The Rich Sage Now on WikipediaToday I created an informative page on Wikipedia for Make Money Online to illustrate to readers the importance of using common sense when making money online.

The problem with Entrepreneurs who want to make money online is that they jump at many affiliate programs that simply do not work due to a few key problems.

Those problems are:

• Time to manage the work.
• Traffic
• Programs that are hard to promote
• Programs that earn far less than what is spent advertising

To help resolve many of these issues, I’ve created the free lessons to help people learn how to earn online.

Time to Manage the Work:

The system that’s setup to manage the affiliate program makes management of the promotions as easy as “cut and paste”.  The affiliate enters the back office area and get the setup information for their websites and blogs.

Traffic:

This is the number one reason the online businesses fail to make money.  What the solution?  Using our own tools and my lessons to build the traffic. 

Lastly, most traffic is generated by searches and brands.  Not every individual can build a brand. Nor can they promote it effectively. That is what the Rich Sage does –Build the brands. All you need to do is promote on your own site the products that you feel comfortable with.

Wrapping up Making Money Online Success:

Making money online is easy when you know what to promote, how to promote it and know how to build the traffic. 

I’ll keep expanding that theme in my lessons and the Wikipedia page.  Part of that work was to let users of Wikipedia know that the Rich Sage is there providing lessons.  With this post all the search engines will know that too.

Rich Sage

Earning $2,000+ per Month Online is NOT an Easy Task

I know. I’ve done it mostly working on off-line projects.  However, millions are out there trying to do it.  In fact, considering $2,000 per month is a Western goal, there are more and more Internet Marketers out of Asia and South America that will settle for much less. Still everyone is after the magic number, but few will get there.

Then the question is WHAT CAN ONE DO to EARN a significant amount of money on the Internet?  There are just a few “things” that can be done on a consistant basis to earn ‘real money’ online and based on that I am launching the lessons and offering a one-of-a-kind LAUNCH LESSON to just 50 Students.

THE PLAN

Beccome a Rich Sage Student Start Up Special and I’ll help you get to the above magic earning’s number. 

How will I do it?  Well, the Rich Sage Brand is GROWING VERY FAST.  I am going to reach my 1,000+ per day visitor this quartor.  I am sure I’ll meet my goal of reaching 2,500+ visitors in the Spring of 2008.  That traffic is used to build a network marketing business that I’ve founded.

The whole network marketing program is FREE to JOIN.  There is nothing to purchase.  However, one sale needs to be made to earn commissions.  In addition to that, all the work can be done online.

WHAT are the PRODUCTS?

Memberships:  The network will enable anyone to sell memberships through it.  Every membership will pay commissions to the seller.  The company is essentially a Membership ASP.

Online Tools:  Again, these are traffic building tools in a membership.  Once again, every sale of a tool will earn commissions.  We’ll keep adding more and more tools.

In my case, as the Rich Sage, my objective is NOT to monopolize all the earnings in this program.  My objective is to find as many users, affiliates and generate as much traffic to the network as possible.

That means about 50% of the commissions that are paid out to Affiliates will be earned by someone.  I might as well make that ”SOMEONE” a student of mine (only these early students will get that benefit), who will trust me to give them lessons.  Following that, the benefit to other students is that my brand, and the brands of the network will keep growing and earn more and more for the Affiliates.

That is what I am doing via this campaign –finding 50 Students who I’ll work with in the coming year, and help build their success.

Rich Sage 

American Monetary Policy by Ron Paul, US Representative & 2008 Presidential Candidate

While getting my reading and research started today, I played the below video on YouTube.  I don’t have time to watch things, but I can listen while working.  The discussion is about money.  This is a topic I’ve followed for over 20 years, because I realized when I was in high school that trends are what changes the world. I knew back then that when my parents retired, they’d be faced with what many will face starting January 2008.  Following the first of the year, a cycle of dependency starts.  There are all the gifts that have been promised to working people with very little regard to how they were going to pay for it.

Once I described the US social security system as the biggest PONZI SCHEME to ever be run in a marketing forum and I was laughed at.  Then I understood that very few people really knew what was going on and most other didn’t really care until the “house of cards” fell apart.

