The brand new Sparkplugging Podcast is here at last!

Subscribe via iTunes

Our approach to podcasting is similar to the way television series are presented in ‘seasons’ and like many cable television programs, we’ve adopted a 12 episode season.

In this quick first episode you’re going to meet our first Round Table of Experts and learn what we’ll be discussing in this first season of the podcast.

• Susanne Myers of the HillBilly Housewife.
• Lane Ehmann of Crafting Your Biz.
• Nicole Dean of Nicole on the Net.
• David Perdew of MyNAMS.

You’re going to feel like you’re hanging out with friends, because that’s what we are!

Want to ask the Round Table a question?  Ask here.

Need to start building your list?  We recommend Aweber!

This is a guest post from D’vorah Lansky, M. Ed.  Sparkplugging is proud to be a stop on her Virtual Book Tour.

I’d like to thank Kelly for graciously hosting me, as a guest blogger, in celebration of the launch of my newest book, 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour.

In this blog post, I’d like to share with you one of “21 Ways” to launch a successful virtual book tour.

This tip comes from “Way #17: Participate in Audio Interviews”

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An author interview provides compelling content and helps you promote your book and brand.

Participating in audio interviews—or talking about your book over the air waves—is both a powerful way to create content and to provide a way for your audience to hear your voice and connect with you. In addition to your live audio interviews, the recordings can be made available for people to listen to.

Interview practice session

The best way to “get your feet wet” is to have someone you know interview you and record that session. Even though you can consider this to be a “practice” interview, treat it as if there are a hundred people on the line. This experience will prove to be invaluable because you can critique your own performance and it will provide you with an interview recording you can use as part of your virtual book tour.

Arrange for some of your tour hosts to interview you

In addition to your practice interview session, you may want to have some of your virtual book tour hosts interview you. Such opportunities will provide you with additional multimedia content and raise your level of credibility.

Prepare for your interviews

To prepare for your interviews, compose a list of the top ten questions your audience would most like to know about you, your book, or your topic. These items will serve as the foundation of your audio interviews.

Sample interview questions

In addition to the list of questions you’ve composed, here are some additional ideas:

For Fiction Books

• Who are the characters in the book?
• Why did you choose those particular characters?
• What is the premise of the story?

For Nonfiction Books

• How did you get interested in this topic?
• What would you like readers to walk away with after reading your book?
• Why did you decide to write a book on this topic?

Get ready to participate in an audio interview

While it’s on your mind, consider registering for a free conference calling service such as FreeConferenceCalling.com. Then open up your calendar and jot down a few possible recording dates. Next, reach out to a friend of colleague and schedule a time, where the two of you can meet via your conference call line, and record a practice interview.

This one activity can skyrocket your presence online and open up doors of opportunity for online speaking engagements. Imagine becoming a highly sought after speaker, for audiences who are hungry for the exact information you share in your book?

What excites you most about participating in audio interviews and/or what questions do you have on this topic. Scroll down to share your thoughts or questions in the comments section below.

This post is being written in honor of a virtual book tour celebrating the publication of my third print book. You can enjoy the festivities by joining us on the tour to 21 blogs, in honor of 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour. Scroll down to access the virtual book tour schedule as well as a link to the book on Amazon. Thank you and enjoy!

D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed., is the author of 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour. Visit her book blog and check out the full schedule for the virtual book tour, celebrating the launch of this exciting new book: www.VirtualBookTour21Ways.com

D’vorah offers virtual book tour workshops and courses for authors, entrepreneurs, and virtual professionals. She has taught hundreds of people, across the globe, how to conduct successful virtual book tours. You can purchase her newest book on Amazon at: www.VirtualBookTour21Ways.com/amazon

It’s the Fifth Annual 10 Day May Madness, my joint venture with members of Solo Masterminds.

Everyone who wants to offers a full price product at a sample price rate, just $7.

We put the deals behind a simple registration page, then we all collectively drive traffic to register and browse the deals.

If you go there now you’ll find deals for:

• Ghostwriting & Ghostblogging
• Graphic Design
• Memberships & Info Products
• WordPress Helps & Plugins
• VA Assistance
• And much more… there are 35+ deals available as of this morning.

Why offer full price products for such a low price?

The strategy behind the madness is that while we’re giving a full meal for the cost of a small taste, we’re building our customer lists and expanding our reach.

Naturally, we plan to impress and win your repeat business

Register to check out the deals here.

Have you ever heard of a Mint? It is this small little robot that can clean your floor, much like the Roomba. There are significant differences between the two machines though. One of them is the Mint’s Global Positioning System. Yes, you read that right. This cleaning robot runs with the guidance of a GPS.

It’s not what you think though. The Mint doesn’t use the satellite like the GPS in your car. Mint calls it an indoor GPS. It is a small cube that you turn on and place where it has a clear view of the center of your room. When you start the robot, it will secure a connection with this cube. Without the cube, it’ll still clean, just not as efficiently.

It’s actually quite fascinating to watch the robot clean. As I sat enjoying my morning coffee and a few minutes of me time, I watched it work and realized a couple of things that are surprisingly relevant to running our businesses.

We All Need A GPS

This is true for every aspect of your life. GPS’s keep us anchored and most importantly, they help us figure out the best route to our destination. In the case of the Mint robot, the GPS helps the robot create a map of the room in its memory so it can achieve it’s objectives (clean) better, knowing where the obstacles and boundaries are. Similarly, a GPS for your business should have the same effect.

Now to figure out, what or who can be the GPS for your business? I think the answer is fairly obvious. It is a good business coach or a group of like minded people like a mastermind group made up of people you can trust.

