That’s not true if you know where to look. You can have a customized blog for free.

I’ve made this step by step tutorial for newbies and pro bloggers alike who want to jazz up their blogs a bit.

This tutorial is for WordPress blogs that are hosted with it’s own URL (read part one
“How To Start A Blog” if you’re not sure what hosted means)

If you’re at this stage, you should have WordPress already installed on your website. Let’s begin..

Pimp My Blog

WordPress comes standard with the TwentyTen theme which looks like this when you type in your blog’s URL.

This is the theme I will customize.

As you can see, it looks pretty *yawn* boring. You may want to change the header picture and the colors to suit your taste and branding. The TwentyTen theme is the standard theme when anyone installs WordPress so it’s already active once WordPress starts running on your website.

Changing The Header Image

Log into your WordPress administration panel. If you’ve forgotten, it’s usually www.yoursite.com/wp-admin

Once inside, select “Appearance” tab and then “Header” tab.

It should now show you the current header image. It also says images 940 x 198 pixels will be used as-is. So keep your header images to this size and it should fit nicely.

Most of you may not have Photoshop to make header images (and Paint is too basic), but don’t worry, there are online banner makers to use for free.

The ones I know of are www.puresilvabannermaker.com and www.bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php

Whether you choose Puresilva or BannerFans, when doing the sizing of the header images, make sure it’s 940 by 198 pixels. That’s 940 width by 198 height.

Both banner makers are easy to use. Just type in your website URL, name or whatever you want written, choose the color, size and font. You can add your own image or a stock color background for your banner.

Once you’re happy with the banner you’ve made, save it to your computer. Go back to your WordPress admin panel. Go “Appearance” tab and then “Header” tab. Click “Choose File” and upload the banner/header image that you just made.

Once that’s done, click “Visit Your Site” to see if you like it.

Adding a Background Image or Changing The Background Color

Under “Appearance” tab, select “Background”. If you want to upload a background tile or image, select “Choose File”. If you want a colored background, click “Select A Color” or enter the hex color code that you want.

What’s a hex color code? Hexadecimal codes are 6 digit alpha-numeric code which represents a color. Usually written with a # symbol at the front. Knowing your website or logo’s hex code will make life easier because you can always get the exact color match (think uniform background and logo colors) which is great for branding.

The code never changes – regardless of which website you use it on. For example, white is represented by #FFFFFF whereas black is always represented by #000000

Here’s a free hex color code generator: http://www.2createawebsite.com/build/hex-colors.html

Deleting The WordPress Tagline

Some people don’t mind the tagline but others feel that it sticks out like a sore thumb. If you want to get rid of it, select “Settings” and then “General” tab.

Delete the tagline and click “Update” to save.

Now refresh your website and have a look, the tagline should be gone.

Getting Rid Of Top & Bottom Black Header Image Bars

The TwentyTen theme comes with standard top and bottom bars (which includes the menu bar) that only comes in black. If you want to change the color to match your logo or background, here’s how:

Select “Appearance” tab, then “Editor” tab. Currently, the file you’re looking at should be style.css (if not, select it from the right hand panel).

On your keyboard, hold the Control key (“Ctrl”) and letter “F” and type in the line “branding img”, press enter twice to get to the second “branding img” line (there are two in there – you want the second one). This makes the line much faster to find than going through each line one by one – especially if you’re not familiar with CSS code.

Change the hex code for border top and bottom, as well as for access. Then “Update File” to save.

Now have a look at your website to see if you’re happy with the colors.

How To Add Pages Into The Menu Panel

Select “Page” tab, then click on “Add New” tab.

Now name your page where I’ve circled the “About Us” section. Add content if you want (or you can leave it blank and come back later to change) and click on “Publish” button to get the page live. The name you give your page will also be the URL of the page.

For example, if you name the page “Contact Us“, the URL will automatically be www.yoursite.com/contact-us and show up on your website’s menu bar.

Changing The Menu Navigation Bar Color

Now that I’ve changed the black header image bars and menu bars to blue, and created a new page called “Sample Page”, when I look at the website, the grey font now looks really faint against the blue bar. I also want it to change color when I hover my mouse over it.

Select “Appearance” tab and then “Editor” tab. Hold down Control & F keys and find “access a” and “access ul ul :hover”

Change the hex colors to the ones you want for both the bars and the fonts.

Refresh your website to see if you like the changes.

Below is an example of what the menu bar looks like after the changes were made:

Changing The TwentyTen Theme Footer Bar Color

Not all themes have this footer bar, but the standard WordPress TwentyTen theme does. I don’t mind it, but if you want the color of it to change and match the rest of the website, here’s how.

Select “Appearance” tab and then “Editor” tab. Hold down Control & F keys and find the second “#colophon” and change the hex color.

Then update file to see changes on your site.

How To Remove The ‘Powered By WordPress’ Logo & Link

Some say it’s not nice to remove it but I’ll have to admit, taking it out actually makes the site look more professional. Plus I don’t mind taking it out, because I love WordPress and write about them in my posts recommending them over Blogger – so that far outweighs not having their logo on the bottom of my site.

Select “Appearance” tab and then “Editor” tab. On the menu on the right-hand panel, select “Footer.php”

Hold down Control & F keys and find “div id=”site-generator” OR find the section of code below that I’ve highlighted (click on image below for full view of code).

Delete that whole section and update to save changes.

Refresh your website to see the change.

Giving A Color Background To The Sidebar Widget

I personally don’t like how the TwentyTen theme sidebar is white and undefined (as in no border around it) so if you want to give the sidebar navigation a background color to make it stand out, here’s how.

Select “Appearance” tab and then “Editor” tab. On the menu on the right-hand panel, select “Style.css”

Hold down Control & F keys and find the first “secondary” word you come across.

Copy and paste over the existing code with this code below and put in the hex color you want:

#secondary {
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #FFFFFF ;
float: right;
overflow: hidden;
padding-left: 0;
padding-top: 10px;
width: 280px;}

Next, hold down Control & F keys and find the third “widget-area ul” and change the margin-left number like below. Do the same for the second “container” you find.

Then click “Update File” to save. Now refresh your website and see if you’re happy with the changes.

FINALLY.. have a look at the result!

Now this looks much more interesting and lively than before – and customized too. The colors are just an example. You can go for a more professional look with greys and blacks or use a green color scheme for eco websites. The sky is the limit!

Check out a variation of the TwentyTen theme below the blue one.

Here’s one I did for a website made for kids:

Hope this guide helps! Any comments or questions are welcome.

Zoe

But this is not the type of bullying that exists in schools. Schools are artificial playgrounds that do not represent the real world. Kids are bullied because they’re different, or because they look different. Bullies may have come from broken homes and experienced abuse themselves.
Some kids bully just to be popular, or they do it because of peer pressure. The psychological reasonings behind school bullying is different to adult, work-related bullying.

This article isn’t just for people who get targeted by assholes at work, it’s also for people who get targeted by assholes in business. Yes, they do exist when you’re self employed too (but thankfully you don’t have to hire them). Assholes exist in every industry and niche, but thankfully, they’re not common.

People who are self-employed have the luxury of being able to choose who they want to work with and who they hire. If they are mobile entrepreneurs, they have the luxury of being able to leave any place where assholes are too much to bear. If the asshole in question is a supplier, manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, shipper, client, coach or whom ever, business owners can choose not to deal with them.

With employees, it’s different. The ability to choose is limited. You don’t want to leave your job, but the asshole is making your life hard. It’s even worse if your boss IS the asshole. So being an employee who becomes the target of work place bullying is tough. Employees are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Believe it or not, 50% of employees in the US have experienced some form of work place bullying in their lives.

Unlike schoolyard bullying, work-related bullying doesn’t involve fists and fights. In trying to appear mature, the adult bully uses words and non-verbal actions to cut their victims down. In fact, surveys show that the people assholes target aren’t victims at all. Yes, you read that right: NOT victims.

A bit strange isn’t it? Don’t bullies usually pick on weaklings? That’s what I mean by the difference between bullying of children in schools versus adults at work. Child or teenage bullies go for the weaklings that they know won’t fight back, usually loners or someone physically smaller. Assholes at work target people for their strengths, even people who are sociable and well liked.

The People Assholes Target
Assholes usually target people who are the most skilled person in the group, as they see them as a threat. Studies show that 80% of assholes are usually bosses, while 15-20% of assholes are same level role employees (or rivals).

The targets are usually more qualified or more intelligent – even if they are of a lower employment rank. Targets are usually warm and optimistic folks whom customers, clients and other co-workers are drawn to. Generally, they are helpful people which others go to for guidance – especially new workers. They’re well liked, sociable and most likely to possess better emotional intelligence. Targets are also independent thinkers, and refuse to be subservient. Because of these traits, they also tend to be more ethical and honest. Whistleblowers who expose corrupt companies are usually targets of bullying because they fit the bill of a target. Targets also dislike conflict and aggression so assholes take advantage of this – they will usually continue with the bullying if nothing is done.

