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Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

http://www.brandmymail.com

BrandMyMail is a web-application that any Gmail user can use to create and send personalized, customized, branded emails that won’t get ignored or pushed aside.

http://gidsy.com

Itching to find out more about your neighborhood’s history, or maybe to learn a new skill like fire eating or unicycle riding? Gidsy is your site. The application lets qualified experts share their skills and knowledge with others in their cities.

http://www.picfull.com

Picfull is a free online photo-editing tool that anyone can use to give their pictures a little more pizzazz.

http://positionly.com

Positionly is an online tool that monitors and tracks your website’s fluctuating position in the search engine rankings.

Sean

P.S. What do you think of this week’s apps?

I recently finished reading Don Keough’s (former President of Coca Cola) The Ten Commandments for Business Failure and there were three points in particular that resonated with me.  I think you may get something out of them too.

The tongue-in-cheek premise of the book is “if you want to fail in business, absolutely make sure you do these things” so that’s how I’ll write this article.

1. Quit Taking Risks

“He that is overcautious will accomplish little.”

-Friedrich von Schiller

Risk aversion has been the prevailing mood for mankind throughout history.  The hunters and gatherers of old roamed far and wide in order to survive, but the agricultural revolution allowed us to settle down and most people did.  People chose to live as their fathers and grandfathers before them, never venturing far from the village.  And it made sense.  The world was dangerous.  Just look at the old maps with vast areas labeled “terra incognita”—unknown lands–and even drawings of serpents and monsters.  Who would want to sail to such places?

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

http://www.breadpro.com

Bread allows brands and causes to customize a full-page advertisement in front of any content shared on social media.

http://ohdontforget.com

Ohdontforget sends text message reminders. Text messages queued up with ODF will be delivered at the date and time specified, unless you specify “now”, which will send the message instantly.

http://www.pdftoword.com

PDF to Word is a free app that converts PDFs to fully editable Word documents, handling complex document elements with ease.

https://www.bringshare.com

BringShare makes tracking the many facets of your Internet marketing simple by mashes all the data together in one place.

Sean

P.S. What do you think of this week’s apps? Leave a comment below and let me know!

With these tough economic times, the only solution is to get better at our jobs.  With staffing and budgets being slashed, only the top producers have real job security, so how can you join them?

You can maximize your personal productivity! Efficient, highly productive people will always be in demand because they’re rare and extremely valuable. They make more sales, get more promotions, and are given more responsibility than their peers.

Well, in this article, I’d like to share with you three simple but powerful ways for you to maximize your productivity.

PRODUCTIVITY MAXIMIZER #1:

Eliminate all distractions

This point is so important it can’t be over-emphasized.  The #1 killer of productivity is distractions. A recent study showed that when a person is focused on an activity and gets distracted, it takes, on average, about 20 minutes to get fully focused again.

What kind of distractions are we talking about?

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

http://www.twellow.com

Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you.

http://www.dealsjoy.com

DealsJoy can be used by any business with a Facebook Page looking to launch exclusive deals and offers to Fans.

http://trycapsule.com

Capsule is stylish event planning platform that groups of friends and family members can use to privately create plans for upcoming trips and events, organize itineraries, and share photos from their adventures.

http://www.etsy.com

Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. These items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, bath & beauty products, quilts, knick-knacks and toys.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

That’s about all you get to capture the mind of your prospects.

They are bombarded by messages day in and day out and thus are forced to make quick evaluations.

But in those three seconds sales are made, deals are closed and empires are built. Do you know what to do in those three seconds?

Most people don’t and that’s the topic of this article.

Your Prospects’ Big Four Questions

During any sales process, an inner dialogue takes place in your prospects’ minds. The process of making a buying decision requires that four questions are satisfactorily answered:

1. What are you trying to sell me?

2. What’s in it for me?

3. How much?

4. Why should I believe you?

Your offer must address these four questions and must do it quickly. In order to do it most effectively, you don’t want just any offer…you want an Irresistible Offer.

