Category: IM News

SOPA Bill And How It Could Affects All Bloggers

First time I heard of SOPA was a few months ago. At the first bill sounded good to untrained eye as it said to protecting copyright law for websites, writers and so on. But, it is much more complex than that. Rightnow, many bloggers and sites are protesting against SOPA bill, and rightly so.

To understand much complex SOPA issue, here is an article I found which explains it well;

I am against SOPA, as it is kills the free knowledge sharing internet as we know it.  Right now wikipedia in US is down to protest it, this is what I saw earlier on their site:

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion.

You can show your support for Wikipedia and Against SOPA, please show your support here:

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage

Last month or so many bloggers and internet marketer pulled out from GoDaddy, one of the biggest domain and hosting place as they openly supported SOPA and PIPA.  Basically, in simple terms, Go daddy can shut down your site, if there were any complains against your site, content and ask questions later. Many people pulled away from Godaddy and went to other registars such as NameCheap.Now, they (Godaddy) are claiming to oppose the SOPA (sort of) after many internet marketer and bloggers transfered the domains and hosting elsewhere.  Moral of the story is, we mere people have lot of power, only if we got together to do and see what is the right thing to do, as so in this such case!

If you have not read about it check out;

So, where to you stand on SOPA, make it known. One does not have to take site down like wikipedia, specially when I am a small fish, but we can certainly take business elsewhere and support freedom on internet to share knowledge freely without worry over shutting down sites.

SOPA and PIPA could affect even smaller blogger like you and me, know and learn about it and oppose it.

29 Motivational Quotes for Business Success

Some days a motivational quote can provide a quick pick-me-up for employees and even management. They can be a breath of fresh air when it comes to a drab afternoon. These are also a great way to jazz up a newsletter or a memo or even to simply print and attach to a bulletin board. Using quotes like these are perfect ways to create a motivational and successful work environment.

As Mr. Rick Pitino says “The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why they’re working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different.” –Rick Pitino

Motivational Quotes:

1. Mahatma Gandhi: You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

2. Jim Stovall: You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.

3. Robert Frost: The only way around is through.

4. Warren Buffett: You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.

5. Les Brown: You must remain focused on your journey to greatness.

6. Theodore Roosevelt Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

7. Charles F. Kettering: Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier

8. Henry Ford: Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!

9. Jim Rohn: You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills.

10. William Hazlitt: Who likes not his business, his business likes not him.

11. Denis Waitley: Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.

12. Le Iacocca: Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

13. Dwight D.: Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

14. Drucker: The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question

15. Max Schmelling: Why did I want to win? Because I didn’t want to lose!

16. J. Paul Getty: To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.

17. Pierre Corneille: To win without risk is to triumph without glory.

18. Tony Dorsett: To succeed… You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.

19. James Broughton: The only limits are, as always, those of vision.

20. George Kneller: To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.

21. Peter McWilliams: To the degree we’re not living our dreams; our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.

22. Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth: To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

23. Tryon Edwards: To waken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully.

24. Spanish Proverb: Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.

25. Lyndon B. Johnson: The noblest search is the search for excellence

26. Charles M. Schwab: The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to neither make money nor find much fun in life.

27. Chinese Proverb: The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water; but to walk on the earth.

28. John Naisbitt: The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many.

29. Henry Ford: The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Many employers will add these quotes inside the employees’ paycheck envelope. Sometimes it may be a motivational quote, other times a silly antidote. Include employee birthdays or other important events to help your employees feel a part of the team.

How to Leave Comments That Will have 100% Chance Of Approval

I and occasionally a friend of mine write for this blog and we both have full time job, so working on this site comes when we have a free time. We were having such a bad comment spamming awhile ago, and we were spending time clearing spams from genuine comments. It was not fun, and we had turned off all comments and kept only trackback features. See Why I Took Out Comments Off From Blog.