Regular Check-Ins

The other thing the Mint does every so often is pause. It’s little blue lights will begin to ‘run’, then it’ll correct itself and continue. This is the robot checking in with the GPS. Now, I don’t know what exactly goes on, but I have to think that is it trying to communicate with the GPS to figure out if it is still on the right track and/or to build the next portion of the room map.

Similarly, when you do get your business GPS, you have got to check in. Otherwise, you will eventually get off track, lose your way or feel stuck because you don’t know what the next portion of your map should be.

Know Your Scope

Between the living and the kitchen in my home, there is a very slight down step due to the change in flooring. Usually, it can detect this change and figure out not to go beyond. I like that because I prefer to clean in sections. This week, my little robot did something I didn’t expect. It went past that, into the kitchen. Thinking back I remembered on occasion, I’d use one of those folding baby gates to make sure the robot stayed in the space I wanted it to clean.

As for my robot, sure enough, I wasn’t pleased with the results of that cleaning because the damp cloth it uses to mop with, had dried out since the larger space meant more time was spent trying to clean.

Again, I just can’t help thinking about my business.

We can’t work on every part of our business all the time. There has to be scope.

This is of utmost importance if you outsource. You must set a scope for your helpers. Most people complain they have no luck with developers because they aren’t technical. I’ll bet that’s not true and real problem lies in the fact there was no project scope. The people you outsource to can do a lot or a little but it is not their place to tell you how much or how little.

This is an important post from Christina Lemmey of our Freelancers blog. She’s sharing a recent experience that I believe needs to be shared widely to protect as many computer users as possible.

You know all those emails you’ve received in the past, claiming that someone from a foreign country needs help claiming a fortune. But only YOU can help them by sending your banking info, or a large check?

We’ve all seen those scams and now they’re pretty easy to bypass in your email inbox if they weren’t gobbled up by the spam folder.

But yesterday I experienced a brand new scam (to me, anyway) where the scammers CALL YOUR HOME PHONE and feed you all kind of lines about how they work for Windows Live (part of Microsoft) and they need access to my computer to erase some malicious and corrupt virus and malware files.

Yikes! They had me going, for sure. Especially since I just switched laptops and my previous laptop had a bad habit of shutting itself down without notice.

The Building Blocks of a Phishing Scam

OK, so I listened. And they sure did have an answer for EVERYTHING! I didn’t even question the heavy accents because we all know that big corporations outsource their call centers to foreign countries.

I was doing my due diligence by asking a lot of questions and a lot of scammers might have been scared off by that and just hang up. Not these guys! Not only did they have an answer for every question I asked but they were getting annoyed with ME (the person THEY called) because I was questioning them and didn’t believe their story.

Here’s a run down of the conversation I had with the scammer:

• He identified himself as a member of Windows Live – to me this was reasonable since I’ve always used a Windows-based computer
• He said they (Windows Live) have been receiving error reports from my computer for a few years that I have serious virus and malware problems – again, reasonable because of my laptop-shutting-down-problem
• The only way this problem could be fixed is to allow them access to my computer so they can erase the virus and malware files and install a free computer program to combat this problem in the future – this is where my gut was telling me to be careful
• If I didn’t allow them to fix this problem, then they would have to shut down my Windows access so the virus and malware wouldn’t spread to anyone else – yes, this sounded fishy but I’m no tech guru; all I heard in my head was, “You won’t have computer access to do your work or run your business”.

By now – less than 5 minutes into the conversation – he’s got my attention.

Here are some of the questions I asked him and the responses (the more questions I asked, the more annoyed and indignant he got with me! It was like ‘How DARE you not believe me!’)

Q: There are a lot of scammers out there; how do I trust that you’re really with Windows Live?
A: I understand your concern, I really do, but I can give you a unique manufacturer’s code that is unique to every single computer and that way you will know I’m trustworthy.

Q: It doesn’t make sense to me that you can shut down my computer from a remote location; it’s my property.
A: Yes, we can do it because we have to protect others from these vicious viruses and malware attacks your computer has suffered.

Q: I’d rather take it to my local computer guy to get it fixed.
A: No, that won’t work because they won’t be able to access the corrupted files. They are hidden so well that only our experts can find them.

Q: Which of my computers is indicating the problem?
A: The main household computer; the computer for the home.

By this point he was raising his voice so I asked to speak to a supervisor. He started to mutter something about how HE was the supervisor but quickly transferred me to someone else. And so I went around in circles again with this new guy, asking all the same questions and getting all the same responses.

One of their favorite responses to me was, “You just have to believe in me.”

Here was the kicker, though. I told him that I needed further verification of his identity so was there a phone number I could call to get verification.

“No, there isn’t. This is a call center and we only have a private number we cannot give out.”

OK, again it sounded reasonable because I know many call centers aren’t allowed to accept incoming calls. So I asked for the main Windows Live customer support number (because every huge company has an 800 number, right?)

“No, we don’t have any number for you to call. There is no customer support phone number.”

This is the point where I hung up.

Lessons Learned from a Scammer and Some Really Smart Techie Friends

Even though my blood was boiling at this point, I was relieved that I asked my questions and didn’t allow access to my computer. But since some of answers sounded plausible, I asked some techie friends their opinions. The overwhelming response was THIS IS A SCAM!

• Most importantly, NEVER allow anyone access to your computer remotely. Essentially you are giving up complete control of your computer and the scammers can very quickly find your passwords and banking information then voila – your identity is stolen.
• Microsoft never makes cold calls like this.
• No one can shut down your computer UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM ACCESS.
• The Windows Live team no longer exists; it was disbanded quite awhile ago.
• Even savvy work at home folks like us are vulnerable to sophisticated phone scams.

