I’m not one of these people who likes to put his personal life online, like many people, but that’s okay. So it is sad for me to say that my mother passed away this weekend.

Fortunately, I was able to be with her for the last few weeks of her life because I had the freedom and flexibility of running an Internet business. I could check email, return a few phone calls and basically run things in a short period of time from the hospital. I am grateful I am in this line of work and have the flexibility to run my life as needed. My wish if that you be so lucky as well.

And fortunately, I have a great staff that kept things running without me.

But most fortunately, my clients came to my rescue. One of the truly great things about PR LEADS is that we have built a community and a family of friends. Somehow, a few people heard about my mother and came to my help.

I’d like to thank Dr. Gail Gazelle, a palliative care specialist, who volunteered to talk to my mother’s doctors, doc-to-doc, to find out what was really going on and tell me the real story. She offered invaluable advice and comfort along the way. Her day wasn’t done until she checked in with me.

And I’d like to thank Dr. Vicki Rackner who offered a shoulder to cry on and an ear to vent my emotions.

I know that I have close friendships with many other PR LEADS members and they would have done anything they could if I had only asked. But that’s not my style. Somehow word is spreading about my mother and people are offering their condolences, so I wanted to let everyone know that I’m okay (maybe a bit spacey right now).

I’m going to lay low for a week. Work is good therapy, but if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know why

I have nearly 500 contacts on LinkedIn. Will you be the 500th? Invite me!

Linked In can be an important tool to grow your business and your influence.

When I spoke at the recent National Speakers Association Branding Lab in Boston, I learned about an ebook that Jill Konrath wrote called “Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?”

If you’re wondering if you should be using LinkedIn – or even how – I think you’ll find it helpful. You can download your copy at http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/linkedin

I interviewed bestselling author Michael Stelzner about his secrets for how we used white papers to gain 60,000 leads for his business.

Watch his first video, How To Generate Mass Interest in Your Business During Tough Times and sign up to watch the second video, Six Deadly Marketing Mistakes and the New Solution.

To listen to the MP3 file click here.

I’m speaking at the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, which holds its CIPA College 2008 convention on March 27-29 in Denver. My topic is “How to become the most famous author in your niche.” I’ll also host two round table sessions with a “no-holds barred” Q&A format.

For information, go to http://www.cipabooks.com/

Let me know if you’ll be there!

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Article marketing is not all about getting links. It’s about getting your articles published on the top, most trafficked, targeted websites, ezines and article directories that accept article submissions so you can experience more publicity, traffic and profits.

How can you make sure your articles are published on the biggest sites that get the most traffic?

That should be the number one concern of every article writer, whether they are a coach, author, consultant or information marketer.

It is easy to get articles published on sites, but shouldn’t you concentrate on the biggest and best sites?

This might sound like common sense, but the truth is that not many people know which sites are big and which ones are small. So they spend their time submitting to any site they run across. Most people have no idea how many visitors a site gets, or whether the site is the biggest in the field with lots of traffic, or a recent start-up with little traffic.

If you don’t know the difference, then you could be wasting a lot of time and energy!

Are You Using the “Secret Weapon” That the Most Successful Article Marketing Professionals Use to Choose Where They Submit Articles to?

It’s called Alexa.

Many people have never heard of this site. And that’s too bad, because it could save you and your co-workers a lot of time and effort in getting prospects.

So here’s the scoop on Alexa.

Alexa ranks the traffic of each site on the Internet. It is owned by Amazon.com so you know it is a reputable site.

If you go to http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500 you’ll see a listing of the top sites. As of this writing, the sites that get the most traffic are:

1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. Windows Live
4. You Tube
5. Microsoft Network
6. My Space
7. Facebook
8. Wikipedia
9. Hi 5
10. Orkut

Alexa indexes more than 5 million web sites!

The real power of Alexa comes when you search for a site. You can do this by going to www.alexa.com You’ll see a search bar. Type the URL of your company’s web site. Or your competitor’s site. Or a site that you think is really hot.

Alexa will show you the site’s ranking. It could be 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000 or even 10,000,000. There are a lot of sites on the web!

How to Use Alexa to Get Your Articles Published on the Top, Most Trafficked Websites

If you type in the URLs of several sites you are considering submitting articles to, you will see their rankings. Let’s say one site is ranked 250,000 and the other is ranked 435,000.

Now you know which site gets more traffic. So you’d be inclined to submit your article there first. If you had more time, you could submit your article to the second, third, fourth and fifth site that you searched for.

