Internet Mrktng Lifestyle

Boosting Sleep for Internet Marketers

If you’re a full-time internet marketer, then there’s a good chance that you are fully self-employed and that you work from home. This is one of the truly great advantages to this kind of work and it’s amazing the freedom that it affords you.

Problem is that it can actually end up being a little bit too much freedom for some people. That is to say that you can find you miss the regimented nature of working for someone else in some ways and find that this impacts on your life in some negative ways.

One of the big ones? Finding yourself waking up at 10am or later every day and ending up working all night as a result! If you want to be as productive as you can be and have the time to enjoy your life outside of work, then you need to fix yourself to a more rigid structure.
Here are some tips on how to do that…

Consider Supplementation

Certain supplements can give you a massive boost in performance and able you to accomplish much more as a result. One such supplement is magnesium threonate, a form of magnesium that more readily reaches the brain. The reason this is so good for sleeping, is that magnesium can relax the body and is also known to make people drowsy. The magnesium in milk is one of the things that makes it a great sleeping aid! It also enhances learning, so that’s no bad thing!

Regulate Your Temperature

Temperature can be one of the big challenges when trying to get to sleep and stay there. One way to somewhat fix this problem is to make the room cooler, as we tend to sleep better when it is cool rather than hot. Another life changer is to have a bath just before you go to bed. This will help to relax the muscles again, as well as regulating your temperature better.

Use a Daylight Lamp

A daylight lamp is a light that comes on gradually in the morning as an alarm clock. Better yet, the light that these produce is a closer wavelength to the light produced by the sun. This means that it will help you to gradually come around in the morning and stir you out of sleep. Better yet, when you do wake up, it will be light – thus making it easier for you to get up and reducing the amount of ‘sleep inertia’ you face.

Take Time Out Before Sleep

Another tip is to take some time out before bed. Specifically, we’re talking about time out from work and from phones, computers and other technology that creates light. This also creates light similar to that from the sun but in this case, that’s bad news because it’s night time. In short, this upsets your biological clock making it harder to get to sleep and this is made worse by the fact that we associate technology with work and shooting things! Avoid it and read a book instead for 30 minutes.

Combating Loneliness for Internet Marketers

If you’re an internet marketer, then chances are that you will probably work from home much of the time. Working as an internet marketer of course means that you will be working on the internet. In turn, that means you’ll have the freedom to work wherever you want and whenever you want – which are great positives and two of the reasons that so many people are attracted to this kind of work in the first place.

But this can cause problems too. One such problem is loneliness. Without a team to work with and without an office to work in, you can find yourself working alone most of the time and sometimes even going whole days without speaking to anyone! So how can you feel a little less lonely and prevent this from being a serious limiting factor?

Visiting Friends

One solution to help you feel a little less lonely is to visit friends more. In particular, consider visiting friends on your lunchbreak. Seeing as you’re free to move around as you work, you could suggest meeting a friend at their place of work on their lunchbreak one day and that way you get to catch up and chat with someone who you actually like. This is far superior to being forced to lunch with people in your office who you may or may not get on with…

Work With Clients in Person

Working as a digital marketer doesn’t have to mean finding clients online and communicating solely by email. You can likewise meet people to work with in cafes, or by going into work places and asking the people that work their if they happen to need any help with their presence online.
When you find clients to work with in person, this changes the relationship and can be very good for getting more recurring work. What’s more, it gives you the opportunity to chat to people and enjoy working as a team.

Find Others Like You

Internet marketing is relatively novel as a job still but it’s not completely unheard of. In fact, you might well know someone who works online and if you don’t, how about convincing them to? It certainly has perks and you can show them that first hand!

But if you don’t know anyone else who works online or is willing to, another option is to look for work groups or work spaces. There are many offices that you can rent and share with other companies and individuals, or failing that, you can try meeting others in cafes to work together. Just try advertising online or in the local paper to see if you can find other people who are nearby!

Another option is to find people to work with who don’t work online. Many people work from home a few days a week and there’s nothing to stop you working in the same place as long as you both promise not to distract one another.

All these methods mean you can enjoy an active social life and work online!

Cool Tech for Internet Marketers

Want to get better at what you do, work faster and charge more?