The People Assholes Won’t Target (Because They’re Cowards)
You will rarely see a work bully target their boss or manager or anyone who is more powerful than they are. Not surprising. They won’t bite the hand that feeds them but will bite those beneath them. This is a true test of someone’s character:

• How do they treat their same level co-workers?
• How do they treat their subordinates or assistants?
• How do they treat service workers like waitresses, cleaners, checkout operators and so on.

If they only treat their bosses well (or people who are richer and more powerful), but treats their peers like dirt, it’s a really good indicator of their TRUE character. People should do this with people they want to date. Watch how he or she treats the waiting staff at a restaurant. If they treat them with disrespect, imagine how they will treat you in ten years?

The Asshole(s) Modus Operandi
You don’t need to yell or raise your voice to be mean. Some assholes do yell and scream, but the toxic ones are the silent assholes that cuts targets down with stealth. What behaviors do they use against targets?

• Ignore targets or pretend they’re invisible
• Make personal remarks and attacks
• Use jokes to deliver insults
• Spread rumors
• Threats and intimidation
• Invading a target’s territory or personal space
• Purposely interrupting or wasting a target’s time
• Dirty looks and other rude gestures
• Career sabotage via email
• Publicly humiliating targets
• Ineffective training to sabotage work
• Two-faced attacks
• Belittling and disrespecting targets

I know there are more – that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

How To Take The Asshole Out
Firstly, you need to recognize that it isn’t your fault that people are assholes. Assholes are born or conditioned to be the miserable people that they are. They see you as a threat. Whether you are or not, is not your problem, it’s theirs.

Stop worrying about what you did or didn’t do to invoke attack. You did nothing wrong. People who attack over their own paranoia are illogical and emotionally immature, let them fester in their own dark thoughts and you go and focus on how to make your life better.

Admitting to be a target does not mean you’re a weakling, nor does being targeted mean you are one. In fact the total opposite is true (as stated above under “The Types Assholes Target”). Assholes target people they see as a threat. Don’t let them make you unhappy to the point where it turns you into one of them – which means they’ve won in that case – and we don’t want that!

Self Preservation:

• Ignore the asshole back, pretend they’re paint on the wall. If they ignore you, don’t keep on saying hello or being polite for the sake of pleasing them. Walk past them as though they’re nothing but the faint echoes of a fart.
• Since they lack emotional intelligence, you might as well treat them like inanimate objects – imagine a rock. If you have to deal with them verbally, be civil and talk as emotionless and as cold as you can.
• Show them that you’re not easily affected or offended by them. They get off on seeing their targets feel pain after being offended or humiliated – don’t give them that pleasure.
• Don’t invite them to anything social. Being nice to them won’t make them stop bullying, so stop trying to be their buddy.
• Be knowledgeable, on your game, dress for success, work smart and deliver results. Assholes win if they can manage to affect your performance, so don’t let them lower you to that point. You win if you shine and succeed, and it’ll make them even MORE upset because you’ve become more threatening. Jealousy is a curse and far more painful to them than you can imagine.

If the situation is out of hand (like if they threaten your safety, they physically hit you or you’re having suicidal thoughts) then it is time to leave the job – for the sake of your health and emotional state. No job is worth the stress or risk to personal safety. Your employer should be providing a safe place to work. Unless your company gets rid of the asshole(s), or you get promoted or moved to another department, there’s no point in staying if it means having assholes tear you down emotionally for a paycheck. Speak to the HR department or your boss to see if anything can be done about these people. Only go to HR if you’re confident that they will be confidential with your case and not blab your situation to the offending assholes. If your boss is the perpetrator, take it to the head honcho.

The Four Additional Options:
1. If they’re making you physically ill by stressing you out, it’s time you consider a new job.
Hatch a plan of escape. Find new work before you quit. Have your family, friends or your partner support you emotionally. Tell them how it’s affecting you and that you need their support.

Go counselling if it helps. Join forums and groups that will provide a network of emotional support while you transition. Having emotional support from other people helps. There is a high chance of being fired when targeted (either through reporting the asshole to managers or assholes trying to get you fired) so make it so you’re in control of your job by finding another job and leaving with your head held high. Targets who get bullied and then fired have a double-whammy of trauma to deal with.
By leaving because you’ve found another job or venture (like blogging ) will give you assurance and confidence. Leave proudly, not in shame!

2. Sue if the company you work for is too weak to fire the asshole. In the US, it’s called “negligent retention”. Only do this if the company you work for knows about the bullying but does nothing about it and you’ve sought legal advice. Remember to document the attacks and document any health problems arising from the emotional distress.

In Australia, you can take out an AVO (Apprehended Violence Orders) against the asshole – even if the violence is of a non-physical nature. AVOs will legally force the asshole off the premises of where you work – which will cost them their income and career. If you live in other countries, find a good employment lawyer and seek out any legal avenues to put a stop to the bullying.

3. Flush out the asshole to the company. On average, trying to get an asshole fired will usually result in getting the target fired, but it is a path some are willing to take. Show the big bosses of the company why the asshole is costing the business money and productivity. They don’t care much about your emotional trauma, they will care most about how the asshole is making them lose money. If you can document it with numbers, even better. Don’t cry and get all emotional.

Looking like a mess will make them want to fire you instead, as you’ll look emotionally unstable! If they’re too pathetic to flush the asshole out, then it’s not a company you want to work for anyway. Make sure to have a backup job to go to if this plan fails. A good result is seeing them move departments. A great result will be having the asshole leave.

4. Confront the asshole. Sometimes confronting them might work (only if you’re extroverted and don’t mind confronting situations). Most targets are not aggressive or confronting types so that works to the asshole’s advantage. But if you just cannot take it anymore and want to confront them, try it without raising your voice or becoming emotional. Why? Being emotional makes people think you’re irrational or fearful (and boy do they love being feared). By being calm and logical, you look like you’re in control of yourself and the situation. It’ll make the asshole more afraid of you. Be civil and calm – even if they’re off their head.

In fact, if you’re calm and the asshole is acting like a screeching banshee, the company and your peers are going to lose respect for the asshole. Make sure you have all your points of what you want to say sorted out, before you approach them. If they try to ignore you, make it firm and clear that you want to speak to them. Do it publicly if you have to.

Here’s a tip: Lowering and deepening your voice with a hint of seriousness whilst being calm commands more respect – women can do this too, you don’t have to make your voice out to be like a man, just a deeper, serious version of your natural voice.

Love Thy Self

What ever you do, don’t feel guilty. It’s not your fault and you don’t need to feel sorry for these people. Your number one priority is YOU and your health (physical and emotional). Which ever option you choose, the result should be this: don’t let some external stranger affect your life and how you feel about yourself. No one is allowed to do that unless you believe the bovine excrement coming from these assholes.

Zoe

Why do people fear failure so much? It’s because if you fail once, it looks bad, but if you fail twice, no one will trust your judgement again.

But did you know the people who failed are not the losers? Is that possible?

Yes, because at least these people tried. They at least gave it a shot. They got up, risked failing but did it anyway. They faced their fears. Perhaps they didn’t win but they didn’t die regretting. History may not glorify – and even put down – those who have failed, but there’s a class of people who are even bigger failures.

What’s Worse Than Failure?

Inaction, doing nothing, never starting, stagnation, all talk no action, being in the comfort zone (possibly forever.)

Those who are worser off than those who have failed, are the ones who are too afraid to even begin.

History never picks on these people because there are so many of them. You see them everywhere. They’re the ones who tell you what they want to do, how they wish they could have more, how they wish they could follow their dreams – but the moment you ask them “why don’t you go for your dreams?” they’ll fire back with awesome excuses or blank promises of doing something about it “one day.”

Yeah it’s easy to pick on the guy who tried but failed miserably. But the man who died with his dreams unfulfilled because of inaction is a bigger loser. Yep you heard that right.
A bigger loser than a failure.

I admire failures, not because they’ve failed but because at least they stuck their necks out to give something a red hot go. Whatever venture it is, it’s not easy risking it all for your goals and dreams. It’s not easy getting out of your comfort zone or security blanket and wade into unknown waters. Majority of people want the safe route, they’ll settle for mediocrity rather risk trying and failing.

Why? Because failing is scary. Hell I was afraid of failing. Our society has made failing a label left for the unfortunate. But seriously, the only failure you need to worry about is your health.
Other than that, it’s OKAY to fail as long as you give it all you’ve got.

People who have failed took the courage to go for what they wanted. It’s friggin hard if the odds are stacked against you. And if you manage to succeed then fantastic! If not, congratulations because you did something interesting with your life rather than sit there talking about it.
People who have tried need to recognize that doing something is better than doing NOTHING.

