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By Titus Hoskins in Featured

automateTime is precious. We have so little time to get all the things done which we want to do in our hectic lives. This is especially true when it comes to running your own online business or site. I have been constantly looking for ways to automate my online sites and marketing for over 10 years.

In that time-frame, I have found some simple tools or systems which automate my workload in order to take some of the pressure off. These automated marketing tools are essential if you want to do less work and enjoy life more. So here are my top tools or programs to automate your online business and/or marketing:

1. Autoresponder - Without a doubt, this is one automation tool which you simply can’t do without. You must have an autoresponder to do all your follow-up emails and marketing. An autoresponder is simply what the name suggests, it will automatically respond to all communications from your site or business. These communications are crucial to your bottom line and for the success of your business.

An autoresponder is also essential for building your list of contacts. I use list building with all my sites and have follow-up emails loaded into these autoresponders to stay in contact with my subscribers. Currently I use aWeber but have also used other autoresponders in the past such as GetResponse. aWeber and GetResponse are the two main autoresponder services that I recommend you use. Remember, you can also buy autoresponder software and set it up on your site or server, but I like to leave this vital chore to professional third party sites like aWeber or GetResponse. These companies have years of experience sending emails and they also have robust software and tech staff to handle all and any situations which may arise.

2. Paypal – This is the popular online payment system which is owned by eBay. Paypal will automatically let you collect and pay all your cash transactions. It will accept payments from your business partners or affiliates and automatically deposit these funds into your account. Plus, you can make automatic payments to all the services and programs which you use to run your online business. I can’t believe how much I rely upon Paypal. All my hosting, advertising and marketing programs are all set up through PayPal which automatically pays these each month. Paypal also provides excellent records so that you can easily see where your money is coming from and where you’re spending it. Great for when tax time comes around.

3. Java Scripts – These are handy little scripts which update your web content automatically so that you don’t have to go into your hosting account and manually update your pages. These can be site wide updates like CSS Style Sheets where you can easily change or update all the pages of your site at once. Another example would be an XML sitemap which can automatically update as you add webpages. For me, I like using simple scripts which update the time and date on my sites… this makes your site look current and timely. I also use a simple script to automatically update the Copyright Notice each year, without me having to go in and update these manually ON EACH PAGE. Since I am into affiliate marketing, many merchants will supply product feeds and banners which automatically update without me having to change them myself.

4. Content Delivery – If you’re running an online business or site, you need a way to automatically distribute your content to anyone who wants it. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a quick and automatic way to get your content on the web. You should be using blogs and RSS feeds to distribute your content. Twitter is one popular offshoot of this type and you should be using it to quickly get your messages out. For me, article marketing is still vital to my overall success, so I use major online article directories like Ezinearticles and GoArticles. With some of these directories (with a paid membership) you can program your articles so that they can be timed for release. I also like using SubmitYourArticle which automatically submits all my articles for me when I want them published. This automates my article marketing and can be programed weeks, even months in advance and everything flows like clockwork.

5. Google Analytics – While the stats (in my opinion) are not entirely accurate, Google Analytics is a priceless program if you want to automate and track all your online endeavors. You simply place a simple code on your webpages and Google will automatically track all the vital data you need to see how well your site or marketing is performing. It also offers excellent ways in which you can adjust your content or marketing to increase your conversions. While it may take some time to setup some of these tests or metrics… once you have everything in place, it will automatically track and record all your site’s stats. Knowing what your visitors and customers do on your site is essential to your marketing. Such things as Bounce Rate, Time Spent on site, Number of Pageviews, Traffic Sources… can all
be collected automatically and presented to you.

While there are other ways to automate your site and marketing, these are the major ones which you should have in place if you want to save yourself some time and a few headaches. Put all of these in place and you will have plenty of time to devote for developing marketing strategies and/or enjoying your life, whichever comes first for you.

The author is a full time online affiliate marketer who operates numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing: internet marketing tools or try here ‘marketing tools Titus Hoskins Copyright. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

By Jim Daniels in Featured

success2So many people are struggling to succeed these days, they lose sight of what success really means.

