BlogWorld Expo 2008 in Las Vegas! My dinner with Shoemoney and John Chow!

Nicholas Chase at Market Leverage dinner with John Chow, a very happy fellow!
Photo Courtesy Gary Ng - www.iphoneincanada.ca (c) 2008


Market Leverage dinner winners with from left, Greg Morgan, a winner!, Zac Johnson, Jim Kukral, Nicholas Chase, also a winner!, Darren Rowse 'The Problogger', Ryan Hupfer of Hub Pages.com, John Chow, Shoemoney, Gary Ng, a winner! and Debbie another dinner winner!
Photo Courtesy Zac Johnson c 2008

Hello!

I've had a life changing event this week.

Check out this photo of me at dinner with the 'thought-leaders' of Affiliate Marketing and on-line advertising! The Market Leverage dinner at Envy Steak house, in the Renaissance hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada at BlogWorld Expo 2008!

I started on Wednesday, trying to get a pass to BlogWorld Expo 2008 in Las Vegas. Just missed one from a Twitter person I was following. I'm fairly persistent when I have a goal, so then I found one of the BlogWorld partners on Twitter, and offered my videography sevices to the BlogWorld team. Not only did they accept, but I was given an unlimited-access pass to all of the events.

As a videographer, the challenge was to setup and record each panel or presentation, with minimal time between speeches to move and reset the camera, recorders etc. I lost some pounds schlepping my hand truck with my gear all over the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Everyone at BlogWorld Expo 2008 was kind and helpful!

Rick Calvert and Dave Cynkin the BlogWorld management were simply amazing.

Thanks guys, you really helped me, I hope that I have been of assistance to you!

As a blogger and Affiliate Marketer, the information there was as cutting edge as it could be. A partial list of the presenters included, John Chow, Shoemoney, Zac Johnson, Brian Clarke, Jim Kukral, Shawn Collins of Affiliate Summit, Patrick O'Keefe, Dave Taylor, Darren Rowse, 'The Problogger', Guy Kawasaki, Steve Rubel, Michael Brito of Intel, Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV, Robert Scoble, Doc Searls, Timothy Ferriss of the '4-hour Workweek' book, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

Guy Kawasaki and Nicholas Chase after the Keynote Luncheon with Steve Rubel
Photo Courtesy Dave Cynkin c 2008

I visited with Guy after his Keynote Luncheon talk with Steve Rubel, very illuminating, especially how he expressed his feelings towards Steve Jobs and Apple Computer, and how for a mere $$$ five-million-dollar $$$ signing bonus he would come back!

As an added bonus, check out the photos! Yes, I had dinner with the thought leaders at BlogWorld Expo. John Chow, Shoemoney, Zac Johnson and Brian Clarke, Tyler Cruz and my Market Leverage team, including, Debby Phillips, Market Leverage's Digital Media Specialist,
my Affiliate manager Jennifer Fluker, Dina Riccobono, Marketing Manager, and the Market Leverage TV, Production Manager Judson Forman and the Market Leverage CEO!

The Unique Blog Designs team was there as well, Nate and the crew, as John Chow recently utilized their excellent services in redesigning his website at: www.johnchow.com

Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park with Nicholas Chase after Sunday Keynote
Photo Courtesy Dave Cynkin c 2008

Meeting Mike Shinoda of the band Linkin Park was a real highlight on Sunday. He was accessible and candid about how blogging had secured a Warner Brothers record deal for the band. He related how all of the band members were artists, and the band name came about because Lincoln Park, a real park in LA had been registered previously. To get the dot com they changed it to Linkin Park, brilliant!

Mike was adamant in his opinion that emerging bands no longer need a large record company, with the power of the web they can self-distribute digitally, and bypass the management hassles.

Timothy Ferriss, author of The '4-Hour Work Week' was very well received by the packed audience for the Sunday Opening Keynote with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, and Rohit Bhargava the moderator. Timothy stated that to be self-published these days was practically impossible, as the store shelves are dominated by the book publishers. As a test, Timothy printed some books, and stealthily placed them in a prominent spot next to other hardback books in a bookstore and then watched the shelves for a day to test his theory.

The Market Leverage Dinner

I arrived late after packing my video gear away, and Dina Riccobono introduced me around the room. All of the legendary bloggers and thought-leaders at the two tables were very accessible and nice to me, a newbie Affiliate and blogger. Their words of encouragement and sense of humor were genuine and fun! I was fortunate to meet my Affiliate manager, Jennifer Fluker, and she offered her professional assistance to my on-line efforts.

