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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION
2. FREEBIES
3. MARKETING AND TECH TIPS
4. BUSINESS PROGRAM CHANGES
5. PAID EMAIL/SURVEY/SURF CHANGES
6. COMING SOON

Introduction

Sorry for the delay in this month's issue. The kids had school holidays in December/January, and I have been wallowing in the world of MLMs, sorting out which ones are worthy of staying in. You will probably notice a lot of changes in the Business Opportunities section of my website, as I have been rationalising my paid programs. As my site is focussed on free/low-cost solutions, some just didn't met the criteria, so off they went.

From now on this ezine will be at least monthly. So expect your next copy mid-March at the latest.

During the intervening period, I will be experimenting with safelists and doing some groundwork on search engines. So hang around for the next issue.

Initially this ezine was single-opt-in, but as a precaution against spam complaints, I have now (manually) made it double-opt-in. So if you have not already sent a second email to chrish bw@hotmail .com confirming your desired membership, then this will be the last newsletter you receive.

By the way, if you can recommend an autoresponder that handles double-opt-in confirmations with IP addresses, feel welcome to drop me a line. Sorry for the cumbersome signup process. It can only get better!

Freebies

Here is a good free ebook called "Free Publicity for Your Website".
Free Publicity

I'm sure you already know about FG-A.COM. They have free gifs and animations, plus a lot more. Just give them credit when you use their stuff.

At fg-a.com I was checking out free forums to add to my site. I was a hard choice, but I went to Bravenet. I can't believe I haven't visited Bravenet before. It has the best collection of free tools I have seen. Visit Bravenet.com

As a subscriber to the TopProfits newsletter, they gave me the reseller/giveaway rights to their bestselling TrafficJam Formula ebook. So now I can share it with you for free. Click here to download: TrafficJam

Marketing and Tech Tips

Crazybrowser again. You just have to use it if you use traffic exchanges. I'm sure thats why my hits and signups are finally soaring! And in conjunction with ExitCashFlow's rotator, I can earn money, even with CB's pop-up stopper. Traffic programs are a great way of getting hits.

I heard a horror story this month about a well-known internet guru who took revenge on somebody who bad-mouthed his program, by guessing that he used the same userid and password in all of his programs. So he logged on to his victim's accounts and caused a fair bit of mischief. PLEASE use different passwords for your different programs. I have started using the free ROBOFORM program to encode different passwords and save them in passcards that automatically popup when you return to your program. Visit Roboform.com. Very handy.

Anti-virus programs are not enough. You need a firewall. You can get a free version of ZoneAlarm from Zonelabs.com (I got mine from the Aussie APC magazine and CD). I am amazed at how many attempts to access my ports I was notified of, until they realised I was now blocking them.

And if you have ever downloaded a free program (eg KAZAA) you probably downloaded some spyware, as well. I ran AD-AWARE for the first time and found 6 spyware/advertising programs. Now they are gone. Download it for free from lavasoftusa.com

Autosurf programs get a lot of publicity these days, theoretically in response to popular demand. But most people just login, startup the autosurf program, and go to bed. So nobody actually sees your ad! Sure your hit counter has gone up, but nobody is there to signup. What a waste of bandwidth.

The bigboss virus is currently floating around. There is a free program called Mail Washer that you can logon to any pop3 email box and look at all the mail before you download it. Check a box and it's gone before it even gets a chance at your computer. Visit Mailwasher.net

Business Program Changes

TheLastMLM has been a classic example of MLM's shortcomings. They offered 5 (paid) guaranteed signups. But the numbers always fail in the end. After 3 months, they had given me only 3 signups, and none of those signups paid their monthly fees. Logically, as member number 10,000 (approx), that meant they needed 50,000 people to be able to satisfy people who signed up before me. And that wasn't happening. So people started dropping out, starting from the bottom. And that, folks, is how MLM programs fail.

Downline Success has also folded, without even bothering to send a notifying email. Apparently no-one bothered to sign up to the programs when it was their turn. I wonder if that will happen with the new straight-line downline clubs when it is time to pay up.

Visit Worldwidescam.com before you sign up for a program. Check if the owner of the program you are interested in is mentioned there. Some opinions may be biased, but you get a good idea of how a program is viewed by experienced marketers. I decided to leave Referralware because more than one of the programs they recommend are blasted on worldwidescam.

The traditional MLM structure is coming under attack, and rightly so. Unless it really has a product you want, most MLMs fail because people at the bottom are losing. In response we now have a bunch of downline groups offering different approaches. Straight-line (1worldline), reverse matrixes (MLMEthics), sub-groups (Equalchance, Residual Club) are some of the offerings. Check them out on my business page.

Like many, I have had problems with Paypal (slow) and E-gold (theft), so luckily StormPay thundered in. They have just introduced a free affiliate program. See here for details: Stormpay

PAID EMAIL/SURVEY/SURF CHANGES

Join all my programs (or at least 5) from this section, and I will help build you a webpage like mine. You will need your own hosting (eg freewebs), and I can upload the source for you, with your links.

WeBeWebin disappeared and came back.

Spedia surfbar to replace Degoo. Spedia has a great hourly pay rate, but doesn't currently like Crazybrowser. So I do slow stuff like emails, and the odd game of Tetris in IE with the Spedia surfbar at the bottom, to earn money. It has a great reputation!

Joined SurveySavvy for free. They will send surveys and pay you if you complete them.

Joined SendMoreInfo. They also have one of the better reputations around.

Coming Soon

Given that I only advertise programs I am a current member of, I thought you might like more information about programs I left, or decided not to join.

The intent is not to sledge other programs, but to warn of risks or weaknesses that you may not be aware of, and to share your experiences.

So at the bottom of the Business Opportunities website page, there will SOON be a link to a new page giving information about programs I left/didn't join. Info will be formatted as PROs, CONs, and RESPONSE.

Subscribers to this ezine will be welcome to add their comments through the guestbook and forum, soon to be added, although I may edit comments for space reasons.

In a blatant attempt to improve search engine rankings, I will also be creating a new section on the website, for link exchanging. I will only allow one ad per program, from current subscribers, so watch the website, or wait until next months announcement, so you can be first with your site.

And if you have a useful tip that I haven't covered, send it in, and the best tip will WIN a 5 line ad in the next issue of this newsletter.