Now you know how to rank the sites that you submit to.

By the way, don’t be put off if a site is ranked 500,000. It might be the highest-ranked site in your vertical market. The way to look at these numbers is the relation of one site to the next. Don’t be blind and just think a site stinks if it is number 200,000. That might be a very good number!

How Alexa Can Help You With Additional Research for Your Article Marketing Efforts

You can search by country or language to find the top sites in a country or language you want prospects from.

Most importantly, you can search by subject!

For example, you can search on business, health, sports or dozens of other topics. When you select one topic, you’ll see a list of sub topics that help you find specific audiences.

For example, if you type “business,” you’ll see subtopics for:

• Accounting
• Marketing
• Small business
• And dozens more!

If you click on the subtopic, you’ll drill down deeper and find specific sites.

Now you can check out those sites to see if they reach your audience and if they accept articles. And, most importantly see what their traffic ranking it to see if it is worth your time to even go there in the first place.

Armed with Alexa, “the article marketer’s secret weapon,” you can now find sites that attract the most prospects.

About the Author:

Internationally recognized online publicity expert, author of 6 books, and Founder of PR LEADS Article Marketing Experts, Dan Janal has helped thousands of businesses, authors and experts just like you sell more products and service online using articles. Now you can discover his top article writing and article submission secrets with the PR Leads New A to Z Article System at http://www.BroadcastYourArticles.com

Okay, I admit it. I’m addicted to some forms of Reality TV and the Apprentice is one of those!

So the other night after watching celebrities sell hot dogs for big bucks, my REMs must have been in overdrive because I dreamed I was a contestant on the next year’s edition, which featured celebrities against smart business people.

All I can remember is that my team shunned me. Yes, actually shunned me. I don’t know why, but they were holding meetings and not letting me know where they were meeting!

I figured if this kept up, I’d be toast in the board room.

So I thought, “Well, what can one person do alone? I’m an Internet Marketer? What talents and skills do I have?”

The next thing I knew, I created a website for Celebrity Hot Dogs.com, optimize for Google, and sent press releases to all the news organizations in New York.

In the next scene, our hot dog cart is surrounded by all the news crews and radio talk show jocks.

My “team” sold more than the celebrities!

The Donald was so impressed with my strategy in the face of all these obstacles, he decided to make me the Apprentice and cancel the rest of the challenges.

Of course, he realized that as an entrepreneur, I have no leadership skills and that entrepreneurs don’t want to part of a team. So he put me in charge of a project of his in Antarctica!

I turned him down, because my entrepreneurial lifestyle beats the lifestyle of his high-pressure executives any day!

I’d love to tell you the names of the celebrities on Celebrity Apprentice II: Revenge of the Nerds, but I signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Would you like to add hundreds of thousands of “EXTRA M0ney” to
your speaking, writing, training, coaching and consulting income?

Did you know that the college market is one of the most
lucrative, yet overlooked markets that you could make BIG money from?

Most don’t!

That’s why I asked my friend, James Malinchak, to be on a
special (no cost to you) teleseminar to share all of his secrets for
how you can tap into this unknown market.

James is called ‘The King of the College Speaking Market,’ and
has taught numerous authors, coaches, consultants, trainers,
and aspiring, beginning, and experienced speakers how to take
their message to the college market and make a ‘T0N of M0ney!’

I’ve asked James to be a guest on a no cost teleseminar to tell
you step-by-step how you can quickly tap into this hidden, but
lucrative, speaking niche!

Click here now for all the details:

http://www.collegespeakingsuccess.com/janal

Don’t wait any longer – it’s time for you to make ‘BIG M0ney By
Speaking at Colleges!’ There is NO COST to listen in on the call
so I hope you’ll take advantage of it!

This is a one-time-only call. If you can’t attend the live call
October 17th, register anyway, and afterwards we’ll send you a
link to a recorded audio – you’ll be able to listen online or
download it to your mp3 player.
Go Now to:

http://www.collegespeakingsuccess.com/janal

Here is what you’ll discover during this no cost call:
Colleges have large budgets for booking speakers, authors,
trainers, coaches and consultants, but the trick is knowing who
the people are who have the money.

In this call, you will learn…

* Why there’s BIG money in the college market.
* Which topics are most in demand and why?
* Which departments have the budgets to book you?
* Who are the people you must contact to get booked as a college
speaker?
* How to create marketing materials that will get you noticed
and booked.
* And, Much More!

