Most of the online marketing training that I have been exposed to makes a point of mentioning the importance of backups at least once. The main backup that is mentioned is the database backup, and yes, this is important. With the availability of the WordPress Database plugin, which is free to use, and a free Gmail account, you have the ability to send a copy of your database to yourself on a daily basis. Once setup, this is virtually a hands free and cost free process, so there is no excuse for not having your database for your WordPress blog backed up.

Another needed backup that is frequently mentioned is that of backing up the files on your actual website. More than one online business has faced irretrievable loss when a hosting provider has gone out of business or suffered a major server side glitch and all files have been lost. Does this take time? Of course it does. But it is nothing compared to the time you would spend trying to recreate your website or blog from thin air. So, if you are not already familiar with using your ftp, it is time to learn how to work with it and take a full copy of the files that make up your website.

So now we have covered the database and files, what about the settings? If you manage your website yourself as many of us do, you have invested a significant amount of time in how your site has been setup. Would you be able to easily recreate those settings? Or would you have to once again go through the process of investigating what each means before implementing? Do you know what is all listed under links? Have you made reciprocal link deals with any other sites? This information will not necessarily be available on a restore. It should, but what if it is not? Do you have another means of recovering this information?

As I mentioned above, the release of WordPress 3.0 prompted an overhaul for this blog. This happened for two reasons:

1) The theme I was currently using did not migrate well. And…

2) I had too many blogs with too many different themes, which effectively doubled the work load.

So, I decided to use the Magazine Basic theme as the default for all of my blogs.

To do this effectively, I set up a testing site, (with search engines blocked), under my default blog and installed WordPress 3. I also took this opportunity to setup clean databases and name them in a manner that reflected which blog they referred to. So, importing the database was not an option here. Fortunately, there is a plugin called WordPress Importer that allows you to export all of your posts and pages and re-import them to a new installation. I had to do some tweaking with the Categories and Tags, but overall, this was a definite plus as my intention was to wipe out the original blog once the test one was setup to my satisfaction.

It was at this point that I realized just how much was missing. All of the links had to be manually redone, as well as the basic settings, user accounts, specialty settings, plugin setups, analytics settings, menus, and of course any redirection links that had existed in the original blog.

Now most of you will be able to re-establish your website without having to do all of this , simply because you do have a valid database backup on hand and a copy of your website files. If you are not techy enough to restore it yourself it should be relatively easy to find someone to help you with it. However, if for any reason your database backups are unusable, having a listing of your website settings and an export of your posts and pages will help you to get back up and running.

A further unseen benefit occurred for me just a few days ago. Having setup the testing site for one of my blogs, I had thought to remove it at a later date when I was comfortable with the new setup. Of course, there never did seem to be the time to do this, and in this case, that was a very good thing.

You see, I added a new plugin to this other blog and upon activation, my customized home page disappeared. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized I still had my test site running and was able to use it as a reference while troubleshooting the effects of this new plugin, which did not disappear when the plugin was deactivated.

After a bit of time and a great deal of head scratching, I found that a new redirection had been implemented when the plugin was activated and so everytime I tried to go to the home page, it redirected me to the page associated with the plugin. Once this redirection was removed, I confirmed that my customized home page was the one set in the Settings areas and all was back where it needed to be.

This is just one small example of how having a testing environment available saved the day. And I admit, had I used the testing environment to test the addition of this plugin instead of my main blog, a lot of grief could have been avoided. I have learned my lesson with the above experiences and I hope that what I have learned will benefit others in the future.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

At that time, I would have the opportunity to provide proof that the music was used legitimately. For now, the notice from YouTube says that nothing needs to be done on my part.

Knowing this can be a bit disconcerting, particularly when you have taken steps towards avoiding copyright infringement. I find the process used to be a bit one sided to say the least. Basically, if I understand their instructions correctly, I am to do nothing until such a time as my video is removed due to a complaint by whomever is claiming rights to the music being used. At that time, I can file a counter-notification to prove my use of the music is legitimate and if I prove I am in the right, the video will be restored.

