Noble Samurai

At 5.42am (EST) on 13th January the Market Samurai main server experienced technical difficulties.

The cause of the problem has been traced to unexpected MySQL binary log files which filled the log directory and took the server offline.

As the issue occurred at 9.42pm Australian time, we were not online to receive the email notifications and unfortunately there appears to have been a problem with our SMS notification system.

The problem therefore only came to our attention at 8.30am when we arrived at work.

What Has Been Done to Fix the Problem?

(1) The server has been reset and the problematic log files eliminated.

(2) We have also reconfigured the server and arranged automatic expiration of the offending log files so that this specific issue does not happen again

What Are We Doing To Ensure Similar Problems Do Not Happen Again?

In order to ensure that similar problems do not arise in the future we will be:

(1) Improving our SMS notification system

(2) Implementing an improved monitoring system

(3) Implementing redundancy solutions for essential services

We would like to take this opportunity to apologize to all Market Samurai users for any inconvenience caused and we will be doing everything possible to minimize outages in the future.

Regards

Brent

44 Comments »

It was always our aim to give you a stream of killer training, and to use this blog to deliver the latest news, insights and resources for tackling the world of online marketing…

…And to be fair – we’ve been behind the scenes improving Market Samurai, scaling-up the systems that our tools run on, and preparing for big things around the corner.

But in the process, our regular stream of content and training stopped.

That’s why I want to introduce you to Dr Anthony Fernando – one of our newest team members – who will be presenting a full course of marketing training for all Market Samurai users.

Introducing Dr. Anthony:

Many of you who began this year’s Thirty Day Challenge in August will already know (and love) Dr. Anthony.

His training videos have already spurred countless comments like these:

Anthony,

Thank you, I’ve been watching MS videos for several months now and this video has made more sense to me than any of the rest. Explaining the different values and the proper progression have cleared up a lot of misunderstanding.

Your are most adept at teaching the craft you seem to know so well..

It has been said, “The mark of true wisdom it taking the complex and making it simple, while the mark of foolishness is making the simple complex”. Thank you for wisdom’s way of simplicity!

- ReederLyons

Thank you Anthony for very concise detail on how to initially start to find a micro niche. Genuinely appreciate the pace of the videos this year and you are a great addition to that. Sincerely, Thank you.

-TheTanyaChadwick

WOW! Very cool stuff in here. Thank you for your detailed explanation. Gave me a lot of insight. Valuble stuff

- alexurotaru

Wonderful video, very explanatory and the presenter is an excellent teacher given that he explains all these concepts in a very clear and easy to understand way.

- edapina

Anthony you are a great teacher ! It was a pleasure watching this!

- Stephydan

(One viewer even created a “We Love Dr Anthony Fernando” Facebook group!)

What Makes Dr Anthony So Special?…

What makes Dr Anthony so unique is that he’s a natural teacher with a strong internet marketing pedigree.

On the one hand, Dr Anthony owns a portfolio of income-producing websites that together receive over 700,000 visits per day (do the math – that’s over 255 million visits per year!)

On the other, Dr Anthony has a PhD in Education, a lifetime of experience teaching and coaching (fitness training, technology, corporate consulting, music, dance and more) and took his passion for education online through his niche websites – teaching, training, and inspiring people to achieve outcomes that they desire in life.

Along with Ed Dale and Eugene Ware, Dr. Anthony was the co-creator of the Internet Eagles program that went on to become the Underachiever program.

And he is also known for:

• Creating a popular children’s music program that is used in 48 states of the US and 38 countries around the world.
• Developing www.TheDontQuitPoem.com which has inspired over 1 million people around the world
• Being the best selling author of the inspirational fable ‘The Oracle’s Secret’
• Creating a successful personal development newsletter which has over 20,000 subscribers

This means as well as having the educational background to develop high quality training, he is also an active Internet business owner who understands what it takes to build and grow a successful online business.

In the weeks ahead, Dr. Anthony will be introducing a new series of training that will start at the beginning and explain both the key concepts and the ‘how to’ information that has been missing from the Samurai world.

So, keep an eye out for an email from Dr. Anthony in the next few days with the first installment of your ‘Samurai Training!’

Brent

P.S. – If you haven’t signed up to receive updates from the blog already, make sure you enter your details into the box on the right hand side of this page to receive an update every time new information is posted to the blog. This will ensure you never miss out on new information.

104 Comments »

Nobody wants to work 16 hours a day.

Nobody wants to be stuck at their computer, keeping their sites “alive”.

