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Stubborn, Passionate, Adaptable: Don't let fear clip your wings

     One of the greatest things about being an online entrepreneur is the freedom it gives you. Whether you are in online marketing, SEO, lifestyle guidance or any of a number of other relatively new and fast growing industries you have a huge amount of choice in where and how you do business.

In fact most digital entrepreneurs have no set place from which they work or set time at which they have to get that work done. As I am writing this for example I am sitting sipping coffee in my backyard on a surprisingly mild autumn evening.

     For many of us the choice to leave a career that was if nothing else a steady job that paid the bills was a hard one. It is a natural fear to leave behind a steady income, even if it is a job you have come to despise, for a less certain one that offers you more money and far more importantly, more freedom to choose the direction and style of your own life.

     The reason why people decide to make, what for most seems an irrational choice, varies greatly from individual to individual but from talking to others who have ditched the desk and are now building businesses and income streams from wherever they can get wifi I think there is one key theme that ties us all together.

     Unhappiness. Of all the people who I know that have made it in this industry I am yet to meet someone that says when asked about their previous job or life "Yeah, I loved it, it was great". In fact most people have a kind of burning dread of the life they used to have and in many it is that fear of falling back to earth, or maybe rock bottom for some, that keeps them hungry for success.

     Of course, not everyone is cut out for this kind of life. Those who do fly and who refuse to end up crawling back to their nine to five have a few traits in common that make them continue to climb and be successful when so many others have fallen by the wayside.

     Stubborn. The first trait I think that is a must have has got to be stubbornness. I am yet to meet a successful online entrepreneur who isn't as stubborn as the proverbial mule. Here though it is important I draw a distinction, stubborn is good, arrogant is not. Those that are stubborn are the ones that persevere no matter how hard it gets. Stubborn are the people who refuse to listen when friends and family tell them they will never make it and maybe they should ask their old boss for that job back. Those that are arrogant though refuse to take help when it is offered and this can be a deadly mistake.

     Passionate. Having, as I am sure we all have, worked with people who see a job as a pay check as well as those that see their job, no matter what it is, as a crusade and a lifelong passion it is easy to see the difference. There are a vast and every growing number of people trying to sell you something online. What separates them into two groups though is passion. Those without it will sell any tuppeny trinket to anyone without a second thought while those with it match seller to buyer and are proud to provide a service rather than spraying spam and hoping something sticks.

     Adaptable. The last trait that is a must have for the true digital entrepreneur is adaptability. The internet moves fast and the rules and strategies are forever changing. One day you have a great ad running on Facebook the next it gets pulled down for no apparent reason and you are staring at having an account blocked. For most people this sounds like a nightmare but for us this is the daily dance, the area where we let our talents shine and the area where all three of these traits come together to create the perfect storm.

     So why tell you all of this? Well we need more, more entrepreneurs more people considered a little crazy by friends and family, more people fed up of a boring life where the biggest choice you get all day is decaf or regular.

     You see almost two and a half billion people get online every single day, and the forecast shows that by 2020 that figure will reach somewhere close to five billion. This means that the Internet provides an effectively limitless source of potential customers and clients for us. With this in mind it is easy to see where the profits can be, and are already, being made.

     So why share? I'm going to be honest, online income or not, I'd be a millionaire already if I got a pound for every time someone has asked that. So let me put it simply. For internet entrepreneurship to survive and thrive we need good people to guide it. People who have empathy and passion, people who want to help make online marketing, lifestyle advice, social media and all the other joys of the internet safe and enjoyable for themselves and their kids.

One big difference between a digital business and a physical one is that the internet provides far more opportunity to spread good products and information but it also has the ability to push bad information and products just as easily if not more so. As Uncle Ben said "with great power comes great responsibility".

     So here you stand, and if you've come this far then maybe you too are ready to make the jump. To take that first step out of the nest and learn as we  all must how to flap your wings and fly. It won't be easy, but then nothing worth having ever was. The only difference is that unlike that little bird there is no need for you to go it alone.