Then it’s time to upgrade your tech and to create a work set-up that you truly look forward to using and that will help you to get more done in less time. Let’s take a look at some of the best tech and hardware you should look into as an internet marketer…

A Surface Pro (Or Similar)

The Surface Pro 4 is a computer that seems hand-built for internet marketers and that is absolutely perfect for them in many ways.

For one, Surface Pro devices are incredibly light and easy to carry around. This means you can throw one in a bag and take it on a trip with you without it weighing you down. It’s also ideal for working out of coffee shops.

Then you have the kickstand and removable keyboard, that means you can detach your Surface Pro when using it at home in order to watch YouTube on it while you cook. Or how about the pen, which is perfect for signing PDF documents or sketching up designs for websites and logos?

The screen is beautiful and tall thanks to its unique aspect ratio and this is ideal for multitasking too.

A Powerful Computer

Meanwhile, it also pays to have something a bit beefier for working at home. My recommendation is an i7 processor that can be overclocked to at least 3GHz, as well as a GPU such as one of the new GTX 10 series. Throw in a big harddrive and 16GB of RAM too. This will give you all the horsepower you need for multitasking and for using more demanding software like Blender. More importantly, it will make working fast and fun and mean you can output to a 4K display, or an ultrawide monitor. Studies show that a larger screen can boost productivity!

The Right Keyboard and Headphones

Anyone who writes often for a living should look into getting a keyboard that has mechanical switches. This will speed up your writing, as well as giving you a more satisfactory typing experience. Look for cherry MX blue switches for the optimum experience.

Also important is to look for the right headphones which should be noise cancelling to help fully immerse you in what you’re doing.

Why This Matters

You might think that all this is just a luxury and a waste of money but the reality is far from it. Having more technology makes you feel more capable and allows you to create more professional end products with better end results. You’ll end up feeling like more of a professional and you’ll look forward to working more. You’ll be able to edit 4K video, create 3D games and generally expand your capabilities. This is an amazing investment and once you make it, you will quickly see how this can transform your experience of working as well as the quality of your output. If you want to accumulate, you must be willing to spend.

Dealing With Moral Questions as a Digital Marketer

Probably you became a digital marketer partly because you thought it would be a great way to enjoy a little more freedom and a little less stress and politics. This way, you can focus on completing simple tasks for clients while everyone else stays out of your hair. You get to pick and choose the work and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, or argue with a ‘boss’.

Except none of that is quite true. Because as an internet marketer, you will probably be dealing with clients who will be hiring you for your services. This in turn means you will sometimes be given projects or work to do that you don’t fully agree with or want to do.

And sometimes this can create a moral quandary.

Moral Issues in Marketing

For example, what do you do if someone comes to you and asks you to use your skills to help them promote a health supplement that you believe actually causes more issues than it solves?

In this scenario, you now have the option to do the work and feel a little dirty about it – potentially causing someone out there to waste their money and at the same time hurt themselves with a product that is bad for them.

The other option though is to refuse to do the work, in which case you lose the money in the short term but also make yourself appear more ‘difficult’, which may well mean that you don’t get more work from them in the future either.

To some people, this will seem like a no brainer: it’s wrong to do the work and you need to stand by your morals, so you turn it down!

But this then means that you are now judging the content of the work you are promoting. You now need to ask whether it’s right to judge, or whether you should simply provide an objective service.

0Where do you draw the line otherwise? What if you think someone is selling an ebook that isn’t quite up to your standards? What if someone is promoting a view that you don’t agree with?

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the luxury to pick and choose every piece of work that we do. What’s more, is that we are denying people their right to freedom of speech if we do.

What’s the Solution

So, what’s the answer?

Unfortunately, that is not something I can answer for you. Ultimately, this will depend on the type of work you are being asked to do. It will depend on your own values and it will depend on how much you need the money!

The only tip I can provide is to be ready for this. To make a mental note of where you draw the line. And if you’re going to rule out certain types of work, then be sure to advertise that on your website so that clients know in advance and so that you aren’t seen to be picking and choosing on a whim.

How to Become Internet Famous as an Internet Marketer

Being an internet marketer is an incredibly rewarding way to make money from your own smarts and creativity and the reward for that initiative is greater freedom and sense of personal accomplishment.

But at times, it can also feel like a somewhat thankless job. After all, when you are an internet marketer, your job essentially revolved around helping to promote other people’s businesses. This means you’ll be promoting people who know less about internet marketing than you, all while remaining quietly in the background.

