Tips for reliable affiliate links in a blog

There is a trend going - and it has been going for years now. Producers, resellers, software developers and even charities are willing to pay you! They would love to pay you! If you get to sell their products, they want to pay you for it! Depending on the service, the product and the channel, referrals can actually be a nice way to support your blogging efforts.

On my blog I've used several affiliate referrals on many different topics. Even the pictures I use from www.123rf.com  (referral link) I try to include a referral link.

First of all: Sharing a good product you use or love gives great satisfaction. At least to me! Second, I can use a little extra pocket money - even if it's just to pay for the different web-based memberships!

Truth to be told. It is not a milk cow. Not at all - at least not for me. Partly because I am very specific on referral links that I integrate. I will also not add general advertisements - those just side-track visitors from your website!

So here is my promise.
All referral link on this blog are 100% genuine. They are products or services that I honestly like. I am not going to promote anything I haven't used or experienced myself.
If I'm referring a book, I do so because I really believe it's a good book
If I'm referring a service, I do so because I enjoy the benefits of using it (or having used it) myself.
I can't promise YOU will like it - but I promise I did!


In a blog post about referrals, it only makes sense to give you my most liked products of the moment:

• Livedrive online storage. After crashing my hard disk and having to pay over 1200euro ($1500), this service really seemed to make sense to me!
• HootSuite - the best dashboard I've ever used to keep some order in all the social media streams!
• Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World - my absolute guide to blogging etc! Michael Hyatt really inspires many people around the world - including me!

An experiment: 60 days 30 minutes for Social Media

Because I'm working on 3 big projects at the moment, and I feel the danger that I'm going to work on the wrong things ... loosing too much time in things that are important - but have the potential to take over...

What am I talking about? The time you should spent on Social Media. It's a fact: it's not going away... It's a fact: it helps businesses, individuals and good causes to connect with their followers. Their tribes.
But it's also a fact that it is very time consuming. It seems proven that it's only effective when you are consistent. It's proven that people get annoyed when you make simple mistakes (like posting private tweets on your business twitter account!!!) But I'm a living proof that Social Media can also take away valuable time. If I let the Social Media monster do his thing, I find myself checking all my channels ALL the time. As if I'm missing something when I don't... I feel captivated. But often times with a feeling of failure... What am I doing with my time. Every time I take my phone to do a 'quick' scan, I find myself lost in endless lists of little facts that are not too important...

• John Simple has invited you to play Farm Ville. 
• Jacky Joe wants to add your birthday to 'my calendar'. S
• haniqua TheQueen; ilmao! u 2 cute!!!!
• bla bla bla!

And all I wanted to 'know' is how many people responded to MY messages... 

Anyway! I decided I was going to take myself and  2 other projects I work on an experiment.

For the next 60 days I will channelize my Social Media time to one period a day. That period will be 30 minutes. Not longer. And no more. (the hardest part will be breaking the habit of watching 'the responses')

My goal: 

• Great content
• Bigger Networks
• Greater dialog with my tribes (thanks Seth Godin for giving that word new meaning!)
• Seeing if this will work.

How will I show that it's 30 minutes?  I will film everyday, and do a promise:

I will only use Social Media 30 minutes a day!
I feel I might have to add a small apology: If I CAN'T resist the temptation to see if anybody started responding to anything I do in those 30 minutes - I will only LOOK - and not do anything else.

If I DO, I will confess publicly! And maybe in a few days I will have to adjust my experiment. That's why they call it an experiment.

OK - I have 13 minutes left to go and connect!

After finding the picture - I have 4 minutes left today! 

How sharing your great idea might not be so great.

My wife often tells me I shouldn't share my ideas with the world - at least not before they are somewhat developed. And I can see the point in that.
But don't you ever walk around with a great idea, and you feel you just have to share it with somebody?
That feeling that if you keep the idea any longer to yourself you'll just burst!? (I guess some of you will answer 'no' to this question. Like my wife. So you can actually stop reading. But if you do - this post will help you 'canalize' the idea and the feelings keep you up at night!)

Image via 123rf.com

Sharing an idea before it's time has a few negative outcomes to it. It's like you make a decisions to say 'well - I'm pregnant now for 5 months - enough already, let's have this baby! You can't. It's not good for the baby.
Maybe you feel that if you don't share your idea, they won't ever come to pass. You, like me, have seen so many people sit on very good ideas -and some even take them with them to their grave - or see their ideas simply go out-dated...

