'But there are dreams that cannot be And there are storms we cannot weather.' Of Aaron Swartz, 26, Internet visionary. Dead by his own hand, January 11, 2013.

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman and Aaron Swartz had been an item for 18 months or so. She was sharply aware of the dark melancholy that could come at any time out of nowhere, seizing him, casting him into a despair without end, without mercy, without reason and with utterly no hope whatsoever. It was always frightening for both of them because it left both exhausted, anxious, never knowing when it might return... only to stay forever, locking her out and him within, lovers separated by bleak futility. So were their young lives and love blighted and made uncertain.

On Friday, January 11, Taren was up, getting ready for work. Aaron was still in bed. Instinctively, she knew that if she could get him up, entice a little food in him, put a smile on his pale face, he was better positioned to meet another day and his particular demons. And so as she told The Boston Globe in a telephone interview, "I really tried everything I could think of to get him out of bed. I opened the curtains, played music, tickled him, and eventually it got to the point of throwing water on him." Nothing worked. She was terribly worried... knew he was in a "really difficult place" with his trial dead ahead... didn't want to leave him, was already late for work.

He smiled and told her he needed rest, that he'd be fine, that he'd stay in bed and sleep. Yes, he'd be fine, urging her on her way. Then he smiled again, perhaps the last smile of his young life. So she smiled and shut the door. He and the melancholy he called "Raw Nerve" were now alone together... together with God Almighty, omniscient, omnipotent, omniparous...

Throughout the morning, Taren texted him with affectionate messages and the ideas he loved. There was no answer, no response at all to the concern of his beloved. Nor to anything else. Aaron, firebrand, computer prodigy, revolutionary, lover of humanity, seeker after truth... was already beyond the cares of men, free of even the miseries that had assailed him just minutes before, turning life into unendurable burden.

At last, and by his own determined hand, he was at peace... the countenance of God lighting his way, lightening his load; inscrutable no longer but welcoming, accepting, the God of eternal love.

"I Dreamed a Dream."

For this tale of our wired times and one of its gifted creators gone awry, now gone forever, I have selected one of the greatest achievements from the fertile partnership of Claude-Michel Schonberg (music) and Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (lyrics). It is "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables" (1985). It is a tune that bites deep and makes the tears run hot and fast, for like Fantine we have all believed... and been disillusioned; loved and been abandoned; given and been spurned...

... oppressed by "dreams that cannot be And... storms we cannot weather."  Thus we have all known our own particular version of Aaron Swartz' story... and can therefore attest to its validity... and its excruciating pain, searing, so fundamental a part of our human experience. You'll find many fine versions in any search engine. Go now... and let it move you.

Aaron's story.

Swartz was born November 8, 1986 in Chicago, the son of Susan and Robert Swartz. His father had founded a software company and from an early day young Aaron was obsessed by technology, ardently studying computers, the Internet and its unique culture. When he was just 13, Swartz was a winner of the ArsDigita Prize, a competition for young people who created "useful, educational, and collaborative" Web sites.

The prize included a trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts to the august Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Thus, unknowingly on both sides, did the protagonist of the tale, American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist and the "scene of the crime" come together in an uneasy embrace, from which even death did not part them.

MIT, of course, citadel of America's technical might and constant innovation, knew prodigies of course; they were common along Massachusetts Avenue in the inelegant concrete bunkers which disdained any grace or artistry whatsoever. Harvard students, on the other side of Central Square, might sniff and condescend to the "nerds" but these nerds wore their social awkwardness and bad manners like the red badge of courage. They knew that the planet's future and the well being of millions would be shaped by them, however socially inept, ill at ease, unwashed and disheveled they might be.

Swartz, slight, a wisp of a lad, looking like a child up too late, hair an outrageous mop, eager to know you, befriend you, learn from you loved the 24-hour-a-day, projects-always-percolating environment. Its high energy, high stakes, high destiny lifestyle grabbed him like fly paper. He was to this manner born... and it took him, quirks and all, to its ample and exuberant heart. Aaron was home...

"I dreamed a dream in days gone by/ When hope was high / And life worth living"

To understand what happened next you must know something of the Internet, something of the tech community and something about MIT, at once corporate giant and bubbling cauldron of constantly new and exciting ideas. It is a place of the youthful enthusiasm that only comes once in life; a place where the best and the brightest constantly advance, discuss, shape and discard ideas, all night, all day, thereby inventing our future.

