December 28, 2006

AGLOCO - The Internet's First Economic Network...

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The Internet's First Economic Network

Today’s hottest Internet businesses are all about the power of social networks. Companies like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube are worth billions because businesses see that these social networks are generating huge advertising and marketing opportunities.

As these social networks grow, the economic potential for its owners – and the advertisers who target the site’s users – is remarkable.

At AGLOCO, they asked a simple question: The users created the community, so where’s their share of the profit?

It was from this question that AGLOCO set out to create the Internet’s very first Economic Network, harnessing the power of Internet-based social networks to directly benefit the members who help to create the community.

Becoming a member of AGLOCO is as simple as completing a brief sign-up page (name, age, location and email address.). And it's free. Once you’re a member you can get the Viewbar™. Note: the Viewbar™ is currently unavailable as it's in closed testing. It will be ready for public download shortly, and members will be notified when it's available.

AGLOCO Makes Money For You

Search: Every time you use the Viewbar™ to do an Internet search, AGLOCO earns money from the search engine providers. (For example, Google pays as much as $0.10 on average for each search that is directed to its search engine.)

Advertising: The Viewbar™ itself displays ads that are targeted based upon the websites you’re visiting. When people click on an ad and make a purchase, AGLOCO receives a referral fee, which it will pass on to the AGLOCO members.

Transaction commissions: Many major retailers pay commissions when you refer customers who make a purchase. AGLOCO collects those commissions and pass them on to the AGLOCO members. (For example, Amazon pays an 8.5% commission to most websites who refer customers, and has cut deals for even larger percentages. The bigger the AGLOCO community, the better commission AGLOCO can negotiate for the members.)

Software distribution: Numerous software companies pay websites to encourage the download of new software releases (Adobe Flash and Acrobat Reader, for example) and trial versions of new programs. AGLOCO members not only get access to the latest and coolest software, they get paid for it!

Service distribution: Many online service providers will look to the AGLOCO community as a source of new and active users for their services. For example, many companies like eBay, Skype, and PayPal all pay money to people who help them get new users and customers.

Product distribution: When AGLOCO members agree to use products (such as: cell phones, high-tech gadgets, office supplies, new credit cards or financial services), AGLOCO can collect referral fees. Some companies even offer special rebate and cash-back programs.

AGLOCO - Much to Offer

As you see, AGLOCO definitely has a lot to offer. So much so, that it's created quite a large buzz in the blogosphere recently.

And quite simply, here's why: You get paid simply for browsing the web (which you do already). Refer others to AGLOCO and you also get paid for a portion of their browsing as well - all the way down to 5 levels.

So don't sit and wait on this one. Be a part of the Internet's first-ever member-owned economic community and join AGLOCO for free. Start spreading the word and start earning money.

If you want to check out the AGLOCO calculator to calculate how much AGLOCO will pay you for browsing, as well as learn more about AGLOCO, go to my AGLOCO money calculator post.

AGLOCO - Own the Internet!

More AGLOCO Posts And Info.

December 26, 2006

Home Business Today Quote of the Week...

Home Business Today Quote of the Week:

"If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

December 25, 2006

Home Business Today Featured On Godin's SQUIDOO Lens...

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Home Business Today Featured On
Seth Godin's Squidoo Lens

Some very cool news on this early Christmas morn...

The Home Business Today blog was recently featured on the Squidoo Lens of world-renowned author, Seth Godin.

Holy Cow!

I'm not sure which readers actually submitted Home Business Today (thanks!), but nonetheless, it's currently holding out at #19 worldwide. Holy Bovinae again!

I do, however, expect this high ranking to drop significantly since many of the blogs are now asking their blog readers to vote for them. Plus, I'm sure they have way more readers than I do anyway.

So if you'd like to see the list, and put in your own vote for your favorite blog or blogs, go here: http://www.squidoo.com/zlist.

And if you're looking for the Home Business Today blog, I believe it's currently listed as The HBT Blog. But I notice someone has also submitted it as "Home Business Today by Aaron Cook."

Who is Seth Godin?

Well, in 1995 Seth Godin founded one of the first online marketing companies, Yoyodyne. In 1998 he sold the company to Yahoo!. As a part of the sale to Yahoo!, Seth Godin became Vice-President of permission marketing at Yahoo!.

In late 2005, Seth Godin founded the "recommendation network" website known as SQUIDOO. And the rest, as they say, history.

December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas from Home Business Today!

Merry Christmas Everyone!


Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year. May the best things come to you and yours this season.

Cheers,
Aaron

Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Christmas In Sarajevo



Enjoy another Christmas lights show...

