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Archive for October, 2009

30 Oct, 2009

Turn Your Idle Time Into Productive

Posted by: admin In: General

It’s funny how we perceive ourselves sometimes and how it can be quite different from how your family does and the differences is quite drastic! Case to the point…. Over last 4 weeks or so I have worked on getting my current house ready for sale. Contractors going in and out and checks that I sign following alone brought my wife into following line of thinking – we can “save some money” by doing small things such as painting, etc ourselves. Or Can We? I have to give my wife the credit – she is now not only taking care of the family, going to school full-time in the evening but also does most of the work. I’m only left with some wall prep. work, running to hardware stores and helping her out from time to time. Problem is – every time I have to switch from working on my core business to chores, I lose time! Time that I perceive as biggest asset that I have but since my wife thinks we “can save money” already made – arguing with her will be pointless as she is just as hardheaded as I’m and in this case I choose the path of distraction that keeps her happy Whew, long story! Now, if I could only remember why I was writing it… Oh, yeah – Time! If you have some idle time this weekend, here are links to some good content to help you turn that time into Productive: Shawn Collins shares a disturbing news on AVG Anti-Virus Blocking Affiliate Links . If you are doing any type of affiliate marketing you might want to check it out. Alberto Hallado shares tips on WordPress Theme Structure That Works For Business . And he also reminds us importance of keeping your blog up to date – just check out the post! Patsi Krakoff teaches us how to Build a Product Funnel on Your Blog through Content Marketing . A MUST read post. John Jonas shares his own personal collection of Web Tools To Help Run Your Online Business . Sometimes difference between being productive and wasting time are the tools you use. This is great reference list! Nicole Dean continues with her success stories and this time shares Online Success Cast #16: Ross Goldberg . Great content guys, as Ross has highly unusual story and a person with integrity, although he might be edgy for some! Great guy, excellent story and shared by master teller Nicole! Check it out! Doug Champigny shares his insight on Protecting And Preparing Your Internet Marketing Business In Today’s Economy . And when Doug speaks – I listen and highly recommend you do same! And if you think that wasn’t enough… Google Your Questions! Happy Halloween Guys! Related articles by Zemanta How to Evaluate a Merchant Gift Affiliate Program (growmap.com) Become A Blogging Expert On Any Subject In A Couple Weeks (mt-soft.com.ar) How To Earn Residual Income From Home Blogging (mt-soft.com.ar) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts What I’m Reading… (1) Around Blogosphere This Week (2) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Looking For Guest Bloggers (10) Why I Trushed Your Comment? (25) The Evils of Flickr (17) SezWho 2.0 On WordPress Blogs Near You… (2)

28 Oct, 2009

How Customer Makes Customer Service Impossible

Posted by: admin In: General

I wasn’t going to write on this topic originally but for some reason my partner and I started to see this issue more and more often occurring: Customer Makes It IMPOSSIBLE For Us to Provide Customer Service While it can be due to many reasons, fact still remains and worst of all – it leaves bad impression on that person even though it wasn’t even our fault. Considering that we pride ourselves in providing great customer service to our clients – we are obviously not happy with situation either. Let me give an example and a fix, that perhaps will apply to some people reading this post, especially if you have requested a support for a product and never got a reply… Solution… Yes, I decided to go backward and present the solution to the problem first as I think it is MOST important: Be sure you whitelist the support email address that you expect reply from Check your SPAM or BULK folder – you might find your reply there DON’T use email address that requires people to very themselves through Spam-Arrest or some similar service – you’d be AMAZED how many people do this one! BE SURE you can accept email on email address you send from – a LOTS of time inbox is too full and support gets reply back stating that person can’t accept any new emails Turn off any Out Of Office autoresponders, as too often they also auto refuse messages to be sent to your inbox Try writing from different email address if you didn’t get reply to your request! Those are just some of the few solutions to problems like this one…. This morning I have received an email from a Free Member on Expert WordPress (I have protected some details for privacy ): I personally believe that 4 minutes to reply from the time problem was submitted is good but guess what… Customer Never Got The Email! Or so it seems in next message: I have highlighted the response we get any time we attempt to email the person who is obviously upset and yet – I still don’t know if he was able to get into the system or not… Case above is one of the less obvious as some email addresses we try to reply to simply BLOCK our replies, actively refuse to accept it and since person emailing for support never tries any other emails we can reply to – they never get answer from us. Everyone Losses in this case! Customer upset for not getting promised service We are unable to give service and get tarnished reputation Once again – this post is not meant to upset anyone but perhaps help some people understand why is it they never got reply from us! Related articles by Zemanta Whitelisting Hogwash & Unique Solution? (andybeard.eu) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Related posts You Are Nothing But A Cash Cow (11) Yanik Silver – Some Great Freebies for You (0) When Giveaway Doesn’t Suck? (9) When Free Has More Value Then Paid? (5) What Makes September 7 Significant? (8) Webinar Recording With Doug Champigny Download (2)

