SEO Is Easy If You Know How To Do It
June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you have been to my Facebook, you would have seen that at one time I was helping a friend to SEO his website.
His website was indexed for the wrong reason. It was not indexed for the keywords that his potential clients are looking for. This is a common mistake that people always try to promote their company on the internet.
Are buyers looking for your company or looking for the product or services you are offering? Think about it, as a home business owner or small business owner, how is a potential client in Newcastle, England know what is your company’s name?
We are not coca-cola, IBM or MacDonalds where there is heavy marketing to promote the brand worldwide. We are internet marketers who provide credible solution to people’s problems. Yes you have to brand yourself as an expert in your field before people believe your product or services DO work before they buy it. But will you reach the recognition of Coca-Cola? Be realistic and choose the battle that you can win.
I have spent about 4 full days SEO-ing my friend’s webpage. I took about 2 days to research on keywords and researching the competitors, trying to understand the industry. This is a small niche so the keywords are pretty easy to find.
The next 2 days I was revamping the whole website. The original website has full flash with no content. So I learned from my teacher, Fabian Lim that its a no no.
Using wordpress, I’ve changed some php and html coding to make the wordpress theme look like a fully SEO mini-website. Actually it is still going through cosmetic changes to make it more eye pleasing. However, content wise, it is complete.
After making sure the content is written to our satisfaction, we went on live last week. Admittedly I budgeted about 1 month to get it listed on Google’s search engine result page (SERP) ranking top 10. Last night I checked and it was listed on position 1 and 2 of Google’s serp! It was ranked number 1 and 2 for all the keywords except for 1 set we are ranked 3nd and 4rd. I honestly didn’t expect it to climb the ranking so fast.
What is more exciting is, people are starting to email for quotations!
We were also ambitious to try to rank for the whole Malaysia. As at last night, it was ranked number 17, on the 2nd page.
Since this is a small niche, we don’t need to put in all the advanced SEO techniques. All you need is to do is some basic SEO steps such as changing your page title, meta tags as well as your headers. You must also write original and relevant content which include some of your keywords in the main body and sub-headers. Put your keywords into these places and let your page get indexed by Google. For more information, you can read about my earlier article on SEO tips.
Graphics and flash video do not get you ranked because it has no content. You can use the video but sparingly. Remember, Google is a search engine for giving users relevant content for their searches. So you need to give content relevant to your keywords you are aiming to dominate. People buy because of the information you have, not because they are entertained.
These basic skills are good enough for anyone to dominate their long tail niches and earn money from there. You can learn all these basic skills online at anytime of the day at World Internet Academy. I have shown you that you can learn basic SEO skills and use it in your internet business immediately to get into the 1st page of serp. Being on the 1st page of Google’s result page will give you visibility and draw in more targeted traffic to your website.
Learn some basic SEO skills now and apply it in your internet business to grow your business. Sign up for the online learning portal at World Internet Academy and I can provide you with email support on the courses available.
5 Writing Tips To Be A More Productive Writer
June 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The majority of us are not proficient in writing. I remember in my younger days, I hated composition in English as well as in Mandarin. The reason being, I have to write on something that I’m not interested in and have to hit a minimum word count.
In my university days, I hated large reports especially those 3,000 or 5,000 word report that will decide my fate whether I pass or fail certain papers.
 Photo by mezone
|
I have been growing up associating negative stuff such as “difficult”, “boring” and “torturous” to writing. This is made worse by all the past teachers’ and lecturers’ ridicule and negative comments on my writing.
Moving forward, I am now blogging and publishing articles to market my sites. I have reached one full circle of hating writing to having to do it for my work. The law of attraction really works. What you don’t like, you’ll attract it! Anyway, that is a different topic altogether…
Now how do I get over my dislikes and difficulties in writing?
First, you need to get rid of your old thinking. It is not as fearful or difficult as you think. Your mind will try and protest and tell you it is difficult because your mind is comfortable with not writing!
Whenever you think it is difficult, say out loudly or shout “STOP!” and say loudly “I can write!”.
Don’t ever think that you can’t write, remove that thinking from your mind and thoughts.
How about language? Well, the good thing is We Are Not In School anymore. The beauty of internet marketing is nobody cares about your grammar in what you publish. As long as it can be understood by a 12 year old, then you are fine. In fact, your grammar deficiencies, if any, brings life into your work. People will find it more believable that it is written by you.
So be confident because nobody is going to point out your grammar mistakes when you publish your blog or articles. Just make sure simple things such as spelling mistakes are corrected. Spelling mistakes is a sign of sloppiness. Any current wordprocessor have a spell check, so use it before you publish.
