Hmmm, that’s not right either.

Because link building has many aspects to it.

The thing is most link building and link builders seem to focus on easy to do stuff, like:

• Dropping a link in the blog comments
• Article marketing
• Social bookmarking
• Paid links

I know some people think dropping a link in the blog comment box has no effect because it’s a nofollow tag. When someone says that, make a note of their name and make sure when they tell you other stuff you put it through a filter as they are plainly wrong.

So let me get back to the link building is boring thing. The above techniques are dull and boring. It’s something that you get stuck into when you are a rookie, a noob, wet behind the ears, in short trousers etc. but after a while it becomes as if you are choking on a thick mixture of sulphur and porridge.

The section of link building that is not dull and boring and will have you skipping through the daisies on a balmy summers day is something that is a little bit more difficult to do.

It involves:

• Research
• Cultural knowledge
• Understanding of how people function
• A strategic vision of how the web is used
• An ability to manipulate people with words and images

It is of course content based link building or link building with magnetic content, or linkbaiting (I tend to think of linkbaiting as a subset of magnetic web content).

Magnetic web content is something which draws people to it. It’s function is to attract and persuade people to link. A specific skill set is needed to achieve this and most do not have it.

Most people do not realise that it’s really about where you head is at, which is defined by the life you have previously led. It can be taught, but most people fail, simply because they do not have the right attitude.

If you look at those bloggers who seem only to have to fart softly into a leather sofa and it gets them links, you will notice they all have a similar attitude. A certain way about them. This is the place in this article where I should reach for the Zen dictionary and make some pop reference to the Magnificent Seven. But my tea is getting cold and I want to drink it before I finish the post.

To sum up:

• When you first do link building you should do the boring stuff the first two years.
• Think you can be a linkbaiter? Take an honest look at yourself or enter your details into the linkbaitometer.
• Many are called but few are chosen.
• Follow your path and adopt the state of mind.

Now where did I put those biscuits?

I am only accepting 30 members and as I write this it’s already half way full.

Please don’t join if you are looking for a pleasent, tip toe through the daisies kind of place. If you are the kind who wakes at 3am wth an idea burning your brain and jump out of bed to blog it, then you are the kind of person we are looking for.

When I say don’t join if you don’t like hard work, it’s not a marketing trick. I really mean it, only the exceptional few can succeed.

I know that I am more successful at a task when I focus. Concentrating like a laser beam on the task in hand increases the chances of completing the task. Probably more than any one thing.

If we want to improve our ability to complete tasks we must improve our focus.

What is it that causes a lack of focus?
Rarely is it the initial motivation. In fact the initial driving force behind your goal can sometimes blast through any lack focus if it is strong enough. But mostly, after a short period we get distracted, something else catches our eye, we feel we need to check out email, you know the drill.

For me the basis of distraction is the thought that there is still more possibilties for options out that. Even though I have decided on one task I have an irrational feeling to gather as much information as humanly possible. Coupled with the seemingly infinate knowledge base that is the Internet makes it an eternal distraction. I have to learn that when I gain enough knowledge to complete the task the research should be over.

What can you do to stop being distracted by infinate information fatigue?

I have to plug out. I take a piece of paper and a pen and sit away with from the computer and the Internet. I sometimes take the time to go to a Coffee bar and get a capuccino. Fermentation of current research needs to take place for the ideas to reach fruition.

I used to get distracted a lot from the computer games, if I could only get paid for playing Civilisation or Age of Empires. I solved that problem by simply de-installing them and hiding the CDs. Drastic action, but it has worked.

Be ruthless with your bookmarks.
Regularly go through your bookmarks and get rid of all high time suckage websites.

Place a time limit on your research time.
When developing an information project like a blog post or an ebook research can be never ending. Think how profitable the task is and create specific time slots to gather information.

Create your workspace
To work without disturbance gives you no chance to use it as an excuse not to work. Have you notice that after 15 mins of hard work you actually get into a mode of focused work that feels like you are a super hero and can achieve anything. This feeling is a result of the power of focus and it’s important to run whilst in this mode. Make sure when working on an important project you give the required quiet time you need.

Focus is the biggest problem facing knowledge workers today.
Distraction is the evil cousin of focus and should be negated

Here is what distracts me

• Browsing the internet.
• Reading E-books
• Check website stats
• Reading email
• Interacting on social network sites

When I research a blog post I find it difficult to stop collecting information. I find the more information I find the more information I have to find. Usually the first information is enough, but for some reason my brain is sending out the signal to search for more. This could be because I have not properly valued the initial information. If I took time away from the computer screen to mull the information I would be able to acess it more thoroughly.