Nothing would be accomplished if everyone decided that doing something hard but rewarding, taking a risk or going for their dreams is too expensive, too difficult, too time consuming,
or [insert their excuse here].

Few people realize that successful people are also failures.

People who have managed to lose weight and stay slim have had moments of failure where they regained a few pounds or kilos. If they had given up, they wouldn’t be the shape they are today.

People who have wonderful relationships with their partner or family have worked hard to maintain these bonds. They made sure they were reliable and trustworthy. They kept their promises. They were there for the people they care about. They might have had to make compromises or sacrifices for these people. They didn’t give up on a relationship because they had an argument or because it’s “too hard” to make it work. Either way, they worked on their relationship and didn’t take the ones they love for granted.

People who are wealthy investors or business owners may have failed at other ventures or investments before they finally “made it.” Many financially wealthy people began with nothing. Some have failed multiple times. The average self-made millionaire have been bankrupt more than once. Bankruptcies also happen to billionaires – but they know how to bounce back from their failures. If you know how to pick yourself back up from your failures, you can re-make your wealth.

Do you know what’s the difference between success and failure?

The difference is a pretty fine line. Successful people don’t give up on their dreams.
They remain persistent till the end. They failed, picked themselves back up and went back in. They did what was required to achieve their success – even when it was too hard.

The self-made rich “made it” because they invested time, money and effort to create their wealth – while their poorer peers would rather be employees, risk nothing and live from paycheck to paycheck because it is deemed “safe and comfortable.”

Which would you choose? A life of mediocrity, watching others achieve their dreams or living your life to the fullest, doing what you’ve always wanted to do and casting your fears aside?

Society rarely celebrates failure. You never hear the failures of the successful. You don’t hear about the work involved, the years of punishing effort, the nay-sayers, the financial hardships, the depression and all the downsides of going for your dreams. It may sound horrible but it means success does not come by without effort. It also shows, failing does not mean you’re not a success or that it won’t lead to success. I like hearing about failures and successful failures because it means I’m not the only one who has failed, and that there’s plenty of hope that we can all succeed.

Yes I have failed. But if it weren’t for failing, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Learning through failure is something no text book can prepare you for.

I use to be afraid of failing. I didn’t tell people what I’ve failed in – in fear that they may question my judgement or skill. I worried that they would think history would repeat itself. I’ve seen my own father fail dismally and that fear of failing was ingrained in me even more. No one told me it is okay to fail and that failure can still lead to success if one does not give up. If I could talk to my younger self many years ago, I would tell her that “it’s okay to fail and you will be okay. Just pick yourself back up and continue.”

How did I become comfortable with failure? By hearing one of the most inspiring women on the planet talk about her own failures. She’s not a failure by any measure, but in her darkest moment, she was a failure. Luckily for us, she didn’t give up. Today, she is one of the most well known authors in the world. Celebrated, awarded, wealthy and happy – who’d have known that J. K. Rowling began as a broke, jobless, single mother on welfare, with a failed marriage and a dependent child, while writing the first Harry Potter book. Then had her book rejected twelve times by different publishers.

She put into words about failing which brought me to tears, because although her failures were different to mine, failing hurts all the same:

Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything than what I was, and began to direct all my energy to finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. – J. K. Rowling 2008

After I realized if someone like her can pull herself out of a bad situation and turn herself into a success, so can I. I realized that failing is not the end. It is just a temporary obstacle to overcome. There’s nothing wrong with it and we can use it to strengthen ourselves. Rejection – like it’s painful cousin failure – is not an end, but also a temporary road block.

I also realized that failure should be celebrated as a temporary stumble to success. Even if that eventual success resides in a different industry, venture or method. It dawned on me that the real losers are the ones who never try. The ones who fear failing so much that they don’t realize they’ve failed already because they’ve never begun. And that to me, is worse than failing.

So don’t sit on the sidelines wondering, go out there and begin. If you’ve already started, don’t fear failing, for it could be a sign you’re almost there – so don’t give up on yourself.

In the sage words of J. K. Rowling “It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you’ve failed by default. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift.”

Zoe

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

We’ve all got mouths to feed and bills to pay. Some of you may have children, some of you may have charities you support, some of you may have a huge mortgage or debt and some of you may be on the verge of quitting your job - whatever your situation is, most blogs aren’t started just for the sake of writing. Money is a big component for starting. With blogging, you have the added bonus of being able to help or educate others while you make money.

People who start blogging usually wonder how much money they can make. How much usually depends on how you want to make your money and what kind of content you produce.

So let’s see the ways you can monetize your blog or website (I’ll also break it down and explain each one for beginners):

1) Advertising on Your Website:

• Pay Per Click (PPC) / Cost Per Click (CPC)
• Cost Per Impression (CPM or CPI)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Pick Your Own Ads
• Text Link Advertising

2) Selling Digital Products:

• Ebooks
• E-courses (video/audio format)
• Software (iPhone Apps/Games)

3) Selling Physical Products (e-commerce)

• Affiliates (Amazon or someone else’s products)
• Drop Shipping (someone else’s products)

4) Mentoring Programs & Paid Membership Sites (reoccurring billing)

• E-courses / Online Training
• Paid Membership Sites / Paid Newsletter Subscription

5) Donations

Advertising on Your Website

Some of you may feel that putting ads on your website will turn readers away but it does not.
I’m not talking about pop-up ads though, because I find those incredibly annoying. But ads that sit neatly on your website are okay. As along as you provide good quality content, people don’t care if there are ads there to support your great work. You don’t charge them anything for offering free content, readers shouldn’t mind some ads in exchange.

Pay Per Click (PPC) / Cost Per Click (CPC)

What is PPC? Pay Per Click is an ad model where advertisers pay (you) the publisher of the website when an ad has been clicked. They use it on search engines too, where the advertisers bid on keywords that their customers may type, to show up along with the results. Advertisers only pay for ads that are clicked. Cost Per Click is what it costs the advertisers for a single click that directs the visitor to their website – so basically what they have to pay you the publisher or search engines for one click.

How do you put those ads on your site? After signing up, they give you your own unique code (or script) to paste into your website, which will populate the chosen area with the ads. Of course, they do give you various size ads and colors to choose from. I’ll get into the more technical side of putting ads in your websites in the next post: How To Customize Your Blog.

PPC Ad Companies:

• Google Adsense
• Yahoo Publisher Network
• Chitika
• AdBrite
• Bidvertiser
• Kanoodle
• Kontera (minimum 10,000 pageviews a month to join)

Cost Per Impression (CPM or CPI)

Cost Per Impression goes by a couple of names: Cost Per Mille (CPM) and Revenue Per Thousand Impressions (RPM). They work similarly to PPC except instead of clicking, it’s cost per 1000 impressions, similar to how traditional print and TV advertising works. You get paid based on the number of impressions or page views and the position of the ad (top of page usually gets more). Every time their ad loads on a new visitor’s screen, that counts as one impression.
Of course they do monitor and discount people who refresh their screens.

CPM Ad Companies:

• Google Adsense
• AdBrite

Affiliate Marketing (CPA or CPL)

I remember the first time I heard the words “affiliate marketing”, it sounded dodgy and salesy.
But when I learned more about it, it is actually the opposite. It’s a profitable and fair way to sell, and if done right, can be more profitable than PPC or CPI advertising. Sometimes referred to as Cost Per Action (CPA) or Cost Per Lead (CPL) advertising, you earn a commission on the sales made when someone buys the advertiser’s product or service. Some give you an on-going commission for the life of the customer. After signing up, advertisers give you a unique URL (a link) or code where you can paste ad banners or hyperlinks like this on your website, if someone clicks through and buys something, you get paid. Affiliate marketing isn’t just limited to your website, you can also include your unique affiliate links in your newsletter emails to your subscribers. Unlike PPC advertising, you can choose which companies you want to affiliate with. Because of this control, I can choose companies whose products I am already using and feel confident in recommending.

Affiliate Companies:

• Commission Junction
• Link Share
• Click Bank
• Epic Direct
• You can also ask your favorite online company if they offer commissions to affiliates

Pick Your Own Ads

Most PPC ad companies don’t allow the publisher of the blog (you) to control what type of ads show up. On the other hand, affiliates ad companies do. There’s another option if you want to exert more control over types of ads you want shown. OiO Publisher lets you choose what kind of ads to show and how to show them (banners, text links). Without needing any programming skills, it comes as a ready to use plugin for WordPress blogs – but not for the free WordPress.com hosted blogs ie: www.yourblogname.wordpress.com. Interested advertisers from the OiO marketplace can also contact you to advertise on your site. For PPC and other affiliate ads, you only get a percentage of the revenue, with OiO Publisher, you get to keep 100% of the revenue. The only downside is that it’s a paid service – a one time fee of US$47.

