But take a look at this chart I took a few moments ago:

The chart above is a one-year graph showing my search engine referrals from Google.

Now before October 13th, all was great. As you see, the graph was steadily marching higher and higher – gradually. I like that…

… But then out of nowhere Google slapped me (for the first time ever). And for the last month or so, traffic averaged about 30% normal levels. (The good news is it's rising back to normal levels).

A lot of my subscribers are upset about this…

… But for me, it really doesn't matter much, because I get my traffic from a wide VARIETY of sources. I actually get my biggest competitors sending me free internet traffic. Yep, it's true… and I have a guy half my age across the pond in the UK who showed me how to do it.

I featured him back in February. Here's what I said about him earlier this year in my email alert to my subscribers:

Does this guru suck?

If you've subscribed to my email alerts since
November of 1997, you know I throw just
about every "guru" and "expert" under the bus.

They suck. Seriously. They blow
and offer awful money-making advice -
no matter what the price tag.

But yesterday, I stumbled upon a life-changing discovery.
And I don't hype.

His name is James A. Penn. And everyone
marketing their online business should
get to know this guy.

What's remarkable is he's just 21 years old…
a university student from "across the pond".
And he already earns a full-time income
using part-time techniques.

Penn just released a new ebook that's sick…

… Sick as it's the most comprehensive
guide to online profits I've ever read.

I'm embarrassed to say it's even better
than the information I publish to you.

And it's also sick because it's less than $10.

You must order this right now… right here… without delay:
http://www.fetch123.com/attractbuyers

You must pay attention to this because
you're going to pick up 2 major takeaways:

#1: How to setup a funnel to attract
precisely-qualified buyers to visit your website.

If you only buy this ebook to see how he
choreographs you through the buying experience,
it's worth 10 times the asking price for this alone.

No joke. It's brilliant. The sales funnel is just AMAZING.

And unless you really pay attention, you have no
idea how Penn cleverly guides you to
BEG to pay him more money.

I'm stealing many of these new techniques. And I'm going to use
these strategies starting next week (stay tuned).

#2: 50 pages of an endless parade of gold nuggets.
Actually, the ebook is 53 pages, but I can't recommend
Strategy #3. Yes, you'll do okay using this tactic,
but the liability is not worth the gain…

… But other than that, this ebook is just phenomenal.

I'd like to think I know a lot about internet marketing,
but this 21-year old college student was schooling me.
I'm taking tons of notes so I can put these strategies
into action right away.

Seriously. Skip that $10 crappy lunch today and
buy this ebook instead.

You'll thank me for this recommendation.

Click here to get this instantly:
http://www.fetch123.com/attractbuyers

- markus

What's interesting is I've been even more impressed with James since earlier this year. In fact two weeks ago he revealed a genius strategy that's going to help some of my clients make 6-figure incomes starting in about 3 weeks. (I'm not kidding.) He revealed how to get any competitor to literally BEG to send us their most profitable customers. It works the same day it's put into action. It costs NOTHING to do it (except a few hours of our time). It's VERY profitable…

… But the best part is Google could go out of business and this strategy is going to work day after day – for life!

Bottom line: You don't have to let Google mess around with your livelihood. It's best to have many different methods and strategies that get you traffic free to your website…

… If you're a writer (freelance, book author, blogger or online entrepreneur), click here to get my FREE tutorials on how to turn your writing into cash using free traffic methods.

If you're not a writer, but you're a marketing junkie (like me), you might be interested in joining my private club.

Finally, if you're a paid member, today's Stump Markus is going to be all about finding alternative ways to get free traffic (that doesn't solely rely on Google).

But as this expose reveals, any small business owner can quickly and easily bypass these BBB "Accreditation Standards" if they simply pay for it…

… Watch this amazing and revealing video about the BBB:

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I don't trust the media… they're just as bad as the scammers the seem to expose. These media companies lie 24/7 and pretend to "be on our side" as our whistleblowers. But the video (above) is hard to ignore as Steve Cox (President of the BBB) admitted to a "few errors."

Quite frankly, that's propaganda and public-relation's spin… and this followup video seems to show a pattern that the Better Business Bureau is nothing more than a small business extortion telemarketing firm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN4MKqDXGmY

Even worse, Google bolster's the "trust and authority" value of the BBB by assigning their website a PageRank score of a 9 (out of 10):

No wonder most people still truth the Better Business Bureau as the world's go-to whistleblower.

The Better Business Bureau isn't the only feedback service in the extortion business…

… Last year, several lawsuits emerged accusing Yelp.com (founded by two PayPal employees) of shaking down business owners to advertise in exchange for positive reviews.

And the wildly popular (and darling of Google's search results) RipOffReport.com offers to turn negative reports into positive one… scammers are given the "opportunity" to pay up to $50,000.00 to join RipOffReport's "Corporate Advocacy Program" and have their entire history of rip off reports negative reports vanish from the site.

I know, I know… you're probably asking yourself, "Who can you trust?"

My answer is nobody. Seriously. I personally don't trust a single feedback service (as a whole). What I do trust are most of the feedback comments posted online to help me make a better buying decision…

… Here's how I skim the cream from the top and find the best people to do business with:

Look for "complaints" or "sucks" websites
Anytime someone invests the time, money and energy to host a "suck" site, you know there's both smoke and fire.

