One of our highlights of the trip was to meet with Patrick Gavin for a few beers and try to solve the worlds problems. Even though we are direct competitors, there’s a lot of respect between one another and any time we have customers that need something we might not have, we will definitely refer them to TLA. I think competitors that can work well toward the same goal will usually turn out to be the best in their industry. Obviously Patrick has TLA rockin and we’re definitely happy for those guys.

Now on to the happy hour. Matt had met Patrick before and it was my first time, so we just met at the hotel bar. With Patrick being a common face at these conferences, we figured he would be interrupted often, but we were in the best situation for that setting, A BAR! Patrick is an extremely nice person and I’m glad we met for drinks. We talked shop a bit, but it was more of our odd, yet similar, paths to get where we are today.

As time went and beers disappeared, the rest of the TLA crew began stopping by and we were able to meet everyone that was there. Not one single person gave us a bad vibe all night, unlike a few other places that do their best in our industry. As a whole, most of the people we met in NYC were absolute sincere people. I think with the internet forms of communications, tones and real meanings can be twisted so easily that people tend to develop negative thoughts on someone we have never met. Even if you might have an ill feeling against someone, if you pass them up at a conference but have never actually met them, just introduce yourself and see how it goes. Either they confirm your thoughts or they turn out to be a great person. Hell, you could also drum up some business! Ok, I went way off track here.

Anyhow, LinkWorth wanted to give a huge “SHOUT OUT” to Patrick and everyone else over at TLA. If you’re in Dallas, look us up. If you will be in San Jose, maybe we hook up for dinner/drinks one night.

Along with our new site design (coming to a theater near you), there will be a few additional changes that will accompany our site relaunch. One of these will be a change to our current sign up process.

Over 3 years ago when we first opened up LinkWorth.com, our system was a simple one trick pony and we had no idea we would grow as big as we have and add as many new product offerings in the process. Back then, the sign up process required new users to enter almost everything needed before the account was created and if you were an advertiser, we required an initial $25 deposit that went directly to your account.

We have listened to our customers recommendations and have also spent a lot of time making sure we get things right with this relaunch. The account creation, or sign up process, is one of our big changes. We ask for the basic information needed to get an account created, then once you have created your account and validated your email, just login and complete the steps necessary for the product or service you might need. We’ll have wizards that will walk you through setting up each part required.

Here is a quick glimpse of the new sign up form. You will see the simplicity, along with the exciting new look of our upcoming website.

We are happy to announce that we’re officially launching two new products to both Advertiser and Partner Accounts. Both products can be found by logging in to your LinkWorth Control Center (LCC) and navigating to the /PRODUCTS menu option. Under this menu option, you will see the two new products, with 2 recently launched products:

LinkDir || LinkInTxt || LinkPost || LinkArt

LinkPost – Paid Blog Reviews

The blogging community has become somewhat of an authority when it comes to spreading or beginning a buzz about anything at all. Each blog comes with it’s dedicated readers and whatever is written usually will hold some sort of power. Take a small percentage of bloggers who initially read a LinkPost, then they reference it on their blog and the torch continues to be passed. LinkPost is a way for Advertisers to tap into this phenomenon by creating outlines of their product and/or service, then submit that outline to as many selected bloggers as they wish. Staying within your own category will yield the best results, but if you must stray outside of your market, try to make the selection something neutral to ensure visitors will be somewhat interested. Once the requests are sent to the Partner account, the Partner will review the request and guidelines, then make a decision if the request is something they agree to do. If they do not agree with anything, a simple decline of the offer and it is rejected. If the offer is accepted, the Partner has up to 10 days to publish the post on their blog and finalize the transaction within their LinkWorth Control Center. We do recommend using our “SPONSORED LINKPOST” image or mentioning that the post has been sponsored in some way to ensure your readers can differentiate between what is paid and what is not. Payment term is for one single entry into your blog and the post should remain live for a minimum of 12 months, but preferably for the life of the blog. Partners/bloggers earn up to 70% of each sale.

LinkInTxt – In-Text LinkAds

One of the biggest complaints with typical text link ads is the actual location they end up in. They might appear in the right sidebar on the very bottom, or possibly the LinkAds are appearing in the foot of the page in a very light colored font causing you to get absolutely zero clicks. Now lets say we take the keywords found within the body of content, then replace a keyword or phrase with a link back to your website or page, would you be interested then? I think we know the answer! LinkInTxt is the selling of keywords and key phrases with in the text of a page already written. Partners can utilize the great posts they have already written and monetize those pages with extremely unobtrusive LinkAds. Advertisers will get better click-thru rates than many other forms of online advertising. It’s one of our most innovative products and we’re extremely happy to have it ready to go.

LinkArt – Article Directory Submission

Time is money, and money is time. LinkArt is a service that frees up your time so you can focus on making your money. Directory submission done correctly will be an extremely time consuming product that can also bring in the money. The first step would be to have a write up about your product or service, (LinkWorth can also write your content for you). Once the article is saved in your Control Center and approved by our editorial department, just click the purchase button, select type of payment ($299 or $399 if We Write It), then confirm. If the LinkArt was already written, this is all that is required. The automated process has begun and is running in the background. You can view the history section at any time for your results and also click the check mark to see if your article has been found by Google, Yahoo, ,MSN or ASK. This product is available in both Advertiser and Partner accounts.

