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What Tasks to Delegate and Outsource in Your Business

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. If you are at your maximum workload capacity and are looking to bring someone on to lighten your load, make a list of your current work-related responsibilities and …

Should I Hire an Employee or Bring on an Independent Contractor?

contractors file vs having employees

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. In the United States, there are two broad categories of workers—employees and independent contractors. Employees tend to work for a single company and contractors tend to do a …

Starting a Business? You Need a Team

working inside a box to signify working in your business vs working on your business

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. There are two broad categories of work related to your business—working on your business and working in your business. If you have read the book E-Myth by Michael …

How to Generate Sales for Your Digital Products After Launch

cat shopping online buying some digital products

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. You might generate a large number of sales during your initial launch period only to find that sales taper off after the promotional efforts for your launch conclude. …

Tools to Help Make Your Digital Product Launch a Success

a lot of old instruments in tool box

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. There are several companies that produce software and services geared toward people selling digital products. Here are some software packages and services you might consider using as part …

Startup Q&A #4: Allocating Profit, Finding Service Professionals, Selling an Equity Stake, and Hiring

startup q&a logo

Watch or Listen to This Episode: Watch on YouTube (Video) Watch on Facebook (Video) Download MP3 File (Audio) Subscribe to Startup Q&A Subscribe via YouTube (Video) Subscribe via iTunes (Audio) Subscribe via Stitcher (Audio) Subscribe via Google Play Music (Audio) Subscribe via RSS (Audio) Growth Hack of the Week: Export your contact list from LinkedIn …

How to Successfully Launch Your First Digital Product

Grand opening ballon sign

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. In order to successfully launch a product to your audience, you need to make a really big deal about your launch and give your audience incentives to buy …

How to Create Your First Digital Product

Close-up Of Businessman Hand Planning To Do List

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Before you begin creating an outline, writing or recording videos, the first step to creating your digital product is writing the marketing copy you plan on using to …

Startup Q&A #3: MLMs, Business Incorporation, Pitching Investors and Angel Investing

startup q&a logo

Watch or Listen to This Episode: Watch on YouTube (Video) Watch on Facebook (Video) Download MP3 File (Audio) Subscribe to Startup Q&A Subscribe via YouTube (Video) Subscribe via iTunes (Audio) Subscribe via Stitcher (Audio) Subscribe via Google Play Music (Audio) Subscribe via RSS (Audio) Growth Hack of the Week: Stop doing low-value tasks in your …

Automatic Income Is Now Available

Automatic Income, my first book specifically about investing, is now available. In my role as the founder of MarketBeat.com, and as an investor myself, I learn about a lot of different investment strategies. There are so many voices making recommendations in this space that it’s hard for most investors to sort it all out. I …

Startup Q&A #2 – Content Creation at Scale, Automation, Business Debt and More.

startup q&a logo

(Note from Matt: Startup Q&A is an experimental video show that I am working on. It is in “beta” and production values will steadily improve from week to week.) Links: Watch on YouTube Watch on Facebook Download Audio (MP3) Subscribe to Audio Podcast Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Google Play Growth Hack of the Week: …

When Should You Start Selling Digital Products in Your Online Business?

Deserted island With Palm Trees - wait for good traffic before launching digital product

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Launching an online business requires an incredible amount of work over a long period of time and there’s never quite enough time to get everything done that you …

Why People Will Buy Digital Products from Your Online Business

Close up of a happy woman hand buying online with a laptop and paying with a credit card

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. You might think that you won’t be able to sell a digital product to your audience because there are people that know more than you that are already …

Startup Q&A #1 – Going Full-Time, Hiring Employee #1, Tackling Big Ideas and More.