Now, what are the 5 writing tips that can make you a more productive writer?
1. Discipline
If you are blogging or doing article marketing, writing is your marketing effort, thus, it is your business. You need to discipline yourself to allocate a fixed time everyday to write something. You may or may not finish your writing in a day, that is ok.
 Photo by sa_ku_ra |
You need to discipline yourself because your mind will find you all kinds of minute excuses to do something else. You need to discipline your mind. Tell it, you are the boss and you want to write. Find yourself a quiet spot that you won’t be distracted or alternatively switch off everything and try to concentrate on writing about your topic or your niche. |
Some professional writers even go to the extend of working in an isolated room with no sound or light from outside.
You need to find a working spot at home that you can be left in private to work. If you have an office, then either use the Do Not Disturb sign or close the door.
Allocate the same time each day for your writing. This is to train your mind set to get into the mood of writing whenever the allocated time draws near.
Unless you are a natural writer, I find discipline very important.
2. Identify Your Productive Time Zone
Remember when you work, there are certain time in the day that you are exceptionally alert and your productivity is high? That is your productivity time zone. I find that I work best after breakfast at home and also from 5pm to dinner time. Early afternoon I have problems in concentrating and do things more slowly.
So what is your productive zone?
I used to try a habit of writing my blog post or articles in the afternoon, but I can’t get things done until 5+ when suddenly I hit a turbo button and I could write fast.
Now I write mostly in the morning after breakfast at home. I realised that in the morning I can concentrated easily and get into the writing mood fast and get the work done at shorter time. So that is my habit nowadays. To produce a blog post or article in the morning after breakfast.
You need to try out yourself when is the time that you can concentrate and get into the writing mood fast. Then allocate that time each day as your writing time. This way, you don’t have to waste time making yourself to get into the writing mood.
3. Allocate Reasonable Amount of Time
| In your writing time slot, allocate a reasonable amount of time of 1 to 2 hours. Don’t allocate too little or else you run out of time before you start writing seriously. Writing is like driving a car, when you start with 1st gear, you start from stationary and your speed is slow. As you build momentum, you move up your gears. As you gain more and more momentum and speed, you change gears all the way to 5th gear when you are moving at top speed. |
 Photo by fdecomite |
Likewise, writing you start slow and slowly build up your speed as you write more. So if your time is too short, before you hit 5th gear, you run out of time.
4. Write free flow
As you sit down to start writing, you can start with a simple structure of your post or article. Then you write free flow, ie, just write everything on the topic right off your head. Don’t attempt to disrupt the ideas and points coming out from your mind by proof reading it. Just write everything down, connect your thoughts directly to your pen, pencil or keyboard.
Leave the formatting, paragraphing, commas, fullstop, spelling and grammar for later.
 Photo by angela7dreams |
After you have exhausted all your ideas and thoughts, and are satisfied that you have finished writing, you do your proof reading. This is when you make sure ideas flow from point to point. You will need to reformat your sentences and paragraphs. Rewrite some sentences to change the structure, commas and fullstop to make it more readable. Checking your spelling mistakes or even some grammar mistakes is also done during proof reading. This is the only time that you make your posts and articles readable and presentable. |
If its a blog post or article post, then you may want to search for photos to attach in your post or article.
If you are going to submit your articles to e-zine and newsletter publishers or article directories you can ignore the photos. I would also suggest that you leave your final piece of work alone and re-read it again the next day. This will help you fine tune your articles and pick out mistakes you left out earlier in your proof reading.
You don’t want to let the world see silly mistakes that you missed out doing proof reading, do you?
5. Reward Yourself
After completing your post or articles, remember to reward yourself. We need to re-train our mind that writing is good. In rewarding yourself, you attach a positive association to writing. This will slowly remove the past negative association we have build around writing.
Treat yourself with ice cream, take a nice stroll and enjoy the scenery, have a good meal, or even just a feel good pat on your back. Vary your reward and love yourself for the work you have done.
 Photo by zerojay
|
How Do You Keep Doing The Same Thing For So Long?
June 26, 2008 | 2 Comments
The truth to it is, no you can’t keep doing what you have been doing for extended periods of time. You may have the passion and desire but once in a while you will face doubt and frustration or burnout.
 Photo by D’Arcy Norman
|
You have been blogging, writing and publishing articles, posting comments day in and day out, emailing and doing your marketing. How long can you last? Granted when you see the results coming in, you’ll feel appreciated and it motivates you to keep going.
