Hey there! If you're new here, it'd be great to have you sign up for my RSS feed. If you need a feed reader, you can download one for free here. Thanks for visiting and your comments are welcome anytime.

Getting work done in the summertime isn’t always easy. You’ve got the distraction of the great weather and fun things to do, plus if you’ve got kids out of school…well, you know what I’m saying. A lot of your planning can go right out the window.

Here Are 3 Great Summertime Resources for You:

Surviving Summer at Home: This isn’t specifically for work at home parents, but Christina Lemmey has put together a great free resource to help you keep the kids occupied, having fun and staying out of trouble this summer. NOTE: It’s for elementary school-aged kids.

Hot Summer Seminar Series: Take a little work-related break each Wednesday night. Kelly McCausey has a great line up speakers to give you ideas to heat up your business this summer.

Let Us Do the Work for You: Outsourcing Sweetie Platinum gives you access to my team of workers. Relax, let the kids go wild or go out and have some fun…we’ve got you covered. New Platinum spaces open Friday.

Stress less this summer and get more done.

EDITED: Hey, if you know of a great resource that can help online business owners this summer, post it…even if it’s your own.

Today is the last day to grab your copy of Online Advertising: More Bang for Your Advertising Buck. This easy-to-digest and put-into-action report + audio shows you how to get the more targeted traffic and remove much of the risk that can come with paid advertising.

Offer expires tonight and all the details are here.

After last week’s post about Marketing Blogs - Hollywood Tabloid Style, it got me to thinking about how should one go about defending oneself against criticism.

If you’re in the public eye, you’re bound to face some criticism at some point. Sometimes the criticism is pretty benign and it’s easy to let it just pass by. Other times, it can be harsh and very public…so what do you do?

I remember back when Kelly and I started MomMasterminds.com, we came under some heavy criticism because we were doing something that hadn’t really been done in the work at home mom community…and we were charging a premium for it.

Some vocal members of the WAHM community questioned, “Who are they to say they are experts?” and were we really qualified to teach others. At the time, I defended myself, but avoided a heated battle. Most of the defense was done by people who already knew the results we could bring, but it was hard to hold myself back.

Fast forward a few years later and sure there are probably a few that whisper “Who do they think they are?” - but most of that has subsided. We just worked hard and proved ourselves.

But what do you do when someone just wants to cause trouble and personally attack you? Do you defend yourself or do you let it slide?

Whenever I have been tempted to go into an all-out battle, I do remember something I heard Armand Morin say. When there’s public crucifixion of himself or his products, he says he just stands back and let’s everyone else battle it out. And as he does that, he watches the orders that pour in as a result. Showing there really is some truth to the statement that “Any publicity is good publicity.”

(Coincidentally, the public criticism that Kelly & I faced a few years back resulted in a rush of new members for us too.)

There will always be some people who are on your side and others that aren’t…maybe we should just let people make their minds up on their own.

Whatcha think? It’s your turn…do you feel compelled to defend yourself? Or if you’ve never had to defend yourself, how do you think you’d react?

Last week, I made a call for guest bloggers for this summer. If you’ve like to have an opportunity to be a guest Sweetie, I’ll repost the details.

But first -> YES! Guys can be guests too! I’ve had a few guys ask if they could be a guest blogger and OF COURSE they can. Some of my favorite Internet Marketing Sweeties are men.

Here are the details reposted:

If you’re in the B2B / Internet Marketing market, this might be a great opportunity for some additional exposure. I’m looking for people to commit to contributing a bi-weekly original blog post from July - September (approx 8 blog entries)…and if we like working together, we can probably continue on after that.

In return, you will receive a biographical page on the Sweetie website and you can include a byline in each entry.

If you’re interested, please a quick resume to my assistant Mel at news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com with the following info:

1. Your full name.
2. Best email address for contact.
3. Your business URL.
4. Topics you’d like to write on.
5. Links to 3 samples of your work.
6. Can you commit to 8 original blog posts?*
7. Do you have experience using WordPress (not required, but helpful)?

*Note: There are no specific length requirements, just that the content must be useful. It must be original text (not published elsewhere). The 8 posts can be prescheduled, so if you are on holiday or away during the July - Sept period at all, you can still participate. All posts are subject to editing and approval.

