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  • Fast And Easy Guide To Setting Up WordPress

    This is a quick, 11-step WordPress set up guide. This article won’t teach you how to completely create your site but it is a good reminder of the simple starting steps everyone should take when they begin their WordPress journey.

    1. Install WordPress: This is pretty self explanatory. The first step should be to install WordPress on your host. WordPress has a great guide to follow so this shouldn’t hold you up. Some webhosts even have something called Fantastico, if your hosts does you are in luck! Fantastico will install WordPress automatically for you.

    2. Login to your new site: Again self explanatory. The way I usually access my WordPress site is by adding a /wp-admin after my domain name in my web browsers address bar.

    3. Make sure your email addresses are set: This is important because this is where you will get your updates and password if you ever lose it. There are two places to make sure your password is set. The first spot is in Settings->General. The other spot is in your Users menu – you will want to ensure your Admin email is correct.

    4. Change your permalinks: I suggest this to all clients. In your Settings menu there is a Permalinks section. Open that menu and then choose your new style of permalinks. For the ultimate in clean URLs I suggest choosing custom structure and inserting the following string: /%postname%/. This will make the title of your posts be the web address.

    5. Add your title and tagline: In General Settings once again add the name and tag line of your blog. The name is anything you want – keyword rich is best. The tagline is your site’s description.

    6. Choose your theme: If you want to use a theme (you do) you can find a wide variety to choose by using your WordPress back office itself. Just navigate to Appearance->Themes and then use the tools they have to search for a theme. Once you find one to your liking download and activate it.

    7. Install your plugins: Any plugins that you wish to add, do so now. Plugins are very flexible so you can add more later on if you discover one you need. Install whatever plugins you think you need. I would suggest that you definitely include All-in-One SEO and XML Google Sitemaps. They will both help with your SEO and each has fantastic support if you need to know more. I would also suggest Askimet but it comes installed already.

    8. Activate Akismet: I think this should be done as soon as possible. Askimet is a great spam blocking plugin that ensures your site isn’t full of spam comments. As soon as you start adding content you will notice the spam beginning. Askimet has a huge database of comment spam so it can usually pick up and block any on your site. If it does make a mistake then you can manually override it for a particular comment and it will actually learn from that. The one caveat to this is you have to get a WordPress API key. To get that API key you have to sign up for a free account on wordpress.com. Not a big deal, but an extra step you might not be aware of.

    9. Check your privacy: In your Settings menu there is a Privacy heading. Click it and make sure your blog is visible to everyone. If it isn’t, Google will not index any of your content!

    10. Add your widgets: Under Appearance there will be a Widgets menu. You can use this to add functionality to your WordPress site using the sidebars. If you chose a widget ready theme (most are) you will have one or two sidebars (or more) on your site. In the widgets menu the sidebar will show up and you can drag and drop “widgets” into it. These widgets can be things like a search bar, an archive, a calendar, a recent posts list or a text/html box that you can put just about anything in. There are even more widgets than that available. There are even downloadable ones if the standard ones don’t do everything you need.

    11. Create content: Now you can create some content! You can add pictures, galleries of those pictures, an about page etc… You can also start making posts – remember to create categories to keep them organized. Take advantage of the tag feature as that will come in handy when you have hundereds of posts. It helps with searches on your site as well.

    That is the bare minimum to get started with WordPress. You will have to learn a lot more but when you do, you will be happy you made the move to WordPress. Happy blogging!

  • Easy Steps to Embed Youtube Videos to WordPress

    Video: How to embed videos in your WordPress sidebars using the Youtube widget.

  • Channeling Your Negative Energies Through Blogging

    I would never claim that blogging could cure depression. Depression is a serious issue and should be dealt with by a doctor. That said, are there any therapeutic benefits to blogging? I think there are. If you have been feeling down or overwhelmed then starting a blog might be just the thing to let you channel your frustrations. A blog allows you to release your emotions, interact with other people and it can be a consistent and stable factor in a hectic world. I believe the following three benefits are proof that a blog can be therapeutic.