In times when you are feeling down, how can you get inspired again? Here are some tips to help you get fresh again for your work. Take a few days off!
Taking time off is a very good way of giving your mind and body a rest. In internet marketing, you use a lot of your mind to think, plan and also write and publish your work as well and monitor your marketing plan and analyse its progress. You can do everything at home. Working from home is comfortable and nice but you’ll get bored and fed up quite fast if you don’t have a change in environment.
Taking time off is good for you to collect new ideas and perspective on how to proceed with your marketing. Perhaps you may even think of a new twist to your marketing or a new niche to start.
Try to do something totally opposite of what you have been doing and try to have fun. This will engage different parts of your brain to simulate it in other creative ways. Remember when you were young and trying to solve a math problem for days? Taking a simple walk to clear your head and you solve the math problem easily. Likewise, you may find more innovative ways of making more money online when you are having fun and not thinking of internet marketing.
Introvert people may prefer to sit and have a good read on an inspirational book. I totally agree and do practise it. But you can try taking your book to the seaside or some where out of your regular lounge chair or reading chair.
| I find reading at the seaside very therapeutic and it gives you even more omph for the inspirational part. If you can’t go to the seaside, perhaps a nice sunny spot at the gardens. Somehow being in touch with a big part of nature really helps your mind, regardless if you are playing, reading or just relaxing. |
 Photo by Randy Son Of Robert |
After a few days of doing something totally opposite of what you are doing, especially in a natural environment, you will be rejuvenated and feel much fresher to continue on with your internet marketing effort. Take a break and your mind will be more productive. Yes you may lose a few days work but the amount of energy you gain in those few days will boost your productivity further.
I am a fan of Star Wars and leave you a fun video to take your mind off your work for a while.
Michael Rasmussen’s “Mini Site Profits Exposed” Video Series: How To Create A Mini Site That Runs On Autopilot And Makes You Money While You Sleep!
June 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Most Internet marketers understand that having mini sites is the fastest and easiest way to make money online. They don’t require a lot of time, energy, or money to set up, and once you’ve got one up and running, you can sit back and just collect money from all the sales you’re making.
At least… that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?
The truth is that mini sites really ARE easy to set up. They really DON’T require much time, energy, and money to set up. So why is it that so few people actually make money with their mini sites?
The answer is that they never learned how to actually turn their mini site into a profitable moneymaker that
runs completely on autopilot. The good news is…
*************************************************
YOU’RE ABOUT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!
*************************************************
Photo by Montrasio International |
Here’s what this is all about: My colleague Michael Rasmussen has just released a brand new video course that will walk you through the process of creating a killer mini site from the ground up, and then he’ll also teach you how to actually start making money with it right away and into the future. |
If you’ve been looking for help with monetizing your mini sites, then this is exactly what you need. The best part? The videos are FREE! I’ll tell you more about that later. First, let’s talk about the videos themselves.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the videos out right now for free. Here’s the URL:
http://tanhailiang.com/recommends/freevideotraining
*************************************************
OVERALL QUALITY
*************************************************
It’s important to note that these are online videos that you access from your web browser. Michael uses Camtasia Studio to create these videos, which is the premier software program for creating screen capture
tutorials such as these.
The first thing I noticed when I hit the play button on the first video was the incredible production quality. These are NOT your ordinary screen capture videos. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone make videos that are this high quality before.
He uses beautifully created graphics to pass his wisdom along to you, and the sound quality is the highest you will ever hear in an Internet marketing product. They sound like they were recorded in a professional studio.
Michael explained to me that he was sick and tired of seeing all the low quality videos out there, and so he
set out to create something different in order to raise the bar in our industry. I think that, when you see Mini Site Profits Exposed for yourself, you’ll agree that he has succeeded.
Now let’s move onto…
*************************************************
THE ACTUAL VIDEOS
*************************************************
Here’s a brief summary of each video. Obviously it’s impossible to list every single thing here, but I want you to get a feel for what each one covered, and how well it covered it.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the videos out right now for free. Here’s the URL:
http://tanhailiang.com/recommends/freevideotraining
VIDEO 1 - INTRODUCTION
This videos introduces you to the entire course, as well as the teacher himself. You’ll learn what you can expect from the course, and why it’s structured the way it is.
Michael realizes that you may not have heard of him, and so he spends some time establishing his credibility with you by sharing some of his biggest successes. It doesn’t come across as bragging at all. Michael explains that, in order for you to get value from the teachings, you need to have faith that the teacher actually knows what he’s talking about. By the end of this video, you will have no doubt.