When social security was started, there were around 31 people working for every person who received benefits.  Now that ratio is about 3 workers for every beneficiary.  Since many people have two jobs to make ends meet, that ratios might be 2 to 1.

All this is coming to light because of one man now, and I am voting him the RICH SAGE PERSON of the YEAR for 2008.  His name is Ron Paul, MD (retired) from the State of Texas.  I’ve put up the below series of videos because I think every American’s second most important obligation is to know what is really happening with policy in Washington DC.  The first obligation is to vote.  Anyway, watch this video and learn from it because it’s worth a 1,000 times more than any half-hour sitcom you’ll ever watch.

Rich Sage

Ron Paul discussing US Monetary Policy: What *every* American needs to learn from…

  

PS: After you watch this, ask yourself — Will Mitt or Rudy discuss a monetary policy like this? My comment is not meant to be hilarious either, but I’ll leave it to you to be the judge.

Rich Sage Fundraiser

This year’s been full of sorrow for the Rich Sage.  And this week I decided that I could not dwell further and had to do something.  Nothing is going to change or get better by me just doing nothing about it and just wasting my days.

I decided to become pro-active, and turned to one place where I’d find the people who might help me.  I’ve been a Warrior at the Warrior Forum (http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/ for just about 10 months, but I’ve posted a lot to help people and keep my sanity.

Today I went there to work on a RICH SAGE FUNDRAISER with the objective to make a sizeable donation to a charity that I’ve read good things about for many years. 

Can I give away your products? (Fundraiser)

MY IDEA & WHAT I HOPE to ACCOMPLISH
What I would like to organize is a FUNDRAISER/TRIBUTE to my son I lost in the spring of this year.  I’ll take the proceeds from the fundraiser here and build it via an Affiliate Account for one charity I have in mind. It’s called Operation Smile (http://www.operationsmile.org/).  At the same time I’ll create a package that will be “given to all the participants for free”… So, let me describe more specifically what I hope to accomplish.

FIRST ITEM:
I have an Affiliate program launching in mid-November.  I’ll donate 25 Rich Sage SEO websites to help a few select affiliates build commissions in the multi-tier affiliate program.  I had a total of 50 websites, but I’ll sold many to people I know and even a few of my neighbors.  Once setup, there are no products to buy. All the products and services that are sold are online.  The package details are here:

http://www.therichsage.com/rich_sage_lessons.html

SECOND ITEM:
Anyone who donates a product (once accepted) or service will get an ADVERTORIAL that I’ll endorse after checking your product/web site/ service and publish it in one of the many sites that I manage.  The advertorial will last forever on my blog site.

LASTLY, the THIRD ITEM:
I’ll take your donations and sell them to build the affiliate commissions for charity.  The entire effort will be documented on my blog.  In several places I’ll discuss your donation as well, as part of #2, above.  The final donation will be very large, and may take up to 1 year to get it all together. 

So, I would like to ask that anyone willing to donate a product for this fundraiser, to contact me with the product details. I will make sure that you receive full credit on the sales page and anywhere else I promote it.

I’ll need to know the:
1. Product name
2. A brief description
3. Link to a sales page (if you have one) and a link to the download page. Or if this is a digital product, I can setup DL Guard to manage the downloads and protect your content or product.

Anyway, I hope that I can work with you and help you out as much as you’d be helping me to get this project accomplished.

Take care,
Sam,
The Rich Sage

Top Traffic Building Methods and Processes

The Rich Sage traffic is growing very well.  My goal was to be in the thousands of visitors by the end of the year and I am nearly there.  Certainly, the “trend is my friend”.

I’ll keeping working on the below ideas to build the next major step in traffic, which I feel is around 2,500 visitors per day, which I hope to reach by the Spring of 2008.

So, what are the top traffic generating methods that are at mydisposal and why are they listed in the order that I have?  That’s todays’ topic.