     Already there is a community of experts, of professionals, who have taken the leap first. They can't guarantee you a soft spot to land on but they can at least be with you on your journey and show you how it works.

     So, if you are ready to take a chance then come and join us and let us show you how to truly get the best out of yourself and how to make a real change in yourself and in your life.

Find us at The Online Business Expert or you can get our 7 day video seriesand orientation webinar.

Opportunities And Challenges Facing Retailers In 2015 And Beyond

Over the last few years, many brands have begun using social media to market their products, to talk to their customers and even to make decisions about their merchandising. Some have also found growing ROI in selling and advertising products/services on social media sites.

     As more and more big businesses join the social marketing revolution social media sites have answered the call and have started to provide viable sales funnels built into their platforms. With the  recent launch of shopping functionality across multiple social media platforms we are seeing a major shift in the way traditional businesses are viewing and using marketing systems. Examples of this include Twitter and Facebook adding buy buttons and the inclusion of Curalate’s Like2Buy platform for Instagram. What all of this points to is an increase in the "shoppability" of social media.

     Some of the major retailers already getting involved in the trend of social shopping include some notable names like Target and Nordstrom , both of which have made the decision to utilize the Like2Buy platform on Instagram. Whilst brands such as Burberry and Home Depot have been actively testing performance on Twitter using the buy button system.

     By allowing businesses to not only advertise more openly but also to provide a sales funnel on their sites, many social media platforms are gaining an even more varied functionality by increasing traffic and reducing the traffic which leaves the site to buy items directly on a company's webpage.

     Another change ushered in by the socialization of online marketing is that companies must be more aware of their Corporate Social Responsibilities. As consumers become more capable of promoting or punishing brands directly where their sales pitches are made mistakes made on social media in terms of customer service, environmental protection and moral/ethical business practices become more costly and far more open to public scrutiny. To prove that consumers faced with a wider global choice of goods suppliers have begun to make this change we only need to look at things such as a  survey done by Cone Communications and Echo Research which showed that 87% of global consumers take such factors into consideration when thinking about making a purchase.

     To meet this need it is only to be expected that more businesses will launch ethical and good deed initiatives. Some retailers have managed to pull off social media coups by providing further value or by limiting themselves to more open and honest practices. By doing so they gain instant and lasting draw on social media sites where moral, social, economic and environmental issues are now a daily topic of conversation for many users.

     With so many consumers taking a more active interest in global and moral issues it makes sense for businesses to begin to engage those users with solutions or at the very least some movement towards easing these issues. As buyers these users find value being added to any product they choose to purchase in being able to feel good about making some sort of difference. This is a marked difference from companies trying to introduce value by providing loyalty points or free gifts with purchases.

     Another large change in the way businesses think about technology is the growing awareness that usage and experimentation in new technology is a must to ensure their continued survival and growth. To this end more and more businesses are beginning to experiment with and adopt new advancements in technology and new market opportunities presented by the growth of online shopping. The main aims here for businesses are not only to gain a larger following and a more loyal customer base but also to provide easier and more attractive methods for their customers to engage with them and to purchase products from them. By increasing the ease with which purchasers can buy a product and have it delivered to them businesses are taking a huge leap forward into the domain of products on demand. 

     To achieve this end many companies are pushing ahead with a range of technologies designed to  remove the need for a physical cash register. With cloud based point of sale systems proving that they can outperform physical registers in performance, functionality and looks as well as increasing speed and availability of customer support an increasing number sellers are beginning to recognize their value.

     Another boon for businesses big and small from working with online sales is the increased availability and reduced costs of accurate consumer data. With a wider range of information available and easier ways to condense and examine this information retailers can be far more targeted than ever before. Not only does this data provide accurate and timely information about customers it can also show businesses where their marketing efforts are having the most, or least effect. By using this information wisely companies can provide a more customized and effective service to their targeted audience.

