Making life easier and more geeky all the time! Awesome!

webinar marketing

Milana Leshinsky – Telesummits aren’t dead! How Great Webinar Marketing Can Make a Huge Impact for Your Small Business! (AoL 118)

/by

Webinars, telesummits, and virtual summits. They used to be a staple in digital marketing.

In recent years, however, they’ve become rarer to see.

Why?

Because for the most part, people have used them primarily as a way to build their email list. They used it primarily as part of their funnel.

While this is a function that webinars can serve, we shouldn’t overestimate their power to connect us with thought leaders in our various industries.

Today’s guest, Milana Leshinsky, is on a mission to help people see the power that telesummits (aka virtual summits) can provide for a small business.

On top of finding out how she got to be such a huge advocate of these mediums, we find out how they’ve played a role in her own business. She also talks about the mindset you should have when building your own virtual summit.

 

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How was it that Milana first came to the US? 9:12
  • What made her change her focus of study in school from music to something completely different? 11:32
  • Why did she quit her IT job in 2002 as a mom of two? What did it get her in a relatively short amount of time? 13:25
  • How has digital marketing changed during her career? 17:10
  • Why should someone do a telesummit and what makes a good one? 19:53
  • In what ways has she been able to get back into her artistic roots? 39:00
  • What’s Milana looking forward to working on? 45:04
  • Who have been influencers in Milana’s life? 47:40
  • What are three books that she tells others about? 49:13
  • What’s something Milana has been good to saying no to? 51:37
  • What is her least favorite social custom? 52:43
  • How can someone find their own personal freedom? 54:26

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Virtual Summits & Telesummits

Fastest Path to Go To Expert

Future of Video Marketing with Michelle Kopper

Jeremy and Milana on Sales in Coaching

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

content creator

Tori Reid – Become a Master Content Creator! Why Blogging Should Still be a Part of Your Content Strategy (AoL 115)

/by

Lots of people would say that blogging as we know it is dead. There’s little ROI on it because you have to compete with all the other blogs that are out there.

That’s why a lot of people use Medium as their blogging platform. They then link those posts on social media hoping that the eyeballs see it.

However, today’s guest, Tori Reid, suggests otherwise.

She says that people still find blogs and other websites when they want to find information. However, when it comes to personal connection, that’s when they hop on social media.

Knowing this is important to content creators.

As are many other pointers.

This is what Tori’s group helps people with – keeping on top of what’s popular in the content creation world and how to get it out in a way that resonates with its intended audience.

In today’s chat with Tori, we find out how she got into content writing in the first place, how she started writing for LifeHacker, and her thoughts on blogging in 2018 and beyond.

Enjoy!

 

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How’d Tori end up in Columbus and what are some of the benefits of working there as an entrepreneur? 11:20
  • What was it like to wake up to 1000 members in her Facebook group? 18:19
  • How did she get into content writing? 19:35
  • What was the pivot moment that she decided to drop out of school to pursue her business? 23:39
  • How did Tori become a writer for LifeHacker? 25:15
  • Why did she change her focus from blog writing to content development? 29:01
  • Can people still create successful brands online without putting a hub of theirs on a social media app? 32:44
  • What was the point where things start getting traction in her online career? 36:38
  • What’s a way for introverts to ease themselves into doing Facebook Lives? 40:01
  • What are a few tips that someone can utilize to craft a better selling message? 42:22
  • What’s Tori looking forward to doing in 2018? 48:24
  • What are her top 3 favorite books? 51:59
  • What’s something she’s learned to say no and what realizations have helped with that? 52:45
  • Something that she believes is going to affect entrepreneurs in the near future? 54:22
  • What bad advice does Tori hear adults giving children that she disagrees with? 56:34

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Getting Over Creative Blocks:

Upgrade Your Atmosphere, Upgrade Your Business:

The Art of Networking:

Landon Porter Interview:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

how to get rid of malware

How to Get Rid of Malware on Your WordPress Website

/by

A website can make or break people’s perspective of whether or not you’re credible. When someone is legit, not only do they have a website but it’s one that is functional and findable. When you have that going for you, you can win their attention.