LinkDir – Directory Submission Services

Another time saving product we offer to both Advertiser and Partner accounts is our directory submission services; LinkDir. LinkDir is a very simple form to complete, enter various anchor text (keywords), URL’s and a description. Once payment is made, real human beings will go to each directory website, including DMOZ, Jayde, Stopdog & Search for Sight to name a few, and manually enter your desired information into each form. Each submission screenshot is saved, along with the confirmation page. All of this is available upon request to help validate the submissions.

If there are any questions at all, please do not hesitate in asking our support department at support@linkworth.com.

A last note of interest is for WordPress users. We’re almost ready to run a beta launch of a fancy new wp plugin that will make selling ads in your blog a breeze. So we’re going to be on the lookout for a few great WordPress users. We would like well versed WP users and we would also like beginner to novice users. If you are interested, please send an email to:

Title: WordPress BETA INTERESTED
EMAIL: YourEmail@whereyoucanreadthem.com

Send to admin ( @ ) linkworth (.) com (separated for obvious reasons)

We have been announcing a few new products lately and while this particular product was launched last week, I thought I would go ahead and give it an official announcement. We have developed an article submission service which we call “LinkArt”. LinkArt takes the daunting task of manually submitting articles to each site out of the equation, allowing you to spend your valuable time doing other more important things.

Submitting articles to a long list of article directories is a lot like submitting a press release, the word is spread out to news type sites and those sites distribute your articles to their affiliates. It’s a great way to get information out to a very large audience. We have an extensive list currently and we’re constantly adding new sites.

In addition to getting the word out, the articles will eventually be indexed by the search engines allowing positive pages to begin appearing about your product, service or company in general. Here is an example article submission site.

LinkArt is available to both Advertiser and Partner accounts. Login and look under the “Products” menu option. Create a new article and submit for approval. Once we review and ensure your article is formatted correctly, click the “Purchase” option, pay the one time fee of $299 and submit. Our system does the rest in the background. You can check the “History” section for the results.

With flying in to NYC Monday evening, we had our light night to prepare for our Tuesday exhibit hall shake down. It was just our plan to hit the hall Tuesday, then sessions and meetings Wednesday and so on. Once we get all registered in, and gather all our swag, we dart for the exhibit hall. For those who do not know the next thing that happened, we get rejected. Tuesday was the day all of the booths setup. Bad planning on my part. . .or WAS it?

After walking around in circles for a couple of hours, we realized our client meeting was not for another 4-5 hours, so we claimed some real estate at a nice little pub called “Faces & Names“. A place I try to go every stop through NYC. It’s a very laid back but exciting bar. Great food and very nice locals come in. Well, we sat down around 3pm and finally had to head over to meet our client by 8pm. We had a great dinner and our waiter was one we’ll always remember. . DONE! After dinner, our client Jeff, who lives in midtown, took us to several bars, then had two of his girl friends show up; one oddly from Google!

The pub crawl continued, vision grew blurry and speech turned to mush. We had meetings in the morning and my business owner instincts began to take over, so I random left Matt at the bar with the locals. For the record, I did call for his name a few times. So I finally get home at 3:30AM!! 12 hours later. Then here comes Matt at 4. Needless to say, the morning meeting seemed bleak! But no despair, while I was talking on the phone saying I might need to push the meeting back, the other party messaged me wanting to push it back. Seems they were hit by the same party bug, NYC.

Our meetings were pushed back but were fulfilled. They were very productive and well worth our trip. It’s also so great to put faces to names. One thing the internet will probably never have and that’s true personality.

Once our bags show up, the fake Samual L. Jackson, an independent town car driver, offered to drive us for a set price. With reluctance, we hired him for the ride. Well, rather than take us out to a car on the curb, we walked our luggage out to a distant parking lot to a 1983 Lincoln Town Car. Anxiety crossed our minds thinking we were going to be robbed, but Antonio quickly changed our minds with his over politeness, the smooth sounds of his “Kenny G” cd playing in the background and his very subtle whistling.

Antonio made a definite point to learn our names and us learn his, and then told us that right then he was our driver, but the minute we hit the city, “we’re his friends!” (insert strong Bronx accent) And he went on, “Yeah, there is a $200 per infraction charge if they catch anyone offering rides outside of the taxi union. So we met downtown on 10th street and he’s just giving us a ride”. Of course, what were we suppose to say?

To follow up on this experience, after all the time we spent with him going over the fact he was “Antonio” and we were “Matt & Ron”, as we were pulling into our hotel he says, “Now it’s Brian & Ron, right?” And after all the promises of taking care of us whenever we needed rides during our stay, it was very surprising that he never checked up on us.

