Internet & Network Marketing - Matt Koshko|Exploring the Marketing World.

One of the easiest ways of getting traffic to any website is by using a very popular means of advertising called a Traffic Exchange. To put it briefly, a Traffic Exchange works like this: you view a member website and in return you will get a visitor to your website. Typically there is a surf (when you are viewing member websites one at a time) ratio such as 3:1 which means you would view three member websites and in return have your website seen once. If you understand this then you’d agree that the best type surf ratio would be one that didn’t exist. 

We put together a Traffic Exchange that solves the surf ratio problem. Instead of a 3:1 ratio or even 1:1 ratio, why not give unlimited website views to you? This makes it one of the best traffic exchanges around.

List Surfing is a new way of using the power behind a Traffic Exchange without the hassle of surfing CONSTANTLY and having to view far more websites than you’ll receive back. Instead, all you need to do is surf 50 websites a month and open 10 member emails every 30 days - you’ll receive unlimited traffic to your website(s) this way. You are not depending on accumulating credits nor are you going to spend a long time trying to grow your credits.

On top of the normal surfing we added an email advertising feature. You are able to email hundreds of other members to advertise your website, and they WANT to open it because they’ll earn more credits and keep their account active.

We’ve received great feedback from members and have made MANY improvements to the features. Signup for Free to ListSurfing and start driving traffic to your websites!

Additional features include text ads, downline builder, banner ads, start pages and more…

Right off the bat I know you’re probably curious and that’s great, but you should also be thinking “Yes, Matt’s right” without even reading more than the title of this post.

Success doesn’t come from luck. Well, sometimes it can but generally speaking it does not. Some lucky cases might be those where business decisions are made without much logic or analysis, yet the results of the small actions are excellent. You might be the type of individual who plays the lottery - you’re lucky if you win but you also wouldn’t have won had you not taken the action of playing in the first place, right? I don’t consider the lottery completely luck because of that pure fact.

Anyway, the reason I know you’ll be successful is simple; you WANT to make it happen and you WILL make it happen. Those are primarily the only two factors that you need to have engraved in your mind. You first need desire, without it there is no reason for success in the first place. Secondly you need to make it happen by putting forth the effort and accomplishing the tasks which will lead you up the ladder. This may sound very simple, and you’re right - it is.

I’ve been involved in internet and network marketing for many years. When I look at the people I met when first starting out or even simply a couple years ago, I see them not much further ahead than they were back then (if at all). In my eyes, it’s because they’re not being as productive as they should be…

Simply put, to have a website on the internet (viewable by the public) you need to have website hosting. There are dozens and dozens of hosting companies I could list out here for you but that would not help you. Instead I’d like to take the opportunity to briefly discuss why free or “cheap” hosting is anti-success.

Yes, I just said “anti-success”. There comes a point in your entrepreneur life when you realize that cutting costs in areas is a poor decision - web hosting is one of them. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you need to spend $300 a month for dedicated hosting but if you’re not willing to invest a SMALL cost per month to keep your website public and online, it’s not worth your time and effort.

People will tell you “You should use so-and-so for your website hosting because they are cheap and good”. Sorry, but this is NOT a reason to use “so-and-so”. If you have a budget for website hosting that’s understandable so long as you keep in mind spending $6 per month is reasonable (for shared servers).

I’m not here to tell you what to do or who’s best. You can do your own research and find a website hosting company you’re comfortable with, along with a cost.

Here are the facts:

1:  Stay away from free hosting.

• You get very little
• It’s not going to allow you to expand without costs
• There’s no “real” guarantee
• Chances are you’ll get very little support from the company
• Feature wise, you’ll be lucky to get half of the standard features
• They have no obligation to you - you’ve paid them nothing, why would they?

2:  Always go with Paid Hosting

• Average costs can start as little as $3 per month to $20 per month for shared hosting
• Dozens if not hundreds of companies to choose from
• Usually 24/7/365 support - that’s what you want anyway
• Can be scalable - if you grow, they’ll grow with you
• Lots of great server features for your websites
• Some offer unlimited domains/websites on one account
• They have a commitment to you - you’re a PAYING customer

The point of the matter is if you cut corners by going cheap/free, expect to get what you pay for…

I’ll be posting more about this subject soon. Set yourself up for growth because if you don’t in the beginning you’ll probably run into issues later on.