(Note from Matt: Startup Q&A is an experimental video show that I am working on. It is in “beta” and production values will steadily improve from week to week.) Links: Watch on YouTube Watch on Facebook Download Audio (MP3) Subscribe to Audio Podcast Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Google Play This Week’s Questions #1 – …

An Introduction to Digital Products

reading ebook and digital products

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When you promote other people’s products and services on your website through display ads and affiliate offers, you only get to keep a small fraction of the revenue …

How to Make Money through Affiliate Marketing on Your Website

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Affiliate marketing is a type of online advertising that pays publishers and marketers a flat fee or a percentage of a sale when a user takes a specific …

What Ad Networks Should You Run in Addition to Google AdSense?

variety of darts on dartboard

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Google AdSense is not the only game in town. There are hundreds of other ad networks that you can use in addition to or in place of Google …

How to Make Money on Your Website with Google AdSense

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Google AdSense (www.google.com/adsense) is the 800-pound gorilla in the display advertising world. Google AdSense enables publishers to access inventory from Google’s own advertiser network, Google AdWords, and from …

How to Make Money by Running Display Ads on Your Website

business , e-commerce

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. As I mentioned, placing display advertisements on your website will almost certainly be how you make your first dollar online. If your website is up and going, you …

How to Identify New Marketing Channels by Learning From Your Audience and Your Competitors

follow path along trail left by others stone cairn

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. One of the best ways to identify missed marketing opportunities is to study what your competitors are doing. If a competitor of yours is consistently running a Facebook …

How to Promote Your Business with Guest Posting

man focusing on computer writing a guest blog

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Writing guest posts for other people’s blogs is another effective way to leverage other people’s audiences. Just like a podcast tour, you have the direct opportunity to promote …

How to Promote Your Business with a Podcast Tour

podcast tour to promote new online business

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. A creative way to promote your brand and leverage other people’s audience is by getting yourself booked on podcasts that are relevant to your niche. A great time …

How to Find Topics to Write About on Your Website

brainstorming blog post content ideas

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When you commit to creating content on an ongoing basis, one of the biggest challenges you will face on a week-to-week basis is figuring out what to write …

How to Develop a Content Calendar for Your Website

Working with the laptop and organizing monthly activities and appointments in the calendar

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When you have decided which publishing channels you want to use in your business, the next step is creating a content schedule. A content schedule is simply a …

How to Effectively Use Facebook and Twitter to Promote Your Business

using facebook and twitter for business

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Every business should have a presence on Facebook and Twitter because they are currently the two most broadly used social media platforms. A study from the Pew Research …

Which Social Media Channels Should You Use to Market Your Business?

social media options

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When developing your content strategy, your first task will be to determine what platforms you want to publish content on. Your website will serve as the hub for …

How to Set Up WordPress and Launch Your Website

setting up wordpress

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. After you get your web hosting account setup, the first order of business is to install WordPress into your hosting account. Almost every major web hosting service will …

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

Modern network and telecommunication technology computer concept: server room in datacenter

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. In order to launch your website, you will need a basic web hosting account that will provide the technology and infrastructure needed to serve your website up to …

Simple Savings is Now Available

Simple Savings Book

Simple Savings, a new book I put together with Toi Williams, one of my long-time freelance writers, is now available. We wrote this book for people who are tired of having too much month left at the end of their money. Many people feel that there is just never enough money to go around, and …

How to Recover From Choosing a Crappy Name for Your Established Business

A teacher hand cleans the chalkboard in the classroom

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When I first launched MarketBeat.com in 2011, the business was called Analyst Ratings Network. I chose that name because I wanted to highlight the fact that we offered …

Should Your Business Center Around Your Personal Brand?

male in suit with crossed hands and thought bubble, looking on camera

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Some online entrepreneurs actively work to build a brand around their name. They portray themselves as subject matter experts and teach their readers about relevant topics through blog …

Don’t Worry That the Dot Com Domain You Want to Use is Already Taken

dot com domain name not available try other ones

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. All of the good dot com domain names are already taken. Domain squatters have gone through and registered every dictionary word, almost every combination of dictionary words and …

How to Choose a Great Name For Your Business

brainstorming with post-it notes

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. There are two schools of thought for choosing a name. First, you can choose a name that represents what your business does. Businesses like Bank of America, Ford …

How to Identify Possible Niches for Your Online Business

eating sushi at computer business idea

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for potential niches, there are several strategies you can use to come up with ideas for your niche: Consider Your …