Text Link Advertising

This is the least intrusive form of advertising where ads only show if someone hovers over a double underlined text link (usually in green). Even though some ads aren’t targeted to your keywords, the click rate is higher. After signing up, text link advertisers will give you a unique code (or script) to paste into your website which will automatically populate every page with text link ads. Some advertisers have ad management systems where you can control the amount of text link ads to show and which page to show them on.

Text Link Ad Companies:

• Info Links
• Text Link Ads (not a favorite of mine)

By all means the ad companies I’ve listed above are not conclusive. There are plenty more out there but the above are the big guys online and are well known and trusted. Some are better than others and some require you to have a Paypal account to receive payments. If you go with lesser known companies, do your research to make sure they’re legitimate.

I have purposely left out other ad companies like Advertising.com, Burst Media and Casale Media because they require your blog to have 10,000 page views or more to join. Once your blog audience grows big enough, those companies are worth considering.

Selling Digital Products

Ebooks

I love ebooks, they’re an instant gratification product. Customers don’t have to wait for items to arrive, there’s no shipping involved for the author, ebooks can link to websites online, you can have colorful images without worrying about printing costs and they cost nothing to make. Having had manufacturing businesses before, making an ebook is a dream. The hardest part is the writing but creating it is a really simple process. With the popularity and growth of ebooks exploding, you’d be crazy not to create one if you have a blog! Best of all, creating ebooks is free!

To create an ebook, open your word processor, structure the document well (look at other PDF ebooks for structure/design inspiration), write it, then spell check and ask a friend to read through for errors or suggestions. Then go to www.primopdf.com and download the FREE Primo software which will convert your document effortlessly into a PDF. The most popular ebooks are “how to” and non-fiction ebooks.

If you’re stuck for time or just lazy, you can get someone else to write an ebook for you – although
I don’t really recommend it because of ethical reasons. But I’m not here to judge and what you do is your own business. Where to find writers? oDesk and Elance are great places to find writers.
Just post a job and have writers bid to work for your project.

E-courses (video/audio format)

Do you have a camera? Do you have online skills that you want to teach to others and make some money on? If you do and even if you’re camera shy, you can still produce e-courses that you can sell. E-courses are like normal courses except they’re in digital formats which can be downloaded so your readers can instantly begin to learn the new skills. No shipping, no stock to store,
no manufacturing other than the initial digital product creation.

For example, say you want to sell a downloadable jewellery making e-course. If you have a camera, you can get someone to film you making the items. Then categorize them into earrings, bracelets, necklaces etcetera or silver, gold, lace designs. Editing can be done in the Windows Movie Maker or the Mac iMovie video editing software. If you’re camera shy, just have your friend film your hands making the item instead.

Another example is Photoshop. Say you want to sell an e-course on how to use Photoshop or how to create cool images, Camtasia is an awesome software that will capture your on-screen shots of you doing the tutorial. Then you edit it and voila: video e-course ready to sell. And it’s not some blurry, fuzzy videos either, it captures in good quality. The downside is, Camtasia is expensive
(as of writing, it’s USD$299 a pop). But they do offer a free 30-day trial so if you can create your whole e-course within that time frame, the e-course would’ve cost nothing to make. On-screen tutorials isn’t just limited to images and Photoshop, there are thousands of tutorials, just pick the ones you know or are passionate about.

Another digital e-course format you can sell are audio files although they’re not as popular. But it really depends on the topic or industry your blog and product is about. If you’re a singing teacher wanting to sell e-courses, an audio format would be best and would be a cinch to create with a microphone and recording software. Of course you can also produce CDs too. But having to make copies of the CDs, doing the cover and shipping them will increase the time you have to spend on these trivial things, rather than on important things like promoting your website.

Software (iPhone Apps/Games)

You’re probably wondering why on earth I would suggest software and games to monetize your site given that they cost so much money to develop. But here’s the thing: they don’t. Given how much of today’s online businesses outsource their work to freelancers, I still find it amazing that people tell me why websites are too expensive to have, why games or software can’t be made unless you have millions of dollars. You don’t have to build a new operating system to make money in software. You don’t have to create games for consoles to make money in gaming.
Use the KISS principle and keep it small and simple!

iPhone apps are a great example of how you can create simple software or games to sell. Some apps are really simple and some are just lame, but people love them because they’re fun. Both software and games can be created for iPhone apps. This also applies to software people can install and use on their PCs.

But don’t worry if you don’t know how to program or design games and software – that’s what software developers and programmers are for. These awesome dudes can create the product for you. oDesk is full of talented developers and programmers that you can hire. Their rates are good too. On average, an iPhone app will cost about US$500-1500 to complete. Always choose experienced, tested, 5 star programmers – be sure to let them know exactly what you want.
For a little bit more, you can also get software for PCs created.

But the most important aspect isn’t making the software but marketing it. That will be written in another post as it’ll be pretty long but marketing software is similar to marketing your website.

With software, you can sell them on your website, on the App store or even give it away for free to generate traffic or get subscribers for your newsletter (free software in exchange for an email address).

Selling Physical Products

Affiliates (Amazon or someone else’s products)

Affiliate marketing can also apply to physical products and the best example is Amazon. With such a huge range of products on Amazon, it’d be hard to not find a compatible product that suits your website or keywords.

So how does Amazon Associates (aka affiliates) work? You search their products or find products you already have that you want to recommend. Amazon will provide the text links, image banners and widgets for that product for you to use on your website. Widgets are blocks of ads you can customize to your liking with a few clicks. If you can’t find a product or don’t know what to choose, you can advertise whole categories like toys, cosmetics, clothes, gadgets etcetera. And if you still don’t know what to choose, you can pick books to advertise that is relevant to your keywords and website. Once these products are being promoted on your website, if a visitor clicks on the ads or links and buys something from Amazon, you earn a commission – even on other stuff the visitor adds to their order.

There are other companies which offer commissions to affiliates. You can find them by Googling.

Drop Shipping (someone else’s products)

Drop shipping is more geared towards traditional e-commerce websites than blogs but it doesn’t mean you can’t use it to monetize yours. Some blogs are a hybrid of a blog and an e-commerce website. If you’re wondering what drop shipping is, it’s the retailer (you) not having to deal with holding stock or shipping stock to customers – the wholesaler or manufacturer does all of it – all you do is market and sell the products.

Here are the pros of drop shipping:

• No inventory or stock to buy
• No storage fees because you don’t have inventory to deal with
• No shipping required (saving you time)
• Wholesaler / manufacturer provides you with product & product info (images, etc)
• You get paid by the customer before you pay the wholesaler / manufacturer
• You buy at wholesale prices and in low volume

Here are the cons of drop shipping:

• There are dodgy drop shippers out there so do your research
• Products may be sold out when your customer orders so you always have to check their stock availability
• Defective products and returns might reflect badly on you
• Slow shipping by wholesaler or lost packages might reflect badly on you
• Some wholesalers charge a monthly fee to use drop shipping

Here’s a well known US drop shipping company: Doba

There are others out there too, even on eBay so do your research and make sure they’re legitimate.

Mentoring Programs & Paid Membership Sites
(reoccurring billing)

E-courses / Online Training

I mentioned above how there are many ways to produce digital products to sell. But selling one-off items means you have to continually promote to get new customers (or create up-sell products).
E-courses and online training programs that run for a few months are becoming more popular because people want to be taught and have their hand held to gain new skills. Self learning is one thing but having a teacher live with you (even though it’s online) makes it so much easier and faster to learn. The great thing for publishers of mentoring programs is that sales can be phenomenal if you do the product launch correctly. And to top it off, you can charge reoccurring billing so you get consistent income.

On-going online courses usually last anywhere from six to nine months or even a year for some. Lessons are delivered by email (like a newsletter), webcasts and other downloadable video and audio formats. Some also deliver CDs and physical workbooks, but that will require additional cost and time (and I prefer to be as free as possible so personally I like digital products better).

Paid Membership Sites / Paid Newsletter Subscription

Paid membership sites work in a similar way except the reoccurring billing for that can run on for as long as the site and content continues! – and of course as long as your customer stays subscribed to the membership. Think of it like a magazine subscription that’s read online.
Paid membership subscriptions can be something as simple as a newsletter – but you must deliver on great content as most people won’t pay to subscribe to a newsletter unless you provide value to them. There are plenty of free newsletters out there so you need to convince customers why they should pay for yours.

While the reoccurring billing sounds awesome, the downside to on-going memberships is that you have to continually come up with great content for your subscribers – whereas one-off products like ebooks are created once at the beginning. And if you have a free newsletter and you also write free content on your blog then that’s 3 sets of content you have to write.

How do you charge customers reoccurring billing? Paypal offers that feature which you can integrate into your blog. There are also other systems which offer a similar feature which I’ll explain further in a later post.

How do you deliver the content for paid memberships? It can be sent exactly like a regular newsletter – you can either use AWeber or a free newsletter widget that you can install into your blog to email your subscribers list with content. And remember: not being consistent with your newsletters may cost you subscribers.

