The funny part is other people who were watching this back and forth between the three of us started joining in on our little challenge. Pretty quick is seemed like we had hundreds of people tweeting about the challenge. It was going viral right before our eyes.

I created the hash tag #HAHD. This would make it easier to follow everyone’s progress on Twitter during the challenge. Jeff tossed up a website. And Felicia came up with doing a 100 Article 100 Days launch teleseminar.

It didn’t take to long to get the attention of Chris Knight

I wonder why? There were only hundreds of people tweeting about submitting an article a day to Ezine Articles…

So, Chris decided to provide some swag to anyone who completed the challenge.

The challenge ended in July, and it was a huge success. It was also fun to complete the challenge.

The 2nd #HAHD challenge started in August and finished in November. I skipped this one, and now wish I hadn’t. I had stopped writing all together… big mistake.

The 3rd #HAHD Marathon Challenge is starting today

You can get all the details by clicking here.

It’s the perfect time to have this kind of challenge. What a better way to help you with your new year’s resolution of creating more content for your online efforts. You get to have a bunch of other people helping, encouraging and participating along with you on your own challenge.

I’ve always found it easier to complete goals or challenges with a group of like minded along on the same journey.

See you on the way to 100 articles!

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I get Lots of hugs from my wife… plenty of snuggles from Gypsy The Wonder Dog…. And after some very intensive training – Sparky the Goldfish has got the high five department taken care of…

I don’t care how many points you scored on “Thor! The Self-Abusing Hammer Thrower”… My thumb hurts just thinking about it!

I’m not going to join your “Twitter Ninja Mafia Dojo Clan Tribe”… I’m an Island of one!

And I’m not really interest in finding out what color “M&M” I am… I just want to eat them!

All this stuff is really spam in your DM

How do I know it’s spam? Simple… I never asked anyone to send this to me. I didn’t opt-in for any of it, and I don’t want it.

Maybe I’m in the minority here. but I actually like to use my DM for direct communication… not automated garbage. I’ve used the DM to talk with people, and have 2-way conversations.

But, all of this automated DMing clutters it up and makes it a useless feature.

It’s not a wall for people to come by and spray paint.

If you are sick of getting all this junk in your DM stream, then there is a solution. You can opt-out of this two ways.

1. You can opt-out from the site it self. Click on the link of one of the DMs you get and at the bottom of the page you will see a link to Opt-out.

2. You can revoke access to the application from your Twitter settings. Login into Twitter, click on stetting and then click on connections. From there you can revoke access to any application connected to your Twitter account.

Here is a video showing you how I did it, and you can to…

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If you let your domain expire you might loose it. No really, someone might buy it because they have an idea for a website.

Then all your hard work building up the domain is gone down the drain. Well it’s not really gone because the next person will benefit from your link building, and PR.

Unfortunately, not all people want your domain for their new website.

You see, there are people (and I use this term lightly) out there who make money off this situation. They’ll grab your domain & hold it hostage try to sell it back to you.

So for kicks, I decided to let a domain expire. Don’t ask my why… I’m just funny that way.

The Journey Begins

The first thing I did when I realized my domain expired was to see if I could get it back. It had expired at 10:30am, and it was now 5pm. It couldn’t be gone that fast. I mean it was only a few hours.

Nope it was already grabbed by someone.

So, I had to wait…

In a couple of days this person(again I use this term lightly) had slapped up a MFA site. MFA stands for Made For Adsense. Basically, it’s a sites with no content, and adsence links everywhere.

And this one was no different… links everywhere. They also put a link at the bottom telling the visitor this domain maybe for sale. Of course this link is mainly for the person who just lost the domain… Me!

So, I clicked on the link and went to a page which said:

We have your domain, and if you pay us ransom we will return it to you safe and sound.

Opps, did I say that out loud?

What they really said was:

This domain maybe be for sale & if you ever want to see those back links again… you’ll pay $XXXX.XX amount… or else!

NO WAIT! That’s not what it said…

Here’s what it really said:

This domain maybe available for sale. Please contact the…

RAT BASTARD WHO SNAKED IT OUT FROM UNDER YOU!