Some More Information and Research on this Windows Live/PC Care Phishing Scam

Here’s a link I found explaining more about this particular scam. Direct from the Microsoft Community Answers site.

And here’s a site about how to report phishing and scam phone calls you may experience (and unfortunately this is not the only one going on). Be sure to take note of the day and time of the event and then fill in as much detail as possible.

Have you ever experienced a phishing or phone scam? Do share your experience so we can help each other stay protected!

About the Blogger: Christina Lemmey shares freelancing tips and advice on our Freelancing blog and provides creative media assistance over at MultiMediaVA.com.

I’ve been using JustRetweet to drive extra traffic to my blogs for a couple of months now.

So far I’ve used it as a free participant, meaning I haven’t paid for credits or extra exposure.

You earn credits by retweeting, liking and +ing content you believe your social circle would appreciate and then spend credits by submitting tweets that you’d like others to share with their following.

And yes, it works quite nicely.

The Sparkplugging Twitter account had been left silent for several years when I took things over last month and while I am doing my best to liven things up and naturally follow new people, I love that I can use JustRetweet to jump start retweet activity.

I wanted to drive traffic to our new Community Webinar sign ups page but their rules are clearly displayed:

Please do not request retweets for sales pages, direct affiliate links, squeeze pages, homepage links, and other overly promotional or low quality content. These will be deleted.

No problem. I wrote a blog post about the new webinar series and submitted my Tweet pointing folks to that page instead.

To maximize exposure I submitted a couple of different tweets, hoping that more than a few JustRetweet users will end up retweeting both of them.

I like the results I’ve seen, enough so that I’m ready to go ahead and buy credits so that I have more to spend on promoting the other great content our Sparkplugging bloggers are creating lately.

Should you try JustRetweet?

I say yes.  I’m proof that you can take advantage of it (for quite awhile) without spending a dollar – so go ahead and give it a shot.  If you discover, like me, that you get good results, you can buy credits or extra site exposure.

Sign up here.

Update:  I did purchase credits the day before yesterday and opted for a package ($30) that included three days of extra exposure as a Featured Member on the JustRetweet site.

Other JustRetweet members earn a couple of credits for following Featured Members (pretty smart idea) and it has sent me quite a few new followers.  I would do it again.

How will you leverage JustRetweet?

I’m so glad to be featuring this fantastic post written by Cindy Bidar, one of the smartest gals I know on the topic of WordPress Security.  I’m pleased to announce that Cindy will be providing us with regular WordPress helps over on our brand new WP Tips blog.

It’s no surprise that WordPress is a favorite among online business owners, bloggers, and other web masters. It’s free, easy to install and use, and offers thousands of plugins and themes to extend the functionality and customize the look, so that your site is uniquely yours.

But all that open-source goodness brings with it a pretty big risk of being hacked. Here’s why:

• Just like you, malicious hackers can access the code that makes WordPress and its themes and plugins work. That means they can devise ways to gain unauthorized access to your site. These “backdoors” are discovered at an alarming rate, and hacker networks quickly spread the details of each vulnerability, making it easy for others to take advantage.
• No developer licensing board exists. While that’s a good thing for plugin and theme creators, it means site owners are left to decide if a particular plugin developer truly knows his stuff, or if he’s leaving a door wide open for a hacker.
• Millions of sites are powered by WordPress, from tiny little hobby blogs to huge news outlets. The community of developers and passionate users is enormous, so you can always find the help you need, but the sheer volume (60 million sites according to Forbes magazine) makes it a tempting target for hackers.
• Because its so easy to use, WordPress is attractive to those who aren’t tech savvy. Suddenly, everyone has a web presence, but it’s rather like giving a child a car. Without proper training, someone could get hurt.

Should You Be Worried?

If WordPress was truly a security risk, it’s safe to say it would not be the go-to web publishing platform that it is. After all, one in six sites online is running on a WordPress backend, so that alone tells us it’s a reliable tool.

But due diligence is certainly in order for every website owner. That means taking a few simple steps to lock down your site and keep it protected from the bad guys.

Start with Good Installation

Your host probably gives you access to the oh-so-easy “one click installation for WordPress.” It’s tempting, isn’t it? It’s fast. It’s easy. You don’t have to get your hands dirty at all. Just click a button and you’re done.

Please don’t do it.

One click installers are generally a bad idea. Here’s why:

• They may install an out-of-date version of the software. At the time of this writing, Fantastico is installing WordPress version 3.3.1, while the most current version of WordPress is 3.5.1!
• They may not allow you to choose your database name and user, leaving you vulnerable to attack because hackers know the database name these systems use.
• They leave traces of their existence. You can easily search Google for the telltale signs of a Fantastico installation and be rewarded with a list of thousands of blogs which all have that same database name we mentioned.
• They can “help” you by installing additional themes and plugins you don’t need. One hosting company installs more than 100 themes on every “one click” WordPress installation.

So what’s a website owner to do? Install WordPress manually. Choose your own database name, user, and password, and create an admin user with a different user name. It’s not hard to do, and WordPress gives you all the instructions. If you’re not comfortable with the geeky bits (it’s really not that bad) you can hire a virtual assistant to take care of it for you. Just make sure you specify that anyone you hire should not use a one-click installer.

Password Management

When you want to keep your home safe from intruders, you don’t start off by digging a moat. You simply change the locks.

The same is true for WordPress security. The first step is to change the locks. That means updating your passwords to something better than your dog’s name or your spouse’s birthday. Ideally, a password should:

• Be 18 characters minimum
• Contain upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols
• Be unique – never use the same password for two different accounts
• Be un-rememberable – if you know your password, others might, too.

“But,” you’re saying, “how will I remember all my passwords?”