Exactly what is the definition of success?

Well, the Merriam dictionary defines it as such:

Success: favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

A dreadfully incomplete definition in my opinion.

I like to think that success has very little to do with wealth, favor or eminence. Instead, it has everything to do with attaining your own personal goals.

Success should NEVER be measured through the eyes of others. Who cares what others think of you! All that really matters is that you achieve what you want to achieve in life.Sure, its easy to think of people as “a success” or “a failure.” It’s human nature to want to wrap everything up in a neat little package like that. But every life without wealth, favor or eminence is certainly not a failure.

So many people think of success on too big a level, their whole lives. And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming big, the fact is, many of them were successful all along and didn’t even know it.

That’s right. Too many people relate success with wealth, power, stardom, etc.

That’s a sure recipe for failure.

Here’s an example of success that many people never consider…

Let’s say when you neared adulthood your main goals were simply to find and keep a good job. That’s what you set out to achieve. Maybe a few years later you were in a job you didn’t exactly love, but it paid most of the bills.I’ve got news for you… you succeeded at what you set out to achieve. You should consider yourself a success.

Oh, you may not be as wealthy as some of your neighbors. You may not be famous or a celebrity. You may not even have a lot of friends. But you set a goal and accomplished it. That means you are a success. Even in the eyes of Merriam dictionary. (A favorable or desired outcome!) So now you may be asking… if that’s success, ow do people reach higher levels of financial and emotional wealth?

And I have an answer for you.

Now that we know success can be as simple as setting a basic goal and achieving it, let’s talk about something that takes people to NEW LEVELS of success. Specifically, what is the secret to reaching the highest levels of financial and emotional wealth? Well, believe it or not, the secret is simply…. Setting New Goals After Each Success!

You see, once you achieve even the most modest goal, you gain a bit of confidence. You may not feel it all the time, but it is in you, believe me.With this confidence, you become empowered to do more. Specifically, you can now set new goals and dreams.

And through your first experience with success, no matter how small or how large, you hopefully will have noticed the plan that was responsible. It probably went something like this….

1. Identify What You Want Next From Life

In order to succeed at something new, you need some idea of what you want to achieve. If you don’t know what you want your destination to be, how do you expect to get there? So, the first thing you need to do is decide what you want accomplish. All successful people have at least some idea what they want to achieve. Maybe it’s a better paying job.

Maybe it’s a business of your own. Or a loving relationship with a significant other. Or a household full of loving, caring children. These are all great successes that people attain in their lives.

2. Take Action

When thinking about your dreams and goals you must be motivated and excited by them. Then you must take action towards achieving them – regular action preferably on a daily basis. This is where most people fail. They talk about what they want, but never actually take the steps required to succeed at their goal. Taking action is what separates the successes from the failures. It can be as simple as making a list of things required to accomplish your goal and staying focused on this list. Then each day, taking another step towards achieving your success.

3. Do Not Give Up

There will inevitably be roadblocks that get in the way of your goals. You will sometimes feel that you are going backwards not forwards. But you must remain totally committed to your goals and never give up. If you stay focused and keep taking regular daily action in the direction of your dreams then you will ultimately continue to move towards achieving them. Keep your dreams – your target – in the forefront of your mind and your creative brain WILL provide solutions to any problems you face along the way.

4. Pat Yourself On The Back, Then Set Another New Goal

Life is about living, not accomplishing things then stopping. Whenever you achieve one of your goals, recognize it as a success, give yourself a pat on the back and then set a new goal. That’s right, go back to step one and start all over again. You can do this as often as you want! The most successful people in the world do it more than anyone.

Just imagine how many times famous people like Thomas Edison set new goals!

In closing…

A lot of people fail to live the life that they desire.

Some fail to plan properly, some give up after a few setbacks, and some stop making new goals along the way. If you want to be happy and successful on your own terms, try using those steps above and you’re practically guaranteed to succeed – over and over and over.

Remember, everyone who has ever achieved success in their lives is really no different from you. They are just ordinary human beings. But they are ordinary human beings who took the time to work out what it was they wanted from life and then took regular, consistent action to get it.