But what do you do if Google isn’t playing nice? What if you think you have Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools working for you but in reality, they’re not?

In today’s post, I’m going to not only share with you how I was able to fix my standing with Google search results, but also help you hopefully prevent future hacks.

 

My Introduction to Malware (the Hard Way)

So, here’s the deal. The New Inceptions site has been around since 2010. And for a long time, while I wanted to follow in the footsteps of the people I was learning from, for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to fully commit.

I’d write a post here or there – but never really had the time to actually put time into it.

And many times, what isn’t a habit, simply gets ignored.

Well, that’s what happened to the site. I wasn’t using it and because I wasn’t, the WordPress install files (including themes and plugins) all fell behind in updates.

The problem is that many of these updates are for security. And, truth is, if you fall behind, you’re leaving yourself prone to attack.

I didn’t know that at the time – and that’s when someone decided to upload malware on my site.

The way I found out was that I simply tried to hop on one time and I was given this warning instead of my site:

how to get rid of malware

Needless to say, I started to panic a bit.

Well after a few days of trying to figure the thing out, I basically decided that I was going to have to dump my site and start over.


And so I did.

 

But apparently, even after doing that, I hadn’t gotten rid of the problem.

 

I’d find out shortly after I relaunched New Inceptions in 2015, that I still hadn’t figured it out. But my solution at the time seemed to fix the problem…

 

2016 – A Chance of Intermittent Head Scratchers

So, there I am, moving along in 2016 with the AoL podcast and my regular scheduled blog posts.

 

I was about a year in and I was realizing I still hadn’t really gained much new traffic. Part of that, I figured, was simply because I didn’t know what I was doing with SEO. So I started following some advice that I was picking up from Bryan Harris and Brian Dean about how to structure posts so that they attract more people AND start ranking for SEO organically.

 

In the end, none of it seemed to work. I was still getting all this traffic from Indonesia and other asian countries – but not much from the US.

 

So weird. But my host couldn’t tell me why, nor could anyone in Google.

 

So I kept plugging away believing that like anything in life, success comes with time.

2017 – A New Host

Skip ahead to a few weeks ago – Houston got hit by Hurricane Harvey. As a result, Hostgator had all kinds of issues. From what I can gather, their primary server farm for the US is/was based there as well as their North American support staff.

 

Well, New Inceptions, along with my clients websites, were having all kinds of reliability problems.

 

So I decided that we’d have to move to another host. And luckily, Jake at America Multi-Sport had already tested another host for our Viking Trail Run series.

 

He was having good success with it (wasn’t slow, didn’t limit bandwidth, etc.) and I soon realized that I was going to move my account as well as client accounts over to the new host.

 

It was around this time that I had chosen to simply google NI and the result that I got simply blew me away:

how to get rid of malware

What in the world?!?

 

So I had the folks who were migrating NI to the new host could check for malware.

Unfortunately – they didn’t find any.

For about 3 weeks, I was left in this state as I couldn’t get ahold of anyone at Google that could help.

And during this time Google thinks my site is Japanese.

Wonderful.

 

The “Current” Solution

So, recently, I’ve been networking with different leaders of various groups using Arne’s FB Growth Course, I ran across one group called Blogging for Entrepreneurs hosted by Tori Reid.

Well, I posted the above image and asked if anyone might have ideas in how to fix it.

The response that got me going in the right direction: “Check your plugins to see if any of them haven’t been updated in awhile.”

That made me go back into my WordPress Dashboard and check out what hasn’t been updated for 6 months or more. I got rid of all of those that fit the criteria.

That didn’t do it.

But as soon as I did trash my last plugin, I get a notice from Wordfence saying that I might have some bad files in my installation of WordPress.

So I get over to see what it’s talking about…

AND THERE WAS STILL MALWARE!

