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Can you make money blogging? Yep

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How To Make Money Blogging

I’ve been using the internet since the time of Bulletin Boards and 286 Windows computers. Yeah – the early 90’s for those of you who have no idea what a Bulletin Board is. LOL. Basically that was the precursor to forums and even forums are starting to die down these days.

So I’ve established that I’ve been using the internet and computers for quite some time. I’ve also been a webmaster for quite a while too. My first website was started in 1995 and it’s still in existence. It’s even my most popular site – even today!

Now, when I started on the internet and started making my first website I really had no idea that one day I might make an income on the internet nor that I might even be able to make a living via the income that I earned on the internet, but over the last few years that has been the case. Through necessity I’ve been stuck at home and blogging became a way to earn money.

I don’t believe that there’s any easy or fast way to start making money on the internet or by blogging. It takes time and it takes quite a bit of hard work if you want to be successful.

Hey, I’m being honest. I could tell you to just start a blog and post five times a day and in a week or two you’ll start earning money but that’s not how it works. Not at all. No, I think you have to have a passion for what you are doing, what you are writing about and you do need to write regularly, perhaps not several times a day, but several times a week to eventually become successful.

These days most of the advertising companies that might eventually become interested in your blog will not let you sign up with their companies until your blog has been around for a while – say 6 months and has a fair amount of content on it.

For example, one of the best Ad programs that I’ve been involved with is Google Adsense – it pays it’s publishers well, but your blog has to be 6 months old before they will accept it into the program and it has to qualify. Do not even apply if your blog doesn’t qualify or you might lose your chance to get an account later on when your site really does qualify.

There are many ways to make money blogging. Another great program is Chitika. I’ve been using this program for quite a while on a number of my sites and it can be used in conjunction with Google Adsense.

Other programs that you might try on your blog – not all at once mind you – are Kontera, Text Link Ads, Adbrite, Infolinks, BidVertiser or many others.

Eventually as your blog becomes more popular you’ll be able to sell some privately sponsored advertising spaces as well. In fact you might not have to go out seeking advertisers at all, they might come seeking you – daily! When that begins to happen you’ll know you’ve reached a modicum of success although all of the offers coming in might not be real or might not be the best deal. Do your research and get paid before adding a banner to your site! Lesson learned here, I know what I’m talking about, believe me.

I have a number of blogs now and as I said at the beginning of this article I earn a decent income from what I do on the internet. I could always earn more but it’s not bad. My biggest tip is dedicated yourself to what you are doing and don’t spread yourself thin. Don’t start 50 blogs – start one and make it a good one, make it a really good one. That’s all it takes.

So … Have you started earning money from blogging?




How to convert your keywords into higher affiliate sales…

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You already know that the affiliate with the most clicks gets higher sales, the question is how can you too get more clicks and higher sales.

The answer is simple: turn your blog keywords into affiliate links. With this cool tool you can actually not only do that, but also hide your links [protect yourself from thieves] and even display keyword-rich links at random through your blog post [this feature is truly powerful].

I’ve been using this amazing WordPress plugin on several of my blogs for months now – take a look through some of the posts on this site and you find several customized affiliate links. I’ve had an over 200% increase in my affiliate commissions since I began using this fantastic tool!

Check it out yourself at:

MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate

Oh and this plugin – Ninja Affiliate is on SALE! You can get $30 off the regular price if you buy before Midnight on Friday August 21st!

WP_Posts database crashed – HELP!

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If you see this post a few times it’s because I really need help and I’m posting it on three of my blogs – sorry for the repeat, but if you can help, please do!

I need some help fixing my husbands blog – Guitar Licks. Today when he visited the site (while I was still sleeping) the blog had error messages stating that the WP_posts database had crashed.

When you visit his site it loads with the WP theme and sidebars, but there’s error messages at the top and a “post cannot be found” message where current posts should be listed on the index page.

Some of the errors state:

ALTER TABLE wp_posts ADD FULLTEXT `yarpp_title` ( `post_title`)

ALTER TABLE wp_posts ADD FULLTEXT `yarpp_content` ( `post_content`)

So I’m assuming this error has something to do with the Yet another related post plugin that I’m using on most of my blogs. This blog is using the plugin version 2.16 and is using WP 2.62.