Keyword Research Should Not be a Consideration in Choosing Your Niche

search engine and keywords

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Many other resources that talk about niche selection suggest that you choose a niche based on whether or not you can rank in Google for keywords in that …

How to Choose a Niche with Willing Customers and Strong Advertiser Demand

customer ready to pay

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Not all niches are created equally. Readers will have a much higher propensity to buy products and services in some niches than others. In some niches, customers might …

Why Choosing a Business Niche with Existing Competition is a Good Thing

sitting on racetrack with no competition

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com As you begin to evaluate different niches, you will immediately notice that there are already people creating content and selling products and services in just about every market …

Why Niching Down Too Far Will Doom Your Business to Mediocrity

don't pick too small of a niche like goldfish breeding

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com A common piece of advice given by Internet business gurus is that you should “niche down until it hurts.” The idea is that you should pick a small …

MarketBeat Recognized as Fastest-Growing Company in South Dakota by Inc.

inc 5000 number 529 badge 2016

Sioux Falls, SD, August 17, 2016 – Inc. Magazine has ranked MarketBeat No. 529 on its 35th annual Inc. 5000 list, an exclusive group of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the United States. MarketBeat was ranked as the fastest-growing company in the state of South Dakota, based on its three-year revenue growth of 729%.  The list …

Don’t Choose Your Business Based on Profit Alone

choose a business with good product-market-founder fit

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com In 2015, I attended a conference for software entrepreneurs called Microconf (www.microconf.com). One of the speakers, Patrick McKenzie (www.kalzumeus.com), told the story about how he launched his online …

Charitable Giving: How to Give Wisely and Joyfully

planting seeds and living generously

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” ~ Albert Einstein There are only so many different things that you can do with …

Pay Attention: Insurance, Taxes and Other Boring Financial Topics

protecting assets

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.” – John Maynard Keynes While much of this book has been devoted …

Why Dave Ramsey and Robert Kiyosaki Are Both Wrong about Debt

staying out of debt to build wealth

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com Every time you borrow money, you’re robbing your future self. –Nathan W. Morris If there’s a topic that divides personal finance authors more than anything, …

Quit Worrying About Your Budget and Focus on the Income Side of the Equation

increasing income side of equation

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” – Jane Austen For several years, I had the privilege of teaching …

Email Marketing Demystified Now Available

My new book, Email Marketing Demystified, is now available on Amazon. The e-book edition of the book will be available for free through Amazon from September 30th, 2015 to October 4th, 2015. Paperback and audiobook editions are also available. Get Your Copy of Email Marketing Demystified Here After I published my first book, 40 Rules …

How to Generate Sales by Sending Cold Emails

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The majority of this book has focused on using email as a means of building an engaged audience and generating revenue by selling or recommending products to that audience. While growing a community …

How to Keep Your Email Legal and Stay Compliant with CAN-SPAM and CASL

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  While email marketing and other aspects of Internet business can sometimes feel like you are operating in the Wild West, email marketing is actually regulated in the United States, Canada and in some …

Email Deliverability: How to Make Sure Your Messages Get in Your Subscribers’ Inboxes

delivering mail, a picture of email deliverability

When you send a letter through the U.S. mail with a stamp and a delivery address, you can be fairly certain that your letter is going to arrive safely in a few days. This isn’t always the case with email. While you shouldn’t run into many email deliverability issues if you are following best practices …

How to Earn Money from Email Opt-Ins through Co-registration Advertising

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In the list building chapter of this book, we discussed co-registration advertising from the perspective of an advertiser. As a mailing list owner that collects organic opt-ins from your website, you can also …

How to Make Money by Renting Out Your Mailing List

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit myemailmarketingbook.com.  If you have grown your mailing list to more than 25,000 subscribers, advertisers may be interested in paying you to send an email to your mailing list on their behalf on a cost-per-thousand …

How to Earn Money with Your Email List through Affiliate Marketing

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  There are thousands of companies that will pay you commissions for any sales that you generate on their behalf, an arrangement known in the online business world as affiliate marketing. Promoting other companies’ …