I may have written on this topic before. I do know that we have definitely discussed it with our All Private Label Content members, but not sure if I’ve addressed it on this blog. But because I’ve seen the topic creep up in a few places in the past week or so, I thought it was worth a chit-chat.

Here is the myth: You can buy search engine optimized PLR (private label rights) articles.

If you ever been sold PLR articles on the basis that they were keyword researched and search engine optimized, I’m afraid that you were sold what I’d like to call the “PLR Dream”.

I am not suggesting it was done maliciously or that anyone was out to scam you. I’m saying that people try to sell us what we want to hear…not necessarily what is practical or real. It happens with PLR, information products and software every single day. Sometimes, we need to use our more critical eyes to see through it.

Here’s the problem and why should never rely on the “optimization” of PLR articles:

These articles are being sold to other people. If we all take the article, “How to Stop Snoring” and put it on our site, how many of us do you think will rank well for that very specific phrase?

Not many.

Now, I’m not totally naive. Despite the fact, that everyone talks about Google’s duplicate filters, there are plenty of top 20 search results that will show the same article for the same keyword phrase.

Regardless, if the article is sold 50, 100 or even 1000 times…there is no way that everyone who uses it will rank for the target phrase.

So What Should You Do?

Do your own simple keyword research. Take a few moments and use Wordtracker or Google’s search tool and find an alternate suitable phrase.

Change the article to reflect that new phrase and rework the article slightly for that phrase as well. You can also edit for style, to suit your audience, etc. if you want. Top it off by making links to the article with the new keyword phrase and you’re more prepared to see some traffic.

Our full monthly members (All Mom Content, All Health Content, All Finance Content & All Marketing Content) have access to a video and guide that explains the whole process. But in all seriousness, it’s not that complicated. Simple RE-optimization is what will bring you the traffic.

Now, if you see PLR being sold as search engine optimized, no need to run the other way. If the quality is good, simply take the few extra steps most members won’t and get your yummy piece of the search engine pie.

If you’re a regular reader here at the Sweetie blog, you’ll know that the 3rd Saturday of each month marks the arrival of the monthly Sweetie Saturday Report.

To Report Club Members: If you’re a member, this brand new report is already in your account. If you’re not a member yet, info on signing up comes in a bit.

This month’s topic is sure to please those who are looking to get more traffic and generate more sales without taking huge risks.

Introducing: Online Advertising: More Bang for Your Advertising Buck…this is your guide to turn paid advertising opportunities into PROFITS, instead of feeling like you’re gambling your money away.

This guide includes a written report plus full audio recording discussing:

Why only focusing on free methods of traffic generation is seriously limiting your business.

Why online advertising is so much easier and often more cost-effective than traditional offline advertising.

The two simple calculations that make it possible to take you from SPENDING money to MAKING money with your advertising.

Simple ways to track and improve your advertising efforts.

Where to send your advertising traffic for best response.

What types of advertising you can buy and tips for using them.

5 crucial things you must consider before purchasing any advertising.

Writing your ad text for maximum results.

At only 18 easy-to-digest pages (or listen to the audio if you prefer), it’s easy to whip through and start making smart decision with your paid advertising. And seriously, a few of those pages are just graphics, so that means you can go through the guide even faster. No sense in reading all day, when you can be DOING and generating more traffic that converts to sales.

This guide + audio is for YOU and as always, by purchasing a Sweetie Saturday awesome deal, you also receive resell rights (yep it also includes the graphics). This means you can sell it or add it to a paid product as a bonus. The only thing you can’t do is give it away for free or sell the rights to anyone else.

This offer is good ONLY until: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 10:30 PM PST and then I won’t sell this report to the general public again.

How to Order:

THIS OFFER IS EXPIRED…PLEASE SEE BELOW HOW YOU CAN STILL GET THE GUIDE BY JOINING THE SWEETIE SATURDAY REPORT CLUB.

By the way, this is the LAST month I will be offering these reports for individual sale to the public. Starting in July, the only way to get the monthly reports will be by joining the Sweetie Saturday Report Club. It’s hard work setting up my shopping cart up each month, so I’m going to make it easy on myself and my members to get the goods.

Get the Report for Only $9 by Joining the Club…

Click here to join the Sweetie Saturday Report Club for $9 per month and instantly receive a new Sweetie Saturday Report each month. You can cancel at any time.

Cool NEW Members-Only Perk: We’ve just added the Essential Biz Notes monthly supplement.