What is that and how do you create one?

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

From “Steve Docwra” on Flickr

http://www.cloudtact.com

Cloudtact is a tool to ensure the address books on your iPhone or Android, iPad, laptop, and Gmail accounts never go out of date. Not only that, but Cloudtact can make sure your friends’ address books are never out of date, as well.

http://liveminutes.com

LiveMinutes offers tools for auto conferencing, video conferencing, document sharing, document collaboration, group sketching, file storage, and report generation.

https://www.creditkarma.com

Credit Karma is a free web-application that consumers can use to track credit scores, manage debt, and save money.

http://www.youeye.com

YouEye is a free user testing tool and tester hiring service. Review recordings of each tester’s screen, webcam, and microphone. Invite anyone to take a test by sharing a link.

Sun Tzu’s magnum opus, The Art of War, is one of the oldest and greatest books on military strategy ever written and its principles have been borrowed by many other subjects and activities such as business tactics, leadership, sales and even poker.

Today I want to show you how the principle of “Heavy Ground” applies to marketing, because it’s a VERY important one.

Sun Tzu’s “Heavy Ground”

One way to win a war is to go deep into enemy territory before attacking. You catch your enemy by surprise and use this shock to gain a decisive victory. Sun Tzu calls this ground deep in the enemy territory “Heavy Ground.”

My favorite metaphor for marketing is that it’s a war for your prospect’s mind. The conflict is obvious: with your marketing efforts, you are trying to persuade him that your product or service is worth his attention and he is trying to tune you out.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

From “TheFella” on Flickr

http://www.rememberthemilk.com

Although it has a goofy name, RTM is hands down my favorite project and task management app—and I’ve tried quite a few. It has an incredibly clean, simple, and intuitive interface, and has a TON of useful and clever functionality. One day of using it and you’ll be sold (and it’s free!)

http://imgur.com

Imgur makes photo sharing incredibly easy. Simply load the page, and drag and drop the picture(s) you want to share, hit the upload button, and you’re ready to share.

http://www.etsy.com

Etsy is a website that provides an online marketplace that connects people who create handmade products and buyers interested in this market.

http://www.retailmenot.com

RetailMeNot contains an enormous collection of printable coupons, grocery coupons, and internet coupon codes for all kinds of products and services.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

From “kim-by-the-sea” on Flickr

http://goanimate.com/

GoAnimate enables you to easily make movies with nothing to download or draw. You can make your own animated characters, direct your own movies, and watch others’ creations.

https://www.paperkarma.com/

PaperKarma allows you to take photos of the junk mail you wish to stop. Snap a photo, and they automatically contact the Mailer and remove you from their distribution list.

http://www.mvfapp.com/

“MVF” is a clever little app that identifies your most valuable followers or FB friends, meaning the people with the most followers and friends themselves. This allows you to hone in on them and develop a relationship that can impact your social media marketing efforts.

https://gumroad.com/

GumRoad lets you easily sell stuff online.

I’ve been asked many times what makes a good business plan and I’ve seen many people get bogged down in unnecessary complications in trying to formulate one.

The big problems most people need to figure out are things like, “How am I going to find people who want my products or services? How will I convince them I’m worth buying from? What should I even focus on selling?”

Well, I want to help with a simple, no-fluff business plan that you can just copy and paste into Word and start plugging your answers in. I think this will help you achieve your business goals.

Who am I going to sell to?

Dig in and get specific here. You may want to read the following article first to get some pointers.

Relationship Marketing: Connect with One Person

How will these people find my products or services?

How are people going to get the chance to give you money?

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

From “Les Baisers de Louise” on Flickr

http://www.clarify-it.com/

Clarify enables you to capture, sequence and annotate screenshots to create documents that are a great alternative to screen recordings

http://boun.cr/

Bouncr lets you create a short, simple email address that stands between you and unwanted mail and spam. Each email sent to your Bouncr account is forwarded to your actual email address. From there, you can decide to reply to it or not. If you want to no longer receive emails to your Bouncr address, you simply deactivate it, and it’s gone.

http://www.pdftohtml.net/

PDF conversion can be quite a pain, but this app makes it easy. Upload your PDF to it and in seconds, it returns a fully formatted HTML file that looks exactly like the source document.