Take a look at this:

Some scammers are tricky and actually bully suck sites to hand over website to the scammer. That's EXACTLY what Mike Filsaime (ex- car salesman by the way) did at this site:

(Interesting that he uses this "Mike Filsaime Sucks" website to show (in a YouTube video) how he used a legal loophole/technicality to literally steal away this website from its rightful owner – what a douchebag.)

Of course we can use the WayBackMachine (www.archive.org) to unearth what the site looked like before Filsaime snatched it:

Don't look at overall grades
When a site gets a 4 out of 5 or an A- grade, that doesn't mean much… feedback is easy to game. Some business owners game the system in their favor and competitors rig the ratings, too.

I'm much more interested in individual feedback.

Be sketpical of some 5-star ratings
Tons of people on the popular outsource site Fiverr.com are willing to accept a lousy $5 to give its employer an A+ feedback rating. It's easy to spot these fake endorsements and testimonials… just check out their profile and see if they give everyone the best scores.

Pay special attention to the lowest feedback
As the most skeptical person on the planet (and proud of that tag), I zoom to those who give the worst feedback. Their comments reveal a lot:

Here's a great example of how I'm able to extract gold nuggets of information from a 1-star review:

From this single review, I was able to make a (non) buying decision… it told me almost everything I needed to know about this book.

Bottom line: The real problem is us… this information about the Better Business Bureau scam has been around for many years. The problem is we're often apathetic about this stuff and bury our heads in the sand…

… Instead, we can make a difference. Forward this to a friend or colleague… Facebook like this post (see below)… get angry and spread the word – that's what I'm doing.

I'm writing this blog post on the exact same day Blog World 2011 (#BWELA) kicked off in Los Angeles.

An no, I'm not attending. Why? Because I'd rather watch chrome rust. Seriously, I'd rather show you how to make a fulltime living as a blogger – click here to get my blogging tutorials (it's 100% FREE).

I'm continually amazed how a never-ending carousel of bloggers flock to each year's "circus." Seriously, at least P.T. Barnum gave us an entertaining show for less sheckles than it costs to see a movie.

Holy crap, where do I begin?

Okay, let's start with the price of admission:

If these prices don't make you choke on your chicken, you're a better blogger than I (and I make a full-time living at it). Seriously, you're paying an entrance fee to get sold an upgrade. Every aspect of this expo is a sales letter in disguise of "blogging breakthroughs." It's a pitchfest from every angle.

I could go on and on about this scam (and yes, it is a whopper of a scam and so many ways)… here's why:

Strange bedfellows
BlogWorld is sponsored by Ford, Century 21, Johnson and Johnson and Dun and Bradstreet. What in the world does a car company, a home seller, and bandage company and a credit rating agency have to do with blogging?

But the "VIP Sponsor" this year is Heineken. Okay, that makes sense now…

… Because that's the REAL reason most bloggers fly into BlogWorld – for the "social" aspect. In simple speak, Blog World is a party.

Social media marketing
Very, very few bloggers make any dough rey me using social media. It's a total fraud and scam. The only people who make cash with social media marketing are those selling tools and tutorials on how to cash in on social media marketing. It's a total circle jerk (and you're on the receiving end of the jerk).

Noise
According to Lincoln Adams (who attended last years Blog World in Las Vegas), you get hammered with an "endless, unceasing, outside, inside… even in the hotel room noise. It never stops."

Rookies
When you pay up to $1,297.00, you expect the expo to literally hand over the keys to the blogging kingdom and show you EXACTLY how to blog for profit. Instead, you end up getting a lecture on how to do the most basic things. That's because most of the audience is made up of newbies… blog rookies who barely know how to install a WordPress plugin.

BlogWord boasts a field of 275 "experts in the field"… ready to spout their path to blogging success in over 150 sessions. Instead, you often get stuff you can find in almost any under-$10 Kindle ebook.

Shiny, magic bullets
If you're looking for those intrepid, insider secrets only the gurus pretend to know, attending these expos is going to be a huge disappointment for you.

But you will be given the IMPRESSION that you're just a click away from instant internet riches. Just meet the speaker at the back of the room and (once again) hand over your credit card for the next greatest blog business in a box.

Instant social
Most attendees (even the shy ones) claim to dig the social aspect of these conferences. And I can understand why on the surface. Instead of trading texts back and forth with your colleagues, you get to meet them in the flesh – usually for the very first time. That's cool… for about 15 minutes or so.

Then it hits you like a brick why blogging by yourself is so awesome. Because you don't have to deal with idiots all day long.

My daddy always told me that mass networking was for losers. And he's right. You'll never see really successful people dishin' out a business card in a big 'ol meet and greet.

Now day one is killer. You're totally suffering from jet lag and the first day of conferences takes a brutal toll on you physically and mentally. But right on cue, someone in your group reminds you that the greatest blog party to ever exist is just hours away. You're beat, but don't want to be a party pooper and you go (even though it's NEVER even close to your hotel room).

We all know what happens next. You drink way too much. You make an ass out of yourself. And the next thing you remember is sitting in another "session" on day #2 – starving to death and tired as all get out. Good times! (Not.)

But hey, at least you got to ride the wave:

Wow. Now that's entertaining (dripping with sarcasm).

Dog food
Whether you're a foodie like me (or not), you're going to be HIGHLY disappointed by the selection of food you get during this trip. While it's true that your $1,297.00 all-access pass includes lunch and snacks, I wouldn't even give it to my dog it's so bad. And there's nothing worse than trying to learn when you're hungry.

