Okay, so our websites are not yet ready to generate our living from, and there may be too much going out and not enough coming into to your accounts. We have a blog mastermind plan for the long term, which we are working on, but, meanwhile, we need a life raft…

Ever get irritated by those commercials which proudly tell you the finance company has revolutionised the lifestyles of mr and mrs x, by “restructuring” their credit card repayments, so as to “save” £700 per month? On they go, “by restructuring payments into one single payment they are now paying £165 per month instead of over £800″. BUT, they do not say they are reducing the size of the debt. 

They are merely paying that much less every month, so as to owe far more long term. Frankly, with those type of repayments, mr and mrs x, whoever they may be, will be lucky to ever get out of debt…

Here is the simple plan which, a suggeestion based on what I used for clients I worked with in a previous employ. So simple in fact, that it’s so easy to overlook. In brief. make a list of the following;

• Income
• Direct Debits
• Cash withdrawals
• Subscriptions
• Urgent repairs

Starting from the top. Income. It’s not enough, right, that’s why you need a life raft until you can get a raise. Make no mistake, this post is not about raising your income levels. It is simply an evaluation of how to manage with what you have right now. Some find it hard to believe that is the actual first step towards financial freedom. Because building income level or even a career is like building anything. First, you need a base on which to build. If not, it’s like building on quicksand,

Direct Debits. Look carefully at these, and see if there are ways you can reduce them. Many people, for example, can benefit from a water meter, if you are a low user. Telephone and gas, electricity. Right now, with a steep correction in commodity prices, it’s not a good time to cap rates. But often you are paying more each month than you are actually using. Depending on the state of your account, contact your provider to try to renegotiate your monthly payments.

Subscriptions. I guess these fall into the optional extras category. Look to see which you may be prepared to drop, for the time being. Painful, maybe, but spiralling debt is also painful, and we’re looking to stop the bleeding for now.

Cash withdrawals. Try to work out how much each week you can withdraw in cash, after deducting your outgoings from income. BUT, bear in mind your debt repayments, so calculate leaving a sum of money for repayments.

Repair work, to car, home, appliances. The best way is to prioritise these by which needs doing first.

If, at the conclusion of this you have a surplus, that is your current debt repayment figure, which hopefully your new budget has set.

Priorities of Debts

• Rent
• Mortgage

For mortgage, try to renegotiate, if feasible.   Think of possibly taking out an interest only re-mortgage for a small amount, say 10 or 20%. This is good if you need to spend a lot on your property. It is also a consolidation of your other outstanding debts. There will be a time frame imposed on interest free mortgages, so after two or three years you will need to commence re-payments. It also buys you time. Remember though, with interest only, your debts are not on the increase, that’s the difference between our annoying finance loan commercials.

       Lower Priority;

• Overdraft
• Credit Card
• Creditors
• Hire Purchase

The reason these are lower priority is you are less likely to have the roof over your head taken away from you. Search for a free, independent advisor, citizens advice bureau or local law centre   being a starting point,  to advise you on negotiating with your creditors. Some may be willing to accept lower monthly payments in order to see a gradual reduction of the amount owed. Also, for advice, look for national debtline. In UK it is 0808 808 4000.

Try to bear in mind, whatever your strategy, and the first step is to have a strategy, it’s important to find something that puts you back in charge. There’s nothing more stressful than being in a situation where you have responsibility without power to change anything about it.

 On the news front, I noted whilst travelling to work the other day, yes I do have a day job too a traffic jam stretching for miles going the other way. I discovered later the reason for the long queue was police stopping the traffic at a roundabout, in the right lane (the most used lane to go into town) to ask questions for a questionnaire…The questions were, “What is your post code, and what is the post code for your destination” The headline for the story was “40 minutes to travel 2 miles!” And this information was “required” for a survey on a proposed local bypass..Surely an example of officialdom at the expense of common sense. Particularly in view of the fact the town locates the only hospital for many miles. Full story