Is it possible to capture and communicate anything of value about persuasion in a single sentence?  It is and I’m about to prove it.  But before, let me explain why it’s important.

All marketing efforts hinge on effective persuasion.  No subject is more fascinating, empowering and profitable, and unfortunately, confusing.  Much of the confusion is unnecessary, though. Persuasion doesn’t require good looks, a silver tongue or infallible logic.  It doesn’t require charisma or a magnetic personality.  It’s actually a pretty simple matter when you cut through all the smoke.  That, of course, is the hard part.

I read the 27 words I’m about to share a long time ago and found them so true and useful that I’ve grounded any and all marketing efforts in some part of them.

THE SENTENCE

The fundamentals behind persuasion require a fundamental understanding of human nature.  Even the most extreme examples of persuasion–suicide cults and mass movements–are often based on the most basic of human desires.

What would you say is the least common denominator of all truly successful people?

What have they done that enabled them to rise above the rest of the crowd?

Why do others clamor to give them their money?

Sure, successful people are usually smart, motivated, hard-working, and so on, but these aren’t the fundamental reasons for their success. They can’t charge customers for their intelligence, energy level, or work ethic.

What they can charge outrageous sums for (and do) and what serves as the foundation of every wildly successful business venture is mastery. Extraordinary ability to do something that others find valuable.

That’s what striking it big boils down to: You have to master something that others find valuable. That means you have to be so good that people talk about you and your work. You’ll have fans. You’ll get sought out for advice. People will pay you premiums for your work.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pick of the week:

http://kontestapp.com/

Kontest is an application for building professional-looking and easy-to-run contests for their promotional needs through Facebook, the web, or even mobile phones.

http://www.grammarly.com/

Grammarly claims to be the “world’s most accurate grammar checker.” The application covers all aspects of grammar, from punctuation to style. Users can check their work for use of advanced grammar rules, with over 150 grammar checks utilized.

http://www.gliffy.com/

Gliffy is a very user-friendly application for designing floor plans, diagrams and flowcharts.

http://ideascale.com/

IdeaScale is an application that allows users to submit feedback ideas on how things about a product or service can be improved. It then lets other users discuss and vote on the ideas. The most valuable ideas eventually float to the top, letting you know what your community really wants.

You’ve probably heard the saying “the money is in the list.” But how do you build a big, responsive mailing list that you can use to build your business?

To build your mailing list, you only need to do two things correctly.

The first is you need to have an opt-in form that converts well. (An “opt-in form” is a web form that allows people to enter information and join—opt into—your mailing list.) I recommend MailChimp for this and any other mailing list needs.

When you’re creating an opt-in form, there are two things you need to keep in mind:

1.       Ask for the email address only. Unless you have a very compelling reason to request a name or, even worse, an address, company name, phone number, etc., stick with requesting the bare minimum of information: an email address. The less information you ask for up front, the more sign-ups you’ll get.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interest, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

There are countless problems and opportunities in the world today, and the human race relies on entrepreneurs for solutions and growth in every facet of life. We rely on them to give us smart phones, electric cars, social networking sites, world-class food, Oscar-winning movies, and, indeed, much of the very fabric of our culture.

I’ve always liked to read about world-class entrepreneurs, and I’ve found that the most effective ones in history shared at least ten traits in common.

Whether you currently possess these traits or not doesn’t matter. Anyone can develop them if they want to, regardless of education, experience, or accomplishments.

The fact is the world can always use more highly effective entrepreneurs that have the courage to steadfastly work toward greatness. Are you willing to become one?

