It seems Andy Jenkins of StomperNet fame has gotten a side job doing Burger King commercials

Life can be good it seems when you find your true calling in life.

Andy, if you see this, it was just too good to pass up. I wish I was as well known as you and it was someone who looks like me in the new Burger King commercial. LOL

Then Travis Campbell came back with this on his YouTube channel.

The real Bill Gates on twitter no less. In the first hour he pulled 79,387 followers.

Why should you go friend Bill Gates right now?

In another hour he jumped to just under 100,000.

First off joining new very powerful profiles on Twitter will bring you lots of new followers.

Secondly you are linking your Twitter profile to a very powerful user.

Google is going to share some of his profile rank with you.

Now if you can just get Bill to friend you back….

Wonder if he is following Larry Page and Sergey Brin….

I decided that Christmas should last longer than just one day, so I have 10 straight days of bonuses just for my subscribers. If you like it, we can do this every year. Just like I share my birthday with you each year, if you are on my list you will get the alerts.

Some of these Christmas bonuses will be first come first serve because they are actually very hard to get or are of a limited quantity. So if you are NOT on my list then you may not hear of them soon enough to get them.

For those of you who follow me thru RSS and Twitter you will get the same deal because the post will be up first, then the list will be emailed and Tweeted. So you will all have about the same chance on the few that are limited in number.

Keep your eyes peeled for anything from Chris Lang in the next 10 days. Chris Lang’s 10 Days of Christmas starts on Monday, December 14th.

Also I got those cool Holly wreaths from this Christmas images bonanza Squidoo lens. Good place for graphics for your own blog.

Merry Christmas to all! - Chris Lang

Discuss this in Google Wave…

Day 1

Google Wave invites, I have 10 50. Just email me asking for one. First come, first serve. Tomorrow’s bonus will be just as hot: Brand new report on Google Friend Connect in PDF.

Day 2

Free Chapter from Gwave Domination - This is a full free chapter from my Gwave members site. It’s in PDF so you can save it to your machine. This is what my members get 4 times a month so check it out.

Right click the link, select SAVE LINK AS and save the file to your desktop. PDF - New Google Friend Connect Polls Utility

Day 3

Google Chrome now runs on Linux, Macs and accepts RoboForm! Finally Chrome for all….. Merry Christmas!

Day 4

Frank Kern is giving away 2 DVDs from his latest venture, no strings, no monthly members site back-end, NADA. Just pay the 9 bucks for the shipping like I did and they are yours. Can’t wait to get them in the mail. Now go get yours and NO that is not an affiliate link because there is nothing for sale there.

Day 5

FTC guideline rumors got you confused? Jim Edwards interviewed this FTC guy and the replay is on his site. To create your FTC disclosure policy this generator seems to do a good basic job to get you started. Before you have your lawyer look it over that is, which is what I am doing and you should be too! (always get legal advice from you lawyer, not the Internet)

Day 6

One of my best Digg contacts wrote this Making Friends on Digg PDF and it is a real eye opener. Hope you are Digging well…

Day 7

Google Wave Notifier With Sound Too This the new desktop Google Wave Notifier is my new favorite tool. It is a Windows app that runs in your task-bar and even has a happy little sound it plays when you have a new Wave.

Day 8

Armand Morin’s new members site is Brave The Wave and he is doing a two day show to launch it in Vegas the 30th and 31st.

If you register today, January 8th, the show is free. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with tons of top Internet marketers at this event.

You will be able to make notes, Wave with others in the audience and if Armand takes me up on it, ask questions live from Wave.

Details on this to follow, here is the link to get your seats. This is really free, no BS, I just want to see you there.

If you are going to attend I have a public Brave The Wave set up for us to get to know each other a bit before we all meet up. If you are not going to be there please skip this Wave.

- Chris

Day 9

Day 10

Join Howie Schwartz LIVE as he interviews Chris Lang on Google’s BIG Secert: GWAVE!

You can ask questions LIVE and take your business to the next level with Google Wave.

Please register today as we have LIMITED lines.

Update: The live Webinar date has passed so here’s the replay link below.

• A replay will be available BUT only for those who register today
• Here’s the replay link

See you on the webinar with Howie.

Cheers!

Chris Lang - The Gman

Here is what one of my Surf Club members had to say about being invited to one of my seminars. You should have got one of these two if you are on my Get Ready For Gwave list.

Jeff, seemed a little upset and since he was kind enough to share his feelings with me, I thought it necessary to address them here. If one person feels this way then many do who have not expressed their feelings. So here are the high points of what Jeff had to say.

I am a little concerned that I am agreeing to pay a monthly fee of $27 to learn how to use a service that so far Google is not rolling out in a timely fashion or as represented

Two things come to mind, first, the price went up, it’s now $37. You are saving $120 a year.