How to Sell Your Products and Services through Email Marketing

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Most companies use their mailing lists to market their own products and services. If someone comes to your website and completes an opt-in form, they have already  expressed interest in your content and …

How to Write Email Marketing Copy that Converts

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  You have undoubtedly written thousands of emails in your life. You probably regularly send email to and receive email from friends, family, coworkers and even complete strangers on a regular basis for any …

Email Marketing Automation and List Segmentation: The Basics

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  If your company or organization sells a number of different products or has customers with multiple divergent interest areas, you might consider using marketing automation techniques so that customers only receive email content …

Broadcast Emails: What, Why and How Often

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In addition to your auto-responder series, you will want to regularly send messages to your entire email list. These messages are known as broadcast emails because you are effectively broadcasting a single message …

How to Write the Perfect Welcome Email

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The first email that every new subscriber will receive from your mailing list is referred to as your welcome email. Sending a well-written welcome email to each of your subscribers is the first …

How to Create an Auto-Responder Series that Actually Works

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Creating an Auto-Responder Series An auto-responder series is a series of pre-written emails that every new subscriber receives in sequential order after signing up for your mailing list. A new subscriber might receive …

How to Select an Email Service Provider

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The first step in building your email marketing empire is to put the technical infrastructure in place in order to handle the type and volume of email you will send. If you were …

14 Ways to Build Your Email List Independently of Your Website

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Growing your mailing list through your website will allow you to steadily collect opt-ins and grow your list over time. If you want to accelerate your list building efforts, you can make use of …

List Building: Split-Testing Your Opt-in Form and Creating Your Thank You Page

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The key to getting great opt-in rates is regularly running tests to determine if making changes to your opt-in forms will increase the percentage of people that complete your opt-in forms. In order …

List Building: When Your Website Doesn’t Get Much Traffic

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  How many opt-ins can I expect? Asking how many opt-ins you should expect to receive on your website is one of the most common questions asked by new email marketers. The volume of …

List Building: Selecting an Opt-in Form Plugin

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In order to design and place opt-in forms on your website, you will most likely need to make use of an opt-in form plugin or a cloud-based opt-in form service. As email marketing …

List Building: Understanding Types of Opt-In Forms

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Opt-in forms come in many different shapes and sizes and can be put on many different places in your website’s layout. Some opt-in forms are large, hard-to-miss and somewhat intrusive. Others are smaller …

List Building: Writing the Killer Copy for Your Opt-in Forms

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  After you have created your lead magnet, you will need to identify what kind of messaging you are going to use to get your potential subscribers to sign-up for your mailing list. The …

List Building: Creating the Perfect Lead Magnet

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  You should offer your subscribers something of value in exchange for signing up for your email list, such as a discount coupon, a free report or a resource list. In the world of …

Some Hard Truths About My Business (What I Learned at Microconf 2015)

I had the opportunity to attend Microconf, a conference for self-funded entrepreneurs that run technology businesses, earlier this week. One of the challenges that they gave attendees was to identify three actionable takeaways that you can implement in your business in the next few months. While many attendees came away with tactical strategies they can …

Podcasts I’m Listening To (2015 Update)

A couple of years ago, I published a list of podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. Of course, podcasts come and go and my interests have evolved over time. I’ve also scaled back on the number of podcasts I listen to (from 31 to 20) because I’ve recently started listening to audiobooks …

My 2015 Reading List (Part 1)

It’s hard to believe that we’re already through the first quarter of 2015, but here we are. My reading habits made a marked changed this quarter. Instead of the usual mix of repetitive business books, I’ve branched out and have read biographical works and more fiction. I read a total of 20 books during January, …

My Q4 2014 Reading List

Now that 2014 has come and gone, it’s time again to share the books that I’ve been reading in the last few months. I had the opportunity to read a lot of good books during the fourth quarter. The amount of day-to-day work that my business required has slowed down as I’ve brought on a …

AdSense Optimization: How to Maximize Your Earnings from Google AdSense

One of my company’s largest revenue streams is running contextual ads from Google AdSense. Our network of financial news websites garners approximately 3 million page views per month and we’ve found that AdSense is an extremely effective way to monetize our audience. Recently, I was searching for a good article about AdSense optimization tips and …