Donations

Even if your blog is a business and isn’t a charity, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a donate button on it. Paypal offers donate buttons which you can paste onto your website to get donations from generous readers. Why ask to donate? Some people like to give if you have provided them with valuable information or have entertained them. One of the most successful bloggers online Steve Pavlina has a donate button – even though he monetizes his site as well.

If your blog helps people, your readers may want to support you back. It’s like a monetary
“thank you”. You can even help raise funds for your favorite charity by giving the donations away. There’s no shame in monetizing your blog or website with a donate button if your content brings entertainment, provides education or gives away helpful information.

Monetizing Your Blog Is Good!

I hope this post will give you a good idea of the ways people monetize their blogs. You don’t need to do all of them to earn some income so choose what is comfortable for you.

Monetizing your blog or website shouldn’t feel bad, after all, you’re providing value to people and deserve to be rewarded. If you feel bad about monetizing your blog then just use the donate option instead. Or figure out why being rewarded for your efforts would make you feel guilty.

All the suggestions I gave about shouldn’t irritate visitors if the ads are placed neatly. That is why I didn’t mention pop-up ads, I find them really irritating. But if anyone does find this blog irritating because I’ve monetized it, sorry but I’ve got a family to support. I know I provide value to my readers and I’m not ashamed of monetizing it.

Next up in this series: How To Customize Your Blog

Keep on blogging everyone! I welcome your comments.

Zoe

How do I know? What right do I have to make comments regarding children when I don’t have any?

I am Asian and I too was a child once – not too long ago mind you – so I know what tactics my mother used that worked or didn’t.

My mother’s parenting style changed when we migrated to Australia. I have witnessed firsthand the two apparent “Western” style and “Eastern” style parenting used in my family.

Now there are exceptions to the apparent “styles” that Amy tries to define. But race isn’t necessarily one of them.I know of Western parents who are strict on their kids and vice versa.

Amy proposes that Eastern style parenting is superior because on the whole, Asian parents are tougher and meaner to their kids when it comes to academic achievement. Granted that’s relatively true. But, whether Eastern (aka Asian/Chinese) parenting style is best, is highly questionable.

Battle Hymn reads like a narcissistic, un-PC guide on how to produce child prodigies by pitching cruel “Eastern” techniques she used on her own kids.

And for Amy Chua to be an expert on “Chinese-style” parenting because she is of Chinese descent is misleading because she grew up as a Roman Catholic in the American Midwest with no ability to speak Chinese herself, who’s married to a white man, with mixed children brought up as Jews.

So how does Amy raise her kids?

• No sleepovers or playdates
• Cannot be in a school play
• Cannot watch tv or play video games
• Cannot choose their own hobbies
• Cannot get any grade less than A
• Only allowed to play the violin or piano and no other instrument
• Burn or give away their toys if they don’t practice
• Forbid them to use the bathroom unless a piece is played well
• Throw out “stupid” pets
• Throw birthday cards back at them if they’re not good enough
• Basically have no life except the one Amy dictates

And this is meant to be a shining example of “Eastern” style parenting. I smell child abuse!

Now granted, some Asian mothers are hardcore – like get a bad report card and you’re disowned hardcore. But I have yet to meet one as scary and cruel as Amy Chua.

She makes my mom on a bad day look like Mother Teresa in a Salvation army commercial.

The whole claim that if you’re tough and an asshole to your kids you’ll turn them into geniuses is laughable.

Amy Chua is a Yale law professor, so is her husband. The odds of them having intelligent children were already high, so her claim that it was her parenting style that made them into prodigies is bullshit.

Geniuses aren’t “made”. Some just “are” without cram schools and tiger mothers. Those ones are the TRUE geniuses. Anyone can become good at something if they get enough tutoring, but to be naturally awesome at something without all the fancy lessons is true talent. Had her kids been mentally disabled or had low-IQs and she managed to get them into an Ivy League university then I will sit up and listen.

I’m not saying being lax on your kids and letting them do whatever they want, whenever they want is a good thing. But being this strict will cost your children individuality and the ability to think for themselves.

These are the kind of qualities that many Chinese people lack. There are exceptions, but they’re generally taught to be like lemmings. Being an individual is discouraged. They don’t do something because they like it, but because they will get punished for not doing it well. They do as they’re told and told to never question authority. This is the kind of mindset that a Communist government want their people to have.

Would you want your kids to be smart but mindless robots who have no personality?

If you look at all the famous inventors, successful entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates, scientists who made a difference and great artists in the last 200 years, hardly any are Chinese.

They make such a tiny minority even though for three decades they are the largest ethnic population on the planet.

Chinese students usually make up the bulk in most universities but are the minorities in the control centers of the world.

They can be top of their class in every subject but it doesn’t mean they will go down in history for making a difference in the world.

More likely they’ll study a subject that pleases their parents and come out working as an accountant. WOO! All those hours of cram school and piano lessons just to become an employee.

So it turns out, having child prodigies does not mean they will become superstars of their industry when they’re adults. These Asian parents are priming their children to become ideal employees instead. They’re not the ones inventing, creating, leading and making the world a better place. They’re the ones who end up working for the people who had average parents.

Does intelligence guarantee wealth? HELL NO!

I know broke smart people, broke dumb people and vice versa. I had an ex who’s dad dropped out of high school (and can barely read) but still managed to build a successful business. My dad on the other hand, has a high IQ (but low EQ), received a college scholarship and had a promising career as a computer engineer but has no assets or success to show for all that brain power.

Let’s not forget the high rates of suicide amoung young Asian students all around the world.
I’m sure the parents of the deceased students regret putting so much pressure on their kids. Having good grades is one thing but at the expense of happiness is just crazy!

And all that for what? Just so they can brag about who’s kid is smarter? This isn’t a dick measuring contest people! We’re talking about the lives of young people who have dreams and aspirations. Kids being alive, happy and healthy is better than kids being dead or unhappy but smart.

How about the Western parenting style?

Okay, giving your kids Xbox, Playstation, Wii, MacAir, iPhone, their own car if they’re teens and whatever toys they want is bad. Letting them play computer games and watch tv for as long as they want is bad too (the computer is not a babysitter people!)

But letting them be themselves is awesome. Letting them have friends (hopefully decent ones) helps their social intelligence and communication skills. Letting them join plays and pursue their passions and hobbies brings happiness. Giving them love and praise is fantastic. Sure, punish them when it is required, but you don’t have to burn their toys to make a point. I know some parents can be extreme and try to be their kid’s bestfriends but you still gotta show some authority or they won’t respect you.

I see the good and bad points of the Western parenting style, but the good points (like positive reinforcement, nurture) are the very skills that all parents should have!

No style is perfect and the extremes of both are bad for various reasons. The best parenting style is one that utilizes the positives (non-extremes) of both styles. That way, your kids will have the best of both worlds: good marks, happiness, personality and adulthood success.

Zoe

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

For this post, I’m going to show you how to start a successful blog (a professional one) in easy steps. If you know how to click a mouse and use the internet, you’ll be able to do this.

Don’t be scared if you’ve never done this before or feel you’re too technologically challenged to manage it – because you can do it. How do I know? Because I am pretty technologically challenged myself, yet I still did it. But you have the advantage of not having to make the same mistakes that I did by learning what I did correctly.

I’m going to split the quick lessons into different posts to make it easier and faster to digest.

Picking A Topic

Pick a topic you know about or like a lot. Preferably something you’re passionate about. You don’t even need to be an expert on a subject to blog about it!

Or for some folks, blogging about something they hate: http://crabbyoldfart.wordpress.com/

Some blogs have “how-to” tutorials, some have photos, animations, images and videos as their content. The most popular blogs are the non-fiction and “how-to” blogs.

Blogging about a topic you know a lot about or love will encourage regular posting and as a result people will most likely to return again and again – plus it reduces your writer’s block.

Is There A Market For The Topic You Want To Blog About?

Do a Google search, use the Google Keyword Tool to find out whether people are searching for your topic and related terms.

Google Trends helps to find out how popular a search term or word is.

Market Samurai is also a great tool that I also use to find out detailed analysis of the topics and markets I want to get into online.

Forums are also a good source of information to find out what the market needs. Users there may tell you what information they’re looking for or willing to pay for. Or you can ask on the forums for what people are after.

What If I Want To Provide A One-off Service & Just Make Money Off The Ads?

You can. There are more than one way to skin a cat so to speak (aww but I like kitties).
There are websites out there providing free services (like image generators, icon/banner makers, online game sites, and others) and make the money via advertising. We’ll get to the advertising in part two of this post series. For now, we’ll concentrate on providing content – whether it’s graphics, video or words.

Choosing a Blogging Platform: Which is Best? WordPress or Blogger?

Okay, call me biased because I’m using WordPress but I’ve used both WordPress and Blogger, and WordPress has by far impressed me the most (please don’t hold it against me almighty Google). WordPress has more plugins to make life easier and I’m all for it since I’m so lazy.