It is a personal letter from me including a variety of strategies and recommendations for all aspects of your online business. It’s been a whole lot of fun writing this month’s issue that includes help on having the confidence to make GREAT and growth-inspiring decisions for your online business.

In an online world where just about everything can be tested and tracked, I think it’s easy to forget that there are still human beings creating the data for all those wonderful calculations that allow us to increase our conversion rates and ROIs. Of course, I talked about this just a little while back in a post entitled Myth: It Comes Down to Conversions.

But I saw a comment on a forum today that made me want to revisit the subject.

The subject of Virtual Agents (you know those annoying pop-up scripts that pretend to a be real human giving you a last ditch offer before you leave a website?) reared its head again. The person who created the thread was complaining about how annoying they were and how he felt they were a bit dishonest. Others chimed in with similar opinions.

Others stated that it didn’t matter what we thought, but that if the Virtual Agents increased conversions, then they were worth looking at. I can accept that. Personally, it’s not always about the bottom line for me, but I can accept that my opinion shouldn’t guide what someone else should do with their business.

But the most curious comment came up. Here’s what one forum member said:

“Well I look at it like this…

If you’re annoyed by the Virtual Assistant then you were NOT going to buy anyway, right..? So for the times it does save a sale it’s completely worth it…

If a non-buyer gets upset then so-be-it… they won;t be back anyway, right?”

Honestly, it felt like a bit of regurgitation of advice I’d seen before where the context made more sense. But what the heck? If a potential customer is put off or offended by something in your sales process, they’re not serious?

Does that mean we have carte blanche to do what we want, insult our customers and they’ll still buy if they are serious about our product?

Of course not, but it seems to me that’s what this forum member was saying. There are so many reasons we lose sales and realistically, we have little to no control over most of them. But I think it’s a mistake to attempt put yourself in a safe place and justify the loss of every customer is based on the fact that they’re not serious.

Have you ever walked into a store, ready to buy something and left because a sales clerk was unhelpful or rude?

Or worse, have you ever convinced yourself that your own prospect wasn’t serious because they didn’t like something about your own order process?

Something really weird is going on with some marketing blog bloggers that seem to have gone tabloid. I think it’s totally cool to disagree with people and you should be a man/woman and have the guts to say who you’re disagreeing with - but what’s with the personal shots?

Next we’ll be seeing photos of our cellulite-covered bathing-suit clad bottom halves saying “You’ll never guess who,” exposing all gurus and their ever-growing computer-planted behinds. Or maybe when that skinny guru (I think there are a couple!) goes to a sushi restaurant and shares one piece of sushi with his/her skinny friend, we’ll hear all about it.

I jest, but I admit I was kind of surprised by a couple of personal jabs this week.

One of note - came from Rick Butts and his blog post entitled Worst Internet Marketing Advice I’ve Ever Heard. This post was a video response to this post by Ross Goldberg. I got pulled into the whole thing because I commented on Ross’s post as I disagreed with what he said and Rick addressed my comment in his video. Yes, it sounds like a soap opera, I know. Don’t worry if you don’t follow, just watch Rick’s video and you’ll see what I mean.

Now, I realize that Rick likes to use a bit of humor, so I can cut him some slack. But his video alluding to the fact that Ross may fancy himself as a vampire and other comments, made me wriggle in my seat a little. Why not just state your argument and inject humor where it isn’t directed at a particular individual? But hey, if that’s Rick’s thing…it’s Rick’s thing and it looks like Rick and Ross have decided to discuss things on a more even-handed level.

Warms my heart.

But then I came across this post on Mashable that contained no humor, took comments out of context and was clearly written to take personal shots. The post is entitled, Is Twitter Vulnerable to Marketer Attack? by Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins and he uses bits and pieces of an email from John Reese to illustrate that marketers are taking advantage of Twitter.

He refers to John’s customers as victims and states his concern that “there are a million affiliate marketers with even less scruples” - oh please. If you want to make an argument, make one based on the facts and true issues in front of him. Forget the fact that no marketer, spammer or idiot can actually ruin Twitter because it’s completely permission-based - if you do actually have an argument, just make it.

EDIT: You can read John Reese’s response to Hopkins’ post here.

Sure, I realize these guys do this to bring in traffic - as we know controversy is a great attention-getter (and it works cuz I’m sending these guys traffic). But does controversy need to be so personal?