I love traveling!

And due my success in life I have been able to travel to some amazing places, from Europe to Costa Rica to a remote Fijian island and many more in between.

However there has been one place I have always wanted to go to but never had a reason to take me there… the Big Apple, New York City.

Fortunately for me I had an event to attend in New Jersey and thought it was a perfect opportunity to go into Manhattan and spend a few days wetting my taste buds on the big city.

And it has been amazing (and I've only been here for a day so far!) - in fact I am going to keep a running diary for you. (With some valuable business and marketing lesson thrown in.)

Day 1 (Monday, April 28th)

Leaving New Brunswick, New Jersey

Living in Dallas, I am used to hopping in a car and driving everywhere. However up here everybody takes public transportation. So I got my first taste today in getting from "Jersey" to my hotel up in the Times Square area.

And in the process, had a CRAZY (and funny) first experience in New York.

After much discussion with several people from the area I met at the event I was attending - they all had an opinion on the best way to get to where I was going which was the Westin Hotel in Times Square. (I am a Starwoods Hotel member because they have the best travel rewards program and customer service so I make it a point to stay at one of their hotels wherever I go.)

So I end up taking the bus, instead of the train, and arrive at the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan.

So far so good.

Here is the funny part.

I walk out of that massive terminal and get a cab. Now, although I was told my hotel would be close by I didn't want to wheel my suitcase all over the place while trying to figure this city out for the first time.

As it turns out, this is his first day to ever drive a cab and I am his first customer. Yeah, it is going to be "interesting!"

I tell him I am going to the Westin hotel on 43rd street at Times Square.

He thinks I said I am going to the West End.

He starts driving and we don't even go half a block and I see the hotel. It was only a block from the station!!

The only problem, he takes a left and heads away from the hotel while looking at his MapQuest book to figure out where this "West End" area is at.

I try to explain that I was mistaken and the hotel was basically across the street from the station and we need to go back there.

We eventually do one big circle and he drops me off where he picked me up, $6 cab fee included.

I am officially welcomed to New York!!

When I go into the hotel I get to go straight to the Starwood Gold member line and a very friendly lady informs me that I was automatically upgraded for free to a Corner Room. Cool, I get upgrades the majority of the time, Starwoods is great, check them out at www.spg.com

I drop my stuff off in my room, quickly pull up a map on my computer to figure out how to get to the place I am doing my video shoot at.

It is about 1.5 miles away. I decide to walk there since I have plenty of time and that turned out to be an excellent decision.

New York (Manhattan) is one of the few (if any cities) you can pretty much walk anywhere.

And being a first time visitor is was an amazing experience to walk the city. I have never seen so many people and so much concentration of buildings and stuff.

Every block has a pizza by the slice, Starbucks, electronics store and hot dog stand.

I stop to get a slice of New York pizza and it was divine, extra grease and all.

Then I arrive at the video studio to be interviewed for the upcoming site www.HomeBusinessBrains.com

Alan and Marcel did an excellent job extracting as much information out of me during our 3 hours together. Definitely check out their site when they launch later this summer - it will be loaded with professional done interviews with at least 5 dozen or more top experts in home business.

My favorite part was before and after the shoot - getting to know those guys better and seeing how similar our stories and experiences in life are.

I head back to the hotel to get changed and ready for one of several highly anticipated parts of my trip.

Going to Jazz Standard.

This is a Jazz Club and barbecue restaurant started by famous New York restaurateur Danny Meyer.

I first read about Mr. Meyer and his award winning New York restaurants and more importantly his passionate commitment to the customer experience (he calls it Enlightened Hospitality) in the book Little Giants. Then, next, I read his own book called Setting The Table.

Needless to say, I was REALLY looking forward to experiencing several of his restaurants while I was in New York and Jazz Standard was my first.

Before I share what happened, let me say that coming from Dallas I have had some amazing BBQ and am pretty picky. And also I have never been to a real jazz club before and know nothing about Jazz. I had no idea what to expect.