Are you going to join them?

Jim’s been making his living online for more than 15 years, maybe he can help you do the same. Visit Jim at www.bizweb2000.com and get all the info you need on making a living online.

By David C in Featured

domainsWhy register a .org domain name? Why not? If you have been considering registering a domain name, then a .org domain is an excellent choice.

.org domains build instant trust and credibility with your site visitors as they see that you are not just interested in making money but are committed to making this world a better place. They are identical to other domain names in most other aspects but with the added value of perceived confidence by your visitors.

.org domains are one of the original top level domains. This means that they were one of the first options in choosing a domain name. This means that the .org domain name extension is well recognized and sites with that extension are frequently seen as authority sites. Because they are so well recognized they are frequently used as a choice alternative to the popular but highly competitive.com domain extension.

.org is the abbreviated form of organization. This makes perfect sense as they were formerly used exclusively for non profit and charitable organizations. This makes them perfect for sports teams, children’s clubs, religious and community organizations, environmental and other green groups. If you want a community site for your school or alumni association, health club or cultural institution, then a .org domain name will be your best option and will set your organizational website apart in a class by itself.

Anyone can now register a .org domain. You do not have to submit any documentation or any proof that you are a non profit or otherwise. The process for registering a .org domain is simple and hassle free. Commercial businesses can also register for.org domains. This will build trust for any charitable organization associated with your business.

It can also help to ensure that your brand and trademark associated with your business name is well protected by registering across this and other top level domain names.

So if you have been considering registering a domain name, then a .org domain is the way ahead. It grants your website instant credibility, is a highly popular and recognizable domain name extension. It is perfect for running your charitable or community organization and is a great alternative to the popular .com domain names. There are no additional requirements or documentation required to register a .org domain and it gives you an opportunity to be a voice of change in the world. So, go ahead and register a .org domain for your personal use, your business use or for your school, organization or charity.

To get FREE tips and advice on how to register and choose the best domain name for your business or organization, visit www.domaindiving.info.

To get started immediately, and register register your .org domain hurry over to one of the leaders in Domain Registration, www.domaindiving.com and secure your place online at a low price, gaining the credibility and trust of your visitors.

By Enzo F. Cesario in Featured

oopsTake a look at this image.

This advertisement is something of an Internet legend at this point. Now, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that Intel isn’t actually racist. But just look at the image and try to imagine it in any other context. There is very little else that six black gentlemen bowing to a white person can evoke in most peoples’ minds. There is the obvious connection to speed, but even a single image of the sprinter – after all, the same guy has been Photoshopped in six times – would have been fine, especially by itself. Instead, the obvious athleticism of the “sprinters” works against the picture, because it’s six very strong and muscular looking men doing homage to a nerdy office type.

The thing is, this should have been painfully obvious. It certainly was to consumers. The moment this thing was shown, the backlash was incredible. It actually prompted Intel to pull the ad and apologize for the obvious blunder. The public figured it out, the Internet still laughs about it and, all in all, the whole thing raises the question of just what in the world happened. It’s pretty clear that either Intel didn’t do a focus group test, or that their focus group is just as insulated from the real world as the people who came up with the ad in general.

Advertising isn’t the only part of branding, of course, but this incident in particular brings up an issue that is important to all branding efforts. Specifically, it involves getting away from the idea of marketing, and getting to know your market.

By Suzi Ziegler in Featured

404errorsA “Page not found” message – also called a 404 error message – is the standard response from a web server when it can’t find a requested URL, or web address.

Imagine driving across town to visit a business and finding a “Closed” sign on the door during open hours. A 404 message is like that “Closed” sign – it says your site isn’t open for business. If you’re trying to do business on the web, you want to make sure your site can be easily found, around the clock.

The web is like a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week mall. People expect websites to be available all the time. When someone clicks a link to your website and gets a “Page not found” error, they’ll likely regard your website as broken, or nonexistent. If they’re really motivated, they might try to find your website by other means. If they aren’t strongly motivated, they won’t.

Why Do 404 Errors Occur?

Anyone can receive a 404 message if they’re trying to get to your site by clicking on a broken link. This is the most common cause of 404 errors.

