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My good friend and Top 40 Radio DJ, Wayne Kelly, wants to give you his $24 eBook "Insider Secrets to Radio Interviews" for FREE.

When I first heard it, I thought he was crazy too, but let me share him with you…

Wayne Kelly is a top-tier Media coach and a Top 40 Radio DJ with a very successful (real-live on-air) radio show on 95.7 FM. He's interviewed celebrities from Dr. Phil McGraw, Robert Allen, Mark Victor Hansen, Lionel Richie, Richard Simmons, Survivor & American Idol contestants and the list goes on.

He's been awarded a Canadian Association of Broadcasters "Special Citation" for community service for his live broadcast in October 2001 from Ground Zero in New York. The following year Wayne was voted "Broadcaster of Tomorrow" from the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters.

(...)
Read the rest of Holey Radio Batman! YOU on Radio? (865 words)

As I promised earlier today, I recently received a 5-minute phone call that upset my already-set 2007 plans.

Who was the call from?

Andy Jenkins.

Andy is a veteran business-owner and film-maker. He's an Associate Producer, Post Production Supervisor, and Investor in 'Altered' (released Dec 20), first film that the original makers of “The Blair Witch Project” have made since “Blair.”

Plus, his online medieval sword ecommerce stores push 3.2 million a year. Serious credibility.

Click to find out what he said that overturned my plans for 2007…

Wishing you and yours the very best this season and for 2007. And may 2007 bring you good health, happiness and prosperity.

(ps. Watch for another blog entry from me today. I reveal how a 5-minute phone call overturned my 2007 business plans…)

Here's some Christmas fun making the rounds online, and after having a good 'ole time with them, I thought your family and you may enjoy them too…

Gingerbread Man/Woman Cookie Decorator
This one's my daughter's favorite. You can decorate a cookie with various jelly-bits, sprinkles, and all kinds of icing,
using different nozzle sizes and custom colors. And you can email your cookie creation to all of your friends - so if the Gingerbread man can, you can too!

Snowflake Creator
Also one of my daughter's favorite Christmas games. Design your own snowflake with this flash- based snowflake creator. You can sign your creation, add a message to it, and the best part? No paper to fold!

Reindeer Tipping
This is my favorite. Go reindeer tipping with Ebenigma Scrooge. Be careful — they have serious kick!

Simon Sez Santa
Make Santa do whatever you want! <hehe> It's kinda fun - and didn't realize Santa could do all of my Simon Sez
requests!

Winterbells
A beautiful, elegant, and simple game. Just click the mouse and steer to bounce the cute bunny rabbit as high as you can.

Mission in Snowdriftland
Nintendo's platformer-type game, kind of an “Advent calendar” where a new level is opened up every day until Christmas. You’ve got some catching up to do if you play it now - go have fun!

Have fun - enjoy - and a Merry Christmas to you!

In my attempt to continue to see examples of disclosed paid content offered by product review companies such as ReviewMe and PayPerPost, I come across a well known professional blogger, and her attempt to be up front about her written post with full disclosure.  Arieanna at Blogging Help makes a first attempt at a ReviewMe.com post of a product or service she has reviewed.

This is not necessarily a product but more of a service or even a single blog post. It’s not necessarily clear to me what she is reviewing.  The review talks about a post she found on a site called Aviva Directory, that gives the reader 21 tips to successfully launch a blog.  She goes through the tips and adds her own wisdom and advice.  In fact, it’s unclear if she is actually promoting the ReviewMe.com advertiser or her own business as a blog consultant at blogging help.

As the advertiser that is paying for the review, I would not be as pleased with this approach.  I am not sure what is the purpose of the Aviva Directory, I’m not sure of their service and frankly I paid for a review that turned out to be a promotion of Arieanna and her own business. She states that it was a link brought to her attention and I’m not sure whether by a third party or the people at ReviewMe.com.  I need a little more background of the company and its service.

To her credit, Arieanna did not provide a link to ReviewMe.com. In her opening, she indicates that this is a ReviewMe.com review, and that it should be objective on her part because she would have written the review whether "paid or not" to write it. (Remind me not to send you in on any high dollar negotiations)  This is a completely different approach than I have previously seen to writing reviews for the company and being paid for your efforts. 

I’m curious if ReviewMe.com will be coming out with standard requirements that must be met in order to be fully paid for the post.  I would say that you would at least have to make clear what the product is and what the company offers.  At this point I’m somewhat confused.  Let us know how it turns out Arieanna and whether Review Me sends full payment or if they have any comment on the post.  I would also like to hear what if anything the people at Aviva Directory think of the review and whether this type of review is what they had in mind when offering to pay a blogger.

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There were a few times on my trip to Seattle recently that made those days of hard work all worth it. What hard work? That’s another story, when my wife’s not reading. I can honestly say that the life of a billionaire is not the hard work it is described by those poor souls required to live the life of the rich and famous. How do I know this? I was given a small glimpse, a mere tasting, of what it is like to have more money that you can spend in a lifetime.

Robert Scoble has posted his video on the Scoble Show about the trip aptly named “Grapes On A Plane”, put on by the hard working conference experts at the Blog Business Summit. I was not invited because I’m a famous blogger the likes of which Robert describes, but because I happened to be at the right place at the right time and my plane was leaving and nobody really wanted to drive the three hour trip to Seattle’s airport early in the morning after a night of wine tasting. Actually, Bloggers Fore Hire was a sponsor of the event, meaning they let us show up and pay for some drinks. Actually I stand behind the money well spent comments I made. These people know how to treat a sponsor!

If you want to see how the other half, although that is a misnomer because “half” implies there are as many billionaires as poor people like me, go to The Scoble Show and download the podcast. Robert said there were no edits to the video. I’m sure there was one edit when it came to seeing the bill for the evening of fun. I think my expense account may have been stretched had I picked up the tab.