I ended up getting seated at the same table as 5 college music art students (I was the 6 person at the table). They let me know that the group that night, Ambrose Akinmusire Project, would be intense. I was a bit nervous… until the food arrived.

I got the rib sampler and it was phenomenal. Their Texas salt and pepper rubbed beef ribs are nothing like I have ever tried before - I was in heaven, and the other ribs were great too. And I washed it all down with an ice cold Belgium white beer.

And the music….

I know nothing about Jazz, but I do know what I listened to was amazing. At one point it almost brought tears to my eyes hearing 4 artists (each of them experts in their instrument) create something amazing up on that stage. And the college musicians I was surrounded by were even more impressed.

I left on cloud nine - Day 1 was a success (despite my crazy cab experience, which I found hilarious even when it was happening.)

To sum my first day in New York up… I have fallen in love at first site with the city.

My two favorite North American cities are New York and Vancouver. It is one of my goals to have vacation condos in both places within the next few years.

What were the marketing lessons?

- When things don't go as planned, instead of letting it get you frustrated and upset (a bunch of unsupporting negative emotions) find the good and humor in it.

- Doing more than your competitors to give your customers a great experience creates very strong customer loyalty. I will stay at a Starwoods member hotel whenever possible because they do the best job of taking care of their customers.

- Find your passion and become the best at it.

- 2 great business books to read are Little Giants and Setting The Table.

- If your business is excellent and goes above and beyond your competitors at the experience it provides your customers, your customers will talk about you - and with the Internet your customer's voice can become VERY strong. (Just look at this blog post as an example.)

~ Kevin

business, kevin wilke, marketing, new york, travel

A bad experience last week provided a great example we could all use to increase repeat purchases from your customers.

Last week I came home from a trip to a strange smell in my house. It smelled like I left some food out and it went really bad… but after tearing my place apart, twice, I couldn't find the culprit.

So I went to the store and bought some odor removing gadgets hoping that would clear up the mysterious smell.

And it had a great device incorporated into it to remind people when it was time to buy more.

You pressed a button and then it would gradually turn completely red over the course of 4 months. Once it is completely red, its a reminder to change the coal filter that lasts just 4 months.

It got me thinking of all the consumer products I have that use a similar "time to reorder" reminder from my razor blades with the blue strip that gradually disappears. To my toothbrush with the colored bristles that eventually turn white.

I am sure those simple visual reminders increase the frequency their customers re-purchase.

What could you do to add helpful "time to re-order" reminders into your business?

At our upcoming Nitro Quattro Workshop we will be sharing with the 25 attendees some of the ones we have discovered to work in our businesses.

So the question you really want to know… what was causing my place to smell like a garbage dump on a warm summer day?

When I went to use my microwave the other day I was greeted to a very unpleasant surprise… a tray of 7-layer bean dip that was put in there at the last get-together I had the week before. I looked everywhere in my house except the microwave!

So if you want an even better tip than the order reminders… don't leave a tray of 7-layer bean dip in your microwave for an entire week. It is not a pleasant experience!

~Kevin

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Last weekend when I was in San Diego for Frank Kern's Mass Control event, I caught Tellman Knudson and Shawn Casey on video. In just 7 short minutes I got them to reveal some of their best list building and profit insider tips.

You'll love Shawn's "hotel room theory" of marketing and "push button daily profits". And how they helped over 300 people start building a list in less than 24 hours. Check it out…

http://www.ListProfitSecrets.com/vid/

I almost forgot, there's a crazy $997 bonus at that page if you act fast.

- Matt

email marketing, list profit secrets, matt gill, shawn casey, tellman knudson

As a reader of the Nitro blog, I didn't want you to miss out on the biggest breakthrough we have experienced in our businesses during the past 3 years. And in the process you can get our hot selling (and success producing) Nitro Blueprint System course for free.

On May 17th and 18th we are holding a small, exclusive workshop in Dallas, Texas for 25 of our Blueprint members. You can read about it here.

We will be teaching those 25 people our most powerful online marketing methods we call "The Quattro." Watch the video on the page and you can see what happens when a business implements The Quattro into what they are doing. Its pretty powerful and scary and should ONLY be used for good.