And good luck finding good food near the conference center… no matter how much you pay, tracking down good eats is nearly impossible near this expo.

Fat ass
Don't be fooled by the dates at Blog World 2011. The calendar might say November 3rd 'til the 5th, but the truth is you're going to be away from home for at least five days. And when you come home, you're going to be so exhausted, you won't get back into your rhythm for at least another few days…

… For me, that's almost a week without proper eating and proper exercise. I mean, it's bad enough we make a living blogging all day at our computer, but at least I get to exercise almost every day. But thanks to Blog World, I'm guaranteed to add more than a few pounds to my backside.

Swag
This takes the cake for me… a lot of attendees roam the aisles of the exhibit halls looking for "swag"… free nicknacks like popcorn and logo-filled shopping bags and gimmicky plastic things that one would expect to see at the local state fair. Really folks? You travel thousands and thousands of miles… pay thousands and thousands of dollars in conference fees, hotels, flight and meals – and you get all excited about swag? Oy vey my brother.

Smoke and mirrors
Most people I talk to almost unanimously feel the session descriptions are "inaccurate" (that's political correct speak for "bullshit"). There's nothing worse than waiting for session to start, then finding out half-way through it that it's not targeted for you. That's a lot of wasted time that you can't get back.

Paneling
Blog World loves to give us panels… a series of industry "experts" ready and eager to blurt out amazing nuggets of blog gold. But much like fake wood paneling, it just sucks. And a lot of attendees complain about this.

Bottom line
There's no reason for you to hunt and peck for blog tips from an overpriced Blog World 2011. If you're ready to finally make a full-time living blogging right now, you might want to click here to grab these blogging tips, techniques and methods…

If you're a frustrated:

- book author…
- freelance copywriter…
- blogger (or online entrepreneur)…

… and you're looking to turn your words into cash (or fame), you MUST take a listen to this:

As the name suggests, pain points are written (and even spoken) "cries for help."

Collecting a list of pain points helps you understand what your prospects truly desire. Referring to these same pain points in your blog writing and ad copy helps your prospect better relate to your offerings. It almost instantly builds rapport which leads to a higher trust factor.

Take a look at this:

In almost all cases, when you offer solutions to your prospect's problems (and the price is profitable for both buyer and seller) a purchase is often made.

How to find your prospect's pain points in mere seconds

There are several places where internet users are offered space to vent about their issues:

- Email
- Twitter (and Facebook)
- Message boards

In most cases, anyone with a computer and internet connection (that would be you) can literally peak over the shoulder of their prospect and listen into these complaints.

I say "most" because I know of no legal, ethical or technical ways to intercept your prospects emails.

(Of course you can be on the receiving end of an email complaint. This is certainly one way to get a pain point, but it's not exactly the most proactive way to collect pain points.)

But, it's astonishingly easy to view private conversations within social media sites like Twitter. It takes just 2 clicks of your mouse and you're in. And it's 100% legal and legit', too.

For example, let's say you write a blog about weight loss. And you want to find pain points to help inspire you to write that next blog post. Just search Twitter using the following formula:

[keywords] frustrated -http

Like this:

(Adding the search syntax -http removes any website links… those are typically "tweeted" by marketers, not by frustrated Twitter users.)

In less time then it takes me to sneeze, I found these gold nuggets during a Twitter search:

And this:

And even this:

HOLY COW! How awesome is this? Can you see how you can take these pain points and flip them around into ad copy?

For example, turn this:

"Forever frustrated at life because I'm still hungry after breakfast. How am I supposed to stick to my diet."

And turn it into this benefit bullet:

–> How to stick to your diet without feeling hungry after breakfast.

Turn this pain point:

I'm so frustrated with my moms weight problem: plz give me ur best idea on motivating someone who doesn't care! #health #diet #weight #fat

And turn it into:

–> 7 fast and easy tactics to get your family members to BEG to join your diet (in 13 hours or less).

This pain point:

I am really getting frustrated trying to find the right diet for working out…

Turns into this benefit bullet:

–> This elite Navy Seals' diet is PERFECT for those who work out hard and want to gain muscle rapidly…

A MUCH better way to find pain points

Discovering customer pain points via Twitter is cool…

… But using a combination of message boars forums and Google is way better.

Take a look at this example. I discovered this amazing post in just 45 seconds:

This particular post is a treasure trove of pain points. The entire paragraph is one pain point after another.

Basically, anything that's either "negative", references the word "help", or is in the form of a question – is typically a pain point.

I've included only the pain points here:

–> I feel like all I do is talk about losing weight and I don't ever actually do it.
–> I don't know where to start or what to do.
–> No matter how many books I read or people I talk to I fail.
–> Coming here reading success stories make me happy but not enough to push me.
–> It just makes me doubt myself and think Ill never do it.
–> Now if only i could get my eatiing on track and stop binging.
–> Im just not sure what else to do.
–> Someone help me.
–> What did you do to start out???

Armed with these pain points, we can either write new content (for a blog or for an article) or create benefits/advantages for our advertising…

… I created a blow-by-blow tutorial on this -
click here to grab my tutorial on how to convert customer pain points into cash-grabbing ad copy…

But the VAST majority of site owners I speak with are frustrated with trying to attract free website traffic…

… They're tired of creating the best content, spending hours on link building but have nothing to show for it.

They're on the verge of giving up their internet marketing efforts because of Google's ever-changing rules to get organic traffic.

These same website owners try to rank first in Google – but don't because millions of other websites show up ahead of their search result's listing.