No, no sorry… sorry… that’s not what it said.

Anyhow, you get the picture. The ransom price was considerably more than a domain renewal.

There’s no way I’m I paying that much to get the domain back

At this point I didn’t know what to do and figured it was lost forever. But, then I remembered reading that sometimes these people would just reserve a domain for a few weeks and let it go if it didn’t sell. I decided to wait and see what would happen.

After some time passed, I went to see if it was released… No such luck. Apparently this person was waiting it out convinced I would cough-up the ransom asking price.

Not sure what to do next… I waited some more. Then I remembered Jeff Herring had a similar experience. And since I was a member of his AMTC membership I thought I’d ask what he did. It was a few weeks until the Q&A, so more waiting.

Stay with me here… all this waiting is important.

I asked my questions, and Jeff gave me some ideas. Then one of the other members Pat Shanks pointed me to an article on Ezine Articles. It said you could get a domain back by contacting your domain register within 30 days.

Guess what?

Yep, I had waited past the 30 days. Oh well, time to move on.

Fast forward to this past Friday

While on my domain register I decided to check for my lost domain name. Who knows maybe the person had given up and let it go. Hey, we can dream… can’t we?

I type in my domain name… and… and…

IT WAS FREE! I can’t believe it… it’s actually available! YES!

I quickly bought it. I was so excited… I got my domain back! I even Tweeted about it!

Now, all I had to do was wait for it to propagate and we are back online. Man I was jazzed…

You noticed I said jazzed… as in past tense. That’s because the next day when I typed the URL into the browser, it didn’t go to the landing page I had set up. It’s wasn’t working. And I didn’t know why…

Re-type the URL and bang… the same thing happens. It’s not going to my website. One more time… same results. What is going on here?

It turns out the I had misspelled the domain. I switched two letters… Two LETETRS! Not only did I not have my old domain, but now I had a misspelled version… just great.

At this point I threw in the towel, and gave up. That domain is gone.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

Don’t let your domains expire…

“Doh! How do you do that… Einstein?”

Simple:

1. Check to see if your domain register has email alerts, and sign up.

2. Actually pay attention to those emails. (I obviously didn’t)

3. See if your domain register will auto-magically renew your domains.

4. Put your domain expiration dates on your calender.

These are a few tips to help you remember when your domains expire. What about you? Do you have any tips you would like to share? Go ahead and leave them below.

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Me & Ed Dale In NYC

And every year he has this thing called the The Thirty Day Challenge. During the month of August Ed, Dan Raine and the rest of the crew put on a day by day, step-by-step training to start an online business.

It is also for anyone who has a “brick-n-mortar” business, and wants to create a online presence. There are plenty of small business owners, artisans, musicians and others who have used this training to get themselves online.

This is ideal for anyone who has no idea how to set up a business online. They take you step by step from the very beginning all the way to up and running. Now, it does require you to actually do the work they ask… but there is plenty of support from the forums, and the training is very easy to understand.

The best part? It free… gratis… complimentary. Or as Ed likes to say: “There is no charge for awesomeness!”

I’d encourage you to head on over there and join, check out the different sections and start on the pre-season. It kicks off on Saturday, and it’s something I highly recommend. In fact, I’ll be going through the challenge myself.

Here is the site again…

http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com

See you there!

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We had to put Gypsy “The Wonder” Dog in a kennel. Wait… it’s a Resort and Spa for dogs. The place we always use is called Best Friends Pet Care. And they always go out of their way to make us feel special.

Study and take notes on how they create an experience instead of a transaction

When we dropped off Gypsy the staff fussed all over her, and told us how much they liked her personality. Of course being the proud parents of Gypsy “The Wonder Dog” we got a real kick out it.

Now, Gypsy only understands a few words… some of which she chooses to ignore on a regular basis. Some of her more words are: cookie, scooby snack, walkies, car ride, do you want to go?

So, with her limited English… most of the praising sorta went over her head. Although she did enjoy the pets and back scratches.