A link can become broken for a number of reasons. People often rewrite web page URLs when they’re redesigning their site, or they may try to enhance search engine optimization (SEO) by including keywords in the URLs.

When a URL gets rewritten, any link to that page using the old URL is instantly broken. It can’t take someone to the page anymore.

How to Avoid 404 Errors

Help would-be visitors to your site avoid the dreaded “Page not found” error by following these tips:

  • Submit new pages to search engines immediately.
  1. Submit to Google
  2. Submit to Bing
  • Read Link Juice: Save Every Drop for tips on making sure links to old pages are changed to point to the new pages. The article includes a list of tools for locating your old links, both on your own site and around the web.
  • If you’ve changed the URL for a page on your website, redirect visitors to the new page from the old one, using a 301 redirect.
  • You can also redirect people manually. You can revise the web page at an old URL, inviting people to visit your new page. Make sure you include a link to the new page. It’s also good to offer your contact information if you think people may be confused and may need to communicate with you directly. It’s a good way to build trust with your site visitors.
  • You can check with your web hosting company to see if it offers a 404 redirect. When a user enters the URL for an old page, your web hosting company can redirect a visitor to a page you specify, instead of returning a 404 error.
  • Stay organized by recording changes to your site. Then you can go back and fix links when you’re done.

Mistypes and 404 Errors

People can get a 404 error if they mistype your website’s domain name in the navigation bar of their web browser.

You can’t account for every possible mistyping of your domain name. But if your domain name is easy to mistype or misspell, you can purchase these commonly mistyped domain names. Then create a 301 redirect from each of the mistypes back to your website. It’s a good way to capture website visitors who might otherwise go astray.

Check out how your home page looks to search engines and people with the free Home Page Analysis. Want a deeper look at all your site’s pages? Try an AboutUs Site Report.

This article was contributed by Suzi Ziegler of AboutUs.org (visit). Suzi shares her love of words with AboutUs.org as a writer and editor. Have a question for Ms. Ziegler? Contact her here…

By Tom McSherry in Featured

copywritingI’ve written a lot of SEO content, both for my own websites and those of my clients. I’m a professional. This article will explain some of the key elements and subtleties that set apart SEO content that’s “just okay” from the really good stuff – the stuff that generates sales and new clients.

About Keywords

If you’re just getting started with online business you may be under the false impression that SEO writing is all about keywords. Keywords are a necessary part of SEO content writing, but they aren’t the whole thing.

You need to optimize your keywords to get the best results at the search engines, but keyword optimization alone can’t ensure your site will get traffic or make sales.

You should aim to focus each page on one specific keyword. A few secondary keywords are fine, but each page should focus on one
keyword phrase.

That phrase should appear in all the essential elements of the page: Title tag, Description tag, Keyword tag, body copy, and the anchor text of at least one link out from the page (to another page on your site). Keyword density is not as huge a deal as you probably think, but try to stay within the 2-3% range to be safe.

Relationship Building

Now that we’ve touched on some of the absolute basics, let’s get into what really makes good web copy. You can pay $1 per page to an article writer with broken English who understands keyword placement and think you’ve made a great investment, but you won’t end up making a dime. Why?

Because that writing is for search engines, not humans. When was the last time you heard of a Net entrepreneur who got rich selling stuff to a search engine algorithm?

Your copy must strike a chord with human readers if you want to make money – end of story. In order to do that, your website writing must build a relationship with readers. This is done through several principles and techniques.

For instance, your website should establish your credibility as an expert. The tone of the writing should imply that you know what you’re talking about – you’re up to date on all the latest info. What’s more, it should present that information in the right way. It should be friendly and easy to read.

It should be simple, in the sense that it shouldn’t be any more complex than it needs to be to get a point across, but you should never insult your audience’s intelligence. Know your audience and your market, and write in a way that suits.

Write Like You Talk

This is one of the major tips that’ll make your writing smoother and more natural. Many of us learn our formal writing skills from high school or college.

Unfortunately, in terms of writing for the Net, everything you learned about writing in school is pretty much wrong. School tends to teach you to write in a way that makes you sound like you’re “trying too hard to sound smart” by using stilted sentence structures and big words.