What if you’d like to try out some of that ‘glory’? What if you’d like to be recognized for your hard work and skill? In that case, you could always try turning your internet marketing business around and using it to promote yourself as well!

Creating a Personal Brand

A good place to start is by creating a ‘personal brand’. A personal brand is a brand that puts you front and center. A good example of this is Pat Flynn, who owns ‘Smart Passive Income’. While his website doesn’t feature his name, it is nevertheless a prominent feature right next to the logo, as is his own face and voice.

Pat will often talk about himself and this is part of what helps him to promote the site. People feel as though they can trust him because they feel as though they know him a little bit. He is literally a friendly face.

On top of this, Pat’s exposure makes him something of an internet celebrity. He is invited to give talks at prestigious events, he gets lots of fan mail and he is very much in the public eye.

While there are many different definitions for what makes someone ‘successful’, these are yardsticks that many of us use and thus I imagine that Pat goes to bed at night feeling rather proud of himself.

Consider setting up a similar scenario for yourself!

How to Grow Your Blog

To do this then, you need to look at ways to grow your channel while keeping that personal nature at the forefront. One way to do this, is to create a YouTube channel. A YouTube channel is a great way to talk directly to an audience and to feel as though they know you. Likewise, it will give you huge exposure – greater exposure than you would even get from daytime TV.

Meanwhile, use your own internet marketing skill to get your blog to the top of Google, while positioning yourself as an expert in your niche and an authority. Another tip is to make sure that you are living the lifestyle that you promote – a disconnect will prevent this from working.

Don’t become a fitness blogger then unless you really do love fitness. That way, you can become the ‘face’ of your blog and people will soon start to seek you out for your opinion.

This way, you can gain some modicum of internet fame and when that happens, you’ll find that countless new opportunities emerge.

How to Develop Yourself As an Internet Marketer to Get More Done

Want to start earning more as an internet marketer? Want to enjoy your work more and take more professional pride in what you do?

Well then, it is time to start developing yourself. Ultimately, all the work that your internet marketing agency accomplishes will be produced by you. Thus, in order to increase your output, you need to increase the amount of work that you are able to do.

Keep Learning

The first way you are going to do this is by making sure that you are continuously learning and continuously taking on new challenges.

For example, you should learn to use Illustrator if you haven’t already. Sure, you can be an internet marketer with no understanding of Illustrator, but once you know how to use it, you’ll be able to offer logo design services, create better websites and generally offer a better service and charge more as a result.

Similarly, you might learn 3D modelling, app development, writing or web design. Whatever the case, adding more strings to your bow will offer you new opportunities and help you to become better at what you do.

Dress for Success

They say you should dress for the job you want and this is certainly true for internet marketers. Seeing as you’ll be sitting alone at home a lot of the time, you might find that you don’t feel the need to wear suits. In fact, you may well work in your pyjamas a lot of the time!

While there might not be an obvious reason not to do this, the problem is that it can prevent you from feeling productive. When we are dressed smartly, it makes us feel more productive and it makes us feel ready for action.

If you want to get more work done, then take the time to iron a shirt!

Upgrade Your Hardware
If you want to benefit from learning those new skills like 3D modelling, then you need to have a computer powerful enough to run the requisite software. This is also important for other reasons – for instance, it will make things like multitasking easier. And in that regard, a larger widescreen monitor will also make a big difference.

Perhaps the most important thing to think about though, is how working on your current computer makes you feel. If your computer takes a long time to load, gets very hot, shuts down randomly… all these things will feel like big detractors from the work you’re doing. But if you have something that looks beautiful and feels great to use – something like a MacBook or a Surface Pro – then you’ll feel much more productive and efficient and you’ll actually look forward to getting down to work.

This is an investment that makes a lot of sense and that will pay you back in dividends. If you can’t afford it, then consider getting using a PayPal business loan or similar in order to get the cash you need!

How to Enjoy a Life of Adventure as a Digital Marketer

Being a digital marketer has a lot of advantages over other, more traditional forms of work. Among these one of the most notable is the fact that you’ll be able to work from anywhere. That in turn gives you the freedom to travel and explore all while still earning money and if you’re like many people, then you may be interested in using that freedom to become what is known as a ‘digital nomad’.