But, I missed having genuine conversation with other readers and bloggers. I do get occasional tweet or facebook mentioned but it is not the same as comment feature, which is more personal and friendly. After talking with a couple of other bloggers and friends, I am turning comments back on and I hope to get to know my reader friends.

Here are some commenting suggestions will be appreciated. Rest will be deleted.

This is not a spammy or automated blog, and I hope I get genuine comments and not automated comment blasts.

1. Please use your name or name @ blog name.

2. Please do NOT use your keyword as a name, such as cheap xbox, best ipad reviews and so on.

3. Write a meaningful comment based on post you are commenting.

4. Only “Good job”, “I agree” type of comments will be considered spams.

5. Do not add link, unless it is useful and relevant to subject and readers. This blog uses comment luv feature so your latest (or chosen) post will be linked.

That is about all! Hope you had a good Christmas and enjoying little break before the new year starts.

Please check out, I changed home page to create a how to start blogging in 7 steps, after getting many requests. Hope you like it.

Blogging and Business

How Upload a PDF Files Into WordPress Blog

I love blogging in my free time and share what I know and have learned along the way. It is my way of writing about things I am passionate about and create some passive income earning from site.

If you have looked in to blogging, you may want to try it. There are free blog platform as well as self hosting word press account. I have done it many ways from site build it site, to free blogging platform and now self hosted wordpress account through bluehost hosting.

I like WordPress as a blogging platform, it is easy, powerful to use and does not require any html or coding background to get started. However, if you know a little blogging tricks along the way making your blogging job much easier.

While I am not Word Press or Blogging expert, I am sharing a bit of knowledge I have learned from my blogging so far.

How to add PDF file in to your Blog Post?

Let’s suppose you are blogging away and you want to create a free or paid ebook and you want to share it on your blog post. How does one go about doing it?

There are many ways to do it. For sake of simplicity, I want to focus on free ebook give away on your blog.

  1. You can use free or paid email marketing tools such as mailchimp or aweber to get readers to sign up for your blog or newsletter.
  2. You can use feedburner to get reader sign up and send ebook manually. But that can be time consuming.
  3. If it is ebook that people should pay for it, you can use other services to have it handled and we will look in to this later in detail.

I like the method of quick and easy download for any PDF files I have created, specially without any sign up worries. Let’s look in details, shall we?

Assumptions:

I have made a few basic assumptions here.

That you know bit about wordpress blog and have basic knowledge of using it. And you have PDF file already created on computer.

How to upload a file in to a WordPress Blog Post?

  1. Go to WordPress Dashboard and Click on new post.
  2. Go to edit mode, give title of post, that will make saving draft much easier.
  3. Just above the post, click on “Add Media” button.
  4. Use file section and select your PDF file from your computer hard drive and click on “Upload” button.
  5. Make sure PDF file is less than 8 Meg. If it is larger, you may want to upload it via your hosting account. It will depend on your hosting site on ways to upload it through it.
  6. Another window will pop up with shows a Title, Caption, Description, and Link URL.
  7. Fill in any of the fields the way you want, including Title and Link. If you will not Type URL link, it will create it for you.
  8. You can go and see URL through what is is uploaded in Media section. You can do that Via media section on your WordPress dashboard.
  9. Now, click file URL or copy paste URL in to your post. If you are using html, do following; <a href=URL Iink from media here>eBook_name </a>. If you are using Text editor, you can put a link through chain symbol and place your URL link there.
  10. You “file URL” and can insert in to post or manually type it in as written above.
  11. Now, you have PDF file posted, save on “save draft” before you publish it.
  12. After saving the file, click on “preview” to see how your file and post looks and click on PDF link to see if file is downloading fine and it is same you intended to put it on your blog.
  13. Once you have it set, write information regarding the PDF file, add appropriate image or videos and publish it.
  14. Now your readers can download PDF file for easy click and free.

Hope you enjoyed this small tutorial. You can take a look at the video for any clarification as something seeing things makes it lot easier to follow.