And there is the rub. The computer and the internet have become the destination rather than a mere tool. It is such a huge and magnificent beast that most of us have not worked out how to tame it yet. At present I would say that this problem represents one of the biggest reasons why more people are not successful.

The saying is, “man who chases two rabbits catches none”.

So then you have to chose which rabbit to chase. If both rabbits go at the same speed and look the same, how do you chose. Which is what time management is all about, choosing which rabbit to chase.

You have to chose one, and chase it till you catch it. Everything else should be secondary to your choice.

When you work for yourself, like I do no one is looking over your shoulder and the beach is 15 mins away it needs a clarity and focus that you don’t need if you work for someone else. Which is why when a freelancer does get down to the work it tends to be more intense than a staffer.

You have to stare it in the face, not for one second back down. Lock your eyeballs and do not break the gaze, because you know as soon as you do it’s time to grab the boogie board and hit the surf.

Not that I surf, or have the boogie board, I am more likely to hit a coffee shop with a book and notebook, but it’s all the same effect. Work doesn’t get done.

You have to practice that hard stare, or at least I do. It feels much more natural and comfortable to follow that slow moving river into the sun. One hand trailing in the water and everything is right with the world.

But it’s not, work to be done, choices to be made.

Cutting down on the choices to be made sounds like a good thing.
Just like knowing exactly what I have to do when I sit down at the computer int he morning.

Thinking about time management and writing about time management – which is why I’m writing this – is to me the best way to get me to improve my time management, which has been deemed awful in the extreme.

It’s nice to be blogging here again, I think I will keep it up and make it more personal.

If you want to be a successful Freelancer you should expect to:

• Put on weight
• Work till late on a Friday night whilst your mates are down the pub
• Exist in poverty for many months whilst you get your reputation built
• Suffer from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome at least twice a year
• Lose about 30% of your off-line friends
• Be ripped off by at least two clients
• Lose that tan
• Waste your time with a lot of losers and wannabes who think that
  because it says they are an expert on their Twitter bio it makes it
  so.
• Never read a novel again
• When you go to sleep dream about google results page and scoring bigg on digg
• Think of time in a global 24 hour zone and something that is normal
• Spend hours and hours learning stuff that you later find out is now obsolete
• Learn that the so called seo/marketing/personal coach/blogging guru
  actually leaves in a trailer park in the bad side of town and is
  selling ebooks to pay off the debts he owes his crack dealing Mother
• Wonder why no one cares that you joined Twitter in it’s first month
  and that no one wants to hear that it’s not as good as it used to be

OK, now I have covered the good stuff, maybe we can do the bad in the next post

Sometimes the best way to learn is to be show, do this and that, and then go and practice on your own. Social media and blogging has made effective headline writing more important, you have very little time to capture the attention and then excite and persuade them to read on.

So it’s very simple, each week I send out a bunch of headlines which give you an idea of what can be done. You then simply transpose them to your own niche or use them directly if you are lucky to be in the same niche.

The great thing is the price, it’s only $50 a month, a lot of these deals are very expensive, this way it’s cheap enough to be worth giving it a go. You can read the sales page here

Article headlines
Suggest headlines
Fish Headlines

I have now closed down linkbait coaching, not for good but it had run its course.

Ih

Lyndon Antcliff interview at Distilled – regarding linkbait
Lyndon Antcliff interview with Michael Gray aka Graywolf – regarding local search
Lyndon Antcliff interview with Hobo SEO regarding linkbait and social media marketing
Lyndon Antcliff interview with Kelvin Newman regarding social media marketing and linkbaiting

Most of the interviews are about my linkbaiting exploits. If I find any more I will add them.

I first read about the perfect moment in the Book swimming to Cambodia by Spaulding Gray.

Having a perfect moment is when everything in the universe comes together in one magnificent moment and a pleasure tidal wave hits you in the chest and you wished the moment could last forever.

My perfect moments usually happen alone and in conjunction with nature. A perfect cloud, the way the sun breaks through the sky and hits a a green field in the distance. It can induce a trance like state and cannot be manufactured.

But you can prepare the ground. Make sure you take time to take a breath, look at the world around you. See how rich the colours seem, how the noise of the wind through a tree seems to weave through your mind.

Now I am not a tree hugging, vegan, nature nutter. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But there is something in the way the world is created, some vestige of glory left over from when one primeval atom said to the other, “Hi, lets get together and make a planet.”
“Sure, why not, I’ve got a free afternoon.” Said the other atom. “But what shall we call it?”
“I kinda like the name, Earth.”

Look out the window and let your mind drift into the creation. Doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not. The creation of our world around us is a magnificent thing and taking time to appreciate it will only be good for you.

I know that I am more successful at a task when I focus. Concentrating like a laser beam on the task in hand increases the chances of completing the task. Probably more than any one thing.