Now before you run off to sign up for an account with WordPress.com, if you’re planning on making money out of your blog or if it’s for a business, you’d want to look professional.

URLs like www.yourwebsite.wordpress.com/yourentry doesn’t look professional and it’s difficult to remember. To get a free blog with WordPress.com, you are telling your audience that your blog is just a hobby.

To get your own URL or domain like www.YourWebsite.com for example, you need a hosting provider to host your domain. Their hosting packages usually cover the registration of the domain. Okay, I’ll admit a little secret.. when I began, I didn’t even know what a hosting provider was or what it did lol.

Hosting Providers

I’ve used quite a few hosting providers and there are some good ones out there. But so far, the ones I like are Bluehost and Siteground.

Bluehost offers great support. I’ve had some pretty lame newbie problems in the past and they’ve always been there to help me fix the issues – without making me feel like a noob. Bluehost support is fast, friendly and reliable. Their prices are pretty average. Not the most expensive but not the cheapest either. But you’ll definitely get good support with Bluehost. So for someone who is new to making a website, they’re a Godsend.

Siteground is cheap and cheerful. The prices are definitely cheaper than Bluehost but for a good reason: their support is elusive. If you’re confident with websites and blogs, then support doesn’t really matter. To get hold of a customer service rep online is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Plus Siteground has slightly less features compared to Bluehost. But what they lack in features, they make up for in price and overall performance. If you’re strapped for cash and want affordable hosting, Siteground is the way to go.

If you’re wondering which one of the two I use, I use them both actually. It all comes down to your budget and support preference.

Hosting Your Website

• Before you register your domain and get your website hosted, have some backup names in case the URL you want is already taken.
• Go Bluehost or Siteground and type in the URL you want that’s available. Sign up, pay (credit card or Paypal) and you should receive a welcome email with the login details of your website. Make sure you pay that little extra ($10 a year) for WHOIS privacy protection so people can’t find your personal details if they check out who owns the website.
• Sign into your website by going to your hosting provider’s website and login with your account details.
• Here’s where you’ll install WordPress with a few clicks:
  • For Bluehost > Scroll down to Software/Services section and click on Simple Scripts > Under Blogs heading click on WordPress > Click Install > Fill in details > Bookmark you website’s WordPress login URL – now you have a WordPress blog on your own domain!
  • For Siteground > Go Account Section > click CPanel > click Access CPanel Normally > Scroll down to Software/Services section and click on Fantastico De Luxe > Under Blogs click on WordPress > Click on New Installation > Fill in details and click Install WordPress > Bookmark you website’s WordPress login URL – now you have a WordPress blog on your own domain!

Picking A Theme (Design aka Template) For Your Blog

Some people get worried that they would need to know how to design or program a website or blog in order to have one. But there are plenty of templates and themes (for WordPress and Blogger) that are free – with all the design and work done for you.

Loading A Free Theme Onto Your WordPress Blog

To get a free theme, log into your website’s WordPress account (the URL you bookmarked after WordPress was installed) which I’ll refer to as the “WordPress backend” from now.

On the left panel, under Appearance tab, click Themes, click on Install Themes tab across the top, tick the boxes you want or put in name of a design or word and click Find Themes. Once you have found and settled on a theme, click Install, then click Install Now button, click Activate and your theme or design should be live on your website/blog now.

Go check it out by typing your website URL into a new window and have a look. If you don’t like it, you can search for another theme and activate the new one instead. You can even find the names of the themes you want by doing a Google search and installing them via your WordPress backend. Type “Free WordPress Themes” or “Paper WordPress Themes” etc with a short description of the style or color you want and you’ll get lists of themes to choose from.

If you want a totally custom theme made for you, you can hire web designers on oDesk to make one for you.

To customize your blog to the colors you want with your logos etc, I’ll cover that in part three of this post series “How To Customize Your Blog”

Adding Plugins To Make Your Site Better & Your Life Easier

What are WordPress plugins?

WordPress on its own is okay for blogging but your site will be pretty bare and simple in function. Unless you’re a programmer who can code everything you need, you’re going to want some plugins. Best of all, these plugins are free!

What are these plugins and what do they do? The question should be what don’t they do?
They range from helping your site run faster, to helping you add contact forms, insert ads, have slide shows, embed videos, kill comment spam, help Google find your site, let you have customized sidebar or menus and so much more! Hundreds of developers and programmers have spent time to make these handy plugins to make our lives easier (thank you!) so we can have more interesting and better websites.

To add new plugins to your WordPress backend (without having to install it manually), on the left-hand panel under Plugins tab, click Add New and type in the name of the plugin or the function that you want, and click Search Plugins. Find plugin you want and select Install Now and then Activate Plugin to begin using it.

The Top 13 Recommended WordPress Plugins To Add:

1. 1. Ad Inserter (by Igor Funa) – works in tandem with Advertising Manager below. It will make your life easier when you monetize your site with ads. The last thing I want to do is figure out how to code the ads in a way to make them repeat or sit in a certain area on my site. This plugin makes adding ads simple.
   2. Advertising Manager (by Scott Switzer) – works in tandem with the Ad Inserter above. This useful plugin controls how many ads to show so you don’t get bitch slapped by Google Adsense. Google only allows 3 ads per page so this plugin does all the work for you so you don’t have to worry about compliance!
   3. Akismet (by Automattic) – weird name but it will come in handy to get rid of annoying comments that leave spam on your website! This is already pre-installed on all WordPress accounts, you just need to activate it by signing up for an API key: https://akismet.com/signup/
   4. All In One SEO Pack (by Michael Torbert) – this will help optimize your website for search engines (which is important but more on that in another post).
   5. Comment Link Manager (by Weberz Hosting) – this plugin will make your life easier by letting you manage the links left my commentators.
   6. Easy Privacy Policy (by Kevin Sparrow) – a must for blogs wanting to get on the good side of Google Adsense. This won’t guarantee you’ll get approved for Adsense but it sure helps a little. Plus it’s always professional to let your visitors know how you’re going to protect their personal information (and I hope you mean it!)
   7. Fast Secure Contact Form (by Mike Challis) – enough said! Building web forms are a pain in the butt and this plugin does it for you, and still gives you flexibility to customize it if you wish. And it’s secure so it makes me feel all fuzzy and warm. Now you have a “contact us” form, how professional!
   8. Google XML Sitemaps (by Arne Brachhold) – aids search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to index your site asap – which is important if you want to be found.
   9. Robots Meta (by Joost de Valk) – Search engines uses crawlers or web spiders or web robots to “crawl” your website’s pages. This plugin points the bots to the pages that matter and avoid the ones that aren’t.
   10. Sexy Bookmarks (by Shareaholic) – if you look below you’ll see a panel for people to share this article with (for websites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, MySpace etc). This is great way to encourage people to tell their friends and family about your blog or articles.
   11. Subscribe To Comments Reloaded (by Camu) – such a small feature and yet so powerful. It leaves a little box for commentators to tick if they wish to follow comments by other commentators. What does that mean and how does it benefit you? By subscribing to comments, it means they want to see what others commentators are saying and want to return to your website! Encouraging readers to come back  is a great thing to have!
   12. W3 Total Cache (by Frederick Townes) – Makes your blog load faster! And that’s awesome because Google takes loading speed into account when ranking one’s site. So the faster your website loads, the better it looks in Google’s eyes.
   13. WordPress Databased Backup (by Austin Matzko) – This one doesn’t require an explanation. The name tells you just how important it is to backup your website in case your computer crashes or you accidently mess up your website. Back your website at least once or twice a week.

If Your Theme Needs Extra Basic Features

Some themes are a bit lacking in the feature department (equivalent to not having a nose or eyes on someone’s face). If you like your theme but  it’s missing some basic elements, these plugins might help (remember these are optional):

Menubar (by Andrea Tarantini) – some theme developers forget to put in a menubar (the same people I would not trust to build a house in case they forget to put on a roof or windows!)
So if your theme is one of them, this will help out a lot. There are other menubars to choose from.

Page Link Manager (by Garrett Murphey) – if your theme is missing a menubar, odds are you have no control over which links show up in your navigation menu (or menubar) once you add one. Here’s where this plugin will help decide which pages or categories show with a few clicks.

Now What Do I Do Zoe?

Write and put content in!

WordPress automatically installs a pre-written first post for you. You can either delete it by writing over it, deleting it or selecting Add New under Posts tab on the left hand panel to create a new post.

If you’re stuck on what to write for your first post, write your About Me page to introduce your blog and yourself to your future readers.

I want my blog to show pretty URLs like website.com/topic/about instead of website.com/12/04/2011/2327

Go left-hand panel, under Settings, select Permalinks, click on Custom Structure button and paste this in: /%category%/%postname%/

That will give you nicer and search engine-friendly URLs.