Here is where it gets slightly confusing…

We are giving our Blueprint members a $500 discount as a "thank you" for being a Blueprint Member (we like to always be over-delivering for our members.)

That means they can sign up to the Quattro Workshop at this page at a $500 discount. You too can get the same discount if you also become a Blueprint customer today.

I know this goes against "standard business procedures". When was the last time your cell phone company told you how to save money by switching to a different plan that would be a better deal for you!

Just follow these 3 simple steps.

FIRST, go here and get your copy of the Nitro Blueprint System today.

http://www.NitroBlueprint.com

SECOND, now that you are a Blueprint customer you can use this link to sign up for the Quattro Workshop at a $500 discount.

http://www.NitroQuattro.com/blueprint

THIRD, come to the event, use what you learn and report back your results to us so we can learn how to make it even better. If you do that we will give you an additional $500 rebate for helping us out. (We like to reward people who help us out.)

If you do the above…

You will get the most complete, step-by-step system on building an online business for $497.

You will then get to attend the Quattro Workshop at a $500 discount (its like getting the Blueprint course for free).

And we will give you an ADDITIONAL $500 rebate after the event in return for your feedback.

However we had already told our Blueprint customers several days ago, so they had head start over you to register (we even have people coming from Australia). Now that we told all of our subscribers the 25 spots will most likely disappear quickly.

If you have any questions about the Quattro Workshop… you can use the live chat at the site to ask one of our Quattro experts your questions. (If he is offline you can also submit your question directly to him via the chat panel and he will personally email you back.)

To your success,

Kevin Wilke

nitro blueprint, nitro quattro

A lot of people ask us this question…

"What's the ONE thing that has contributed the most to your success?"

Lots of people think it is traffic.
Or great copywriting.

Both are important.

But there's something we've been doing since way back in 1998 that is the ONE thing that's most responsible for our longterm success.

Want to know what it is?

Let's see if you can guess it after watching this free training.

Matt Gill

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Well, to some that is the $10,000,000.00 question.

In your business are you the cook, copy writer, salesman, support, and head bottle washer? Now add to that family, friends and maybe another job on the side. Sound familiar?

Ok, now have you heard this one? "Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business." That is a quote from Michael Gerber’s book, the E-Myth. Not only is the book a good read, but it touches on many key points.

How can you expect to grow your customer base, when you are so busy trying to maintain the clients that you already have, that you are running in circles?

One of the major time consumers that you will find chips away at your day is your customer service. You want to keep those clients happy and coming back for more but shesh! You need to get some work done too. How much is your time worth?

I know what you are thinking…at least some of you…Have you seen the cost of customer service help? Actually yes and it is totally worth it. :o)

Think about it, you hire them for 10 to 20 hours of service per week and that is now 10 to 20 hours you do not have to spend working in your business. Now if you take that time and work on your business how many new clients can you bring in?

How many programs can you develop? How many JV partners can you set up? Heck, even take a couple of hours and go out to dinner.

It does hurt a little to make that commitment at first, cut that first check. Ouch! But then take a look at your bottom line once your business begins increasing. Take a look at your stress level as it begins decreasing. The money goes up and the stress comes down…talk about finding balance.

Remember, your company cannot grow beyond your ability to serve your customers. By bringing in that additional help you can change not only the number of customers you can service but also the manner in which your customers are served.

What if you have had a totally awful day? Your servers crashed not once but twice, your e-mail campaign is backed up, you received a charge back and the CRM you used just made an “upgrade” that wiped out 2 weeks of work.

Now Jane Doe has a support request wanting to know why she is being billed for something. And John Smith wants all of his billing records from your company for the entire previous year because he is doing taxes and did not save any receipts.

Do you really think they are going to get the same response and quality of service on that day as every other?

Helpful and consistent support is what you need to keep your customers happy and coming back for more.

If you are finding yourself overwhelmed and all of this makes sense to you; maybe it is time to invest in yourself, your family and your business and make that next big step up from a one man show.

- Meredith

4 hour workweek, business, customer service, outsourcing

Last night's free speed money training was with "Mr X".