1.       Highly effective entrepreneurs do what they love.

What you ultimately get out of your business in the way of personal satisfaction and fulfillment, financial gain, and an enduring mark on society will be the sum of what you put into your business.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

(From “Ingolfur B” on Flickr)

http://quipol.com

Quipol allows you to create simple, pretty social polls that you can use to easily discover where people are at on any issue you want to ask them about.

http://transcribe.wreally.com

This is a great web app for transcribing audio. It gives you a space to type and simple controls for pausing and playing, speeding up, slowing down, rewinding, and forwarding the audio.

http://xpenser.com

Xpenser is a great app that gives you the ability to record your expenses immediately, while you have all of relevant information handy, instead of weeks or months later when you’ve forgotten where you were, who you were with, and what the expenses were for.

http://www.meetingburner.com

MeetingBurner allows you to host online meetings and webinars.

There are two words that drive me crazy in my business when I hear them. They are the hallmark of mediocrity and laziness. They are…

“Good enough.”

This is the worst attitude to have in your work and indeed, your life. Settling for “good enough” is such a low standard. It means that you simply don’t care enough to be extraordinary. And the reality is, achieving any level of real success requires just that—extraordinary desires, efforts, and persistence.

This complacent attitude keeps us from doing our best work. It keeps us from making the money we want to make and from having the type of life we want. “Good enough” leads to divorce, poverty, and a legacy that reaches no further than the grave.

You want to know a funny, kind of counter-intuitive way to spot a professional? His craft kicks his ass sometimes. He wants to rip his hair out in frustration because he just can’t put all the pieces together yet.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pick of the week:

http://www.xmind.net

Xmind is free, open-source, easy to use software for mind mapping. Don’t know what mind mapping is? Check it out! It’s a great tool for organizing projects and brainstorming.

http://getpunchd.com

Punchd puts paper loyalty cards on smartphones. It makes it easy for you to create a paperless loyalty program to grow your repeat customers and turn new customers into loyal customers.

http://www.echosign.com

EchoSign allows you to upload a document that you want signed and email it to someone who can then use the app to sign it and send it back to you (or they can print, sign, and fax it back). Great for contracts and other agreements.

http://feefighters.com

This site lets you shop for merchant accounts.

Have you ever known what you needed to do but somehow or another ended up waiting weeks and weeks before actually doing it?

Sure. We all have. Who hasn’t procrastinated before? But if you let it get the best of you too often, it really gets in the way of your success.

In this article I want to share with you four simple tips for getting more done faster.

1. Take Responsibility

 Hey, it happens—sometimes we wait too long to get going on something or we make excuses or get distracted.

Some people blame it on being easily distracted or bored or self-employed or a “perfectionist” or whatever else. Let’s be honest though—all of these excuses can be boiled down to one thing: laziness.

Sure, sometimes it’s scary to do things we’re not familiar with or when we’re not confident in our abilities, but even these feelings are often just used as excuses to be lazy.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

http://www.meetingburner.com

MeetingBurner is a great teleseminar and webinar platform. Very user friendly, very clean interface, and great customer service.

http://prezi.com

Prezi is a really slick tool that allows you to create engaging PowerPoint-esque presentations and share them with others.

http://www.khanacademy.org

You probably know about Khan Academy, but I had to throw it in just in case. With a library of over 2,700 free, super high-quality videos, you can literally get a college education without ever stepping into a class room or paying a dime.

http://lists.nextmark.com

This is a very handy resource for finding direct mail and email lists to promote to. If a list exists for your public, you can probably find it on this site.

You know what sucks?

It sucks when you’ve poured your heart into creating a wonderful product or service but aren’t getting any sales.

The truth is just about every business comes down with the “No-Sales Syndrome” every so often, but there’s a cure.

I recently read Jim Collins’ great new book, Great by Choice, and in it he discussed the key differences between companies that thrive in tough times and companies that fail.

And he found that it wasn’t innovation, fat VC checks, or dumb luck. Companies that survived tough times were sometimes less innovative than competitors that failed, and in some cases had some pretty bad luck.

