Apps are all the rage nowadays:

There are apps for, well, pretty much everything:

-Apps for your phone.

-Apps for your TV.

-Apps for your car (Ford).

-Apps for your toilet (maybe not…but you get the point).

Apps are amazing business tools ESPECIALLY if you are creating video:

1. Your own app takes your content and gets it onto multiple platforms. The potential for more eyeballs is always a good thing.

2. TV apps essentially mean you can have your own international TV content overnight through Yahoo!’s Connected TV Platform (currently comes installed in Sony, Vizio, LG and Samsung TV’s). Here is a clip on TV apps and some thoughts on why tweeting from your TV and TV apps is a game-changer.

3. Apps go way beyond just the iPhone. Droid, Blackberry and even desktop apps on your computer are becoming more & more popular.

4. Apps are becoming more video friendly with the potential to get your videos watched by more and more people.

5. Apps are normally expensive and complicated to make…until now.

You Can Win A VIDEO App Dream Package

Our sponsor and friend Widget Realm is kicking off their new app offerings. And guess who benefits? All of us. Why? Because they are giving one lucky member of The Rise To The Top community the following:

-Custom-Made Mobile Apps (iPhone, Blackberry AND Droid)

-A Custom-Made Desktop App (Your customers/clients/fans/community can download it right onto their computer)

-A Custom-Made TV App (YES! Your video content will available to be downloaded onto ACTUAL TV’s: Samsung, Sony, Vizio, LG)

+ Video encoding and a video content management system through Widget Realm all included.

Time To Pitch Us & Create Video Content

Obviously we want to make sure whoever wins the package is creating video content. So pitch the heck out of us on the contest form. Nothing would be worse (for everyone) if we give away all this cool stuff and you don’t use it, I will personally cry myself to sleep (and nobody wants to see that unless you do and in that case, you’re mean).

Part of entering the contest is pitching us why you want the app dream package and what you will do with it. (Hint: Because this is a show big on the marketing/promoting end, how do you plan on promoting the heck out of your apps. Bonus points for uniqueness)

So, if you have links to videos you have done or want to shoot some quick videos make sure to tell us about it in your entry form and keep us posted via Facebook, Twitter, on the site, etc.

How Do I Enter And Are There Any Catches?

You can enter right here and the contest runs until the winner will be announced on the 25th of March. The link will stay up on the left side of the website as well.

No catches. The only thing that is on you is video bandwidth (which unless you are raking in millions of people averages about $3-$4 a month).

How Will The Winner Be Chosen?

A fun panel will be selecting the winner including Brian Powell (Founder of Widget Realm), myself (I can be bribed…just kidding or am I?), and some to-be-named “celebrity” judges (if music was playing, cool music would be playing right now).

Not Planning On Creating Video Content? Be A Hero To A Friend

The contest of course is not for everyone. If you aren’t planning on creating video content (or already creating it), perhaps you would want to pass it onto a friend who is. Karma is a good thing.

Here are some more details when Brian and I sat down to discuss the contest:

Good luck and may the best man/woman/child/dog win!

A big aspect of building your business in 2010 is apps. Apps are all the rage and we are here to help you cash in. The Rise To The Top and Widget Realm have teamed up for a month long giveaway where a lucky winner will receive a dream app package including custom made apps for mobile phones such as the iPhone and Blackberry as well as the newest technology: TV apps.

The contest is open to any individual or business who is or plans on creating video content. To pitch your idea and enter visit the contest page.

Is there ever a good reason to turn down an advertiser?

Picture this. Someone is ready to write you a BIG fat check for advertising. Maybe it is for your website or blog. But you just don’t have a good feeling about it. Would you ever turn it down?

We have had to. Why because I care about our community more than anything and relationships.

Here are a few reasons why…

5 Reasons To Turn Down An Advertiser:

1. Bad Fit With Your Audience: It has to just make sense.

2. You Can’t Help Them: You have to be honest with yourself. A long term relationship is the real benefit as opposed to the quick buck even if you know you can’t help them.

3. Sketchy: If you get a weird “ewwwww” feeling (“work from home” or whatever is not in line with your values), it isn’t worth the money. Remember advertising reflects you AND your community.

