Naturally, focusing on people really works.

I want to personally thank you for taking the time to write about this important topic of discussion. You have ‘been there and done that,’ and I really appreciate your honesty in sharing what you’ve learned along the way. It’s the difference between short term strategies and long term strategies. And as you stated, “When you engage in short term strategies, you build nothing.” Just as seasons change, Internet marketing and online social media is changing as well. Those who want to spend their time creating long-term value will, and those who don’t will harvest the consequences. Freedom of CHOICE - It’s really that simple.

To your success!

Vera Powell

Like Charles says, The Master Plan and social media marketing are really very complementary, part of an integrated system. One deals with on site factors, the other with off site factors.

It’s possible the sales sites don’t fully convey the relationship between the two ideas. One solution might be to dump the Master Plan sales pages, and fold the Master Plan in to the social media membership.

I haven’t completed the social media course work yet, so it’s possible this has already been done, and I’m just not there yet.

I don’t have any negativity toward building inbound links… Where do you get that from?

I have negativity toward building short-term business using tactics that are geared to game established systems.

The Master Plan is not about building inbound links… It is about building a web site structure which allows search engines to index and crawl your content efficiently.

Social media content syndication is the answer to building “natural” inbound links which is the next step after implementing The Master Plan. Your statement that this is a bunch of hype is a statement of ignorance. Not that you’re ignorant, you just don’t have a clue… yet.

I have not turned my back on The Master Plan … I have simply built on top of it by moving to the next part of the equation … inbound links, traffic, action and sales.

Sorry you have an apparent animosity toward me which is partly my fault… I tend to move in directions that are not immediately obvious but are always geared toward progress.

I guess I don’t understand your negativity toward building in-bound links. Is this not what you outlined in The Master Plan II which was released not too long ago (1 yr or so)? When I analyze the competition in virtually any market, it seems to me that in-bound links are still king of the road.

Frankly, I think much of this social media marketing is just a bunch of hype, and the herd mentality of the IM space is eating it up.

Sorry this is not another feel good post for you, but I question why you’ve turned your back on The Master Plan so quickly. It still works for me.

Your site looks very good and you could easily for what Seth Godin calls a Tribe where you can use online social platforms to rally a tribe together for your cause.

- Charles

That said… when we launched our first, original site about two weeks ago, our whole focus is on not only people, but specific people- the brave men & women of our (U.S.) military.

It’s a blog-driven, charity-based site dedicated to their stories and testimonials of how the military made them better people: strengthened their characters by making them better leaders/organizers, etc. In exchange for their time to submit their stories of gratitude, we promote their businesses/current ventures (should they have any).

In fact, three of our first five stories will be from fellow IM-ers who had served our country.

By paying tribute to them, it’s kinda my way of giving back. I am so grateful for them taking the time to send me stories that I am even ‘not’ marketing tyhe audience/readers.
There will be no autoresponder to opt-in, so no e-mail marketing to the readers will occur. I have over 1250 other domains that I will be building into sites that I can manage e-mail marketing campaigns.

That is not to say that I will not earn revenue from the site. I have one tab labeled “Our Thanks” that will have all my goods & services that I am affiliated with. Even still, a good portion of the money earned from any of these goods will go to charity: the Purple Heart, the USO, etc. So, come holiday time, come on over and visit us to do some shopping and help out a good cause at the same time.

Best,

-K
http://www.for-the-troops.com

I can still feel the buzz I got from that action … but as time went on I changed that van for a newer model and suddenly the name on the side had no meaning to me simply because over a time span I had built myself a reputation for good workmanship and trustworthy and recommendation’s brought me new customers in their droves so much so I had to employ more tradesmen buy extra vans then guess what the whole fun went out of it

All of a sudden one day it dawned on me this excitement I first felt … had just become a run of the mill business with more than its share of pressures … then one day I woke up with “who and what am I doing all this for” …. Oh yes I had become cynical the excitement had well gone … and that’s the trouble with the web … to many people who have forgot their roots have become too cynical with those who don’t yet no the rules of the game…

All newbie’s need to learn from there mistakes get over the excitement of seeing there work on the world wide web for all to see then understand it’s a business simply because there is no new fundamentals in good business practices on or offline … it just takes some of us longer to learn that valuable lesson … the internet has been tamed there is a SEO police force checking on every ones moves just like the tax man does more in off line businesses … (but that will change one day soon to the online world too lol) see cynicism again lol …

All my best to you and your happiness
Phillip Skinner

I totaly agree with your post. There’s way to many so called marketers out there that
would rather use black hat methods for personal gain with no regard fpr the community.As you mentioned theirs days are numbered with these pratices. But then again there are those who do nothing but try to find ways to beat the system.

Thanks
James