     An obvious down side to all of this data collection is that sifting through it to find relevant trends and information can be time consuming and difficult. There are however many systems continuously being developed specifically to assist with identifying key data points and understanding the relevance and usability of ongoing or emerging trends. Being able to assess the interests and online habits of consumers gives businesses a decided advantage when designing new campaigns and products.

     Some of the advantages offered by gathering and assessing big data are the ability to know when customers are most likely to be online and when they are most likely to be open to buying a product.  Tying this in with information on what products they have previously bought or viewed allows retailers to be highly targeted in their marketing and follow up.

     One of the end goals that seems closer than ever is for retailers to be able to provide completely individualized shopping experiences in real time across multiple platforms for every potential client. At the moment this is beyond the ability of even the best big data analysis systems but we are most definitely moving very quickly into an era where this is a possibility.

     Even greater in recent growth than other sectors of the online market are those engaging their audience through mobile devices. With the staggering growth in mobile technology over the last few years going hand in hand with the availability of wireless networks almost everywhere mobile data has become a real game changer. This means that tech savvy companies are more and more delving into apps and web delivery systems that are targeted at or constructed for mobile device users.

     Another key move in mobile marketing is the ability for customers to shop, pay and collect loyalty or store bonuses with mobile apps. Even physical stores can provide a platform for mobile interactivity. With physical point of sale technology merging seamlessly into the general level of big data being obtained by the company in question.

     Many of the businesses that will prove to be most effective going forward will be those who are capable of embracing omnichannel strategies. Being able to reach customers across multiple platforms both physical and digital as well as being able to target them on social media and through highly targeted ad systems will provide huge value to brands who are able to diversify and embrace new technologies as they arise.

     So what are the real takeaways from all of this? Companies who wish to thrive in modern markets need to be supremely adaptive and capable of working fluidly across multiple platforms. Combining this with effective use of big data and a strong social media presence will provide the best success rate moving forward. Last but certainly not least is the rising importance of good customer service and experience across all platforms and a drive to provide environmental, ethical and social value to transactions over traditional incentives.

Why is it important for you to have a social media marketing strategy?

Why is it important for you to have a social media marketing strategy?  

Social Media is a vast and growing potential market. Everyone wants a slice of the pie and so they should. What all this mean though is that it is easy to get lost in the crowd and to accidentally break some well known but often unspoken Social Media Netiquette rules.

Having a strategy is how you can avoid wasting time or worse generating negative feedback on Social Media sites. When creating a social media strategy there are a few things you really need to consider but the overall consideration you keep at the top of your mind should be what you are hoping to achieve using your chosen media. If you don't have a solid strategy it doesn't matter if you are smart, hardworking and creative your social marketing may well still fall flat on its face.

So what can you do?

1.  Set a solid goal:

If you are not really sure what you want to achieve then you will mostly likely not achieve anything. It is very important before starting your social media marketing that you know what you want to get out of it. You create a strategy to match your goals, not a goal to match your strategy.

2. Choose a specific audience:

The more targeted you are about who you reach out to the more effective you will find yourself becoming at putting yourself in a position to connect with people ready to hear your message. You need to be very focused on finding the audience you want by engaging the social media platforms they use and aligning your message to their interests. You need to put yourself where they are rather than trying to make them come to you.

If your content doesn't resonate with your audience it will fall on deaf ears. People overwhelmingly go to Social Media sites as a safe haven where they are surrounded by like thinkers. This means it can be quite easy to target a set interest group but also that it is crucial they are interested in your message. Consider your content carefully and tailor it to suit your audience. If your target don't like reading try making your blog a video diary instead of a written one for example. Also never forget you should be aiming to fill a need that your audience has not selling them something they have no interest in.