If we want to improve our ability to complete tasks we must improve our focus.

What is it that causes a lack of focus?
Rarely is it the initial motivation. In fact the initial driving force behind your goal can sometimes blast through any lack focus if it is strong enough. But mostly, after a short period we get distracted, something else catches our eye, we feel we need to check out email, you know the drill.

For me the basis of distraction is the thought that there is still more possibilities for options out that. Even though I have decided on one task I have an irrational feeling to gather as much information as humanly possible. Coupled with the seeminglyinfinite knowledge base that is the Internet makes it an eternal distraction. I have to learn that when I gain enough knowledge to complete the task the research should be over.

What can you do to stop being distracted by infinite information fatigue?

I have to plug out. I take a piece of paper and a pen and sit away with from the computer and the Internet. I sometimes take the time to go to a Coffee bar and get acappuccino. Fermentation of current research needs to take place for the ideas to reach fruition.

I used to get distracted a lot from the computer games, if I could only get paid for playing Civilisation or Age of Empires. I solved that problem by simply de-installing them and hiding the CDs. Drastic action, but it has worked.

Be ruthless with your bookmarks.
Regularly go through your bookmarks and get rid of all high time suckage websites.

Place a time limit on your research time.
When developing an information project like a blog post or an ebook research can be never ending. Think how profitable the task is and create specific time slots to gather information.

Create your workspace
To work without disturbance gives you no chance to use it as an excuse not to work. Have you notice that after 15 mins of hard work you actually get into a mode of focused work that feels like you are a super hero and can achieve anything. This feeling is a result of the power of focus and it’s important to run whilst in this mode. Make sure when working on an important project you give the required quiet time you need.

Focus is the biggest problem facing knowledge workers today.
Distraction is the evil cousin of focus and should be negated

Here is what distracts me

• Browsing the internet.
• Reading E-books
• Check website stats
• Reading email
• Interacting on social network sites

When I research a blog post I find it difficult to stop collecting information. I find the more information I find the more information I have to find. Usually the first information is enough, but for some reason my brain is sending out the signal to search for more. This could be because I have not properly valued the initial information. If I took time away from the computer screen to mull the information I would be able to access it more thoroughly.

And there is the rub. The computer and the Internet have become the destination rather than a mere tool. It is such a huge and magnificent beast that most of us have not worked out how to tame it yet. At present I would say that this problem represents one of the biggest reasons why more people are not successful.

Desire is the fire in your belly that will get you where you want to go.
Desire is one of the first steps to take towards any goal.

But not just any desire, this desire must be powerful to move mountains, or at least YOU!

Your desire must be able to modify your behaviour if you expect to reach your goal. For example, if your goal is to lose weight and your desire to achieve your goal is not strong enough to stop eating the wrong food, you will not lose weight. The key to this is your desire.

Your desire must mean sacrifice to get what you want.
You see, most people do not succeed because people are not willing to sacrifice aspects of their lives.
“I wish I could diet more but I really like burgers.”
“I can’t exercise tonight, my favourite TV show is on.”
When a person cannot give up a favourite TV for his goal, then the desire for that goal is too weak.

To achieve a life changing goal such as losing weight needs huge behavioural change. The desire to lose weight must be cultivated. You’ve got to want it. You must increase your desire until your desire will begin to change your behaviour.

You know your desire is serious when you cannot get to sleep at night because you are consumed with the thoughts of changing.
When you miss meals because the thoughts of your desire enrapture you so much and leave your conscious mind room for little else.

Your desire must pull you from one state of being to another state of being. Your old state of being represents your bad habits and slack thoughts. The new state of being represents the changed you, the new you that is able to reach your goal. Remaining in your old state would have meant never reaching your goal.

Once you have reached your new state you will find reaching your goal takes no effort at all. It was the way your state of being that was holding you back. Once you realised you didn’t need the shackles, they just fell away.
When desire is strong enough the path to your goal will seem easy, you will be carried along by your new state of mind, your subconscious flowing effortlessly before you defeating all obstacles in the path.

A man went to a man who had knowledge and asked to be taught the truth.
The wise man turned to the seeker of truth, “when you want to know the truth, I will tell you.”
“But I do want to know the truth, I have told everyone in my village.”
The wise man took a stick and played with a leaf on the ground. “When you want to know the truth, I will tell you.”
The young man from the village pleaded with the wise man to be told the truth.
The wise man looked towards the horizon, “Come with me.” And strode off at a brisk pace with the young man following.
Eventually they came to the sea and the wise man waded into the sea waist high. The young man followed him and waited patiently. The wise man then grabbed him and held the young man under water until his lungs burned from lack of air.