Since I purchased the rights to the music used, I took the required steps necessary for avoiding copyright infringement with my video. I have a copy of the license and the bill of sale and rather than wait for someone to yank the video, it would be a lot less stressful to just upload this proof and have the matter cleared up.

While I recognize that YouTube is rightfully doing everything in its power to comply with copyright laws, the folks that upload the videos in the first place are what makes it the great site that it is. Having a simple link under the notice that says “matched third party content,” that says click here to submit your license agreement, or something along that line, would clear the matter up immediately.

The addition of AudioSwap is a step that YouTube has taken to pro-actively help uploaders with the issue of avoiding copyright infringement. AudioSwap allows the uploader to choose an audio file to be played along with a video. These audio files are provided by YouTube for this purpose and can be used without issue. The only problem I have with this way of doing things is that the audio files are only available after the video has been uploaded and then only by opening the video to the audio editing process.

My reason for this is that I would like to have the opportunity to match the audio to the video a little earlier in the process. I have no issue with someone having to be logged in to browse this database, but it would be easier to make the decision to use this feature if the audio files could be browsed ahead of time, without opening one of your videos for edit. I must have listened to close to a hundred audio clips before I found one I liked.

Currently, you will find this option once you have uploaded a video. Log in to your account – go to the My Uploaded Videos section and look for a drop down arrow beside the word Insight. Here you will see the option to go to AudioSwap. One word of caution. If you do decide to use this feature, your video will be changed so that any audio previously used is replaced by the file you have selected from AudioSwap. This change can not be undone, so be sure before you select the process button.

So, how do you go about avoiding copyright infringement? You begin by having clear, written permission to the use of any content you use. There are many sites where royalty free content can be found. This content may be available for free download, or it may have a cost attached. You should be carefully reading the license agreement before purchasing and downloading content as there may be restrictions on what you are allowed to do with it. In the above example, I was careful to make sure the audio I used specifically stated that it could be used in a YouTube video. Yes, there was a cost for this license, but it wasn’t an unreasonable cost. The website I found my track at is called LoopSound.com.

Just as there are many different websites for royalty free music, there are also websites for royalty free images and video clips. IStockPhoto.com is one website that comes to mind.

Another item that you should be keeping in mind to help you with avoiding copyright infringement, is to never use the content or graphics of another website without written permission. If you are thinking about being an affiliate for a product, use the contact page to make your request. This will result in a written reply that either allows or disallows the use of that website’s content and graphics.

Now I grant you, I may not be totally clear on the dispute process used by YouTube, and I am open for correction in that regard, but I am clear on the need to have a clear license to use content of any nature in all matters pertaining to online promotions. So, I would like to start a list here of your suggested websites for obtaining royalty free content.

Royalty Free Audio Sites:

• LoopSound.com
• FreePlayMusic.com
• MusicRevolution.com

Royalty Free Image & Video Sites:

• IStockPhoto.com

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

Each work at home training program will have a slightly different selling angle that they teach. It may have to do with the level of popularity of the product (gravity), or how well a product fits into a niche that you are planning to work with. However, the purpose of this post is not to discuss the various methods of training used by different work at home training programs. Instead, I would like to pass on some ClickBank info that is often not touched upon in many of these programs, or if it is, may not be upper most in the mind of many of the newer Clickbank affiliates.

First let me say that I am not a spokesperson for ClickBank. The ClickBank info I am sharing with you is based strictly on my own experience with the ClickBank Marketplace, where I find products to promote, the same as many other affiliates.

It is not uncommon for a new affiliate to begin promoting products and not have instant success. This is not the generally the fault of the training program, but rather part of the learning curve that all affiliates go through. There is much to learn in the area of affiliate marketing and your success will depend a lot on you, the effort you put into your learning and your ability to follow and understand the training you are working with. Picking one work at home training program and sticking with it until you have completed the entire course will get you farther ahead faster than if you start a program and then jump to the next and then to the next without ever completing the original training.