It is a place where change, transforming change, is the object of the day and the ideas of the past, no matter how serviceable they may once have been, are derided as old hat and unapologetically cast aside, only to be replaced in their turn.

Swartz loved this culture and its unending focus on making the world, in every aspect, better and better still. He approached this objective from many directions for he was a man glad to share, hoping you'd share with him as people were generally glad to do. Sharing, not selling, information became his mantra... and his downfall; increasingly because what he "shared" did not belong to him, was not his to give.

In late 2010 and early 2011, Swartz downloaded about 4 million documents from the JSTOR ("Journal Storage") archives. In the process he crashed some of JSTOR's servers. By now a host of people were involved in this matter, including officials at MIT, JSTOR... and the FBI.

On January 6, 2011 Swartz got the knock on the door he must have hoped would never come. He was arrested and charged by Carmen Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer and recklessly damaging a protected computer.

This was a felony charge; the kind of charge major criminals get. Not least the kind of charge which, if proven, would deprive Swartz of his right to vote, give him up to 35 years in prison and a million in fines.

All of a sudden the world was a very different place, threatening, ominous, determined to crush and obliterate.

"I had a dream my life would be/ So different from this hell I'm living." 

Once Swartz was arrested all the characters of the final chapter began to assemble... Aaron's lawyers and supporters... prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office and other law enforcement agencies... representatives of JSTOR and MIT... partisans of the prosecutors who wanted to "make an example" and his supporters who cited his previous squeaky clean record and willingness to sign an agreement not to do anything like this again.

But perhaps most important of all there was "Raw Nerve" which wiped out all hope and exacerbated all despair until Aaron Swartz bore only a semblance to the high energy, far seeing, joyful reformer he had once been, and not so long ago.

Now was the moment for humanity... to read Swartz the riot act for he had transgressed... but without locking him away for even the four to six months proposed; convicted felon; no right to vote ever again. Now was the moment for empathy... for understanding... for an appropriate deal; a deal that would admonish Swartz without destroying him... for the nation needs such audacious thinkers with their profound knowledge of the Internet, its technology, and its burgeoning uses.

Where was this person? How could so many who knew Aaron and his plight see him and yet fail to perceive his need... how could this happen?

"There was a time when men were kind/ When their voices were soft/ And their words inviting... /There was a time/ Then it all went wrong." No more so than with Aaron Swartz..

Envoi, Aaron's words, his timeless warning to us...

"And it will happen again; sure, it will have another name, and maybe a different excuse, and probably do its damage in a different way, but make no mistake, the enemies of the freedom to connect have not disappeared. The fire in those politicians' eyes has not been put out."

Thus does dead Aaron Swartz, far too soon taken, show us what we must do. Now we must do it and keep the faith.

About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.

10 Marketing Mistakes Revealed!

By Sandi Hunter

I've been in the home business and online marketing industry for nearly 20 years. These are 10 of the most common marketing mistakes I hear or see most often from both Newbies but also from people who assure me they know what they are doing. Here's the critical mistakes to avoid and what you should be doing instead to maximize your results.

Marketing Mistake #1
You send all your traffic to your primary website. Most people involved in online marketing or affiliate marketing,  are selling more than one product or service. By all means, list all your products and services on your site, but don't rely on your website for lead generation.  Your website can be too busy and too big to funnel your buyers into the section or item they are looking for.  Fussy, large, poorly organized websites can cost you leads and sales.   

What you should do.

You should send all your traffic to landing pages NOT to your website. Ideally you should have one landing page for each product or service you offer.  This way you can target specific markets and cater your copy and offers to that population. Landing pages are clean lead-generating machines. Effective landing pages start with a compelling attention-getting headline, then drive home the benefits of what you offer, point by point. Landing pages that get results always have an OFFER to generate an action by the reader - in most cases this action is either to get a contact form completed, or an instant sale.   Every person who lands on your landing page (squeeze page) is a highly valued prospect.

Marketing Mistake #2

You focus only on lead generation and not list building. Newcomers to online marketing, and even seasoned marketers often make the mistake of posting static information on a website or a landing page.  They fail to do the most important task of all. That task is to include an opt-in form on your landing page that encourages the prospect to sign up for your newsletter, or your email updates, or your special promotions email. 

What you should do.

Every landing page you create should include OPTIN boxes so respondents can check off interest in other services you offer including your newsletter, special promotions, or related products and services. Every successful marketer knows that the key to sales now, today, and the future is based on a solid mailing list.  The best way to generate your own email marketing list is to encourage people to agree  (opt-in) to receive your email.  This can be made easy for prospects by having check boxes on the lead form included on your landing page. They simply check off what they would like to receive additional information about.   Mail order companies have known the power of a good mailing list for years, now online marketers need to understand this too.   