December 22, 2006

The Rollerman - Jean-Yves Blondeau...

Here's a great video of an interesting individual who not only built himself his very own full-body Buggy Rollin' suit, but invented the Buggy Rollin' sport as well.

His name is Jean-Yves Blondeau (a.k.a. The Rollerman) and I think his Buggy Rollin' suit invention is damn cool. Even reminds a little bit of RoboCop!

31 wheels and up to 60 miles per hour. Ouh là!

The Rollerman - Jean-Yves Blondeau

December 21, 2006

AGLOCO Official Update #1

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A Global Community
Owned By Its Members

Here's some great information from a brief update I received from AGLOCO. And I must say, this thing is really taking off.

AGLOCO Update #1

AGLOCO is four weeks old and has already signed up tens of thousands of Members, created an enormous 'buzz' (over 700,000 pages in Google's search results talk about AGLOCO) and established a website more popular than Toyota's, Ford's, Bloomingdale's and Kmart's. It took YouTube 8 months to do that!

In addition to building the AGLOCO network, we've been working on the AGLOCO Viewbar, which is now scheduled for release in seven to ten weeks.

You may know that we started a campaign to sign up 10,000,000 Members by July 1st, 2007.

While we know this is an ambitious goal, we also know the power of an Internet-based network as several Members already have over a 1,000 referrals!

Double Your AGLOCO Income

Every five new referrals you get (whether direct or extended) DOUBLES your AGLOCO income!

And over 90% of our Members join through a referral email from an existing AGLOCO Member. So we've provided a sample email for you.

To get the AGLOCO sample email, just sign up here.

More AGLOCO Information

If you're just now learning of AGLOCO and would like some more detailed information on it, id est (i.e.), how it works, how you get paid, etc., here are three very helpful posts I wrote about it:

December 17, 2006

Home Business Today Quote of the Week...

Home Business Today Quote of the Week:

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

December 16, 2006

Special AGLOCO Money Calculator...

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A Global Community
Owned By Its Members

I've spent some time this week posting about AGLOCO - and for good reason. I've even been featured on the popular MLM Blog for it. Thanks Ty!

Just in case you're not totally clued-in regarding the amazing AGLOCO, which is getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere recently, here are a couple of the latest HBT posts on it:

Today's post, however, covers the actual earnings aspect - how much money ($$$) you can make each month just by surfing the web with AGLOCO. And to show that, I've found this neat little AGLOCO money calculator...

AGLOCO Money Calculator

To use the AGLOCO calculator, just follow these quick steps:

1. Go to AGLOCO and sign up for free.
2. Log in to your AGLOCO member area.
3. Click on the Member Calculator button.
4. Input whatever numbers you choose & calculate!

You'll be pleasantly surprised at how much AGLOCO is willing to pay you each month just for surfing the web like you always have.

The AGLOCO Buzz

AGLOCO is very straight forward and has the obvious potential to be extremely lucrative. All in all, it definitely has a lot to offer - so much so that it's created a huge buzz in the blogosphere recently (which isn't easy to do).

And here's why there's such a buzz: AGLOCO pays you simply for surfing the web (which you already do). Refer others to AGLOCO and you also get paid for a portion of their browsing as well - all the way down to 5 levels.That, and it's totally free to join. Cool.

AGLOCO - A global community owned by the members. Earn your share today!

December 15, 2006

Home Business Today Has Been Aglocoed...

MLM Blog:

Home Business Today - You've Been Aglocoed

Aaron Cook's Home Business Today blog has a couple of posts about AGLOCO.

Why not cruise on over to Aaron' s blog, see how it works and sign up.

Aaron's AGLOCO Link.

Wow, thanks Ty. I appreciate the mention very much!

BTW, if you haven't yet checked out either of Ty's blogs (MLM Blog and MultiLeveler), be sure that you do. Very informative stuff he has there.

December 14, 2006

AGLOCO - How Does AGLOCO Work?

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A Global Community
Owned By Its Members

In my previous post I talked briefly about a new and promising company called AGLOCO - a company that believes that its members should also benefit and profit by being its owners.

And why should members benefit by being owners? In AGLOCO's words, "The Members who are the source of value for an internet company should own that company. This brings transparency and rewards the right people who contribute to developing the company."

I agree. And I also agree with AGLOCO about this...

"The internet currently generates value from nearly everything a user does online. From a simple internet search, to clicking on an ad, to making a purchase, someone is making money from these activities. Our job, as stewards of a large community, is to ensure a fair part of that value is returned to our Members."

How Does AGLOCO Work?

Here's a simple pictorial breakdown
that easily explains it...