This is someone who travels the world and stays in hostels and cheap hotels and works online in order to afford their adventures. This is an amazing way to see the world and to live life to the absolute fullest and it’s one of the only ways you can truly enjoy freedom.

But it’s not perfect and it’s not for everyone. For starters, working online while travelling presents some unique challenge. You’ll struggle to find WiFi at times for instance and sometimes you’ll want to go out with the group of people you’ve just met but you’ll be forced to stay back and work.

Then there’s the fact that you’ll never be able to take a long warm bath, to maintain relationships, or to sit down and play Xbox.

No, this is not for everyone. But there is a way you can enjoy a life of adventure and travel even without going full digital nomad…

The Halfway Option

The solution is to take lots of smaller trips rather than going on one, unending journey. This might mean that you go on 5-10 holidays in a single year and work while you’re there but that you come home in-between. Or perhaps it might mean you go on three month-long trips.

Using these strategies, you won’t miss your family so much, you’ll still have opportunities to grow your business and you can come home to recharge your batteries in between amazing adventures.

This is something I do a lot. Last year I went to Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain and Switzerland, all on different trips. In Switzerland, I visited a fellow internet marketer and we worked together in a beautiful chalet on the side of a mountain. During the day’s, we hiked up mountains and found areas that were completely still and quiet. During the evenings, we worked by the fire with a few drinks and with views of mountains in the distance. One day I sat in a cool library in Germany and created a virtual reality app for a client, again with mountains behind me and a delicious cup of coffee. There are few better ways to work!

Another option you could take, would be to go on more local trips. Instead of travelling to other countries, how about visiting amazing places near you?

Or how about working in a different, exciting locale every day?

There are tons of ways to explore your freedom as a digital marketer that don’t necessarily have to do with giving up your home and creature comforts!

The Top Challenges That Only Internet Marketers Will Understand

When you’re a digital marketer, you’ll find that very few people understand what you do, or what the challenges involved in that are. To them, you are someone who sits at home on their computer all day – and that can’t be that hard, surely?

Of course, we know better! Being a digital marketer can in fact be very challenging and sitting at home is in fact part of that challenge. In this post, we’ll look at some of the challenges – some funny, some frustrating – and maybe feel a little less alone in our plight!

People Wanting Things From You

You work from home and so the assumption is that you don’t really do anything, or that you’re free during the day to run errands, to chat to friends or to meet up when someone has a day off. You’re that friend that is ‘always around’.

Except what we know, is that even a minor interruption to your workflow can write off an entire day, leading to a much more stressful tomorrow!

Getting a Complaint at 10pm

It’s 10pm and you’re out drinking with friends, having a laugh and a good time. Then your phone vibrates, you pull it out your pocket, and you find out that it’s a client who is not happy that they’re not at the top of Google yet.

This is pretty much always going to ruin your night, which is why it’s so important to have separate work and ‘fun’ accounts on your phones!

Doing Work That is Absolutely Dumb

You know the old saying that ‘the customer knows best’? Well, I would argue that this is not true when it comes to SEO. There’s another saying: a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. That one is much more applicable here.

There’s something very soul destroying about writing an article and absolutely stuffing it with keywords, all because the client thinks that’s still the best way to impress Google!

Starting Work at 12pm

Sometimes the freedom of being a self-employed digital marketer is great. Other times, it means that you don’t start doing anything productive until it’s 12pm because you’ve become distracted by Angry Birds, your cat, or something else entirely.

This is also the same day you’ll no doubt finish work at 12am. And it’s the day when you end up feeling hot and headachey because you haven’t left the one room or spoken to anyone in hours…

Doing a Job That No One Understands

This in itself is one of the challenges that comes from being an SEO. It can be rather lonely. I had my Grandma ask me once if what I did was illegal… My wife still doesn’t really understand what I do either. This is what Chandler must have felt like!

Sure, it feels kind of cool having a job that no one quite understands… but it’s also a way to ensure that you never get to share your fun anecdotes with anyone. Except through articles online, that is!

Tools and Tips to Help You Run Your Digital Marketing Business From Anywhere!

Breath of the Wild is a new Zelda game from Nintendo that has launched to incredibly rave reviews. What’s so popular about it? Partly what makes it such a hit is the incredible open world on display and the way that this is married with a wondrous sense of adventure and discovery. This is a game that has you cooking apples by the fire for sustenance and then climbing hug cliff faces the next day, before facing off against monsters.