4. Personality Match-up: Make sure the advertiser KNOWS your personality and the personality of your website and vice-versa. If it doesn’t align, it will always be push & pull.

5. Not something you do use, would use or trust. If not, why would you promote it to people that trust you?

You Weighed In On Twitter & Facebook:

(And of course feel free to jump in on the comments as I’m sure I missed a few points and the whole community would benefit from your genius!)

Via Twitter:

BennyShaviv: absolutely yes, there are VERY good reasons to turn down advertisers. Who you advertise is very big part of your image.

BetterBizIdeas – Decline advertiser if message doesn’t match audience (classic example = adult industry)

magalogguy – An ad that conflicts with your image or causes people to question your authenticity is something to walk (run?) away from

reverendro yes if I don’t believe in their product or if I have moral conflicts with their product.

mikemonty I’d turn down an advrtsr if their prduct or service wasn’t congruent with my content. I want to provide value, not sell out

mattmetten If they aren’t trusted/approved by me, I won’t allow them. It directly reflects on me, my value, my trustworthiness.

mandeewidrick I have high standards, I guess. If it’s not something I feel parents would want their kids pursuing, I don’t want it.

msindefatigable Yes, I would say no to an advertiser if there was a moral or ethical conflict involved. Just not worth compromising.

StyleStruck of course, if the advertiser’s product/company does not align with your goals/morals, it’s a no-go

(GREAT QUOTE HERE) Aboundlessworld Yes.. if the ad’s appear scammy.. or if I don’t think the product would genuinely help my readers. Trust first money 2nd.

mandeewidrick I would turn down an advertiser if I didn’t feel the content was appropriate for my family-based magazine.

gracerodriguez Many of the mommy bloggers at @mom2summit said they turned down advertisers who didn’t “get” their blog’s tone or audience.

ErikEitel Possibly. If the advertisement doesn’t match the companies values.

jessandco Would not if the advertiser was not in tune or beneficial to my niche customers.

msindefatigable I have ethics and morals that would limit the scope of the advertisers that I would allow on my site.

Via Facebook:

Karen S Hoffman: Would not accept a sponsors/advertiser if it violated a value. Case in point. I used to publish a sports magazine. Would not accept strip clubs or cigarette (sp) advertisers. While adults read our magazine, kids did too. And cigarettes (sp) are just hard for me with family members lost to lung cancer from smoking. Values. Have a great lunch & learn! (Thanks, Karen…it was great!)

Peter Wheeler: Rarely do you ever encounter an advertiser that is not relevant to or related to the site, so I don’t see how anything can be violated. We don’t do media buys for tobacco on Nickelodeon, or Liquor on an AA forum – that’s just bad business, and a low-conversion burning of a budget. Conflict of interest is usually the only reason to avoid a *quality* advertiser.In the end, you need to weight out if it is your baby, or your business. Don’t sell out your morals, ever, just don’t fold for nothing.

Jennifer Palmer Sansone: you have to trust in your values…the all-mighty dollar isn’t everything.

Eric Mieles: Yes, because I would only want to affiliate myself with products and services that represent what I stand for and my community can utilize to be better at what they do.

Joel Libiva: If I feel that it’s not appropriate for my audience would be one reason. The other one is if after I tell them that the link to them will be a “no-follow” one, they hesitate.

Louis Epstein: (Note: My future brother-in-law) List of businesses I would accept: 1. Strip clubs. 2. The Casino Queen 3. Dry cleaners 4. Liquor stores 5. Schnucks 6. Reliance Automotive 7. Camp Taum Sauk 8. JCCA 9. El Maguey List of businesses I would not accept: 1. Church organizations 2. Harrah’s 3. Dierbergs 4. Autozone 5. Bally’s 6. Qdoba. That’s all for now.

Cesar G Abueg Jr: Depends on the website, if I’m promoting myself and my company’s services, absolutely not. But if its like a venture blog, and traffic is key, absolutely, but will be picky who I choose. I like your approach David, you promote what you like and you test them out to give your viewers a real testimonial.

To add to that, it doesn’t produce credibility or confidence, when you go to a site, where you want to purchase a service or product, and there are Ads on it. What’s up with that? Are they that desperate to make additional income, that they have to show their competitor ads on there. Its like walking into an Apple store, and seeing PC ads on their walls. Who are you promoting yourself, or your competitor?