Marketing Mistake #3

You tell not sell.  You ramble on with details and jargon that bores your prospect to tears. You don't offer the exciting benefits of what your product or service offers -  what it will do for them to make their life better, or solve or eliminate a problem. Prospects stop reading long before they get anywhere near becoming a lead or a buyer. 

What you should do.

Use sales-generating copy tells the prospect the BENEFITS of what you offer. Include a special offers that motivates a response!   Stop boring people by TELLING  the minutiae of what they are buying and start SELLING them on why they must get your incredible product TODAY.  Sell all the benefits of what you offer, make an offer to get it today, then limit that offer so they understand they will miss out if they don't act now - right now!   Every statement in your copy should be moving towards the sale.  You get this, this and this too but you must act now! Punchy copy that is laden with value and excitement gets a response.  Your marketing copy must speak directly to the needs of the reader, they want to know what is in it for them. Your only need as the marketer is to get the point across that your offer is outstanding and must be responded to right now.

Marketing Mistake #4

You are trying to BUY success. Many inexperienced marketers will buy the services of an SEO company in an attempt to artificially force their website to the first page of Google and other search engine sites.   I hope you have a money tree because you are going to need one. You'll be out of money before you know it with no sales to show for it.

What you should do.
Learn how to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) yourself. If you don't you will always find people with their hand out ready to take your money, and your return for this kind of service will be minimal. Here's why. SEO is not that hard, you can easily learn how to do this yourself if you are willing to learn, give it time and are very patient.  There are TONS of free courses, free ebooks, low cost software and training programs that teach you how to increase your website ranking.  At least first give it a try yourself, save yourself a lot of money, learn for the sake of long term growth of your online business. See Marketing Mistake # 5 for more on this.


Marketing Mistake #5

You rely on automation or short cuts to fast-track your marketing. You've bought software or services that allow you to:  - Spin articles - Mass blast ads - Generate mass link submissions - Blast messages out to Twitter and other social media sites   - Mass product fake content pages

Guess what? The folks at Google and Bing are smart cookies.  Every day they tighten their algorithms a little bit more to decrease or eliminate the search returns generated by automated programs. The result: one day you are on the first page and the top 10 search returns, the next day your site is dropped for no reason and no recourse for the unfortunate site owner.  I don't have to tell you that this can cost you a LOT of money.   The search engine sites don't have to tell you why your listing disappeared, they change how they rank sites all the time. As soon as there is an obvious pattern, or sometimes just a hint of artificial attempts to jimmy your rankings from automated software, look out!

What you should do.
Forget about automation, it may work now, you may get away with it for the short term but in the long term, it won't.  Google themselves will tell you the best way to get high ranking is with fresh, natural content posted frequently.    Yup. That takes time, sorry folks, no way around that but it is time well spent. Stop thinking you have to get rich over night, start thinking of your online business as a REAL business, not a hobby. A legitimate business takes time to build, consistent effort and some learning along the way.   Read, learn, download ebooks on the topic, take a Bootcamp training course such as the one offered at Worldprofit, and work on building your web footprint one day at a time.  Every had a tap dripping into your bathtub. It doesn't take long till the tub fills then starts to overflow. Use the FREE and plentiful tools available on the web to learn and understand how to increase your ranking.  You can get started right now! Set time aside as you learn and do a little every day. Create social media profiles, create blogs, post an ad, build a WordPress site (the SEO is built in already), write an article, comment on an article, be a guest blogger, tweet, Facebook, LinkedIn.  

Marketing Mistake # 6
You don't track your advertising results.  No clicks on your ads means no intelligence on which ads are working at which places.  You are marketing with a blindfold.

What you should do.

The beauty of online advertising is that when you post an ad you can check to see if you get hits. This is smart!  The only way of knowing if your ads are working, if your time was well spent, or your advertising dollars were well spent is to know if you get clicks on your ads.   Tracking your ads and the response allows you to tweak your ad copy, better your offer, identify both good and poor advertising sources.  Most online advertising sites provide you with a Member area where you can login to check your statistical data on your advertising response.

Marketing Mistake # 7
Buying ads on Google and Bing without knowing what you are doing. Newcomers to online marketing do this all the time. They put up a website then buy ads at Google. Google loves you for this but you won't fall in love with the cost. 