Yesterday, May 28th, I heard about Google Wave. When I first saw the name (unaware of what it was) my initial reaction was “Another Google service - they’re doing everything!”. Let’s get one thing clear, I think Google has an amazing creative team and ingenious ideas but it’s a bit scary to see them getting into so many services - they’re like Miscrosoft, except more clever and better at being evil (I mean that in a nice way, I think).

Anyway, back on subject.

As my recent post shows, Twitter and Facebook have been gaining some serious momentum. They’re both steadily growing now, stomping on Myspace quickly. The unique communication method that Twitter is about is captivating. Millions now use Twitter and it will continue to grow. Facebook has made some serious changes/improvements over the past couple years that has helped skyrocket its popularity, hence being a bigger catch than Myspace. On top of that, Google has a slew of services that are excellent such as Gmail, document sharing and of course Youtube.

The recent silent display of Google Wave looks quite impressive and eye-catching. It combines the most popular service and social networks with the power of Google’s sharing (documents, youtube, etc..) to one place.

Could this damage Facebook, Twitter, AIM, Yahoo IM, Myspace, and others? I would not be surprised if they are all starting to shake in their pants. This is a POWERFUL communication tool which brings nearly ALL of the tools to one place…

Personally I’m pumped about it, despite not using Google services too much, yet at the same time I’m a little scared. Google seems to have absorbed the idea of having their foot in practically everything. Is that a good thing? If you ask me, I definitely say “I think they’re very creative but they need to relax!”.

What are your thoughts?

It isn’t surprising news to say that Facebook has been growing rapidly over the last several months. When they first started out with just a college audience the growth potential was in the millions of users - thousands of colleges and all you needed was a college email address to register on the site (basically). Today it has grown into a mega social network as it is open to the public allowing young teens and up to join.

Before we had Facebook, Myspace was the the only major social network that existed (in it’s field). There were many small competitors but nobody could touch Myspace at the time. Now, it’s a different ball game all together.

Looking at the below chart we see three dominate players; Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. All three are in the top websites in the world and compete with one another. Though, despite the success of Myspace, things are changing. They are losing the battle. Twitter and Facebook are rising while Myspace is slowly declining over the past year.

You can see that Twitter is just starting to gain a curve like Facebook but only over the past couple months. This is expected since it has only recently gained serious attention. Major news networks, newspapers, celebrities and even politicians are using Twitter to connect with their audiences.

First off, Sorry. I’ve been swamped with so many projects, commitment and personal needs that I’ve neglected you, my readers. That leads me to the topic of discussion.

For many years we, humans, have wanted to accomplish things - personal achievements, new goals, business growth, etc.. What leads us to those accomplishments? Is it desire? Is it commitment? Or is it even time? The honest answer is all three plus more! We don’t accomplish things without many (if not all) of those elements even though they may be second nature.

I was thinking the other day to myself, “What drives me to get things done?” and “Why do I do so many things at once?”. The answer is simple, I enjoy it. But there are problems with the way I’ve tried doing it all. My time management is on and off depending on what I’m doing. If I’m on the computer working on a website, I can guarantee you I have MANY windows/tabs open for different websites such as Twitter, Facebook, ListJumper….which may have little or nothing to do with what I’m working on.

Time management is absolutely important. My example is one you shouldn’t follow. Look at the last time I posted a blog….and I could have easily been posting consistently, but didn’t manage my time well.

If you struggle to manage your time, it’s very normal. Instead of watching 1.5 hours of TV, spend only 1 hour watching TV and the other .5 hour writing a blog or catching up on email. During that .5 hour, don’t multi-task - just do one thing! You’ll appreciate what you’re able to get done in that time.

Thanks for coming by and you can certainly look forward to more posts, now.

The internet marketing industry can really hurt some peoples’ wallets yet also drastically change lives. As the internet grows every minute, there are scammers and ripoffs constantly scouring the web for victims. The good news is we can fight against this with a resource that provides people information on marketing related products, services and even people, before getting ripped off.

Have you bought a tutorial product that was totally crap in your eyes?

Did you try out a service that was top notch but the support was very dismal?