Not only was this malware red flagged but it apparently it was installed from 2010 and 2011 – exactly when I first started having problems!

I couldn’t press the delete button quick enough! Lol.

After which, I update my Yoast SEO sitemap (an XML file you upload) on Google Webmaster Tools – and later that day, my the result looked like this:

how to get rid of malware

Hey, it’s not Japanese anymore!!

 

Final Result

As time has gone on since implementing this fix, my results have started to look better and better.

 

Today, I ended up with this as my results for NI:

how to get rid of malware

I think it might be finally fixed!

 

Action Steps

Alright – so guys, I hope you learned a couple of things in this one. First, don’t give up on problems you might not have the solution for right now. Just know that eventually it’ll work itself out.

Secondly, if you have WordPress installed – GET WORDFENCE for your site. Not only did it see these malware files, but it’s also limited tons of people from getting in and causing more mischief – including banning their IPs!!

Have any recent successes yourself with something you’ve been struggling with for awhile? Let me know. I’d love to hear about your win!!

local advertising

JR Rivas – Leveraging Creative Marketing in Local Advertising: What a 23 year Old Did to Create a 6 Figure Digital Marketing Agency (AoL 104)

/by

Most entrepreneurs think, at some point, about the ability to strike it rich one day doing whatever is that they’re doing.

In my Amway days, a good question I remember being asked was “Doing the job that you’re doing, could the income they’re making ever be obtainable?”

Most of the time the question was answered “No.”. And I believe that kept many people believing that Amway was the one ticket to the life they dreamed about.

Today’s guest, had a similar wake up call. He realized that to get to where he wanted to be in life, he had to learn how to sell things.

That lead him through a journey of all kinds of jobs, businesses, and online opportunities.

This past year, he found something he could help people with – creating sales funnels.

In this chat, we discuss how he came to that realization. We also discuss why he believes that building sales funnels is one of the most lucrative out-of-the-gate businesses a new entrepreneur can start today.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What was the Digital Nomad Excelerator? 10:48
  • What was it like growing up for JR? Where did his inspiration come from? 14:20
  • What kept JR from going the traditional college route? 21:11
  • How did tax preparation come into the mix? 28:02
  • How did he expand his tax business so quickly? 31:46
  • How did JR get started in online business? 33:30
  • What’s the best way for people to get started in online business in 2017? 41:54
  • In his opinion, what is the clearist way to having a successful online business today? 46:26
  • What’s the point of Facebook groups going into archive mode and what are some ways of growing them? 51:31
  • Who are his 3 favorite influencers? 56:31
  • One thing under $100 that has changed his life? 57:04
  • What is a topic that should be discussed more often? 57:36
  • What would he do if he woke up as his 10 year old self tomorrow? 58:34
  • Secret to achieving personal freedom? 1:02:20
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

JR on CBS talking about What He Does:

JR speaks with Dan about how he made $10k in a month:

Facebook Ads for Entrepreneurs Review by JR and Arne:

JR on Why You’re Landing Page isn’t Converting:

JR RivasJR Rivaslocal advertisinglocal advertising

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

retail arbitrage

Escaping the 9 to 5 Through Online and Retail Arbitrage: How Selling on Amazon Can Buy Your Freedom with Tyler Philbrook (AoL 099)

/by

In this session, I wanted to take it back to where my idea of starting a podcast originated from. I’ve been a big fan of the SPI podcast ever since Pat Flynn started it. From that show, I’ve been turned onto several of other business and lifestyle podcasts and influencers.

Pat motivated and inspired me to do more and he continues to do so.

Today’s guest was also motivated by Pat but at a much deeper level.

Unlike me, Tyler Philbrook has experimented with multiple ways of making passive income that Pat has talked about on his show. If Pat is the crash dummy of online business, then Tyler is kinda like the dummy that didn’t turn out so hot after the wreck.

Nothing seemed to work for him. But he kept listening to Pat and eventually stumbled on session 99 with Jessica and Cliff Larrew.