Mark Witzling: Say ‘No” to advertisers that promote offensive content, those who have been slo-pay in the past, those that want to negotiate price below your threshold, pop-ups, and consider rejecting ads that are highly irrelevant for your audience (which might confuse your audience). Very few media sites reject ads based on the creative, but I wish more would reject bad/ugly ads.

John Denham Jr: This is not a one size fits all scenario…discernment would/should be utilized.

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building. Plus, make sure to check out my interview with Johnny (who is quite the character) and has some great advice for building your business.

We Use Feedblitz For Email Marketing & It Rocks

If you are out there creating content and promoting it can take a ton of time. Don’t waste more time by doing email campaigns yourself (meaning writing them, sending them, yadda, yadda). Feedblitz simply takes your content from your blog, website, anything with a feed and emails it to your subscribers when/where and how they want it. Daily? Sure! Weekly? Sure! Via Twitter? Sure!

Special deal for RISE viewers (affiliate of course): Enter the promo code RISE and get a 60-day free trial. Sweet!

Part #1

PS: Enjoy my confusion when we cut out

Part #2

The Power Of A Book For Entrepreneurs

To say Jason Cohen is a smart guy would be an understatement.

1. He is a big time entrepreneur and founder of Smart Bear Software (which he sold for major cash money)

2. His blog A Smart Bear is one of the best in the world on as what he calls “startups + marketing + geekery.”

3. He has his smart hands in many other pots including Capital Factory and OnStartups Answers (with start up legend Dharmesh Shah)

4. He wrote a very (VERY) niche book called Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review which to date has been read by over 50,000 people.

..and I have a feeling you will see a lot more of him on The Rise To The Top and you can also find him on Twitter.

A Book As A Marketing Weapon

In this interview, Jason discusses how he used a book to differentiate in his industry. There is a misconception that books are only for certain audiences and certain subjects. Jason knocks those all down.

1. Interestingly, Jason used all kinds of traditional methods of getting the word out (mailers, newsletters, trade journal advertising, etc.). But hey, it worked!

2. Jason found unique ways to measure the advertising (through special forms on his website) and was able to hustle good deals from dying mediums (play up your smallness).

3. He literally gave the book away and it became their biggest marketing play.

4. All leads and web traffic are NOT creating equal. Experimenting and measuring (the right things) were the keys to getting the word out.

Building Blog Traffic:

Of course Jason is also a prolific blogger and here are a few of his tips:

1. Jason focuses 100% on creating good content.

2. Luck is necessary: Big bloggers picking up your content if it is good enough or agreeing to guest post.

3. Details of his blogging success can be found here.

4. Success can also be measured in comments, but Jason prefers to study who retweets him on Twitter (comments are good to).

Entrepreneur & Marketing Resources Mentioned:

Other Inbox (organizes your Inbox and more)

ITWatchdogs (one of Jason’s start ups)

Answers.Onstartups.com (Q & A forum)

Toodledo (Great personal organization tool)

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building. Plus, make sure to check out my interview with Johnny (who is quite the character) and has some great advice for building your business.

Note: Today’s RISE episode is from Great Day St. Louis onCBS KMOV4. I’m on there once a month as their tech expert discussing hot topics in technology that you don’t need a nerd degree to understand. The article below is expands on a lot of the ideas touched on.

Your Online Reputation IS MARKETING:

In the 10 Big Marketing Predictions For 2010, I touched a bit on reputation marketing. Why? Because it matters. It used to be someone with a big mouth could tell…

…10 people about you?

…100 people about you?

Now, an individual can tell thousands of people via social media, blogs and more.

Search Engines Have The Biggest Mouths Of All

Think about someone telling all of your dirty online secrets (hopefully you don’t have any) to ANYONE that asks. Now that is something to think about especially since search engines spill the beans on pretty much everything you have been doing online.

Search Matters For Three Things In Business:

1. What happens when someone types in your company’s name?

2. What happens when someone types in YOUR name? (Or for that matter if you have a business partner or employees, their names as well).

3. What happens when someone types in a key phrase that is fit for your business (i.e if make iPhone apps what happens when someone types in “I need an iphone app made.”)