In the Yet another related posts plugin admin area there was a message that said:

YARPP’s “consider titles” and “consider bodies” relatedness criteria require your wp_posts table to use the MyISAM storage engine, but the table seems to be using the engine. These two options have been disabled.
To restore these features, please update your wp_posts table by executing the following SQL directive: ALTER TABLE `wp_posts` ENGINE = MyISAM; . No data will be erased by altering the table’s engine, although there are performance implications.
If, despite this check, you are sure that wp_posts is using the MyISAM engine, press this magic button:

I clicked on the “magic button” as the plugin seems to be working just fine in all of my other blogs and I ended up with even more errors!

Help!

I’ve looked at the WP database for this blog and the WP_posts table says “in use” and I can’t browse it. I also can’t use the backup plugin in Guitar licks – it’s there and functioning but just hung when I tried to do a back up.

I’ve backed up the whole database using PHPmyAdmin so I have a copy in case something goes terribly wrong. Now I just need to know how to fix it.

Should I just place a check mark on WP_posts and then click the repair function at the bottom of the structure screen in PHPmyAdmin and see if that repairs the problem?

I’m nervous about attempting to fix this as I’ve never had to try to repair a database error before. Any help would be appreciated.

PLRpro opens it’s doors today – exciting site creation software

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The doors to PLRpro are opening again today at 9:00 a.m.. If you’ve been waiting for your chance to join this fantastic PLR content site here’s your chance!

Note: that time above was wrong. It was supposed to be 9:00 pm PST but I think it will be more like 11 PM. Sorry.

I decided to check out PLRPro a few months ago when the doors to this membership site last opened, and I must say that I’m impressed with the content, the resources and the level of service.

I’m impressed, not just because of the quality they bring to the table in regards to PLR Content, but also because of the additional education and material that they provide for free. In fact, something you’ll probably want to checkout before you join PLRPro is their http://www.ninetydaychallenge.net site which takes a user from start to finish, and they offer that for free.

When I first joined PLRpro there were offering the following:

  • 440 articles across 11 niches (40 articles in each niche)
  • Full keyword research in each niche
  • Affiliate lists for each niche
  • Header Graphics for each niche
  • 5 Website Templates each month
  • Articles done in 8 languages
  • 50 PR4 sites that you can get links from to get your sites indexed and crawled

In addition to the above I also joined because they were creating a new system, Project Green Button, which would make it easy to create HTML and eventually WordPress Websites within minutes.

“Imagine A “Push Button” System That Automates 95% Of Site Creation, Content Creation and Traffic Generation… Now Open Your Eyes, That “Push Button” System Is Here…”

I’ve had a chance to use the Project Green Button or PGB software and I’m impressed. Right now this software is in Phase One and with PGB you’ll be able to

  • Site Creation – Automatically building HTML sites that are fully structured and ready to go with perfect onpage optimization in just 3 minutes (you can do it in under 60 seconds but you have to type fast…) that requires zero technical knowledge.
  • Content Management – 440 articles each month across 11 niches
  • Site Templates – 25 beautiful templates as the initial “bank of templates” from which you can draw upon to build your niche sites
  • Adsense Monetization – Stage one of PGB introduces the core monetization method behind building an income online… Adsense. Stage two will add additional monetization such as Kontera, Clickbank, eBay and Amazon.
  • Full Silo Keyword Search – Each and every niche has all of this already done for you so you don’t need to go search for the next greatest keyword…just look for, and find an ideal keyword for maximum traffic and speed. The keyword research for each niche is done in an easily laid out Excel sheet that you can quickly glance at and find perfectly targeted long tail keywords to start generating traffic in as little as 5 days.
  • 10,000 strong blog network – This networks makes it easy to get one way backlinks via PLRpro’s Article Marketing Automation system. As a Member of PLRpro you’ll get access to this system completely free of charge.
  • RSS Feed Submission module
  • Social bookmarking poster module
  • PGB desktop command center. You simply install the PGB software on you computer and from there you can access the site building software and traffic related modules.
  • $0-6000 a month training plan – If you follow the system that the guys at PLRpro have put together you should be able to make between $2000 and $6000 every month.

There are many additional features that are available right now too many to tell you about in this article! Product reviews, the ability to drag and drop YouTube videos into your articles, aided rewriting of your articles to make them unique, weekly live training and more! Plus Project Green Button isn’t finished! There will be a second and third phase which will add even more modules that will assist in the building of site and generating traffic.