By the way, this is a good lesson for all of us product developers. If you want people to accept you as an authority on any subject, you first need to establish your credibility with the reader. That way he’s willing to relax, and trust that what you’re telling him is sound advice.
VIDEO 2 - THE BASICS
This video will introduce you to the basics of mini site marketing. This will set the foundation that all future learning will rest upon, so it’s important to pay close attention to this one.
You’ll learn:
* What mini-sites are, and what makes them different from regular content sites.
* Which businesses they work well for… and which ones they don’t.
* The right mindset to have when it comes to creating mini sites as part of your online business strategy.
* And the different tools you need to get started.
This was a great video, and did an excellent job of kicking things off, and building the foundation for the rest of the course.
VIDEO 3 - SQUEEZE PAGES
This is probably one of the most useful videos of the entire course. Every Internet marketer needs to build
an email list, but how do you do it? What is the best way to capture the most opt-ins?
The answer is ’squeeze pages’. This video will teach you:
Photo by jurvetson |
* Why using a squeeze page is far superior to other opt-in methods. * The single most important thing you must include at the top of your squeeze page to skyrocket your opt-in rate. * The secret structure of a squeeze page, and why most marketers get it wrong (which costs them a LOT of money). * The most important to include in your opt-in process that will make sure that people actually receive your email. |
After watching this video, you’ll know everything you need to know to start building a massive opt-in list right away. This will probably be the first video that you ‘take action’ on. You’ll be so excited about the possibilities, that I guarantee you’ll go and create your own squeeze page right away.
VIDEO 4 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART ONE
Nothing happens until the sales copy is written. Graphics alone will never sell a product, but sales copy alone WILL. This video begins to demystify the mysterious process of writing words that make people whip out their credit cards and buy.
Specifically, you’ll learn:
* Why you need to learn copywriting, even if you “hate to write”
* What a compelling offer looks like, and how to tell the difference.
* How to write an eyeball-grabbing headline that practically forces your readers to go through your entire page.
* A simple trick you can use in your opening to make your reader want to learn more.
There is no skill that is more important to your success than the ability to write killer sales copy. Make sure you pay extra attention to this video, as well as…
VIDEO 5 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART TWO
This video dives right into the individual components of a killer sales letter. You’ll learn how to create the “secret structure” of a mini site sales letter that makes big money. Specifically, you’ll learn:
* How to create captivating body copy that draws your reader into the sales letter.
* Bullets that force your reader to keep reading the whole page, and makes them insanely curious and want
to buy your product
* How to take the risk off people’s shoulders, so they’ll feel safe buying from you.
* How to craft your ‘call to action’, and get people to whip out their credit cards and buy immediately.
* The secrets of writing a killer P.S. that helps seal the deal, and flip your prospect into a buyer instantly.
This video covered a surprising amount of detail, especially considering that this course is not specifically about copywriting. Michael Rasmussen is definitely someone who overdelivers in his educational products.
VIDEO 6 - HOW TO AUTOMATE THE DELIVERY OF YOUR INFOPRODUCT
Unless you want to be chained to your computer, you must learn how to put your mini sites on autopilot.
 Photo by kamshots |
The only thing you should be doing is driving traffic, and letting the site itself do all the work, including the work of instantly delivering the product to the customer. This video will walk you through the process of automating your product delivery, so you can just relax, and collect |
the money. The best part is…once you have this automated system set up, you never have to touch it again.
VIDEO 7 - HOW TO “GROW” YOUR SALE
This video is guaranteed to be an eye opener for almost everyone who watches it, even the experienced marketers. Michael dives into some of the most effective ‘upselling’ techniques that I’ve ever seen.
Nowhere else on the Internet have I seen such a thorough tutorial on how to increase the ’size’ of your orders. You’ll learn:
* The psychology of ‘upselling’, and how to use it make your customer spend even more money with you. The best part? He’ll think it was his idea!
* The absolute best time to upsell your customer. This one will surprise you when you realize how much money you’ve been leaving on the table by skipping this step.
* 5 simple techniques to increase your profit by up to 100%.
If you’ve already got a mini site that’s up and running, this video will make a big difference for you right away. Use any of these ‘plug and profit’ strategies to increase your income literally overnight!
VIDEO 8 - CREATING AN AFFILIATE SALES FORCE
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed that all successful marketers have in common, it’s that they have a great affiliate program. They create a program that allows other people to make good money by promoting their
products, and they get to just sit back and relax, while everyone else is doing the hard work of promoting FOR them.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having an army of motivated sales people working hard to make you money, then
you’re going to love this video. Michael will teach you:
* What an affiliate program is, and how to set one up very quickly.