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Some AGLOCO FAQ's

1. What is AGLOCO™ all about?
AGLOCO is the first Internet-based economic network, which enables you as a Member to ‘Get your share of the internet.’ Advertisers, search companies, online merchants and other businesses currently pay lots of companies to deliver people like you to them to get your attention and sell goods. With AGLOCO they will be paying YOU.

AGLOCO is also a global community of Internet users whose active Members can be paid for all their online activity. By downloading our proprietary Viewbar™ technology, members benefit from engaging and unobtrusive content tailored to their interests. AGLOCO also pays its members to refer others to the communitty, and it pays through 4 levels of extended referrals!

2. How do I earn cash and shares?
Just sign up, use the web as usuals and earn cash and shares. It's really that simple. Once you install the Viewbar™ software it automatically records the time you're actively online, and we pay you for it. But the first step is to sign up and become a member. It's fast and it's free. If you refer your friends and family we'll pay you even more cash and shares.

3. Why is AGLOCO giving 100% of its stock to its Members?
We believe the Internet should be a platform for people to benefit from, and if anyone generates money from their normal online activities, it should be the people themselves.

4. How do referrals work?
AGLOCO pays you an hourly rate when the friends and family you refer (“direct referrals”) use the web with the Viewbar™ running, as well as for the people your referrals recruit (“extended referrals”). Extended referrals continue for 4 levels past your original referral, and there's no limit to the number of referrals you can accumulate.

More Posts On AGLOCO

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AGLOCO - Own the Internet...

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A Global Community
Owned By Its Memebrs

I recently heard about AGLOCO from an email my friend Ty Tribble of MultiLeveler sent me. And after spending some time to review AGLOCO, I signed up.

What is AGLOCO? Well, I can easily say that AGLOCO is not a crazy Attorney General if that's what you were wondering. :P

And all in all it looks like it's going to be pretty popular. If you haven't checked out AGLOCO yet, you can do so here. Anyway, here's some of what Ty had to say about it...

"It's hard to come up with good a good analogy to explain AGLOCO, but I'll try...

Imagine if Google said that they would pay you with pre-IPO shares of the company for making sure that Google Adsense ads were displayed on your blog and on top of that, they will pay you additional pre-IPO shares for anyone you refer and those that they refer down 4 levels.

The Google analogy is not perfect because Google had a nice revenue stream before going public, but the concept is similar. AGLOCO pays you with pre-IPO shares to download their Viewbar and surf the web for 5 hours a month with the Viewbar on. You surf for 5 hours a month with the Viewbar, you get 5 shares. Then you get another .25 shares for anyone in your network that has surfed for 5 hours with the AGLOCO Viewbar on.

The Viewbar creates revenue by supplying relevant affiliate ads as you surf. That revenue is shared with the networkers and every day people that use the service."

"Here is the deal, I am going to use the web WAY more than 5 hours a month and it is not a big deal to make sure that I have the Viewbar on for at least 5 hours and I am going to be blogging about Network Marketing companies that people are interested in, so it is a natural for me to check this out."

Bottom line, if you spend any amount of time online (and who doesn't!) then you should at least check it out as well.

More On AGLOCO
Want to learn more about AGLOCO and how it'll make you money? Here are some AGLOCO-specific posts:

December 12, 2006

December 11, 2006

AddThis.com Simplifies Blog and Website Content Sharing...

Buttons To Help Your Visitors Collect
And Promote Your Site Content

If you're not already using AddThis on your blog or website, then you might want to start using it as soon as possible. And here are several good reasons why...

1. AddThis makes it very easy for your site visitors to bookmark your blog or website, and subscribe to your web feeds.

2. It makes it easy for your visitors to promote your website or blog to the social bookmark services, which will increase your website traffïc.

3. AddThis saves you real-estate on your website. You can use just ONE button for all the bookmarking services and for all feed readers.

The social bookmarking buttons for your blog posts are available now and they'll work for TypePad, Movable Type, Blogger, Blogger Beta and WordPress. Bookmark buttons for MySpace are available as well.

Basically, AddThis will help you promote your blog and website content (web pages, feeds, podcasts, products, etc.) online by making it easier for your visitors to collect, save and distribute your content across the Internet.

In addition, the AddThis Browser Button will allow you to collect information online with a single click, and then send it to your favorite bookmarking service, feed reader, podcast service or shopping service.

Bottom line, I highly recommend using AddThis on your blog or website.

December 9, 2006

New Password Spam - A New Spam Tactic

Just a quick note to inform all of the Home Business Today readers of a new email spam tactic. It's what I call the Password Spam Scam, and it's fairly simple...