LastPass is a free, secure password management tool that works with any browser. It encrypts and remembers your passwords, and will automatically log you in to every site you visit. The only password you have to remember is your LastPass master password.

Because passwords are encrypted within LastPass, even sophisticated key logging programs won’t be able to detect them as they’re entered. That makes logging in from a public WiFi much more secure.

Don’t forget about your other passwords as well. Your hosting account, domain registrar, and email are all potential points of entry for your online assets, so be sure you’re using strong, unique passwords for all.

User Roles and Capabilities

WordPress has a built in feature to help limit the damage a bad guy can do. It’s called user roles, and the way they work is by allowing you to grant a user only the access he or she needs to do the job at hand. For example, on this blog, I have a user role of “Author.” That means I can log in, create, edit, and publish my own posts. I cannot create pages, add or update plugins or themes, or access the code editor. Should someone gain access to my account, there’s very little they can do to compromise the site.

WordPress user roles are:

• Super Admin – this is the network administrator. He or she has complete access to all WordPress sites within a network.
• Admin – this user is the first that’s created on a single WordPress installation, and has complete control over the site.
• Editor – an editor can publish and manage posts and pages, both his or her own and those that belong to others. He or she cannot access themes, plugins, or the code editor.
• Author – he or she can create, edit, and publish his or her own posts.
• Contributor – a contributor can create and edit his or her own posts, but cannot publish them.
• Subscriber – a subscriber can only read posts, and has no editing capabilities.

You can learn more about roles and capabilities at WordPress.org.

It’s a given, then, that if you have guest posters or others who contribute to your site, you should set them up with the appropriate level of access. But what about you?

While you’re probably logging in as the admin all the time, that can be a potential security risk. A better option is to create another role for yourself – that of Editor, perhaps – and use that identity for your everyday blogging tasks. That way, you don’t have to worry that a hacker who is “listening” as you log in will have admin access to your site.

The same holds true for your hosting account. If you have others who do work for you, there is no reason to give them complete access to your account. For example, if they need to upload a new theme, create an FTP account for them to use. Don’t provide your cPanel user name and password. Always offer the lowest level of access required to get the job done.

A Note About Your Hosting Account

Most hosting providers offer low-cost hosting which they claim includes “unlimited sites, unlimited bandwidth” for less than $10 per month. For someone just starting out, that seems like a great deal. From a security standpoint, though, it is not.

The trouble with hosting multiple sites on a single shared hosting account is that if one site is compromised, they all are.

A better option is to use a host such as MomWebs.com, which provides WHM (Web Host Manager) access, so you can set up each site on its own cPanel account. That helps put a barrier between each site you own, so if one is hacked, the others will be protected. Other hosting companies offer a similar option with their reseller or VPS (virtual private server) plans. The price may be a bit higher per month, but the improved security is worth the cost.

Choosing Safe Plugins and Themes

One of the things that makes WordPress so attractive is the generosity of the development community. Thousands of plugins and themes are freely available to help you create a site that looks and performs exactly the way you want. Of course, that means you’ll eventually stumble upon a few bad eggs, as we saw recently with the Social Media Widget plugin.

While most plugins and themes are safe, but there are a few steps you must take to protect yourself, your website, and your readers:

• Only use plugins and themes from trusted sources. Free plugins and themes should be available on WordPress.org. If they are not, stay away. The folks at WordPress test listed themes and plugins for known security problems, and regularly remove those that no longer comply, so if they only place you can find a particular plugin or theme is from the developer’s own website, find another alternative. Premium plugins and themes should be well supported and well documented.
• Pay attention to security warnings and updates. Conscientious developers respond to vulnerabilities and and threats and update their themes and plugins accordingly.
• Use the tools available to you to monitor your core files for unauthorized changes. See the section below about WordFence.
• Fully inspect any free theme  you intend to use for bad links and other evidence of unscrupulous developers. See the video below for examples of bad theme behavior.

Update Frequently

I cannot say this enough. Most WordPress security issues can be avoided all together if you just keep your site up to date. WordPress updates the core files several times per year, and they let you know right in your dashboard that an update is available. They even give you a one-click update option, so there is no excuse for not keeping your site updated. The same goes for plugins and themes. When a new version is released, it’s critical that you update.

If you’re afraid something might break when you upgrade (that’s pretty rare), you can hire someone else to do the dirty work for you. If a plugin or theme breaks after you upgrade, find a different one. Do not sacrifice your site’s security for the sake of a theme that is out of date and won’t work with the current version of WordPress.

In addition, keep an eye on plugins that aren’t being updated. Plugins and themes are sometimes abandoned by their developers, so if you’ve been using a plugin for a while and it’s never been updated, it’s a good idea to check the WordPress repository to see if it’s still being supported. If it’s not, get rid of it.

Install Plugins Made for Security

Several plugins exist to help WordPress site owners keep their sites safe. One of the best is WordFence, which allows you to:

• Prevent brute force login attempts by locking out users who try to log in with a bad user name.
• Permanently block the IP addresses of known hackers.
• Block unnecessary crawlers and bots that just waste your bandwidth.
• Monitor plugin and theme files for changes.
• Scan comments for malware and known phishing URLs

Better WP Security is another free plugin that does many of the same things WordFence does, but adds another helpful tool: It allows you to hide your WordPress login. Malicious hackers know they can find the login screen on nearly any WordPress installation simply by adding /wp-admin to the end of the domain. Better WP Security lets you change that default location to anything you choose, so your login screen might be found at /open-sesame instead. It’s unlikely that a hacker will discover a hidden login screen, so this plugin helps keep you safe from brute force attacks.