3. Listen to your clients:

Don't waste time and effort trying to guess what your targeted client group will find interesting. Listen to what type of content is being consumed by the group and aim your own content creation towards similar themes and patterns. It is also very important to gather as much information as you can by using a wide range of social media platforms and keeping track of key words and current trends.

To get the best understanding of your audience it is important to consider who the competition is, how your audience is likely to react to current events and other stimuli. Also if your audience has anyone who is a strong motivator consider using information, quotes and references to those influencers in your content.

4.  Create high value content:

The first thing you need to be sure of when creating content is that you are creating content that provides a high value to your audience. This means not spamming your social media feeds with sales pitches and random content. You also need to be sure you are choosing the right social media sites for your content.

Don't spread yourself too thin. It isn't necessary to be on every social media platform. It is far more important to be on the same social media platforms as the people that you are trying to reach use. This is where doing your research comes into play.

To make sure you are providing value set yourself an editorial goal. Decide what you want to cover and make sure you are producing content that reaches your audience on a regular and dependable basis. You don't have to be creating new content every day but you do need to create new content often enough to keep your audience listening and on track. One great way of doing this is to start publishing or creating content of a given type once a week and making sure your audience knows they will get the next installment soon. The key point here is to be as consistent as possible.

Content that engages and is seen as being valuable includes images, information and a call to some sort of action. It is important to keep your audience interested in your message. It is also important to give your audience an easy way to share your content with their friends and followers. The whole point of using social media as a marketing platform is to reach a wider audience and people will not take more than a few seconds to share your content. If it is harder for them to do so than clicking a button many simply wont bother.

Not all of your content has to be new or unique. If you come across something that you think will improve your audiences life in some way then be sure to share that too. Even if you are setting yourself up as a guru having credible outside sources supporrting your message can only make it stronger.

5.  Amplify:

Another key reason for sharing other peoples content is that it helps build relationships. One of the ultimate ways of creating a loyal follower is to congratulate them on their excellent content and to share it with your own audience. This is a step that many people leave out as they worry they are helping the competition out. If the content is of high value though it makes your audience far more likely to trust you and to have faith in the fact that you really do want good things for them by sharing it.

It can be a big step to pay for advertising or for boosting of content but if you are sure your content is good and you have done your research well then it can be a great way of quickly increasing your audience. Don't rush into it though make sure you really are marketing the right thing to the right people or it will be money down the drain.

 6. Stay up to date with your stats:

Use analytics. No matter what form of social media you choose to use there is always great data to be gained from either inbuilt or third party analytics. It can be easy to forget about checking who is listening to you and whether they are taking action but if you are not keeping an eye on your ROI you are doomed to fail. Make sure you also keep an eye on the traffic and action data from your website and/or blog. Even when people like what you say they may not be leaving social media sites to come and find out more and all your content may be going to waste.

All of this extra research helps you to keep doing more of what is working and less of what is not.

7. Results are not instant:

Good results don't come instantly. It can be very hard to keep plugging away when you just don't seem to be getting anywhere, but if you have made a good strategy and are sticking to good content on appropriate platforms you will make it. Keep pushing and keep putting out great stuff for your potential clients to see and you will build the audience you need.

Social Media is on the rise: Why is Social Media so important?

 

We share a heap of reasons why everyone should be utilising Social media as a tool rather than simply as a leisure activity.

Check out more at theonlinebusinessexpert.com

What is TidyURL?

TidyURL is a great tool that allows you to shorten and rename links. Unlike most link shortners though it also has several other key features that make it incredibly useful.
With TidyURL you can take any URL and shorten it to something that resembles tidyurl.com/example. This leaves links looking neater and less cluttered as well as making them easier to use especially for Twitter where character count is important. Also because you get to name the example part of the url by yourself you can use these links to provide succinct information for yourself and your potential customers. For example if I wanted a link to my website I could use http://tidyurl.com/DDLSite.
Aside from being able to shorten and rename URL links as you please TidyURL also provides a links and menus function which keeps track of all the links you make with it. These links can then be annotated and saved into different groups to allow you to keep track of them and use them again and again.
Another great feature of TidyURL is the ability to choose with the advanced functions how the URL is redirected to the destination site, either through a 301, 307 or cloaked link or through the awesome social bar feature. The social bar feature allows you to change and control what content and or images are pulled from a page when the link is pasted into websites that pull video or images from the page linked to, such as Facebook.