Was the design service you used an excellent investment?

…that’s exactly what you can tell everyone!

Your experiences are valuable to other people, especially those providing the experience (product, service, etc.). We want people to come to the website in order to find out what other people are saying…before blowing their money.

Register for free, create listings and write reviews. www.MarketingCheckpoint.com

There’s also a nice community feature including groups, walls, messages, profile area, “friends”, and forum. It will continue to grow - if you’re smart, you can get free traffic from it by participating!

Enjoy.

~Matt

I’m practically always thinking of ideas in a variety of industries (if that’s the right term in this case). Whether one idea is better than another can be debatable but the important part is making that idea come to life. First I must say that not all my ideas are spectacular - same applies to everyone. There are pros and cons to nearly everything so you have to pick your battles.

My ideas have varied from poor to excellent. Simetimes they’ve been based on a simple, quick thought while other times I’ve specifically put effort into creating the idea based on something I saw/heard about. The bright side is the ideas I’ve implemented have been “successes” (at least in my opinion). No, not all of them, but the majority of them fall into that “success” category.

So how do you know when an idea is worth implementing? Honestly there is no direct answer to say “Yes, this idea is worth it” in most cases. Instead it’s based on your beliefs, time, efforts and fortitude which decide whether the idea will be valueable. Do you believe in yourself? Are you passionate for success?

People say they have some great ideas but they never implement them. Why not? Is it a fear of failure? Unsure about developing the idea? Too pricey? In my opinion, these are excuses and make those ideas valueless. You can’t put a value on an idea until you have a way of measuring that value. A simple way to help determine if an idea might be worthwhile (if you’re unsure of yourself) is to write up a brief but good NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), contact some of your trusted friends and/or peers asking if they’d be willing to give their opinions on your idea, have them sign the NDA, and then you explain what it’s all about. Doing it this way could help alleviate the anxiety you’re facing.

Those that know me best would say I try to be positive and get excited about progress (as well as ideas). If you can’t drive yourself to success in fulfilling your ideas, then you should forget about it in the first place.

Have a great day!

It’s probably safe to say that 95% of people have a grasp on life but just how many people work to progress? There’s a fine line between making things happen and progress. I continue to read on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and other sites where people write status updates/messages. These messages are of a variety that has no end - from “eating dinner” to “Just read a book” to “Have you seen this video?”. I’m a little baffled how people really get things done towards their goals when they are doing a dozen things within the same hour.

Some time ago I watched a video by Eben Pagan and he talked about productivity a bit. Now this information wasn’t a “never before seen” discovery (although I believe he did some testing on this claim) but his point was that to be truly productive it was best to do things in time blocks. Basically, instead of spreading yourself between 4 things in a given two hours, focus on JUST 1 thing before moving to the next. He claimed it takes 20 minutes to really get into something with deep thought. If you break away from copy-writing and then try to go back, it will take 20 minutes to get into your thought process and frame of mind. If this is accurate then most people are much less productive than they could be…

Eben’s information ties directly into my “Progressive Marketing” course. Generally we all have several things going on in our lives such as family, friends, running a business, creating websites, cooking, school, work, etc.. The concept behind Progressive Marketing is to help you become more productive immediately. There are dozens of things you simply don’t need to spend as much time doing as you probably are currently.

There is a big huff in the Internet marketing world as people struggle to make their first $1000 or even $100 but it’s simply not hard to do if you’ve got the right skills, tools, resources and drive. I’m going to help you get away from that struggle - you’re going to want me to help you.

So where do you get this Progressive Marketing course? When it’s ready, you’ll find it on The Progressive Marketing website. Oh, and you’ll get Free stuff right away - it’s pretty awesome.

Talk to you soon.

~Matt

It certainly took long enough but I’ve finally launched my company website. Do you ever get that feeling like you’ve been working on something for so long yet never made any progress? That’s what I was feeling recently. Finally I sat down to put the finishing touches together so we could push it live. It has been one of the projects that should have taken a couple weeks to do when it really ended up taking about 1.5 months. Man hour wise it was about 30 hours due to changes during the process.

Could you do me a favor and give me some feedback on our website?

Kosh Enterprises

Do you find it hard to navigate? Easy? User-friendly?

Thanks!