you are constantly engaged in short stories that are both entertaining and easy to identify with.

Dan and Chip Heath do a remarkable job of drawing parallels between different types of change efforts, allowing you to see some of your own habits and tendencies as they exist on a national or corporate level.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that this book is loaded with moments that leave you thinking “Yup. I totally do that…”

All in all, this a great read for anyone who has a habit they don’t like, or something they think they need to improve in their life or their business (which I think covers pretty much all of us )

If you’re interested, Switch is available on Amazon, and I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy.

At this point, it’s safe to say that anyone who knows me would tell you I’m a huge “Avatar” fan. It’s quickly become my favorite movie, which isn’t something I say lightly – I’ve always been really into movies and in the past I have always had a hard time choosing just one favorite.

The difference here is that while on the surface, “Avatar” may appear to be a simple sci-fi/fantasy flick with lots of great special effects, the film provides a commentary on a lot of different aspects of our world, culture and society – some less obvious than others.

One of these is what I’d like to talk about today.

I think one of my favorite scenes in this movie (and I’m sure many other fans agree) is when the main character, Jake, first rides his ikran – the large flying reptiles that inhabit the world of Pandora.

Aside from the obvious thrill that this scene creates (who among us, at some point in their lives hasn’t wished they could fly?), this scene also provides some interesting insight into how we think and approach challenges.

One of the challenges that Jake faces while adapting to life on Pandora is the act of Tsahaylu – mental bond with other creatures. Jake must learn to embrace that bond and use it to impact the actions of the creature he bonds with – like the ikran he rides.

When watching this scene for the first (several) times, I noticed the trouble Jake has on his first flight, and didn’t really think anything of it – it made sense that he wouldn’t get it right away. Later on however, I noticed an interesting pattern in how he manages to gain control of his flight.

When Jake first climbs on the back of his ikran, Neytiri tells him to think “Fly,” which is exactly what the ikran tries to do – leaping out off of the cliff.

The interesting thing is that the ikran, which has been flying successfully it’s entire life, can’t seem to keep itself in the air – because it’s linked to Jake’s mind.

Jake isn’t thinking about flying.

He isn’t focused on success, or achieving his goals.

Jake is only focused on one thing, and that’s falling – which is exactly what he ends up doing.

Think about how this pattern applies to your own life. How many times have you leapt into a new project, or attempted something new and exciting – only to find yourself focusing on the potential pitfalls and failures that await?

What does that focus get you?

When Jake thought the word “fly,” he and the ikran took immediate action, but without the right focus, that action wasn’t enough.

Once Jake was able to calm down and stop screaming, the ikran was able to level out and regain control – just as you and I are able to when we shift our focus away from potential failures, and look instead to accomplishing our goals.

But what happens when we encounter an obstacle? We all know they exist – life isn’t perfect and things do happen. Jake experiences this moments after his ikran levels out.

He looks up and sees the wall of a cliff rushing toward him – his momentary composure (and controlled flight) come to an end as his focus shifts once more – rather than thinking about a smooth controlled flight around any obstacles, his mind latches onto the fear of crashing into the wall and scrabbling to stay in the air – which is once again, exactly what happens.

So often in our lives, both personally and professionally, we let the small obstacles that pop up in our way rob us of focus, and therefore of our control.

We, like Jake, need to strive to see beyond our obstacles so that we can look for ways around them.

Once Jake and his ikran got off the wall and continued to struggle through the air, Jake was able to finally take control and focus on what he needed to:

“Shut up and fly STRAIGHT!”

Now, this may not be the most eloquent way to phrase it – but how often would we benefit from saying those exact words to ourselves?

Stop complaining about the things that have gone wrong (like falling down when we try something new).

Stop stressing ourselves out about what could happen when we encounter obstacles (like running into a wall – both literally and figuratively).

Shut up. Fly straight.

Focus on what you’re going to accomplish, and how you’re going to accomplish it. Everything else is just noise that will drag you out of the sky.

An important part of becoming a Millionaire is recognizing the value of positive energy. Millionaires put positive energy out into the world, and welcome the same positive energy from others.

They do not, however, allow their positive energy to be tainted by the negativity of others.

They isolate themselves from it whenever possible.

This is mostly done by surrounding themselves with like minded, positive people. They avoid interaction with complainers, whiners and pretty much anyone with a “my life is so miserable,” mentality.

Energy is contagious, both positive and negative, and Millionaires naturally, and intelligently, remove themselves from situations where they will be surrounded by negativity in any form.

