Check out their site here.

Until the next time,

Laura

I want to write about some of the major personal events in 2008 so that I can begin 2009 with a fresh start. So here it goes. I started off the year with a bang because I had been blogging for a very short time and I was named one of the top women bloggers to watch in 2008. That was so exciting because I really didn’t know what I was doing at all and frankly I didn’t even know I could write or even like to write. In terms of my business I was doing pretty well and I was chosen to moderate on a forum by a top internet marketer whose business was booming. Pretty awesome stuff.

I signed up for a program called RIOY (Retire In One Year) and was in profit in just a few weeks….even more awesome. I was really taking to this and enjoying every minute. The reality of my job was sinking in though and thus the roller coaster of emotions from the highs of my home business to the lows of my career.

Normally, I didn’t have major lows regarding my career because I had been lucky enough to work in top schools as a math teacher for most of my career. Then came my job last year. What an absolute mess. I liked the idea of working with underpriviledged  kids but this was something else. The incompetence was rampant and the place was being run by the kids. Needless to say, this made me work much harder on my home business in order to get out. A place like that can really drain you of all passion and energy. It is just too difficult to watch kids who have little hope of succeeding in life in the first place have all those chances taken away from them because they are placed in the hands of people who should not be anywhere near an educational institution.

OK, I got through the school year, barely, and started to widen my network of people who are experienced internet marketers. This is always a good thing. I would go up and down on the time I spent learning though but I was still lucky enough to be doing fairly well. I made some mistakes with programs and lost a little bit of money but for the most part I was still ahead. RIOY had its ups and downs and I have written about that in many posts….lots of changes….too many.

The summer was relatively uneventful, but definitely peaceful. Exactly what I needed. I didn’t even want to think of the past school year. In August I received a phone call from a guy exactly a year to the date that I last saw him. There went my peace. He and I had spent the last 4 years together….let’s just say on and off and on and off. Off was better.

It’s funny because I am such a strong woman in so many ways but I didn’t always seem that way when I was with him. What is even more strange was he just was not worth the trouble at all and I didn’t even see it. OK….maybe I didn’t want to. I do now though and I won’t even go into details about all the truths that I found out. Nothing like wearing blinders!

About a week later my mom and my sister came up to visit me which was planned at the last minute. We had a great time and all of us were really happy to have the short time together…you know…just the girls. We didn’t know how lucky we were because this was the last time that would happen.

Literally two weeks later my mom was diagnosed in the final stages of pancreatic cancer and would not be with us much longer…about 3 weeks to be exact. I wrote about her in a post called “A Tribute To A Woman.” It was my way of saying goodbye.

This was pretty life changing and it opened my eyes to what I was doing with my life. What the hell was I doing??? The school year had begun and was run by a new and even more incompetent administration. If I wrote about what I saw in the hallways on a daily basis I promise you would not believe me. Let’s just say you would hope and pray that you would never have a child that you would have to send to a school like this. It was just more than I was able to bear given the circumanstances.

The RIOY business fell through. I never would have believed it but so many things happened to get in the way and Karl Green was not able to sustain the program. The companies we promoted are still there and I will continue to work with them but it was a real shame for those who lost money. They will be paid back but it will be over time. There was nothing I can say to make it better for anyone. My heart was broken.

I quit teaching because I could not do it anymore…that was in December. I will be working from home….starting…..now! I have not even begun to organize and work out a real plan. I do have money coming in from passive income and affiliate programs. Actually I have a lot of money coming in and I will be off to a good start. Am I worried about the future? Believe it or not…..no. I have a really good feeling about being my own boss and starting a new in a second career. In my pajamas of course.

Here’s too a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Until the next time,

Laura

Search Engine Optimzation is the key phrase in this picture. A search engine will optimize your website based on the information you give it. In order to build a search engine friendly website you will want to concentrate on various things including the design and layout, as well as the keyword phrases that you target.