On the financial news front, the crisis continues, with the pound plummeting to an all time low against the Euro, and $1.47 against the Dollar Our Prime Minister (the current lunatic in charge of the Asylum) is considering tax cuts to “stimulate the economy”. So where’s the money going to come from then, to finance the banks bail out, announced recently, if not the taxpayer? I can only assume it will have to be more and more debt re-selling, probably with a run on the pound to boot..More good news later…IF I can avoid the media news to find it :lol:The need for a second income has never been greater. Watch this space…

On the personal news front, many thanks to Lillie Amman for sending me a copy of her book “Dream or Destiny”, an engaging title I am fortunate to have won on Writers Notes run by Jeanne Dininni. Writers Notes really is a goldmine of information for budding writers, and for webmasters, and her contest is an example of how interactive blogs can be. I have mentioned on here that I also run a writing website, currently dominated by the serialisation of my Father’s novel. E-publishing is something else I’m looking into.. It’s coming along slowly, the novel, as time allows me to type up and upload. Perhaps I should think about software that types up for you, if you read it out

I’ve also got a gig coming up with my guitar.  First though I need to dust off the cobwebs…From my playing that is, not the guitar

Whatever you are up to, have a good week ahead

 image by kitten of flickr.

 Beta versions of Wordpress version 2.7 are now available. There are so many wordpress updates it is simply not always necessary to update every time. This version however, is said to offer significant new features:

• Keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation
• Plugin browser embedded 
•  Separate Large and Full image sizes, related improvements
• Comment threading 
•   Comment paging
•  Batch and inline editing

 From the  new enhancements,  one of the most interesting ones is the new comment functionality. Comments can be threaded, paged, etc. This is all built in, but importantly, your theme must support it.  So don’t get over excited…just yet

It’s always a challenge to get your theme, and functions exactly the way you want them. In my case, more research is needed into site design. As I learn, I’ll pass my new found knowledge on. It’s a learning process, for all of us. Have fun

Here is advice on exactly how to upgrade wordpress. Follow these steps and it’s simple

I think it’s fair to assume that, unless a blog is frequently updated, it will lose readership. After all, if the author loses interest how can he or she expect readers not to But how can people make so many posts to their blog on a daily basis, if so many interesting things are happening to them to generate writing topics, how come they have the time to sit typing their entries? Or do some simply copy relevant news items :o

One basic method is to take a notepad with you wherever you go. How many times do we, in daily life, think of great ideas to blog about, only when the time comes to write sit and stare at a blank screen, as the dreaded writers block comes into play! Making notes as we think of them is one way around this, though you may well get some baffled  looks from the  public, depending on exactly when you make the notes!

Depending on your work schedule, it’s wise to make use of the wordpress timestamp feature. This allows you to edit the publish date for posting, so you can maybe write up a few entries at weekends, and stagger the publishing dates. Better to update at intervals of a few days than to have three manic entries one a Sunday, for example

IF you work for a living, that is until you can generate enough money from your blog to justify resigning, it’s advised NOT to write about your job, colleagues, or the boss.  AFTER you resign?? Actually, no, not then either! It’s better to avoid any possibility of a lawsuit. After all, we have other things to do, right?

On one hand, I enjoy personal touches to a site, it helps to generate a relationship with author to reader, as opposed to endless articles about SEO from A.N. Other. But, if internet marketing is your subject, those who subscribe to your blog will take the subject seriously, (because money is serious) so they will perhaps be less interested in the weather as a post topic So, keep the balance in mind.

Many bloggers are also diarists…Another idea is to tape record near the days end, before you go to bed, anythng you consider to be relevant about your day. Making sure everything is dated. At the very least,  you will have clear records of your daily life, which may be worth looking back on years later. Also, you can record your news, and train your thoughts towards your goal of writing.

Always remember post comments. Post commentators are our friends, because they take time to visit, read, and comment on our posts. So I like to think of a blog post as the opening up of a conversation between author and readers.

Finally, dedicate your blog to it’s subject, and your readership base. And always remember why you are a writer

There are a number of ways to check your website’s progress. Some of the most commonly used are Google Page Rank (PR, Technorati, and Alexa. It’s important not to get obsessed by these ranking criteria, but some people like to chart progress of their blogs popularity

To quote from wikipedia, google PR; “PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set”.