After telling a story about how he got into internet marketing, he shared several speed money tactics that can be put to use right away.

Some of the things he shared were:

* The one change you can make to your web pages that will start putting extra money in your
merchant account right away… and will keep on doing that day after day.

* How to save on the single biggest expense in your online business… this one secret could
put $30,000 or more into the profit column on your next promotion. This was a cool tip that can
increase your profits immediately after being implemented.

* The one-hour task that puts a big stack of new sales in your inbox… by tomorrow.

* The Quickstart Online Business Formula that can take you from zero… to having two websites, indexed in Google, building you a list and making sales of your OWN product… in 24 hours (for almost ZERO dollars). Great for newbies.

I highly recommend listening to this free 1-hour speed money training call.

Sign up to hear this call and all future free speed money tactics calls at http://speedmoneytactics.com

Best Regards,
Matt Gill

internet marketing training, speed money

Article marketing is no longer an overnight success like it used to be. After all, what is?

Don’t worry, it’s still a very effective way to market and get hordes of free leads for your business. But Christopher Knight of Ezinearticles.com wrote a series on how to properly use articles to drive traffic, and how it’s all changed.

Here is what he says:

"Ten years ago, if you were doing this strategy, a dozen to 20 articles was all that you needed to get all kinds of traffic from your investment in this strategy. Today, you need 200+ articles to begin to get the same return…

10, 100 or 1,000 articles may not cut it any more. You need thousands of quality original articles that work for you, 24 hours a day. Time to think bigger."

In other words, crank it up and take massive article writing action!

It may seem overwhelming, but it can be done in a very systematic manner that won’t take up much of your time. The only things required are persistence and PATIENCE.

So there are two options…

One is to write just a handful of articles (10 to 20) and submit each of them to dozens of article directories everyday.

The second option is to write hundreds of articles over time (2 or 3 everyday) and submit them to just a few directories daily.

For the first option (writing a small number of articles and using many directories), you’ll probably want to use article submission software. It makes it much easier to submit to several directories at once by automating the entire process.

There are a few good ones out there, such as Article Submitter and Article Announcer.

But from my experience, and from Christopher Knight’s suggestion, the second option will be your best option. It’s better to write hundreds of articles over time, and submit them to 3 to 4 directories that you know work best.

This will require consistent action, and some testing to see which directories are the most effective for you. If you’re going after popular keywords, it’s going to be highly competitive so you must be aggressive!

Here’s a way to short cut the process and get highly ranked in the search engine results.

Do a keyword research on your topic, and find the keywords that people are typing in everyday, but that are less competitive than other popular keywords. Look for keywords that show “buying” signals.

Keywords that have the terms “ebook”, “information”, or “how to” indicate that people are looking for your topic to spend money. Bingo!

Launch 25 to 50 articles with those keywords written in your titles and body of content. Submit them to 3 to 5 directories daily.

50 articles x 5 directories = 250 articles in circulation!

This is very possible to do. Create a routine and plan out your articles with topics and headlines. I suggest writing 2 to 4 everyday, and consider outsourcing some of them.

Eventually, you’ll have thousands of articles floating all over the net driving you tons of traffic everyday…

And it will cost you zero $.

- Shiraz

article marketing, internet, marketing, promotion, web traffic, website

If you want to make money online fast, then the free Speed Money Tactics trainings could be the perfect training series for you.

A speed money tactic is a small action or set of actions you can take in just minutes that will put money in your pocket in hours, or at most days. I just finished listening to the second speed money training call, which was with Matt Bacak. (The guy who taught the big name gurus how to be gurus.) He has been training and working with all kinds of big names - like Armand Morin, Stephen Pierce, Mike Litman, Jim Edwards and so on.

The first question he answered on the call was, "Is it still possible for the "new guy" to come online and make money?" Matt explains why it's actually easier now than ever before. He has spent years creating systems and fine tuning them.

These days, people can come in and take systems that have already been developed through years of experience and trial and error, and have a huge head start.