It's true. Getting free web traffic is harder than ever.

But I have great news for you… this blog post is the world's largest collection of FREE internet traffic secrets ever compiled.

The following tips, techniques and methods are surefire ways to get eyeballs to your blog or webpage. Just put these strategies into action and soon you're going to show up first in Google – along with Yahoo! and Bing.

(By the way, If you've got a a free website promotion strategy that you'd like to share here, that's great! If your traffic secret makes the cut, I'll post it here with a link back to your website. Click here to post your traffic secret now…)

Let's skip the fluff and get right to the stuff… attract buyers and subscribers to your blog or website with all of these FREE traffic secrets:

Marketing on CraigsList – How to attract free web traffic with tiny classified ads

My #1 best-kept secret to get 100% free blog traffic is to post a tiny classified ad to CraigsList.

It's true… CraigsList is beyond amazing. I wished I posted there years ago.

With that said, most people I know tried CraigsList marketing and failed miserably… they posted an ad and got banned almost instantly. It's true – CraigsList is REALLY cracking down on spammers. But that's good news for us legitimate marketers.

Here's why I love CraigsList (and think you should, too). I posted several 59-word classified ad posts and so far registered a whopping 3,207 visits to my blog over the course of just 60 days:

And that number continues to grow day after day without any additional effort on my end.

Now take a look at this – see how many different search queries Google, Yahoo! and Bing sends traffic to my Trump blog post:

That's just the tip of the iceberg… CraigsList helped me get the following search queries ranked tops in the major search engines almost overnight:

These days, Google, Yahoo! and Bing sends me steady traffic to my not-so-flattering blog post about Donald Trump. That's awesome because normally I'd half to invest a ton of time doing link building, blog commenting and message board posting. But with CraigsList, I literally invest about 15 minutes a day for 14 days. That's it!

You see, CraigsList is one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Think of it as a gigantic classified ad service, but instead of it showing up in your Sunday paper, it's available in just a click of your computer mouse over the Internet.

CraigsList is divided geographically into regions… you're able to place your ads in CraigsList San Francisco to CraigsList Morocco. And when you post an ad in the right section of CraigsList, you get instant visits back to your blog or webpage.

But the best part is it's totally FREE. Post ads all day long… weekends and holidays, too.

Here's why I love CraigsList marketing and know you should, too:

You get instant traffic – When you format your CraigsList classified ad the right way, CraigsList approves your listing almost instantly.

It's almost too good to be true because just moments after posting, you see FREE website traffic arrive on the webpage you choose.

And surprisingly, this traffic is responsive. Unlike other free traffic sources, CraigsList referrals take action… they're willing to click on my webpage ads… passionate about subscribing to my email list… and they're buying my stuff at a nice clip.

While instant traffic is good, I prefer:

Almost-instant traffic – The most fascinating aspect of CraigsList is who scans their classified ads.

Apparently, a lot of influential types (like bloggers and social media mavens) swing by for a looksy… because just a day or so after I post an ad, a bunch of different websites link to me. And when this kicks in, I'm seeing a lot of traffic come to my site from all different directions.

So while I dig instant traffic and almost-instant traffic, my absolute FAVORITE benefit of posting classified ads to CraigsList is:

Set-it-and-forget-it, long-term traffic – Out of all of the link building methods I've tested, nothing comes even comes close to link building with CraigsList.

Nothing.

I wish I knew about this method years ago.

Even though CraigsList ads only stay active 7 to 30 days (depending on the city), the link juice you earn never runs dry.

Long-term, steady traffic starts to kick in about 75 days after posting. Take a look:

About a week ago, I hit the low point of the curve… but in another week or so, I FULLY expect my referral traffic from Google, Yahoo! and Bing to jump. I'm expecting at least 750 visits a day to this Donald Trump page – every day.

Not bad for a few free posts to CraigsList, eh?

Here are some tips I use to make CraigsList marketing pay off:

Best time to post – When you post too soon, you ad "moves off the main page" and doesn't get seen. And when you post too late, everyone is asleep.

I find the "sweet spot" is between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time. And skip posting on weekends or holidays – you're likely to waste your time.

Get your ad approved – Years ago, CraigsList was a spammers paradise. You could upload blatant ads without worry.

Today, half the battle is getting your ads to "stick" (i.e. to be approved and not deleted).

The best way to get your ads to "stick" is to avoid any hint of selling. Instead, redirect your visitors to a blog post or webpage on your site.

Go naked – Even though CraigsList gives you the option to place ads in HTML code, I recommend plain text.

And never ever format a link with SEO anchor text (like this). This is a surefire way to get your post deleted every time.

Instead, use a naked link format like this:

http://www.truthin7minutes.com

Write a killer ad title – Make sure to include a your optimized keyword phrase in the title of your ad. Just about every major search engine takes notice and sends link juice to your webpage as your reward.

Bottom line: Posting tiny classified ads to CraigsList is a surefire way to put your traffic generation on autopilot…

… But it is tricky if you don't know what you're doing. That's why I created a step-by-step tutorial to help guide you and navigate you through the trickiest parts of posting classified ads to CraigsList (available for members of my private Marketing Junkies' Club) -

Click here to access my CraigsList tutorial.

What is the New Age, you may ask? The New Age is both a social and religious movement. It mixes groupthink with utopia.  It's teachings are used quite extensively in the self help and personal development industry.