What you should do

Research key words in your industry so you know what people are using to find businesses, products or services that you offer. How do you do that? Easy. Google has a key words tools within their Webmaster Tools to help you with your ad campaigns. It's free whether you advertise with them or not, and a great way to get started learning about key works so you can use this information in your marketing.

Marketing Mistake # 8

Not promoting consistently.  You are short on time, and short on money, so you post infrequently.  You don't vary your offer, your products, your ad copy.

What you should do.

Successful marketers know that promotion is something you must do every day, and if not every day as often as you can.  People short on time make the grave error of buying large quantity mailings to massive amounts of people in one shot, instead of doing  small amounts of promotion to target markets on a continual consistent basis.  Do you ever notice that big companies NEVER stop marketing? They are always in your face.  What do they know that you don't know? The consumer has a very short attention span and if you are not in their face they quickly forget about you.  My colleague Dr. Jeffrey Lant impressed on me the 7 time rule of marketing.  The idea of this is that people have to see an offer, or an ad as much as 7 times before they do anything.  Ever notice that when you watch the morning news while getting ready for work, that the same McDonald's commercial plays over and over again! Why? They know you are watching the news getting ready for work and want you to stop in for a breakfast sandwich. Repetition in marketing is key and give the competition out there for various offers, it's important that your message be seen.  Post your ads often. You are NEVER done promoting. As an online marketer your job is simple. Promote often, promote consistently.  This leads into our next critical mistake.  

Marketing Mistake # 9

Only advertising at a few places and not constantly looking for new advertising sources.

What you should do.

New marketers tend to find one or two places to advertise then only advertise there. The web is filled with great places to advertise. You must try to continually expand your reach, tap into new markets, target new customers.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket and rely exclusively on single sources or you will be cutting off your profit potential.   Look into all kinds of different types of advertising including pay per click, login ads, banner ads, safelists, traffic exchanges, ad swaps, classified ads, joint ventures. Avoid vendors that offer extremely large lists, or leads for a ridiculously low cost, chances are good they will be fake or computer generated.  

Marketing Mistake # 10

Underestimating how much marketing focus is required to drive your business. 

What you should do.
Understand that marketing is and should be 90% of how you spend your time in building your online business.  This one thing alone dooms so many Newbies to failure, they don't spend enough time on marketing in order to get results.  I hear people say 'this product is so good it will sell itself". That has got to be one of the worst errors in thinking I have heard when it comes to making money.  You've got your products or services you want to sell, now focus on promotion. When, where, and how. Then stick to it.  I've had people tell me they are spending 12 hours a day promoting a product and not getting results. I tell each and everyone of them this. "If that's actually true, you are doing something terribly wrong."  If this is you then go back and read over these common marketing mistakes. You are making one or more and this is sabotaging your own success. Sometimes you just need to step away, take a breather, and review what you are doing. You may think you are working hard but you aren't focusing on what will get you results. Something is perhaps distracting you, something is eating up your time, something you are doing is not what you should be doing.  One person who told me they were spending dozens of hours a day with no result, was actually spending most of their time blogging and Facebooking. When they evaluated what they were actually doing they then saw that what felt like work was really just time wasted in front of a computer. The bottom line is this, reassess but never never give up.   

Summary: There is so much money to be made online it's mind-boggling. It's a type of money making that is not what most people are familiar, it's a steep learning curve for many but it's worth the time to learn. There’s unlimited choices of products and services to sell. You can build an online business for very little cost but treat it seriously. Be realistic about what you can earn  and put in the necessary time to learn and understand what you are doing.  Affiliate marketing is a huge growth industry now with no signs of slowing.


About the Author Sandi Hunter is the President of Worldprofit, Inc., a company providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.

An accomplished Master gives you the secret to becoming an Internet millionaire... the most important article you'll ever read about making money on line.

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. It is Christmas Day, the most important day in the Christian calendar into which I was born nearly 66 years ago. As such I shall spend a happy portion of this special day with beloved family and friends. But some time, important time, I shall do that which has made me rich and will make me richer still. I shall, that is, tend my business by promoting it, for this is as necessary on this blessed day as on any other day.

Where this will take place.

Want to get rich? Then create for yourself a space dedicated to one thing and one thing only, a space where the focus is exclusively and solely on getting rich, where NOTHING else is ever allowed, tolerated, or accepted. I call this place the "space capsule", and I want to give you a brief but mind-altering tour.

