Think email is dead?  Think again.

Email Marketing is an extremely powerful tool right now for businesses looking to generate a better relationship with their current and potential customers.  In fact, according to a worldwide study conducted by Lightspeed Research 60% of consumers make purchases as a direct result from email.

However, email marketing is just one way to target your audience, but with all of the SPAM, junk mail, and pure volume of email users are receiving, a number of emails go unread.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly where each one of your contacts was “hanging out” online?

This is where Flowtown comes into play. Flowtown can show you all the different social networks your customers are on including: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace and more, and it allows you to tap into your network and connect with your audience where they spend time the most.

Pretty cool idea huh?  I thought so, and that’s why I had to hear about how powerful it actually was from Flowtown co-founder Dan Martell himself in this video interview below.

Have you been getting the most out of your email marketing list by connecting with your list on social media as well?  Are you a Flowtown user already?  If so, please share your thoughts on what it has done to maximize your email marketing efforts in the comments below and make sure to connect with Dan Martell on Twitter or on his personal website.

Are you tired of creating passionate blog content without turning a profit yet?

I know I was a few months after I started out with my Sports Networker blog, but later figured out that making money came down to a few simple things.

What are those three ways to make more money blogging?

In the video below, I interview Michael Dunlop (who in my opinion is the wonder kid of making money with your blog) and he shares with me how he gets a ton of traffic to his site, how most bloggers miss one major piece with making money from their blog, and how you can easily add more value to your readers in a few minutes.

Scroll down to watch this video and hear what Michael has to say about building a better community around your blog and how to maximize your traffic and list once you build them both up.  Here are the three keys to making more money with your blog:

Create Great Content

We hear it all of the time that content is king and the more value you give the reader the more your audience will turn from reading one article to becoming part of the community on your blog.

Nothing else beats creating great content that speaks to your niche, so this is a must before you even think about monetizing your blog.

Build Your List

The money is in the list!

This all depends on what your long term goals are, however, the bigger your database and the larger your list is then you are setting yourself up for many options in the future.  You can send daily/weekly/monthly emails to that list, survey your audience, sell affiliate products that help your niche solve a problem, sell your own products to your list, and use that as leverage if you want to promote something or sell your assets in the future.

Michael went from 15 opt ins per day to now over 100 opt ins a day!  He did this with his latest product Popup Domination which I started using and seeing roughly the same amount of increase in subscribers per day.

Following Up

Michael has a great sales funnel and he offers interesting products to those on his list that he thinks they would want and could help with their own blog or business.

If you get individuals on your list but never follow up then it’s like having a pot of gold sitting underneath your bed then you never open up.  Get Your Gold and Follow Up! (more in the video).

The cool part about this is Michael is 21 years old.  He doesn’t really have the years of experience for a certain niche or passion the most bloggers do.  And with Popup Domination he went from 15 opt ins per day to now over 100 opt ins a day and increased his sales by roughly 304%!

It’s pretty cool how it works as a clean pop up box hovers over your site (check out images and results for it here)

Action and Value

When it comes down to it, you must provide value and take action if you want to see a profit from your passion.  If you are looking for a way to increase your list size so you can start turning traffic into more subscribers then make sure you pick up Popup Domination as I’ve just started using it and I’m seeing amazing results.

However, watch the video to learn how to follow up as this is the next most important thing.  Don’t just let that pot of gold accumulate under your bed as you work to hard with your passion to let it sit under there untouched.

What is your biggest blogging pain?  Is it getting more traffic, sales, or opt ins?  Let me know in the comments below.

The other day I was eating lunch with my business partner Sean Malarkey, as we often do after a successful afternoon webinar.

We were talking about the LeBron James “decision” that was about to happen later that night and our waiter was having a friendly debate on where he thought LeBron would go.

Finally we get to the moment where we were given our bill and I picked up the check, as Sean often conveniently “forgets” his wallet every time we seem to eat out (go figure).

Right after he handed me the bill once he had swiped my card he asked us a quick one liner joke.  The joke made both Sean and I laugh and I just happened to have a smile on my face right when I was writing down the tip on the bill.

Make Your Customers Laugh

I thought this was a simple little way to engage his customers by being friendly throughout the entire meal (which most waiters are in the U.S.) but going the extra mile to make us laugh without trying to hard made it even easier for me to like and trust him more.

We end up doing more for those we know, like, and trust as these are basic networking principles.  That being said, if you are looking for a way to generate more sales then have you thought about adding humor in your sales process?

If you have, please share how you do so in the comments below.

I’m a big fan of LinkedIn (if you didn’t already know) and I get asked a ton of LinkedIn questions.  I also receive a number personal emails from professionals who see a tremendous amount of success while on the worlds largest professional networking website.

However, most of these success stories come through email and I’d like these stories to be shared with the world.

This is your opportunity to showcase how successful you have been on LinkedIn, or share one instance where LinkedIn has helped your career or business.

Please take a moment to write in the comments below what your biggest success story is on LinkedIn.

If you got a job, generated more leads, made a huge sale, got a referral, sold tickets to an event, drove traffic to your site, built a big LinkedIn group, or did anything else on LinkedIn to help you in your business or career then please share.

I look forward to hearing about your success stories so please take a moment to share them below so others may see how great of a site LinkedIn really is.