John Chow came over after the meal, with a huge wad of cash, and asked who wanted to hit the tables! Check out the photo of John and I and that wad of cash! Market Leverage had a cashinator machine set up in the exhibit hall, and you had one minute to 'grab-cash' before time was up. Tyler Cruz wore a coat into the booth, and won the cash, to be donated to another attendee later.

John and I, we had a good laugh about Michael Kwan crashing a Segway, version 2 in Canada at the factory test track! It violated the known laws of physics to see Michael crash the Segway, and break the Flip Mino video camera he was holding when he crashed! I believe NASA Ames and the defense department want to study Michael's brain, to insure none of his synaptic neurons gets into any future space vehicles! We laughed for a long time about poor Michael Kwan.... John kids him on a regular basis on his blog. www.johnchow.com

Zac Johnson had some encouraging words for me, and even offered to help, handing me his personal business card. Thanks Zac! Check out Zac's excellent blog at: www.zacjohnson.com

It was exactly this kind of community and family approach that all of the panelists and Affiliate / Bloggers attending the show exhibited all weekend. How refreshing from the corporate, button down, need-to-know environment of some trade shows.

BlogWorld Expo 2008 was a life-changing event for me, all launched becuase of a simple act of kindness on my part to assist where I could. This is an important recurring theme for all of us working 'on-line' to remember and practice daily.

Jim Kukral was helpful to me all weekend, even though he was busy moderating panels and watching the time for the panelists. He made sure that each panel had sufficient time for interactive Q and A and the attendees asked some very well-formed questions. I hope I wasn't in your way too much Jim, with my sensitive microphones and all that equipment! Check out Jim Kukral at The Flip Daily, www.JimKukral.com

I have started following these smart people on Twitter, an application that permits 140 characters per small instant text messages called 'tweets'. When you send a message you are 'tweeting' someone. They can 'follow' you and you can follow them, sort of a 'what are you doing now kind of tracker scenario.

Today I discovered something strange and wonderful, some of the thought-leaders are now following me! Ok, got to stay on track here, so much is happening so quickly, it's a testement to the 'Power Of The Web', how quickly one can get recognition for a small act of kindness.

When tweeting, "I'm making cheese-balls" does not have the same impact as saying: "I'm having dinner with Shoemoney and John Chow, Jim Kukral, Brian Clark, and Darren Rowse, Zac Johnson and Tyler Cruz at Blogworld Expo 2008!!!"

Shoemoney has the record for largest ever adsense check, over $133,300.00 for one month's profit on Google's adsense advertizing program! He spent some time with me after the panel he was on, and discussed family and how the web community is strong and vigilent in it's desire for self-informing each other, and not depending on traditional news outlets who move too slowly for the web attention span!

Shoemoney gave some time to me, after the SuperPanel to be interviewed, discussing the web community and being a real person to constituent bloggers out there. He said that he would remember me next year, and wanted to hear about my successes online. I'm even more dedicated now to make this online business grow! I'll try to host the video here real soon!

I'm tired but elated to be getting assistance from the best in internet marketing in the world! Oh, and after Shawn Collins of Affiliate Summit needed some assistance with his new microphone before his panel presentation, I assisted in temporarily mounting it to his tripod, we talked after the event, and he gave me a unlimited Platinum Pass to Affiliate Summit 2009!

www.affiliatesummit.com

I'm really just touching down after all of the excitement of the past five days. It's Christmas, and New Year's Eve, and my birthday all rolled into one fantastic present!

Keep tuned to these pages for more BlogWorld Expo photos, and how being authentic has certainly helped grow my on-line presence and reach.

Respectfully, Nicholas

IZEAFEST IN ORLANDO WAS AWESOME !!!

Hi,

Just finished watching two full days, of all of the live streaming from IzeaFest in Orlando Florida. Shoemoney gave a very moving Keynote about how he has come to his current level and success, John Chow presented, and sat on panels, a wealth of information for bloggers, site designers, video incorporation and great giveaways for the attendees!

The IzeaFest live streams were all recorded and can be played here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/izeafest-streaming-live-from-izeafest-in-orlando%2C

Came away with some great information about:

Social Media Networking,
blogging,
Wordpress plugins,
video production for blogs,
being a real person on-line,
using Twitter and SocialSpark to connect to your community
Blog design no-no's

The interesting part of the Ustream feed was the interactive, 'live-chat-window'.

Attendees and on-line viewers could pose questions to the presenters live during the Q and A period. During the presentations, the URL links were entered into the chat window by the production staff or attendees to check out these links for value to each individual.

Very cool to see live chat running during presentations, although some attendees forgot that everyone could see their comments! Hope there were no attorney's watching, as some of the comments were a bit questionable for a live stream.