How to Add Rocketfuel to Your Product Launch with a Podcast Tour

When most people release a book with a traditional publisher, they will make a series of appearances at local bookstores as part of their marketing strategy–commonly known as a book tour. Since my book was being published exclusively through Amazon, it only made sense to do a virtual book tour. Instead of reaching potential readers in persona few hundred people …

My Next Project: US Golf TV

A while back, my wife Karine received an email from one of her former co-workers at Terry Redlin Elementary. The co-worker’s husband, Todd Kolb, was building an Internet business and wondered if I would be willing to meet with him to see if I had any suggestions to help grow his company. At first I …

How to Price Your Product

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

40 Rules for Internet Business Success: Launch Details, Pricing and Bonuses

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. My new book, 40 Rules for Internet Business Success, will be available two weeks from today. I’ve received a ton of positive feedback about the book from people that …

Build Exactly One Business at a Time

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Drone Photography: Downtown and Kuehn, Sertoma and Dunham Parks

Here’s the latest album that contains photos that I’ve shot downtown, near St. Joseph Cathedral, Kuehn Park, Sertoma Park and Dunham Park. Click Here to View the Full Album on Facebook Post by Matthew Paulson. Here are a couple of videos that I took: Downtown Sioux Falls and St. Joseph Cathedral Kuehn Park

How to Identify a Great Domain Name

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Aerial Drone Photography

Here’s an album of the various aerial photos I’ve taken with my DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ in the last few days: Click Here to View the Full Album on Facebook Here are some videos that I’ve taken with the drone: Lake Mitchell Falls Park Near My House

Busyness isn’t Productivity

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

I Bought an Aerial Drone

A while back, I became interested in the idea of aerial photography. I’ve always loved the idea of taking pictures out of airplane windows and while riding in a helicopter. When you take photos from a thousand feet in the air, you get a sense of perspective that you can’t really get when taking pictures …

What Makes Your Business So Special?

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Don’t Break The Supermarket Rule

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Why Relationships Trump Knowledge

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Please Don’t Pitch Me on Your MLM

A couple of weeks ago, I started a new LinkedIn group for entrepreneurs in the Sioux Falls area. There was an individual that I was connected to on LinkedIn, but had never met in real-life, that had joined the group. This person called me out-of-the blue one morning and asked if I was open to …

Why Are You Building a Business?

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

Excuses are the Fuel of Failure

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. Below you’ll find an unedited chapter from my upcoming book 40 Rules for Internet Business Success. To receive updates about the book and get a free digital copy of my …

I’m Writing a Book

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. A couple of months ago, I attended a new event for entrepreneurs in Sioux Falls called 1 Million Cups, in which an entrepreneur shares their story for six minutes …

My Q1 Reading List

One of the most popular posts that I publish every year is my list of books.  I frequently hear from people that have found interesting books to read from my list and recommend additional titles for me to read. I’ve even inspired someone to start reading on a regular basis. Typically I publish a list …

Online Business for Sale: WP Mechanic

I started a relatively-small side business last fall called WP Mechanic that has had some good initial traction. The business offers performance optimization services to individuals with WordPress websites and I think it has some good potential for growth. Unfortunately, I’m no longer the right person to grow this business, so I’m offering it up …

My 2013 Reading List

Here’s a list of books that I read in 2013. Here are a few specific recommendations: My Favorite Business Book of the Year: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson My Favorite Fiction Series of the Year: The “Silo Series” by Hugh Howey My Favorite Non-Fiction Book of the Year: Inferno by Max Hastings My Favorite …

How to Level Up in Online Business

If you were to do a search for the keyword “make money online”, you would get back thousands of websites that would teach you to build start-from-nothing businesses, such as long-tail AdSense websites, strategies to generate revenue with affiliate marketing and blueprints to make money with Facebook or Twitter. Many people in online business get …