Over time, as you learn what works best for promoting the products you have chosen from the ClickBank marketplace, sales will begin to happen. For some of you it may take a few weeks, for others it may take months. It is what happens once those sales begin to occur that I would like to address.

ClickBank has a number of rules that are followed in regards to how affiliates are paid. Many ClickBank affiliates believe that as soon as they make their first sale, they will receive a check in the mail or a deposit to their bank account. When this does not happen, it can put an affiliate off of his or her stride and dampen their enthusiasm. This is why it is important that those promoting ClickBank products are aware of the rules that ClickBank has in place that determine when you will be paid.

It is important that once you sign up as an affiliate, you are aware of and thoroughly read ClickBank’s Accounting Policy. There are two primary sections that help determine when an affiliate will be paid. Those sections are the Payment Threshold and the Customer Distribution Requirement sections.

The Payment Threshold section determines the dollar amount of the commissions you must earn before a payment will be made to you. If you continue to make sales, this amount will be met quite quickly.

The most important section for you as a new affiliate promoting products from ClickBank is the “Customer Distribution Requirement” section. In order to safe guard itself and it’s merchants, each ClickBank affiliate must meet this required criteria before he or she will be issued any payment for the sales that they generate. Once this criteria has been met, payments for any future sales will be issued on a regular basis.

This criteria can cause affiliates a bit of apprehension. It is not uncommon to have a single sale and then have a period of time when no sales are made. For the affiliate, who made the sale, seeing that they have earned a commission and then not receiving it can be frustrating. But, as I said before, that payment will not be made until ClickBank’s Customer Distribution Requirement is met. Notice the CDR links in the status column. These point to the explanation of the requirements that must be met before a payment will be made to you.

If there is a time in between sales, your account may be set to dormant status. At this time, you will be charged for the maintenance of that account every pay period and you will see your commission amount being decreased by the amount of that charge. This will continue until you make another sale. That sale may or may not give you what you need to meet ClickBank’s requirements. And so it goes on.

While these rules help ClickBank to protect itself and it’s merchants, they can be very frustrating for new affiliates. The key is to hang in there and keep trying. Eventually the day will come when all of the criteria have been met and you will begin receiving your commission checks as sales are made.

When the day comes that you receive your first check from ClickBank, take the time to congratulate and reward yourself for passing this initiation into the world of affiliate marketing. You will have worked hard to achieve it, so enjoy. I hope this ClickBank info will help you to better understand what is involved when working as a ClickBank affiliate and that your patience will be quickly rewarded.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

In the world of online marketing, a niche is a small segment of a larger marketing group that caters to the needs and interests of the people and potential customers within that segment.

As well, there can be niches within niches. These are more commonly referred to as sub-niches. A sub-niche focuses on an even narrower customer group than it’s broader niche counterpart. One of the best ways describing for you just what a niche is, is by way of example.

Examples Of Niche Marketing

Because a niche is a segment of a broader market, that is where we begin.

Broad market: Food Industry
Niche Market: Baking, Desserts, Chocolate, Mealtime
Sub-Niche Market: Breads and Rolls, Diabetic Deserts, Valentine Chocolate Surprises, Easy Romantic Dinners

Broad market: Health and Wellness
Niche Market: Vitamins, Exercise, Skin Care
Sub-Niche Market: Fruit Bars, Zumba, Adult Acne

Broad market: Pets
Niche Market: Dogs, Cats, Birds
Sub-Niche Market: Traveling with your dog, Scratching posts and accessories, Bird cages

Given the examples above, you can easily see that the answer to the question, “What is a niche?” is that it is a small segment of the broad market it belongs to. A sub-niche is an even smaller segment and is very narrowly focused.

