For all my American readers, I hope you had a suitably good Independence Day.  Naturally it’s not something that we celebrate over here in the U.K. but neverthless I hope you had a good weekend.

Here in Bristol  we had an Afro Carribean street carnival called St Pauls Carnival.  It’s only been going for about 42 years and only attracts about 60,000 people but it’s still quite a unique  event.  People open up their front gardens (otherwise unknown  over here) and there is all sorts of reggae, ska, rap and all  sorts of loud music blaring out of every possible corner.

There’s plenty of fantastic food, including jerk chicken and  curried goat and it’s a real celebration of the cultural variety of this city.

I took the wife and children down for a few hours and then met up  with a friend who kept me company for a few more hours.  As  usual, I was in real pain from my sciatica by the time I went  home but it was definately a great day.
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Marketing Tip of the Day
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Today I want to talk to you about what I believe is one of the  best online business models that you can have.  That is publishing your own ebooks.  I know that many of you will be immediately put off by the thought of actually having to write  the material yourself.  So, before I go on to list the many benefits of publishing info products, let me reassure you a  little.

You don’t have to be a professional writer at all. To begin with your style of writing can be much more informal and casual when writing for an online audience.  If you really don’t want to do the writing yourself you can easily hire someone to do the writing for you via a service like Elance or Odesk.  There are people that are full time ghostwriters and if you are careful to vet your writer properly you can have some really excellent material written for you.  This is actually a very common practise and there is nothing unusual, shady or illegal about it.

Some of the benefits to this business model are:

*  You don’t have to worry about physical stock
*  If you pick an evergreen topic, your ebook can go on to produce income for many years
*  Your overheads are extremely low
*  You can sell an ebook for more than the equivalent physical book
*  You can recruit other people to sell your ebook for you by offering a generous commission

There is a process that you have to learn which includes finding a niche, seeking out joint venture partners to help you launch your ebook as well as setting up an affiliate program.

Once you have been through the process though, it is not that difficult and the rewards are plentiful.

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Today’s Recommendation
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A couple of weeks ago, I recommended a product that I myself have bought and use called Web Traffic Genius.  If you didn’t have time to read that e-mail, it’s a wordpress plugin that automatically posts RSS feeds for all of your posts to many of the RSS directories.  This gets you backlinks and traffic on autopilot and it definately works.

http://gregoryhyne.com/recommends/webtrafficgenius

I ‘m writing about it again today because they have added a new module that teaches you how to use web video to help you get web traffic and google rankings using all the latest and best video strategies.  They show you how to create a video in minutes even if you have never created a web video before.  It’s also free.

If you’ve already bought Web Traffic Genius, you will now get FREE access to this new material.

If you aren’t already using video, you should be.  More people use Youtube to search than Google now and video is growing all the time.  Don’t miss the boat!

http://gregoryhyne.com/recommends/webtrafficgenius

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Quotation
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William Arthur Ward said,

Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.

That’s it for today.  Take Care

Greg

Andrew Murray is through to the semi-finals of Wimbledon and so the nation holds its breath once again.

Bristol is decidedly windy and I can help but feel that it’s going to rain quite heavily soon.  Normally that wouldn’t be very newsworthy but it’s been such a hot and dry summer here that the grass is actually going brown.  I don’t think that’s happened  since 1976!

I’m off to London again tomorrow for an event called “The London Lunch” which is hosted by an English internet marketer and friend called Martin Avis.

It’s a great chance to meet other internet marketers and takes place at the Strand Palace Hotel.  I’ve never been before but I’ve heard great things about it and I’m looking forward to it already.

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Free valuable Audio – Web Business Setup Secrets
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Instead of a marketing tip, I’ve decided to give you a free gift.

http://webbusinesssetup.s3.amazonaws.com/Web_Business_Setup_Secrets-FULL.mp3

This gift is an audio file called “Web Business Setup Secrets”.  If  you’re thinking of making a living online then this is essential information.  It was created by a friend of mine who’s a very successful, honest and down to earth marketer that has built a 6 figure business helping people make a living online.

I had to twist his arm a bit but I managed to persuade him to let me  give this to you, my subscribers. Here’s the URL:

http://webbusinesssetup.s3.amazonaws.com/Web_Business_Setup_Secrets-FULL.mp3

Please do not give it away.  If you would like the transcript, pop in to my blog and leave a comment and I’ll e-mail it to you directly.

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Thought For Today
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When we set our goals, it is natural to aim for the summit. We  look for the highest point that we can imagine.

That’s wonderful – all achievers have a clear vision of their ultimate target – but it is only a part of the goal-setting  process.

A true goal, one that has any chance of being realized, comes in two parts:

1. The top of the stairs

2. The next step.

Imagine a person with arthritis looking up at a flight of stairs.  The task is immense. The flight of stairs may as well be a  mountain.

But the first step isn’t so bad. Grip the handrail and haul – not  too difficult, not too painful.

The second step is just as easy as the first one – and so on all the way up.

Pretty soon, the top is reached, but it wasn’t a mountain climbed  – it was twelve simple steps.

Every goal that you set should stretch you beyond where you are right now. It should be something that is beyond your current abilities to reach IN ONE STEP.

But right underneath where you’ve written down that huge objective, you must also write down the first step that you will  take on that journey.

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Quotation
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Quintilian said,

“A great part of art consists in imitation. For the whole conduct of life is based on this: that what we admire in others we want to do ourselves.”

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A Moment’s Inspiration
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Take a minute to try this exercise today:

Think about everything you’ve done in the past week and write down one thing that was harder or less enjoyable than it should have been.

Now, under that one item, brainstorm five ways that you could have done it better, made it easier, enjoyed it more or generally have performed more effectively.

That’s it. You don’t have to go back and do the work over – just make yourself aware, on paper, of ways you could have improved.

If you make a habit of doing this every Friday, in time, all  those ‘do it better’ ideas will form part of your awareness.

Every job you do will over time be easier, work out better and be much more enjoyable as you will subconsciously use the brainstormed ideas to give yourself a helping hand.

How about that – an easier life for just five minutes work a week.

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This Week’s Quick Tip
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What is your point of difference?

We all hear about how businesses should develop a USP (unique sales proposition) but how often do we develop one for ourselves?

Modern business is trending towards a numbing sameness. Visit almost any city looking at the shops you would be very hard pressed to identify where you are – the Starbucks, McDonalds, Gap, Next, Bodyshop, Bennetton stores could be anyplace. They are certainly everyplace.

Against this backdrop of increasing corporate sameness, it is becoming even more important to stand out.

Find a point of difference for yourself and your business and you are guaranteed to get noticed.

That’s it for today.  Take Care

Greg