I have a ten page word document capturing all of the links from Saturday and Friday, plus notes on things to avoid when blogging, including concern for 'ACCESSIBILITY' concerns for non-sighted or hearing-impaired web surfers.

I am ready to make the changes to my seven blogs, including moving them off of blogger to Wordpress on my domain. Total control of my blog is then obtainable for design and templates.

Check out www.izea.com and ask for Trevor, he is a really helpful person! And please leave me a comment if you liked this post!

Respectfully, Nicholas

Purpose Inc ThinkTank San Diego Contest!

A Truly Unique Opportunity!

Now we're talking!

Jeremy Shoemaker aka Shoemoney at www.shoemoney.com has an awesome contest running.

He will sponsor one winning blogger to go to the Think Tank in San Diego.

This post serves as my contest entry. The challenge is to describe what "I could offer the other attendees".


Nicholas's Top Ten Things I Would Offer While At The Think Tank

10. I would offer my undivided attention to anyone in attendence.

9. I would be a good listener, and offer a carefully considered response to questions, considering the attendee's are all thought leaders in Affiliate Marketing.

8. I would be willing to help in carrying, setting up, or tearing down, in any way deemed appropriate by the requester.

7. I would be respectful of those in conversation and would never interrupt or try to convince anyone that I was smarter than they are.

6. I would turn off my cell phone, during any speeches, or private conversations.

5. I would focus and concentrate on the information received, and when I have learned and practiced the techniques to financial success, I would at that time be willing to give back to the Affiliate Community as others have done who proceeded me in that regard.

4. I would participate in the Think Tank process with enthusiasm, respect and a genuine interest in the subject matter.

3. I would remember to thank Jeremy, in the future by sponsoring another Affiliate as he has offered.

2. I would renew my commitment to my goal to make Affiliate Marketing, and monetized blogs my sole source of income within one year from July 2008.

1. I would never forget what it felt like, to stand in a room with brilliant individuals who were willing to share what they know, with an absolute beginner in Affiliate Marketing.

Thank you in advance Jeremy, even if I'm not the winner.

Respectfully, Nicholas

PPC-Coach - Join them now!

Based on the post I read at Jonathan Volk's Super Affiliate blog, I have decided to change course on trying to dominate the blog-o-sphere with monetized blogs. All of my efforts have brought some traffic, but zero income. After almost three months of trial and error, I feel like I'm in the Wild West, and the town has no police force, (excepting Marshall Google of course!).

I have been through all of the ebooks, web sites, trade shows for SEO and PPC, read countless forum entries and have come to a conclusion. No one save for Albert Einstein could fathom all of the minute details, and excessive hours spent in front of your computer, trying to make an online income. It just is not going to happen my friends. So, how about using the services of a successful coach, a guru who has been down the road I've just described, and is successful.

How much would you be willing to pay to get all of the free software tools, videos, an awesome forum, and the true support of someone who does not even know you, but feels compelled to share his knowledge?

How does $54.43 USD per month sound? That's cheaper than Junior College, with books alone over $500.00 per year! In addition he will personally review your account and suggest changes that will improve your bottom line. OK, I've already convinced myself and joined, what's stopping you?

Even though I believe that Google has indexed my blog(s) now numbering seven, six of them are hosted by Google themselves on Blogger.com. By pasting the Google Analytics code into my .html template, my blogs are achieving increasing page views.

When I read Jonathan's review of PPC-Coach, and visited the website to watch some of the videos I was convinced. Without a focused, measurable pay-per-click or SEO strategy you are not going to be successful in the current marketplace on the web.

Way too many blogs out there, just check the real-time statistics on www.Weblogs.com, to see what you are up against. So then comes PPC-Coach. Firstly when you join, you are immediately given access to the first two months of his success path for profit. Instead of some lame ebook, he delves right in to how to use all of the rich knowledge that can be found in the member area.

One guy has achieved the $35,000.00 a month club that they claim you can also achieve. I was reading his well over 1000+ forum posts last night, and his story is motivating. PPC-Coach will guide you through the murky waters of setting up your online campaigns, including joining Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's Search Engine marketing services, help you in setting up campaigns, and other marketing engagements, in order to insure that you follow the correct steps.

In addition, the Coach will truly be available to support you, answering emails, or IM messages in a timely fashion. Imagine, his email inbox as shown in the introduction video had over 3,000 messages in it, and only one unanswered one. That tells me that this guy is genuine and sincere.

You can visit the PPC-Coach here:

http://www.ppc-coach.com

You will be glad that you did!!

Respectfully, Nicholas

Unique Blog Designs One Year Anniversary Contest and John Chow.com

Hello Successful Affiliates!