The reason most of us begin in internet marketing is because we are sick of killing ourselves 9-5, 5 days a week – just so that we can get 2 days off on the weekend, and 2 weeks per year paid vacation…

…We want freedom – we want free time and free money – so we can do whatever we want – driving fast cars and living in big houses, sailing around tropical island paradises, to just “being there” with our families – and doing it all without having to worry about setting the alarm clock for Monday morning.

But it’s how to make this “free time” and “spare money” that trips most people up.

The “Passive Income” Paradox

Most people try to create “free time” by working less – only to find that their “spare money” runs out very quickly when their websites are left to age and decay on their own…

…Or they create “spare money” by working harder – losing their “free time” in the process, trading one ball-and-chain job for another.

You probably know the solution already [hint: it's getting other people to do the work to create profits for us] – but it might be “too difficult”, “too expensive”, “too risky”, “too time-consuming”, “too unprofitable”, “too stressful” or “too imperfect”.

That’s why I want to introduce you to Marc Lindsay and Daniel Turner.

The Masters Who Run Multi-Million Dollar Businesses on Outsourced Labour…

Marc and Dan have built their multi-million dollar (per year) web empire using outsourcing.

They currently have over 140 websites, over 100 “staff”, 3 companies (including one of the world’s most respected SEO companies), and offices on 2 continents – and have several sites and companies that make 7-figures per year.

The Key is Their Systems

The brilliant part about Dan and Marc’s business is everything runs on systems.

That means Dan and Marc didn’t take on the role of being “outsourcing managers” as their new job title – everything runs by itself, according to the system.

And this means their businesses run themselves, grow themselves, improve themselves, and become more profitable – making Dan and Marc more and more money with practically no time and effort required.

Dan and Marc’s “Outsource Method”

If you want to find out more about how they did it, Daniel and Marc have just released their “Outsource Method” – their “how-to” guide that gives you the systems and techniques that they use in their own business.

It will show you how they started their business for $50 while they were flat broke – and how you can get started the same way (hiring staff who will take the load off you for just $50 per month).

The $1 Introductory Trial

The price will be going up to $995 on October 15th. But if you get in before Thursday, you can try the full course for $1 (paying $297 once-off in 10 days time if you like what you get.)

If you want to find out more, or get access to Dan and Marc’s Outsource Method at the $1 trial price, here’s our referrer link. (If you decide to keep the course, we make a commission.)

Alternatively, here’s the direct link if you prefer (using this one, we won’t see a cent).

Make sure you get it at the $1 introductory trial price (before Thursday October 15th) – this is incredible information that you won’t want to miss.

Since I met Marc and Dan in March 2008, I’ve hassled them for just snippets of this information whenever I’ve hit a business impasse – and the nuggets they’ve given me have been pure gold.

Tomorrow, I’m getting into a supercharged Mini Cooper S, and driving along the Great Ocean Road to an isolated cabin for a week-long vacation – I’m taking my copy away with me.

33 Comments »

The 30 Day Challenge begins on August 1st (in less than 2 days!) and we’re throwing our full support behind it again this year.

If you haven’t already signed up, here are 7 reasons why you should now.

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1. Because It Changes People’s Lives

Countless people have received their first taste of internet marketing via the 30 Day Challenge, and really understand how internet marketing works.

While not everyone makes it to the end of the full 30 days, dozens have used 30 Day Challenge strategies to make their first dollar online – and I’m told that there are several 30 Day Challenge multi-millionaires today.

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2. Because It Showcases New Marketing Strategies First

• Twitter,
• Facebook,
• Squidoo,
• Hubpages,
• Social Bookmarking,
• Ustream,
• Market Samurai…

Before just about anyone else was even talking about them, the 30 Day Challenge was already teaching marketers how to use them in their business.

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3. Because Top Marketers Recommend It

It’s recommended by top marketers worldwide – who don’t make a cent from their recommendation.

Here’s just a few of the heavyweight recommendations from the past few days…

John Reese – Internet Marketing Legend (& Fastest Man on 4 Wheels)

“Ed does a fantastic job with this program and it has
changed a lot of lives.

I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t
already seen it.  Again, it’s free…”

Frank Kern – Internet Marketing Legend (& Semi-Pro Surfer)

“This is always awesome….

If you’re wanting to “cut the crap and just GET STARTED
with *something*” then it’s for you.”