#14 — RSS Feed Traffic 

RSS Feeds are not that effective for traffic generation, as they are only read by a small group of readers who are early implementors of feeds.  I’ve kept the RSS channels open by utilizing Wordpress and Feedburner  – a ‘bit of a setup and forget’ deployment that took just a few minutes.  Getting a few visitors through this method is fine since I don’t have to spend any time on the setup day to day.
#13 — Press Releases

This is a consistent way to build traffic, and one that is very effective when a professional services is used.  The best one out there is PRWeb that charges a few dollars to send a corporate type of press release.  The effectiveness of the process is that PRWeb publishing reaches Google the same day.  Google search engine traffic starts very quickly and can be significant with a well written press release as it will be listed most often on page one.  You may not like to pay for such a service, but, do some traffic tracking and you’ll see that it’s generating the highest ROI for your ad budget.
#12 — Link Exchange

Link exchanges are great to build traffic.  I’ve taken on the task myself by exchanging articles, advertorials and just plain links.  I’ve also utilized this process via biig.com, the BiiG Directory, which I am using to present links.  Since it’s a 10-year-old domain that has it’s own IP address, the setup is perfect to publish articles that are internally linked via key words.

The only negative I’d suggest that anyone avoid is to build links too quickly.  This will actually hurt.
#11 — Opt-In Email List Building

Maintaining an opt in list is as close as one can get to minting money online, given a few vital issues –First of all it has to be a list that you’ve built or have subscribed for months.  That’s the only way to make sure that it really goes out.  If the ad rates are high, just use a Hotmail or Yahoo address first see where the list usually ends up in your INBOX and not out of it.  So, you have the quality issue under control. 

For those who are new to Internet Marketing don’t just at offers to sell a list or try a mass email to millions –your site will get banned or and your business will get off to a very bad start. Just don’t do it.
#10 — Solo Ads in Opt-In Lists 

Solor ads are effective in ezines, however, you’ll have to stick to just that.  Having more than one ad in a newsletter for example will result in fewer and fewer traffic from it.  If the email has a co-op type of setup -around 10 ads, forget it. 

Once again, make sure the mailer is reputable or subscribe yourself first, as I directed above.

One last tip — send the message to your Yahoo, Hotmail and Google addresses and see where it ends up.
#9 – OFFLINE: Newsprint, Magazines, etc.

I’ve found out that these are great for making sales of high-ticket items.  They are not good at all for small-ticket, online sales products and services.

These types of ads do work for some products.  If you are wondering which, I suggest this –scan through the ads that run all the time.  Get an old issue and look through it.  Advertisers who are there month after month, year after year, selling the same thing do so because it works.
#8 – Joint Venture

This is very effective and often free to work with.  However, you’ll need to prove to your joint venture partner that what you’ll promote can sell, so make sure that you have some sales and conversion results before you work on finding your JV partner.
#7 — Blogging

Well, this is my turf.  Does it work? You bet!  Search engines and surfers like to stumble upon something that they can learn from and/or get the latest information that they are looking for to resolve a problem.

The Rich Sage will keep moving along and building the monetizing effort –The blog is the leading effort for that traffic building.
#6 — Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is highly effective, but something that you should not count on.  If it happens, fine.  However, building a business plain or a marketing plan around it is not advised.  I’ve tried out the idea with an essay on the “Comparison between the Gold Rush vs. Internet Frenzy“.

Usually, the things that work in viral marketing are the unusual, controversial, funny and many once-in-a-lifetime moments that are just gifts. If you have one by all means use it.  Or write about it. But don’t count on it. 
#5 — Pay Per Click

This one is an obvious.  I plan to increase my PPC budget to around $500.00 or perhaps, a bit more to spread things around to the top three engines.  This is called giving a bit back.  Since all that free traffic is referred by the search engines, I’ll spend a bit of money to ‘give them some back’ and of course, get some traffic out of it.  I always thought a search engine or two would help it’s own advertisers. I have no proof of this, but I just suspect it.
#4 — Social Networks

This is a new one, but it is one that will take a long time to post on most of the social sites.  I think that banner advertising on such sites is much more effective.  And with that thought, I’ll let you in on this secret: Often when you click a link called Advertise Here on an ad, and buy a banner impression just for that location, that is the most effective way to reach that ad space. 