Check out the video below for more great features and an intro to TidyURL:

Even better is that TidyURL can be downloaded and added as a plugin to any Wordpress website. If you want to check it out grab the link here and have a look.

What is the Digital Business System?

     We at Digital Dream Life have for a while been partnered with a digital education group known as the Six Figure Mentors.

     This group consists of professional and experienced online marketers, some of whom have more than a decade of knowledge behind them. What makes them really special though is the way in which they provide not only support and coaching on a wide range of digital and affiliate marketing topics but the way in which they also provide you with a starting platform.

     Even if you are new to the internet, affiliate marketing or have little to no online skills they provide a graduated learning curve with group and individual support all the way. Aside from offering detailed video, webinar and personal mentorship they also offer an excellent affiliate program of their own allowing you to cut your teeth on their products before going on to market your own or others products.

      In a way this sounds a little too easy but I should warn you that even with the best help affiliate marketing and digital business is not for everyone. To make a living doing what we do you need to be innovative and have a strong desire to do things a little differently. The reason I chose this path for example is that I was fed up of working a nine to five, or often longer, dead end job where the person who told me what to do made several times what I did even though I was putting in the hard yards for them.

      The digital business system opens the door to a whole range of possibilities. It allows you for starters to truly work from home. All you need is a half decent computer and the internet and off you go. No more rush hour traffic and sitting in a cubicle somewhere, or in my case standing in front of a classroom full of screaming kids.

      So what do the guys at SFM offer you? Well they offer a wide range of products, at a price obviously, that depend very much on what you want out of your digital experience. The basic entry level comes in at a measly $29.95 and then we range up to higher level packages that offer more tools and support. I personally am running at their very elite Black Membership level which offers access to expert retreats, one on one training sessions a great affiliate package and all the tools I could ever need.

     If you are interested in more information about the levels, the costs and the support and tools provided either check out the official application site here or send me an email @ rorymdonald@gmail.com and I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Traditional Education vs. Digital Education

     We have all heard that information is money, but do we really understand what that means? Why is it that some people seem to make money at everything they do and the rest of us seem to simply stumble along making enough to pay rent or the mortgage?

     The answer is information. Those we think of as entrepreneurs are not any smarter, nor are they any luckier than the rest of us but they do have something most of us don't. They seek information. They drink in new knowledge. They open their minds to the changing economy and society around them.

     Ask any successful entrepreneur what sets them apart and I am sure several words will come up again and again. Words like drive, passion, need and determination. While all of these words describe the personality of the successful they still could not become successful without the knowing how to.
Education is an often forgotten side to entrepreneurship. Many of the greatest successes in our history have been made by people we could well think of as "under-educated" but that is I believe an unfair label. It is true that people such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and many others including those as far back as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie were not what would traditionally be called well educated. That however depends on what education means to you.

     The traditional school and especially university education systems are proving incapable of keeping up with technology. They do not seem to be capable of teaching the skills and mindsets needed for this digital age.

     When many young people are putting themselves into crippling debt to pay for an education that not only doesn't guarantee them a good job, but which actually now almost guarantees them a bad one* we know we are in troubled times.

     So what is the solution? How do great entrepreneurs make it big? They still make sure they are educated they just choose a different more hands on form of education. They learn to use the tools they need to make themselves great. Take for example an online learning course such as this one. It costs no more than a college degree but instead of four years learning something that will have little impact on your job in the future it teaches you a wide range of skills you can apply to an even wider range of possible income streams.

