Sean Rasmussen Fan Club

Time for an update for everyone who has been following my progress in Sean Rasmussen's For A Few Dollars More Learn and Earn Competition.

Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you who supported me during the affiliate marketing exercise by registering for access to the contest forum. If you haven't registered there is still time until July 31. Have a look at With A Little Help From My Friends for the details. If you're feeling brave you can go straight to the Registration Form.

My apologies to those who tried to register and received an error message. The server has been configured properly again and the registration process is working once more. I lost a few points during that fiasco.

You can check out my standing in the competition at For A Few Dollars More.

Yesterday, Sean gave us the task of writing a blog article. The topic is to be (surprise, surprise) Sean Rasmussen. We have until Friday evening (Australian time) to get the post ranked on the first page of Google with the keyword Sean Rasmussen as the search criteria. At that point, Sean and his lovely wife, Cherie, will be reviewing the blogs and allocating bonus points in the contest.

I decided I needed a new domain with Sean Rasmussen as part of the URL if I was going to make any progress in this exercise so I registered seanrasmussenfanclub.com. I then set up the domain on my Hostgator account and proceeded to learn how to use Wordpress to develop the new blog.

After 14 hours, I finally published the blog article Sean Rasmussen: Gentleman And Internet Marketer Extraordinaire. Surf on over and have a look. Feel free to leave a comment. If you wish you can also promote it by Digging, re-tweeting or sharing it on Facebook. Extra appreciation will radiate from me if you also share it on other social bookmarking sites.

There is another Webinar on Friday morning (my time) at 3am so I'll have to get my napping schedule in order so I can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for participating.

So that's how things stand right now. We're quickly approaching the final day of the contest and excitement is building. I'd like to wish Good Luck to all the great people I've met during the competition.

Don't forget to check out the blog article Sean Rasmussen: Gentleman And Internet Marketer Extraordinaire, leave a comment, give it a wee bit of promotion and/or link back to the article from your own blog. All means of support is really, really, really appreciated.

Now may the best person win. (I had to be politically correct there.)

At least, that's the way I see it from Between Keyboard and Chair.

Don

With A Little Help From My Friends

G'day, eh?  A standard Canadian greeting. And now I'll do something else we Canadians are renowned for; I'll apologise in advance of doing something. Sorry, eh? And finally the request for assistance.

This is not spam. At least I don't consider it to be, but then I'm somewhat biased.

Back in the middle of June I began to participate in an Internet Marketing competition. There is $20,000 AU in prizes up for grabs in the contest with the 1st prize being $3,000. My main reason for participating was to meet new people and have some fun.  But now I'm in 5th place and within striking distance of 1st prize. So I'm seeking a little help from my friends, family, relatives, acquaintances, friends-of-friends, neighbours, in-laws, outlaws, complete strangers, and maybe even peoples' pets. The rest of this article explains what is going on and the assistance I'm seeking. Be assured there is no cost involved for you. All I need is a little of your time, some mouse clicks and a bit of typing.

As mentioned, I'm competing in a 7-week Internet Marketing competition out of Australia (Sean Rasmussen's For A Few Dollars More Learn and Earn Competition) and, now in the middle of the 6th week, we are engaged in an affiliate marketing exercise. In order to gain points I have to try to persuade people (and who better to ask than friends, relatives and acquaintances) to sign up for access to a Year Of The Affiliate (YOTA) forum that has been set up for the duration of the contest. A few weeks after the contest is over the forum is to be taken down.

The process is relatively easy. Simply follow the link I've provided above and at the end of the article and fill out the YOTA application form. When you are filling out the form you are required to choose a password. Please make a note of the password so you can login to the forum after your application is processed. No credit card information is required but a physical mailing address has to be provided. The physical address goes in the section called the Billing Details. The address is simply used in the $0 receipt that is emailed to you. Once you have completed the form, click on the Submit button. You will then receive two emails. One is the receipt for $0 and the second gives you a username to use when accessing the forum.

Be sure to follow the link in the second email and sign into the forum. That's when I get my points.