Get rid of that stuff. Write your web copy the way you’d talk to a friend. Imagine yourself explaining the information on your site to a curious acquaintance, then write that down. This hits all the right notes: you’ll sound authoritative and trustworthy, you’ll be polite and friendly, and you won’t be putting on airs by using unnatural language.

This is all based on a very simple sales principle: People prefer to buy from someone they like. Make sure you’re likeable, via your website.

Tom McSherry is a freelance copywriter and founder of Premium Online Writing. Tom was tired of seeing the Internet swamped with low-quality, disposable content created by low-budget freelance writers, so he created a service which aims to provide a one-stop-shop for business owners for all their online writing needs. This includes online sales copywriting and a comprehensive, high quality SEO content writer service.

By Rick Brye in Featured

emailmktg2An email marketing campaign is one of the top ways to sell products online. Of course, this requires that you have a list of opt-in subscribers. With this list and the tools available today it is very easy to broadcast emails to your list or select parts of it.

But, just like you need to get visitors to your website to stay for more than a few seconds, you need to get your email recipients to open and read your email. How do you do that? Part of the solution is to have an outstanding subject line.

Think of all the emails that you receive on a daily basis. How many do you delete without opening just based on the subject line? I know I probably delete at least 50% without even opening. This is because I have little interest in the subject line.

Your email needs to stand out from the other emails in your subscribers inbox to get them to read it. It’s the subject line that determines if your message gets trashed or opened. So what can you do to make a subject line compel the recipient to open the email? Well, there are a few things.

First, your marketing email’s subject line should be under 50 characters and describe the contents of the email – to a point. You need to give the reader just enough information to make them want to open the email.

For example, today I received an email with the following subject line; “Be Careful: Coupon Codes Can Be Misleading” First off, this is 43 characters counting the spaces. Second, it is giving me a warning about coupon codes.

Now I am not a big coupon user, but I do use promotional codes on occasion when buying online. So this piqued my interest enough to open the email and read further. It gave me enough information to let me know I wanted more.

I also received an email today with this subject line; “Best Way To Use Ebooks” This subject line did not grab my interest at all and I did not open it. It is under 50 characters and even though I do use ebooks in my marketing strategy, I felt I already knew what it was going
to be about, giving away ebooks as free gifts to build your list or as bonuses when you sell a product.

Second, you need to also make sure that you do not try to sell or promote anything in your subject line. Most people are not interested in spending money and, if your subject line is trying to sell them, it will scare them away.

As stated before, your subject line needs to let them know they will learn something of interest by opening the email. Once they have opened your email you need to supply them, as promised in the subject line, with some useful information.

Third you need to have a little sizzle. Even though you are not trying to sell them anything in the subject line, you are trying to sell them to open the email. You need to make it somewhat exciting.

Let’s take the email Ebook example from above. If the subject line would have said something like; “How to Use Ebooks to Increase Profits”, I may have opened it. Why? Because it is actually suggesting that I may learn something to help me increase my profit and in my eyes,
profits are king!

Fourth, you should try to personalize the email. When you are building your list it is important to collect at least first names. When the recipient receives the email and sees that it is coming to “Rick” instead of just my email address, it feels much more personal and I am more likely to give it a look.

Finally, become a trusted source of information. You have worked hard on building your list. It is imperative that you work hard to maintain your list. It is much easier to retain someone on your list than it is to get a new person to opt-in.

You need to be sending helpful information to your list on a regular basis. Even though this is email marketing, you should not try to make the sale in the email. Give them much useful information and a live link or two to the sales page. If they are interested, they will go have a look.

Also do not mail them every day. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I will opt into a list and then receive an email everyday from the owner. It takes me about one week to opt-out.

In my opinion, I think once a week is ideal. It keeps your name in front of everyone on your list, but they will not feel like you are bombarding them with emails.

The more you gain their trust and respect, the more likely they will open your emails and read them. You will then have many successful email marketing campaigns!