Technorati tracks incoming links to your blog, or as they call it “blog reactions”. It is a way of  charting the popularity of your site. If someone links to your site, mostly by way of linking to a post you made, it Should show up in your technorati account (which you need to first set up) as a “blog reactions”. Every reaction counts as 1 authority, and the more authority you get, the higher your technorati ranking becomes. But many are complaining that, recently, technorati reactions are not showing up, indeed, this site has many links to it which are not showing on technorati. If any bloggers have any advice on this, I’d be happy to hear from you.

Alexa traffic rank you can obtain by visiting www.alexa.com, and enter your site for evaluation. The Alexa bots will then crawl your site, and you get the option of installing the Alexa toolbar, which gives information on traffic rank of every site you visit. The aim here is to generate as many links to your site as you can, also increase traffic, in order to get your Alexa ranking lower, preferably into the top 100,000 sites. 

Here is a link for improving your Alexa ranking.

 No matter how brilliant your ideas, if no one knows your site your superb articles will never get read… It makes good sense to set up as many websites linking to you as possible. A couple of starters are Yahoo powered  mybloglog. Here you simply sign up with username and password, and add as many blogs as you like, with the intention of inviting others in similar niche to join your blogs community. Every time you make a post your contacts will see it listed in their community posts.

Another is blogcatalog This is great social media site for meeting fellow bloggers and making friends, contacts, and of course, getting your blog known. It has forums, and the more you post there the better you will be known, especially if you can help others out using your web expertise.

 Mert Erkal has created a new concept which he calls Blogohology. This is an example of creating your own network of bloggers, all helping to support one another, by trading links, and sharing tools and resources. Blogohology is a magazine, which started by interviewing various bloggers, including myself when I had my Digital World blog, giving them a chance to showcase themselves. Mert is a great example for budding bloggers, he gave up his day job to become a full time blogger. But it does not happen overnight…Work out a website concept, stick to your game plan, taking it one step at a time. It’s like watching your own dream evolve

The number of famale bloggers is rapidly on the increase, as this news item from the 2008 BlogHer Conference in San Francisco relates;

Fears are growing about a global recession..We’ve all heard of the recently announced $700 billion bank bail out package in America, and similar moves have followed in United Kingdom, in order to prevent a financial disaster following world banks massive shortfall in loan repayments. Last October, the DJ Industrial average was at it’s all time high, this October it has risen only one day so far, and it’s now the 16th of the month, as Wall Street has finally got the message it’s economy is in serious trouble. But how did this happen in the first place…..

 For years we have had the so called “Goldilocks economy”, low inflation, good growth, house prices gaining,  low unemployment. Now, all those indicators have reversed, and we are looking at the flip side. Inflation has surged for over a year now, but stock markets chose to ignore it. Oil spiked to $147 a barrel, with some predicting $200 by this year end. Gas and electricity have reached ruinous levels, all of which is crippling the consumer. And now, in recent months, Wall Street is in it’s “the world is coming to an end” mood,  with global markets following their leader.  But is there any light at the end of the tunnel?

Obviously, the collapse of the housing market is a disaster to many, except that is for first time buyers who have been priced out of the market for years. Good news for first time buyers? They still need a mortgage, unless that is, house prices fall to levels where they don’t need one! So, let’s examine possible glimmers of light, by focusing on the bull points;

• Bush is leaving
• Oil prices have plummeted
• Commodities have slumped
• Banks have massive shake up

The president of America, whose slack monetary policies have led to far too many risky lending by banks, is outgoing. It surely can’t come soon enough, as he will go down in history as the president who inherited a reletively healthy economy, and seen it turn to dust.

For over a year, gas, petrol, and electricity have crippled the consumer, as suppliers felt confident enough to write their own cheques. A massive correction in this inflated commodity market was long over due. As a former stock market trader, if I learned one thing it’s that when there is too clear a distinction between valuation and fundamentals, serious trouble is close at hand. The price of oil clearly was not supported by fundamentals, everyone knew that, now it’s crashed.  As did the technology heavy index the Nasdaq in 2000. It has never since come close to it’s March 2000 peak. Like the old saying, “no tree grows to the sky”….

