How about a site evaluation from Cool Site of the Day?

I'm happy to announce that, for a limited time, we're offering comprehensive site evaluations. I say 'limited time' because quite frankly they're a lot of work and I don't know how long we can keep at it.

Click here

If you decide to take advantage of this service I promise you won't regret it. We'll scour your website and make recommendations related to the following:

1. Generating Traffic & Creating Leads (including a thorough Search Engine Optimization analysis)
2. Converting Leads into Customers
3. Content (making your site STICKY)

When you submit your site for an evaluation I promise you will get my personal attention (others have already said that the phone consultation alone is more valuable than anything else they've received).

BTW, if you'd like a taste of what I can do for your site, mark your calendar for today at 1:30PM EST (Thursday, 7/24) and join my live call-in webcast, Cool Talk. Once dialed in I'll be happy to give you a quick review of your site along with some 'ready to implement' tips and strategies....and don't be surprised if the Cool Talk Panel of Experts chime in with some great ideas as well. It happens every Thursday and it's FREE. To register for the call, click here.

Finally, I encourage you to leave a comment below...or post your URL and invite us to check out your site. Those who post at least 10 separate comments on this blog will get a free Cool Site of the Day tshirt. Good until August 15th.

Talk to you later!

Mike

Do you love AWeber, too?

Did you get my SEO map yesterday?

Were you on the Cool Talk live webcast yesterday? If you were, then you not only got a first time glimpse of my own personal SEO process map, you also heard us dissect each element and discuss the most critical 'must do' tasks related to search engine marketing.

Click on the image above to launch my map and then return to this window and click on the play button below to hear the 'play by play' by my panel of experts.

To your success!

Mike

The Cool Talk Panel of Experts

My weekly LIVE call-in webcast, Cool Talk, begins every Thursday at 1:30PM EST.

Each week I am joined by Markus Allen of Stump Markus and Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing, two giant online marketing minds freely sharing their most prized tips, strategies and methods for running web sites and mastering online marketing.

Markus Allen

For a boatload of crafty marketing tips, I highly recommend that you tune in to Markus' live podcast, Stump Markus.

They say there's 'no free lunch'? Listening to Markus Allen deliver a free brain dump for 90 minutes is about as good a deal as you're gonna find anywhere.

Even better, be sure to get the 30-day free trial to his Marketing Junkies Inner Circle membership -- it's a steal at just $19 monthly.



Ian Lurie

Ian Lurie started Portent Interactive in 1995. His diverse background includes degrees in History and Law, experience as an information designer, graphic designer, marketing copywriter and programmer, two years working in a bicycle shop, and a brief stint as a political hack. As a child he used a TRS-80 Model One to print out fliers advertising his lawn mowing business. The rest is history.

Ian is the firm's chief internet marketing strategist and tactician. Read Ian's internet marketing blog, or see where Ian's presented recently here.

Don't miss this chance to get free expert advice (or just a kick in the pants) to move your online business in a very forward, very positive direction. Listen to previous episodes or register for the next show from the widget below.

To join us live, Click Here!

Mike

SEO: I share my SEO process map for the first time

Hey, is it Wednesday already?!

Less than 24 hours before another addition of Cool Talk.

Tomorrow promises to be another chock full of valuable links gabfest. With any luck, I'll be joined by Makus Allen and Ian Lurie, and a growing cast of Cool Talk regulars ready to share their latest online marketing and web design tips and tricks.

Here's just a sampling of what I plan to cover during tomorrow's live webcast:

• Taking credit and making money from product recommendations
  
• SEO - the best free tools revealed. Plus, we discuss site structure from an SEO vantage point.
• A great firefox browser add-on from Yahoo to help you analyze your site's performance
  
• My 'Eureka' moment regarding GETTING THINGS DONE.
• Blogging - which platform is right for you? And what's the best way to ping?
  
• Typepad vs. Wordpress
  
• How can we value a link from a site with a Page Rank of 7?
• Sales Pages/Letters - should you use scare tactics? We'll make it easy to decide
  
• What should you ask for on your email capture forms?

If you haven't taken advantage of these free call-in webcasts, you don't know what you're missing. And more importantly, you're missing out on connecting with future business partners, mentors, and advisors.

