You probably run WordPress because you want your site to rank well on Google. That makes you smart -- WordPress is GREAT for that. Well, what would it be like to watch your Google ranking creep up and up every day for a while... ...and then to watch your rankings, your traffic, and your site's profits steadily decline to near zero? Well, it can happen when Google realizes that your posts and pages are STALE... Continue Reading

I recently wrote a few articles that created quite a bit of response from my readers. Where is the Integrity in Internet Marketing? challenged many of the all-too-common tactics used by unscrupulous marketers. I invited my readers to share their thoughts and experiences related to these issues, and the comments that followed were both insightful and instructional. Let's face it. When it comes to selling a product or service, marketing approaches are all over the... Continue Reading

My name is Garrett. I live in a fantasy world that is a cross between a Victorian society and the Middle Ages, with a dose of Steampunk technology tossed in for good measure. You don't see me because I operate out of the shadows. I stealthily make my way in and out of places and across the rooftops of the city, making off with treasure and whatever goods I can find. The only evidence you... Continue Reading

If you've been using AdSense for Search, you'll know that last year, Google shut it down. If you wanted to continue to offer your users a search function -- and earn revenue from ad clicks when those users conducted their searches -- you needed to use Google's Custom Search Engine and attach it to your AdSense account. Continue Reading

Email lists are arguably an online marketer's best friend. They provide direct lines of communication to people who have already given you a vote of confidence, either by opting in to receive your updates, purchasing a product from you, or both. So how do you get a great email list if you are just starting out? And if you have been in the online business for awhile, how do you build yours and grow it... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joel Ownby) Accepting payment online for your products and services sounds like a pretty simple endeavor, and at a low level it is. Understanding what is happening behind the scenes is an entirely different proposition. Understanding the nuts and bolts of payment processing will grant you the ability to provide better customer service, generate more accurate cash flow and projection data, help you to better understand technical issues involving payment processing... Continue Reading

What would you do if you were God? We're talking about the Supreme Being; the Almighty; the Alpha and Omega; the Big Cheese; the Head Honcho; the Man in the Sky. You get the picture. Many of us behave as though we are God. We erroneously think the world revolves around us. Trust me, I've been there before. But if you had all of eternity on your hands and were just hanging out by yourself... Continue Reading

It's easy to become married to the work of building your online business, and in one sense, this is as it should be. Building anything from the ground up takes work and dedication, especially if like many fledgling entrepreneurs you are trying to budget your money wisely and do many things yourself. But the impulse can become detrimental. Many times you are so busy working in the trenches that you can't see or don't have... Continue Reading

How do you feel about celebrities? Are you in awe when you meet someone that is well-known? Do you get nervous when speaking with them? Do you attribute value to people based on their status? How do you treat those that appear to have achieved the level of status, wealth, fame or power that you may aspire to? Continue Reading

It's not uncommon for marketers to use upsells and downsells in order to gain a new customer and make a sale. Downsells typically offer the same product or some derivative of that product at a discounted price. Upsells will usually come after a sale has been made, and offer extra goods or services for an additional fee. There's nothing wrong with upselling or downselling in theory. But I do believe there are cases where integrity... Continue Reading

You've probably seen the .li tweets that have been flying around Twitter lately. And if you're like me, you're probably finding them irritating already. Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Tim Golen) Twitter grows more popular each and every day and more and more users are discovering it and putting it to use. Since the beginning, Twitter has struggled to meet this demand and it has been a big challenge for them to not only meet the current demand that their users have, but also to provide additional value to those users. One of the reasons that I have been reluctant... Continue Reading

What's the real secret to getting things done? While much of the answer lies in things like motivation and daily habits, you also can't ignore the value of the tools you use every day to do the work. We polled our staff to find out what's running on their machines here at the office and at home. What we found is that our office has some universal solutions, and then seemed to split departmentally. So... Continue Reading

Whether you have one website or one thousand, you need Google Analytics. Here is a quick tutorial for installing Google Analytics on your website or WordPress blog. Continue Reading