    1. Release of Emotions: Everyone says you shouldn’t bottle up your feelings. Some people have no problem releasing their emotions while other people have a tough time talking about their issues. A blog allows someone to release all of their emotions through their daily posts. You can get a lot off your chest in a blog post. Most importantly for some people, you can do this anonymously. This is a big plus for some people. If you are suffering from some negative thoughts, or anger then it might be easier for you to express that knowing you are anonymous. A blog offers people the perfect forum to share their thoughts and release any pent up emotions that might be harmful for them to keep inside.

    2. Social Interaction: Of course nothing beats getting out and meeting people, we all know this. The problem is that not everyone is a social butterfly. They might naturally be shy people who would rather stay in, or they might have an issue that makes face to face social interaction stressful. Blogging and micro-blogging allow people to interact with other people online. It doesn’t beat the real thing but it is a start. Interaction can come from people contacting you based on your story or from comments to your blog. One of the great things is when you share a personal story and you get a comment from someone going through similar things. A blog allows anyone to interact with other people, and is a great tool when trying to reach people with similar interests or problems.

    3. Consistency and Stability: This might be an overlooked value when it comes to blogs, but I think it is important. Some people live in a chaotic world that helps keep them feeling the way they do. A blog offers some consistency and stability. The blog is always there, stays pretty much the same and just waits for you to post. There are no demands or pressure. You have a blog that is always there and ready for you. It is also great to have that routine for people. A blog could be something that people look forward too each day. Outside of technical difficulties, it isn’t likely to let a person down.

    I am not a doctor and I would never claim that a blog is a cure for any level of depression. That said I am a blogger, and I do have some insight into that world. I think I can safely say that blogs do have some therapeutic properties. If you are looking for stability, social interaction or a way to release your pent up feelings, then try out blogging. It doesn’t cure problems, but it might help you cope.

  • The Importance of SEO

    Video: Brad explains why it is so important to have your website optimized for the search engines.

  • How to add Adsense to Your WordPress Sidebar

    Video: Adding Google Adsense ads to your WordPress site using WordPress sidebars.

  • List Profits

    Once you start growing your opt-in list, you’ll want to ensure it is profitable. There are many ways to go about doing this. You want to make sure all your hard work is for a good cause, so you have to find ways to profit from your list. There are literally dozens of different methods you can employ to achieve results, but two seem to work better than all others.

    The top two ways to profit from your list are also the easiest, so let’s look at them:

    1. Build trust and loyalty among your customers. Your customers will not buy from you unless you are able to prove your worthiness. So, you have to spend notable time working to build their trust. You can do this many ways. You can join forums that talk about the products or service industry you have an interest in, and look for experts in your field to offer their advice and recommendations to your subscriber list.

    Also, make sure your website is clear and offers your visitors relevant and important information they will find helpful during their journey. If you are practicing affiliate marketing, and even if you are not, make sure you tested or tried any products you plan to sell so you can provide your subscribers honest reviews of them. This is the #1-way to build trust, and trust always leads to higher profit margins.

    You should also build a user-friendly website, one that has a navigation bar placed in a prominent location. Make sure you provide your customers with a contact us page and always respond to customer or visitor inquiries within 48 hours if this is possible. The sooner you get back with your visitors, the better reputation you will build.

    When responding to customer’s that contact you through your website, make sure that you remind them to sign up for your free newsletter if they haven’t already, which will contain more information on the subject they are looking for. Don’t automatically assume they want to be subscribed to your newsletter just because they asked a question on the topic. Tell them what your newsletter offers, and how they can subscribe.

    When you build trust and loyalty, your customers are also more likely to refer your business to their friends and their family. Some web owners design a page after the order page that allows the customer to input the names and emails of two to three of their friends that might also be interested in your products. This is another simple way to build your list. Make sure you provide them an incentive for checking you out, in the way of a free report, book, checklist or newsletter subscription.