Incorporate this philosophy into your own life.

Complaints and negative energy are distracting. The irritation they perpetuate is background noise that prevents you from focusing on success and happiness. Don’t let yourself complain, not aloud nor to yourself. This might sound difficult, but it is possible.

The best advice I can offer when starting out is whenever you feel a complaint (internal or external) coming on, stop and remind yourself that a complaint is a negative thought, and that negativity is seeping into every aspect of your life and holding you back.

Push the thought out of your head and think about something else. If you can’t do that, try thinking about thinking about something else. Spend a minute considering the importance of not dwelling on the negative.

You’ll be surprised how quickly the complaint passes and takes the irritation with it.

You’ll find yourself thinking about thinking positively and suddenly realize that the urge to complain has gradually passed while you had yourself distracted and you dominated your negative energy.

The bonus is that doing this feels empowering, the next breath you take is deep and full and now rather than being caught up in your negativity, you feel empowered and are putting off positive energy.

Accept the fact the person you are today is what has earned you the results you have experienced up to this point. Understand that to have a different life, you will need to be a different person. Avoid negativity, and spread positivity.

Adopt the traits of Millionaires and start training yourself to live as one

Testing and tracking are vital components of successful internet marketing.

Think about how much time you spend writing content, posting ads, commenting on forum topics, and other forms of driving traffic. If you aren’t tracking your site’s traffic to see which methods are working and which aren’t, how will you ever know what you’re doing right and what needs improving?

How will you know which ads are making you money, and which ads are costing you money?

The simple answer is: You won’t.

You NEED to be tracking the visitors who come to your site. How did they get there? If they found you through a search engine, what keyword were they searching? What page did they land on? How long did they stay on your site? How many other pages did they look at?

These are all vital questions that need to be answered if you want an accurate picture of how effective your marketing is.

Fortunately, there is an easy and free way to gather all of this data, called Google Analytics. Analytics is an online tracking system that logs all of the traffic on your site, which you can then organize into reports and analyze, allowing you to improve your marketing and your results.

What are some of the different traffic aspects tracked by Analytics?

• Number of visits
• Number of page views
• Bounce Rate
• Average Time on Site
• Referring Websites
• Referring Keywords (both paid and organic)
• Goal Conversion

…just to name a few.

By gathering all of this data, you can effectively figure out what is working on your site, and what isn’t.

For example, what if a large number of visitors were landing on a specific page of your site after searching for a certain keyword, but none of them stayed long enough to read anything? That’s useful information. It tells you that your page is relevant enough in the eyes of the search engine, but not in the eyes of the visitor – so maybe testing a different headline will get them to stay.

That’s just one example, but here’s another, for those of you using Google Adwords. With Analytics, you can track all search traffic, or you can look at organic and paid traffic separately. What if you found a keyword that was bringing organic traffic to a specific page on your site, and getting a good response? Wouldn’t you want to start bidding on that keyword for that landing page in your Adwords campaigns? What if one of your Adgroups was failing miserably, but the keywords for that group were doing really well on a different page of your site for organic searches?

The amount of power that you gain by monitoring your site’s traffic is indescribable. Without a tool like Analytics, you’re left completely in the dark… posting ads and content and hoping for the best. Learning to track your website traffic and marketing efforts will allow you to focus on the money making activities and you will find that you become much more productive!

We’ve reached a point where a lot of us live and work with multiple computers, and often times need to be able access the same files from all of those computers. This leads to endless piles of cd’s, pockets full of flash-drives and an ever growing list of email attachments we send ourselves to get a document from one location to another.

If only there was an easy way to synchronize files between multiple computers automatically…

Enter SugarSync.

SugarSync is an easy to use application that allows file backup and synchronization between devices – even if those devices aren’t on the same network – making it much easier than it used to be to access and update your files.

SugarSync Review

Setup is really simple. Create an online account, download the SugarSync application to each computer you want to backup and/or synchronize and then select the folders you want.

That’s pretty much it. Depending on your needs, you can set each individual folder to either simply backup online, or synchronize with other computers.

All the files and folders you select in SugarSync are backed up to your encrypted online account, making them easily accessible from anywhere you can get an internet connection… even if you don’t have your own computer handy! The web interface also allows for easy file sharing and collaboration.

As a user, you can invite friends/family/colleagues to sign up for a free account, and then share one of your folders with them. If it’s something you just want them to be able to see (like family photos) it can be “read-only,” or if it’s a group project it can be “editable.” This way, when one person updates the project, everyone’s computer has the new work saved. Previous versions of all files are also saved, so you can track who updated what.

