Archive for November, 2008
The first steps to setting up your own blog
Posted by: | CommentsWould you like to set up your own blog?
This a topic that I had in mind for one of the ‘new’ products I was going to create in 2009 …
But I have had some emails about how I went about setting up my blog and asking advice.
The first thing I would advise before doing anything, is get a blank piece of paper and think about what you want to blog about and write down your ideas….
Affiliate Marketing?
eBay Marketing?
Making Money Online?
Weight Loss?
Dating?
Self Branding or Multiple Niche?
Ok, now you know what your niche, the next thing is to think about a domain name, if you are self branding then check and see if your name is available to register, if it is a niche then think about what you are writing about or wanting generate affiliate income from …
For example, if it is a weight loss niche then you want to try and have a ‘keyword rich’ domain name … ie …. something like simpleweightlosstips.com or similair.
I use www.namecheap.com for registering my domains, don’t register it until you check out this link for a coupon code to save money Coupon Codes for Namecheap.com
I would also suggest that you try and obtain a .com or .net extention, try and avoid .info extentions as there is a reason why they are cheap, the spammers use them …
Now you will have the choice a ‘hosted’ blog or a ’self-hosted’ blog ….. What is this you may wonder?
A ‘hosted’ blog is were your url would be something like tommy.wordpress.com or tommy.blogger.com, now the advantage being they are free and set up in no time, the disadvantage in my eyes being that they do not allow you to post freely links affiliate or IM Links etc, they limit what you are allowed to post or use to monitise your blog.
The worry is that your blog could be shut down or closed without any warning, this would be very frustrating if you have spent months posting, building backlinks, getting established.
A ’self-hosted’ blog would be where you host the blog on your own webspace, this gives you so much control and means you are able to do anything you want.
It also installs confidence in your reader/visitor, in my opinion and looks more polished and professional.
What do you think?
tommy.wordpress.com or tommy-mclaughlin.com which do you prefer?
Graphics are optional and in all honesty, not something you need to worry about at the moment.
There are many webhost companies out there, I use www.d9hosting.com I can not fault the service I have received and recommend them, however most people use companies like www.hostgator.com now they offer a service of unlimited blogs for only $7.95 a month, but if you enter the coupon code ‘wordpress’ then you can get started for only 1 cent for the first month.
I am going to complete some videos showing how to set up wordpress on your webspace in the next few days.
If there is anything else you want me to show you, plug-ins, themes then feel free to post a comment.
I hope this has helped some of the people who were stuck in what steps to take, if you have manged the above steps, congratulations as you are on your way to setting up your blog.
My Online Goals for 2009 What are your online goals?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat .?????…..
I know we have not even had Christmas yet …. but believe it or not 2009 is only 6 weeks away …scary … I know …
but it got me thinking about what I could look to achieve in 2009, this last year seems to have flown by and I have for most been busy offline with my wedding and other commitments, one thing I have done now that things have calmed down and I can actually get more time to sit in front of the pc, is to reflect ….
The one thing I have been guilty of is what I would call ‘headless chicken syndrome’ (this is where if you cut the head of a chicken the body will still run about without a head?? lol )
but I am sure you get the picture, but what I mean by it is that I sit down at the pc, and before you know it, you have not got half the things done that I should have, having taken stock, this is what I intend to to do.
Before I even turn on my PC/Laptop, I will write down a checklist of everything I intend to get done and in brackets how long I expect each task to take.
Concentrate on one thing at a time, and get that finished rather than working on a few projects and slowing things down
Continue to try and help others to achieve their online ventures
Have quality time with my new wife and family, this is important as well to keep a balance
Keep the faith and focus when things don’t go to plan
Lastly, is continue to take action!, this is very important because if you do not take action, then if you can imagine being in a boat with only one oar, all that will happen is you will go round in circles and never get anywhere!
Ok, I think this post will be interesting, when I look back at the end of 2009 and see if I managed to achieve all my goals ……
I intend to revamp my membership site and also create at least 2 others.
I need to get new graphics and rewrite the sales letter of www.membershipmanagersupreme.co.uk, and shortly offer my subscribers a special offer for those that wish a copy of MembershipManagerSupreme.
Launch at least two new eBooks to add to my portfolio of products.
I have a couple of other ideas to try and create more income streams, but will explain what they are later as I may use as a topic of one of my eBooks or maybe even a physical book as my last post explained.
I will add to this post, but I think that the above is a start … lol !!
What goals are you setting yourself for 2009?
Do you want to dominate eBay?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are new to eBay or even a seasoned seller, then I believe that anyone can dominate ebay with the spy-auction-riches Tutorial Course. Here is a little background to it:
Over 12 Months Ago Adeel Chowdry started work on what I strongly believe is the most comprehensive
video series showing you how to profit from eBay.
Imagine working on a product for over 12 months?
That’s dedication.
Adeel had created a ton of stuff related to selling information on eBay but then when eBay banned
the sale of digitally delivered products he stopped working on his product. Until now!
He has now finished his eBay Domination Course and I have to say I was impressed with the amount of content packed with 80+ videos to show you step by step how he did it.
If you want see exactly what is covered, check out his site:
This is some of what is covered:
> Making Money Selling eBooks
> Setup – ebay, mydd, aweber setup etc
> Resell Rights
> Increasing Value
> Outsourcing
> CONFIDENTIAL
> Niche Product Research
> CONFIDENTIAL
> Public Domain Riches
> Automating The Whole System
> Back-End Profits
> AdSense
> Branding
> CONFIDENTIAL <-- My fave vid !