* Exactly what tools you need to give your affiliates (most people miss the mark here, so pay extra attention to this part).
* Why merely having an affiliate program is NOT enough to convince people to sign up, and what you can do
instead to have people eagerly trying to become one of your affiliates.
* How to motivate affiliates to sell for you.
Photo by timparkinson
VIDEO 9 - MINI SITE MISTAKES TO AVOID
Let’s face it… it’s not enough to explain what you should do. You also need to know what mistakes you should avoid. Michael has already made these costly mistakes, but you don’t have to. You’ll learn:
- Why people do judge a book by its cover… and how to capitalize on that for your mini-site
- The single biggest reason people don’t buy from a mini site, and how you can apply this ‘instant fix’.
- The single biggest thing that will kill your mini-site (it’s not what you think, and making this mistake is a surefire way to drain money from your bank account FAST!)
- Two list building mistakes that’ll cripple your long-term profits.
VIDEO 10 - SECRETS OF CREATING A PRODUCT FUNNEL
This video will walk you through the process of designing a product line that will make you a TON of money. There’s a lot more to it than you’d think, which is why this important concept (which was taken from direct marketing) gets it’s own video.
After watching this video, you’ll understand why you can’t just have a single front end product, and you’ll
know exactly what to do in order to get your customer to keep buying more and more expensive products from you… completely on autopilot!
This video is a MUST for any serious marketer who wants to make a lot of money from their online business.
VIDEO 11 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
The title of this video says it all. You’ll learn all of Michael’s secrets for getting top notch freelancers to help you create your mini site empire in record time.
Let’s face it, you can’t be an expert at everything that mini sites require. For example, it’s really tough to be a top notch graphic designer, while also mastering HTML, and then becoming a killer copywriter, on top of also creating the product itself.
And the list goes on and on. If you want to be efficient, and begin making money as fast as possible, outsourcing is the secret to making it happen. This video will show you exactly what to do, as well as some common (and very expensive) pitfalls to avoid.
VIDEO 12 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
Let’s face it… it doesn’t matter how great your mini site is if you don’t get any traffic coming to it. Getting traffic can be one of the most confusing and mysterious parts of making money online IF you don’t get the proper education.
Thankfully, Michael really dives in, and gives you a lightning fast education in this area. Specifically, you’ll learn:
* How to use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to get targeted traffic fast.
* 3 ways to get targeted traffic without spending a dime.
* 2 ways to leverage the experience and contacts of other people to explode your traffic.
* 3 traffic strategies to avoid like the plague!
By the time you’re done with this video, you’ll know what to do right away to begin driving targeted visitors to your mini site.
Wow, you get all those videos for free? Click here to check out the Mini Site Profits Exposed course for yourself:
http://tanhailiang.com/recommends/freevideotraining
*************************************************
DELUXE VIDEOS
*************************************************
Mini Site Profits Exposed comes with 12 videos, and has more content than most 300 dollar home study courses. And did I mention that it’s free?
If you decide that you want to continue your education, and get the biggest possible advantage, you can also upgrade to the deluxe course for a small fee. The deluxe course contains four full-length videos that each cover one advanced topic in great detail.
Here’s a breakdown of each video:
*************************************************
VIDEO 13 - DESIGNING A KILLER BACK END THAT RUNS COMPLETELY ON AUTOPILOT
*************************************************
This deluxe video could easily be a whole course in itself. It walks you though the entire process of setting up a back end that is completely automated using an autoresponder system.
You’ll learn how to set up your autoresponder to automatically remove a person from your prospect list after he buys, and then insert him into your customer list. This is where your new autoresponder sequence will start promoting your back end products automatically.
Bottom line… if you want to make the big bucks like all the Internet marketing gurus, you need to create a
back end that works hard for you while you’re out creating new mini sites and developing new products. This video will show you how.
*************************************************
VIDEO 14 - LIST BUILDING SECRETS
*************************************************
In this deluxe video, Michael will walk you through some of his best tactics for growing a massive list from your mini site. He’ll not only teach you what to add to your mini site, but he’ll also show you what you must REMOVE from your mini site in order to get the most possible subscribers.
Photo by desi.italy |
Building a list is about SO much more than just offering a free newsletter. In fact, Michael shows you five different things you can offer your readers to get them to instantly give you their name and email. You’ll also learn the best places to actually put the opt-in email form on your mini site. You’ll also learn about pop ups and tell-a-friend scripts, as well as a bunch of other |
incredible tactics for growing your list.