For those of you kind enough to give me this assistance, there is a special bonus. When you login to the forum you will have access to an excellent 30 page ebook - The Ultimate Twitter Guide. Simply enter the Welcome Aboard! section of the forum, click on The Ultimate Twitter Guide (download) thread and follow the link to the download.

I've included an image below of what the application page looks like. My wife signed up on the forum in order for me to test it and, of course, to give me the ten points. If you can't market something to your wife, then who can you market to. (Hmmmm, I wonder if I should mention the iPod Touch I really need?)

And now the link to the registration form for the Year Of The Affiliate (YOTA) forum.

There is no cost associated with joining this forum. And the forum is to disappear after the contest. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

If you have any questions or concerns about the process, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment and I'll do my best to answer any questions you have. Also, if you're so inclined, feel free to ignore the request as well.

But remember, you'll have my undying gratitude if you help me, whether or not I reach first place












That's how I see it from Between Keyboard And Chair.


Don

Plurk And Me

Back in September of 2008 I wrote a guest blog on a website that has since changed it's focus. After a bit of creative searching I managed to track down the article and have brought it home to Between Keyboard And Chair. So after some minor changes and with no further ado here is Plurk And Me

I assume if you’re reading this article you may already know about Plurk. If not, there are plenty of other articles online that will explain Plurk. As for the “me” in the title, I’m a 67 year old, retired Public Servant, Linux advocate, computer aficionado, avid Internet user, social networking junkie, photographer and musician (see Grateful We're Not Dead) - all of which I engage in with varying degrees of success. But the only thing I intend to talk about today is social networking: Plurk and me.

I originally became involved with computers in 1978 when I purchased a Commodore PET 2001. By the early 1980s I had my first exposure to what could be called “early social networking” via Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and I actually ran a BBS out of my home for a number of years. By the early-90s Internet access had become available at home and I started using email and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to communicate with people.

Then along came ICQ in the mid-90s and I started to connect with people world wide. I used various Instant Messaging Services until 2007 when I was introduced to the social networking / micro-blogging service, Twitter, during Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge. I started using Twitter on a regular basis meeting more and more people around the globe. One of these, Allan Cockerill, a friend in Australia, introduced me to Plurk in June 2008.

Once I saw Plurk’s horizontal, scrollable timeline of time stamped messages (Plurks) along with the drop-down window containing all responses to the Plurk, I was hooked.

Plurk has become my main means of communicating within the social networking milieu mainly because of the ease with which I can track ongoing conversations (Plurks and responses). I quickly came to realize that Twitter was good for making announcement but Plurk had put the “social” back in social networking. I build my network of connections (friends) by checking the timelines of those who have responded to a Plurk, if I have not encountered them before. If the content of their timeline looks interesting I will either add them as a friend (once they have agreed to the request) or simply follow their Plurks. And in turn, I receive friendship requests from Plurkers who have come across me in a similar manner.

The one thing I find within Plurk is a sense of community that quickly builds up amongst the users. You can quickly become emotionally involved with the successes and failures, the joy and the sorrow of these on-line friends. If they disappear for a number of days you begin to worry about them and make inquiries of common friends. If they have a birthday, get a new job, have a baby, get married, etc., you celebrate with them. If they feel down you try to raise their spirits. As in any relationship, occasionally there are disagreements and arguments but as in most friendships these are usually resolved in an amicable manner.

As my group of friends has grown it has become virtually impossible to respond to every Plurk that appears on my timeline. However, there is a core group that I normally converse with, however briefly, each day. I then scan the timeline looking for interesting Plurks for which I may have a response. After that, I must confess, the remainder get MAAR’ed (Mark All As Read). But I do try to respond to every active friend at least once or twice a week.

Will I continue to use Plurk in the foreseeable future? I believe so, simply because of the emotional connections that have developed in this community of users. These are people I would miss if I didn’t hear from them occasionally. These “digital world” friends do not replace those in my “analogue world” but strongly supplement them.

I imagine I’ll continue to build my network of friends and acquaintances for quite awhile to come. And hopefully, if you’re interested, I’ll meet you in Plurk as well.

And if you want to link up with me on Plurk you'l find me at http://www.plurk.com/user/donwhite