Choosing Your Niche Or Sub-Niche

The most common advice you are going to run across on choosing the right niche for you is that at least for your first foray into niche marketing, it is something that you have a strong interest in or passion for.

There is a very good reason for this advice. The reason is that learning niche marketing takes time and effort, and yes, even capital. If you are choosing your niche based on any other criteria, it may be difficult for you to maintain your interest and motivation as you move through the learning curve.

Once you have identified the broad market in general that you are interested in, try narrowing it down. For example, if model railroading (with a competition level of 544,000) is your interest, a possible niche within that broad market might be model railroading scenery (with a competition level of 283,000).

That is still a pretty competitive market for a niche. So, maybe it would be better to look at a sub-niche within the railroading scenery niche. A sub-niche such as woodland scenics subterrain (with a competition level of 52,000) might be a good place for you to start into the world of niche marketing.

Choosing your niche or sub-niche takes some time and careful research. In addition to holding your interest, it must also have a target audience that can be marketed to, commercial viability and affiliate products for you to market.

If you thoroughly research all of these areas when it comes to choosing the right niche for you, you will be off to a good start with developing and marketing your chosen niche.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

Selling advertising space on your blog provides you, the blog owner, with another possible blog monetization technique with which to realize maximized income from the virtual real estate of your blog.

Getting Started

Getting ready for the sale of advertising space on a blog is a long-term project. As with many other forms of promotion, the maturity of the blog, the traffic it generates, its visibility in your selected niche, PR value, and your own reputation all play a role in being able to use this technique effectively.

When people choose to invest their advertising dollars, they will generally look for a method that gives them the best potential return on their investment.

Purchasing advertising randomly on content sites that provide little traffic and exposure to their ads would not qualify as a sound investment of their advertising dollars. So, how then do you, the blog owner, prepare your blog to be an enticing venue on which they will feel confident in spending those dollars?

Blog monetization of this type requires a marketing plan and the big “C” – commitment. Potential advertisers will look at the age and maintenance of the blog to determine if it will be long lived. There is no point in investing in something that is here today and gone tomorrow. All aspects of your blog promotion will come into play.

Increase Your Blog’s Visibility

In order to increase your blog’s visibility, you need to move beyond the borders that its virtual real estate represents and visit other blogs that are relevant to your niche and that you find appealing.

Get involved with the conversations on those blogs by posting comments. Comment on forums as well that are within your area of interest. Along the way, people with like interests will begin to stand out. Keep them in mind..

Article Marketing

Use your article marketing efforts to increase blog traffic and also build your own credibility amongst readers in your area of interest. Never forget to include basic SEO techniques in these articles in order to catch the eye of the search engines and increase the ranking of your articles.

Keywords and phrases, eye-catching headlines and articles written to catch the eye of Internet skimmers will increase the effectiveness of your articles.

Prepare Your Blog For Advertising

In order for you to host an ad for someone on your blog, you will first need to prepare your blog for advertising and create ad slots. You have probably seen this done on other blogs where an advertising block is shown with words indicating that this space is available to be rented for ads.

Ensure that the way these advertisements are situated on your blog will not detract from its overall quality and look. The space you designate will also play a decisive role in the types and sizes of banners you will be able to host for advertisers.

Another consideration will be that of making a decision on how much flash you will allow and possibly even the colors you will allow an advertiser to use. Too much flash may turn off your readers and clashing colors may make an ad stand out, but also seriously detract from the overall look of your blog.

Get Advertisers For Your Blog

When first getting started with this form of blog monetization, it may be a bit difficult to get advertisers for your blog. You may want to consider a banner exchange with sites that complement what is offered on your blog. You do not want to host ads that are in direct competition with you. A banner exchange will provide both sites with increased exposure to new audiences.

The number one method, which will help you to get advertisers for your blog, will be traffic generation. As people visit your blog, they will become aware of the advertising space that you have made available and they will purchase that advertising space from you if the pricing and nature of your blog suit their own advertising strategy.