26 Oct, 2009

Email Affiliate Disclosure Freebie You Must Have

Posted by: admin In: General

Affiliate Marketing can be a reason for legal action against you, whether you agree with new FTC “guide” or not, it is here to stay. In this post I simply want to share a resource that gives you an option to add Affiliate Disclosure to your email marketing campaigns. I just got it myself from Mike Young and will be working on integrating it into my email marketing. Simply click here to download *.zip archive that has the PDF with exact legal language you can use in your Affiliate Emails as Disclaimer . Related articles by Zemanta FTC Reassures Kidlit Bloggers at DC Meeting (mediabistro.com) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts ScriptDojo, The Deadly Art Of Profiting (9) Masking And Tracking For Easier Affiliate Profits (3) Live Niche Affiliate Marketing Workshop (7) How To Create Content That Leads To Sales (6) How I Was Approached by “The God” … (0) Affiliatenaire – What Is It? (9)

23 Oct, 2009

What I’m Reading…

Posted by: admin In: General

While it might not be interesting to most – I think information shared in following posts or articles can be not only entertaining but also extremely educational. My weekly round up: Technorati’s State Of Blogosphere 2009 is one of the most detailed reports on what is moving bloggers and statistical data available for free. Stephen Pierce unleashed informational bomb sharing some superb strategies to get highly targeted buyers, not just visitors to your site. How to use WordPress Conditional Statements is more of personal geeky interest on how theme can be customized and provide more targeted experience to reader. Twitter Lists Are Live is an introduction on how to make this tool more useful to you! Great new feature I already started implementing on my own account. There are more but I don’t want to overload you Reach Out to Millions! Instant FREE Download of the recording worth $97 that will teach you how to make and IMPACT and reach millions potential customers – The Impact Factor Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Looking For Guest Bloggers (10) The Evils of Flickr (17) SezWho 2.0 On WordPress Blogs Near You… (2) Blogosphere Buz-z-z-z-z (5) Around Blogosphere This Week (2) Your Blog As A Core Content For Email Marketing (17)

20 Oct, 2009

WordPress 2.8.5 Released

Posted by: admin In: General

Unexpectedly I logged in tonight to discover that new version of WordPress is made available and its not WordPress 2.9! New release is a security hardening branch to help you stay more secure and while I haven’t seen any direct urging notifications on developers blog, it addresses several security issues that exist in your blog and as such – Upgrade Highly Recommended! As I write this post, my main blog as well as 5 of my Niche Blogs that have different plugins and theme configurations were upgraded with no problems using Automated Upgrade option so I think its safe to say that go ahead and upgrade now! Just be sure to backup first! Related articles by Zemanta Wordpress 2.9 To Have An Image Editor (techie-buzz.com) If your WordPress up to date? (wordpressguru.eu) Related posts WordPress 2.7 Released, What Is Your Action Plan? (38) WordPress 2.6.3 Upgrade Guide (7) Triple “P” Of Total WordPress Security (37) WordPress Wish List (8) WordPress Security Presentation (5) WordPress 2.5, Things You Must Know (12)