I believe Alan Watts said it best:

     You see the internet should offer us more choice not less. We should be broadening our horizons and seeking to better ourselves not plodding along blindly at the same desk job we hate for years. We should be making the future better doing what we love and sharing what interests us.

     No matter what you want to sell, no matter what you are interested in someone else will be too so why not make yourself and the world a more vibrant knowledgeable place?

     It is up to us to choose our future, and you only get one life, so make it count.

Netizen Have A Responsibility

Regardless of who you are or where you come from one thing is certain. Uncertainty.

It is so easy to get stuck into a routine and think that life is just a case of plodding along and putting one foot in front of the other day after day. However we all have those moments when we look in the mirror and wonder whether we are simply surviving instead of thriving. We all want to change the world. To help the refugees. To stop crime, war, poverty and famine. To see our children grow up in a world better than ours.

When we look at the world outside the window though it looks too vast, everything is moving too fast. We watch the news and feel overwhelmed. We get to work and find ourselves buried under the here and now pressure of making it through the day.

What we forget though are those famous words, "before you can change your world, you must first change yourself". It sounds simple and almost obvious but it can be a lot harder than we think.
The future of our society, like it or not, will be digital. War and famine, politics and business are all becoming a more and more global problem. If we want to keep up not only do we have to get online we have to choose to make the online world ours. Complaining on Facebook or commenting on Twitter is a good start but we need more. We need a way to shape the internet and the digital world into a world of our own choosing.

For a long time the internet has been a a great money spinner. Even at its very beginning the enterprising were making money by selling everything from books and videos to porn and drugs. And so the internet developed a shady side before it ever developed a safer, more public minded side.
There are out there many great resources, just like in the real world, things like free libraries to help educate and elucidate, advice forums and help centres for every niche and need. While this is a great step forward it is our responsibility to make sure that these are the future and that the dark side of the net, the dodgy get rich quick schemes and the Nigerian bank scams are kept to a minimum. The best way to achieve this is to make certain that we and those who follow us are well educated.

There is no escaping it digital reality is the new norm and we are spending more and more time and money online. Which is all the more reason we should all be taking our talents, our time and our morals out onto the net but in a way that is safe and ethical and above all smart.

Be cynical but willing to try something new. Be educated but revel in learning something new. Be brave but don't forget to be kind.

It is the responsibility of every netizen to share good knowledge and to erase the scams and cons.

Affiliate Marketing is a whole new education

     Not too long ago I returned home after working in China for several years. I had been out of the job market for a full five years and this made it quite hard to get back to work. After looking around and doing some tutoring I came across a whole new industry. I was trawling the net one day when I came across an ad for SFM and with little to lose at this point I had a closer look.
     After doing a whole heap of research about the company I decided that their education and support was exactly what I was looking for. They offer an education, a system and an affiliate marketing product line that makes it possible for even internet novices to break into the fastest growing market on earth.
     My first baby steps into this industry have been both difficult and enlightening but every time I have had an issue these guys have been there to help get me out of whatever rut I have currently got myself into.
     As a life long educator myself though I have to say that it isn't the great products they offer or even the ease with which you can use their affiliate system that makes me love this system. The one thing that makes me so glad I didn't just brush past the ad I saw is their amazing ability to harness a whole team of experts to provide training that even someone like me can follow.
     Check it out for yourself and see what you think and don't forget to grab the free, no strings attached list building PDF and the basic video series.

Why are you waiting?

     So many people procrastinate. They umm and ahh and make excuses and promise themselves they’ll do it tomorrow.

      It may well be though that tomorrow is too late. Even if it isn’t too late it is just another day wasted.

     Do you believe you can do better? Do you believe you can change not only your life but the lives of others?

     You see what so few people understand is that many, if not most, of the good digital marketing mentors out there want to help you and then you can help others and so the chain goes.

     So why? Why do I and many others want to help you?