How to post a PDF file in to WordPress Blog

Discounts Deals For Domains and Hosting

This time, I completely forgot to use u cyber Monday deals for blogging. Yes, you can snatch discount for getting cheap domains, free privacy and hosting. Fret not, if you were still like me, there are still a few good deals left which are great; Check it out here.

Sale! Free Private Registration w/ Any Domain Register or Transfer – must use Coupon code cjcPRIVATE! Thru 3/31!

(edit Dec 2,20011: cjcPRIVATE code seems to have expired, but you can still ask for $3.99 registration or book during Dec 9th-12th to get free registration)

Special Sale! 35% off .com domains at GoDaddy.com!

$7.49.com Domain with Free InstantPage Website Builder from GoDaddy.com!

FatCow – Great Hosting on Sale for $38/yr! Ends in 21 day from today.

Use this code to get 20% off on Just Host JHSL20

Get FREE advertising credits worth $75 with every Yola Silver purchase. Limited offer, sign up now!

Free Domain for Life!

Web Hosting by iPage – $4.50/month only

TOLL FREE support 24/7 – NOW only $3.95/mo

I will keep short and sweet!

Deal is Done now.

Top 5 Powerful Mind Success Strategies For Business

Building a business is a fantastic and challenging experience. You can wake up exhilarated to begin your day and go to bed feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The key to success is to maintain a positive, yes you can do it, mindset.

Easier said than done, right? Here are 5 keys to help you create and sustain a positive mindset so you attain the success you desire.

1. Surround yourself with successful and positive people.

The influence people have over our own personal energy is amazing. Moods and attitudes are so easily spread – think about how much of a difference a simple smile from a stranger can make for your day and then magnify it 1000 times to demonstrate the power of positive and successful friends, family and associates. When you have people around you who inspire you, believe in you and want you to succeed, there’s no room for doubts and even when they creep up, they’re quickly swept away.

2. Create a mantra or an affirmation.

Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and to actually help them truly believe what they’re saying.

For example, “I am building a powerful and profitable business.” Many of the most esteemed business professionals have used the same affirmation strategy to attain their success. To find the right affirmations for you, consider writing a quick list of your doubts, insecurities and complaints. These can then be quickly turned into affirmations.

For example, if you write that you’re always feeling disorganized then your affirmation would be, “I am organized and in control.” Repeat your affirmations several times a day and feel the power of positive thinking.

3. Capture negative thoughts.

We all have negative thoughts from time to time, however, negative thoughts and emotions can derail us and prevent us from achieving all we desire. Of course catching those negative thoughts takes practice and persistence. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or having negative emotions, find a trigger to turn them around. The affirmations mentioned above are a great way to turn the negative into the positive. You can also find quick pick me ups like a favorite song, a walk outside in the fresh air, or some exercise to help improve your mood.

4. Set goals/intentions and then be willing to let it go.

The law of attraction says that we attract what we focus on the most. However, desperation, needing your business to be a success, sends mixed messages and a lot of negativity into the universe. Set your goals and intentions and then let them go. A certain amount of faith in yourself and in the power of attraction is necessary. Give it a try.

5. Be grateful.

Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success. When you’re grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life the challenges you face seem significantly less important and are more easily dealt with.

Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily. That way, when you’re facing challenges a quick peek at all the amazing things in your life will make you feel as if you can tackle anything. Additionally, an attitude of gratitude helps you maintain a positive perspective and to face challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.

Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish anything you set your sights on. Embrace these five powerful mind success strategies and you’ll build a better business and live a happier, more satisfying life.

Why I Took Out Comments Off From Blog

I am real person and my friend who blogs with me here occasionally is also real person with life and family. This is not some auto blog, where person is scraping content. I would “although there is nothing wrong with it” in sort of Seinfeld way, we are passionate people who are doing internet marketing on side.