Everyone is seeking the magic formula, so Ray asked Matt what the most important asset is for people to have. He responded by telling a short story about how a lot of the people he works with suck at what they're doing. Their sales copy and marketing are horrible. He can't even believe people are buying from them because it's so bad. But, they are making money. Why? Because they know this one key to success.

Next, he destroys common excuses like "that won't work in my market", "that won't work with my business", and "that only works with make money online markets".

Up next - Matt gives a speed money tactic that can be implemented right away, and will have you making extra sales immediately. And it all has to do with connecting to your customers in a different way than usual.

The next question was, "If a person is just starting out, with no list or JV contacts, and wants to make their first dollar online, how do they get started? What would you do?" Matt reveals the only 4 things you need, and then shares a few "a ha" moments he's had over the years.

He explains how you need to be like a "drug dealer". Using this analogy, he was able to make over $500,000 during a single teleconference.

To be an online drug dealer, you have to know "where the crack is". In other words, hot niche markets that will always make insane amounts of money. He shares the top 3.

Then he answers the question "Is it possible to make a lot of money without doing a big product launch?" The answer is yes. When he started out, he wasn't accepted into all of the circles.

Product launches are great, but there's something else that's much better. He then shared a key tip (that's extremely simple) about positioning that makes it much more likely for someone to accept you and want to do a JV.

Recap of all the information shared in the second training call:

• Tactic #1: How to start making extra sales immediately by connecting with your customers in a different way.
• Tactic #2: Use the internet to get leads…and then do this with them.
• Tactic #3: Find out which of your customers that carry this one tiny thing (that indicates they have more money than your other customers), and contact them.
• Tactic #4: Become a drug dealer (no, not real drugs…see how this analogy means big money online)
• Tactic #5: Go where you are _____, not ________.

Lastly, Matt made an offer for a special extra bonus he'll give to you if you decide to attend the Speed Money Seminar.

I highly recommend registering for this training and getting all 12 of the Speed Money Tactics while they are available.

Sign up to hear this call and all future free speed money tactics calls at http://speedmoneytactics.com

Best Regards,
Matt Gill

how to make money online, make money online fast, matt bacak, speed money seminar, Speed Money Tactics, speed money training

While I was in LA at Yanik Silver's Underground event, one of the highlights was that I met a really cool guy who has tipped the marketing world on it's head. This guy has figured out the keys to turn normal, boring content and articles into global phenomenons that get tons of traffic. He uses a technique called buzz marketing, and he is currently considered the industry leader.

In one example you can see here he took a standard, boring article, and applied 9 specific tricks, and within 24 hours the article was featured on the homepage of Digg, and he received over 40,000 unique visitors. Other articles he has made have been so successful that they have been discussed in over 24 different languages.

This guy gets thousands of links per week, he has been published in many major newspapers and magazines, and pretty much every major social media site on the net has featured his articles on their main page. In fact, he had the biggest viral success of 2006 and while I was hanging out with him in LA I discovered the never before revealed truth about this stunt.

The guy's name is Dean Hunt, and I asked him if he would exclusively share some of his techniques with you… for free. He has kindly created a series of reports and case studies on EXACTLY how he did it. If you want to have all of his reports sent to your inbox, for free, then you can get them here.

If you can apply his buzz and creativity tricks and techniques to your existing marketing efforts, then it could be the key to unlocking millions of extra visitors for your business.

I have personally read the first three of his reports (he sends one report every couple of days) and they are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Dean is also including 5 additional reports as a special thank you to the first 1,000 people who subscribe, so please be quick.

If you have ever wondered how to generate literally millions of extra visitors per year (yes, I said "millions"), how to dominate social media, and how to get thousands of one-way backlinks, then I strongly recommend you grab your free copy while its still available:

http://www.buzzprofits.com/nitro.html

Dean is also giving $100 to the person who writes the most buzz worthy review of his report on a blog or forum. Simply publish your blog review, include a link to http://www.buzzprofits.com/nitro.html and then contact Dean directly at: deanhunt08@gmail.com with the URL.

~ Kevin

Buzz Marketing, dean hunt, social marketing traffic