Once your blog becomes a force to be reckoned with, you will be in a position to charge advertisers for hosting their ads. You will need to decide on a pricing structure for ad placement. Pricing is usually determined by the placement of the ads, whether they appear above or below the fold.

Always remember that you have the last say in which ads will be accepted. Once again, you will want to choose ads that are not in direct competition with you, as well as ones that blend well with your blog’s look and topic.

Selling advertising space on your blog takes effort on your part. It is a form of blog monetization that works best for blogs that have gained long-term popularity, stable readerships and where the blog owner has taken the time to build a credible reputation in the niche that is represented.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

Here are some basic article marketing tips to help show you how to write a successful article…

Article Writing Basics

In its most basic form, every article has a general structure. First you have the title which is used to grab the reader’s attention. The title informs the reader about the subject the article will cover in a manner that engages the reader’s interest so they are compelled to continue reading.

Following the title, the article is then divided into paragraphs. Paragraphs should be kept short enough to remain easy to read, yet long enough to flesh out the thought it is attempting to convey to the reader.

Even a single thought can be broken down into several paragraphs to maintain the readability of the article, as long as each paragraph that follows maintains the flow of the thought. A rule of thumb is a limit of 3 to 4 sentences per paragraph. Preview your article or post to see if it has visual appeal from this perspective.

Generally, the first paragraph will introduce the reader to the topic to be discussed and gives the reader the basic reasoning behind the stance that the author is taking. If the reader is confused by the way the first paragraph is written, chances are good that he or she will stop reading and move on to something else.

The final paragraph is used to sum up the main points that were covered in the body of the article. Without this summation, the article will appear to be cut off abruptly and will fail to restate the points that the author wishes the reader to take away with him or her.

5 More Basic Writing Tips

1. Every article needs to have a focused purpose that is directed at its intended audience. If you don’t know the purpose of you article, it is unlikely that the people you are trying to reach will find it, so, it is important that you know the audience you intend to target before you sit down to write.

2. Every article needs to be related to the interests of the intended audience. While writing an article on a day at the Speedway may be of immediate interest to you, it is unlikely to impress your intended audience if your audience happens to be in the gardening niche.

Even some articles written directly on your niche topic may miss your audience at times. Why? Generally this happens when the reader is unable to understand the content provided or the author has failed to successfully convey his or her thoughts.

3. Know which writer’s voice works best for you. Let’s face it. If in your everyday life your jokes tend to be missed or fall flat, chances are that you will not do well using a writer’s voice that is intended to be humorous.

Using a writing style that is incompatible with your writing voice will make you appear as insincere to the reader and consequently, you will lose their interest.

Your reader needs to feel the passion you have for your subject as they read. The ability to write sincerely in the voice of another is a specialized talent that very few writers possess.

4. Keep the format of your writing easy to read. Short paragraphs, bulleted points and numbering all play a part in making your article easy to skim and read as well as adding to its visual appeal. Your article marketing strategy will suffer if your articles appear to be to difficult to read.

These methods give the reader the opportunity to first skim the article and take in the main points and then decide if they would like to read the article more fully. An article that has short paragraphs and is broken up using numbering and bullets has proven to be easier to absorb by readers.

5. Wherever possible, use numbers in your titles. Numbers tend to catch a reader’s eye more efficiently. A title containing numbers informs the reader of the content to be found within and in how many parts it will be presented.

The task your article is meant to perform is to assist you in reaching your intended audience and in turn, increase the amount of traffic to your site. Review the basic article marketing tips above which show you how to write a successful article and keep your articles on task every time.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

Unfortunately, this profession is often hyped by those who promote it to the point where it might appear to be the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that is just waiting to fall into your lap at the snap of your fingers.

For some it does in fact become a very lucrative means of income. For others it provides a stable income, and for some, no income at all.

When learning niche marketing, think of it as a change to another profession, a profession where you are in charge of the business. Like every other business owner, whether online or off, it will require time, effort, investment and education to achieve success.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of working in niche marketing online.