I have a full time job, family and child and so does my friend. We are making some money from our blogging like few hundreds a month but not enough for us to quit our job to focus full time on blog. We are working hard and doing things white hat. You will not find us shooting crazy backlinking, actually we are lazy backlinkers who relies on time and quality and helpful (hopefully) and realistic way of blogging. We will share what we have learned, and hopefully without hype.

When I started this blog, I actually liked commenting and engaging with other bloggers whom I was getting to know. I took some time off during blogging due to event at job. When I came back to blogging, there were just hundreds of spam comments all over. While I understand we all need backlinks but it was crazy, I was getting 30-60 spams daily and not enough genuine comments.  I guess when one uses “Make Money and Home Business type of keywords, there bound to be much spams compared to let’s say art blog. 40 comments might be nothing to a large blog such as problogger, but it is a lot for small blogger like myself. I still like to engage with readers and other bloggers without trying 20-45 minutes weeding through comments and email.

Yes, I do have spam blocker plugins (3 of them) installed and they mostly worked but I still had to go inside Spam folder to make sure there were no genuine comments in there by mistake. So, comments are off for now.

You can still send an email or tweet, facebook like the articles or use ping back and track backs to connect. Making connection in blogging or internet should be natural as it would be real life.

What is your Philosophy in commenting? Yeah or Nay?

 

Marketing To Moms: Multi Billion Dollar Market

Many Businesses Miss marketing to moms who are A Multi-Billion Dollar Market in themselves. The goal of any business is to make money. And, we’re not just talking about the short term but long term goals of increased revenue. To that end, many businesses are missing out on a multi-billion dollar market: moms. Marketing to moms is the wave of the now and the future.

Why are moms so important?

Moms are enterprising. According to BSM Media Inc., mom spending is already over the trillion dollar mark. That’s more than the budget of some third world countries.

Also according to BSM Media Inc., almost 90 percent of moms consider themselves the financial head of the home. Her husband may bring home most of the bacon but it is the moms who decide how to spend it. They shop for everything related to the household: kids clothing, appliances, electronics, outdoor furniture, accessories and home improvement items.

Any husband that shops for these things is going to consult their wives before buying them. Why? Wives do the research into these products to find the best on the market. Moms influence as much as 85 percent of the purchases for the home. That’s over 70 million women we are talking about here. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.

Think about all of the tasks that moms handle in a day. They take care of the housework, shuffle kids from school to sporting events to other activities, cook dinner and manage the finances. In order to keep everything straight, they employ a wide variety of technology. It’s not uncommon to see a mom sitting in the park watching her kids play while listening to an iPod or browsing the Internet on her iPhone.

Moms are also savvy on the Internet. The trend for many years has been moms coming out of the workplace and starting their own businesses at home to spend more time with their kids. To that end, moms have developed a network of blogs, websites and forums designed to teach moms everything from designing websites, starting Internet businesses, marketing to other moms and managing their homes all the while. Their buying power increased exponentially with their knowledge.

Manly mistake?

Traditionally the only products marketed towards women were household products and cooking items. This goes back to the archaic thought that a woman’s place was in the home. That has been a huge detriment to many companies as they are beginning to see.

Women and moms have made an imprint in the man’s world in many areas. Women are not limited to office jobs; they are CEOs and CFOs. They don’t just surf the Web, they are becoming entrepreneurs with widening influence over Internet marketing. Having moms shun your product because you are not marketing to them means they are also spreading the word to other moms across the world (via the Internet) and in their own communities.

The future

Moms are influenced by other moms. Several generations of moms are coming together to influence the spending habits of major corporations. In the future the trend will continue. As moms become more “connected” in the world, their spending will increase. No product is off limits to mom advertising.

Moms do rule the world. Gain the support of savvy moms with your products and your business will reap the benefits.

Creating Powerful Headlines That Sell: A Guide

You know why someone is more successful? They have an ability to grab our attention in quick seconds. You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention.  One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline.  There are several keys to a compelling, and selling, headline and a few tips to help you get the job done.

#1  Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions.  Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction.  Some possible emotions are:

For example, The 20-Minute Step that Will Make You a Business Genius taps into readers’ desires to feel smart and powerful.