What if life was like that?

Well, a lot of savvy internet marketers (and other self-employed individuals), have found a way to make that dream a reality. By working online as a ‘digital nomad’, it is possible to work from anywhere, all while exploring the world and going on countless adventures. This might mean meeting people in bars and having amazing conversations over drinks while the sea laps against the shore, or it might mean typing away in a bar in a foreign country, listening to music and watching the world go by on the cobbled streets outside.

And sometimes, it means scaling a mountain and cooking apples…

The only problem is trying to balance the adventure and excitement with the fact that you have to actually get work done. Here are some tips and tools that will help…

Get Slack

One of the advantages to being within close proximity to clients is the way that you can discuss issues as they crop up, and the way that you can have a laugh and forge relationships. This is lost when you work online, but the messaging app called ‘Slack’ goes some way to bringing it back.

The idea of Slack is essentially ‘WhatsApp for business’. You can create groups from people you know and then participate in conversations, or you can message individuals just to ask a question or tell a joke.

Try Asana

Meanwhile, for managing larger projects, Asana is another incredibly useful tool. This will allow you to see multiple ongoing projects and discuss them with other people assigned to the same jobs. It’s a great way to collaborate with a large team and also just to keep on top of lots of jobs you have at once for yourself!

Use World Time Buddy

This is the one and only world clock you will need. Available both as an app, and as a website.

Getting the Balance Right and Enjoying the Trip

Remember: when you are exploring and seeing the world, there’s no need to earn a massive wage. The aim is to earn as much as you need to travel, plus a little extra as a safety net.

But don’t stress too much about having to work. Another good tip is to find ways to make work more enjoyable. Finding a beautiful spot to work in is one good example of doing this. It’s not so bad submitting links when you’re doing it from the top of a mountain!

Top Tips to Boost Energy and Productivity for Digital Marketers

If you’re a digital marketer, then the amount of work you can do to in a day will be directly proportional to the satisfaction of your clients, the amount of repeat business you get and ultimately, the amount of money you earn.

Want to be more successful? You need to increase your productivity.

Here are a few ways that internet marketers can do that and raise their energy levels at the same time…

Supplements

There are a wide range of different supplements that can greatly boost your productivity, energy levels and concentration. These are becoming increasingly popular and are often referred to as ‘nootropics’ or ‘smart drugs’.

The problem is that some of these are very beneficial and effective, while others can actually cause more harm than good… and it can be tricky to know which are which. Stick to things that would occur in the body naturally or in our diets (minerals, vitamins, nutrients, herbs, amino acids) and avoid anything that is only available on prescription! Some good options include: vitamin B complex, magnesium, omega 3 fatty acid, caffeine + l-theanine, dark chocolate and cordyceps.

Sensory Deprivation

This might sound a little dramatic, but I’m actually only talking about sound.

If you want to enhance your focus, then something you can do is to try and block out all outside distracting sounds. One way to do that is to listen to white noise – and this is a strategy that some people actually use!

Another way is to listen to music that you know very well and to put it on repeat. Because there is nothing novel in the soundtrack, the brain will eventually tune it out and this means you can become completely engrossed in what you’re doing!

Watching YouTube

This might sound counterintuitive but sometimes it can be a great help to watch someone playing a game on YouTube, to watch music videos on silent or to otherwise give yourself some kind of ‘movement’ to watch. Author Tim Ferriss likes to watch his favorite movies on silent.

This is effective because it provides us with a little stimulation. One of the reasons we often struggle to do our work – such as writing guest posts – is because it’s boring. The human brain likes light, color, noise and movement and when it doesn’t get that, it starts looking for distractions.

By watching someone play a game on YouTube or doing something else that has no dialog or narrative, this gives your eyes and the more action-oriented parts of your brain something to keep them occupied. Meanwhile, your reasoning, planning and verbal parts can focus on the job at hand!

Leave Work Unfinished

Want to make sure you get off to a great start with your work tomorrow? One quick tip is to try leaving work a little unfinished. Start a project, half write it, and then leave it. This is very powerful because we naturally feel inclined to finish work that we’ve started. You’ll almost feel like you have to leap into action as soon as you get started the next day!