It seems like there are people all around wanting to get into affiliate marketing. It’s a great business if you can do it, but not quite as easy as many want to think. There are a lot of skills you need to learn.

Now I don’t want you to think this article is a guide to instant affiliate success. Most people won’t succeed that quickly, and explaining each and every tactic in an article is frankly impossible. But there are some basic steps that will help you get into affiliate marketing.

The very first thing to do is to start reading. Depending on your preferences, you can buy some of the better ebooks out there on the topic, or you can do your own research by reading in some of the major forums. There’s tons of information out there free for the taking, but you have to spend a great deal of time digging it out. The right balance of time vs. money depends on you.

But don’t spend too much time on this one step. There’s much more to be done. Read the rest of this entry »

WordPress is most popular as a blogging platform, but you can think of it as a website content management system as well. But no matter which way you use it, there are some things you should do to make the most of it.

Akismet is one of the most important to install if you plan on allowing comments. It is present in many default installations - all you need to do is get a WordPress API key and use it to configure Akismet.

There are other options - some prefer Spam Karma or other solutions. But I absolutely recommend having one solution or another included so that your blog does not become overrun with spam. You will have to check for false positives, but over time that will be far easier than cleaning out the spam.

You should also change the title tags default. I like to use Optimal Title for this. With the plugin activated, you can change the PHP in your header to make the most of it. Read the rest of this entry »

You probably know how important it is to keep your data backed up. Depending on how good you are about it, you may back up your data frequently or only when someone reminds you to get it done.

But one of the things many people don’t think about when backing up their data is what happens if both your computer and your backup are destroyed. Think about natural disasters. How do you recover?

That’s the kind of thing I like about the idea of an online backup. Your data is far away from you.

Of course, backing up online requires a certain degree of trust with the company holding your data. You have to be certain that they will respect your privacy and have your data there for you when you need it.

You also have to consider the price. IDrive offers a great deal - 2 GB of space free, and reasonable monthly prices if you need more room. You can even schedule your downloads so that you don’t have to think about backing up - probably most people’s weakness.

I discussed getting blogging ideas from your visitors the other day. Today I’d like to discuss another source of material - taking sides.

No matter how uncontroversial your blog topic may be, there will be some things where you can take sides. Even a product review should involve some of this.

Think about that product review. Do you just show the positives or do you get into the negatives too? Ever just completely rip into a product for poor quality?

Even when you just love something, admitting to the negatives has advantages. It makes things appear more honest in your reviews. No product is perfect for everyone, so even if you don’t find an overall fault, there should be some people that the product just won’t really be good for. Read the rest of this entry »

This is kind of interesting, for those who feel a home security system would be a good investment for their home or have one already.

uControl offers a home security system that offers more control over your system than traditional models do. It can send alerts for things such as the kids arriving home and turning off the system, so you can know they’re home after school even on those days you aren’t there.

It also allows you to check system status through your cell phone, PDA or any web browser. You can arm or disarm the system that way too.

The site has some videos to explain the features for you. Of them I liked the one about the uControl difference best, since that focused on how it is different from other security systems. The other videos were good too, but when you’re looking at why this company, it’s the differences that matter.

Of course, since many of my readers here work at home and don’t feel a need for a security system, this may seem like an odd choice for a post. But don’t forget about when you’re sleeping, home alone or on vacation. For any family there are times where it would really be nice to be able to go online and know that the house is doing just fine.

One of the toughest things about blogging can be getting inspired. Some days the ideas just don’t flow that easily. However, if you look around, there’s almost always inspiration available.

One of the common ways to find inspiration is to check out your stats. See how people are finding your blog. If there’s a query you’re being found on already, maybe there’s a way for you to expand on the idea. Take a look at the page that is already getting the attention and think about how to offer more information on that topic.

Link the two topics together so that visitors to each will notice both posts, and to encourage the search engines. This can help you look like you know more about the topic. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the little things you can do to bring more attention to your website is to add a good favicon to it. That’s the little icon that appears next to your website address in the browser bar or next to the title in the bookmarks or tabs if your visitors use tabbed browsing.

It’s a small thing, but it should be a part of the branding efforts you make for any of your websites.

A favicon is a 16×16 image you upload into the main directory of your website. You can make a favicon online very easily from a larger image. As the image size is so small, you need to keep the image very simple, but you can sometimes find pictures that are simple enough to get the idea across, or a simplified version of your logo. You can see on this site I made one based around the colors of the site.

Read the rest of this entry »

Do you hop on the newest online marketing bandwagon all the time or do you stick with what you’re doing?

With all the hype about this or that new product out, lots of marketers barely get going on one project before they hear about something new, an easier way yet to earn their millions online! All for just $7 ($47, $97, $997, whatever the price may be).

Just look at all the different ways people talk about earning money quickly. AdSense arbitrage. Clickbank. Scraper sites. Resale rights. Private label content. Feel free to add to the list.

Certainly each of these has worked for some people. The trouble with them is that over time they can quit working. Well, perhaps except Clickbank, since there are so many different ways you can promote products from there. Read the rest of this entry »