They could easily charge double or triple what they are charging for membership.

I’ve used the system to create a few sites and it works. I’m pleased with the sites I’ve created, I’m pleased with the quality of the PLR content and I’m excited about Project Green Button.

Now, as I said at the beginning of this article PLRpro is opening it’s doors this morning and it will likely only be for a short time as there are only 262 spots to fill. That’s it. When those 262 memberships are taken the doors will be closed again and likely won’t open again until sometime in 2009.

So if all that I’ve written above sounds like it might be something you’re interested in please go and check out the PLRpro website today.

Have you considered using PLR content to supplement your site content?

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OK, I’ve seen all the GURU’s talking about it for months now so i decided to finally go and check out what all the fuss was about. I joined a membership site called PLRpro a little over a month ago. I haven’t actually used any of the articles I’ve received on any of my sites yet, but I will be soon. The quality of the articles are very good.

Just like you I was a little skeptical at first, but I have to say I was SERIOUSLY impressed. The quality of there PLR content was great, but what I was really amazed with was the amount of free resources that were in there. I thought I was just signing up for content but with all the resources in there it’s been like my own personal coaching from the experts.

In fact, if you want to see what I’m talking about have a look at http://www.ninetydaychallenge.net It’s a fool proof system, it tells you exactly what to do, where to do it and on what day to do it on from start to finish and guarantees you’ll make money.

Anyway, here’s a basic overview of what your PLRPro membership contains:

440 articles across 11 niches (40 articles in each niche)
Full keyword research in each niche
Affiliate lists for each niche
Header Graphics for each niche
5 Website Templates each month
Articles done in 8 languages
50 PR4 sites that you can get links from to get your sites indexed and crawled

I’ve also found that they’ve added new resources in the month I’ve been with them and there are some fantastic additions to the service planned for October. I can’t wait!

PLUS here’s a few of the things they normally keep secret:

You’ll have access to their Automized Site Builder
Specialized WordPress Installer
Automatic WordPress Uploader
181 Page VRE Handbook (I’ve slowly been going through this and it’s very helpful)
SEO Training (includes 6 part Video Program)
PPC Training
Plus more….

They really do put together the full package… you’re not just paying for content, with all the extra’s this is probably the only membership you’ll ever need.

As far as the PLR Content game is concerned, they truly offer the best package out there bar none.

If you don’t believe me, check out what others have to say at PLRpro.

Strange wordpress problem

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On Sunday as I was looking some of my blogs that share the same domain I noticed that the “A new version of WordPress is available! Please update now.” message had disappeared. I didn’t think much of it, but a while later when I happened to scroll to the bottom of the page I noticed that it said my WP version was 2.5.

That was strange. You see, the blog I was working with had just been updated to version 2.3.3 using files stored on my computer. The same files that I’d used to update a few blogs on my other domains over the last couple of weeks.

I went and looked at each of the other blogs that I’d updated from 2.1 or 2.2 to version 2.3 and those that were on their own domain still said they were using WP version 2.3.3, but all of the blogs that are located on my Feverishthoughts.com domain – even the ones that are still using much older versions of WP say that they are using WordPress version 2.5 now.

I checked the files for each of the now 2.5 blogs using FTP and by looking at them using my hosting c-panel and there were no extra files that shouldn’t be there. I even checked my web hosts Fantastico version of WP and they are still only using the 2.3.3 upgrade so there’s no way that they did some kind of automatic WP upgrade on my behalf.

The fact of the matter is that the blogs that now say they are using WP version 2.5 are still really using whatever version of WP that they had been prior to my discovery. Nothings changed in the admin panel – you know the new look that 2.5 is supposed to have? Everything about the way the admin area of my blogs are set up are still the same.

So why do some of my blogs say they are using WP version 2.5? Is it some kind of WP glitch? If it is, why don’t my blogs that are on their own domain now also falsely say they are using 2.5?

Has anyone else noticed this strange problem?

BTW I do plan on upgrading all my sites to WP 2.5 shortly, but I’d like to wait a few weeks to be sure that most of the glitches are out of the latest version. I also want to make sure that the plugins that I’m using have upgrades that work with 2.5 as well.