I hope this helps your first steps towards having your very own blog.

Next up: Part Two – How To Monetize Your Blog

Cheers,

Zoe

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They could be your friends.
Or friends of someone you know.

They look wealthy, live in lavish homes and neighborhoods, drive nice cars, wear designer clothes and dine in exclusive restaurants.
And they’re broke.

These people are… the Pretend Millionaires

Some of these people may make $40,000 a year or even $2 million dollars a year – but it makes no difference, because they spend more than they can make. So despite the fact that they’re spending left, right and center, they are actually broke. Even if they do make more than a million dollars a year, they’re still broke: few assets, excess debt, income barely covering their lifestyle.

Should anything happen to them (redundancy, disability, illness or death) and there goes their McMansion, luxury sportscar and trophy wife.

It may come as a shock to you but it is easy for pretend millionaires to exist. With credit cards, they can live insanely beyond their means and think about the consequences later. They might make the minimum repayments or have a good income – enough to keep them afloat – but when the ball drops and they can’t keep up with the repayments, that’s when bankruptcies and divorces happen.

Look at the Real Housewives of Orange County – when the credit crunch happened, four of the six housewives couldn’t keep up the mortgage repayments (despite high incomes) and had their homes foreclosed.

The housewives are no different than to someone making $40,000 a year and spending $80,000 by maxing out their cards and spending more than they make. Both qualify as pretend millionaires even though one actually makes a million dollars on paper.

These pretend millionaires aren’t “rich”, they’re pretending they are.

Real millionaires and billionaires (with some exceptions) do not spend like there’s no tomorrow. They know how to make wealth but they also know how to KEEP wealth. Wealth isn’t just about how much you have to spend, it’s about how to use that wealth wisely to prolong it.

Look at Warren Buffet - one of the richest billionaires in the world - yet he lives modestly in an average home and drives an old car. He epitomizes true wealth. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, but he can choose not to. I think Buffet is a very confident man. He would have to be when he is so wealthy and the world expects him to live a lavish lifestyle, and yet he doesn’t. I don’t think he cares what others think of his modest spending. And that’s true confidence, when you don’t give a sh*t about what anyone else thinks.

Pretend millionaires on the other hand, whether they do make millions or not, are not confident in themselves. They must get a kick out of keeping up with the Jones’s, while the Jones’s are busy themselves trying to keep up with everyone else. It’s pretty funny: my car costs more than yours, my house is bigger, my watch is better, my penis is… well you get the picture. Usually people who have to flaunt their wealth usually don’t have any or they’re making up for something lacking in their lives.

Just because someone has a high income, doesn’t mean they’re rich. There are broke rich people and there are broke people pretending to be rich all over the place. These are the people who played a part in the global recession.

Here are two REAL examples of pretend millionaires: A couple on $130k a year versus a law firm partner who makes $2 million a year (I won’t name who they are but they’re real people currently living the pretend millionaire lifestyle).

The couple on a combined income of $130k a year lives in an exclusive suburb, are apart of the country club and drives an expensive car (leased). They have no assets, do not own their own home despite the fact that their rent is through the roof and they don’t have any passive income streams. Despite the outward look of “doing well”, they’re on shaky financial ground should one of them lose their jobs. They aspire to live as lavishly as possible.

The law firm partner on an annual income of
$2 million dollars is also on shaky financial ground. With million dollar mortgage, no assets, expensive but depreciating leased car, supporting his trophy wife’s penchant for designer stuff, children’s private schooling,  repayments for the yacht and other toys, this law firm partner is probably doing a lot worse than the couple above because he is the only breadwinner and the entire family’s lifestyle depends on him, his job and good times to roll on. If anything were to happen to him, his wife would be another casualty like the four Real Housewives of OC.

Don’t get me wrong, living modestly and within your means does not mean living like a pauper. I’m not saying we should develop a “poverty mentality” – there is a clear difference between spending wisely and spending frivolously. So long as your needs are met, you can comfortably pay the bills, you have assets and passive income to fall back on and have money left over to spend on the things that matter to you (charity, family, travel, etc), then you’re truly “rich”.

If you spend more than you make, then you’re setting yourself up for disaster down the track. Living beyond one’s means does not cultivate a “success mentality”, because it turns spending into a bad habit and no matter what income level you’re on, you end up spending it all and wonder where it all went.

If you have assets to fall back on, you feel safe. When you see your money grow, you feel secure. Pretend millionaires don’t feel that. They project a fake image to cover up for what they don’t have. They live paycheck to paycheck. Some actually have creditors chasing after them. That’s not success mentality! Having debt up to your eyeballs isn’t going to bring you more money.

I remember when I first learnt about success mentality. A network marketing leader actually advised me to go to a Lexus dealership and put down a deposit for a $200,000 car. She said that will give me the motivation to make enough money in the next year to actually afford the car.

How irresponsible is that? Telling a 19 year old to plonk down all her savings for a deposit for a depreciating asset worth the price of a small apartment. Telling me to go invest that savings would be wiser. Which is why that network marketer is now no longer living in the expensive home she use to rent but instead is living with her husband’s parents with no assets to show for the good money she use to earn. Why? Because she spent it all to show off how rich she was without investing any for a rainy day.

Don’t be a pretend millionaire.

Live like a millionaire if you want – as long as your spending is below your earnings. Invest whatever wealth you have – even if you’re on low income. Pay off debts as fast as you can starting with one with highest interest rate (consolidate them if you have many). And most importantly, develop a passive income source – whether it they’re shares, investment properties, royalties, online income or business – so if the ball drops, you’d still have money coming in.

Zoe

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I’ve noticed that some people are too afraid to think realistically or to even have mildly negative thoughts in the fear that they may attract bad circumstances into their life.

That’s fairly true if you’re a chronic whinger or a mega life cynic.

But there are times where you’ve gotta pull your head out of your behind and face the music.

There is a difference between being positive and being blissfully ignorant. And it’s a fine line.

Do people who think positively all the time (or try to anyway), never experience bad days? If you think happy thoughts forever, will you never get sick or die? Of course not.

Even the guru of positive thinking gurus Mr Tony Robbins himself has had bad days – like the time he got sued. Bob Proctor from the movie “The Secret” had a mild heart problem not too long ago (his okay now). And these people are as positive as you can probably get. They work, live and breathe positive thinking for a living and yet, they occasionally have their downs.

BUT it’s okay! It really is.

No one can be positive all the time and forcing yourself to be when you’re not feeling well won’t necessarily make things go away.
And bottling up anger or resentment is a big no no. That anger has got to go somewhere.

Might just manifest as a physical problem if you hold everything in, pretending that everything is fine.

Or it could manifest itself by a huge emotional explosion triggered by a fly on your toast because you bottled all that sadness and anger up and it had accumulated.

Sometimes in order to fix a problem, you don’t pretend that it’s not there and hope it’ll go away if you think about rainbows and puppies. You fix it by acknowledging it (not dwelling on it) and find a solution to solve it.

Good example would be my friend Gina (not her real name so her id is protected).

Good friend, a nice girl and bubbly from head to toe. But when it comes to her finances, she would rather stick a needle in her eye than talk about it or fix it. Which is why she is always broke.
Not that she’s incapable of fixing it,  it’s just that she chooses not to think about it because she thinks that the debt will some how, go away. Poof. Disappear.

But that’s not how reality works.

It’s been 10 years and no fairy godmother has magically waved her debt away. You’d think that by ignoring a problem and not feed any negativity to it, that it’ll disappear or improve. Realistically it didn’t. Her debt is still there as we speak. And no, it’s not her income. She’s broke whether she has a job or not. She has no dependents or addictions or responsibilities (she lives at home so no rent or mortgage). So why can’t she pay off her debt?

She wants to but can’t bear to see it. And if you don’t acknowledge something, how can you fix or change it? I use to be a bit like that when I had debt. Afraid to open my credit card statements for the fear of seeing just how much I owe. But I’ve learned that, by acknowledging it and actively making an effort to fix it, will really solve the problem. But at the time, like Gina, I didn’t want to talk about it or see it. The debt hurt but it didn’t hurt me enough to care.

But I didn’t pay off all my debts by thinking about baby chickens 24 hours a day and chanting
“I am rich, I am rich”.

I paid it all off by facing the music. I didn’t dwell on it but I acknowledged it. I looked at my debt and calculated how long it would take for me to pay it off. I wasn’t even earning much at the time and was paying rent and bills so I didn’t have a lot to put towards the debts. But I worked out a plan/budget so I can keep myself on course. And believe me, I was tempted to take that hard earned cash and blow it on random things that my girlfriends were spending on (useless things like clothes, designer goods, jewellery, etc).