    2. Fulfill your subscriber’s needs. Everyone has needs. The whole point of doing business on the web is to fulfill the needs of people surfing the Internet. If you want to make money selling a product or a service, you first have to find out how that product or service will fill your prospect’s needs. How will they benefit from the product or service you offer? Have other people benefited? If so, how and why? Providing your customers with this information will help you create a profitable opt-in list, one that will transform visitors into paying customers.

    One of the simplest ways to tell your customers how you can fulfill their needs is by listing the ways you do this on your landing page, or on another prominent place on your website. Make sure you bullet each benefit and explain to the prospect exactly how you plan to serve them, and why your product or service is better than that of the competition.

    The more content you provide, the more secure your customer will feel about their purchase. They are also more inclined to believe you are fulfilling a need they have.

    Let us take a moment to look at the first bullet, trust. Many people fear that building trust among strangers will prove difficult. Realistically speaking, anyone can build trust easily. How do you build trust?

    First, run a legitimate business that you know something about. Don’t try selling aromatherapy to someone just because it is a hot trend. You have to know what you are selling to sell it well. Next, if you want to encourage your customers to buy, offer them some form of guarantee. You can for example, offer them a 90-Day money-back guarantee on any products they use on your site, provided they use the products in the time frame appointed and have a legitimate reason for returning them.

    Statistics show that even when customers do not feel satisfied with a product they will often not return it because they either (1) forget about it or (2) are too busy to mess with it. Nonetheless, when you build a guarantee into your sale, you put your customer’s mind at ease, and they consider their purchase less risky.

    Lastly, provide your customer’s helpful hints and guidelines that will help them get the most benefit from your product. This shows your customer you have a vested interest in helping them succeed. This builds trust and loyalty, and converts subscribers to buyers. That is your goal to begin with.

  • Earn More Cash Using Affiliate Marketing

    An attraction of affiliate marketing is the savings that the merchant will gain when he no longer conducts his own advertising and publicity. Some merchants, who already have a well-established affiliate marketing program, no longer bother to conduct any activity that will lead to more sales. Such may not impair the current sales of the online business, but it failed to tap into another avenue of selling that can increase the revenue of the online business.

    Thus, the merchant must still conduct some form of advertising even when he has an effective affiliate marketing program, and even when he has hundreds of affiliates conducting the promotions for him. The merchant must look into making a second or even a third sale to the customers he acquired. Such is called back-end selling. The practice of back-end selling can complement affiliate marketing.

    Here are some ways that a merchant can perform back-end selling:

    Newsletters – Whether through email or sent through snail mail, these publications are perfect avenues to introduce the other products of the merchant. These other products are the back-end products. Therefore, in the merchant’s website, there should be a part where the customer is asked whether he would like to receive free newsletters from the online company. If the customer clicks yes, then this customer will be taken to a page that will ask for his email or mailing address.

    Thank You Letters – Sending a thank you letter for patronizing the merchant’s products is not just a form of courtesy. It is a wise business practice. With the thank you letter, the merchant must mention the back-end product.

    Customer Satisfaction Calls – If the merchant is not comfortable in writing brilliant thank you letters, he may choose to give the customer a phone call. During the phone call, the merchant will check if the customer was happy about the product they already bought. This call shows a concern for the customer. But it is again an avenue for back-end selling. The merchant will attempt to mention the back-end products.

    Customers Only – In the website of the merchant, there will be a webpage that can be accessed only by its customers. When a visitor has become a paying customer due to affiliate marketing, this paying customer can go to the webpage that contains more about the product that he has bought. In that same page, there may be ads for the back-end products

    Back-end selling for the merchant becomes easier because the customer has already given his trust after the initial sale brought by affiliate marketing.

  • Are You Better Off Using Paypal Versus Other Online Shopping Carts?