So for now I’ll stick with 2.3 which the majority of my sites are now using and those that aren’t will be upgraded within a few days. Just upgrading to 2.3 has been a pain because I had to widgetize some sites and change from really old themes with function calls that didn’t work with 2.3 to newer themes. For some blogs upgrading has been a total overhaul!

Make sure your next WP upgrade goes well with Preflight plugin

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Earlier today as I was surfing the net and reading some of the blogs I favor I came across an article about a new plugin that will help you prepare your WordPress installation for an upgrade to version 2.3.3 and coming soon WP 2.5.

The WordPress plugin is called the WordPress Upgrade Preflight Plugin. The current version, 1.1, is meant for those who are about to upgrade their WP installation to 2.3.

The Preflight Check plugin will attempt to check your other plugins and themes for any problems that might cause errors when upgrading. It apparently also works in 2.3 and may help identify the cause of any current errors as well.

As I stated in March I was slowly going through my sites and upgrading them from WordPress versions 2.1 and 2.2 to 2.3. I have a lot of blogs and to be perfectly honest with you I still have four left to upgrade!

I’m using some highly customized older themes on a few of my blogs and as I’ve upgraded I’ve found code that I had to alter to work with WP 2.3. I also had to update a number of plugins. This was time consuming work. I’m sure the Preflight Check plugin will make finishing my upgrades to my final four WP blogs a lot easier. Of course I’ve already updated the plugins.

The plugin author is currently working on a version for WP 2.5 so if you’re planning on upgrading to 2.5 soon be sure to check the Preflight Check page for updates.

Oh and don’t forget to backup your WordPress database and files before you do any upgrades! I use the WordPress Database Plugin which allows you to not only backup your files to the server, but to have your backup emailed to you as well. You can also schedule regular backups too.

Finally updated WordPress

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I have a lot of blogs. A LOT of blogs. I’ve been delaying updating them because I knew it would take forever.

I’ve slowly been updating my installations over the past week. For my newer domains it wasn’t such a problem because I could use Fantastico to update them … and since their newish they weren’t all that out of date.

However all my older blogs, including this one, moved servers twice last year and I lost the ability to automatically update with Fantastico when I moved the sites to new servers. If I’d done fresh installations using Fantastico to install WP on the domains and directories first and then transferred my former databases into the new installations I could have avoided this problem, but that’s not the way things worked out.

Oh well … I don’t mind manual updating the blogs. It just takes time.

I’ve had a problem with my blogs for a little while. My problems started back when the Bad Behavior plugin had a problem a couple of months ago. Remember something with the blacklists went wrong and it blocked people out of their WP installations until they either turned off their plugin or updated it? Well I did the update and I updated my Google Sitemaps plugin at the same time and ever since then I had an error message whenever I published an article (on 7 different blogs!) and I don’t think my do follow plugin was working correctly either.

Well now, along with updating this blog to WP 2.3.3 I’ve also updated Bad Behavior (it’s latest version is 2.0.13 if your keeping track) and Google Sitemaps ( Version 3.0.3). At first I thought I still had a problem, but I refreshed the permalinks and tada – it’s all working well again.

I wasn’t that far behind in updating WordPress. I think this blog was 2.2 … so it hasn’t been that long since I updated. However, WP has done a lot of updates in recent months and between the problems I was having with the plugins and being behind in upgrading WP I knew it was time to upgrade. I won’t fall so far behind again!

So far I’ve updated 6 new domains plus this domain. Now I’ve got 7 blogs on Feverishthoughts.com and one on yet another domain to manually upgrade. It will probably be a few days before I’m completely done … sigh.

Need some help with drop down menus

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I’m getting set to change the theme on a number of my blogs. Yes I have several – that could be why I don’t write in this blog anywhere near as often as I should!

Anyway, I’ve been driving myself nuts trying to find the perfect themes to convert for my sites. I always customize my themes. I’ve also been looking at a lot of different plugins as well. I can certainly see how some people can get hooked on trying out plugins! There are so many handy ones, as well as ones that do cool things. I don’t think I need them all though.

I managed to convert one of my current sites over to widgets, but I’m using the KonteraControl plugin on that site to keep Kontera out of some of my posts. Trouble is – once I widgetized the site I have Kontera in posts that it shouldn’t be in!
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