New York City has it’s own vibe unlike any other city, so just showing up is a story in itself. Once again, NYC delivered like it has every time I’ve been. Rather than bore you with a long drawn out blob of information hitting on these points, I’m just going to break it down into the posts below and possibly a couple extras as they come back to me

1. “Antonio” the independent Town Car driver
2. A 12 hour pub crawl with a client
3. Having productive networking meetings
4. A session
5. Happy hour with the Text Link Ads crew
6. Talking to almost every booth on all 3 floors at SES
7. Another pub crawl with local rock
8. Flight delay after flight delay, keep the tornado away

Seems Google is now going to offer FREE BROADBAND & WIRELESS to everyone at home. Probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for this great country we live in. The only requirement to get it going? A BIG CRAPPER! They supply the remaining.

Here is the getting setup page from their site: TiSP:

Going with the flow TiSP Kit

Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.

Installing TiSP

Installing a typical home TiSP system is a quick, easy and largely sanitary process — provided you follow these step-by-step instructions very, very carefully.

#1 Remove the spindle of fiber-optic cable from your TiSP installation kit.

#2 Attach the sinker to the loose end of the cable, take one safe step backward and drop this weighted end into your toilet.

#3 Grasp both ends of the spindle firmly while a friend or loved one flushes, thus activating the patented GFlush™ system, which sends the weighted cable surfing through the plumbing system to one of the thousands of TiSP Access Nodes.

#4 When the GFlush is complete, the spindle will (or at least should) have largely unraveled, exposing a connector at the remaining end. Detach the cable from the spindle, taking care not to allow the cable to slip into the toilet.

#5 Plug the fiber-optic cable into your TiSP wireless router, which has a specially designed counterweight to withstand the centripetal force of flushing.

#6 Insert the TiSP installation CD and run the setup utility to install the Google Toolbar (required) and the rest of the TiSP software, which will automatically configure your computer’s network settings.

#7 Within sixty minutes — assuming proper data flow — the other end of your fiber-optic cable should have reached the nearest TiSP Access Node, where our Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) will remove the sinker and plug the line into our global data networking system.

#8 Congratulations, you’re online! (Please wash your hands before surfing.)

Note: If you have any difficulty installing, operating or simply living with TiSP, we suggest joining the TiSP Help Group.

Advanced TiSP Options

Professional Installation Service
You can also choose to request our professional installation service, which dispatches an army of factory-trained, sub-contracted nanobots from the TiSP Access Node. The nanobots travel with exhilarating nano-speed through the sewer system and into your home to perform the installation service, which should be complete within 15 minutes. Note: For your own physical safety and emotional well-being and in consideration of the nanobots’ working conditions, please make absolutely certain that your toilet is unoccupied at the scheduled appointment time.

In-Commode Package Delivery
With professional installation service, you can also have your Google Checkout purchases delivered directly through the sewage network into your bathroom. Each package comes pre-sealed in a watertight and nanobot-resistant bag made of biodegradable corn-based plastic. For a limited time, TiSP subscribers who sign up for a Checkout account will receive free bathroom delivery on their first ten Checkout purchases.

TiSP for Enterprise
We’re actively developing a higher-performance version of TiSP specifically tailored to small and medium-sized businesses, including 24-hour, on-site technical support in the event of backup problems, brownouts and data wipes.

This is where we insert April Fool’s!

We’re excited to announce our plans for getting on the road this year. There are many conferences / expo’s for our industry now and it is a great way for us to get out and meet our current customers and maybe pick up some new recruits along the way.

We have definite plans to exhibit at one of the shows, with more to possibly follow. Let us know if you will be at any of these shows and we will be more than happy to try and meet up with you.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo 2007

1. New York City – April 10-13
2. San Jose – August 20-23
   (We will be exhibiting at this event)

Ad-Tech Digital Marketing Conference 2007

1. Chicago – July 31-Aug1

WebmasterWorld Pubcon 2007

1. Las Vegas – TBA

Affiliate Summit 2007

1. Miami – July 8-10

Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

1. Seattle – June 4-5 (Advanced)
2. New York City – October 16-17 (Social Media)

I think it’s about time we get some chatter started about SES New York (April 10-13). Ron and I are both really looking forward to this one for a couple reasons. First, it’s in New York…hell-O! Second, and probably more importantly, we’ve never been to SES New York. Sure, the nuts and bolts of the conference will be more or less the same, but I’m hoping we’ll get to meet people that we couldn’t in San Jose or Chicago, etc.

Any LinkWorth Partners going to be there? How about you, Advertisers?? Please let us know if you will be. Comment here or on one of the subsequent posts you’ll see about this conference. We really want to hook up with as many of our people as we can so let us hear from you! Hey, and if you’re not a Partner or Advertiser yet we want to meet you too!

Beyond SES New York, we’ve already started making plans for SMX in Seattle, Affiliate Summit in Miami, Ad-Tech Chicago, SES San Jose, SMX New York, and hopefully Pubcon will return to Vegas in November. So, if we don’t catch you this time, maybe we can string something together for one of these other upcoming conferences.

I’ve said before that 2007 will be the year that us LinkWorthers will come out of our shells a bit. I want to meet everybody. I feel like I know everybody already (thanks to all the bloggers) so it’s about time we start shaking some hands and building relationships. Our little industry is full of charismatic people that we should probably spend a little more time with.

That’s all for now….