I have a hunch that you’ll find yourself referring to this video over and over again.
*************************************************
VIDEO 15 - MARKETING ACTIVITIES THAT MAKE YOU MONEY
*************************************************
When you think about all the ’stuff’ you can do to drive traffic to your site, it’s hard to know what you should focus on first. This video will walk you through the four most important marketing activities you can do to drive traffic to your mini site.
Once you master these four, you’ll never have to wonder what you should do when you start a new mini site. You’ll have an easy-to-follow road map for driving tons of targeted prospects to your site, so you can begin making money ASAP!
*************************************************
VIDEO 16 - MAKE MAXIMUM PROFITS FROM YOUR MINI SITE
*************************************************
In this final deluxe video, Michael will reveal his best kept secrets for squeezing maximum profit out of any mini site. These are techniques that you have NOT seen before, so you’ll want to pay extra close attention to this one.
Think about it… if you’re going to put the time in, and set up a mini site the proper way (like Michael shows you in these videos), then it only makes sense that you’d want to make the most amount of money possible from it.
In this video, you’ll learn:
- How changing one sentence on your mini site could double your profits easily.
- How to instantly increase the dollar amount of your average order (which puts more money into your pocket).
- The one thing you must add to your ‘download page’ that will instantly increase your income (with no extra work, once this thing is put into place).
- How to turn your actual product into a money making machine!
*************************************************
CONCLUSION
*************************************************
Whew! That was a lot of information, and I hope it helped you decide to check out Michael Rasmussen’s Mini Site Profits Exposed video course. Remember the course is absolutely free, so you have nothing to lose.
Michael believes that it’s important for him to prove himself to you before he ever asks you to buy anything
from him. He wants to show you that he will deliver you the absolute best education available anywhere, and he’ll gladly do it for free… just to win you over!
So go ahead and check out Mini Site Profits Exposed right now, and see what all the fuss is about. I highly recommend that you upgrade to the deluxe course as well. Here’s the URL:
http://tanhailiang.com/recommends/freevideotraining
How To Find And Use Photos From Flickr
June 24, 2008 | 2 Comments
 Photo by *Solar ikon* |
We all know the effect and benefits of using photos in our blog, I have written about it earlier. In my previous article, I talked about using your own camera to take your own pictures.
Many people don’t use photos found on the web because using it without the owner’s permission is an infringement of |
copyright and you can be sued. This result in people having to pay for it or write to the owner for permission.
For many bloggers, getting permission or paying for it takes a long time before you can use the photos. People like to write the blog now, put in a few nice photos and move on. Today I’ll talk about how to find photos on Flickr and use it in your blog without infringement of copyright.
In Flickr there are many great looking photos. The website is growing more and more popular each day. So naturally the photo library will grow exponentially. Flickr is a good place to find nice photos and use them. In Flickr, photos are generally categorised into 6 different levels of copyright. Each level has different permissions for different uses. You can read and understand each of the level of copyright here. Actually you should have a good understanding of the types of license attached to the photos so you can be sure you are using the right ones for the right purpose.
To have the full permission to use the photos for commercial or non-commercial and also to edit the photos, it is best to look for photos with an Attribution License. You can use the photos with this license in anyway you want. How do you search for such photos? Follow the following steps:
1. Log into Flickr
2. Scroll to bottom of the page and click on Creative Commons. This should bring you to the page where photos are grouped under the 6 different licenses
3. Click on (See more) under the category of Attribution License. This will bring you to the page with all the photos that you can use for your blog with full permission from the owner.
4. Search for the photos you are looking for in the search box on top.
If you appreciate the beautiful photos and how it helps you in your blog or article or anything, then it is only good etiquette to acknowledge the photographer. Though it is not necessary if you got it from the Attribution License section, personally I think we should give credit where credit is due.
These photographers spend alot of time and effort to produce beautiful pictures for people to use for free, the least you can do is to show your appreciation by informing everyone that this beautiful picture is taken by so and so. How do you do this?
You can put in a caption with the photographer’s name and hyperlink to the photographer’s profile on Flickr. Yup, it fast and easy.
You can also go the extra mile and email the photographer and inform the person you are using it in your blog and invite the person to visit it. Then you can bring more traffic to your blog as well as make more friends. Being a photography enthusiasts myself, I do welcome people who appreciates my effort. After all, what is beauty if there is no one to behold…
So do explore Flickr and use photos to beautify your blog, your readers will appreciate it.