Another important tool included with Better WP Security is the ability to change the admin user name. If you installed WordPress using an automated tool such as Fantastico, you probably have an admin account. Unfortunately, hackers know that the majority of WordPress installations have such an account, and since they already know the user name, all they have to do is guess the password to get in. WordPress does not allow you to chance user names within the dashboard, but Better WP Security adds that functionality.

Make Regular Backups

If, despite all your precautions, your site is hacked, you’ll be in a much better position if you have a backup. Restoring your site from a backup takes minutes, while cleaning up a hack can take hours and cost you hundreds of dollars.

When you back up your site, remember there are two parts you need: the core files and the database. Most automated backup plugins only back up the database. While that’s important, it leaves out all your file uploads (images, MP3 files, PDFs, etc), your themes, and your plugins. A better solution is to use an all-inclusive plugin such as BackupBuddy, which creates a copy of everything and stores it off-site.

Do not make the mistake of thinking your hosting company is handling this for you. They may be making backups, but that is for their convenience, not yours. Their backups are generally only created once per week, they don’t keep multiple copies (so if the copy they have was created after you were hacked, it’s useless to you), and they are stored on the same server as your site, so in the event of a catastrophe (fire, flood, earthquake) your backups will be lost along with your site.

WordPress Security at a Glance

Here’s what you really need to remember about keeping your WordPress sites secure:

1. Use good strong passwords and manage them with an encrypted password tool such as LastPass.
2. Give users only the access they need to get the job done – nothing more.
3. Use plugins and themes only from trusted sources.
4. Update and backup your site frequently.
5. Use WordFence and Better WP Security to help keep the bad guys out.

Malicious hackers are out there, and they’re looking for sites that are vulnerable to attack. By compromising an unsecured WordPress site they can distribute malware and viruses, run illegal phishing scams, send thousands of spam emails, or simply deface and destroy the site for sport.

Employ strong security practices such as those outlined here, and stay up to date on the latest WordPress security threats, and you stand a better chance of keeping your site safe from attack.

Best sixteen minutes and fifty four seconds you could spend being encouraged to be YOU today:

Thank you Erika Napoletano.

Next stop for me, buying her book on Amazon: The Power of Unpopular: A Guide to Building Your Brand for the Audience Who Will Love You (and why no one else matters)

Every year D’vorah Lansky of Digital Publishing Cafe brings together a team of book industry experts to share their experience and message.  Since self publishing and digital publishing is growing at an exciting rate, I wanted to share it with you.

There will be fourteen interactive workshop sessions in three content areas:

• eBook Creation and Publication Workshops
• Content Creation and Multimedia Workshops
• Book Marketing Strategies for Your Book

Check out the Speaker Line Up:

• Jim Edwards: Write Your Ebook To Publish And Sell On Amazon Kindle
• Val Waldeck: How to Prepare and Publish Your Books for Amazon’s Kindle
• David Wogahn: Publishing to Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords
• John S. Rhodes: The Print-on-Demand Revolution
• Kristen Eckstein: When & How to Turn Your eBook into Print
• Jason Matthews: Why Google Plus Hangouts are the Way to Go
• Bob Jenkins: Grow Your Business with Teleseminar Conversations
• David Perdew: eBook Editing for Maximum Profit
• Dr. Jeanette Cates: Magnify Your Message with PowerPoint
• Alex Mozes and Danielle Leslie: How to Create a Course with Udemy and Earn $$
• Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart: Successful Book Launch Strategies
• Connie Ragen Green: Become a Kindle Bestseller in 30 Minutes a Day
• Susan Baroncini-Moe: Leveraging Influencers to Sell More Books
• Sandra Beckwith: How to Build Buzz for Your eBook

Interested in digital publishing?  I’ve published a few items on the Kindle platform recently and I’m encouraged by the results.  It’s clear we need finesse to make the most of it and events like this one help show us the way.

You gotta love virtual events, listening from the comfort of home, attending live or catching up on your own schedule. (That’s my preference – usually at the gym!)

Get registered for the eBook Publishing Boot Camp here.

P.S. Look for more from D’vorah here on Sparkplug CEO soon, we’re going to be a stop on her next virtual book tour to launch “21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour”.

Do you get stressed out when someone brings up the topic of Outsourcing?  I’ll admit I used to.  In the early days I had more time than money. I couldn’t imagine paying someone else to do what I could do myself.  Thankfully things changed on that front.

Eventually, if business grows the way you hope, you’ll wake up one morning with a hunger to outsource.  When that day comes, you’ll be ready! I’ve just booked the first Sparkplugging Community Webinar on this very topic.

Outsourcing IS The Ultimate Focusing Power Tool.

My guest is a prime example of what outsourcing can do for someone who works at home but doesn’t want to be tied down for long hours.  Nicole Dean manages a thriving internet business (See Nicole on the Net to learn more about her.) that earns for her 24-7, but she doesn’t WORK 24-7.

She’s willing to come share some of her best Outsourcing Tips and Tricks with us so I’ve booked her to do it!

Join us Wednesday, April 24th at 1:00pm Eastern

• Step One: Register Here.
• Step Two: Confirm Your Email.
• Step Three: Sit back and wait for your login info when the day comes.
• Step Four: Tell everyone you know about the Webinar. (This is optional – but oh so appreciated.)

This is the first of many info packed free business webinars we’re offering here at Sparkplugging.  You’ll only have to register this once. So long as you stick with us you’ll continue to receive invites to future webinars and access to all of the replays.

Wahoo!  Sparkplugging is indeed back

We’re going to agree to forget the last few years of uncomfortable silence between us ever existed and move ahead like the best of friends.  Sound good to you?  Good!

