Hey, i’ve finally gone ahead and did it… I created Da’ Gumpp (Da’ Genius Ultimate Marketing Power Pack). Everything you ever wanted to know about how to make money online, I go over in depth and speak on it. I leave no stone unturned as I give you all the tools you will need to achieve true online success.

If you’re as smart as I think you are, which is pretty evident as you are already reading this blog, then it would be in your best interest to go ahead and stop procrastinating, and pick it up right away.

You will not embrace the feeling of disappointment once you go and pick it up. Thats all I have to say for now. Act like a Genius and get it!

Now, while still dealing the router issue, my keyboard up and suddenly dies. Im like seriously….what kind of crap is this? This makes no sense. I have to go unexpectedly now to go buy a brand new keyboard which i had no previous intention to do but I have major important work to do so there was no way I could not go buy it. So while I go buy the new keyboard, which is wireless by the way, i buy a new wireless mouse to accompany it. Now while Im using the mouse, the mouse isn’t working anywhere near as flawlessly as it should, as my cursor is skipping all up and down the screen at times. Jeez. What does one to fight thru all the technological headache?

Over the years, i’ve lost my hard drive contents twice……. at least 100 GB worth….. both times. A lot of big money projects resting on my HD, maybe worth potential millions, gone down the drain. I tell you, it felt like the jumping off the bridge wasn’t too far away. I relented though, and got stayed the course and stayed focused on the task at hand. I said to myself that no matter what technological hurdles i’m consistently finding myself having to a lambeau leap over, I gotta persevere and stay the course. I cant just stop trying to push forward.

I guess this is the same sort of attitude one needs to have whenever trying to market themselves or their business. One has to continuously be persistent and consistent over time in order to see the results of their efforts. If you try once, and don’t see the expected result and give up, you’ll never know if you would eventually have succeeded had you just stayed the course.

For example, If your sending out mail to potential customers, you have to be persistent and consistently keep sending them out as most new customers don’t buy from you off the bat. It takes on average about at least six times for them to see your message before they actually buy anything from you. If you are using visual advertising methods such as commercials or banners if the internet, you have to get those commercials running on a consistent basis, putting your message in front of viewers many times before customers start to gravitate towards your offer and take you up on it. You will never see the result your looking for if you show your commercial one time only.

My advice is to stay driven and be persistent in your efforts because eventually it will pay off. Don’t give up whenever you hit snags in the road, because it is inevitable that the snags will happen. Expect them and respect them, and once you encounter them, deal with them and move forward. Once you do, you will eventually have success and be glad you stayed the course. Trust me.

Anheuser-Busch, makers of the famed Budweiser brand of beers, the world’s best known beer brewer who, due to troubling economics, has been acquired and has joined forces with InBev for the price of $52 Billion, to become the global leader in the brewing markets.  They are now and will henceforth be known as Anheuser-Busch InBev to reflect the heritage and traditions of Anheuser-Busch.  Along with the creation of this new super power, comes a brand new branding strategy to market the new company.In the words of the new CEO of AB InBev, Carlos Brito “The new Anheuser-Busch InBev identity reflects the vision of our new organization, with our guiding principles at the very heart of its conception. It is designed to represent drive, authenticity and friendship.

It is also meant as a source of pride, which aims to motivate and inspire employees, engage with partners, and demonstrate our ambition to become The Best Beer Company in a Better World.

Reflecting the rich heritage of both companies, the eagle represents strength, agility and focus, while at the same time looking forward and upwards to reflect our collective vision, drive and energy.

The combination of rich golden colors captures what we know and do best: our expertise and heritage in brewing great beer, which is so often a part of enjoyable moments shared by friends.

In summary, the new identity is meant as a beacon of a bright, vibrant future for employees, customers, consumers and the communities where we work and live.”