Jason Moffatt – “Big Lebowski” of Internet Marketing (& Inventor of the 6 Day Weekend)

Ray Edwards – “Obscenely Profitable” Copywriter To The Stars

Suzi Dafnis – Australian Internet Marketing Pioneer and TV’s “Dragons Den” Venture Capitalist

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4. Because It’s Free

What more can you say here… The whole month of August is “Pitch Free” for the 30 Day Challenge.

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5. Because Everyone Gets Full Access to Market Samurai

If you’re going to complete the 30 Day Challenge, you’ll need access to all of Market Samurai’s features – including the advanced “paid version” features that we offer time-limited trial access to.

But what happens to people whose trial has expired?

Well, all Market Samurai users who are completing the Thirty Day Challenge will be able to access these features in August (again, for free) – so that you can still get full value out of the 30 Day Challenge.

Plus, we’ll be releasing several new features (for the first time ever) inside the 30 Day Challenge.

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6. Because WE Think It’s Awesome

We wouldn’t support it, or recommend it, if it wasn’t the “real-deal”.

Where else will you find a group of people who will dedicate a whole month of their lives to teaching the latest internet marketing strategies to the masses – for free?

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7. Because Thousands of Participants Don’t Lie

Check Twitter, forums, comments on blog posts or reviews about the 30 Day Challenge just about anywhere on the web and listen to what other people say)

(Have you participated in the 30 Day Challenge? Leave your comments below. What’s the 30 Day Challenge really like? Do you recommend it?)

If you haven’t signed up – you have less than 2 days to get in before the action begins:

http://www.thirtydaychallenge.com

It’s an easy decision to sign up – don’t let it be something you regret missing out on.

Brent

24 Comments »

We’ve been “copping a bit of flack” (as we say downunder [read:getting criticized]) for recommending the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript…

And to be honest, I was a bit shocked!

So far, Noble Samurai has recommended Screenflow, the 30 Day Challenge, SEO Digger, WordPress Direct, Hotspot Shield, Jing and the Butterfly Manuscript…

We use them, we like them, we think they’re valuable, and we recommend them – it’s simple.

5 of these 7 resources are free; 3 of the 7 we’ve used affiliate/tracking links; and with the exception of Hotspot Shield (which we recommended to overcome a Market Samurai bug that has since been solved) we would recommend any of these 7 resources again.

(In fact, here’s the link to the free Butterfly Marketing Manuscript pdf again. )

One of my pet-peeves is when people try to greedily “hoard knowledge” rather than sharing it (as if somehow knowledge by itself had value). That they come across a great piece of information, and jealously keep it from everyone – just in case (God forbid!) someone finds out “their secrets”. That creates no value for anyone.

• When we develop something that’s worth having, we share it with you by making it part of Market Samurai;

• When we learn something worth knowing, we share it with you via Twitter, our Blog or our Support area;

• And when we come across something worth having, we share it with you by telling you about it;

It’s what we’ve done for the past 9 months, and it’s what we’re going to continue to do.

I realize that by doing this we’ll help a lot of people, but a few people will get offended along the way…

• Some people will get offended because we see value where others don’t (like this time – some people were probably offended by Mike’s marketing – but we see obvious value in many of Mike’s business systems and the growth they’ve achieved);

• Some people will get offended because we break an illusion by telling-it-like-it-is (like when we’ve told people it’s ridiculous to expect to be millionaires from internet marketing in a year, with no prior experience);

• And some people will get offended just because we’re happy to reveal the knowledge that others are hoarding, and make advanced SEO strategies more accessible to the average person (like when we originally released Market Samurai).

We’ll inevitably end up offending some people, but we won’t be making any apologies. We’re going to keep giving you new Market Samurai tools, sharing internet marketing insights that we find useful, and telling you about the internet marketing resources that we use, get good results from, and recommend.

To everyone looking forward to next things we release – I can’t wait to share with you the next Market Samurai features (which are currently in final bug testing).

Brent

48 Comments »

Hi Samurai – it’s Eugene here!

There’s a fatal mistake in the way most people try to do internet marketing…

They put a whole lot of time, effort and money into building a web-site and creating a product – and then the launch their product with all of the best marketing opportunities available to them (the best affiliates, the best partnerships, appearing on the best sites, targeting the best keywords, etc).

…Only to see their hard work disappear – just after it started paying off.

It’s The Curse of the Launch…

The product makes a huge spike of sales right at the start – when all of the best leads in their marketplace buy.

But it doesn’t take long (a few weeks, or a few months) these best marketing opportunities are exhausted.