If you’re a long time Sparkplugging fan, you’ve no doubt noticed that many of the blogs have been removed.  We’ve definitely cleaned house and will continue to do so.  I apologize in advance for any dead links you run into while you’re exploring – I promise to find and fix them as soon as possible.

What To Expect:

Fresh Content From Fantastic People:  I am seeking out new regular contributors and guest bloggers.  If you’re a work at home business owner and have a story, strategy or tool to share, please use the contact form to get in touch about submitting something.

Group Writing Projects:  This has always been a favorite here at Sparkplugging.  I’ll be posting questions and topics that you can respond to if you like.  (I love putting the spotlight on you!)

New Sparkplugging Podcast:  Yes!  I’ve been looking forward to facilitating a hot new round table style podcast and it’s finally going to happen here at Sparkplugging.

New Community Webinars:  I’ve know some of the smartest business owners on the planet and I’m going to be tapping them as guests for a new series of webinars for our Sparkplugging Community.  (They’ll be free – just drop your name and email in the box on our sidebar to gain access and advance notice of all topics.)

Update: Our first webinar is scheduled, you can register here!

Dates & Details Coming Soon!

I’d love to have everything ready for you today – but alas, a girl has to sleep

In the meantime, if you’d like to say ‘Hurray! This all sounds awesome!’ you can like Sparkplugging on Facebook – or leave a comment below.

Could your home based business use some help? A little jolt to make you jump for joy?

We thought so.

Here it is, all free and all organized. Start clicking!

How to Start a Home Based Business

10 Signs that You are Ready to Start a Home Based Business – How to know if it’s truly time to hang up those shiny work shoes and trade them for your favorite flip flops.

Top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start and Run in Your Underwear – Our all-time most popular article here at Sparkplugging, and with good reason. It’s a starter list of ideas anyone can use to get up and running in a home biz.

10 More Work at Home Internet Business Ideas You Can Do in Your Fuzzy Bunny Slippers – In case you prefer the mental imagery of cute rabbit feet over scratchy long johns (or whatever usually snuggles your undercarriage).

The Truth about Starting a Home Based Business – And the truth shall set you free!

Find the Right Home-Based Business to Start – With so many ideas floating around in your noggin, how will you know which one is the best? This guide will get you started on the right track.

How to Quit Your Job to Run a Home Based Business

10 Signs that You Should Quit Your Job to Work at Home – Wondering whether you should stick it to your boss? This article will help you decide.

How to Leave Your Job & Take the Freelance Plunge in 6 Months – A great mid- to long-term strategy to get you out of the cubicle and onto your living room couch.

How to Achieve Home Based Business Success

Top Ten Key Success Ingredients for Home Based Businesses – What really goes into making up a successful business for work at home folks.

10 Free Resources to Start or Grow a Home Based Business – Because this list can’t possibly hold them all. Hop on over to that post for even more helpful links.

A Productive and Organized Home Office – How to create a work space that actually helps you work.

Why do Entrepreneurs Need Inspiration? – Thoughts on the power of inspiration in determining your level of professional success.

The Virtual Assistant A Team: The Helpers to Business Success – How and where to assemble an awe-inspiring team of VAs to help you automate as much of your own business processes as possible.

How to Overcome Stress and Failure in Home Based Business

10 Questions to Ask Yourself When You Feel Your Home Based Business is Failing – We all struggle with feelings of failure at some point. Here are 10 great questions to ask yourself to help you respond to and overcome those feelings.

Top Ten Working from Home Mistakes – Do you make any of these errors in your work at home business?

More Tips for Home Based Businesses

18 Amazing Articles to Help You Work at Home – Yes, even more articles to help you out! We’re pulling out all the stops with this article.

How to Show Up in the Google Local Business Directory – This can be a great way to strengthen your brand, increase traffic to your business website, and grow your business.

When we think Calendars, we often think our personal calendars, using it to manage our promotional calendar or share with our virtual assistants or project partners. But it doesn’t always have to be that ‘dry’. Many marketers online use PDF’s, videos and audios to get their message out, hope they turn viral which eventually brings traffic back to their web sites and their name in front of others. This method works and works well. Guess what? Content can be in other formats too like calendars.

Here are a few example ideas I came up with that you can use a shared Google Calendar to help promote your web site or business.

• If you are a speaker, publish a speaking schedule. You are probably already doing that through Google Calendar already. Maybe you are publishing the calendar to your website. If you are, people can also subscribe to the calendar via Google Calendars or iCal. Promote and publish those links too.
• Is your site or blog all about soccer? Create a calendar around the different soccer matches either around the world or the locality that your readers are most interested in. Let them know how they can subscribe to that calendar.
• Maybe your visitors are mostly business people or marketers. How about creating a calendar that shows when quarterly taxes are due, a reminder when to start their holiday marketing planning and when to start promoting? Enter the dates and weeks of holidays and observances they can use for promotions.
• Similarly, if your visitors are moms, how about a calendar with suggestions of places to visit, things to do, seasonal reminders or shopping and menu plans.
• If you are a coach. Create a calendar around a program let’s say, a 60 day organizing program that users can subscribe to and they be reminded or things they need to do each day or each week to help them move along.

Use your imagination. Think of the calendar as a free reminder tool for your visitors. Remember that you can enter a link in Google Calendar entries. This can encourage subscribed users to click through to visit your site, an offer or simply lead people to read old but timely posts.

Don’t think it would work? This is the third year I am creating a calendar for bloggers of the many blogging opportunities throughout the year. It is very popular and I get people asking when it will be updated each year. Great tool to keep you in front of your audience at all times through the year as well. You can get a PDF copy of this calendar as an example for your own project. This year, I will be creating both PDF and a online ‘live’ version using Google Calendar.