Other emotions you can tap into are a desire to feel:

1. Attractive
2. Sexy
3. Assertive
4. Confident
5. Energetic
6. Pampered
7. A sense of belonging
8. In control of their own destiny
9. Wealthy
10. Proud
11. Respected
12. Safe

#2 Make it Active

To compel it’s important to use active language – language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions.  However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.”  Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word.  Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

#3 Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word.  It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires.  Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You.  Using the headline example above compare the two options
“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them and when they can assess that information in the headline, they’re going to be compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise – Earn $1000 a day
* Make it newsworthy – New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day.
* Ask a question – Do you want to ensure your financial future?

Three Simple Steps to Write Headlines That Sell

So now you have some ideas about what types of headlines sell, how do you begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One – Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems?  Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Step Two – Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems.  For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three – Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines.  Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline.  And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Marketing and copywriting experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece.  Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling, headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

Amazon Terminates California Affiliates: Finding Solutions

I have been blogging for some times and I used only amazon as an affiliates to share books I love to read and other minor products that I used, not a major income through it but enough to take a notice when it is gone. A few days ago though Amazon dropped a bomb on all its California Affiliates without much warning.

On June 29th, Evening I just checked my email and I saw this notice;

Hello,

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect your ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. As mentioned before, we are continuing to work on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Effect on California Affiliates and how it was handled:

  • There has been speculated that there are about 25,000 affiliates in California who promoted Amazon. Now, they will be affected as they no longer will be getting paid for giving sales to Amazon.
  • Affiliates did not get much warning (It has been happening in a few other states such as Illinois, Colorado and others) but it was quick notice within a day for California affiliates. That did not gave anyone chance to react or prepare for this news.
  • Some expert bloggers made a lot of money from amazon and now that resource has been taken from them.
  • The biggest thing is Amazon still has kindle research center and other subsidiary companies in California, so they may have to still pay taxes and all affiliates are screwed for nothing.

Regardless of how politics, taxes and corporation deals with it, many online bloggers needs to find an alternative to Amazon to make money. While, I am last person to teach people about making money, we all need some money to keep site going, keep writing and manage the cost of running website. I thought of sharing a few alternatives to amazon for those who might be affected such as California residents right now.

Solution: Amazon Alternative:

The best thing about Amazon is that it has every type of product you can imagine, digital, physical, for men, women and children for every ages, books to gadgets and even someone told me you can even buy car or 2% Milk there too. I am not sure how shipping works with milk to keep it fresh! There are some weird products there, there is something for everyone there.

The best bet would be ebay and overstock but ebay has made it hard for people to join now and overstock has made a same action as Amazon by cutting off California affiliates. So, one needs to get various affiliates to replace the amazon’s wide variety of product choices.

  1. If you promoted books, movies then best bet would be borders and barns and noble affiliates.
  2. For other products, Walmart, Target, Sears would work.
  3. For computer and electronic, best buy, office depot would work. Babierus and Toysrus are good for toys products.
  4. Some people has suggested, setting up an LLC or Corporation in other state and set up amazon account there. It may not be easy, viable for some. I am not sure about legality of it too, so if you choose to do it, ask lawyer or expert before doing it.
  5. You can sell your amazon center website to someone as Pat suggested.
  6. You can re use your amazon product articles in squidoo legally and get paid from squidoo for any partial sales from Amazon.
  7. I find the best solution while searching online is Viglinks, where also you can use their system for Amazon and other affiliates and get paid 75% of amazon pay and they take 25% cut. There is another one called skimlinks a few people I know seemed to have trouble with them. You can certainly check both out and choose what works for you.
  8. Think about making money from other resources, do not put all of your eggs in one affiliate basket.

Do you have any other suggestions? If you were in other states where Amazon terminated the affiliate relationship, what did you do that is working for you? I think other states in US might be next in line sooner or later so it may affect many people.