    One of the most often discussed debates when it comes to the world of online business is the method with which owners offer their customers to pay for the services rendered. Everybody has heard the tale about the witless consumer who gave his or her credit card number to some nameless company on the Internet and ended up with thousands of dollars charged to his or her card. There are about a thousand variations on the same horror story, which means that customers have high standards when it comes to giving out access to their financial resources online.

    Namely, your site is going to have to offer your customers a way to conduct transactions with you in a method that is both secure and user-friendly. Not having a payment method listed on your site that is well-respected and trusted will seem unprofessional and send the vast majority of potential customers elsewhere. With the competitiveness of the online market, there’s no reason to lose a customer base due to perceived overtures of unreliability.

    Most online businesses these days conduct their transactions through PayPal or through some form of online shopping cart. The pros and cons of both can be debated for days on end, but here is a quick overview of both.

    PayPal is well known and proven, and has high levels of customer satisfaction. Even more intriguingly, it’s free of monthly fees for the user. The payment for services through PayPal is docked through a service charge, which is taken out of every transaction. There is much debate about at what point PayPal starts to become less cost-effective than a shopping cart, but the overall rule of thumb seems to be that if your business does less than 1000 dollars a month of money exchange, PayPal seems to be the best option. If your revenue level is higher than that, it’s best to have both a PayPal option as well as a shopping cart.

    A shopping cart system requires a monthly maintenance fee, which can seem prohibitive to smaller businesses. However, once your business sees serious growth, it’s a good idea to invest in shopping cart services, if nothing else than for the peace of mind they can bring. Paying the fee means that somebody else deals with the hassle of embedding the software into your site, takes care of all the bugs that pop up, and generally ensures that things are running smoothly. With a PayPal account, the owner has to add this to the list of responsibilities.

    The most important thing to keep in mind is that as a respectable online business owner, you must offer your customers some form of reliable payment method. Otherwise, you can kiss a great deal of potential revenue goodbye when customers seek out your competition for a more secure method of payment.

  • How Do You Set Up a Feedburner Account?

    Video: Brad shows how to set up a feedburner account.

  • Harnessing The Power Of WordPress Widgets

    WordPress offers a lot of advantages when it comes to web publishing. There are a lot of reasons people use WordPress. One of the easiest to use functions of WordPress are widgets. Most WordPress themes come with “widget ready” sidebars. From the back office of WordPress you can drag and drop widgets into your sidebars. Widgets can add such things to your site as:

    Calendar

    Search

    Recent Posts

    Categories

    Text/HTML

    The above list is only touching on the functionality you can add with Widgets. If you want to take it to the next level you can also add widgets that don’t come standard with your WordPress install.

    I will share 3 that I have found very handy. Most of these widgets are added by using plugins.

    1. Video Widget – This plugin will add a video widget that you can add to your sidebar. It will allow you to choose from over 25 video services. You can control video size within the widget. With this widget you only have to add the video ID as well – no embed code. Lastly, this widget will also allow you to add a list of videos that will be randomly chosen for your visitor.

    2. Sexy Bookmarks Sidebar Widget – A quick note first, this plugin works with the original Sexy Bookmarks plugin so you will need that installed for this to work. It is a great and unique social media sharing plugin that you will find handy even if you don’t want this widget. The widget itself will allow you to add Sexy Bookmarks to your sidebar. This widget looks great and should lead to more social media submissions for your site.

    3. Flickr Widget – Flickr is one of the best and easiest ways to both store and share your images. With this plugin you will get a Flickr widget that will display your latest Flickr images in your sidebar. The widget will display up to 10 photos from a Flickr photostream.

    These 3 widgets are a drop in the bucket compared to all of the widgets available out there. If you want to add something to your sidebar and can’t figure it out – check out the WordPress plugins, they may have an add on widget that will give you exactly what you need.

    One last suggestion: Please don’t pack your sidebar so full of widgets it stretches out the screen. it looks sloppy and unprofessional, not to mention people usually don’t scroll beneath your content to see your sidebar so it is wasted.

    When used properly widgets can be a powerful addition to your WordPress site.