SEO Tips
June 23, 2008 | 2 Comments
If you have been doing some internet marketing or are just starting out. You will hear about Search Engine Optimisation or SEO being uttered. SEO, without using the same words mean that you are setting up your page that is most Google friendly.
Why do you need to do this? When you make your web pages friendly to Google then they are able to understand what your website is all about and rank it accordingly.
Everyone on the internet will first go to the search engines to search for the info that they want. The search engine result page will then list out all the relevant info requested by the user. If your page is easily understandable by google, then it can make a systematic ranking to list your web page on the search engine result page, also called serp. Being ranked on the 1st page is where you want to be, because that is where the most visibility your website get in an organic search.
Here are some SEO tips on how to optimise your web page:-
1. Do what you are best in
This has not been emphasized enough. When you start internet marketing, make sure you involve yourself in an area that you are an expert. Being an expert in the area, you will have the know how of what people are looking and you have the knowledge in providing the info people are looking for. Of course you also have the experience with problem solving as well.
If you are not an expert then you have to demonstrate you are an expert by building your credibility. So you need to really study it and understand what are you doing. There are many ways to build your credibility. Writing articles and submitting to article directories is one way of doing it. So if you are not an expert, you have an additional preliminary work of gaining knowledge and being involved in the area before you can help others reliably.
2. Plan you webpage layout
Some people design their webpage in any way they like but it may not be search engine friendly. It may look aesthetically nice but bad for SEO. You need to balance the look of the webpage while being fully optimise. You need to ask yourself this question. Do you want a webpage that looks good but doesn’t get good visibility in organics searches or do you want a webpage that is ranked on the 1st page of the serp and bring free traffic.
Remember that the search engine is your friend and being friendly with them will help you improve your ranking. So don’t do things on your webpage that will confuse the search engine.
3. Research your competitors
What you can think of, many before you have tried. So don’t re-invent the wheel. Understand your competitors and see what are they doing that get them to the 1st page on the serp. See what they have done to they web pages and learn from them. You can learn all the good points from your competitors and do what they have done but even more.
This will increase your learning curve and at least you know what you are doing is right. Also, avoid things that your competitors avoid because it is indication that they have bad experience in it or it doesn’t work. The point is you don’t have to waste time re-inventing the wheel.
4. Research your keywords
Researching a proper group of keywords will help you find your customers. If your keywords are too broad or competitive, make sure you have high level or advance skills in SEO. If you don’t then you are fight with the big boys and losing the war. Go for smaller niches and dominate it first. This will help you learn the ropes in a smaller playing field and test your skills. Once you can dominate a small niche, repeat with a bigger market with slightly more competitive keywords or phrase.
Learninig SEO is like learning math, you start with the basics and move progressively to intermediate then advance level. you can start by learning about SEO now and shorten your learning curve.
Once you have your keywords, rank them or group them into primary and secondary keywords. Then change your meta tags, page title and file name to include the keywords. Use your keywords in your content as well but don’t over do it and spam your own content with keywords. Use it naturally as your write.
Each webpage should focus on a few related keywords only. Don’t list all your keywords in a webpage and hope one of them will be picked up by the search engines. They won’t. You’ll only confuse them.
5. Start building links to your webpage
One of the many ways search engine use to rank your webpage is checking your backlinks. Backlinks are links from other pages going to your webpage. So the more the merrier, right? Wrong. Quality links is more important than quantity. What do I mean by quality links?
Quality links are links from authoritative pages and web pages that are related to your niche.
There are many ways of doing this, such as writing an article that is search engine optimised and submit it to high ranking article directories.
You can submit your webpage to authoritative directories. You can also pay for links from web pages that are related to your niche. Leaving your comments in authoritative forums and blog can also help to grow your links.
All the tips above are a topic by itself and will take a few days just to learn the basics of SEO. But it is not difficult. Technically it is very easy if you know how. If you know how to do it, you can get to the first page of the serp between 1 month to 9 months depending on how competitive are your keywords.
Most important thing is that SEO can be learned by everyone and it is not as difficult as what others say. Just that it takes time and repetitive effort to optimise your webpage.
Firefox 3 With Java
June 20, 2008 | 4 Comments
A few days ago I’ve upgraded my browser from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3. But when I tried to read some of the sites with Java scripts, the websites go crazy!
After doing some reading, I reliased that Firefox 3 was developed close consultation with Sun Microsystem so the new Firefox should work with Java scripts properly. But how come mine doesn’t work?