Image courtesy of yalcin Eren

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

It has been so many years since I’ve used Excel. These days, OpenOffice Calc is used exclusively around here. Still, I can’t deny there are some pretty cool things about Excel. Not saying Calc is not a good tool, there are just a lot of cool features and functions that I miss. Also, documentation and help is a little sparse with Ooo. I’m far from a spreadsheet guru. I can create formulas in spreadsheets and use it to help tabulate a bunch of stuff – my household budget is run on a spreadsheet, but that’s about it. Guess I just never found the reason to chart stuff until today…

After paying a visit to Pointy Haired Dilbert’s blog. WHOA! Now this guy can chart! From cool management dashboards to project management to creating a Twitter client with Excel? Now that is something interesting.

He’s also got a bunch of downloadable templates you can grab and utilize for your business. Kinda want to make me finally break down and get a copy of Excel. Well… maybe I’ll just go make a dashboard. That’s something I’ve found that I need to keep me on track lately.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

This is a guest post by Scott Tousignant

Would you like to get more done in less time with your work-at-home business so you can spend more time with your family doing the things that you enjoy most in life? Do you often dream of a balanced lifestyle that brings you success in wealth, health, and your relationships?

It’s time to make those dreams a reality so you can get on living the life that you deserve. The best part… it’s easier than you may think.

The key to increased productivity is to optimize your brain function. The more focused, alert, and efficient your brain operates, the quicker you will be able to get through your daily tasks.

The most effective tool that you can use to optimize your brain is exercise. But you don’t need to spend hours in the gym in order to boost your brain-power and increase your productivity. You only need 10 minutes.

Let’s put it to the test. I challenge you to take a 10-minute quickie break from the computer. Come on now… I know that you’ve got 10-minutes. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

Here’s a fast and fun home office cardio workout that you can do right now. No excuses! It doesn’t require any equipment, it doesn’t require much space, and it doesn’t require much time.

OK, so how did it feel? Were your legs burning? Was your heart racing? Awesome!

Now it’s time to get back to work, feeling more energized and focused. You needed that break didn’t you? You feel pretty darn good about yourself to… right?

Please do me a favor and take mental notes on how this quickie 10-minute cardio session impacts the rest of your day. How it improves your productivity, quality of work, and time management.

Aside from your home business, I would love for you to share how the quickie home office cardio impacts your family. Did you have more energy to play with your kids or grandchildren?

The benefits of incorporating home office fitness into your workday are nearly limitless. This is a balanced lifestyle approach. You are using quick fitness to improve your business and quality time with your family. You really can have it all, and you deserve it! Begin today and experience a transformation in your business, fitness, and life.

You ROCK! Enjoy the experience!

Scott Tousignant, BHK has been helping busy work-at-home-moms and dads improve their #1 asset (HEALTH) for over a decade. Scott’s balanced and practical approach to fitness helps busy homepreneurs get more done in less time so you can spend more time doing what you enjoy most in life.

Backed by years of experience and the application of his education in human kinetics, Scott created Fat Loss Quickie, the fast fun home office fitness experience that will quickly transform you into the super-focused, highly productive, beautiful person you really are!

Now it doesn’t matter how busy you are… You’ll never have to neglect your health again!

Don’t you just hate it when someone sends you a file you cannot open? Lately, one of the annoying file formats that has popped up for me is .docx. Thankfully, Gmail does that. I love the fact that I can open most files directly in Gmail without downloading but that’s another post altogether. So you have a file on your hands you can’t open and just don’t want to install a clunky piece of software just to open it. What can you do?

If get these type of files often, you might want to have the OpenIT plugin for Firefox or Internet Explorer. It helps you open and edit documents without installing the software.

Give Zamzar a go. This is one of my favorites. Converts a boat load of file types. The list is huge. It’s also super easy to use, Upload the file, choose the output format, they’ll email you the converted document. It is free and they also have premium options that allow you to store the files and also use secure connection.

I’ve also discovered YouConvertIt. The converting online video option is cool.

Ever lost the original Word document to your PDF file? Or maybe a client wants to update a very old PDF and do not have access to the Word document anymore? Try PDFtoWord.

Hope they help and you can finally uninstall that pesky software you hardly use but ‘keep around’ just so you can open certain files.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

Tonight (Tuesday the 15th) at 9pm I’m kicking off a six week group coaching program that will lead a group of bloggers and new internet marketers through the steps to develop, promote and sell an entry level information product.

The program is my 42 Day Launch Incubator.  I created the curriculum last year, led my first group to great success and then made the whole thing available as a self study course.  The group coaching option is only available two or three times a year and I would love to have you join me for this session.

I know that there are literally hundreds of you reading this who have been thinking hard about creating an info product.  I don’t normally put a lot of pressure on you – but I want to apply some right now – fall is a great time to create a new product.

Maybe you want to create something like…

• A Beginner’s Guide to a Frugal Holiday Season
• Ten Simple Steps to Total Computer Security
• Sixteen Homeschool Science Projects Under $10 Each
• Top Blogging Secrets: How The Pros Get More Readers
• Five Videos You Should Star In This Fall And How It Will Help You Promote Your ________.
• Common Social Media Blunders And How To Come Back From Them
• Web Time Wasters: Tips for Getting More Done Online
• Turning a Wipeout into a Win!
• Top Guest Blogging Strategies For Traffic & Profits

Whatever it is that you’ve been thinking about sharing with others, I can help you chunk up the process and get it done at last.

Come check it out.

If you think “Direct Sales” means “One of Those Home Party Deals” think again. Home parties is only one of a plethora of platforms in which direct sales performs best.

Before I proceed, the caveat here is that if youre considering starting a direct sales business or are already in DS, please consultant with individual company policies and procedures to determine what methods are permissible for you.