Finally, banks. Many have lost their jobs, others have lost jobs they never should have had in the first place. It’s now far harder to obtain loans, bad news for people who want to better their lives and homes, good news in preventing scammers intent on running up debts they will never repay.

As for looking for any signs of recovery, word on the street suggests, as the credit markets started this rout, look for any signs that lending is on the increase. Goverments have provided liquidity to the markets, but liquidity is not capital. If you buy equities, be vigilent for any sign that the credit markets are easing up. Remember, we won’t know if we’ve hit bottom until we are well past it, so if you are a buyer of anything financial, your timing will be dependent on your risk aversion policy.

So, there are the bad points, and the not so bad points. Good points? You can make your own mind up whether there are any….After the infamous market crash of ‘29 we had the depression of the 30’s. Which most today cannot imagine the likes of. With the biggest danger in all this surely recession, higher unemployment, is there anything we can do to protect ourselves?

Obviously, we cannot control world fiscal policy. But it makes sense where possible to open as many income streams as we can for ourselves. Do your own research on makeing money on line. And I’ll be passing on ways of making internet marketing work, as well as exposing scams.  I’m not going to pretend I have all the answers, any blogger, no matter how successful,  who pretends he is above all this and immune to global collapse is living in cloud cuckoo land, this affects everyone, bar none. But one thing about blogging…We are a community, so stick together and find ways to help each other. The point being, we learn together. That is why I started this blog. To embark on the internet marketing voyage myself, and for others to join with me. As this site is new, I can chart my progress along the way, having previous experience of writing blogs I am now starting afresh to demonstrate my way of developing a website. As a writer, I’d be more than happy if anything I write makes people feel better for having read it. If that’s to be my personal contribution to the current crisis, I will consider it worthwhile

So, good luck, and have fun…For the joy is in the learning And let the world worry about tomorrow.

 So how far can you go with internet marketing? Top up your current salary, or enough to get financialy self succicient? This published guide from Read Write Web asked 20 top-tier tech bloggers and social media consultants to relate  how much they get paid. You can use it as a guide to help develop your ideas for the direction you want to take with your blog.

                                Full Article

Remember, this is real pro blogging, you will not get to that stage overnight. Set a target, work towards your goal, and meanwhile, enjoy your voyage of discovery….

Here’s to your blogging success…

image by Darren Hester of Flickr

•  
• These  are the highly recommended first steps towards your future blog success. It won’t come easy, like any other business, it takes time, patience and hard work to build up from scratch, but half the fun’s in the learning But once your content grows, and your blog has established contacts, and is SEO optimized (so others can find you!) you will be then ready to monetize your site to earn income.

•   Purchase your domain name
•   Locate suibtable web hosting service
•   Install blog software
•   Create blog concept
•   Generate and build content
•   Set up social network links, Mybloglog, Blog Catalogue
•   Install SEO plug in, + Google Sitemap

                                                   Monetization

There are four main ways to earn money from your site;

• Advertising, either by selling text links, or sponsorship opportunities.
• Affiliate Marketing
• Paid Posts
• Membership site

Beware that, whatever method you eventually use, your sites needs to get high traffic rankings. Advertisers will not pay you for adverts if they think no one visits your site, same goes for paid posts. It’s also a trap, because, although your advertising opportunities will increase with high Alexa Ranking or Google Page Rank  google has a mean habit of penalising your sites ranking IF you use text link ads or write paid posts, because they feel it disqualifies generated links. Therefore, it’s a vicious circle, because you’ve worked hard to gain ground in traffic rank, and suddenly it’s taken from you! Advertising though, h

A lucrative way to make money with your site are affiliate marketing also site membership options. The latter depends entirely on what you have to offer! Affiliate commissions are usually high, ranging from 40% commission up to as high as 80 or 90% in some cases!  If you join affiliate programmes and your readership trust you, it is more likely they will follow you themselves. Membership is something you will have to work on, after all, the more lucrative the product you are offering, the more likely people will subscribe to your site. It’s all about content, develop that FIRST.

Monetising we will discuss later on, advertising alone has many different roads to choose from, such as pay per click advertising. For now, we will work on concepts and content development.