For two years, Tyler has been slowly building his Amazon based business to a point where he could step away from his day job of being a pharmacist.

And now, he’s in a place where he can start helping others do the same. I’m glad to hear I have another TA friend!

In our chat today, we discuss what he learned along the way of working on Amazon, what beginners should know, and what he’s looking forward to working on now that he has more freedom with his time.

Thanks for listening, and enjoy the show!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What was life like growing up in Maine for Tyler? 15:56
  • When did he figure it was time to do his own business? 18:09
  • How’d he start with the SPI Podcast and applying what he learned? 21:05
  • Did growing up working with his parents’ restaurant impact his ability to start his own business? 23:31
  • What were Tyler’s first items that he tried to do retail arbitrage with on Amazon? 25:15
  • Is he only doing Amazon sales? 28:13
  • How does he determine which products to source? 30:05
  • If someone is starting from scratch, what are some definite things need to know about retail arbitrage? 34:25
  • What’s it like to be out of his 9 to 5 job? 38:02
  • What is Tyler looking forward to do with his extra time? 40:46
  • Top 3 favorite books he tells others about? 47:04
  • What’s a tool that he uses all the time that a beginner should know about? 49:04
  • Hardest thing he’s ever had to say no to. 50:52
  • What’s a few things that all high school students must know? 52:15
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 56:47
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

March 3rd, 2017 of Ask Pat LIVE:

Jessica and Cliff Larrew Interview via Rob Anderson over at Dollar Moves: 

Chase on “How to Be a Newbie and Succeed”:

What the GaryVee School Would Look Like:

retail arbitrage retail arbitrage retail arbitrage

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Leveraging LinkedIn for Business: 11 Tips to Get More Social on the “Professional” Platform

/by

Ever since my interview of Mirna Bacun back in session 18, I’ve been a proponent of folks starting groups on LinkedIn if they thought that their clientele would sooner be found on there than on Facebook.

Another reason that you might want to start a group on there is that it has a few more functions than groups on Facebook have these days – including a digest of activity.

There’s other reasons, but you can find out more about that in my interview with Myr here.

In the meantime, everyone that does business online SHOULD have at least a profile on LinkedIn. You never know who’s going to run across your account – and frankly, you can share things over there just as easily as you can on Facebook.

In this post, which was originally posted back on September 30th, 2010, I went over how you can make your account easier to find for those looking to fill a position. Back then, I was still trying to get hired by a startup – so I wrote it in that perspective. Eventually, I did land a position through that old advice – but I think it’s time that this post get’s a bit of an update! – JC

What is LinkedIn, Really?

Since graduating, one thing has definitely been on my mind as I’ve been looking into professional networking: LinkedIn. To those of us not familiar with it, I’ll just say that it’s basically a Facebook for professionals. It has many features that Facebook has except without all the personal clutter that makes Facebook is known for.

Here’s a review of the new LinkedIn User Interface in 2017 by Paul Wilson to get you up to speed if you’ve never made an account on the platform before:

If you’re a professional or business owner and you DON’T have a LinkedIn account, then you might be missing out. Sure, you can make plenty of noise through having your own Facebook Group these days, but if not everyone uses Facebook for business – yet. So having an up-to-date account on LinkedIn pointing to your account on Facebook (if that’s where they can find you most often) might be the best solution.

Tips on Using LinkedIn

That being the case, here are a few things that you want to focus on when getting involved with LinkedIn:

1. Make sure you Create a 100% full Profile.

This includes getting 3 recommendations and a nice (professional) picture for yourself.

2. Use Keywords in your Profile.

For me I try to use terms related to online business development, brand development, and social media consulting. The more often you use particular keywords in your profile, the easier it is for LinkedIn’s search engine to find you. This makes it easier for others to find you if they look for that particular term.

3. Update your Profile Regularly.

Just like other social media platforms, people take interest in you if you post more frequently. One way to do this is by linking your profile to your other social media accounts. That way, whatever you post over there will be seen on LinkedIn. However, if you’re posting super personal information regularly, you might want to reconsider doing this. The best course of action is simply posting native material to LinkedIn.