I want to thank again the wonderful hosts at Greenpoint Technologies for their hospitality in allowing me to experience what I probably won’t get to experience again. If I do they are on the must call list to outfit my own private jet! Jon Buccola, CEO of Greenpoint (Jon, you still need that blog!) and Matt Mullenweg (soon to be billionaire) the founder of Wordpress let me sit an enjoy the comforts of style while enjoying their company on the trip home.

I’m the one that looks like I don’t belong! (Jim, Jon, Matt)

Robin Leach photo via corporateartists.com

Tags: Robert Scoble, The Scoble Show, Blog Business Summit, Greenpoint Technologies, Jon Buccoloa, Matt Mullenweg, Jim Turner, Grapes On A Plane

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My friend Ben, no he did not pay me to be his friend, submitted a review of a Data Deposit Box.  Yes, I am somehow contributing to the demise of the Internet by linking a ReviewMe.com review.  What I wanted to bring to light was the disclosure of Ben’s choice.  Unlike Darren Barefoot, Ben decided not to go with the "no follow" tag, but was clearly up front about his review and the payment he is receiving from the company.

This is a sponsored post, through the ReviewMe service. I accepted the review opportunity to get a feel for what it’s like, understand their service, and be able to explain my experience to you. It’s the first review request I’ve received, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to get it. But make no mistake, Data Deposit Box paid me to write this (although they have absolutely no say in what I write.)

Since I know Ben and I appreciate his work, I wondered how the review he posted would tip the balance for me to click to see the product.  Actually, I got about half way through his review and it turns out the product is a little geeky for my taste and it lost my interest. No customer earned here.  The good news for the company Ben reviewed is it garnered my attention.  If only for a moment, I saw what Ben had written, and made a decision quickly and without further thought.  I would venture to say Ben has more than a few friends, and I would also gather that they are perhaps a little more geek leaning than am I, but if one or two click to see the product, a PPC or CPA campaign has just been launched. 

I continue to follow the PayPerPost.com model as well as its sister ReviewMe.com as they work their way into the mainstream marketing arena.  Thanks for the disclosure example Ben, and since you got paid for it, you buy coffee next time!

Tags: ReviewMe.com, Data Deposit Box, Darren Barefoot, PPC, CPA, PayPerPost.com, Blog Marketing, Blog Advertising

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Okay, since that is not actually the case, we can eliminate one possibility of the big shakeup in the Yahoo camp.  TechCrunch is reporting in real time and nearly from the boardroom itself.  I hope that if they are laying off all of their bloggers or employees with a blog, that they consider outsourcing to Bloggers For Hire.  I wonder if a guy could hire some talent out of that pool?

Speaking of hiring, it appears that Jason Calacanis has found a new day job. Calacanis will be joining Sequoia Capital as an “Entrepreneur in Residence”.  Jason has no comment about the above headline, but if you ask him to give you some money for your startup, give us a mention.

ClickZNews reports that there seems to be a heat up in what we here at Bloggers For Hire deem Collaborative Intelligence™.  It seems more and more companies are positioning themselves in this market.  Is your company hooked up in the intelligence community?  If you wanted to know about Jason’s job before your competitor, now is the time to find out about how we provide that Collaborative Intelligence™.

Tags: Yahoo, TechCrunch, Bloggers For Hire, ClickZ, Jason Calacanis, Sequoia Capital, Collaborative Intelligence

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Stephan Spencer a fellow contributor at Business Blog Consulting, discusses what makes a corporate blog.  He calls out Woot.com for their corporate blog.  Stephan echoes ( there is that word again) my sentiments:

I expect their blog to be absolutely killer! Unfortunately, it’s anything but. For the most part, it’s merely a copy-and-paste of their product-of-the-day descriptions. Attention retailers: Product description copy does not make for acceptable blog posts.

Getting back to the idea that blogging is not quite as easy as some might think, I comment on the post trying to be witty and satirical myself in how I pictured a blogger at Woot.com and their rough day at the office:

Blogger: Hi Frank, nice game last night huh?

Frank: Yeah Mary, I can’t talk about it right now I am preparing for that board meeting and I have yet to get all my spreadsheets done and I have yet to get it collated and fashioned for presentation. I have been here since 5:00 a.m.

Blogger: I’ve had a rough time of it recently too Frank. My Control + C and Control + V buttons have been down all week. I have had to hand code all of that content after right clicking since Monday. I’m told it will be up and running again by next Monday.

Frank: That’s rough Mary. Hey can you hand me that stack of data over on the floor? I need to make sure it is in my report.

Blogger: Sorry Frank, the IT group is here to look at my problem. I have to go, and I told my husband I would pick up the kids after I deposited my paycheck. Did you get the Christmas bonus this year? Wow, who knew production was up 26% huh? Good luck on that presentation!

Attempting to drive home my point and looking in the mirror at my own day as it unfolded today, I added a short quip to the foregoing in the comment:

Okay, am I the only one seeing the old crew from SNL doing that skit? Whew I spent a long time on that comment, I need some coffee, and return to my feed reader. See you guys later. Rick have you sent the advertising revenue share this month? My kid wants one of those new Mac book things.

I should probably add a note in here for my own protection, and to keep Rick out of hot water with the IRS, and further, to make you understand how hard it is to blog everyday.  I actually have made exactly $0  as a contributor to Business Blog Consulting, and my kids are too young to want one of the Mac thingies.  I also want to add that I’m not really sitting here in my pajamas with my fuzzy slippers on…I left those by the coffee maker.

Tags: Stephan Spencer, Business Blog Consulting, Woot.com, professional blogger, corporate blogger, Mac

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