Email marketing is an outstanding online marketing strategy and is just one of many techniques, tools and strategies that you will find at WebBiz Rants to help you build a successful online marketing business. Learn more and pick up your free gifts at => http://www.webbizrants.com

By Leslie Truex in Featured

business1Starting a home business allows you to design a career you love to fit a lifestyle that suits your family. But it is not without its challenges. Failure to plan and learn the activities required to build a profitable business can hinder your success. Here are five mistakes many budding home-based entrepreneurs make and how you can avoid them.

1. Not running the numbers.Many people believe that their home business needs to earn the same amount they earned at their job. This is not necessarily true. Working at home can come with many cost savings that can result in your need to earn less. On the other hand, running a business has expenses. Budgeting and accounting can be boring, but if you don’t know exactly what you need to live on and how much it will cost to run your business, you could end up in financial trouble. Start by determining the money you need to survive. Calculate the expenses you foresee in running your business and add any additional profit you hope to earn. Then add 10% more just to be safe. Finally, track your home and business expenses regularly so you can determine your actual costs.

2. Not charging enough for your time.Whether you have a service or product based business, you need to make sure that you charge enough to cover your expenses and the value of your time. In an effort to enter the marketplace, many new business owners undercut their prices. The problem with this is that if you undervalue your work and your customers will too. Further, with lower prices, you may not be charging enough to maintain your business. To price properly you need to take into consideration the amount of time needed to deliver your service or create your product, and your overhead expenses. If you charge $100 for a service that takes you 5 hours to deliver, it seems like you are earning $20 an hour. But that $20 an hour needs to pay for your business expenses such as Internet connection, materials, advertising and other costs associated with doing business.

3. Working without a contract.Always develop a contract for service-based businesses and terms of service for product-based business to protect you and your customer. These not only help ensure you are paid and avoid legal hassles, but it ensures that everyone is on the same page about what you provide and at what cost. A service contract should define the scope of your work, a deadline for delivery, payment information (i.e. deposits and rates) and recourse for your client if he is not satisfied such as additional edits or refund. In a product oriented business, have a terms of service that outlines product warranties and refund options.

4. Not maintaining a professional attitude or image. The customer isn’t always right, but he should always be treated with respect. On more than one occasion, I’ve had people request a refund — sometimes using harsh language — on products I don’t sell. I get annoyed and want to express that annoyance. But I am in business and I know that one bad customer encounter can do more damage than ten good ones. So I am always respectful and helpful. You should be too. A professional image is not just how you treat people, but how you are seen in the world. Before doing business with you, a potential client might do a search on your name. If he finds party pictures from Cancun on Facebook, he might think twice about hiring you. Separate your personal and professional online profiles by making your personal ones private for your friends only. You can share personal information on your business profiles, but avoid anything that might offend potential clients and customers.

5. Not marketing.Without marketing, you don’t have a business. Period. The money comes from the marketing. Start by identifying your target market and the triggers that will cause them to buy. A trigger isn’t how great you or your business is, but how you or your business will make your customer’s life better. Next, determine where your target market hangs out and create marketing materials to put in front of them. Develop a marketing plan that involves doing at least one marketing task, if not more, every day.

Leslie Truex is the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible. She has been telecommuting and running home businesses for over 15 years and helping others to work at home since 1998. She conducts Work-At-Home Success University that includes courses in finding a work-at-home job. Learn more plus get work-at-home jobs, money-making tips and other resources for free at www.WorkAtHomeSuccess.com.

By Nick Stamoulis in Featured

kingIn the world of SEO and Internet marketing, content is the reigning king. Content comes in many forms – blogs, videos, articles, white papers, posts on social networking sites and more. It doesn’t matter what kind of content your company is producing, as long as it is relevant, engaging and quality. Indeed, the Google Panda Update showed us that producing content that is anything less has the potential to negatively impact your website, aside from not providing any real benefit in the first place for you or your readers.

However, companies shouldn’t just be focusing on the content they create that gets published offsite; they also need to focus just as much, if not more, on the content that fills their own pages.