Here are a few tips on how you can do that to make it a win-win situation for both your company and the search engines.

1. Believe it or not, it does matter how long your domain name has been registered. Search engines like to see domain names that are registered for two years or longer at a time. 

This shows longevity and confidence in your business, and will make it friendlier when it comes to being optimized and ranked by a search engine.

2. Niche marketing is being emphasized more than ever and this is important when building your website. Although you are targeting search engines for traffic your real audience is the visitors who come to it on a daily basis.

3. You will definitely want to use keyword phrases that relate to the theme of your site. This makes it more search engine friendly and more likely to rank high for those targeted words.

When building a keyword list to target you want to know what your visitors are searching for. Therefore it is important to build a very lengthy keyword list that you can expand upon as you develop your site and add more pages to it.

4. When designing your website you want to consider your target market and keep it in mind at all times. You may have a general theme that your site is going to follow, but you want to develop some consistency from one page to the next.

When a person leaves one of your web pages and goes to another one they should feel like they are still on the same website. Therefore concentrate on details such as background color, font style and size, and keep this uniform throughout your whole website.

5. Every professional Internet marketer builds a website that is rich and with unique content. Search engines love this and will hold you in a higher esteem than a website that is filled with private label content that somebody else already has on their site.

Also, this gives you the opportunity to have input into the content you install on your site. It also gives you a chance to monetize your content with things such as banners, business opportunities and affiliate programs that you represent.

 So here are some ways the experts build a search engine friendly website that allows them a serious income opportunity now and for the future.

I missed the cheese basket this Thanksgiving that she always sends and the cards for the holidays where she offfers support, encouragement and love. I won’t be getting them from her anymore. I miss the phone calls the most.

I am going to move on and enlist the support of my family. Losing such a beautiful person who has affected so many lives is so difficult but I am sure she would be miserable to know that I am having such difficulty dealing with this. She raised me to be strong and for the most part I have been but she was my number one supporter without fail.

My mom wrote me a thank you note after visiting me in August and I have kept it by my side ever since. She was so absolutely appreciative because I tried my hardest to make her happy and comfortable during her stay. Can you believe that? The woman who adopted me and loved me with all her heart was happy to because I wanted to return the favor.

That is the woman I miss more than anything.

I am so lucky to have been her daughter.

 It was such a good program in so many ways and he was able to pay people for months. The problem was that he was largely invested in a very profitable private company that was recently sold and while in transition he was not able to withdraw funds and thus would not be able to pay people.

I think he did not see a way out. The monthly payments were really the draw and he had to shut it down so that he will be able to pay people in a few months. Everyone will get their investments back over time.

He is no Bernie Madoff though. Karl did the stand up thing and sent an email to everyone and is in the process of calling people to assess each individual situation. There was nothing else he could do.

At least with RIOY he had a good idea with hooking up with LHN and Maxegen. They are great health and wellness programs with the best payplans in the business. They are really worth checking out. You can learn more about Liberty Health Network here. Learn more about Maxegen and its matrix here.

I’m very sorry to see RIOY go because I had a lot of luck with this program. I’ve seen a nice profit for awhile but you have to  move on. So sorry…….

I found a poem that will hopefully lighten the moment on someone’s blog. It is brilliant!

MADOFF THE WALL STREET FAKIR
(Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer)
WilliamBanzai7

You know Vesco and Boesky, and Keating and Milken,
Leeson and Mozer, and Ponzi and Wiggen,
But do you recall, the most famous securities fraudster of all?

Madoff the WALL STREET FAKIR
Had a GIANT PONZI SCHEME,
And if you ever saw it,
You could say it was Wall Street’s own worst dream.

All of the other Wall Street fraudsters
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never believed poor Madoff
Made a legitimate Alpha trade,

Then one shady Wall Street trading eve,
Madoff spilt his own beans to the SEC
“Madoff oh your scheme’s so bright,
Won’t you go to jail tonight?”