About half way through our vacation Becky was checking her email. And excitedly showed me an email we got from Gypsy…

Having a blast at Best Friends Chestnut Ridge…wish you were here!

I’d love to tell you all about it, but since I can’t talk my Best Friends agreed to send this photo along to you instead.

See you soon!

Love,

Gypsy

Attached to this email was a picture they took of her in the Play Room. Of course my wife started forwarding the email around to friends & family. She thought it was so cool to get an email from Gypsy telling us how much fun she was having.

Here’s the picture…

We came home & went to pickup Gypsy…

We got back this past Saturday, and went to pick up Gypsy. The girl behind the counter quickly pulled up the records on the computer. She then started telling us how much fun it was to have Gypsy stay with them. We were given the report cards to look over.

The report cards are comments left by the staff members who are taking care of Gypsy. There is a place to leave comments about how things went. Most of the comments said things like: “Gypsy is such a sweetie! She really is a cuddle hound… Gypsy is always a treat to have stay with us!”

How do I know what the comments say? Simple, my wife has kept all the report cards! I’ve been reading them while typing this post.

I then handed them Gypsy’s leash so they could go get her from the back. We paid the bill and waited for one of the staff to go get her.

But, wait it didn’t stop there…

There is a large screen TV hanging up behind the counter. It usually shows rotating pictures of the “Spa & Resort”. Usually it has a live shot of the doggie playroom. And you get to watch the other dogs romp around playing with each other. It can be fun to watch most of the time.

As we watching the picture changed. It was showing the picture of Gypsy in the playroom she had sent us in the email. The caption read something like we have arrived to pick up our best friend Gypsy. Of course we got a big laugh out it, and it was a nice touch.

This is getting long so I’m going to stop here. In a couple of days I’ll talk about some of the marketing lessons. And how you can apply them to your business.

But in the mean time… why don’t you add your comments here & tell me what you think made this an experience vs a transaction.

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1. Let People See You With Other Celebrities - The power of association instantly builds credibility. People will associate you with the celebrities you are seen with. You get to borrow from their influence. And probably the best way to do this is to get your picture taken with other celebrities in your niche.

2. Keep Other Celebrities Updated - This is simple to do and very effective. Keep the leaders in your niche updated on your activities. If they find something about you interesting, they could pass your updates on to their followers.

3. Let Your Accomplishments “Slip Out” - Plain and simple, this is no time to be shy. Waiting around for someone to stroll along and notice your achievements guarantees one thing – A long wait. You need to get your accomplishments out into the public.

4. Collaborate With Other Celebrities - One of the biggest boost to your credibility is to collaborate with another leader. You get instant access to their network, and you get to borrow from their influence.

5. Be Seen At “Events” - Getting out and meeting people goes a long way towards legitimizing your business. No need to go crazy and spend thousands attending every event, but a handful a year should do the trick. Remember, there are plenty of free events if you take the time and look around.

6. Be Persistent - “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” – Sir Winston Churchill. I think that pretty much sums it up. The most successful people bounce back quickly from setbacks, overcome obstacles and deflect unproductive criticism.

7. Get A Coach or a Mentor- You are not an island. Everyone and I mean everyone needs a coach or mentor to help reach their goals. A coach will provide valuable feedback. They will point out the good, the bad and the ugly. (OK, you can stop singing the song from the movie!) Look at it this way – If the world’s best athletes, actors and musicians need a coach, then why would you be any different?

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1. Rewrite as article - You can easily rewrite the blog post, change the title, and submit it to EzineArticles.com.

2. Submit to Blog Carnival - This option is one of the easiest of all these tips. Go to a Blog carnival, find one that matches your content & submit the post. Take your best one or two posts of the week and use them.

3. Make a video - Fire up the video camera and get busy demonstrating your latest post. But what If your blog post cannot be demonstrated? Simple, turn on the camera & record yourself talking about the blog post.

4. Record as teleseminar - Take your main points of your post and create an outline. Then get on the phone and record yourself talking about these main points. This one is good because people like to get on the teleseminar & interact with the author/host.