     Well for starters it’s good for our business. The more faith people have in the fact the internet isn’t just one big scam the better for all of us. Secondly many of us, myself included, have been so far down on our luck, so backed into a corner that we don’t want to see others go the same way.
Many of us have at times when we start not been able to pay our rent, or lost it all on a stupid gamble.

     Why would we want to see more people become a victim of those who nearly stopped us from earning our success?

     The last reason, at least for me personally, is I am a teacher. I love it. I love watching people grow, watching them not only to see their real potential but also to reach out to it.

     So if you want to be better. If you want to show what you’ve got go out and do it. No more ummms and no more ahhhs. I want you to be proud of who you see in the mirror.

     Learn something new everyday, if you don’t you aren’t really living. Help out a friend every chance you can, if you don’t how can you say you’re really human. Give yourself all the chances you can, if you don’t then you deny the entire world your hidden genius.

Want to know more? Visit us at www.digitaldreamlife.com 

The Next Era Of Digital Life

     With ever moving technology, and a world that has become almost entirely connected, now is the time to look to the future.

     Being given the opportunity to receive news, information and even products at unprecedented speeds also places us in the unique position of having a responsibility to use this golden opportunity properly.

     So many people have already been bitten by scams and by spam marketing around the net. So many people have become jaded and have chosen to hide themselves away from the choices and chances the internet holds out to us all.

     As digital marketers, social media experts and representatives of our various online businesses the time has come for us to step up to the plate. The time has come for us to fight back, to give back and to provide value to enrich our followers rather than seeking only to enrich ourselves.

     So many of us now owe everything we are and everything we have to those who had faith. We owe our livelihood to all the people who took the risk and trusted us to deliver on our promises. Let us not forget those promises. Let us not offer false hope. Instead let us offer only solutions to problems. Let us provide the same level of service and excellence we would like to receive ourselves.
Every time someone gets scammed, every time someone is sold a product that fails to meet it's sales pitch we lose another chance to enrich both our own lives and someone else's life. As an industry we owe it both to ourselves and to our various clients and customers to take a stand and defend the right of everyone to build, to grow and to buy without fear.

     So, how many of us will stand by our products? How many of us will choose honesty over a quick buck? Can you say you would buy your own product? Are you proud of who you are and what you have to offer?

     If you are all these things it is time to turn it all around. It is time to show the whole world that not only the lucky few can live a better, freer life.

Visit us at www.digitaldreamlife.com for more.

Back bigger, better and readier to help you join us in the Digital Dream Life.

     I am sure a few of you have noticed we have been offline for quite a while. The big reason for this was that with Asia and especially china arising as a bigger and more open market everyday we here at DDL decided we needed to head over there and see what was happening on the ground in person.
This first thing to say about my year on the ground in China is that the opportunities opening up there are truly awesome, so much so that I had a hard time even knowing where to start at first. After taking a deep breath and diving into the whole new planet that is Renren, Taobao, Alipay, Alibaba, Weibo and so many others I discovered two huge things.

     Huge discovery number one China is, despite what most westerners think, a very money oriented and capitalist society. Everyone strives to get to the top and having more money than the next guy is a mark of pride and is very respected.

     Huge discovery number two Chinese people love, and I mean LOVE, shopping online. Go to any office in any city in China and I guarantee that many if not most of the computers will have at least one, and probably a couple, of the above mentioned programs running in the background.

     What all of this means is that China has become not just a huge seller but also a huge market. So what kind of products does the worlds largest market want? Perhaps unsurprisingly one of the biggest markets is for western cosmetics and food supplements. The reason for this is the same reason there is not a huge demand for Chinese versions of these products in the West. Another major market, as China becomes more affluent, is for genuine (rather than locally made fake) high end clothing and accessories.