Advantages Of Niche Marketing

1. Market Focus

Niche marketing focuses on a small segment of a given market as opposed to the mass marketing with which we are most familiar. Because of this focus, you have the ability to get to know the consumer that you are targeting a great deal better. With this knowledge, you are better able to provide content that is helpful, build a reputation, and find products that this segment of the market is looking for.

2. Targeted Investment

If you have done your homework and taken the time to get to know your niche consumer, you are aware of the issues and problems that they are looking to solve. You are also aware of the language that they use when discussing these issues. With this knowledge in hand, you are able to target your investment of time and capital in a manner that speaks to this type of consumer in the language they most commonly use.

This ability allows you to invest time in creating your online presence through a website, blog, content, and article composition in a manner that will be accepted and seen as authoritative by your intended audience.

If you are investing in PPC advertising, you will know the language they tend to use when using a search engine to find what they are looking for. This allows you to target your ad copy and keywords to the needs of that specific niche and the potential customers within that niche.

3. Increased Income Potential

While it is true that you will be going after a smaller group of people, the people in this group are far more likely to be buyers for the products you are promoting. Mass marketing works on the premise that if enough advertising is thrown out there, someone will be attracted and buy the product.

This school of thought can quickly drain the wallet of an online niche marketer who has limited resources of time and funding to work with, particularly if they are using PPC as a means of drawing in potential customers. Targeted PPC ads are far more likely to draw in a paying customer than ones that are setup to address general markets.

Disadvantages Of Niche Marketing

1. Smaller Market Share

Although targeting a smaller audience is in fact a major advantage for the niche marketer, it can also be a disadvantage. The disadvantage occurs when the market share is too small to produce an income that is substantial enough to support the income needs of the niche marketer. For this reason, many niche marketers, if not most, will be working in more than one niche at a time to increase income generated by their efforts.

2. Competition

Even if you were the first to discover a lucrative niche, over time, others will want in on it as well and you will need to increase your efforts in order to maintain a reliable income from that niche.

If you are one who is trying to break into a niche where you have competitors, it will take time and effort on your part to build up your reputation within the niche and to get your ads and content listed at the top of the search engine results.

Higher competition will also mean higher rates for clicks in your PPC advertising. Niche marketers are encouraged to diversify their efforts into many niches to help out when markets become mature and too competitive. Having only one niche is equivalent to putting all of your eggs in one basket.

3. Cannibalization

Cannibalization is a term more frequently heard of in the mass marketing industry, however, it applies to niche marketing as well. Cannibalization occurs in a business when it releases a new and improved version of a product and as a result, the value and market share of a pre-existing product decreases.

In the world of niche marketing, and the world of online business as a whole, there are newer and better products constantly being released. A dramatic example of this would be the technology changes between the time when videocassette recorders ruled the market place and their subsequent replacement in that market share by the DVD recorders of today.

4. Its A Business

While this may seem like an obvious statement, it is rather surprising how many people fail to realize that niche marketing is a profession and a business. It requires capital and commitment to grow and like any other business, it also requires customer relation skills, financial management and constant learning.

If you want to use your niche marketing as a business for tax purposes, you will want to maintain separate banking and accounting information at the absolute minimum. Failure in this area could have your application for business expenses denied at tax time.

As well, because it is a business, it will be important for you to stay on top of any licensing requirements, regulations such as FTC regulations, and tax collection and remittance requirements. Ignorance is neither bliss nor accepted as an excuse for not following laws and regulations within the industry. It won’t cut you any slack with the tax department either if they decide this is just a hobby for you and not a legitimate business.

If you are thinking of learning niche marketing and developing a business around it, it is important for you to be aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of niche marketing rather than just the hype that is more commonly seen on the Internet.

With this information in hand, you will be better prepared to make an informed decision as to whether niche marketing is what is best for you and to meet its inherent challenges head on.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com