Not one of my articles have anything to do with how to use Gwave in the members site.

In fact if you review the sales letter and everything I said it was all about building a list of friends and followers, a mailing list in fact, before Google Wave becomes widely available.

However everything I teach you how to use IS FULLY AVAILABLE.

I have spent the last year building my list and I only have 600 or so friends on my Gwave list. But that is about 600 more than most anyone else.

It’s time for Google to stop hyping, either on its own or through surrogates, and start delivering its platform to users - widely - not in this silly piecemeal manner.

Jeff, You seem a little impatient for someone who has only known about this for two months.

I have been waiting for this since May, 2008. Tons of my paying subscribers have too. And I am the MOST impatient person in the world. If I can wait this long, you can handle another two months.

I don’t know if you have ever released software, but I am a programmer and I HAVE built commercial web applications and released them to a paying market.

In fact I released one around RSS Analytics 5 years ago. It was not tested well enough and as soon as someone saw one error message they canned their subscription.

My app went under. Instead FeedBurner got acquired by Google for $381 Million USD. Let me assure you my app was WAY more powerful than FeedBurner. Lack of testing kills software. Think of it like buying a new car and the door handle falls off or it suddenly don’t start.

Software is beta tested. Gwave is not even in Beta, the is the Alpha release. Google has been building Gwave since early 2007. They are not going to rush it now when this has been their baby for well over the last 4 years. They are not going to drop their baby on it’s head in the delivery room. Google is going to take very good care of little Gwave, until he is ready for the world to see.

Otherwise, it’s a bit annoying to receive messages about upcoming sales events.

My seminars are loaded with how to advice and now you can even try out Gwave live at my events. There is about 2 minutes in a 2 hour show that is a pitch for my members site. To me, that is not a sales event, that is a learning experience.

You were at the first show in Sacramento. The only sales pitch came from the sponsor for the show. That was her hand-out that you got pitching her products not mine.

So all I can say is if you don’t like the idea of Google Wave, stick with what you got now, Facebook and Twitter.

No one here is cramming anything down your throat or making you do anything you don’t want to.

If you hate what you are doing or getting from me, then quit. If you don’t like what you get in my emails, the unsubscribe, the link is at the bottom of every email.

If you remember one of my main points at the show you were at in Sacramento, it was if you hate the social site then dump it and use one you do enjoy using.

If you don’t like my slant on Gwave, and that is you should be building a mailing list in Gmail, not worrying about getting
your hands on Gwave then go elsewhere. It’s up to you. I am not here to sell product. I do that easily now and I don’t have to sell. I bring the only real advice on this there is and my site over delivers in content by twice the price.

The price will soon go to $497 for the whole 350 pages of material all at once by next month. Stay in now, you get it for cheap. Or pay me later. Again, I don’t teach how to use Gwave. I teach how to build a mailing list and backend your leads into your email list and your products and services. The same thing Joe Schroeder taught me 10 years ago.

Gwave how to articles are a dime a dozen and soon everyone with be a Gwave expert.

What I teach and have always taught is to build a list in Gmail using the social features in Google that ARE ALL currently available.

Who cares when Gwave comes out, what you want to do is build your network NOW. Because even if the whole world has Gwave what good will it do you if you don’t have a fresh list of new leads that have never seen your products before?

Gwave is not going to change how you market to your current best customers. Gwave is going to change how you market
to your NEW customers that have never bought from you before. These are the people you are going to Gwave with and
these are the people you should be building a Gmail list around now.

I have been making my living online for 10 years and I have seen Google roll out allot of new apps, it ain’t going to change
now or anytime soon: Google moves painfully slow. They have what we want, scarcity is the best marketing tactic in the world.

- Chris Lang

Yep, Chris Lang’s Bday extravaganza rears it’s head for a week of who knows what 2009 style

It’s that time of year where I take a day or two off or in this case a week and you get the presents.

We leave for San Diego today and it’s full speed ahead, here’s a little of our itinerary for the next 30 days.

Itinerary

You will be able to see right where we are and zoom in easily to see where we are and what we are doing in the Google Latitude map on the right. You can check on our progress and come hook up with us over the course of the next week.

First off Margie and I will be speaking at the Drexel University in Sacramento, California, on Google Wave and Google Friend Connect at 6:30 PM on September 10th, more on this later.

In the mean time checkout the itinerary below.

Paradise Cove Malibu - burgers & cocktails on the beach is where the beach scenes from the Rockford Files series was shot in the 70’s. Gotta go check this one out… Here’s the official site…

Drive from Monterey toward Gilroy thru the Pacheco Pass and stop at the Casa de Fruta it started as a fruit stand and now is a unique Americana retailing roadside mecca. Stop for a half hour or so - buy something ;^D. 30 years ago they use to have a worker who was called the cup flipper who was on the Johnny Carson show several times.