     The biggest roadblock however to selling to the Chinese market is simply put one of language. Many Chinese people learn English at school, in fact to the best of my knowledge all of them do to some degree. However learning English at a public school in China is not too different from learning a second language for most people in the West at school. You do it because it is on the curriculum and perhaps so you can pretend to be smart when you travel to France for spring break and can order a coffee in French. What this means is an audience in China where nearly everyone knows how to say hello but where only few can really read the language.

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LinkedIn is swimming in SWAM’d

After a good friend of mine recently got added to the growing list of people SWAM’d over at LinkedIn I decided to do a little bit of research on a topic that seems to have gone under the radar.

Before I start I want to make it clear that I truly do believe LinkedIn is a great resource and one that has helped many, many people find jobs or employees over the last few years. Having a forum where professionals can find other professionals easily from all over the world can be nothing but a boon to modern society.

There is however a secret thorn hidden deep in the flowers of this particular rose and after doing my research it is one I feel needs to be explored more deeply.

I myself have a LinkedIn account although one that I use all too rarely. SWAMming however is not something I (like many other users) had come across until it happened to someone I knew. A few quick explanations may be in order at this point:

• As of writing this LinkedIn has more than 300 million members across almost every industry.

• LinkedIn groups are since the retirement of Signal the most common and important method of communication on the platform.

• Most active members are part of multiple groups (up to 50).

• Groups are often open, that is, there is no active moderation within the group as regards to posts that are awaiting moderation.

So, now we have a basic outline of the facts and figures, what exactly is SWAM and why is it becoming a major issue? SWAM stands for Site-Wide Automatic Moderation. In an effort to reduce spam (a noble goal in any social media organization) LinkedIn decided back in early 2013 to enact strong measures to protect it’s legitimate users from the flood of junk floating around the net. So far so good.

That unfortunately is where the good news ends. You see when the anti-spam initiative was put in place it was done with almost no fanfare. The original and in fact the only post to be found mentioning it’s inception appeared in a rather obscure corner of the site and would have been seen by less than 5,000 of their over 300 million users.

The basic issue with SWAM is that if someone dislikes something you say or post in a group in which they are a moderator they can choose to “block & delete” you. If a moderator in any group you are a member of does this it then means that any comment or post you make in any group you are in goes automatically to a moderation queue and must be accepted by a moderator before appearing in that group.

As you can imagine, while most people are responsible in the use of such a powerful tool, there are many who have abused the power given to them. As many LinkedIn members will attest it is all too easy for someone to push the hush button on you simple because they feel like it, they don’t like you for any number of reasons or even because they are totally unaware of the true repercussions of their actions.

Many cases have appeared where members in good standing, some of them even being top contributors, have fallen victim to SWAM. Besides the fact that any moderator in any group can do this to you possibly the worst part is that you get no explanation, no warning and no indication as to who decided to block you.

Obviously keeping spam levels down is a good thing but not if potentially innocent users can fall victim to a ban than can only be called crippling in the process.

Two other issues have arisen with the policy of SWAM as well. The first issue is that the LinkedIn help staff claim they cannot lift this ban manually and seem to have no interest in helping you with some people reporting they have even go so far as to deny there is a problem and tell you that you must have been spamming or else you wouldn’t have been blocked in the first place.

The second issue is that the only way to get out of the situation is to appeal to each and every group manager whose group you are in to individually restore your privileges in their own group. Not only is this an inconvenience for them but as your message will mark you as a spammer, whether or not you are, many group managers will dismiss or at least delay the message meaning you can be stuck on moderation forever.

According to some new information though it does look like there are possibly some changes coming with LinkedIn announcing that SWAM has been changed in a couple of subtle ways. One way it has changed is the option for members of groups to now get in on the SWAMming too by flagging posts they feel inappropriate which can lead to a temporary stay in the sin bin of up to two weeks.

So, what to take away from all this? I guess the lesson is know your platform well, consider others before dooming them to LinkedIn oblivion and try to use some common sense. As for social media sites I think the key lesson here is that putting your legitimate users in jail to try and boot spammers is seriously counter-productive.

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