Talk to you tomorrow HERE.

Mike

P.S. Hey, have you noticed that 'web 2.0' sites are inspired by a kind of playfulness. Here's a cool site that features some of the best web 2.0 designs and applications--a good source of inspiration for YOUR next Web project. Check out Ziipa today.

Cool Talk is LIVE every Thursday at 1:30PM EST

Join me and some very special guests during my weekly LIVE call-in webcast, Cool Talk.

Cool Talk begins every Thursday at 1:30PM EST.

Each week I am joined by a panel of experts who freely share their most prized tips, strategies and methods for running web sites and mastering online marketing.

Don't miss this chance to get expert advice (or just a kick in the pants) to move your online business in a very forward, very positive direction. Listen to previous episodes or register for the next show from the widget below.

To join us live, Click Here!

Mike

Web marketing and your personalized snack bar

Last Thursday's episode of Cool Talk is ready for your ears.

You'll be amazed at how a last minute call to the folks at YouBar ignited a firestorm of great ideas for their site AND yours.

Listen in for your essential online marketing tips and strategies...

And here are the links (by category) referred to during the show:

Getting Leads

http://www.coolsite.com/2008/06/57-mind-blowing-links-just-for-you.html


Converting Leads

http://www.humansonline.com

Content Tools

http://www.disqus.com
http://www.Primopdf.com
http://www.cover-action-pro.com
http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html
http://resizepic.com/
http://gui.picresize.com/picresize2/

Misc/Fun

Hilarious animated flick about myspace, facebook, et. al.
http://current.com/items/88913552_social_networking_wars

What are they saying about you?
http://www.strategicprofits.com/tools/reputation-monitor/

Yanik and Mike jump out of a plane for charity
http://www.BusinessAdventures.com/halo

Make a bobblehead of YOU
http://www.1miniyou.com/index.php

Got a question? Poll the world.
http://the-hive-mind.com

Browsing the social way
http://www.flock.com

Finally, mark your calendar and bring your questions to this Thursday's edition of Cool Talk (1:30 PM EST).

Mike

P.S. This blog is near 17,000 readers! Thank you and welcome to all new comers. Please tell your friends and colleagues to visit (use the links below to send e-mail invitations or post to the social networking sites listed).

View a snapshot of every web page you visit

Here's something fun. Just got this from a friend of the developer. This Firefox Add On (you are using Firefox, aren't you?) shows you a snapshot of every site you visit.

Would love to hear your thoughts about this.

WebMynd · Extension for Firefox

Mike

Hilarious video about social networking sites..

A better way to 'comment' on your blog

I love when things fall into place like this.

For weeks, I've wanted to find a better 'commenting' module for this blog (the default 'Comments' feature provided by blogger just wasn't cutting it for me...or you).

So here's what happened: I got an e-mail one hour ago from Jeff S. asking me to join his network on Plaxo (which, BTW, provides a very cool integration of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Plurk and a dozen other social networking sites).

Even though I'm buried in social media I figured I'd give it a go because I noticed that a good bunch of my friends and colleagues were online with Plaxo.

Glad I did...

While setting up my profile on Plaxo I learned of a cool plug-in for blogs that makes 'commenting' much more usable. The plug-in is Disqus and according to them:

"Disqus makes your comments more interactive for readers and easier to manage for you — all while connecting your community with other blogs."

Awesome! I couldn't ask for more (although we all know 'more' will be coming from Disqus and a hundred other start-ups before we can say "great, just what I needed").

Bottom line is this: WE are all going to kick the tires on this one as soon as they work out an integration issue with blogger.

Stay tuned.

Mike

Online Leads: How to get them, convert them, and give them what they want

One of the most useful areas of the Cool Site blog is the Great Resources section in the right panel.

I'm constantly updating and refining this list based on my own experience as well as suggestions made by my readers and listeners during Cool Talk (hint: you'll want to bookmark www.coolsite.com and review the Resources section at least once a month).

In case you haven't already discovered these truly great resources, here they are (grab a coffee, fire up your Diigo toolbar and start tagging).