Google Map

From there it’s a 2 1/2 to 3 hour speed drive to Sacramento with no stops - nothing very exciting to see. If you need a burger, there’’s an In-And-Out on March Lane in Stockton.

See you in Sacramento! - Julie

Day One

Gotta run out the door, packed and got this post up at like 3AM so tomorrow we will be posting more right here just like last year, tomorrow.

Don’t be shy, chime in in the comments below, give me a call at 480 464 0597 and if you are along the way in Califoria, let’s hook up for a birthday beer.

Here’s a birthday gift for you: Impact PopUp sticky not Windows app. (sorry MAC guys)

This is an executable file for Windows. So right click it, select “Save as” and then save it to the desktop.

Once you have downloaded it you can scan it with your antivirus and spyware software to confirm it is junk free.

This is a handy little app that does the work for you. If you edit the image file it creates is Photoshop you can generate some impressive effects.

I have been using this for years and since not many are using it these days it’s conversion rate should be high. Website Magazine currently uses one of these cute little sticky notes on their site so it must be effective. Have fun with this but don’t overuse it. HTML popups can be annoying.

Check back here tomorrow for video of us on the Stars and Stripes in San Diego…

Day Two

After a very calming week in San Diego we are now headed up the Pacific Coast Highway outside of San Francisco to Google.

Right click the file below and select save as, and save it to your desktop. If you do not do this the file will come up empty.

NOTE:Use 7Zip to open it, OTHER zip file utilities may not work and this is a great free utility that opens RAR file and GZ files too. Not to mention it will ZIP files up to half the size of most other utilities.

Here is your next present for my bday, the mp3 of me and Jack Humphrey discussing Google Friend Connect and YouTube.

Don’t miss Out! My members site subscribers are getting $200 in REAL PRODUCTS that I have never offered before. The price is going up when Google Wave is released in a few weeks and I have a huge JV in the works. Join my members site now and get ready for Google Wave.

NOTE: This is a PayPal link so if you want to use your credit card don’t log into PayPal and follow the link labeled Don’t have a PayPal account? and you can use your debit card without a PayPal account.

Day Three on the Pacific Coast Highway

This was the prettiest spot on the Pacific Coast Highway between Big Sur and Carmel.

Here’s the album of the beaches and sites along the way…

Back to work…

Well I hope you enjoyed sharing my birthday week, but here is one last goodie for you, the MP3 of Jack Humphrey and I talking about my inside knowledge of Gwave.

Right click the file and select save as and save it to your desktop.

Extract the file to your desktop and then it will play in any audio player as it is an MP3 file.

Jack Humphrey Mp3

Hope you enjoyed my birthday week, let’s do it again next year. - Chris

Don’t trust URL shortners for links on the web unless you have to and here’s why!

After Digg started directing it’s URL shortener to it’s post / Digg story pages in this story July 19th, 2009 by Pete Cashmore, Mashable’s CEO you can see why.

Here’s what Jason Kincaid had to say about Digg’s Career Suicide and Delicious founder called URL shorteners Evil and potentially unreliable middleman.

Typically when you use a link-shortening service, anyone who clicks on your shortened link will be sent directly to the original article that you’ve linked to, without any landing page or barrier in between. This is how nearly every single link shortener works, from Bit.ly to Awe.sm, and up until now DiggBar worked basically the same way, though it inserted a frame at the top of the page.

But sometime in the last few days DiggBar has changed this core functionality: clicking on a DiggBar shortlink will send anyone who isn’t already logged in to Digg to Digg.com’s list of comments about an article rather than the article itself. So, if I linked to TechCrunch.com using the DiggBar, users would first have to go to Digg’s page about TechCrunch.com before they could actually make it over here. In short, this is totally ridiculous.

Another friend of mine says currently:

• If you’re not signed into Digg, you don’t see the diggbar, ever. If you’re signed in at the time, you see it same as before.
• Digg decided to leave things as they were except they did change all the OLD links back to diggbar links.
• And if you believe Kevin had no idea they were gonna do thus, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

Here’ my advice

First of all, why would you use a URL shortener to begin with? Ten years on the Internet tells me not to jump on bandwagons and you all should have been smarter than to trust a site like Digg with your links or any URL shorteners to begin with.

I see this mis-thinking all the time. Why trust your content and links to sites like Facebook and worst of all incoming links to a site like Digg? Your blog is where content belongs and your links should be coded to the blog, not thru a service.

This really makes no sense to me…

In fact the URL with keywords in it these days are now used by everybody. That tells me they no longer have any effect on Google.

So first you set up your blog so that links can’t be emailed with out breaking because they are a mile long for SEO that is now obsolete.

So then you have to use a URL shortener to get the links to work, thereby shooting yourself in the foot because the links do not accurately pass Google link juice on to your site.