Fact is, when you share a good idea before it's time, you'll expose yourself to the following dangers:

Somebody will steal your idea can hear you think right away: most people say an idea doesn't belong to you - so you have to share it. And that's true... eventually . But if your idea as answering a need that others are not yet answering - or you answer it better, you'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you tell anybody and their mother about your great idea! Somebody with more money than you will simply STEAL it! Yes! There are many people that believe you better steal a good idea, than to come-up with a bad one yourself...

Too many people will shoot it down
There is a very wise and true saying about wisdom in gray hair. Yet there is also the reality that lots of gray haired people never got to build anything great themselves...and why should you let them pie on your parade?! Seriously! Your idea can be shot down by people that shoot down anything! Be careful who you share your dream with!


Once you actually get to execute your idea, your inner circle has lost all it's momentum
I've published some idea's even in the last two years that up to today have not seen daylight yet! In the book Great by Choice from Jim Collins talks how it's always better to under-promise and then over-deliver. How true. Many of my friends have lost any kind of interest, when I told them my great idea finally came to pass.... Just hold on to your great ideas - only share them with a few.

Of course you shouldn't share your ideas with NOBODY. There are also dangers in that.
Let me give you 3 tips that really help me to 'bite my tongue' when I want to share some thoughts:

#1: Write your great ideas out on paper. This is the first amazing process that will take place. You will actually start seeing some angles that will help you shape your idea - before people can start shooting it down.

#2: Ask you partner - or your best friend that knows how to confront you - to listen FIRST. They are often able to hear trough your excitement - and give you some HONEST feedback!

#3: Just give it some time. This one is an other 'gut-feeling-indicator'. Guess you just have to keep telling yourself you won't share your great thought - until you just know the time is ready! Remember - Timing is EVERYTHING!

Ever had to 'bite your tongue' on sharing a great idea? How do you manage? Or how don't you?!

What I learned on the roof of a Brooklyn building on 9-11

picture taken by Tatiana from our office building

3 things I'll never forget because of September 11, 2001 - standing on the roof of our office building in Brooklyn, New York.

1. Nothing in life is to be taken for granted. Every day can hold bizarre, unexpected events. Live your life knowing that things won't always be the way they are...

2. Inside these situations, there are always few people climbing up the stairs, trying to rescue others - while most people are running down the stairs, trying to safe themselves.

3. There is nothing in life that brings people together faster than... disaster. I am sorry to say that this is true... I've never felt more connected to people living in my neighborhood than during the days following that crazy event... Never the less - let's do our very best to ALWAYS be availible for those around us ... no matter the circumstances.
_________________________________

Today my prayers are also for those that have lost loved ones during this dark day in 2001. I know some wounds never seem to heal... Abby's family, we're still praying for you.

Nope - not going to excuse my passion :)

Nope - Not gonna do it!... I make a public statement! I will not excuse my passion!

And neither should you! When you have a passion for something it is inevitable you will be misunderstood. People might hear you get excited about something - and out of nothing they confront you head on.

picture from 123rf.com

"When I hear you talk like this - it sounds to me you have an hidden agenda!"
"I'm not sure - but you seem so convinced - I feel trapped"
"You know you always come back to that - that's not reality"

Let me encourage you - great passion needs great resistance. When you realize resistance comes when you stand for something - you actually will be motivated by the resistance. You can take whatever is being said into consideration - weight it against what you are passionate about, and realize check if you really ARE passionate about what you thought you were. If you are - your passion just grew a little stronger!

Don't excuse your passion. Nurture it!

Finally, redeem your commute time!

Picture taken from 123rf.com

I think most of us commute. Some long ways on smooth roads, others in subways crossing town, yet others short distances in huge traffic jams. Or few like me; on a bike - in my case 20 minutes both ways.
What do you do in this valuable time? To be honest, I always used to just listen to the radio. It's so easy. That button is right there, and there is always some kind of radio station for the mood I'm in. Or the mood I want to be in! But yet it always dictates what I'm listening too. In between the great songs or great interviews there is tons of 'junk' from the radio station itself, or worst yet, commercials! You are not in charge...

These days you can redeem your traffic time much better. Imagine redeeming your commute time to grow academically. Imagine redeeming your commute time to become an expert in an area you really enjoy. Imagine redeeming your commute time learning a new skill, a new language or... a new profession! Seriously, with the  constant development of the web - we have choices!

Here are three amazing tools available for EVERY ONE that wants to redeem his/her commute time! And with all of them; you can start today!