But I forced myself to be disciplined. I didn’t think I had it in me, but I put responsibility over self gratification and my debts were slowly but surely wiped off. And the relief that comes with it feels so damn good. It’s like a burden has been lifted off me. It was almost impossible to “imagine” that feeling when you’ve never experienced it before. So no matter how hard I tried to feel a debt-free feeling, nothing could beat actually paying it off.

In order to start doing and achieving instead of pretending everything is rosy:

• Acknowledge the goal or problem
• Make a rough plan on how you’ll get there
• Put a deadline on it so you’ll do it tomorrow not “one day I will”
• Action – like actually do it, don’t just talk about it
• Discipline – gotta stick to it or what’s the point?
• Reward – Woohoo! You did it!

How about facing the music in other aspects of life? Does it apply to other things besides money?

Yep sure does. Here’s a joke my boyfriend told me which cracked me up.

One day, Molly prayed to God, begging him “Please please let me win the lottery. My family needs it and so do I. I will help the needy with the money as well. I believe I will win it.”

So God thinks “okay I will allow Molly to win the lotto”

Days go by and nothing. Then months, then years. Molly still hasn’t won a dime.

So she begs God even more “God, PLEASE let me win the lotto! I’ve prayed for it day and night for many years, I’ve put faith that I would win and you’ve not answered my prayers.”

God looks annoyed and decides to talk to Molly. “MOLLY!” a thundering voices hails down from above “..this is GOD… I’ve granted you your wish. BUY A LOTTERY TICKET!”

So if you want good things to happen, take action. Don’t be stupid like Molly.

If you want to fix a problem, it’s OKAY to face it and think about it (like planning on how to fix it) as long as you don’t dwell on it too much. Ignorance is not always bliss.

If something makes you mad, talk about it so you’ll feel better. That “feel better” feeling is better than shoving everything inside and pretending that you’re happy.

Don’t be “afraid” to have negative thoughts. The fear itself is a negative thing so you’ll bound to attract something with that fear. If you have negative thoughts, let it in for a little bit and then move onto something else. Sometimes constructive thoughts gets rid of negative thoughts. Sometimes, talking with a supportive friend helps to reduce negativity by making you feel better. Avoid people who make your problems worse or make you feel bad.

What if you have a full blown negative episode?

That’s okay too, you’re only human. Usually, after a storm, something good always come out of it. Take it one day at a time and be as positive as you can genuinely be.

How about you? How do you deal with negative days or if you have a problem?

Zoe

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You’re sitting in front of a computer with internet connection, with a roof over your head.
You got water on tap, access to food, electricity to power your appliances and clothes to wear.

Your family is safe, you’ve studied at a school, you probably have a job or at least your country has opportunities to provide jobs and you probably also have a car (or access to public transport of some sort).

And let’s not forget about the medical care, the sanitation services and many other utilities that we normally take for granted. In third world countries, you’re lucky if you can get access to medicine or a doctor, and your bathroom is a hole in the ground.

How lucky are you?

Don’t worry I didn’t hit my head on anything.

I’m just giving out some gratitude and hoping others out there who are reading this also realize how lucky they are.

Some of you might have debts up to your eyeballs, or have just been laid off.

Some of you might drive a leaky car or struggling to make ends meet. Some of you might be poor students or parents trying to figure out how to put food on the table. You might be envious of the “haves” but you are a “haves” yourself without knowing it.

Billions of people in poverty stricken countries live on less than $1 or $2 a day. Without even their basic needs met, these people and their children face starvation or illnesses that we can fix by going to the drug store. With no shoes, no means of income or opportunities and no education, these people are the truly “have nots”. They would trade their hand to mouth existance with your credit card debt life any day.

Rarely do any of us take our lives and put it into perspective. We whinge about how expensive electricity has become and how high gas prices are – so you have lights in your home and a car – but rarely do we appreciate the fact that we’re so lucky to have those things to begin with when billions of less fortunately others have to make do with streetlights and walking barefoot.

Whenever I feel like a whinge (hey I’m not perfect), sometimes I stop and take in my surroundings. I’m safe because there is no war here in Australia. I have food, clean water, shelter, clothing, income, gadgets, education, opportunities and most importantly, my family and friends also have them too. Then I realise just how darn lucky I am.

Who am I to complain when the majority of the world’s population can’t even drink clean water or get access to food.

If you think you’re poor, realistically you are actually in the top percentile of “rich” people in the world. Yes I know there are the 1% that earns the combined income of the 30% below them, but know that you have the oppotunities to become that 1%, rather than be someone on the very bottom earning less than a dollar a day with very little chance of becoming the top 30%.
You are already wealthy in the eyes of billions!

I’m not just grateful for the ‘things’ in my life, I am mostly grateful for the people in my life.

If it weren’t for my family and good friends, I’d be screwed up. So here’s a little gratitude to them: my mother and siblings for giving me love and motivation, my partner Bruce for fun and inspiration, Sylvia for opening my eyes, Brad for pulling me out of a hole, Phoebe for warmth and laughter, my grandparents for taking care of me when I was little, to Daryl, Simon & Chris, for giving me moral support when I was down, to Masaki for the great conversations, and to all the great gurus who paved the path before me and taught me how to enrich my life – and the dudes who created the internet

I love you all and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, none of it ever goes unnoticed.

I am also grateful for my readership – you who are reading this right now – whom I write and dedicate this blog to. Why? Because I want to help people who are unhappy in their jobs or those living paycheck to paycheck to live a better life, to spend time with people they love and be able to do the things they’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t afford to.

One of the best ways to attract good things into your life is through gratitude.

I’m not asking you to sit there and go “I am grateful for.. blah blah blah”

Be aware of the people in your life and the things you take for granted and look around you. Look at the things you already have, or think of your favorite things. Remember those billions who would gladly trade places with you and know how lucky and wealthy you are!

Zoe

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• Reach and sustain financial independence and freedom
• Have time freedom
• Work smart not hard
• Help people or customers (making a difference in the world so to speak)

After some soul searching and research, there’s a path that covers all four goals of mine:

Passive income online.

And it is probably the cheapest and fastest way to start off too.

What I love about the internet is that it is a level playing field. Even if you’re a small fry, you can take on the big guys. Big corporations can’t get away with pushing customers around. Even with a small budget or no experience, one can learn and out do big corporations and their million dollar marketing budgets.

It takes discipline, action and persistence. But totally worth it because it could replace a job.

Imagine waking up when ever you feel like, creating online content in your pjs, go for a surf or heading out for a walk or to the shops while everyone is at work.

How about being a stay-at-home-parent with income. That’s what most new mothers want most (second to sleep of course): having money coming in while you take time to raise your baby/kids. Or maybe you want to use the time to travel all over the world or help out a charity that’s close to your heart.

At first I was really skeptical that people could make money online passively (especially publishing content). I thought either they must have tricked people, been doing it for years or they’re experts with money to blow on marketing.

So bad was my skepticism that instead of testing the waters myself, I told my boyfriend to do it.

I pestered him to start a blog and put Adsense on it. With a small investment of effort, he wrote some good content during his spare time while I tweaked the site’s design and it bought him US$1000 within only a month of going live.

That made me aware of the potential of selling information online (or providing free content and getting paid through readers clicks on ad placements on your site).

Of course, content has to be good too because people are not gonna come back to read crap.

But there’s a down side to Adsense. It is just that – one source of income. If that source were to stop, that’s all your income gone in one swoop. And it has happened to some people. Even websites earning half a million dollars a year.

That’s why it is dangerous to rely on Adsense as the sole source of income for a blog or website. Ebooks are another source of income – either writing your own ebook or selling someone else’s on your blog/website. Membership subscriptions is another. Getting affliates to do all the selling for your ebook is a great way make a living if you’re not familar or comfortable with selling it yourself. There are other ad companies you can choose from other than Adsense to place on your site. If you end up getting enough people visiting your website every day, you can even invite private advertisers to pay for ad space.

I’m gonna try each one out and I’ll let you know my progress and earnings.
These are just some of the ways to generate an online passive income and have time left over to do whatever you like.

For me, I want to take my family on a nice vacation. My mother spent almost three decades raising three kids on her own and worked in miserable jobs to put food on the table. She hadn’t even gone on a vacation until last year. So taking her to places she wants to visit is my way of thanking her.

I began this journey with no experience in the industry whatsoever. My techie friend Andrew can attest to this. Two years ago, I didn’t even know what HTML was or that Adsense even existed. I had no idea about hosting or other online mumbo jumbo. I learned the hard way, step by step, making loads of dumb mistakes along the way. I guess that’s what this site is made for. For those who started out like me: no idea about how to make money on the net, or where to start, working in a job but want to make passive income to escape the rat race.
This is for you.

Since then, I’ve bought stacks of books, programs, read and joined numerous blogs, forums and tested different platforms and software to figure out which way to make money online was the best for me.

There really is no “right way” to make money online. Certain ways might work for some but not others. So I would like to lay out the options out for you to choose and test yourself.

So come with me on a journey to become financially free.

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