It will also cut your costs by 50% to even as high as 80%.  But, remember, what you save will be lost by the webmaster of that site. That may mean that they will end your party sooner than later.  But, it’s worth a try.
#3 — Forums

This is a big one… Forums are a great place for traffic that’s in your niche.  I know. I post at the Warrior Forum, where a lot of Internet Marketers hang out.  As busy as I am, that’s the only place I help people and post.  In your case, find few forums in your niche and help as much as you can.  With good advice, you’ll have a lot of people turning to you for solutions. 
#2 — Article Marketing

This I consider more important thansearch engines, as SEO is not something that everyone can do. However, article writing can be done by everyone.  And there’s even software out there that will have you ‘crank out’ 5 or 10 articles in an hour or two.

Generally, articles generate highly-targetted traffic from searches.  Make sure that you use a ‘traffic tracking’ software program to monitor where the visitors are coming from and what they search to find you.  You can learn about what search term they used to find your web site.
#1 — Search Engine Optimization

Many of the items in this list generate traffic, but the actual visitor will find you via a search engine.  That makes the search engine and optimization to get the best ranking the most important traffic building method. Period.  In my case, I leave the SEO to Wordpress.  Optimization is a full-time job in many cases, and I just don’t have the time with so many sites. 

I have done the following to get the best results:

• Wordpress, with some key plugins.
• I’ve got the Rich Sage running on a dedicated server box
• With it’s own IP address and everything from the title to the topics and categories are selected to aide the search engine optimization process.
• I’ve extended the domains registration for a few years. This shows that I am committed about the domain.
• Lastly, I think I provide great content.  Content is King, and posting regularly, with what readers need help on is what will ‘create a following’.

That’s my list!  Do a little bit of that on a daily basis, and all the work ads up to a whole lot — A WHOLE LOT of TRAFFIC!

Success,
Rich Sage

Building Traffic with Articles & Article MINT

Today I spent a bit of time working on ArticleMINT — A web directory that has more and more articles posted by authors.  There several hundred categories and I’ve setup a page to point out the BiiG Directory.

Article MINT displays Google Ads to help monetize the site.  More importantly the articles are getting indexed in the search engines and resulting in traffic to the corresponding sites that are mentioned in the signature boxes.

My goal is to keep advertising the site on my signature line in a few forums that I participate in.  I have seen that people use the link to visit the site and put their articles.

To enhance the search engine results, I changed the title from Affiliate MINT to “FREE Article Directory by AffiliateMINT”.   Press this link to visit the Free Article Directory, ArticleMINT.

Rich Sage

Keep your thoughts positive

Because your thoughts
become your words

Keep your words positive

Because your words
become your actions

Keep your actions positive

Because your actions
become your habits

Keep your habits positive

Because your habits
become your values

Keep your values positive

Because your values
become your destiny

Mahatma Ghandi

MyOrigano Business Start-Up Help

I took some time today to read the blog of Dave Origano, who’s behind the Business Start-up blog, MyOrigano.com.

Dave has a lot of wise and downright useful insight into business start-up strategies, direct marketing, entrepreneurship and online marketing.  I found his advice helpful, even with the Sage’s deep and proven business philosophies and experiences.  One can always learn a thing or two!

Dave is also a business coach.  Using his vast experience building successful six and seven figure companies that he’s sold, he coaches new students.  His help extends from helping develop a business plan, to product development and online marketing.

I think the best way to learn about business is by “doing it” and getting the help that you’ll need from an experienced business coach.  Dave is your coach!

Rich Sage

Rich Sage Site Monetizing: How I am Making Money Online

Today my workday started reading the Investors Business Daily.  I’ve used their CAN SLIM method to work with stocks resulting in a very good third quarter.

My monetizing efforts are taking off on two ends:  First the Stock Site Membership –I’ve recruited several members, and my largest just came in with a $12,500 setup fee this month.  Of course, I had communicated with the individual for 2.5 years, but, the final effort was all about the work on this site.

