Social Media Simplified: A Web 2.0 Workshop for Business Owners

Social Media Simplified: A Web 2.0 Workshop for Business Owners
I'm hittin' the road again. I'm joining Denise on the podium, this time we're speaking at Tom Antion's Fusion event. If you're in L.A., come join us! (Info here: www.theblogsquad.net/fusion) I'd like to say this is our last biz trip...

Meet The Blog Squad in Los Angeles, next week
We - The Blog Squad - would love to meet you in Los Angeles next week at two events where we'll be speaking about how to accelerate the growth of your business. Take a look at these two stellar events...

Advertising Your Website
Yup, I admit it, I am a bit biased, but I think that one of the very best ways you can advertise your website is through the V7N. First, without a doubt, your site needs to be in as many high quality directories as possible. The V7N Directory is the one directory that I personally recommend the [...]

New PageRanks Coming
Matt Cutts said on his blog that we should see a new Google Toolbar PageRank update over the next few days. He also mentioned that Google will be lifting some old penalties on websites. I’m not quite sure which one he’s referring to, but I think we will see some happy faces soon. To [...]

Matt Cutts said on his blog that we should see a new Google Toolbar PageRank update over the next few days. He also mentioned that Google will be lifting some old penalties on websites. I’m not quite sure which one he’s referring to, but I think we will see some happy faces soon.

To check your PageRank, you can use one of the online PageRank tools, but there’s a PageRank checker that I want to recommend to you. It’s called PaRaMeter. It is a free desktop software that tracks PageRanks on your websites. Instead of typing out a URL at a time, you can store all your domain information and have PaRaMeter update PageRank. It’s a neat software.

Download PaRaMeter and check your PageRank.

BANS vs phpBay - International Traffic
I’ve used both BANS and phpBay for my niche affiliate websites for a quite a while and I’ve experienced ups and downs of both scripts. Both scripts are excellent money makers, no doubt on that. I know that because both made money for me. Because BANS and phpBay basically work similar to each other, [...]

I’ve used both BANS and phpBay for my niche affiliate websites for a quite a while and I’ve experienced ups and downs of both scripts. Both scripts are excellent money makers, no doubt on that. I know that because both made money for me.

Because BANS and phpBay basically work similar to each other, I want to spend some time over the next few weeks to compare the two eBay affiliate scripts. In this post, I want to compare how both scripts deal with international traffic to your site.

Both BANS and phpBay were designed to work with international eBay sites. But the main difference is that BANS doesn’t have the capability to provide the international auction listings by Geo-targeting automatically. What I mean by this is that if you want to display Canadian auctions listings for Canadian visitors, you will have to build a separate BANS website just for that traffic.

With phpBay, you can build one affiliate website and make it display the international auction listings to the particular international traffic. In other words, if someone from United Kingdom visits your phpBay website, it automatically matches the Geo-IP and displays the auctions listings from eBay.co.uk instead of eBay.com.

This is a true advantage of phpBay over BANS. This translates more revenue from your eBay affiliate website. But in order to use this feature, you have to go through some steps describe on Brewsterware’s “Optimising your ebay affiliate profits” post.

Now, it took me a while to make it work right because the instruction was somewhat vague. The download file provided on that post didn’t work for me. Instead, when I used the default geo.php that came with phpBay, it worked. So use the downloaded file for country.php but use geo.php that comes with phpBay. Also, they should be placed inside “includes” folder. I don’t think that was mentioned in the post. If you have problems getting it to work, just let me know. I will help you setup correctly.

Offline Marketing Techniques
  Offline marketing is very similar to online marketing, either way, word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising there is, but a huge part of that involves getting to know the people around you. Online, that might mean joining and actively participating in groups and forums. Offline that could be taking a sincere [...]

Domain vs. Subdomain
When you get ready to set up a professional blog, one of the first decisions you will need to make is if you want to use a domain, subdomain, or a free option, such as blogger.com. I recommend treating a blog just like any other website, especially when it comes to the hosting. Some hosting companies allow you to [...]

Getting Readers to Comment is Biggest Blogging Challenge
Denise and I recently ran a contest for people to submit their biggest blogging challenges. We did this blogging challenge contest both on our Build a Better Blog and our Blog Squad Facebook fan page. Lisa Braithwaite was picked as...

Content Marketing and the Economic Recession: Rising Trend
I talk a lot about 'content marketing' because the term encapsulates so well how most independent service providers can attract ideal clients and gain rapid visibility on the Web. Most coaches, consultants, authors, and speakers don't have large marketing budgets,...