I personally like the new logo……I wouldn’t necessarily say I like it MORE than AB’s old logo, I just like this one AS WELL.  The old AB logo had a real classical, all-old American feel to it that made you feel rather good that it was born and bred as an American company. The new logo, keeps up with the same feel by keeping the eagle on board, which is instantly identifiable as AB, but at the same time, shows the move into the modern as well as the future.  We shall see what the future holds for this new company and if it will be as successful as it was in the past.

I’ve heard about putting your tail between your legs and running away, but do the same rules apply when you share the same tail as a raccoon?  I’ve seen fashion statements such as funny belts, bicycle chains from the hip, pants that are worn well below the waist. I felt as If as long as i have been around, that I have seen it all.  Apparently though, due to the very recent AMA’s, it seems that I couldnt be more wrong.  One of the internets most favorite people to talk about, Mr. West hardly ever fails to dissapoint.

Quite an interesting thing to see:  A grown man walking around with a tail. Something that you’d probably more associate with little kids in the clubhouse or maybe even Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton, when they use to wear all those funny raccoon hats.  But alas, it seems as though this is real life in the flesh, live on tv.

Ive read that maybe this is his attempt to market his new clothing line which is scheduled to hit store shelves in the first quarter of 2009, as he was wearing in addition to the funny tail, a very colorful jacket that bears the name of his label “Pastel”, emblazoned across the back. Or maybe it could be that he also has an album out now, called 808’s and Heartbreaks. And everyone knows that when it comes to that album promotion, one has to do whatever one has to do to get the people chattin up a storm, no matter what the collateral damage may or may not be. It seems as though he is in effect killing 2 birds with one stone by getting them tallking about his clothing line as well as the promotion of the album as he was also a featured performer at the awards.

Not sure how many of you guys watch the NBA, or any level of basketball for that matter be it high school or college, but last night on November 25, 2008, the world bore WITNESS to a true phenom…..not only because of his spectacular playing ability whom some say make him the next heir apparent to Michael Jordan, maybe better than Kobe…….but also because of the high grade marketing approach put behind this one man whom refers to himself as The Chosen One.

Lets keep in mind that this guy has the entire sports world talking about what he may or may not do in two years time instead of what he’s doing right now as he is eligible to become a free agent in 2010 and the entire league will then be trying to vie for his services.  This is a man who definitely knows how to play into the hype of the situation, giving no real indication as to what he will do when 2010 comes along, whether he will stay where he is or go to another team.  He has all the reporters hanging on his every word, just begging for a little bit of concrete confirmation.

He signed up with Nike to produce his shoes over the length of his career, and these are the guys that helped make Jordan a global icon with all their super savvy and cunning marketing along with the aid of their long time collaborating Ad Agency Weiden + Kennedy.  

Due to the fact that he now has a new shoe coming out and he was coming to play last night in the biggest market in the world, they took every advantage of the opportunity to put their boy out there for EVERYONE to see if they weren’t going to see already, as they made a special batch of kix for the King, an all red concoction, nicknamed the Lebron VI “red apple” edition.

Me personally, I think they are kinda ugly and I coulda made a better shoe (wink for those that really know me), but anyway…the impact that these shoes left on the game is rather undeniable, as they stole the show rather than he did with his play as the Cavs blew the knicks out and the game was well in hand by halftime.  The bench whipped the Knicks, not even the starters.  A laughable game to say the least.

Nike painted the town red so to speak as they took out like a 100ft ad in midtown to promote the new Lebron shoe, and took care of all the hot dog vendors in town and asked them to give away free hot dogs on Nike’s tab of course, while wearing red aprons that bore white letters that said “WITNESS”.  

I guess we really are all witnesses and can’t help but be anything but when you see marketing and promotions taken to this level.  All aspiring marketers should take heed and see how this example of marketing could maybe help you in your business.

When it comes to marketing, something i know a little bit about, ive realized something that i think is very important: People are visual.  That means that you always have to take into consideration that they are attracted to great visuals. One sure way to rocket your success rate is to pay alot of attention to this factor. Visuals that are lacking do well to turn away your potential customers.  One thing that can help you with great visuals in your marketing efforts are having fantastic imagery in all of your marketing material.