All the SEO efforts in the world aren’t going to provide any real advantage for a website if the site doesn’t help itself. This means the site needs to be well-optimized, have a solid structure and contain content that provides real benefit to the readers and that helps convert traffic to leads or sales. Visitors to a site that hasn’t taken the time to do these things often feel like they’ve been tricked into coming to the site. The link that got them there promised relevant information and instead they get a lot of generic, boring content. While having a large amount of traffic being directed to your site is great, seeing them go as fast as they arrived means something is wrong. Your site isn’t measuring up and your page content is the most likely culprit.

By Debralee in Featured

I must admit that I have been fascinated, if not confused by Charlie Sheen’s behavior of late, but short of seeing him in action myself I’ve posted a review and comments by someone I admire and respect in the Internet Marketing – Social Media sphere. David’s review is one of the best I’ve seen yet on any media. Let me know what you think!

Charlie Sheen and his stage

I caught the Charlie Sheen Violent Torpedo of Truth show last night in Boston. I was eager to check him out live because I have been fascinated with how he has used social media. I wrote about his amazing use of content (videos & Twitter) and how he has mainstream media talking about him: Why Charlie Sheen matters

charliesheen

Sheen in Boston

I watched his show as a professional speaker. I’m someone who knows what it’s like to be given a stage for an hour or more. I know the feeling of walking out in front of more than 1,000 people.

It is an incredible gift to be given a stage. People take time out of their day to hear what you have to say (and sometimes pay money too). The gift of an audience should never be taken lightly.

Once you’re given a stage, you need to deliver. It is not easy.

I see a lot of bad presentations on the speaking circuit. Bestselling authors who think they deserve the stage and do not craft a speech. CEOs who talk incessantly about their company’s stupid products. An Olympian who thinks showing a few video clips from the race is enough.

What would Charlie Sheen do with his stage?

Sheen could have gone the standup comedy route but he did not.

Sheen could have gone the professional speaker route and delivered a well-crafted speech with a story arc while providing his audience with motivation to act. But he did not.

Sheen sort of hosted a variety show. It sort of worked in places. In others it fell flat.

It worked best when Charlie Sheen was being Charlie Sheen.

He led off by coming out from the back of the room boxer style, with security around him. The entire audience was on its feet. This was a good opener.

He delivered his now famous one-liners often, throwing “Winning” “Tiger Blood” and “Trolls” around a lot. This was good because it got the audience on his side. Give ‘em what they want.

Early on, he turned his TelePrompTer around so we could see it. (It displayed “How do you like Boston?”) He then went on a mini-rant about how “These TelePrompTers are the electronic tools of trolls.” I thought that was hysterical.

“How do you guys feel to be on the drug called Charlie Sheen – Now you know what I feel like! I’m like this all the time!” This line got a cheer.

He lost much of the audience when he spent about 20 minutes hosting a “contest” to find “the third goddess” to add to his harem. A dozen women were invited up on stage (I think at least three were plants). Each had a short moment with the man himself as he asked why she should be goddess number 3. The audience voted by cheering who was the best.

The intermission was fascinating. His YouTube video Charlie Sheen: The Unedited Version played on the big screen. It was kinda cool actually – the virtual Charlie Sheen in the form of his own YouTube video serving as entertainment during the intermission to his live show. Fortunately the video and the intermission were short.

The second half dragged because Sheen took a series of inane questions from the audience. As any professional speaker knows, when you open it up for questions, people can say anything.

Rather than “dealing with the question” as a politician would and just riffing in any way he wants, he actually tried to answer the dumb questions.

I did like how he took a photo of the audience and had a helper tweet it out live. Nice.

Bottom Line:

As a standup artist, Charlie Sheen stinks.

As a motivational speaker, Charlie Sheen stinks even more.

As the host of a variety show, Charlie sheen is terrible.

But Charlie Sheen is damned good at being Charlie Sheen and that’s what I paid for so I was satisfied. I’m glad I went.

I’m convinced that Sheen is enjoying himself immensely during this process. He has the media hanging on his every word and millions of supporters. So who is #Winning?

Boston show tweet
charlietweeting

Posted by David Meerman Scott on April 13, 2011 Web Ink Now: Charlie Sheen and his stage

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