Interestingly, #3 gets all the attention and focus of that key buzzword in 2010 Search Engine Optimization. From my experience though, #1 and #2 are just as important.

Sure, attracting new customers that don’t know about you yet is vitally important (which is #3), but your online reputation encompasses #1, #2 and #3. No, this isn’t high school or Cruel Intentions, unless your high school was a few billion people.

Ways To Improve Your Online Reputation:

1. Get busy creating content: Everywhere. On your website. On Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn. Every piece of content including photos (and video more and more) is crawled by search engines).

2. Alert Yourself: Set up a Google Alert for your business, your name, other key people’s names, your competitors and any key phrases (I add my Google Alerts to Google Reader so I can check them out at my leisure as opposed to getting an email anytime my Alerts are mentioned). And setting up an alert is one thing, RESPONDING is the key. If you see something (good or bad), see if you can jump in and comment on the blog or source. Become a part of the conversation.

3. Google isn’t the only answer: Check out the social search engine Ice Rocket. Great design and specializes on searching many different corners of the Internet that Google often misses.

4. Be nice: I know this seems a little ridiculous but it is so true. Negative people online are annoying, I get it. But kill with kindness. Confrontational and sensitive are two qualities that often lose online. If you are nice to people, people will be nice to you. Awww….warm fuzzy moment.

5. Control What You Can Control: Educate yourself on the basics of online reputation and search engine optimization. Trust me, it is isn’t that hard to understand (I’m NOT a techie, I’m a person who enjoys using technology and I was taught it quite easily). Setup a Google Profile for a bit more control.

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building. Plus, make sure to check out my interview with Johnny (who is quite the character) and has some great advice for building your business.

Misconception: You have to have a LOT of traffic to make money from your website/blog

There is a big misconception in the online world about the correlation of traffic and making money from your website.

For example:

1. You need LOTS (hundreds of thousands of visitors) a month to make any money from your website (either by selling a product/service, advertising, whatever).

2. People expect everything online to be free.

3. You can’t make money from blogging.

Well, lets put those three misconceptions to rest in this chat with Timothy Sykes.

Timothy is smart, brash and has that like-him-or-hate-him-but-you-have-to-respect-him personality (I like him) and he makes an absolute boatload of money online to the tune of 1.3 million (yes, MILLION) in 2009 even without astronomical traffic number (2,000 dedicated fans).

His niche is penny stocks and investing and he recently launched a community for investors: Investimonials

In this discussion (and yes, I know it is long but trust me it is worth grabbing some coffee and enjoying), Timothy talks about how he did it and provides inspiration, tips, tricks and strategies for you to do it as well.

Fun Facts From The Chat:

-Tim offers a big mix of products including newsletters (Tim Alerts), DVD’s, books and more.

-Teaching sells and pays. Bottom line.

-Don’t forget about the individual. All about one-on-one connections and relationships.

-Tim recommends being in business for the long haul. Not the quick buck.

-Authenticity destroys BS. Be real. Not a sketchy salesman.

-Experience matters.

-Listen to your audience. Tim used polls to garner interest for new products.

-Tim built a FREE COMMUNITY first before monetizing.

-The more stuff you create now, the more it will pay off later.

Links Mentioned/Tim’s Entrepreneur Resources:

Tim uses Live Steam (www.livestream/livestock) for his live web shows.

Wistia for video solutions.

Youtube (extra views always help)

Facebook Ads: Hyper-targeted ads. Tim spent $500 brought in $10,000.

StumbleUpon Ads: Super cheap 5 cents per click in many cases.

Aweber for email marketing.

Mail Chimp also for email marketing.

Zen Desk (juicy cool resource for organizing email and customer service). Creates ticket numbers for your email.

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building. Plus, make sure to check out my interview with Johnny (who is quite the character) and has some great advice for building your business.

The St. Louis entrepreneurial community will be out in full force on February 24th. 

Perhaps there will be a scalped ticket on Ebay?

In case you missed out, don’t fret as due to overwhelming popularity there will be more events. To make sure you are updated FIRST, sign up via email to receive event updates in the upper right hand corner.

Skimp Or Splurge? Should You Hire A Graphic Designer For Your Website?