WordPress 2.6 Released
WordPress 2.6 was released today.  I thought it was going to be released in August, but the developers really pushed it.  WordPress 2.6 comes with a number of new features such as post revision tracking, live theme preview, Shift Gears, and Press This! Watch the WordPress 2.6 release video to learn more about it.

WordPress 2.6 was released today.  I thought it was going to be released in August, but the developers really pushed it.  WordPress 2.6 comes with a number of new features such as post revision tracking, live theme preview, Shift Gears, and Press This!

Watch the WordPress 2.6 release video to learn more about it.

4 Paths to Massive Visibility on the Web
The truth is, it’s not about having a website anymore, is it? No, you can’t get massive visibility online with just a website. You need a website and a blog, of course. All Internet marketing gurus will insist: you must...

The Confident Leader by Dr. Larina Kase Launches
Well, a fantastic new book recently came across my desk... ...and I suddenly realized, wow this is unprecedented. This is new. This is groundbreaking. What is it? It's a brand new book (and teleseminar series...more on that in a moment)...

Personalize Your Blog with .ME Domain Name
As of today, .ME domains are open for public registrations.  .ME has been the talk of the town because of its potential for internet users.  .ME domains are just perfect for blogs.   Just think about it, with a  .ME domain you can register YOURNAME.ME. .ME domains are not just limited to personal websites.  It can be used as a catchy [...]

As of today, .ME domains are open for public registrations.  .ME has been the talk of the town because of its potential for internet users.  .ME domains are just perfect for blogs.   Just think about it, with a  .ME domain you can register YOURNAME.ME.

.ME domains are not just limited to personal websites.  It can be used as a catchy marketing tool.  For example, verb-oriented domain names such as Contact.me, Drive.me, Date.me, Help.me, Love.me make perfect sense to visitors.

Well, you can purchase those premium domains only through the auction that’s coming up, but you can still get good .ME domain names if you hurry up.

It is little bit expensive and requires 2 years of contract, but it will be well worth your investment.  I was going to register “Prayfor.me” but as I thought.. it’s gone.  But I’ve found a couple of really nice domain names already.  So register a .ME domain name now!

Register a .ME Domain Here

When Choosing a Niche for Your BANS Site…
A number of Build a Niche Store forum members suggest that one should target niches that can’t be found anywhere but at auction. But I disagree with this. The majority of my BANS (Build a Niche Store) sites sell things that can be purchased in any retail stores, but I also have vintage auctions that sell only [...]

A number of Build a Niche Store forum members suggest that one should target niches that can’t be found anywhere but at auction.

But I disagree with this.

The majority of my BANS (Build a Niche Store) sites sell things that can be purchased in any retail stores, but I also have vintage auctions that sell only the things that can be bought through auctions.

What I learned from my EPN transaction stats is that people who buy stuff from auction sites already are likely to have an eBay account already.  I have more ACRUs generated from a kitchenware BANS site than anything else. That kitchenware I’m talking about averages $20 and it can be purchased at any local stores like Walmart and Target.

The advice given by the BANS members is good, but ignoring the other half of the market isn’t a good idea. I suggest that you build BANS sites for both, because both work well.

Just a quick thought.

Word Up on Wordle: Word Cloud for this Blog
If you want to get a 'word cloud' or a visual idea of what words you use most often on your blog, try this tool from the folks at Wordle.... I'm not sure what practical applications there are for such...

Google Keyword Tools Now with Real Search Volumes
Thanks to Google, you can now view the real search volumes for your keywords with Google’s Keyword Tool. This is a great news for both webmasters and affiliate marketers like us. I’m so excited with this improvement. As you can see from the screen shot, you can view the real search volumes for June [...]

Thanks to Google, you can now view the real search volumes for your keywords with Google’s Keyword Tool. This is a great news for both webmasters and affiliate marketers like us. I’m so excited with this improvement.

As you can see from the screen shot, you can view the real search volumes for June and average search volume for the last 12 month period. Don’t miss the “Highest Volume Occured In” column at the end. With these stats, you can adjust your seasonal ad campaigns easily.

I just wanted to give you a quick update first before I go play with it more. Have fun!

Visit : Google Keyword Tool

My Happy Crazy Life
It isn’t often that I come across a blog that I am so impressed by that I find myself wanting to tell everyone I know about it, but My Happy Crazy Life is definitely one blog that I want to share with others.    When I found this blog, authored by Amy Sue of the Zany Zebra, [...]