4. Find and Participate in the Groups You Care About!

Just like groups on Facebook, Groups in LinkedIn can be a great place to meet liked minded individuals that can help you get to where you’re trying to get to in your career.

5. Add anyone you meet in Business and Life

Just like adding people to Facebook, don’t be afraid to ask them to be LinkedIn! Just like in Facebook, the more people you’re connected to, the better off you are in networking. Those are selective in whom they select to be part of their list aren’t doing themselves any favors. (When inviting them on LinkedIn, be sure to use a custom message.)

6. Get familiar with Browsing your Connections’ Connections.

You never know who knows the people you know. As David Anderson said, “You’re only one person away from having everything come true that you want in life.”

7. Start following particular companies that you might enjoy working with.

When you do this it will be announced to people in your network. Answering questions in groups does wonders to get you noticed as well.

8. Don’t be afraid to leave Recommendations for people.

In fact, when you leave recommendations for people – more often than not, they’ll return the favor. This makes you look hella awesome!

9.  Share What You Know

If you know something about a company such as an event or the fact that they’re hiring, let others know!

This is another way of building rapport with members of your network. What goes around, should come around!

10. Use that Search Feature!

On many websites this feature gets overlooked as it tends to be somewhat frustrating to use. Not the case at LinkedIn. Use it to find potential clients or groups that you want to work with.

11. Create Your Own Group

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, having your own group is a great way to develop a following. Myr was ahead of her time when she created her formula – so if building a following on LinkedIn is key to building your business – don’t hesitate and get educated!

Action Steps

With it’s update this past year, LinkedIn is stepping up its game. It functions more and more like Facebook, which, in general, makes it easier for people to navigate. Again, the big difference is that the audiences are completely different. Even though you can do business on Facebook, it’s still the exception and not the norm.

If you haven’t been on LinkedIn for awhile or feel you have to spend a lot of time there to make it worth your while – think again!

finding purpose

Finding Purpose through Podcasting: How New Meaning was Revealed through a Sportz show with Cole Johnson (AoL 098)

/by

People find their purpose, or as I like to call it – mission, through various ways.

As we’ve heard, some people find that purpose early on in life. Many of those have the help of mentors to find that.

For others, life becomes the mentor and eventually you realize that there has got to be something else.

For Cole Johnson, today’s guest, he realized that he wanted to be a creative later in life. In fact, it wasn’t until his wife started bringing out the creative in him that he decided he needed to have a way to get his voice out there.

And talk about a voice! He knew he could sing – but have a voice for the radio? He didn’t think it was possible.

Today, Cole finds himself at the helm of two podcasts. His original Cole Sportz and his soon to be released Revelations.

In our chat today, we learn how he got here, how Cole Sportz got started, and some tips for beginner podcasters.

Thanks for listening, and enjoy the show!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What was Cole’s time in the military like? 11:39
  • How did he get into media? 15:08
  • When did Cole know it was time to do his own thing? 21:50
  • How does it work when you have two creatives married to each other? 25:44
  • What are some of the struggles that Cole has gone through getting his show off the ground? 28:54
  • What’s Cole Sportz experience like and has he been able to leverage living in Nashville? 33:20
  • What are some of things that really grinds Cole’s gears with new podcasters? 45:38
  • What’s he looking forward to working on in the not-to distant future? 1:00:47
  • What are three influencers that have launched him to where he’s at today? 1:06:56
  • What’s an issue that people aren’t talking about enough today? 1:09:38
  • What is something he believed as a 30 year old and now doesn’t? 1:16:17
  • What’s it mean to lhave a life of abundance? 1:19:34
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

THE GAP by Ira Glass (from Daniel Sax):

Drew, Cole, and CJ on The Haver

Cole Johnson on Kwame’s Show:

Check Your Ego at the Door with Scott and Cole:

finding purpose

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!