The sales dry up, the money dries up – and the only way to start making the big money again is to start again – to put a whole bunch of time, money and effort into creating a new product to launch – just to see the whole cycle repeat itself.

Or they look for other people’s affiliate products to promote – just so that they can get another spike in sales.

Suddenly, You Find Yourself Stuck In A Vicious Cycle

Instead of creating sustainable online businesses that create a constant cashflow for life, without having to work – you find yourself having to work 12-times as hard to create new products, just so that you have something new to sell every month!

It’s a vicious cycle that is so easy to get stuck in.

And even though it works (there are people who make millions of dollars per year living launch-redevelop-relaunch) – living big-hit to big-hit is a harder, more laborious, time-intensive way to make money online.

To be honest, this was one of *MY* biggest concerns with Market Samurai. I always wanted it to be a true online business – I wanted to create something that would grow over time, not die within months.

I Couldn’t Afford To Let All The Hard Work In Market Samurai Go “Quietly Into The Night”

10,000’s of hours of hard work, and 100,000’s of dollars have gone into developing Market Samurai. To see it all go to waste so quickly, and to have to re-create something similar just to keep Noble Samurai running… the thought gives me cold shivers!

So, How Do You Turn A “Spike” Into An Income?

But how do you keep your product burning hot as long as possible – and maximise your revenue stream?

This was one of the big insights I received from reading the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript.

A few months ago, I printed off the original Butterfly Marketing Manuscript to read on a flight between Melbourne and Singapore – and I scrawled notes on practically *Every* *Single* *Page*.

You’re probably hearing a lot about Butterfly Marketing right now – and it’s certainly something I recommend without hesitation.

Why?

Because it’s like taking a “guided tour” of a very successful, very streamlined internet marketing business.

If you haven’t seen the manuscript yet, let me explain what it’s like…

Condense years of experience running a successful internet business – from how to build a successful business from nothing, to how to turn a launch spike into an ongoing revenue stream, right through to how to increase sales in even a mature online business – and put it all into one resource, it what you’ll find will look a lot like what I found in the Manuscript.

There was stuff that we’re already doing, like:

• Offering a free, partially-complete product to build a list (page 16)
• Integrating your product into other companies’ marketing (page 54)
• Getting time leverage in your business (page 104)

And there were also a lot of areas where I thought we could improve in:

• How to motivate affiliates to “compete”, and sell more (page 61)
• Making your site “stickier” using forums (Page 65)
• The ideal marketing funnel structure (page 106)
• Exactly what resources should go into an affiliate pack? (page 44)
• Time limited offer on signup (page 73)
• The value of “carrier pigeons” as reminders (Page 63)

There are also a bunch of detailed case studies of successful marketing campaigns that Mike Filsaime (the author of the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript) did, and even some unsuccessful campaigns and why they failed.

As I say – the resource is literally the sum of years of experience running a successful internet business condensed into 124 pages of information.

And that’s just the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript (ebook) – It wasn’t even the full updated Butterfly Marketing 2.0 pack (which sells for $1995 – but Mike’s going to be giving away for $39.95p&h as part of his latest promo – including thousands of dollars worth of software to IMPLEMENT these techniques, DVD’s, CD’s and course workbooks – something I’ll be waiting in line to get for myself.)

You can download the PDF from here
(Look for the signup box on the right of that page)

As someone who has run his fair share of successful online businesses already, I still got a lot out of it. In fact, I’ve literally been hassling Brent to read this for the past 4 months – long before this Butterfly Marketing promo came up (which is what spurred me to write this blog post now).

Whatever you do, make sure you get the Manuscript.

If you want to get the full Butterfly Marketing course too – that’s great (the $39.95p&h offer includes all of the Butterfly Marketing course manuals, DVD’s, CDs, software, etc). We’ll be trying to get a copy too – even though it launches at 1pm EST on the 24th of March (which is 4am Melbourne time!!)

To be blunt, chances are you’ll miss out.

Mike printed 5,000 copies to give away, which sounds like a big number – but already over 25,000 people have pre-registered for a copy (with just 1 week left before launch). Plus all of the top internet marketers are recommending it too, as I write this blog post – and although we’re aiming to get a copy, we aren’t getting any special treatment – we’re setting alarms for 4am just so that we’re in with a chance to get a copy of our own.

But At The Very Least…

At least download the free Butterfly Marketing Manuscript – the same resource that I printed and read on the plane, and scribbled notes on practically every page.