There are many great images online, but it can be hard to find the ones that you need. You can find some images on general search engines, but if you need these for professional reasons, these are not the best to use. Most don’t know this, but you can find photos that you can buy online to use with your commercial ventures, but you will still have to search these stock photo sites to get what you need. There are a few tricks to successfully using image search engines that you can use when you need something specific.

If you are using a photo for personal reasons, you can use a search engine to search. Personal reasons means that you will not be using the photo for anything that would make money or be used to advertise anything. You must be very aware of copyright laws in this case. To use this type of image search engine, just click on images on your favorite search engine. Put in the most relevant search terms you can come up with, and see what comes up. Don’t forget to try some of the others when looking for a general image search engine, as many come up with different results.

When seeking an image search engine for commercial uses, you have to find a good stock photo site. There are many of these, and many are free to sign up. You will have to pay for usage if you find something you like, but you can usually be sure you are going to find exactly what you need when you search each site. You will again use specific search terms to find what you need, and you will find that you get many results that will work just fine. After that, it will be a matter of preference, and personal or business style when choosing the one you wish to buy.

If you are having problems finding what you need, no matter which image search engine you use, you have to think about the terms you are using in your search. You may be using something very general like ëboyí. If you do that, you are going to get too much. Instead, try “boy ice cream” to get pictures of a boy eating ice cream. Think about each element of the photo you wish to find, and then use those terms in the search engine for images. Just because the picture you want will not come up at first does not mean it is not out there. You just have to vary your terms to find what you need.

What a day, what a day.  I gotta say I was skeptical of the concept at first. But at the end of the day, after seeing what has transpired on the night of November 4th, 2008, it has shown me one thing.  That anything in this world…if you truly believe…. is possible. Most have thought they would never live to see the day.  I guess to alot of people, its never felt more right, to be so wrong. The United States of America’s first black president.  Wow.  Truly, what a day. Lets study if we will however, the marketing of President Elect Obama.

We have to keep in mind the man had an outrageous marketing budget behind him in the first place. His campaign was able to raise some $426 Million dollars, which happened to be more than twice what his running mate Senator John McCain was working with.

We saw Barack all over the TV, meeting voters, shaking hands, though I cant recall if I saw him kissing any babies, who knows though, maybe i just didnt turn the channel in time. We saw his showdown with Joe the Plumber, which made this once anonymous blue collar plumber guy the talk of the nation who now is in talks with a major record company to produce an album. Funny how I know people who have been struggling for years to get their shot in the music business who have real legitimate talent, yet this guy Joe the Plumber poses Barack one hard question, which he gave an answer that made the whole country start whispers of him being a socialist, and now Joe’s an instant potential rock-and-roll sensation. Give me a break.

Anyway, besides that whole plumbing bit, the marketing of our soon to be President was rather flawless in my opinion. Its hard to recall ever seeing a guy, ever, who spoke as well as he does. He’s definitely an orator’s orator. He says some things sometimes that….vote for him or not…you cant help but at least take notice. He decimated McCain in every debate they had, leaving the old guy who cant raise his arms too well, especially to shake Barack’s hand, in the dust. McCain just did not have the verbal firepower to compete with Obama. Not only that, but McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, and she stole ALL of the show of his campaign, though who’s to say it wasn’t intended to be that way right?

Not to mention, all the side stories that were going on with him. His sick and eventually passing grandmother Toot, him playing basketball, this guy was even on Ellen dancing the waltz at one point.
Lets not also forget all the youtube videos that were made satirizing the candidates, like the Presidential dance off…aw man, these video guys are funnnny

All in all though, at the end of the day, it was one hell of an interesting election, the likes of which I doubt we’ll ever see again. Obama’s campaign slogan was “Yes, We Can”……it turns out “Yes, they did”.