I represent Scentsy and my private website is Thriving Candle Business. Our company is extremely forward thinking when it comes to innovation and ingenuity.  I know there are other direct selling companies who also embrace this philosophy.

My claim to fame (one of them, anyway) is that I have never done a home party or a book party since I started with Scentsy in 2006.  Thusly I know of what I speak when I say that there are plenty of home party alternatives that direct sellers can employ and still be very successful.

Whether you cant seem to get home party bookings or you simply dont have the desire for them, here are some suggestions on other ways you may be able to succeed in your direct sales business.

1. Internet Marketing. If you’re an Internet Marketer, you know of all the various techniques you can use.  The same holds true for direct sales.  If you’re not terribly experienced with Internet marketing but would love to learn, I highly recommend The Complete Internet Marketing Moms Start Up Guide!
2. Vendor Events. Vendor events could consist of a $10 table at a three-hour event or it could be a multiple-day event that could come with a financial investment of hundreds of dollars for a booth.
3. Displays. Set up a small display at a salon, apartment complex, office building, or other location that gets a great deal of foot traffic. We are not permitted to retail out of said locations but are allowed to set up a candle warmer, candle bar, room spray, car candle, scent samples and business cards.  The business owner may want to act as the hostess and collect orders or perhaps customers will just enjoy your products, take a business card and order online.
4. Fundraisers. Ensure it is a win/win situation.  If you can also make enough profit (not just break even) to cover your time and expenses, fundraisers can be a great way to gain additional exposure.  Too often though I see consultants give away the farm to a point where it actually is costing her money to put on a fundraiser with her company  – all in the name of acquiring new potential customers.
5. Advertising and PR. The former comes with a financial investment and the latter is generally free but requires something newsworthy to get noticed.  Both can provide a wonderful boost to your business if targeted properly.
6. One at a time. Most direct sellers will agree that home parties still afford you the opportunity to sell to many in a short amount of time.  If, however, that doesn’t work for you, remember how to eat an elephant  – one bite at a time!

As you see, Direct Sales doesn’t always have to mean One of Those Home Party Deals. Hopefully that will give you a little food for thought and perhaps cause you to take a second look at one of the fastest growing industries today!

I’m well known for hating on the almighty Mac.  I’m a PC lover from way back when and that will probably never change… so why is Apple making so much headway in my home office?

First, I do have an iMac on my desk – used mostly for media consumption.  I watch internet television and web video as well as listen to hours and hours of podcasts each week.  The iMac wins it’s space because it doesn’t take up much and it runs like a horse, never giving me a moments trouble.

I’ve always used a Microsoft keyboard with the Mac because I hate hate hate the Apple keyboard and mouse that came with it.  But today, Apple won a little more desktop space with this awesome little bluetooth keyboard:

Look at how little space it takes up!  Since I don’t need to use a keyboard on the Mac often – it is easy to slip out of the way and pull out when I need it.

And come on – it is seriously a sexy little thing

Next up – I’ve just become a giddy new iPhone user.

I honestly didn’t plan to use an iPhone.  I’ve been happy with my BlackBerry Curve over the last two years – but then my son introduced me to surfing on his iPod Touch and I had what he calls a ‘nerd-gasm’.  It’s truly amazing.

I’ll miss the ‘real’ qwerty keyboard that the BlackBerry offers.  Thumbing the iPhone’s touch screen is taking some getting used to – but I have already fallen in love with it and the ever enticing AppStore.

Look at how the big screened iPhone in a pink wave case mocks the little BB…

Poor little BB.

What can I say?  I’ve being tempted by the Apple.

Today I am sore as sore can be. I spent most of my weekend filling up a dumpster full of trash, junk, and things I haven’t used in over 3 years. By the end of the day, I was downright embarrassed at how much crap we had stuffed away in a garage, barn and basement. But I also felt elated to finally be rid of it all.

This weekend also seems to sum up 2009 for me. I’ve severed business relationships that were taking more than they were giving. I’ve spun off several blogs from Sparkplugging that just didn’t fit the small business niche. I’ve dumped toxic people out of my life. I’ve stopped pursuing PR opportunities. I’m turning down speaking gigs. And I’ve stopped doing anything for my business that doesn’t have a tangible ROI (Return on Investment).

Like I said last week, I’ve never been happier, or more profitable.

A Silver Lining in Almost Losing it All

If there was a silver lining in my health scare this spring, it was that it forced me to cut the dead weight in my business & life and focus only on things that matter: my family, my happiness and my financial security. And I will be the first to admit that it probably took facing a potentially deadly diagnosis for me to be willing to let go of so much.

It’s not a path I recommend, truthfully.

But I do recommend getting rid of crap in your business and your life that isn’t directly making you happier, healthier, or richer. I might have more dead weight to cut – but I’m flying higher than ever now that I’m not carrying around so much baggage that was holding me back. And that includes a dumpster full of junk that is now out of my house!

So This Week is all About the UN-To-Do List!

Do you have anything you do that you’ve realized isn’t really worth the time and effort you’re putting into it? Do you have clients you should have fired months ago? Do you go to events that produce no good leads? Do you spend time socializing networking online instead of getting work done?

At this point, I’m kind of hard pressed to come up with another thing I need to get rid of – but I can think of one conversation I’ve been putting off that I MUST have this week. And it will determine the future of one of the bigger projects on my plate.

So this week, I promise I will have that conversation, or Kiva gets $100.

So what are you NOT going to do this week?

Remember to check out the stories, conversations and $5,000 sweeps at You.Propelled on DivineCaroline, as they have sponsored this series of posts that has been getting my butt into gear this fall!