Freemiums are changing the way money is made online

If you’ve not heard the term “freemium” you’ve more than likely at least participated in one.
Have a Flickr account?

I know, it’s free… but you can always upgrade once you’re addicted, I mean “acclimated.”
Think of it as a sea change in marketing or the biggest paradigm shift marketing has seen since television.

How so?
Well, instead of getting a piece of bourbon chicken on a toothpick to entice you to buy the entree at the food court, now, you get the meal but the drink or dessert are not free.
Make sense?
You’re reading a post on a WordPress blog right now.
These blogs are free to set up and you can take advantage of 95% of what they have to offer.
But down the road, you can pay for enhanced services like video hosting, which I’ve not chosen yet.
Instead, I like the idea of tying my social media real estate together by hosting video on YouTube and embedding videos in blog posts like this one.
Keep an eye out and you’ll start to see freemiums everywhere.

All the best,

Chris

Interns – a wonderful “secret” weapon for driving traffic.

Ok, so “Crakalicious” is not a user name I would have chosen for a popular blog comment post, but who am I to judge?!
There is a point to this and it’s a good one.
I’ve used interns for years to delegate tasks and provide opportunity.
As a former intern myself, I was given a fantastic opportunity that I ran with… no, I sprinted with, to translate it into an editor-ship with a startup that is still in business after over 15 years.
I’m pretty proud of that.
Oh, right, let me get back to the point.
This post is about interns and one simple way I’ve employed them to get important, but time-consuming tasks, done.
Specifically, commenting on popular blog posts (definitely after reading them!) and linking back to my various web presences.
It’s a great way to build traffic, but it’s a low-dollar/hr task that I just can’t do any more.
Why is it ok?
Because my interns actually read the blog posts they comment on.
That’s pretty important, speaking as a blogger that has to sift through loads of spam comments that have nothing to do with my erudite (humbly spoken) writings, and link back to ridiculous sites, some of which make me sick.
And where did the name “Crakalicious” appear?
Well, I’m still laughing about it because it was on a CNN blog post about drug use.
Of course, junior and I had a talk and that name disappeared.
Then he replaced it with “John Smith” and we had another talk.
Now he uses his real name and we’re both happy

All the best,

Chris

Fantastic tools for your blog… if you use WordPress (and why you should)

Ever find yourself wanting something to be easier? I do all the time, especially when I’m driving, although I don’t text and drive any more (come on, we’ve all done it a time or two). Well, WordPress has the cure, as if they haven’t done enough already!
Now, instead of having to pull over or even stop and switch pages, you can now dial your blog and post an audio recording. Then, you can grab the shortlink and email/tweet/facebook it to everyone on your list.  I am so onboard.

If you do not already have a blog set up on WordPress.com, go for it because the free tools and traffic available are amazing. You can now go to your My Blogs tab, enable Post by Voice, and get a special number and code to call your blog. After you’re done, the audio file from your phone call will be posted to your blog for all to listen to and enjoy. (And added to your RSS feed for podcast support.)

So now you can post to your WordPress via the web, email, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, desktop clients, and now any telephone in the world. Of course when you post it can be pushed to Facebook, Twitter, and more using the Publicize feature.
Right now it’s free, and the good folks at WordPress are allowing recording lengths up to sixty minutes, but that limit may go down without a paid upgrade in the future. I’m going to give it a shot right now!

All the best,

Chris

Move quickly online and you'll win