> Affiliate Marketing
> Viral Marketing
> Buying Leads
> Software
> Private Label Rights
> Profits With Physical Products
> Real Wholesalers
> Where To Get Cheap Products From
> CONFIDENTIAL
> CONFIDENTIAL
> Increasing The Perceived Value
> Complimenting The Purchase
> Direct Marketing
> Delivery Methods
The videos and content are clear and concise and very easy to duplicate the techniques, the only grip I have is that a couple of videos are ‘dated’ due to eBay Policy changes, Adeel however addresses this.
I am glad to have purchased, just need to wait for the tuxedo to come back from dry cleaners so I can dominate eBay as 007.5 more like Basilindon Bond !!
Definately worth a look, if only to see Adeel, in his James Bond Togs, put a smile on my face…
See for yourself:
The end of selling Digital Media CD’s on eBay?
Posted by: | CommentsWell for some sellers it may be ….. I personally think it is still possible to sell Digital media on CD via eBay..
Let me explain, there was an interesting thread started by myself on John Thornhill’s Forum , the reason being was that I logged into my eBay account to find that all my auctions had been removed for a “Copyright Violation”.
This puzzled me as I knew that everything I had listed I had a Master Resell Licence, was Private Label Rights or I was even the author!!!, namely my PowerSellersNiches eBook .
It very quickly became evident that I was not alone, the thread now has over 110 replies and I have studied it closely and also all the replies I and others have received from eBay.
The first thing that came to light was that the “Enhanced Members Reporting” program may have been the start of the problem, this is where eBay select ‘experts’ eBay Sellers in their opinion to report auctions (I should mention that this has been predominantly on the UK Site)….
For anyone that has experienced problems with eBay, you rarely get a straight answer, ie – ‘what where the auctions that were in violation?’
You will normally be frustrated with a ‘copy & paste’ answer, resulting in your blood pressure rising …
I can only suggest you keep calm, and if it helps here are my interpretations to the mumble jumble of the ‘copy & paste’ replies.
1. My Notification to eBay VERO Members other sellers, may have gotten me into trouble, I sell lots of different sorts of digital media, here is my notice:
Special Notice to eBay Staff, Vero, Safe Harbor…I am Copyright Holder, Author or the item is in the public domain Proof is available upon request. This product does not infringe any copyrights and fully conforms with eBay compilation and international media policy. Please contact me if you have any questions or require further information.
now the grammar within the above ‘one does all’ statement for my auctions was ‘public domain’ reason as I was aware was that information that is ‘public domain’ must be over 70 years old pre 1923 or similiar to fall out of copyright. Not all my auctions were content pre 1923.
Here is the eBay Policy that was quoted to me:
Selling of Unauthorised Copies .
Was this why my auctions were ended? Maybe …
Checking some of my other auctions, I am wondering if possibly ‘open office’ caused a problem, this is a freeware GNL Licenced equivelant to Microsoft Office. Even though eBay Sellers are Licenced to sell etc, one of the replies lead me to believe that maybe it was this that caused a problem.
Here is the eBay Policy that was sent to me and others:
Selling of Replica Counterfiets .
Reading between the lines although you may have a GNL Licence to sell it, eBay deem it prohibited.
Reading through all the relevant eBay policies, it is deemed a violation if you encourage buyers to purchase outwith the eBay Marketplace. Although I did not do that I have seen others being specific about overseas customers to buy from their ‘digital media’ website as they do not dispatch CD’s Overseas. I would suggest you are careful with this one.
As I mentioned above I still believe it is possible to earn a good income from eBay, there are lots of profit making digital media sellers Profit Making digital media Sellers .
Tips to try and stay on the right side of eBay:
If using a gallery picture, you should always use a CD image, don’t use an eBook image or Book image, you are selling a CD Rom.
I always use Planet Divinity for my Graphics.
Don’t overcomplicate your ‘note to eBay Sellers’ ….. keep it simple use ‘ I am authorised to sell this item’ or something short – may save you from an Enhanced Reporting Police!
Don’t direct buyers to other websites in your auction – ‘overseas buyers go to my about me page’ etc, you can have a link to your ‘about me’ page though.
Try not to mention eBook within your auction title or description, use alternatives such as ‘guide’ etc.
Don’t sell freeware software Open Office, PDF Creator, Music Software etc as you will get suspended for selling illegal copies of software.
Always list in ‘informational products’ as listing in other catergories may get you reported.
If selling in the UK, you may wish to consider automating your CD Delivery by using Auction Acrobat or something similiar like Disc Buddy and try listing on eBay US Site.
Any comments are welcome.
Welcome to Tommy-McLaughlin.com
Posted by: | CommentsWell it has taken me long enough what with recently getting married and working hard to get my blog off the ground.
I would like to give a special mention to Steve @ Planet Divinity Graphics for the rocking graphics – fab job as always.
Also a big thank you to Dan and Paula at d9hosting both went the extra mile to ensure I had everything set up, nothing was too much trouble, so thanks again.
Anyways, I hope that I can provide plenty of help and good information for helping people make some moolah online.
Look out for an important post for anyone that is selling digital media via cd-rom on eBay, if you do then you will need to know this