Spammers are sending countless spam emails with the words "New Password" (or any variation, thereof) in the subject line. And as always, the emails are designed to "trick" you into opening them.

So, (and as you probably already guessed) do not open these emails! They're pure spam and could also contain viruses and/or spyware as well.

How you can I avoid spyware? Easy. Here are the Top 5 Ways To Avoid Spyware.

December 4, 2006

Home Business Today Quote of the Week...

Home Business Today Quote of the Week:

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

December 2, 2006

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

Yep, this is about the coolest video I've ever seen...

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

BTW, all the sounds are the actual audio from the original video. No alterations were made other than basic timeline editing. Lasse can't really play the drums or the piano!

And notice his attire? A tuxedo for drumming and shorts and a T-shirt for playing piano. Too funny!

7 Components of a Well-Rounded SEO Program...

Keep Those Spiders Happy!

How can you ensure the viability of your SEO program well into the future? How can you reduce the impact of search engine algorithm changes and enjoy long-term visibility and ranking?

The answer to both questíons involves having a well-rounded SEO program.

Website owners who put too much emphasis on a single element of SEO are more vulnerable to changes in search engine algorithms. If you look at the history of search engine optimization, you'll see a pattern of this:

Back in the day, a lot of webmasters relied heavily on keyword tags to drive their visibility and ranking. But the search engines demoted the importance of the keyword tag, and many websites suffered as a result.

Link exchange networks are a more recent version of this scenario. Search engines are now devaluing links that are part of link farms and obvious reciprocation schemes. And once again, some websites are suffering from it.

But how is it that some websites coast right along, largely unaffected by search engine updates? What's the difference between these unaffected websites and those that are negatively impacted?

Sure, the age of the domain plays a part. But another key difference is the well-rounded nature of a website's SEO program. Instead of focusing on the hottest SEO "trend," websites with long-term SEO success focus on a variety of strategies with equal emphasis.

In that sense, SEO is similar to financial investments. The more you diversify, the less likely you are to suffer across the board when uncontrollable factors fluctuate.

So how do you diversify your search engine optimization? By using a variety of tactics in conjunction with each other. Here are some of the tactics you might use.

7 Components of a Well-Rounded SEO Program:

1. Create quality content
2. Create web-based resources or tools
3. Start a blog
4. Publish press releases online
5. Publish articles online
6. Add your site to quality directories
7. Acquire links from relevant websites


1. Create Quality Content

Good, original content helps your SEO efforts in three ways. First, quality content will make your link-building efforts much easier. Think about the kinds of websites you would link to. I'm willing to bet they all have one thing in common -- relevant and useful content.

Quality content will also increase the number of page views you get per visitor. Again, consider your own behavior for a moment. What do you do when you come across a site that might be relevant to your needs but offers very little content? You probably bail out, don't you? Well guess what. Search engines can track that if you find the site through their results pages. When you conduct a Google search and clíck through one of the listings on the results page, Google can track your immediate actions upon reaching the site. Did you immediately back out, or did you stay a while? "Sticky" websites make your readers happy, increase your salës, and improve your search engine perförmance.

The third way content helps you is by telling the search engine what your site is about in the first place. The more content you have, the more you can use titles, links and page copy to educate readers and search engines alike.

2. Create Web-Based Resources or Tools

Web-based resources and tools are an extension of the last point, quality content. But now we're taking the content idea to a higher level. The goal here is three-fold. We want to give our visitors useful information, we want to increase our website's "buzz" factor, and we want to pave the way for our linking campaign (item 7 below).

Some SEO websites are really good at this strategy. Look at the variety of useful tools located at WeBuildPages.com and see what I mean. Jim Boykin, the owner of the site, knows quality content and useful tools will make people more inclined to (A) stay on his site longer, (B) recommend it to others, and (C) link to it from their own sites.

The key here is to create content and resources that are truly useful (not just marginally useful). For instance, let's consider a mörtgage-related website. Having a mörtgage calculator onsite is helpful, but it's not going to generate much buzz or linking. Those calculators are everywhere. But if the site builds a mörtgage learning center with step-by-step instructions for first-time home buyers, it will more easily acquire links and retain visitors.

3. Start a Blog

You may already know this, but if not here it goes. A blog is not a magical SEO device like some people seem to think. Blogs are chronological content-management tools that convert normal text into HTML. That's all.

With that said, blogs can play a major role in search engine optimization because they make web publishing quick and easy. Because they're so easy to use, site owners are more likely to create new content on a regular basis. Blogs also add an element of freshness to a website -- always a good thing for SEO.

