Avoid Mountains of Work - Get a CMS Sooner than Later
If you arrived here via NPT’s homepage today, you’ve already seen the site’s ‘new look’.
Granted, I didn’t change the design very much, but the ArticleLive back-end is absolutely b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! Now I won’t have to revise and upload 100’s of HTML pages every time I make a change to the basic template - yee-ha!
When I told Anik Singal that I was going to a new CMS, he mentioned that he really liked the original NPT layout because it was ’so easy to find what you’re looking for’. Well, finding the information you want should now be even easier with well-defined categories, featured articles with links to related articles and reviews.
The only downside to changing over to ArticleLive was that I made it a D-I-Y project. Duh.
Ergo, not all of my 100’s of articles are in the database yet, and there may be linking problems from within some of the older articles (if you find an error, please be kind and let me know), but the essential articles are all there and I’ll go through them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure they’re up-to-date and linked to the most helpful resources.
So, words to the wise. Get a great CMS when when you start your site (not 5 years into it) and avoid a HUGE mountain of work later.
Anyway, now that I’ve scaled that mountain, it’s time for some R&R in the Rockies. Yee-HAAAAAA!
Popularity: 18% [?]
Elance Improvements
If you’ve ever had trouble finding the right web site developer at Elance or outsourced a project through Elance and then found communications with your provider difficult, you’ll appreciate these recent changes to the Elance interface.
Provider Search - Improved search algorithms now provide a better combination of earnings, experience, feedback scores and skills for the specific service that buyers are looking for. New filtering and sort capabilities narrow down the results to match buyers with the right providers. The feedback display has also been simplified for easier viewing.
Provider Profile - New sections for skills and keywords and a dynamically updated section for past projects will highlight the focus of each provider. More contact information such as Instant Messenger and Skype ID’s will make it easier to connect with the provider you choose.
Last but not least, Elance is also now fully integrated with PayPal.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Keyword Research Now
With the demise of the Yahoo! Search Marketing / Overture Keyword Selector* and View Bids tools, NPT readers have been asking which tools and methods I now use for keyword and niche market research.
The answer is easy — and the process has actually gotten faster! 
Popularity: 16% [?]
At Long Last… The Perfect CMS!
Well, the Year of the Pig really is already proving to be my year. Not only was I born in a pig year - but I also finally found the content management system (CMS) software that answers many of my prayers… ergo, I now look as happy as the little pig you see pictured here to the left.
Let me explain…
Up until now, I’ve recommended that affiliates - who have little or no knowledge of HTML - put up a blog on their own domain using the Wordpress platform on a cPanel host.
Compared with using an HTML editor to build static pages, blogging with Wordpress is a simple and inexpensive web-based site-building method that allows a new webmaster to get their site online very quickly, and requires only a TINY bit of effort to use Fantastico within the cPanel interface to install Wordpress. Best of all, blogs are traffic magnets.
Wordpress has a few limitations that can be a bit frustrating, however. Although creating categories and sub-categories for posts is simple and straightforward, page (article) categorization is clunky. If you are inclined to make a page for each one of your articles, the list of pages in the interface could just go on and on and ON and a minor ‘clunkiness’ could become ‘VERY frustrating’ in a big hurry.
To solve this problem, I’ve been hunting for a better system for more than a year, and am happy to report that after reviewing a great many free and paid content management systems (CMS), I’ve finally settled on what I think is the very best of the bunch.
That CMS is …
Popularity: 36% [?]
Stop Spammers with My Contact Station
Joel Comm has just released “My Contact Station“, software that kills site spam, increases security by solving the email harvesting problem, and provides advanced and professional contact solutions - and you can get it now for just 7 bucks!
This script is easy to install on any site, including your Wordpress blogs. Check out the video demonstration and hear audio testimonials from satisified customers. Better yet, once you own it, you can also promote My Contact Station for 100% Commissions!
If you have a web site, secure your site from spammers right now with My Contact Station.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Worried about Duplicate Content Penalties?
Hey! I’m back from our 4 week tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam (which was totally awesome BTW) and now that my jet lag is subsiding, I’ve been catching up with what’s been happening in the world of Internet marketing since early March.
As always, there were a number of product launches for the ‘latest and greatest’ ebooks, systems and other sundries during my absence. Pretty much ho hum except for one - Content Composer - which is geared to online publishers who either write their own content, use PLR articles or employ ghostwriters to build content and drive search engine traffic to their sites.
If that describes you (it should) and you are worried about incurring duplicate content penalties with your current publication strategies, or you want to create more unique content in less time, then you’ll be interested in Jason Potash’s new Content Composer software, which was just released yesterday, so I picked it up and went through it last night.
It definitely isn’t some cheap ‘article spinner’ that spits out nonsensical crap. Content Composer is completely White Hat technology that helps you quickly and easily generate unique, natural language articles with a modest amount of work on your part.