John Chow just posted about the First Anniversary of Unique Blog Designs!

http://www.johnchow.com/unique-blog-designs-1-year-anniversary-contest/

and a contest they are running to celebrate!

Unique Blog Designs has some of the most professional looking design templates on the web. Their creativity is legendary after only one year.

The contest giveaway is First Prize: 8GB iPod Touch mp3 player and a free, Unique Blog Designs template. Second and Third prizes are Unique Blog Design Citrus-themes (3-flavors) templates.

Check them out here: www.uniqueblogdesigns.com

Thank you to John Chow for his excellent post. When you visit JohnChow.com you will see a Unique Blog Designs design on his home page. Very Cool!

Check out my new post at the iPod Review Blog: http://theipodreviewblog.blogspot.com/
where I provide a link to a post from Dragon Blogger, about downloading YouTube videos to your iPod!

Respectfully, Nicholas

Search Engine Strategies Conference

The Search Engine Strategies conference was held in San Jose, CA this week. Well over one-hundred vendors had booths set up in the exhibit hall, and the conference cost $2,000.00 to attend all of the speeches and course-ware. Due to budgetary constraints, I had to forgo attending the sessions. The show floor was packed on Tuesday, with the usual collection of marketers and attendees.

Search Engine Optimization is a topic that is widely implemented at major companies with a large web presence, and numerous niche markets on the web. The SEO technique includes using traditional marketing psychology, with targeted keyword research, to focus deep into a small niche market. Large companies do this by starting at the top of the market, and dividing down into smaller and smaller niches, hoping to discover those with the least competition, and the most participants.

Google was there demonstrating their 'Analytics' tools to a large crowd all day. A number of clever websites were using analytics to track their campaign's successes. Google has also started exploring 'social-marketing'. They nearly purchased digg www.digg.com a huge newsgathering and social contact type of site.

Microsoft was showing their new Live Search tool. The Microsoft Search Network has expanded greatly over the past months, with new features and tools for the small business. I plan on joining MSN this week.

There was a drawing for a 'smart-car' at the Omniture booth at the SES conference today, but I had to get back to my office and update my blogs, now numbering six! Trying to get enough daily traffic in each marketing niche, to begin trimming my blog count downwards. Learned a few ways to get web directories to find my site, so will report on the success of these tests in a future post.

Jeremy Shoemaker aka 'Shoemoney' was there, wearing an 'SEO Sucks' t-shirt. The reaction was either laughter or a blank stare from the show floor.

Here is a photo, courtesy of www.shoemoney.com, with David Naylor and Todd Friesen, legendary SEO marketers:


I was able to meet face to face with some of my Affiliate Marketing managers from companies like PepperJam Network and Affiliate.com. They were more than willing to spend time with me and explain all of the Search Engine marketing techniques that have evolved.

Most of my initial focus has been withing the 'Pay-per-click' space with Google Adsense and direct-linking, and some 'social-networking to get my name out there and discover the trends in thsi niche.

For someone like me just getting my feet wet in the web marketing space, software tools can be very beneficial in taking some of the guesswork out of campaigns. Smaller companies, like mine, start at the bottom, and try to discover markets too small to interest the large companies, but still containing enough participants to make a profit.

The amount of preparation required to enter these markets can be assisted by using tracking software such as Tracking202, you can check it out at: www.tracking202.com

Wes Mahler has provided a free sign-up and free trial so that you can see the benefits of the data from your clicks, who is clicking, where are they navigating within your site, which pages are most popular etc. Very professional tracking software, I am using it, and can recommend it personally!

So, go out there and make your mark, I am trying many techniques to get my daily readership and drive traffic to my various web properties. I do believe that I will have to pay someone to design my landing page at www.Chase-Marketing-Domain.com. Right now it's the Wealth Dr. of Beverly Hills, and his offers that a first-time visitor would see.

I understand that now that I have a domain, I can create sub-domains and host pages and other offers within these sub-domains. Respectfully, Nicholas

John Chow Cash Drawing

Hello! John Chow sent out a post that he will give the cash he collected in the Market Leverage 'cashinator' at Affiliate Summit East in Boston. You can watch the video here:

http://www.johnchow.com/affiliate-summit-east-win-cash-money/


By writing a post about the contest, and sending a track-back link to John Chow, I am entered in the drawing on Sunday August 17, 2008. John Chow is a very generous person, who started out by blogging about restaurants he frequents around Vancouver, Canada. Now he has several web properties he promotes from www.JohnChow.com

There are already a few entrants, so I hope the additional five entries I receive from posting about the contest helps!

Respectfully, Nicholas