Blogs also help your SEO program by social means. The most popular blogs in a given industry usually have a strong sense of personality. Don't use your blog as another channel for dull corporate speak. Use it to have a frank discussion with your audience. Share your true ideas in your true voice, and other bloggers in your niche community will link to you soon enough (especially if you're an authority).

4. Publish Press Releases Online

Do you have news about your business? If so, publish it online through a site like PRWeb.com. A good news release will go far online, often being picked up by respectable news sites, RSS feeds, blogs and more. If you upgrade your release, you'll be able to hyerplink some of your key phrases. Suddenly, all those sites and blogs are pointing toward you with key phrase hyperlinks!
I've published press releases online for clients and had them picked up by highly ranked authority sites. Sometimes, these sites will use the release to write a story of their own (linking to the source website). In fact, I had a press release spawn a story on a popular website that drove 30% of my client's website traffíc for that week! This direct traffíc is in addition to the long-term SEO benefits of having the story archived.

5. Publish Articles Online

Ah yes, the power of articles. Now we're getting to one of my favorite web marketing strategies. The benefits of article marketing are so great that I've written an entire book on the subject (and made it part of my real estate SEO learning kit). But for now, let's summarize these benefits.

By publishing articles over the web, you extend your communication reach and increase your search engine ranking (by way of relevant backlinks to your website). Using websites like EzineArticles.com and SearchWarp.com, you can tap into a large distribution network. You can also find dozens of niche websites who are hungry for quality content and would gladly publish your articles.

Here's a shortcut to finding these niche websites. Do a search for your key phrase plus the words "submit article." For me, this might be: "real estate marketing +submit article." I can also find niche directories this way by using "real estate marketing +add URL."

And speaking of directories...

6. Add Your Site to Quality Directories

As a matter of course, I always recommend to clients that they add their websites to one or two general directories (like JoeAnt or Best of the Web) and as many niche directories as they can find. Such directories strengthen your link popularity and make you less susceptible to wild ranking fluctuations caused by search engine updates.

For example, one of my websites is related to real estate marketing, so I would do well to get it listed at Reals.com, IRED.com and similar sites. These sites are high-ranked, well-trusted, and relevant to the topic of real estate.

7. Acquire Links From Relevant Websites

I saved link-building for last for a couple of reasons. First, you want to make sure your website is worth linking to in the first place. That's why quality content, resources and blogs were steps 1, 2 and 3. Having a "link-worthy" website will make your link-building efforts much easier. Trust me on this one.

Secondly, I put link-building last because I want you to think bígger than just going out and harvesting links. By illustrating the benefits of press release, articles and directories (all key components of a link-building campaign), I hope to open your eyes to the broader benefits of web publishing in general.

Remember, it 's not just about people finding your site. It's about how they find your site, and what they find when they get there. If somebody finds you through a trusted source (like a news site), and they find quality content and interesting resources when they arrive, you've earned their trust right from the start.

Don't think of link-building as an isolated component of your SEO program. Think of it as an inseparable part of everything you do online.

Conclusion

Each of these topics deserves an article of its own (and then some). But I hope this prompts you to take the next step -- learning about each facet of a well-rounded search engine optimization program.

Does this approach work? I can say it does from firsthand experience. I have sites that rank well for highly competitive phrases, and they have sailed smoothly through all search engine updates over the last few years. They were all built using well-rounded SEO practices.

About The Author: Brandon Cornett is a full-time SEO professional and the author of "The Agent's Guide to Search Engine Visibility." Through his books, articles and blogs, Brandon teaches real estate agents how to optimize their websites to attract more qualified traffíc.

December 1, 2006

How To Generate Referrals...

If you really want to generate referrals for your business, don't ask for them. Instead, do something nice that people will notice. Do something that they will appreciate and remember!

Not only will you generate more referrals this way, you'll also see an increase in customer interest and loyalty. And that's priceless.

So if you truly care, then for goodness sakes take the time to do it. It's not hard.

Seth Godin's Blog:

This Must Be Hard

The reason it must be hard is that so few people do it.

"How was your dinner last night?"

Follow up. Not follow up to sell something, just to know. Just to ask. Just to set things right if they were wrong.

The fancy restaurant knows my phone number. Why not have the owner call me the next day just to ask?

The doctor knows my number. Why not call a week later to see how that broken arm is mending?

The accountant knows my number. Why not check in to see if the taxes went out the door okay?

If you really want to generate those referrals, don't ask for a referral, ask if everything was great. Offer to help. Do it in a gentle way, with no strings, no additional addons, no sales pitch.