• Action Pop


• ActiveWords


• AdImpact


• AffSpy


• Aweber EMail Autoresponder


• Become a Top Story


• Bubbl (process maps)


• CGIconnection (scripts-cheap and easy!)


• ChoiceMail (stop SPAM!)


• Ebook Gold


• Formspring


• GetResponse Autoresponder


• GoldbarOne (tools, tools, tools!)


• Google Adwords


• Internet Business Manifesto


• Internet Marketing Monthly


• Keywordtopia


• Product Launch Formula
  
  
• PRWeb
  
  
• PRWizard
  


• Rewardscan


• ScribeFire (Firefox Blog Tool)
  
  
• SEOmoz.org
  
  
• Site Build It!


• Split Test Accelerator


• Step by Step Profit


• StomperNet


• StumpMarkus


• TalkStream


• Traffic Geyser


• Web Marketing Concepts


• Website Wizard
  

Please share this post by clicking on the ShareThis button below...and tell-a-friend about it.

Cheers,

Mike

Who's walking on my screen?!

Every week I sit in amazement over how much is available to all of us who live and breathe online marketing. Just as impressive are all the web addicts out there who are willing to freely share their expertise and knowledge with anyone who asks.

I'm proud to be a part of a select group of true webmasters who come together every Thursday during my live call-in webcast, Cool Talk, to answer questions and share their best online tips and strategies.

The most recent episode of Cool Talk was not short on good ideas and great advice. Here are some useful links from our conversation (if you find these useful, please click the 'sharethis' button below. Also, you can add your favorite links by adding a 'Comment' at the end of this post. I look forward to seeing whatever you contribute).

Again, Cool Talk is live every Thursday at 1:30PM EST. Mark your calendars and join us to have your questions answered.


Generating leads and customers

There's no doubt that video has become a big plus in creating stickiness for a site. Well, how about virtual spokespersons or online video spokespersons? You know, you visit a site and a person starts walking and talking across your screen to drive your attention towards something (like an email sign-up form or a product features page).

If done right, this tool can be VERY effective. HumansOnline seems to have produced a features-packed variation of this animal that leaves competitors in the dust. I've invited the President of HumansOnline, Greg Sheppard, to join us this Thursday on CoolTalk--there are way too many cool features for me to cover in this short post.

Speaking of video, check out Seesmic. It's not a bulletin board, it's a video board...with a very entertaining intro. Bottom line, just another cool way to reach out to prospects.

How about press releases? You sending them? You should. You've probably heard about PRWeb but one of my readers, Cliff from OPC Marketing, swears by PRWizard.


Converting your traffic

Thanks to Markus Allen for this link to Michel Fortin's CopywritersBoard re: Top 12 Reasons Web Sites Fail To....


Great marketing advice and tools

A recent add to this blog's 'Great Resources' section (right panel) is GoldbarOne. If you can find a better suite of tools for the price, please e-mail me. No matter where you are in your web experience, GoldbarOne has at least a handful of tools that you must be using (and they're all under one roof).

In case you're wondering, GoldbarOne has been around for nearly 10 years and they just keep over delivering on what they offer (I'm currently using a handful of their tools and plan on reviewing the whole package in a future post. In the meantime, I recommend visiting GoldbarOne and click on the linked text that reads:

See how businesses just like yours are using GoldbarOne to Get More Traffic, More Leads & More Sales everyday.

Another awesome resource is CGIconnection where, for a ridiculously low price, you can have access to thousands of useful scripts for your site (and it includes automatic installation so anyone can benefit from them).

Thinking about starting an online store? In addition to GoldbarOne , check out Volusion.


Miscellaneous

Shop5 (the Cool Site of the Day on June 19th)

You twitter? Try Plurk.

Have SEO envy? Check out the many free tools (like this one) at SEOmoz...and read some of the many useful articles to quickly advance your knowledge of the search engine universe.

Got an RSS Feed? Every now and then you may need to give it a quick maintenance check with FeedValidator.

Thanks to Keith H. for recommending Defensive Design for the Web, an excellent book on web design with plenty of examples (good and bad).

Finally, here's a cute digital post-it notes generator.

Until next time,

Mike