Actually, now my work for the new Client begins –only by making him 100% happy with my management of his account will I be able to expand my operations.  Thus, my work at NEXT Super Stock is pivotal.  (REF: http://www.nextsuperstock.com)

On the other side of the coin is my effort to get 50 students going in my Rich Sage Lessons.  I will have those 50 by the end of the coming month.  I am not going to add up the numbers at this time –something I put off for about 3 months, before I talk about site revenue.  Anyway, that revenue is coming in, and more importantly, the revenue is increasing month after month!

The BRANDS are growing!

Then I moved on to reading… In my reading, I noticed these two paragraphs in the paper: Both quotes are from Investor’s Business Daily

“But if you missed out on those early opportunities, this isn’t the time to take desperate stabs at any old stock in an effort to catch up. Many of the market’s big winners are now well extended from proper buy points, making them vulnerable to quick shakeouts.”

I agree very much with the assertion.  I also want to note that in my model, the portfolio has several candidates that are JUST GETTING STARTED.   My objective all along is to find those “gems in the rough” that we can purchase now, before they go on to several or even 10 fold returns.

I disclosed earlier NTCT, which was my August stock pick for the NEXT Super Stock of the Month, which I picked with a buy point of $10.04.  It did that just a few weeks ago, and now it’s nearly 30% about the buy point.  My view is that NTCT will continue to keep up its growth and stock price movement. 

Would you like to know about such stock market movers and shakers?  Just subscribe to my mailing list.

The next passage that caught my eye in today’s issue of the Investors Business Daily is:

“Keep an eye on some of the biggest movers of the past few months. If a winning stock pulls back to form a base or hits a key support level, it could become an attractive buy candidate. ”

Well, the other candidates of the portfolio are doing just that.  They have pulled back to support lines or they have consolidated and are ready for a fresh start.

Rich Sage

Disclosure Note: Keep in mind the Rich Sage (SAM) is always a buyer/owner of the Stock of the Month.

Rich Sage Review of NEXT SuperStock (http://www.nextsuperstock.com)

Today the stock market gave up around 300 points when I took the below’snap’ at Yahoo Finance.  However, our strong-performing sector that consist of the dry-bulk carriers went down as much as a days gains from the past few days.  My picks which include DRYS, TBSI and EXM has rocketed in the past two months and took this occasion to take a breather.  I expect them to continue their surge as earning on all three companies are coming out in the coming week. 

I don’t plan to stick around until the full earnings days are done. For example DRYS repots right before Thanksgiving, and that’s too late to hold on to it.  By that time DRYS has done in 3 months what most investors expect in 3 years.  What more could you want?

All these thoughts take me back to when my trading model started this episode, towards the end of August.  When the Fed cut rates and gave the gift that they did, it started another run and I’ve taken advantage by seeking a strong growth portfolio of companies to work with.  I’d mention all the activities, but they are part of the work at http://www.nextsuperstock.com.  I have started working with several clients and my goal is to keep building their success, which leads to mine.

The objective at NEXT SuperStock is to maintain a general portfolio using the system that I’ve maintained for over 15 years.  AND to add the Stock of the Month feature where I announce a stock each month that I identify as a future portfolio candidate. 

I started that process in August when I identified NTCT and gave it a buy point.  It has since gone over 30% above that point.  I expect it to continue it’s climb for a long time to come.  I also identified two other stocks, but the announcement process is done in the following manner:  InncerCIRCLE first, then my NEXT SuperStock Stock of the Month Members (It’s Free) and then of course, about 3 months after the first two announcements, I’ll write about it on both sites.

At this point all the stocks are traded with no margin, and all the options on above stocks, mainly DRYS are sold.  Next is the exit point for all of the shipping sector, which I see happening in the coming 2 to 3 weeks.  The DRYS options had a 100% gain in just a few weeks, and was sold when it had an annual return of 1,200% –at that point I asked the question: What more do I want? 

I will be asking the same question for all the other stocks as they grow and trip some of my sell indicators. All this is part of my work at NEXT SuperStock, which is now gaining the momentum that will make my career in the coming years.

Sam,
Rich Sage