Let’s examine the perks of a passive residual income. For one, you can essentially work for yourself. This is obviously a perk since you won’t get fired working for yourself. Secondly, many jobs that lead to a stellar passive residual income can be done online. Maybe you want to sell a particular custom product you make or maybe you sell through a third party and simply collect a percentage of the profit from each sale. Think about all the sales that could be made in cyberspace while you’re sleeping. This is what residual incomes are all about. Oodles of individuals are seeking out passive income by building websites and web pages. Money can be earned this way through affiliate programs and major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. When it comes down to it, there truly are countless ways to acquire a passive income via the web and you can become a part of it all. You just need to take the first step and understand that residual income is real. 

Take note of helpful advice found on websites such as isitebuild.com, which explains eight different ways to effectively earn a nice passive income. Just so you keep it in mind, there are benefits to working for yourself; like setting your own schedule, working the amount of hours you choose to, spending more time with family, working from the home, not being able to get fired and greater profits from the time you invest. Start making your passive residual income today!

In retrospect I wish that I had received some good blogging advice before I started off. Starting a blog is not as easy as I had thought.really, its not. First of all, you have to deal with layout issues. One of the hard facts about Internet blogging is that people are not going to read your blog unless you make it interesting looking. A webpage that looks completely dull and has bad layout is going to make eyes glaze over no matter what you have to say.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some blogs with very simple layouts and still get quite a few readers. But even with these weblogs, the people who made them took some time to think about the design of the site.Another area I could have used blogging advice on was getting hits. Hits are very important.My personal blog was also part of my business. I was sort of combining multiple features into it.

On the one hand, I wanted a blog that I could use as a semi public journal. I could use it to inform my friends about what I was up to in my life.On the other hand, however, I wanted to be able to inform people of developments in my business.I run a business out of my home, and there’s a lot of overlap between my professional and personal life. Good blogging advice would have helped me to create a webpage that was both informative for my clients and interesting for my friends, and one that would attract a good number of hits from Google searches.

Even without looking at a blogging guide, I did manage to figure it out eventually. It was slow going, and I think I wasted some time that would have been better spent on something else. Nonetheless, live and learn as they say. Next time, Since I know much better now, I will start with expert advice!

However, you’re not making any money from your efforts and your passion for your subject is taking more and more of your time and more server space than you’d counted on when you began. In short, your blog is starting to cost you in both time and money. Isn’t there a way to generate some income? Indeed, there are many ways.

 You need to acquaint yourself with the world of net marketing, if you want to make a profit. After all, people are interested in what you have to say. Maybe now’s the time to consider the leap to your own online business. With good management strategies, you could quit your ‘day job’ and do just fine!

Let’s say you’ve got a successful blog going, with a loyal and growing readership. Do you have any ads running? Do you provide leads to your readers which enrich their knowledge? Do you have streaming audio and video? Any RSS feeds? If not, it may be about time you got more sophisticated. How do you learn how to integrate all of these features and start realizing an income? This is where blogging guides become valuable.

Blogging guides do not generally teach you how to write. You’ve got that down. What blogging guides do teach you is how to market your blog. While you may have an indestructible rapport with your readers, that won’t make you any money. You need targeted ads for products and services your readers are looking for, to enhance their knowledge or skill sets.For example, let’s say your blog concerns greenhouse gardening. Your readers are hungry for information on building and maintaining greenhouses, books of both a general nature and specific and more obscure facets of greenhouse gardening, such as orchid care, hydroponic gardening or grafting cactii in Minnesota in winter.

You know how to find what your readers want. You need to know how to form affiliate agreements, whereby your link to greenhouse garden products results in a commission for you, when your reader clicks through and buys that product.If you’re not currently integrating relevant graphics, submitting to directories and social networking sites, you’re missing out on lots of traffic.

If you’re not conversant in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you need to get on the ball!There are free blogging tutorials to get you started. Once you’ve got a handle on how to make money, invest in a good blogging guide. You’ll make money!  Look out for the Big Blue Book of Marketing where I get really in depth about the art of blogging.  Its coming soon.