And do not respond to me that some do, you cannot possibly know that they will a day from now, a year from now or if they do this very minute. You really have no idea how much of your link structure works or does not. DO NOT do this anymore, you could be committing traffic suicide.

What happens when thousands of incoming links to a site go Bye-Bye when a site changes it’s policy, gets acquired or just plain closes shop? Think about how many MAJOR sites have closed up shop since 1999? How about 10 major search engines that are no longer with us? Now we have two.

And Digg is certainly not on any kind of stable financial footing, why trust them to handle your links for any period of time? At least StumbleUpon’s URL shortener uses a 301 redirect. How many don’t? How many have you even checked on? Do you know the difference? Just don’t use them.

The web is about linking to other sites, not stealing content and using it for your own purposes.

Just by adding or removing 301 redirects a URL shortener gains or passes incoming link credit. Do you know the owners of URL shortners? Are they your friends? Can you name one person behind any of them? Oh, you know Kevin Rose? Why in the hell would you even use URL shortners for any thing but a 140 character Tweet?

Why would you even waste your time on Twitter? Have you looked at your traffic stats? How many sales did you make via Twitter last month? How many by Facebook? Do you even know if Twitter or Facebook traffic converts?

Did you read my Death of Social Bookmarking case study last month?

Second, how could you trust a site like Digg that allows it’s power users to sell front page placement but yet kicks sites off and bans domains for publishing anti Digg stories or self promotion?

As far as Digg traffic goes, look at what hits front page, 70 to 100 Diggs. It used to be 300 Diggs to get front page. To me that says traffic is down by how much? You do the math but to me removing the shout mechanism and now ripping off our traffic? The mark of a dying site trying to keep it’s head above the waves.

In this case it is Digg trying to keep it’s head above Mixx and Google Wave.

Microsoft and Yahoo team up to Compete head to head with Google

I have been saying for a long time that Microsoft and Google are flat out at war. But now it has come to a head to head challenge where Google lives, Search Results!

Bing is now to power Yahoo search and Search Engine Watch cited ComScore as saying that is 28.4% of the search engine market. We are officially down to TWO search engines!

Under the 10 year agreement, Bing will power Yahoo! search, creating a Google competitor that last month reached a combined 28.4% of the search market share, according to comScore. Microsoft will also be able to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its web search platform.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! will sell the search advertising for the newly combined entities. AdCenter will be the self-service search ad platform. This will take a long time to implement as they adjust relationships with thousands of advertisers.

Display advertising will not be affected by the deal. Both companies will maintain their programs separately.

Microsoft will pay Yahoo! 88% of search ad revenues generated by Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! expects to see $275 million operating cash flow as a result of the deal.

Here is the rest of the most comprehensive article to help you understand this on The Bing / Yahoo deal on Search Engine Watch. And here is the article that brought this to my attention, from the Just when Yahoo! was relevant again department, a very good article on how distributed computing works at the server level.

Really, don’t buy it.

UPDATE:This has been one of the most successful conversations ever on this blog. Be sure to read the comments as this is what a blog post is about, a discussion. Not to mention it turns out Jack Humphrey can write a comment longer than one line…

Because real social marketers already invented this long before he did.

Buy Simon Ford’s two thousand dollar product.

Buy Mari Smith’s fourteen hundred dollar product.

Buy Paul Colligan’s YouTube product.

These people deserve your money.

Follow what Jack Humphrey does in social media, he invented most of what you see everyone spouting off as their own too.

They invented this stuff that you saw last nite.

Do not run out and spam the crap out of YouTube after what you heard last nite either. Yes, YouTube is is a social site.

Yes YT does have a friend system. It IS Google Friend Connect.

If you do YouTube wrong, you are going to have a list of spammers all spamming YouTube for rankings and you are all going to get slapped down just like anyone doing the same with social bookmarking.

Buy from the real gurus in social marketing that have been using this stuff for a long time and know how to do it right.

Don’t use software to inflate your Tweeps, and YouTube friends, Google is on to that one to that too.

Learn how to do it right from the ones in the trenches.

Not to mention my little site will teach you everything you need to know about YouTube in Google searches and associate it with Google Friend Connect since it is GFC that runs the social stuff on YouTube.

For a lot less too…

Google Friend Connect Tactics

Got a great freebie for you today, I read this every month and I LOVE it

I read this magazine myself and love it. No strings attached, just good stuff.

You might notice I rarely suggest someone else’s stuff. The only ones I do suggest are AWeber (autoresponders) and The Directory of eZines, so when I do send you something it is because I know you will benefit from it.

Benefits of subscribing to Website Magazine:

• Tap the best minds in the Web Community
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There is a premium version offered on the next page, just get the free version (right hand thumbnail) and you will find it as interesting as I do.

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