Some 30 years ago, when I was just starting the business which has made me a multi-millionaire I saw this space late one Friday afternoon. It was exactly what I'd been looking for for months; it was big enough to suit but not to overwhelm, perfectly located across the street from Harvard Law School and the storied Harvard Yard. In short it was the perfect location for who I am, where I should be and what I must do.

Thus I purchased it on the following Monday and long ago erased the mortgage, paid for in part by payments (and tax deductions) from my home-based business therein situated. Since purchase, its value has appreciated by over 1000% and is not done appreciating yet. I recommend such a wise purchase for you, too; that is if you plan to get old and well-heeled. You do, don't you?

The decoration of such a place.

Remember the line from the old English nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Six pence", the line which directs you to the King's office, the counting house where he delighted to while away a lazy afternoon counting his money? This sapient sovereign knows something about money that you have so far disregarded or never knew: the making of fortunes is expedited by being surrounded by and seeing as many manifestations of your wealth as possible. In other words, if you've got it, flaunt it.

But, you wail, you have no manifestations of wealth, nothing to flaunt, hardly even an idea of what you'd like to flaunt, even if you could. No problem. Take a dollar out of your impecunious wallet and staple it to a piece of paper. Then post it where you can see it every day. That dollar, that single dollar, is the single step that begins the thousand mile journey to wealth.

Then regularly add to your gallery of wealth objects. Post copies of bounteous bank statements, or receipts that show you are polishing off your mortgage, each payment another step to your goal.

In due course, you'll be posting evidence of much greater wealth and of the process that produces it. Thus, in my office, hub of my "space capsule", I am surrounded by things of consequence, including a dozen Old Masters, masterpieces painted before 1800. Each one, and all the other treasures in this room, are tangible, beautiful evidence of successful promotions, of prospects identified, offers made, offers accepted, money in the bank. Each is tangible evidence of your success... which is constantly "in your face" to remind you of what you must still do to advance further and faster.

Make sure everything you need is at hand and readily available.

As I write it is 1:36 a.m. Eastern time. It is a night of howling winds and driven snow. I needed extra padding against the gelid temperatures and the cold distractions playing themselves outside my window. This is where planning comes in. Write down everything you're going to need to do your significant and necessary work. Then make sure you have it readily available and in sufficient quantity. When you are supposed to be marketing, you shouldn't be wasting precious time trying to discover just where you left your bunny slippers.

The crucial mantra.

It is now time to "psych yourself up", to put your brain in the proper state and condition so it can do its essential work. You need a "mantra."

In Hinduism, a mantra is a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.

Here is the mantra I have written for you:

Promote!

When you are ready... promote./ When you are not... promote. When it rains... promote/ when it's dry... promote. When you're rich... promote./ when you're not ... promote. When you feel like it... promote./ When you don't... promote!

The great thing about a mantra is that is can easily be customized for you. Thus,

"When my kids are screaming... promote/ When they're not... promote!" Get it?

Mantras are designed to put yourself in the place you need to be, your subconscious mind ready to take you there.

Your "power song."

Music is good for more, much more, than soothing the savage beast. It can give you the essential beat you must have to feel bright, energetic, motivated, a power player about to astonish the world with deeds of derring-do, or at least achieve today's promotion quota. (You do have one, don't you?).

Here's a good tune to get you up and active, alert, dauntless, ready to roll. It's "High Hopes"; published in 1959, popularized by Frank Sinatra, it helped elect John F. Kennedy President of the United States. High hopes, indeed. You'll find it in any search engine. Here is its most famous stanza:

"Once there was a silly old ram/ Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam/ No one could make that ram, scram/ He kept butting that dam/... Just remember that ram/Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam."

Set the day's objective.

If your goal is wealth, and if not why not, now's the moment to play the numbers game.

If you're marketing on line (you are, aren't you?) you need to set FOUR numbers: the number of ads you need to email; the number of clicks from those ads; the number of prospects (at Worldprofit.com we call them "associates") from those clicks, and finally the number of sales and dollars therefrom. These 4 numbers are crucial and must be set and reached DAILY, Christmas or not.

Now just do it!

It is now just 4:26 a.m. Eastern.. The winds have died down a bit but it's snowing harder. It's damp, cold, dark outside the Space Capsule. I don't really want to be here but my Power Song is working its magic and, like the oldest war horse, I feel the sap rising. It's going to be a great day, a day I make money. "Oops there goes another problem kerplop." The mantra is working its magic... again. Yes, it's going to be another fine day for making money. 

 About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com