Ironically, the New Age is based on the Old Age. It's loosely based on the far-Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. And these religions have been around since the beginning of time. Some say they're the oldest religions ever, permeated with mysticism and pantheism.

It's easy to convince most to buy into the New Age promises as we live in an never-ending world of chaos, hard economic times, food shortages and crisis.

This naturally gets people looking for solutions to their problems. And since most people are lazy, the New Age is quite appetizing.

Who wouldn't want to channel themselves into a utopian world – it sounds fantastic. And for those selling us these do-it-yourself self-help powers, it's the shiny magic bullet everyone begs to obtain.

Pushers of the New Age couldn't have asked for a better product to sell – millions and millions of people clamoring for a solution and it costs hardly nothin' to deliver the solution (via a book or a CD/DVD). Selling the New Age is an amazing profit center.

Think it + repeat it = magical outcomes

No matter what you call it, the principle is always the same… the New Age offers us a mindset to convince the average person that they can produce their own magic and produce 'spiritual' miracles by simply thinking about it. All one needs to do ideally is "manifest" perfected outcomes of particular problems blocking your path and if you do it just right, solutions appear magically in front of your eyes.

Manifesting gives anyone with faith to "CYOR" (create your own reality) through visualization, positive thinking, goal setting and affirmations (a declaration of an oath – usually repeating a desired outcome over and over again).

In simple speak, if you see an outcome in your mind's eye and think about it over and over again, it's going to come true through the power of positive thinking. But…

Being negative is NOT an option and highly forbidden. Negative thinking and the New Age are like oil and water… they just don't mix.

Eliminate the word "coincidence" from the dictionary

When you enter the world of self help, suspending self preservation skills and eliminating basic logic is essential.

The New Age offers us an endless parade of anecdotal "evidence" proving the validity of this mind magic. The stories of social proof are never ending and abundant… for example:

A real estate agent was going through a year-long drought. She couldn't list or sell a single house. But after arming herself with the "5 Levels of Manifesting", she affirmed in her mind the idea of closing a deal sometime this week. Three days later, an 'Agreement of Sale' floated onto her desk and a commission check was cut on the spot.

I could go on and on and on with similar stories of proof. The self-help industry mastered the art of story telling.

When it comes to the New Age, there is no such thing as coincidence. And there's no room for luck, being in the right place at the right time or having opportunity fall into your lap…

… Nope, because when you master the art of "visualization", it arms you with the tools to manufacture your own Pollyanna-esque dream world notions, a.k.a. -  coincidences.

(Note to self: Can blind people use "visualization" to manifest their own destinies? Scratch that – can't anyone take a joke anymore… Surely hellbound for even thinking out loud like that.)

Meet Oprah Winfrey, the undisputed Queen of the New Age movement

The New Age surfaced here in the States over 100 years ago, but it's been heavily pushed only recently as our evolved New World Order religion.

Yes, I said religion. Because the New Age is really a twist on the Old Age… based on the oldest religion ever created: Hinduism.

It's new in the sense that just 20 years ago, there were barely a few book shelves selling any New Age offerings. Yet today, this represents a HUGE section of any bookstore.

Many are involved in the New Age, but no one pushes it harder or more convincingly than Oprah Winfrey. Just about every New Ager "guru" or "expert" is linked to this Queen of media.

A cult of personality surfaces when a nation's widely recognizable celebrity, who is considered to be a leader, uses hypnotic mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Oprah Winfrey conveniently fits the bill for this. Tens of millions of dreamy-eyed fans (mostly women) have been galvanized to follow her across the country, live by her words and literally worship the airwaves she's seen on. That's why Oprah has authorized a very long time ago (specifically on her September 18, 1987 broadcast about the New Age) to make this new religion a must-be-part-of their agenda.

Oprah Winfrey has done her job well. For multiple decades she's enthusiastically and consistently pushed and exponentially multiplies her New Age beliefs through countless New Age authors…

… Some of the most well-known business "gurus" that got noticed because of Oprah include:

- Deepak Choprah

- Seth Godin

- John Assaraf

- Joe Vitale

- Randy Gage

- Bob Proctor

- Earl Nightengale

- Normal Vincent Peale

- Eben Pagan

- Frank Kern

- Tony Robbins

- Jim Rohn

- Maxwell Maltz

- Echart Tolle

- Brian Tracy

- Zig Ziglar

- Napoleon Hill

New Age golden nuggets

In order to pull off any scam, you have to throw some gold nuggets into the mix. And the New Age certainly does this.

There's no doubt thinking where you want to be in life is a great start to your achieve success (or fixing a problem that needs solving).

For example, if I want to live a life off the grid, free as a bird and only work 4 hour weekdays, I need to THINK about the finish line. For me, that requires $180,000 a year in income. Knowing what my wife earns helps me calculate what additional income I need to bring in. So that's a great New Age tactic — think about where you need to be and work backward…

… So if I need $100,000 a year in extra income to live the internet lifestyle, I can work through the math and calculate I need to bank $274 a day. That means I need to sell x amount of online marketing courses and sign up x amount of new members to my secret marketing club. It's really that simple.

But here's the abrasive rub. And it's something hardly any New Age "guru" or "expert" dispenses: You need to TAKE ACTION to make your goals come true. They fail to mention this because action takes sweat and energy… magic doesn't. And when given the choice between the two, almost everyone takes the magic option (and are willing to pay hundreds or even thousands for it).

I went all "woo woo" for more than a year!