Basically, you take one of your original articles (or a PLR or ghostwritten article) then spend 5 to 10 additional minutes rewriting a few key paragraphs, and Jason’s software will generate a dozen new and unique articles for you to use on your site and for distribution to article directories.
So, for example, instead of placing my completely original article both on my site and on EzineArticles.com, I can quickly generate a new article that retains my meaning but poses no threat of penalty to my own site. So, I can relax knowing that I won’t get slapped by Google for duplicate content or for trying to spam the engines. That’s a BIG Plus.
What I like best however is that it ultimately means a lot LESS work for me. (And goodness knows, I’m always ready for another vacation!)
If you’re ready to reduce your content publishing workload, pick up Content Composer. What you save in time and earn through additional traffic could get you a very nice vacation!
Popularity: 22% [?]
Are You Being Held Hostage?
Many folks are surprised when they find out that I do most of the design work on my web sites and have been doing so since I started my business in 1998.
You may think that doing your own design is a waste of time and that it is better to outsource it all. And sure, I have outsourced some of my design work, particularly the ebook covers. But I personally find it frustrating to wait for site and logo designers.
Sometimes you fork out $199 for a logo or header graphic which ends up looking like a 2 year-old could have done a better job; or, you hire the same designer that everyone and his brother in the niche uses, and your design ends up looking like the ’same old, same old’ with only color and text variations.
So, I don’t wait for designers… especially when I can do a good job myself in 10 minutes to an hour. Not to mention that it’s fun! For me, it’s a break from the ‘work’ of writing.
What’s ‘fun’ for me however, is a a DAUNTING prospect for others. For newbies especially, designing or building their own website may seem absolutely impossible..
Quite frankly, however, I think it is a far worse prospect for your business when you let someone else have control over every aspect of your site. Too often the webmasters I talk to have been ‘working on their sites’ for six months to a year and more, and they still don’t have a clue how to FTP a page to the server, let alone insert a table into an HTML page.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s like making your auto mechanic responsible for making sure that there is gas in your car and air in your tires.
For example, one webmaster, with whom I spoke recently, spent a THOUSAND Aussie dollars, (about $780 US) to a company for initial hosting and design work. All she got was …
Popularity: 27% [?]
Hot PLR Package with Master Resale Rights
I just picked up the 4th version of Jeremy Burns’ Source Code Goldmine this morning and after perusing the contents, I knew it would be selfish of me not to tell you about it.
You see, I’ll take a few of the 10 private label rights products and software packages that Jeremy has put together, morph them up a bit, and sell each separately under my own label — some at ‘introductory pricing’ and others for much more.
However, if you get the 10-product package for yourself, you get ALL of the products for far less AND get a return on your investment.
The package includes:
- Email Statistics Software
- Personalization Script
- Keyword Selection and Generation
- Autoresponder Software
- Pre-Written Newsletter-in-a-box
- List-Building Video Tutorial
- Product Creation Video Tutorial
- Affiliate Recruiting eBook
- Online Auction eBook
- Co-Registration eBook
Don’t let the fact that most of the products relate to Internet marketing throw you.
With master rebranding and resale rights, you can teach webmasters with fishing, scrap-booking or gardening sites, etc. the benefits of list-building, sales letter personalization and affiliate recruitment and then point them to the appropriate software or an ebook.
Jeremy has made reselling easy with:
- Full Master Resale & Rebranding Rights
- Complete source code (for Software Products)
- MS Word Source File & PDF (for eBooks)
- Pre-written Sales Letters
- Installation and Rebranding Instructions (where required)
- Full Web sites and Graphics Packages
- On-going Product Support
Originally, there were 500 packages available, however, more than a third have already been snapped up — so if you are interested, check out Source Code Goldmine today.
Happy selling!
Popularity: 24% [?]
$100 FREE PPC Credit Offer Ends Feb 15th
According to the ‘fine print’, the $100 in FREE PPC credits that Microsoft Adcenter is offering to signup ends on February 15th.
If you’ve been afraid to jump into PPC advertising, NOW is the time. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain with this one! You’ll find out why I’ve been using PPC advertising for years and years in my own affiliate business. (It’s all about the money, honey.)
And as per my experience and that of many of my super affiliate friends, you too may discover that Microsoft Adcenter traffic actually converts better than some of its alternatives.
Use those $100 in Microsoft Adcenter credits with what you learn from Day Job Killer and get a headstart on your competition.
Signup today! and get your $100 in FREE PPC credits!
P.S. Please note that this offer is valid only to U.S. residents.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Day Job Killer - What Ros Thinks..
I had absolutely NO intention of even mentioning the ‘latest and greatest’ affiliate marketing ebook that was released this week - Day Job Killer.
Despite hearing from a few of my Internet and affiliate marketer friends that Chris’ first book, ‘Affiliate Project X‘, was ‘good’ - and some even went so far as to say it was ‘great’ - I didn’t promote it.
Why? Because what I heard about some of the methods that Chris uses are not my style at all.
If you’ve read my Super Affiliate Handbook, you know that
Popularity: 9% [?]