Then how the Wall Street fraudsters loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
“Madoff the WALL STREET FAKIR,
You’ll go down in securities fraud infamy.”

Q: Whats the difference between Bernie Madoff and the CEO of a bulge bracket Wall Street investment bank?

A: Madoff is not asking for a bailout.

Comment by williambanzai7 - December 14, 2008 at 10:20 am

Pretty clever…..huh?

Take care,

Laura

A lot has happened since then. Before I go on though I have to say that though I love to write I really can only do it when I’m inspired. I wrote a post a few weeks ago that I am having a very difficult time finding my inspiration but I know that will pass in time. I’m giving myself time.

Besides the passing of my mother and hero, a lot has changed with my internet home business. I have learned so much about marketing and have been in profit for a long time. Thankfully, I have made some great connections in business with people who are very successful and have helped me along the way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I’ve learned about passive income programs which I may write a post about very soon. Some of these programs, along with my primary businesses are allowing me to quit my job in less than 2 weeks. It’s been an amazing journey.

The biggest changes though this year have been in my soul. I’ve learned more this year than any time in my life about people who matter and people who don’t. People who really care about you and people who pretend for their own reasons. People who have class from deep down in their hearts and souls and people who are able to pretend for their own benefit.

This does not make me sad. It has empowered me because I know more than ever what to look for in any human being. It gives me strength.

Now I look at my mom’s example and goodness for strength and the way to conduct myself in my own life. Now that is real inspiration. Maybe I can get back to what I should be doing.

I think this is going to be a very good year. Thank you Heidi for acknowledging my work and most importantly thank you mom for inspiring me.

Happy Holidays,

Laura

I’m not inspired to live my life the way I normally would since the death of my mother. Things are going pretty well for me now, especially with my home business and investments. Financially, I have probably never been in a better position.

It is inside though that has really changed. Now I really know what it means when people say that money does not buy happiness. When you feel empty it does not go away magically….that is for sure. I just didn’t realize that this was going to be such a prolonged empty feeling.

I have always been so passionate about my business, career, even working out but I am having one hell of a time trying to focus on any one of the things I normally love to do. I need my inspiration back along with the feeling of passion that I miss. How do I get it back though…that is what I want to know.

Really, I try not to focus on the loss I feel and rather am trying to move on and move in some different directions. I have major changes that will be occuring in my life and normally I would be so thrilled but my heart isn’t in it. The worst part is my heart isn’t into anything right now. Maybe it’s just my mood like I said before.

I really did not realize what a blow it would be to lose my mom since she was always going to be there for me…..or so it seemed. On top of the many things she did for our family while she was alive, she didn’t stop giving when she passed. That was always her intention.

I think this is the first time I have ever written a post like this. Just babbling about the way I feel. I promise this won’t be a regular thing but it feels better to let people know why I have not been myself…or will be the passionate person I have always been for quite awhile. I’ll give myself some time.

I miss you and I miss me.

I wanted to post this article I wrote awhile ago because I feel it’s important to understand how you can build your business and reputation through blogging. I liked this article and got some good feedback from it so here it goes! 

Blogging for your business is a widely known method of attracting more people to your website and to increase your customer base and interest in general. But what makes a blog post intriguing enough that you are the chosen one amongst the thousands of others who are your competition? What makes you different than the others?

 Your enthusiasm and motivation about your home business will make you stand out amongst the others. It’s not only about the words but instead about what and who is behind those words. Too many people post matter-of-fact articles and it becomes well, “matter-of-fact.” It is imperative to find a different angle that will get people who read your work looking and coming back for more.

Tip 1: Write with sincere enthusiasm. People will see it. If it is real and permeates through your words then it will show. As you are writing, think about how excited you are about what you are doing and where it will help you and especially others if they know about your program and your vision. Give inspirational examples and show your love for the business.

Tip 2: Write to help people succeed. It is one thing to promote your programs/business and to give all that they have to offer. Keep in mind though that many people are looking into these businesses for the first time with absolutely no experience whatsoever.