1. Subscribe to some good podcasts
One of my current favorites is to listen to Pod-casts. I personally don't use Apple's I-tunes for this, but I simply subscribe to pod-casts  using Google Reader. In this reader I've made one folder called 'Listen' and gives me direct inside into all the new episodes of the programs I like to listen too. Without commercials! Or without me having to wait until a certain time to listen! I even have one stream of the national News Broadcasting Service, allowing me to always choice the lasts radio episode of the news. And all this is for free! If you pay for Internet on your phone, just make sure you download the episode when you're still in a place that has wireless Internet. And if your Internet usage is part of your phone plan (like mine is) you do whatever you want to do!

2. Listen to an audio-book
I just started doing this - and I absolutely LOVE it! I always get so jealous when I hear people that read one or two books a month! (People that read more than that  I can't even acknowledge!) I think: where do you find the time to do all this?! But recently I discovered a thing that has been around for a LONGGG time: Audiobooks! To be honest, I thought it was always a bit...dull. Listening to somebody reading a book to you. And I found it expensive too. But after receiving constant offers from Audible I just wanted to give it a try! At this point I've listened to 5 audio books cover to cover within 2 months, and I love it!
Tip: you can put the reading speed faster! Of course you need to be able to 'process' all you hear - but I find that 1,25x the speed works great for me!

3. Other great tools!
There are many other great ways of taking charge of what you listen to, and how you redeem your commute time. For example, I've put a whole French MP3 course on my phone! Truth is, I'm still no good at it, so I thought I shouldn't really make it 'point number 3' on the list...
Yet an other great way to redeem my commute time is listening to YouVison. It's an amazing library of bibles, many of which have audio Bibles available as well! They are all free - but you can't download them ahead of time - so you do need Internet connection for the audio versions. Of course this does not have your interest if you're not a Christian, but hey - I thought I share it here anyway! Sure there must be other faith-related books available - I just don't know about them!

What am I missing? What do you do to redeem you commute time?!

How a 'Win-Win' situation can easily turn into a 'win-win-win' situation!

I am a firm believer of the Win-Win model. The basic thought behind this mind-set is: make sure that whomever you work, live or play with benefits from your 'what-ever-the-heck' you are doing (or am i over-simplifying things now?!)

'this picture is royalty free from www.123rf.com 

The root of the thought is, that if both people seek to understand the other persons perspective in any given situation, and both people have the intend to make the situation successful for both (or all) people involved, things can only turn out 'win-win'. The bible, a book full of practical advise (and lots of things that puzzle the mind too...) describes this basic thought as follows: Do unto others what you want do to you!

If you can't seem to understand the beauty of this principle, it's better if you stop reading this post.
But if you can believe that if we ALL had this simple mindset, the idea that in every situation there should be a win-win, I'd like to show you the simple ways of turning a Win-Win into a Win-win-win!

I actually think that in social-profit businesses we are all about the win-win-win. Anybody can seek for ways to accomplish this. Maybe not in EVERY situation, but I'm convinced in MANY!

Win-win-win happens in a moment when two 'parties' decide to do business together, both pause for a moment and think: Who else could benefit from our win-win situation? Let me give you an example from a company I worked for. At a certain time this company wanted to boost it's name recognition in a certain geographical area. There was little money to do so, and advertising even in local newspapers seemed an expensive alternative. Yet, there was a local festival that was looking for new sponsors. This local festival had several ways of finding free publicity, one of which was the local newspaper! Instead of paying the newspaper money, why not investing it in sponsoring the local festival! A clear WIN-WIN! The festival had enough ways of getting publicity, but needed sponsors. The company needed publicity, and now had a way to DOUBLE the investment! We were both mentioned with logo's all over the event AND we made it to the local newspaper. But that was not all! We thought it would benefit our company and the organizers of the festival greatly if we could present our product during the festival!
Giving out stuff for free is not often the best way to get noticed. The product we offered as a company could bring added value to the experiment of the people visiting the festival - and here we found our 3rd WIN! Instead of giving our product away for free - we offered a local NGO to sell our stuff for a very attractive price to the visitors of the festival, and let the NGO keep the profit! A successful 3rd win!

When looking for a win-win-win, keep these 3 things in mind:

1: Could a 3rd party benefit from the win-win I just reached with a partner?

2. Would adding the 3rd party possibly increase the win-win I already reached with my partner?
this is important, because if it doesn't, it's no longer a win-win-win anymore!

3. How could I maximize the win-win-win situation we just created by telling others about it?
The joined network of 3 parties is MUCH bigger than 1+1. It's even bigger than 1+1+1.
A tripple win draws often attention too it by nature. Use it for your benefit!

Don't just think win-win. Think win-win-win!

Are there other benefits I'm not even mentioning? Or am I missing a DOWN-side of win-win-win? I would love to hear it!