Eight Strategies for Email Marketing Success

My company, American Consumer News, LLC, sends out about two million emails per month. The vast majority of these are the daily edition of our investment newsletter, ARN Daily. We do send out our fair share of marketing messages too, so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do try things out to see what generally …

Don’t Build an Ecosystem-Based Business

In the last five years, there has been a major trend to build businesses on top of the platforms offered by major web companies, such as eBay, Facebook, Twitter, Apple (iTunes) and Google (YouTube, Search). Eight years ago, the big thing was to build an eBay business. Four years ago, the big thing to do …

Podcasts I’m Listening To

Like many entrepreneurs, I am a voracious consumer of content. I read a lot of non-fiction books and listen to dozens of podcasts each week (35 to be exact). Someone asked me the other day what podcasts I listen to, so I went through my feed and have compiled the most recent list below: Business and …

How to Implement the SendGrid Newsletter API in ASP.NET and C#

A while back, SendGrid announced its newsletter functionality that provides functionality for managing and emailing distribution lists. If you’re a developer that makes use of SendGrid, you’re probably managing your list internally in a SQL database and have no need for SendGrid’s newsletter functionality, but there are two distinct advantages to using the Newsletter API.The …

How to Prevent WordPress Comment Spam

If you run a blog that’s powered by WordPress, inevitably your website will be hit by a deluge of comment spam. More often than not, it comes from automated software tools designed to build links back to the spammer’s website for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. If you leave your WordPress blog unprotected, your posts …

How to Select a Website Designer

If you’re looking to have a contractor or agency build your organization a website, you have more choices than you can possibly consider. There are local design and development agencies, freelance web designers and developers, international developers that can be hired through ODesk and similar services and do-it-yourself services such as Square Space. I estimate …

My 2012 Reading List

This is a list of books that I read in 2012. Books with asterisks next to them are books that I enjoyed and would recommend: 1 – 1/4/2012 – Archeology and the New Testament by John McRay 2 – 1/7/2012 – A Revolution in Generosity by Wesley Willmer* 3 – 1/14/2012 – Multiple Streams of Income by …

“So…What exactly do you do?”

I announced earlier this month that I plan on quitting my day job as of November 7th, so that I can focus on my business, my seminary degree and my newborn son, Micah. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot of “What exactly do you do?” questions. This post was written to answer that question. My …

Lessons from the 2012 Global Leadership Summit

2012 was the third year that I had the opportunity to attend the Global Leadership Summit put on by the team at Willow Creek. When I first attended the Summit in 2009, I had the opportunity to hear from a number of great speakers, like Wess Stafford of Compassion International and Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. In …

Resources from the 2012 Global Leadership Summit

I had the opportunity to attend the Global Leadership Summit during the past two days. The Summit takes place in Chicago, but is simulcast to regional broadcast locations around the world. My home church, Central Baptist Church, has the opportunity to serve as a satellite location each year. Last year, we had more than 420 …

Introducing RatingsDB

My company, American Consumer News, LLC, will be launching a new stock research product tomorrow morning. The product, RatingsDB, allows retail investors to get access to Analyst Ratings Network’s entire database of more than 100,000 stock ratings. RatingsDB rests upon a custom-built search engine that tracks more than 200 stock ratings each day. Watch the …

Memories from Hawaii

Karine and I had the opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime 10-day trip to Oahu and Maui. Our little one is now 20-weeks along and it’s hard to know when we’ll have the opportunity to take another trip like this again. We had a fantastic time. Here are a few memories from our trip:

Financial Peace University 2012: What You Need to Know

I wear many hats. One of those hats is serving as a coordinator for Financial Peace University (FPU) classes at my local church. Yesterday, Dave Ramsey’s team hosted a webinar announcing the 2012 edition of Financial Peace University. The 2012 edition will not be unfamiliar to anyone that has previously taken the class, as Dave’s …

How to Select a High Quality Web Host

I was running a cross promotional campaign for my company’s daily email newsletter, ARN Daily, this morning. Almost immediately after the campaign email was sent out, DreamHost’s data center had an outage, rendering the campaign almost useless. This is the latest of many issues that I’ve had with DreamHost, unfortunately. I have a couple of …