*****************
Again, there’s no cost for listening to the call so register now
at
http://www.collegespeakingsuccess.com/janal

*****************

I hope you’ll join me as we discover these and other marketing
secrets. I’ll be looking for you on the call.

Again, This is a one-time-only call. If you can’t attend
the live call, register anyway, and afterwards we’ll send you a
link to a recorded audio – you’ll be able to listen online or
download it to you mp3 player.

Go Now to: http://www.collegespeakingsuccess.com/janal

Excelsior, Minnesota – October 11, 2007 – Internet entrepreneur Dan Janal, founder of PR Leads and the author of six books, recently unveiled his new Cool Book of the Day [http://www.coolbookoftheday.com/] blog. The blog features a new book each day accompanied by an author interview.

Janal got the idea for the Cool Book of the Day blog after attending Book Expo this year. “All reporters were writing about Harry Potter and other big name authors,” says Janal. “And, that’s still the case today. Reporters and critics don’t cover the ‘unknown’ authors writing books, which is a shame, because many of these people are experts in their fields who have written really good books filled with practical information.”

The blog gives authors who use Janal’s PR LEADS publicity service a place to publicize their book and in their own words, tell others about it and why they wrote it. An October 5, 2007 post by MSN Money writer and consultant Sally Herigstad, CPA, for example, talks about why she wrote her book, Help! I Can’t Pay My Bills! In her interview she writes,

Most [finance] books still focus on lifetime financial planning and investing. They may not meet the needs of a person who, regardless of age, just needs to get through this month without having the utilities turned off. Readers can find several existing categories of personal finance books. . . . None, however, offer the focused yet comprehensive information that Help! I Can’t Pay My Bills provides people with acute financial needs.

Due to its viral nature, the blog gives authors much greater exposure in the blogosphere. Those authors whose books are featured on the blog can add a clickable graphic to their Website and/or blog showing their book has been listed. Readers can leave comments on the Cool Book of the Day blog, and of course, post about the books in their blogs.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” says Janal. “The book authors get the exposure they need for their books, bloggers can use the material to fill out blog posts, and readers have a place they can visit every day to learn about new books.”

The postings are having a big impact on traffic for PR LEADS authors whose works are cited.

“Thanks so much for choosing “Zero to Zillionaire” as your “Cool Book of the Day.” My Amazon ranking improved a bunch yesterday and now I know why.Thanks for all your help,” wrote Chellie Campbell.

About Dan Janal

Developing online ventures is nothing new for Janal, who founded PR Leads in 2001 and Great Teleseminars in 2002. In addition to running his businesses, Janal is a frequent speaker at industry conferences around the globe. He also offers PR coaching for authors and small businesses.

Daniel Janal is an internationally-recognized speaker, Internet marketer and best-selling author. As president of Janal Communications, he conducts strategic planning seminars and consultations for clients ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 1000. A former public relations executive, Dan Janal was on the PR team that launched America Online, and personally directed the PR launch of Grolier’s Electronic Encyclopedia, the first consumer software program ever produced on a CD-ROM.

He is the author of several best-selling books on marketing and the Internet including Dan Janal’s Guide to Marketing on the Internet and 101 Successful Businesses You Can Start on the Internet. The Los Angeles Times called Dan “an online marketing expert.” USA TODAY called Dan “A true Internet marketing pioneer.” He can be reached at 952-380-1554 or via his Website at www.PRLEADS.com.

From my mailbag:

We just got reviewed (and it wasn’t that great)and I was wondering how much we should stress over this. We are in beta, so that accounts for some of the bugginess, but we have corrected the ones he mentioned.

Dan answers:

First off, congratulations on getting the media’s attention. It isn’t that easy to do and if you didn’t have a worthwhile concept, they wouldn’t have reviewed your product. So you are on the right track.

Secondly, every review will have negative points. There’s an unwritten rule in reviewers’ minds that they can’t like something 100 percent. They have to find something to complain about.

The other good news is that you have fixed the bugs. So here’s what to do:

1. Contact the reviewer, thank him and let him know that you appreciated his comments and have corrected the problems. He’ll feel like an owner now. Offer to let him review the next version.

2. Search the web to see if the review is posted anywhere. If it is, be sure to post a message saying the bugs have been fixed. Consider offering a free review copy to people who read the post.

3. If the review had good points, promote those on your website.

4. People will understand that bugs happen in beta. That’s why there’s a beta.

5. If appropriate, point out the bugs that you fixed as ‘enhancements’ and new features.

So, don’t sweat the small stuff — but be vigilant to stamp out any fires this review might have created.