As title holder of the world's most skeptical person (I'm 100% guilty of this), you might be surprised to know I actually tried manifesting, visualization and affirmations. Of course, it was in the spirit of scientific experiment testing (and for giggles).

I posted pictures of my favorite car (the Infiniti FX50S) all over the place. Even a desktop background picture. I even created a Twitter account about it… posting a link to a new YouTube video about my "new car."

Every single day, I stared at that 390 horsepower work of art for more than a year. Every day I imagined myself driving in it as wind flowed through my long, blonde locks of hair and hot chicks froze in their tracks to unconrollably imagine riding in the passenger seat beside me…

… But the reality is I have short, cropped  auburn hair… women are repulsed by my dry, wicked sense of humor (imagine that)… and the agine 1996 Toyota RAV4 continued to reside in my driveway. Oh, and that Twitter account about my dream car? It's long gone. (Actually, Twitter deleted it – claiming I was a spammer).

The bottom line is: Visualizing my dream car was nothing more than a sick exercise in mental masturbation…

Is the New Age really a scam in disguise?

So am I saying the New Age is a scam… or even a hoax?

There is a difference between these seemingly similar words:

A scam is a dishonest "scheme."

A hoax is a fraud.

So I'm thinking the New Age is really a sort of perverted combination of the two… a "scoax" (I just made that up… don't steal it or you'll have bad Karma the rest of your life).

Introducing my 7-step formula to success and happiness

Many of us are guilty for looking to the easy way out of our problems. We long for the path to success without bumps. Most truly believe the power of positive thinking is the path to realizing a better life.

But for me, I find taking action… actually doing something (not mind hocus pocus) offers the surefire way to success and freedom.

Over the years, I've created a sort of homespun formula to success and happiness…

Set low expectations – I've interviewed a lot of "successful", set-the-bar-to-the-max people. These were self-starter entrepreneurs that can afford to retire today and live without worry for the rest of their lives…

… And with just one exception, they were are all gawd-awful MISERABLE. Most even admitted this.

The pressures of high expectations drove them virtually insane. They worked all kinds of crazy hours… sold themselves to the devil multiple times and always worried about makin' more money.

They never had a finish line.

(By the way, the one person who told me he was happy being rich turned out to be a liar. He was never rich to begin with.)

I roll the opposite way. I set my expectations low.

While everyone is swinging for the fences trying to hit home runs, I choose to be "the Pete Rose of internet marketing" and string together a bunch of singles. And it's working quite well for me (thank you very much).

One thing is for sure, I'll never be super rich. But I am super free. And I LOVE it that way.

Fail fast – Failure is a necessary evil to your path to success (and/or solving your problems).

In business, the most successful people fail the vast majority of the time. The difference is they fail fast. They learn from their mistakes. Then they improve. And they look at failure as the needed step to reaching their finish line.

Think about the best bowlers. They didn't score a perfect 300 game the first time they bowled. In fact, I bet they bowled thousands of times before they got their first perfect game. That's thousands of failures before achieving a single success.

We've all heard the story of how often Thomas Edison failed before perfecting the light bulb, right? Edison's a prime example of relentless action, never giving up and ultimately pursuing success.

I could go on and on and on with the rags to riches stories.

Just do it – Whatever you think about Tiger Woods, you have to admire his putting abilities. He almost NEVER putts short of the hole…

… Every time Tiger strokes the ball, he gives himself the opportunity to drain each putt. Most golfers do the opposite and leave the ball short of the hole… scared the ball might roll past the cup. And when this happens, it's IMPOSSIBLE for the ball to land in the cup.

Most business failures occur because of the lack of taking action.

As Gary Halbert's protege Doberman Dan Gallapoo likes to remind his members, "Motion beats meditation."  It's true. Thinking and dreaming about success doesn't bring in success. Taking action (even if you fail, flat on your face) is ultimately going to bring you closer to meeting your goals. Because you have to fail fast in order to slowly succeed.

5-minute rule – When I'm not exactly in the mood to get things done, but need a psychological kick in the pants,  I force myself to work on something for at least 5 minutes.

This little mind trick moves me away from procrastinating and gets me working on productive stuff. What's interesting is I've never quit after just 5 minutes.

Skip the money myth – They say it takes money to make money. I say that's total crap.

In fact, people with money take MUCH longer to fail than those who don't. Having money to fail with is almost always more expensive than having no money.

That's one of the reasons why I don't have lines of credit to tap into… I found that anytime I had money to blow, my failures happened much too S L O W L Y.

It doesn't take money to make money. Really.

Just say no – Think about all of the time you waste talking on the phone, reading emails, posting on Facebook and gossiping. This is a TREMENDOUS drain. And when you're distracted, you're not taking action.

The most successful people refuse to answer their own phones… they check their email just once or twice per day, and chit chat only when all of their work is complete as their reward. They also skip posting on social media (unless they're looking to buy cheap leads on Facebook).

Rub elbows with successful people – They say you earn the average income of your 5 closest friends. That's why I hang out with success people weekly. I met with them every Thursday afternoon for a virtual lunch (see below how you can hang with my friends, too).

Mentor with secret successes – Unlike phony gurus, I find the most successful people I know hide under the radar and keep to themselves.

These successes avoid the limelight. They're often shy. And they've got nothing to sell us.

But the good news is these secret successes are happy to pass along their wisdom as their legacy.

Unlike the gurus, these success aren't going to promise to make you rich. Instead, they just get tremendous satisfaction out of helping you make your first sale… showing you how to fail fast and helping you get to the next level of growing your business.