What do you think they are looking for? They want a home business but they need help in starting and want someone who understands their needs as well. Write with the intention of offering help. It will bring readers in and give newcomers what they are looking for.

Tip 3: Write with a sincere vision. This is easy to do if you have laid out your plans and know what you want to accomplish for your business. Keep it real but let readers and potential customers know what you envision for you and everyone else with an interest in your business. Let them know that you have a training program planned for them so that they will be able to grow as marketers. Write out your long- term plan so the readers can visualize it themselves. Inspire them with your goals and how they can incorporate these goals into their own vision for the future.

Blogging is a very personal way for businesses to attract a very loyal customer base. Blogs are more personal and give a customer a feel for the actual person behind the business. Utilize this medium because it is essential in this internet world of thousands of websites with the same goals and same customer base. It is possible to stand out. You just need to know how.

I hope you liked it.

Until the next time,

Laura

Blogging is by far one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get targeted traffic to your site or landing page. The search engines are constantly seeking new content to spider and index on their pages.

The two most popular blogging sites are with www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com. I have heard the WordPress blogs have less problems and are indexed more readily by the search engines.

Each of these sites has templates and step-by-step instructions on how to create the look and design of your blog. This is all done from the administrator side of your blog. It is useful to click on all the menu items and get to know your back office so to speak. Take some time to experiment because you will want to add or delete items or change the look of your blog from time to time.

The blogroll is very important because this is where you can add all the links to your programs in RIOY. You just click on blogroll from your back office and there will be a link to add a link. It is that easy.

Now before you get started, you have to brainstorm a name and URL for your blog. If you intend to use your blog solely for the purpose of promoting RIOY, then you may want to have “RIOY” somewhere in the URL. For example, it can be something like www.joesRIOYblog.com. Often times it helps to have some configuration of “home business” or key words that people search for when they are seeking a home business or work from home opportunity. If your blog does become indexed quickly, then those domain name and title choices can make a difference in the amount of targeted traffic you get to your site.

Now let’s talk about posting. It’s important to frequently write a post or update your blog. You really have free reign to write about anything you want. Ideally you do want to write posts about the RIOY program from time to time. You can provide a description of RIOY, LHN and Maxegen. That is all ready 3 posts! I usually update what is happening with my team or something with the progress RIOY is making. Another idea is to post about your own progress as new marketer and owner of a home business.

If you run out of ideas there are several options. You can write a post about something you do know something about. Also, you can also post articles from www.ezinearticles.com. You are allowed to do this as long as you include the author’s resource box at the bottom of the article. It’s a great way to keep updating your blog when you are having a dry spell.

Another important point about your posts is that you want to choose a key word phrase for each post if you can. If you are focusing on RIOY then you will want to have RIOY somewhere in the title of your post as well and in the first and last paragraphs. You can also have it throughout the article but you do not want to overdo it. Also make sure that any of the key words you have in mind are typed in BOLD lettering. This stands out to the search engines.

Last but certainly not least you will want to “bookmark” your posts after publishing them. Many people are aware of social bookmarking and go to those sites to see what has been updated. The easiest way to do this is to use a service that updates to several sites at once because it could become tedious. A good free service is at www.onlywire.com.

You can sign up there and you will be directed to sign up at about 14 bookmarking sites. Once you have done that the rest is easy. After you publish a post, you go to favorites where onlywire will be stored under links. Then you click on the onlywire link which actually says “save page” and you will fill out a form and a description of your post. That is all there is to it.

If you are interested in having a Wordpress blog set up for you I can give you a recommendation. I had my blog done for me by someone who is very professional and helpful. His rates are very reasonable and well worth it because he optimizes the blog for you. Check out http://www.wordpressmax.com/install-wordpress

That’s it for this lesson. There will be many more. By the way, I did this for my RIOY members but it really is relevant to anyone who wants to use a free way to promote their business.

Until the next time,

Laura