20 Oct, 2009

Protect Your Blog Copyrights

Posted by: admin In: General

A few days ago one of my customers have submitted the ticket with questions that go beyond normal product support we offer. And while I have provided a simple answer – I have to admit that on second review of my answer – I wasn’t happy with it! That answer wasn’t exactly what my customer was looking for and not something I was personally satisfied with. My apologies to Xavier and since “Identifying Content Uniqueness” is rather common question – I want to give detailed answer in form of post. Blog Content Copyrights And Uniqueness While there are some tools that will help you find if your content unique or not and if it was taken and used by someone else – Copyscape is undoubted leader. Using it is extremely simple, just enter full direct URL to your post and you will get results back: In image above I simply entered full url to my blog post “ Triple “P” Of Total WordPress Security ” and it provided me with several results. Problem is – FREE version of the tool is limited to number of results returned and if you test it – you will find that many times you get a lot of false positives. If you are working a lot with PLR content or purchasing content from elsewhere – I recommend you look at Premium account options they offer to take advantage of their technology. If you are looking to simply watch your blog to make sure that your content is not stolen and reused by scrapers elsewhere I want to share a great free tool with you that I learned about from “ Stop Scrapers and Spammers Fast ” blog post on Darren Rowse blog – CopyGator ! While it is not same in functionality as Copyscape it does well what it does, and FREE! Interestingly enough it provided me with a better results than Copyscape as far as my content concerned and a lot more accurate! While they offer you a nice badge to place on your blog as “Option 1″ that actually turns red when your content used somewhere else – I preferred Option 2 as shown in image below simply because all I have to do is add their RPC to my ping list and provide my feed. Now every time I will post new blog post – Gator gets notified and monitors it. Simple, Effective, Non-Intrusive! Allow Google Alert You For Content Usage This option is more advanced and it will actually serve as dual edged sword – protect our copyrights as well as BE NOTIFIED when someone uses it without permission! Step 1 – Install Plugin Although Feed Footer plugin was created a while back and haven’t been updated to latest version – I use it on all my blogs and it is part of standard “ Expert WordPress ” blog installer package. Simply install this plugin and you will be provided with 10 fields you can use to provide Text, Ads or HTML content to copyright protect your blog posts. Those fields will be auto inserted into your RSS Feed on rotating basis for all new posts only and since RSS is what scrapers always use to steal your content – it will show up on those “splogs”. You can use it to both add ads as well as copyrights message with link to your blog. I recommend using some unique key phrase that you can use for easily identifying when your feed was used outside of your blog. See the copyright message in image below that is added to my RSS Feed : As you can see I have a unique phrase “Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er” auto-inserted into ALL MY posts in blog RSS Feed and now I can move to step 2… Step 2 – Allow Google Monitor The Web For Me Hey, Google is good for something besides doing searching! All you have to do now is use your unique phrase, “ Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er ” with quotes to create a Google Alert and each time it shows up anywhere – you will get email from Google! See image below Now you just let the Big Guy to let you know  anytime your content might is stolen And since we are on topic of Google Alert – you don’t have to limit yourself to monitoring only your copyright’s message. You can use it to monitor for your niche specific phrase to be alerted anytime new story comes out, monitor entire market to be “the man or woman to go to” for latest information in your Niche! Make yourself “The Source Of Latest Info” and you will be rewarded. Conclusion No matter which method you choose to use – it is important to use at least something to protect your biggest asset, content you have created! Related articles by Zemanta 5 Smart Legal Steps for Your Blog (blogherald.com) Support Creative Commons (Campaign) (thewavingcat.com) Scraper Security (sciencetext.com) Can content scraped from your site actually benefit you? (integralwebsolutions.co.za) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Your Writing Sucks! So Earn From It! (19) Thieves Folow Blog Popularity (33) PPC Web Spy For Competitive Keywords Analysis (20) Niche Blogging – Where Do You Find Unique Content? (18) How To Turn TweetDeck Into Blogging Inspiration (21) How to Defeat Perfectionist In You To Get The Job Done? (9)

19 Oct, 2009

Google Wave Invite Wanted!

Posted by: admin In: General

I don’t get too excited over technology too easy but sometimes, when something comes out so revolutionary, as Google Wave – I just got to have it! So here I was reading blog post by Jack Humphrey when I decided to watch the video included: All I can say right now – MUST HAVE. WANTED: Google Wave Invite! Bounty: Lifetime Membership To Expert WordPress Contact me if you can send me invite using form on blog please! Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Write Blog Headlines To Explode Article Views And Create Stampede Of Targeted Traffic (11) Wordpress Web-Design for Web 2.0 (22) WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er Contest (23) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Looking For Guest Bloggers (10) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Announcement (4) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide (116)

19 Oct, 2009

Google Wave Invite Wanted!

Posted by: admin In: General

I don’t get too excited over technology too easy but sometimes, when something comes out so revolutionary, as Google Wave – I just got to have it! So here I was reading blog post by Jack Humphrey when I decided to watch the video included: All I can say right now – MUST HAVE. WANTED: Google Wave Invite! Bounty: Lifetime Membership To Expert WordPress Contact me if you can send me invite using form on blog please! Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Write Blog Headlines To Explode Article Views And Create Stampede Of Targeted Traffic (11) Wordpress Web-Design for Web 2.0 (22) WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er Contest (23) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Looking For Guest Bloggers (10) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide Announcement (4) WordPress Web 2.0 Guide (116)