5. Turn into questions & do an interview - Take the main points of your blog post and turn them into questions. If you know another expert in your niche, then ask them for an interview. Another option would be to ask a success story to give their views on the questions. Each way has worked well for me in the past.

6. Create a Squidoo/Hubpage page - Harness the SEO love of these two sites. Google is gaga over both sites and likes to give them high ranking. It’s important to change the blog post just enough to not be duplicate content. Then add an RSS feed and/or embed a video, now it’s ready to go.

7. Turn into a report - Creating a report out of your best blog posts will build your credibility as a thought leader in your niche. You could easily take each point and expand it to a page or more. This will give you a 7-15 page report ready to be given away, or sold.

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http://ezinearticles.com/?Article-Writing-Case-Study:-The-100-Articles-in-100-Days-Project&id=627427

http://ezinearticles.com/?&id=584558

I thought it was pretty cool she wrote 100 articles so fast. For a brief few minutes I toyed with the idea of taking up the challenge myself… but it scared the crap out of me. So, I pushed it out of my mind & went about my business.

The problem…

This idea wouldn’t go away. I kept thinking about writing 100 articles in a 100 days, but I kept putting it off. Finally I realized the only way make myself do this me was to make a public announcement. So, where was the most public to announce my challenge? That’s right… Twitter!

OK, I went over to Twitter. Type it in, closed my eyes, held my breath & hit enter…

I was shocked to see a reply from Jeff Herring telling me it was very doable.

Now I did it… there was no turning back. I grabbed the hashtags #HAHD so others could follow & join. Then replied to Jeff that it was on…

At the same time Jeff was talking to Fleicia Slattery about her article marketing & she tweeted she was going to do a 100 articles in a 100 days like Connie Green did.

While the 3 of us were tweeting about doing this challenge, it suddenly exploded! People were joining the challenge on Twitter left & right… this was going viral. It was exciting to see so many people fired up about this challenge. It made my head spin.

That was Saturday March 21st & by Monday the 23rd I was on a kick off Teleseminar with Jeff Herring & Felicia Slattery telling how this all came together.

As of Today over 425 members have joined us on our 100 articles in 100 days marathon challenge.

I’m inviting you to join us, and create your own traffic, prospects, publicity & profits explosion today… It’s free & imagine the benefits you’ll get out of completing your own challenge.

Sign up today at

Here is a quick over view of the site I recorded on March 24th…

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Yep – no email, no affiliate links, nothing! Just dial in & listen.

The call is Tonight March 25th, 2009 at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern.

What is the topic?

“The 5 Internet Success Factors”
and The AM TeleSeminar Club…

Here is the link(non-affiliate)…

http://www.thearticleguyteleseminars.com/club-am.htm

Why should you listen in on this call?

Jeff is the real deal… I know that phrase is over used in IM circles, but this is the case with Jeff. He goes out of his way to make sure he gives top quality material.

I’m a member of Jeff’s AM TeleSeminar Club, and he over delivers easy to implement tips, strategies & techniques month after month. And here is the best part is… the information Jeff delivers is the same stuff he uses to build his business… No theory weenies need apply here!

How do I know this?

Jeff is very transparent. He gives examples from his own experiences, and it’s not just from the “make money online” arena. Plus – it’s not hard to find his stuff out there, if you look around.

I’ve also found Jeff to be very accessible… something that is rare today with many people today. I’m not sure how he does it, but he answers question & comments shockingly fast.

So, I’m inviting you to join Jeff & Alex on the call tonight. I’m confident Jeff will deliver some great content & it will be entertaining at the same time. I’ll be listening in… with my notebook in hand.

Here is the link again…

http://www.thearticleguyteleseminars.com/club-am.htm

One more thing…

Could you do my a favor & let me know that you called in tonight. I would really appreciate it. You can send me a Tweet @KeithGoodrum, leave a comment below or contact me here…

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I think it’s a pretty cool plugin…

Here it the link to download the pluging from Andy Bailey’s site…

http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/wp-twitip-id-plugin-add-a-twitter-field-to-your-comment-form-easily/

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