When building your business smarter, faster, cheaper every dollar counts. But sometimes you HAVE to invest in yourself because the payout and potential is much more than the initial investment.

What about your website? Perhaps it is your 1st website, 10th website, or you are re-doing your website that looks more like 1997 than 2010. Awesome.

How do you go about it? Do you purchase a template? Create a custom site? Design it yourself?

I’ve created several websites and based on my experience hiring a graphic designer can be one of the most beneficial investments you can make. Here is why:

5 Reasons You Should Splurge On A Graphic Designer For Your Website

1. First Impressions Matter: If you want to look professional when people find you through Google, Facebook, Twitter and other sources of traffic, good design gives you a massive edge. You wouldn’t invite people into your home and not have any furniture would you (unless you would…in that case you are weird).

2. Clients Comparing Websites: If clients and customers are browsing between you and competitors, which many are, your design matters. Shoppers are ADD. Think about the last time you compared companies. Would the simply, dynamically designed site win your sale compared to the site from 1998 with a little construction guy digging?

3. PR: We entrepreneurs know that media (online and offline) can be huge for growing your business. When journalists come to your website (and spend a SPLIT SECOND on it), do they see something that is easy-to-navigate and professional? Or do they see a mess?

4. Personality: Your shining personality can be brought out by a good graphic designer and reflect in your site. Remember, people want to do business with people and not just faceless companies.

5. Stick Out: Good design allows you to separate from the pack, which is ALWAYS a good thing. Fitting in is so high school.

STL Innovation Camp: 10 FREE TICKETS!

If you are an entrepreneur in St. Louis (or near St. Louis) you HAVE to come out to STL Innovation Camp on the 26th-28th of this month. There is education (I’ll be speaking on Maximizing Online Video), great networking with innovators and those supporting entrepreneurship, and the Innovator’s Cup if you are into a little competition.

The good folks at STL Innovation Camp have setup some specials just for RISE viewers. Head over via this link and you can receive discounts, entries for free tickets and more. Plus FIRST 10 TO SIGN UP WILL GET IN FREE! Can’t beat that deal.

Your Website?

How did you go about creating your website? What as your process? I’m sure we can all benefit from your expertise!

How To Get Sponsored

I must have been a little lightheaded due to marker fumes and definitely did not look in the mirror before shooting this show. The result is it looks like I’m ready for an east-coast yacht club meeting or something.

This is probably one of the top few questions I get all the time. You ask and you shall receive. So I figured this would be a great multi-video series on sponsorships.

Starting off today is how you can make initial contact and start forming a relationship with sponsors now.

I’ve been involved in sponsorships for awhile now and have tried literally everything going all the way back to professional inline hockey sponsors (I know, weird) and I’m looking forward to spreading all the good stuff to you so you can maximize it for your business.

Of course there are many kinds of sponsorships you can seek depending on your business including:

1. Website sponsors

2. Event sponsors

3. Personal sponsors or “influencer” sponsorships

4. Blog/show/podcast/web series sponsors

5. Content sponsorships/sponsorship partners

…and that is just the tip of the iceberg. As old rules of advertising/sponsorships continue to get thrown out the window, there is a TREMENDOUS opportunity for entrepreneurs to get involved with the sponsor game.

Quick Sponsorship Tips To Keep In Mind

1. Make sure it is a right fit with your audience. For example, if my target is 18-24 male athletes, then Playtex is probably not a good fit on either end.

2. Patience, patience, patience. Sponsorships do take time and energy. It is not a case of overnight success and you can’t expect to through up a website and have sponsors knocking at the door. That being said, it is NEVER too early to start forming relationships with potential sponsors.

3. Always remember: It is ALL about trust with your audience. No dollar amount can fix consistently promoting bad products/services.

How Do You Make Initial Contact With A Sponsor?

1. Make A Daily Use List: Sure creating a dream sponsor list is a good idea, but here is a different approach: What are things you already naturally promote (example for me: The Flip Cam)? What do you talk about most to others on a daily basis? What do you use the most on a daily basis?