07 Oct, 2009

FTC Attacks Affiliate Bloggers

Posted by: admin In: General

Image via Wikipedia I have always been clear when making a product reviews on my blog that I use affiliate links. In fact Affiliate Marketing is a big part of the monetization model on my blog  and in last 3 month or so, ever since I heard that FTC will go after internet endorsements I have added extra disclaimers to each post that included affiliate links. Well, time has come – “Big Brother” has his eyes on Your Blog Income! Yesterday FTC has resealed final guides governing endorsements, testimonials and yes, that includes promotions via Affiliate Links! This could have a very dramatic impact on your affiliate marketing business if you don’t precautions. And here is how and what… First and foremost I want to make a disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, I’m not qualified to give you legal advise and if you have ANY legal questions or concerns I highly recommend you get yourself advise from professionals! With that being said I want to share what I use for legal protection of my own sites, such as you can see in legal documentation section of my blog. For years I was using legal forms on my sites that you can create using some free generators. And sorry, I will not even link to those for one simple reason – I have learned that those generic form generators actually have more chances to damage you instead of protecting. They simply leave too many loopholes open for your site to become legal liability to you and your family! I don’t know about you but I prefer to be as secure and as protected as possible. To really get a solid legal defense you got couple options: 1. Get an Internet Lawyer to create legal documentation for your sites. And it is very important to hire a qualified professional. Internet Law is a new so be sure if you hire someone who know all the intricacies of the new media format and offer you solid protection! This is the most expensive but best form of protection you can find, expect to part with a few hundred dollars. 2. Get Website Legal Forms Generator . This is a software I use myself to create all legal forms for my own sites, such as I have shown above. And reason behind it simple. Software created by Internet lawyer Mike Young, who knows the nature of the web law and provides you with very decent protection for the price you pay! I like the simplicity of the software and protection it provides but it also doesn’t hurt to know that you get ongoing support. Since the FTC guides just came out – software doesn’t generate dedicated form for it but when I first heard about this regulation coming, I have contacted them and was advised that once final version of regulation released – they will include protection for it. Is is always nice to know that you and your family are protected against intrusive eye of Big Brother. Not that I don’t like government – I simply don’t like them to meddle in my business affairs. Unfortunately they have a proven record of screwing up anything they touch. Click To See a Video Demonstration Of Website Legal Forms Generator Here! Disclaimer: some of the links mentioned within this post or posts they lead to are my affiliate links and I get compensated for recommending those products. However I never recommend something I didn’t believe in and welcome your questions and feedback. Related articles by Zemanta FTC to Close Loopholes in Blogger-Marketer Relationships (technosailor.com) ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE FTC’S BLOG-REGULATION INITIATIVE: The most absurd part of it is the way the F… (pajamasmedia.com) Where’s the Respect for Bloggers? (mediabistro.com) Why the FTC’s truth in blogging guidelines are truly terrible (dailyfinance.com) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Your Writing Sucks! So Earn From It! (19) Want To Make More Money Blogging? Broadcast Your Blog! (35) ScriptDojo, The Deadly Art Of Profiting (9) Make Money Blogging Blueprint (99) Learn How. Make Money Blogging Is Easy! (25) How To Get Paid Blogging About Your Hobby (27)

06 Oct, 2009

Get Traffic Or Get Fired

Posted by: admin In: General

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr Quite literally! Funny things are discovered while browsing the blogosphere and here is what I found on Seth Godin blog: According to The New York Times “ Web Traffic (or Lack of) May Be a Reason for a Columnist’s Dismissal “ I don’t really know how much of that is true and have no clue who the reporter is but I found it quite education from perspective on how important Web Traffic has become. People possibly loosing jobs as direct result of producing information that is No Longer Relevant! Politics aside, as I have no intentions to discuss them on my blog – I think it serves as a lesson. A lesson for every blogger to stay current stay relevant stay strong …or be fired! Literally or by through the means of the slow decline makes no difference. I know how hard it is to find relevant information to write about and sometimes even the time to write it but if you want for your blog to succeed – it is one of the things that you have to get done – Get Traffic or Get Fired! Related articles by Zemanta U.S. unemployment claims spike (cbc.ca) How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog (howtospoter.com) What Is The Best Traffic Source For My Blog? (wealthyways4you.com) Attract More Visitors With RSS Feeds (sixfigurewriting.com) Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof) . Copyright WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-Er . All rights reserved. If reading this content on site other then origination blog – it was stolen and publisher is in direct violation of copyrights. Please report Related posts Video Camera Guide For Bloggers (8) Niche Blogging: Economy Of Action in Your Daily Blogging (9) Learn to Share Your Blog Effectively For Targeted Traffic (3) Increase Targeted Website Traffic With SEO Articles (24) Impact of Blog Neglect On Traffic (17) How To Get More Traffic To Your Blog (19)