All of my adult life, I've been meeting up with these under-the-radar successes. And I've convinced them to hang out with me and share their pearls of wisdom…

…. If you're in business for yourself, there's no reason for you to struggle and look to the New Age for help. If you're ready to turn your business from good to great starting right now, click here to join my Marketing Junkies Club…

… For less than the cost of half a Dunkin Donuts' cup of coffee a day, you get inside secrets to help find you as many customers as you desire.

Most of my members add a zero to their business bank account within weeks of joining. Plus it's just darn fun rubbing elbows with other successful marketing junkies dotted all throughout the world.

But the best part is joining my club doesn't require any manifesting, purple stones or chanting with palms open. Instead, we just brainstorm business-building ideas to attain success and freedom.

Are you interested in rubbing elbows with us? If so, click here to join us right now…

On my April 28th Stump Markus talkcast, I asked Doberman Dan Galapoo to explain what's in his latest offering (called the Doberman Dan letter)…

… Press the play button to hear my 10-minute interview:

Truth about the Doberman Dan Letter

Click here to subscribe (and get 3 FREE gifts from Dan) …

As people buzz about Donald Trump these days, it's strange that they rarely talk about those Donald Trump bankruptcies.

Full disclosure: my company filed for business bankruptcy protection over a decade ago. At the time I thought it was a savvy business move (and I also looked up to Donald Trump back then). But I now realize it was a HUGE mistake (and detail why in this article about filing for personal bankruptcy protection).

The Donald sure does one thing well… public relations. Most consider Donald Trump a world-class business success. And he loves to tell us that. But nothing can be further from the truth. And his PR team sure does make it hard to find Trump's failures…

… So I decided to invest about 30 minutes on Google and see EXACTLY how many times Donald Trump has failed. The results are a bit stunning – so I compiled this list (along with his other failed ventures) that have hurt countless people on his way to "fame and fortune":

Trump Plaza Hotel bankruptcy – On Nov 2, 1992, Trump's Plaza Hotel was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being unable to make its debt payments. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49% stake in this luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders.

Trump Shuttle closure – The Trump Shuttle became no more when it merged with Shuttle Inc, operating as USAir Shuttle in 1992.

Donald Trump personal bankruptcy – By 1994, Trump slashed a large portion of his $900 million personal debt and washed away  $3.5 billion in his porfolio's business debt.

Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts' bankruptcy – On November 21, 2004 Trump's company filed for bankruptcy. Trump said the filing was "really just a technical thing" as the best way to implement a restructuring plan.

Donald Trump personal bankruptcy (again) – Once again, Trump filed for personal bankruptcy protection and restructured his debt in 2004.

Taj Mahal bankruptcy – On November 22, 2006 Donald J. Trump’s casino empire filed for bankruptcy protection after months of negotiations with bondholders over restructuring a crushing debt.

GoTrump.com – Donald Trump's online travel search engine was launched in 2006. Just a year later it folded.

Trump 29 Casino – Now known as Spotlight 29 Casino because Donald Trump's ownership/management involvement ended in 2006).

Donald Trump Ocean Resort Baja – This Mexican resort was never built and investor's deposits (up to $500,000.00) have not been returned. Trump claims these buyers are “lucky” because they would have lost more money in a tanking market had the projects been actually built. Trump claims he only lent his name to the project (and it was the developers who allowed the project to fail).

Trump Towers Tampa – Trump is being sued right now in Tampa, Florida for taking deposits on a 52-story condo tower that he never built. None of the buyers got their $45,000 deposits back. And in an ironic twist, initial sales of this condo were so successful that all deposits were returned to charge a higher price.

Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago – Trump built the second tallest building in Chicago… he also defaulted on a $40 million loan. Rather than having to pay the bank loan, Trump demanded the same bank should pay him $3 billion for "undermining the project and damaging his reputation."

Trump Magazine – Trump's private-labeled publication (which was aimed at affluent readers in major US markets) suffered from sagging ad sales. It folded on May 19, 2009. This was Trump's third failed attempt at offering a magazine bearing his name.

Trump International Hotel & Tower New Orleans – If constructed, this Trump Tower would become the tallest building in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana at 70 stories high. But the project was put on hold in February of 2009.

Trump Entertainment Resort Holdings bankruptcy – On February 17, 2009 casino operator Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (with a debt ratio of $50 million in assets to his $500 million in debt).

Donald Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium – Donald Trump was sued for fraud over his New York SoHo condo offering in 2010. The lawsuit by 15 plaintiffs alleged that during the first 18 months of marketing, Trump advertised that the building was "30, 40, 50, 60 percent or more sold" when in fact just 16% of the units were sold.

Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale – Construction was to be completed by the end of 2009 featuring 298 hotel condominium units. Having defaulted on a $139 million loan, Donald Trump announced in November of 2010 he was no longer affiliated with the project.

Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas – Through the end of February 2010, the 1,282-unit condominium hotel had only closed on 302 units. That equates to a 23.6% vacancy rate. It was forced into renting out the building as apartments.

Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai – This 62-story mixed-used building on the Palm Jumeirah’s Golden Mile was first announced in 2005. Construction was never started and the $2.9 billion project had been canceled and replaced with a shopping mall.

When you run the math, that's 19 failures in less than 17 years… that averages one new failed business every 11 months. Even worse, a LOT of people were financially ruined because of this single "successful" business guru.