The thing is you need to update your Java!
Here is how you manually update your Java:
1. Click on Start button.
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Double click on Java
4. Select Update on the top navigation tab
5. Click on Update now at the botton right corner.
After updating Java, restart your Firefox and everything works perfectly fine. True to the reviews, even the Java scripts were running faster in the new Firefox.
So update your Java now!
What Indiana Jones Can Teach Us
June 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I just watched the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was an great show because for one reason, I’m an Indiana Jones fan. Watching the movie now wasn’t like how I used to watch it for fun when I was much younger. Of course the movie is still fun and entertaining but along the way, there are things which I think people can learn from Indy.
1. When you hit a dead end, look for solution in most unlikely places
In many scenes, not only the latest instalment, when Indy is stuck in a dead end or trap, he will search for a way out or to continue with his quest. He look for clues and search all the unlikely places to find the key to open the dead end or stop the trap. Most of the time, if not all, the key or solution is not in plain sight and requires some thought, analysis and courage to find the hiding place of the key or solution. Normally the solution is very simple BUT he still need to think through it.
In our internet home based business, we often face with a dead end and we don’t get results. What do we do? We keep repeating and repeating the same thing until we give up in frustration. No, the key to your solution is not in plain sight. You need to think through what you had done and analyse it. If what you have been doing doesn’t bring results, either re-think a new way or search for another way. Once you got the way, take courage and use it. Don’t let the previous experience of falling into a trap stop you from using the key you found. This is how Indiana Jones always get out of a dead end or traps. He just get going and don’t count the number of times he fell for the trap!
2. How much of human life is lost in waiting?
This is the quote from prof Oxley while he was witnessing Indiana Jones’ church wedding. If you remember the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, you will remember Marion’s character. She was jilted by Indy when they are young. Also they were suppose to be married but some how Indiana Jones just left her. We can only guess why.
In the end of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the circle completes with Indiana Jones finally married his love after many decades later. This happy couple could have gotten married when they were younger and enjoyed a more fulfilling life. This was why prof Oxley muttered “How much of human life is lost in waiting?” because so much time had been wasted to do something which you eventually have to do.
In our internet home based business, we get to learn and get exposed to many opportunities to make money online. Granted some are scams but there are also reputable and good teachers out there. Do we hold ourselves back in fear of being scammed? Then you won’t be able to get out of your dead end or trap.
Research and learn from teachers, gurus or experts who have “been there and done that”. They know the way to a successful home based business. They know where are all the traps and dead end and how to avoid them. Learn from them and follow the treasure map they lay out in front of you. They are your prof Oxley to guide you to your Kingdom of Crystal Skull. Don’t wait, just do it. Its just as simple as that.
Remember, you are Indiana Jones in your own life. You discover your own life and treasures along the way while solving your own dead ends and traps. Learn from Indiana Jones and succeed in your internet home based business now!
Have You Downloaded Firefox 3 Yet?
June 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you haven’t download Firefox 3 yet, do it now! You still have a chance of being a part of Firefox’s history in making it the most downloaded software in Guinness World of Records.
There are a lot of improvements but the most noteable is the improved stability and speed and using less memory when you open multiple tabs as well as being the most secure browser around.
Huh you mean Firefox was unstable previously? I hardly noticed?!
People have been saying how fast is fast…well take a look at this excerpt from cnet news.com:
“Not only that, the new Firefox, with its “Awesome Bar”, allows “users to type search-like terms as well as URLs and gives faster access to Web addresses. For example, execs at Mozilla (Firefox’s parent) claim that it takes 60 milliseconds to change Gmail from showing one message to another with Firefox 3, compared with 413 milliseconds for Internet Explorer 7 and 227 for Firefox 2.“
Wow that is more than 6 times faster than Internet Explorer and more than 3 times faster than the previous Firefox 2!
If you want to know what are the technical improvements you can click on the above 2 links to Fox news or cnet for a detailed review. You can also do a search on google for “Firefox 3 review”. This will give you a whole bunch of techies reviewing it.
But the sum of it is, its blazing fast, more stable, works better with Java, takes up less memory and offer very good security. What more can you ask for in a browser?
Firefox 3
June 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There is a lot of ho ha going on about Mozilla’s latest launch of Firefox 3. The launch date is set today 17 June 2008. This is going to the best ever Firefox.
Be part of Firefox’s history by downloading it today and making it a Guinness World Of Records for the Most Software downloaded in 24 hours!
Newsletter Subscription
Categories
Recommendations