2. Put Yourself In Your Audience’s Shoes: Is this a great fit with the audience as well?

3. Identify Touch Points: Are the companies on your “daily use list” on Twitter? Facebook? Linkedin? When in doubt, crowd source it on Facebook/Twitter. For example: “Anyone have a contact at American Express Open? I have an idea!” Empower your community to help.

4. Give First: This is the most critical step. You have to give love to get love. Write a post (or a video or whatever you like), promoting the product/service of your potential sponsor. For free. No, you don’t need permission.

5. Reason To Reach Out: Now you have a reason (excuse?) to reach out to the company because you did something valuable (or at least nice) for them. Try sending a Tweet or reaching out via Facebook/email. Wherever that touch point is. Simply point them to your post. Don’t ask for anything. The goal here is to begin the relationship.

Now that you have given first and reached out, we will take the relationship to the next level in the next installment of the series (that sounded really official).

Your Sponsorship Questions?

What other questions do you have about sponsors? Also, if you have experience with sponsors, would love to hear your thoughts and advice which we could all value from.

St. Louis Lunch & Learn Tickets

Less than 10 left! You can nab one of the few remaining ones right here.

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building.

Trust me, if you wait until 2011, you are going to be kicking yourself.

We are in the middle of a fundamental shift towards online content becoming more and more important for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs and business owners.

Blogs vs. Newspapers

Here is the key question (and please let us all know your thoughts on this below): Would you/your business rather be on the front page of your local newspaper or front page of the best blog in your niche?

I would take the blog all day and night. Why?

1. Blogs are spreadable. When was the last time someone clipped a newspaper article out, scanned it and sent it to 5, 50 or 500 people?

2. Blogs are sharable (think Facebook, Twitter).

3. Blog posts can increase in value over time. This is key. Blogs are not here today, gone tomorrow like a newspaper. Instead, they stay up (in most cases..forever). Which means even six months from now someone can link to the post. From personal experience, this is more than true as I’m always surprised when I see a hit on a post that was created in, for example, November 2008.

3 Ways You Can Get Involved With Online Content:

1. Create: A tremendous opportunity for every entrepreneur, solopreneur and business. And not just talking about your product. I’m talking about creating around your expertise. If you are a fitness trainer, you wouldn’t want to create a blog about how awesome your personal training sessions are and everyone should buy, buy, buy. Instead, it would be better to talk about fitness tips, show routines on video, interview clients with their tips, etc. The opportunity is in text, video and audio. The one key piece of advice? Stick out. Try something different to stand out from the pack of content creators.

2. Become A Content DJ: This is a great solution if you don’t want to create your own content but want to be of a curator (which doesn’t mean you can’t do this AND create content…sometimes it is great to mix it up). Becoming a content DJ means finding the best content and putting your unique spin on it. Top lists, recommended books, hot articles in your niche, etc. Here is a great example. Guy Kawasaki does this every day on his blog Holy Kaw.

3. Sponsor Content: If you don’t want to do #1 and #2, but still want to get involved with online content, there has never been a better time to BECOME a sponsor. Why? Because even on the top blogs it is still relatively cheap compared to all other forms of media (TV, radio, print) and prices will go up over time (another reason right there why it is a good time to start creating). Best thing about online content is you can break all kinds of “traditional” advertising and sponsorship rules for maximizing the relationship on both ends. I’m not talking about banner ads. I’m talking about feature-rich sponsorships such as guest blogging, a special contest, or branded content (which you can also put on your website). Something that is spreadable, sharable and longer lasting. For some more ideas, check out the 10 Big Marketing Predictions For 2010.

Note: Much more on how to ATTRACT sponsors on upcoming episodes as well which has been heavily requested.

St. Louis Lunch & Learn: Less Than 10 Tickets Left

I know I said 20, but we actually down to only 10. Details and final few tickets can be found right here.

And Always A Big Thanks To Our Local Presenting Sponsor Making RISE Possible: Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

Just for being a RISE viewer, you get haggle-free, supplier pricing whether you are from St. Louis or anywhere else at Johnny Londoff Chevrolet. A great guy really getting into online marketing and relationship building.

Other episodes on Online Content/Blogging/Content Creation:

What The Heck Is Inbound Marketing (and how you can maximize it) with Brian Halligan

7 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Maximize Online Video

7 Ways To Monetize Online Content