Needless to say, I no longer lookup to "The Donald."

You don't have to look up to famous "business people" for inspiration to grow your own business… my #1 secret to making money over the internet is to actually work just 90 minutes a day, hang out with other "marketing junkies" and download any of these online marketing courses…

Understand this… I'm a cheapskate. And I hated the idea of paying an email hosting service when I could instead push a few buttons on my own email marketing software and do virtually the same for free.

Or so I thought. Boy was I wrong. And I've been wrong for a long long time (13 years to be exact).

The reality is in-house email is FAR from free. Sending out my own emails has easily cost me tens of thousands of dollars in profit because my emails have a hard time getting delivered. And it's getting worse week by week.

The good news is having the pros do it all for you might be cheaper than doing all of the work of sending bulk email out yourself.

Here are my top 5 reasons for switching from in-house email to sending business email via a bulk email service provider:

Higher delivery rates – When you send out your own business emails, you have 0% chance of getting all of your emails delivered. In fact, you have almost 0% chance of having just half of your emails delivered. That's how bad it is nowadays.

Why?

The big reason is spam. Your recipients are setup to be super aggressive in their spam-fighting efforts… making it hard for legitimate business emails to get delivered.

But some bulk email service providers have entire teams who's only job is to "negotiate" with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to get your emails delivered. It's like having a team of full-time "mediators" working for you (silently behind the scenes) for less than the price of a small coffee. You just can't beat it.

I've seen this first hand… I help several internet marketers. And I get to peek over their shoulder and see their email reports. And many of these IMers see near 100% open rates when using a quality email service provider.

This benefit alone is worth switching to a professional email hosting service… but there are many more advantages:

Higher response – I'm a big fan of testing.

And my new email service provider gives me the fast and easy option to split test different email messages and report back to me which one generated higher response.

I KNOW I've missed out on higher response because I wasn't split testing my email messages in the past. Never again.

With split testing, I can test two different subject lines and see which one gets higher response.

Even better, my new email service provider offers me AMAZING reports that tell me in a glance which emails are most responsive (and most important, which ones are not). Armed with this information, I can make quick tweaks and boost response… take a look at this one example:

In a glance, I see which tested email put more money in my pocket. Armed with this data, I take the winning email design and put it into my followup autoresponder for the highest response – it's the ultimate "set it and forget it" tactic.

And take a look at this report:

This report is GOLD… because in just a glance, I can see when most of subscribers open their emails… and with my new bulk email service, I can schedule followup emails to be sent at the best day and time of the week.

My new ESP has dozens and dozens of reports just like this… ultimately helping me tweak my bulk emails to make more money.

Your web hosting company HATES spam – There's nothing worse than getting an email from your web hosting provider with this bad news…

"You're about to have your website shut down because of spam complaints."

That happened to me. And I don't spam. (In fact I hate spam more than anyone.)

Here's the issue. I send out emails to thousands of passionate marketing junkies each and every week. These same marketing junkies doubled opted into registering for my FREE weekly marketing updates and alerts. And these emails are right to the point – often just a few sentences in length pointing to a new blog post…

… But every so often, one of these subscribers clicks on the wrong button and tags my email as spam (instead of unsubscribing). And just one single spam complaint (no matter how many emails are sent out) freak out our hosting providers. And when hosting providers freak out, they turn off our entire website (often without notice).

Even if you spend hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars per month on web hosting, web-hosting techies have been trained to "shoot first and ask questions later" in order to thwart spammers. They know a click on a "this is spam" link doesn't necessarily mean your email is spam. But the truth is your web hosting company would prefer you outsource your business emails. That's the real truth. Dealing with spam issues is a huge thorn in the side for web hosting providers.

Hand's-free email cleaning – If you want to get your bulk emails delivered, you MUST keep on top of bad email addresses. If you fail to maintain a clean email list, you'll ultimately pay the price…

… When you send emails that do not get delivered, these "bounce" and return back to you undelivered.

There are a variety of reasons for a bounce… everything from a misspelled email address to a subscriber who changed their email address (and didn't alert you about it). It's just like snail mail, except when you continually send bounced emails, you actually run the risk of being having your email account tagged (and put on a worldwide blacklist).

Handling bounced email is a HUGE chore. It's worse than root canal. I just spent the last two days removing 250 bounced email addresses from my email system by hand… one by one. I'll NEVER do this again.

Good email service providers automatically keep your emails up to date and bounce free. And a clean list helps helps get a high percentage of your emails delivered.

Filter out tire kickers – Now that I'm sending bulk email though a paid email service provider (and being a self-confessed cheapskate), I want to eliminate those who don't read my email.

Sure, it's great to boast that I've got a big list. This is great for the ego. But the reality is over 90% of these subscribers won't ever buy my stuff. Even worse, most of these tire kickers won't even open my emails.

But get this… my new email hosting service gives me the option to delete subscribers who never look at my emails. This is an AMAZING cost-cutting advantage that takes seconds to pull off. In just three mouseclicks, I'm able to eliminate anyone on my email list who doesn't open my emails… there's no reason for me to pay to have my "pearls of wisdom" delivered to la la land.

The bottom line is I'm actually excited to pay to have my emails delivered for the first time since I ventured online in 1997.  For about a penny per subscriber per month, I'm able to email just like the pros do… boosting my response… seeing higher delivery rates… and not having to manually handle bounced emails.

Click here to see which email service provider I made the switch to (and I highly recommend)…