Anyway, I want to share with you one of the pieces of advice that I thought was most important and immediately applicable to businesses of any size.

Here’s a quote from Great by Choice:

“Picture yourself at sea, a hostile ship bearing down on you.

If you use direct marketing to sell your products or services, then you know the importance of having a strong offer.

But are you testing different offers to see what pulls the best?

There are many, many different variations that you can test. In this article, I want to share with you 13 that have stood the test of time and are proven winners.

1. Free Trial. This has been around for over 100 years and is probably the best offer ever created. By letting people try your product with no obligation for a couple weeks or longer, you remove the risk and make it very easy for the prospect to say, “Ah, why not?”

2. Free Samples. This is probably one of the first powerful offers ever created and it will be with us for time immemorial. Let your product sell itself by giving away a free sample and watch the orders roll in.

Publicity in local media is a powerful way to get your business noticed by your marketplace, and one of the key tools in getting picked up by media is a good press release.

Press releases must contain something that is newsworthy, however—a boring plug of your business will never get you anywhere. This is why many businesspeople fail in their attempts at this simple public relations action—they don’t know how to create stories that media outlets actually want.

So I’d like to share with you three simple types of press releases that are proven winners across a wide range of industries and field. If you put them to use in your business, it will only be a matter of time before the media takes notice and you’re thrust into the limelight.

WINNING PRESS RELEASE #1:

The “Rags to Riches” Story

Who doesn’t love a great “rags to riches” story? This is a story theme that will never die, and the media loves them.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

https://www.mint.com/

Mint brings all your financial accounts together online or on your mobile device, automatically categorizes your transactions, lets you set budgets and helps you achieve your savings goals.

http://www.popsurvey.com/

PopSurvey is an application that individuals and businesses can use to make attractive surveys that are fast and easy to fill out.

http://www.moredays.com/

Moredays is a time management and calendar application that relies on photos and drawings instead of lists and spreadsheets to keep things organized.

http://vizualize.me/

Visualize.me is a tool that job seekers can use to create data driven resumes that are heavy on design and light on text. Unlike standard resumes, which can be quickly scanned over and tossed aside by hiring managers, visualize.me’s resumes – which it calls “infographic resumes” – use graphical icons and charts to help job applicants stand out from the crowd.

Every week I like to share the best web apps, tools, and content that I come across in my Internet travels. If something sounds interesting, check it out!

First, here’s my Flickr pic of the week:

(From “Ingolfur B” on Flickr)

http://quipol.com

Quipol allows you to create simple, pretty social polls that you can use to easily discover where people are at on any issue you want to ask them about.

http://transcribe.wreally.com

This is a great web app for transcribing audio. It gives you a space to type and simple controls for pausing and playing, speeding up, slowing down, rewinding, and forwarding the audio.

http://xpenser.com

Xpenser is a great app that gives you the ability to record your expenses immediately, while you have all of relevant information handy, instead of weeks or months later when you’ve forgotten where you were, who you were with, and what the expenses were for.

http://www.meetingburner.com

MeetingBurner allows you to host online meetings and webinars.

An “elevator pitch” is a 30-second answer to the question, “What do you do?”

A compelling elevator pitch is important because when a potential prospect asks you that question, you don’t have time to whip out a captivating PowerPoint presentation or fancy video.

You have to answer the question quickly and grab the person’s attention.

But how do most people answer this question? With a boring recital of job functions and titles and sometimes a trite statement of vague benefits. Something like, “I’m a nutritionist with more than 10 years of experience.”

Yawn. Next.

Fortunately, there’s an antidote to the lame elevator pitch, and it has 3 parts. Follow this formula and you’ll quickly be able to craft an elevator pitch that briefly communicates the value of your product or service in a compelling way.

So what is the formula?

Well, the first part is to ask a question that starts with, “Do you know?”

This question should identify a pain or desire that your product or service handles or fulfills.