Editing a Word document on one laptop (or other device, like a BlackBerry) posts the changes directly to the online account, and then back down to the other computers almost instantly, so all machines have the most recent version of the file at all times.

Lets run through a quick overview of the online interface, the desktop client and (my personal favorite) the BlackBerry application.

SugarSync.com and The Desktop Client

SugarSync Web Interface

When you log into SugarSync.com you are greeted by a screen that lists your recent activity (across all synchronized computers), a list of computers and other important items, your available storage space and a few other goodies.

By selecting one of your synchronized computers, you have access to all of the files you have set up with SugarSync on that computer. When viewing the files on a particular computer, you can open one by clicking on it, or you can move, delete or copy.

You also have an option to send files. This will send an email to any address(es) you specify with a unique link to the file(s) you selected to share. This link will allow the recipient of the email to download your file, but only for 21 days – after that the link is disabled.

This way, if you want to email a couple dozen photos to your great aunt across the country, you don’t need to waste time attaching them all.

In addition to your synced computers, you also have the option to select your “Magic Briefcase,” your Mobile Photos and your Web Archive.

The Magic Briefcase is basically a folder that SugarSync creates on all of your computers that is always kept synchronized. It’s a nice, simple tool for users who don’t want to take the time to manually select folders to sync… all they need to do is drop them into the Briefcase and they are good to go.

Note: Placing files in the Briefcase does NOT copy them, it MOVES them completely.

The Mobile Photos is pretty self explanatory… these are the pictures that you have taken from your mobile phone, which we’ll discuss a little more later on in our SugarSync review.

The Web Archive is a place to store files that you do not want synchronized with your computer. It’s basically just a storage vault, so you can copy something into your archive and safely delete it from your computer, knowing you still have a copy online.

SugarSync Desktop Client

The desktop application offers pretty much all the functionality of the web client. When you first open the program you’ll see a list of the files on the computer you are currently viewing, as well as a list to the left containing icons for your Magic Briefcase, Web Archive, etc.

There are also convenient buttons for accessing the photo gallery, your online site and your shared folders. You can also easily send and share files, so the only time you’d really need to work directly with the online interface is when you were away from your personal computer.

Clicking the “Manage Sync Folders” button at the top of the screen will open a window that allows you to add local folders to SugarSync, as well as select folders from other computers to synchronize. If a folder is added to SugarSync but not connected to another computer, the contents are being backed up in real time, but not affecting any other hard drives. The entire interface is extremely user friendly, but if organizing different folders is more work than you are interested in, you can always just use the Magic Briefcase as described earlier.

SugarSync For BlackBerry

SugarSync For BlackBerry Home Screen

This is where it gets really fun. SugarSync offers several mobile clients including support for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile devices, and Symbian  – in addition to the ability to access your online account from pretty much any web enabled phone.

From the SugarSync application you can do pretty much anything you want. Accessing computers and online files is a breeze, simply navigate to and select the file you need and SugarSync will download it to your phone and cache it for use.

If you have the right software, you can edit files from your phone (usinge “Docs-To-Go” to edit an MS Word document on a BlackBerry for example). Once you finish editing a file, SugarSync notes the change and asks if it should be uploaded.

Viewing Synchronized Files From a BlackBerry

You can easily upload any files from your BlackBerry, the only problem here is that there isn’t an option to upload multiple files into a que – each file must be selected individually. This makes uploading, let’s say an photo or two that you want to share really quickly a breeze, but beyond that you will probably want to wait to transfer the files to your computer and upload them from there.

One of the real benefits of the mobile application is that if you know in advance that you want the pictures you are taking uploaded, you can fire up the application and select “Take photo,” which will launch your BlackBerry’s native camera application and upload any pictures you take from there (please note, only photos taken from within the SugarSync app are automatically uploaded) to you Mobile Photos folder, which is synchronized across all of your computers.

Viewing images from your device is equally simple. Each image is downloaded and and cached to your phone, and you can scroll through the pictures in a particular folder one at a time. Each picture also has a “High Res” option in case you need to view in greater detail.

SugarSync is also capable of streaming music to your phone as well, so if you synchronize your iTunes library, you’ll be able to access it anywhere, without necessarily having to keep it all on your phone at once.

SugarSync offers several different price options depending on how much storage you need. Each plan includes a 30 day free trial, which is plenty of time to get comfortable with it before making any final decisions.