As I say – it’s the first thing I’d read in a long time that I learned a lot of new insights from (despite running multi-million dollar online marketing projects before) – so I’d highly recommend you get a copy.

Eugene

29 Comments »

Ohayou (hello) Samurai!

It’s what you know us for – cutting edge, high-tech tools.

Tools that help make winning in the online profits game easier.

Starting today, we’re kicking things up a notch.

Today, we release a new feature that will make experienced keyword researchers weep tears of joy…

…A new feature that will help even niche marketing newbies to get better results from their keyword research inside Market Samurai…

…A new feature that will triple the amount of keyword data that’s available to you inside Market Samurai…

Today, we unleash Broad, Phrase and Exact Match inside Market Samurai.

Here’s where to find the options:

Step #1: Do detailed analysis of the value of keyword markets, and identify high-value niches using Broad-Match.

Step #2: Next, focus on Phrase-Match to identify the optimal word order you should use to get the maximum benefit from your Search Engine Optimization work.

And finally, use Exact-Match data to discover how many people search for your keyword precisely…. If you so desire

(This is completely optional – I personally don’t worry about Exact-Match traffic because I’m more interested in the phrase-matched long tail, and the broad-matched synonyms… but that’s something I’ll talk about more in a future blog post.)

New Indicator: Phrase-to-Broad Ratio (PBR)

Broad Match is great for checking the value of a keyword market generally – answering the question “How many people are in the market around this keyword?”

And Phrase Match is great for checking word order – finding out “What is the most common way people type this keyword into Google?”

But you didn’t expect to do all the hard work yourself, right?

I mean, to work out whether the keyword (as it appears) is in the optimal combination, you might actually need to click on Broad Match… Then Phrase Match… And compare the numbers to see if the Phrase-Match
“Searches” figure makes up a large portion of Broad-Match “Searches” figure…

But that might actually require some time and effort.

So we made it lazier easier for you.

How Phrase-to-Broad Ratio (PBR) Works:

PBR compares the number of searches people do for the phrase-matched version of a keyword to the number of searches people do for the broad-matched version of a keyword, and gives you this figure as a percentage.

Armed with this data, you can quickly filter out any keywords that don’t meet your minimum PBR criteria … And yes, we made it a filter option inside Market Samurai.

Because the lower the PBR score, the less likely it is that your market is using the keyword in this order.

Da-dah – Magical!

What are you doing? Go play with this now!

There are keywords to be claimed, profits to be made! Go get ‘em, Samurai!

Sayonara (goodbye) for now!

Brent

P.S. – If you’re wondering what PBR ratio I filter based on, I’ve been looking at PBRs of 10% or above. This normally weeds out the phrases with the wrong word orders.

Edit: P.P.S. – If you want to know how PBR (Phrase to Broad Match Ratio), it’s calculated by taking the amount of searches Phrase-Matched, and dividing it by the amount of searches Broad-Matched, and then displayed as a percentage. Nice and easy.

12 Comments »

Last week we beefed up the regional support inside Market Samurai, with the release of Market Samurai v0.79.1

BORING!

I mean – why in the world should you even care about something so trivial and insignificant?

OK, let me be blunt…

It’s because, if you don’t care, you’re missing out on an opportunity to make a STACK of money!

You see, the reason I’m writing this post is because we regularly release really cool new features inside Market Samurai.

BUT they’re not big features.

Usually they’re tiny little new tools that we release – little and unsuspecting pieces of smart technology – but ALL of them can make a huge difference to your internet business’s bottom line.

The crazy part is only a tiny handful of people ever grasp the full power of many of these cool new features, and begin using them!

So let me show you how…

Open Market Samurai now.

Go-on, I’ll wait!

Now that you have Market Samurai open, click File > Settings > Google in Market Samurai, you’ll see a long list of countries.

Previously, Market Samurai could only gather SEO competition and [English-language] traffic data from the 25 most commonly searched regions in Google.

Now, the list has been expanded to around 230 regions and territories (including Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and dozens of other regions .

This is good news for two types of people…

Firstly, it’s good news for niche marketers.

If you’re looking for niches online, rather than looking for a micro-niche, why not promote a larger niche – but in a country where SEO competition is weaker.

It will require you to have some intelligence about how you search engine optimize your web-site, but it can also have some significant benefits.

Secondly, it’s good news if you’re running an offline business in a local area.

Now you can get accurate search and competition data for promoting your business to local customers in your region, and find out specifically what it will take to get rankings in your country or region.

Related Posts on Other Blogs:

11 Comments »