In the following few paragraphs I am going to explain to you in plain English by far the easiest way for you to download and install WordPress.org.

No technical knowledge will be required and no experience needed.

Regardless of any previous experience you may or may not have, you will be able to set up and install WordPress.org and then start building a WordPress Website or blog.

When you follow my step by step instructions you will in just a few minutes have WordPress downloaded and ready to use. And  you will even have access after it is all installed to the many articles I have written on how to use WordPress most effectively. Which could be to make money with or to show the world some particular talent you have.

Whatever your looking to do with WordPress, I can show you how.

Downloading and installing WordPress.org comes in 2 stages and takes about 20 minutes in all.

The first stage will be to set up your hosting account (see below for why you need this) and the second stage will be to actually configure and download WordPress through a facility in your hosting account.

But before we start to install WordPress.org I just want to quickly make clear the reasons why we are using WordPress for a blog or a money making website and second, why you need to have hosting.

So Why Use WordPress.Org

1) Its very easy to use. Yes there are a lot of features that come with it in the dashboard, but to have good a website up and running is not a difficult thing to do.

2) Its great for making an income with or showcasing your talents. I personally use WordPress for all my business websites whether that’s for making money or to give training with.

3) Google and for that matter all the search engines just love blogs and particularly ones from WordPress. Google is always looking for fresh, quality filled articles or posts to rank in its search pages and blogging fits this bill nicely but also with WordPress they are constructed in a way that the search engines love. This basically means its easier to get a WordPress.org site ranked higher with Google.

4) There are literally thousands of free applications that have been built specifically for WordPress designed to make your blogging/website experience easier and the best one possible.

5) Oh Yeah, its Free. The actual WordPress system itself is free to download and to use.

6) Themes, there are thousands of free and paid themes you can use to create that perfect look for your blog/website. ( A theme is simply the basic layout of your website that you then build on) Whatever type of blog or website you are looking to create I can guarantee there will be a theme to match it.

7) WordPress.org is the choice of professionals. Yes there are other systems out there but if you are serious about what your doing then you need to have a self hosted WordPress.org site.

Why Hosting

This is required so that your WordPress site will be live on the internet and visible to anyone that searches for you. The reason you will want to host your own WordPress is because it gives you total freedom to do what you want with it, such as make money.

When you use a blogging/website platform that is hosted by the company itself then you do not have full control and there are always restrictions on what you can and cannot do such as monetising it or having your own website address.

For hosting WordPress I always use the services of a company called Hostgator. This is a company I have used for many years and is one of the largest hosting companies around. They offer an excellent service and come with many benefits such as,

• 24 hour phone support
• Free business email account
• WordPress install facility
• Unlimited disk space and bandwidth
• Free $100 Google Adwords advertising voucher (US/Canadian customers)
  
• 45 day money back guarantee
• First months hosting Free using my coupon code
  
• Plus a whole lot more

The price for your hosting starts from $4 (£3) a month when bought up front in yearly bundles or around $8 (£6) a month if paying monthly. There is no fixed contract, you can cancel at any time and a full refund is given if you do so in the first 45 days.

What’s more when you use my own Hostgator link just below along with my coupon code, you will receive your first months hosting for FREE.

The whole process of setting up your hosting takes about 10 minutes and the process of setting up the second stage (installing WordPress) will take a further 10 minutes.

Now lets begin

1) Click on the link below, this will take you to the correct Hostgator page to sign up for your hosting account and it will make sure you receive your first months free hosting.

www.hostgator.com

2) Now on this page click on the big orange button in the middle where it says “View Web Hosting Plans”

3) This new page is where you decide on the correct hosting plan to have.

You will want to choose either the “Hatchling” or “Baby Plan” option. The big difference between the two is with the Baby plan you can have unlimited website addresses attached to it as opposed to the Hatchling plan where you can only have one web address.

So think about whether you will be building more than one website as this will tell you what plan to go for.

The Business plan is really for people who are planning on doing a lot of work from day one.

Whatever option you go for you can always upgrade to the next plan whenever you want.

But before clicking the order now button make sure you choose the monthly payment option in the drop down box. This way you will keep your start up costs as low as possible and get your first month for free..

4) Now on this page, you will enter a domain name (website address for your business) you would like to buy. Make sure you write it all in lower case and no spaces and without the www. at the start or the .com at the end, Hostgator will do these parts.

Buying a domain name from Hostgator will cost around £9/$15 which is paid every 12 months. This is the only cost you will incur today but in 30 days time your monthly hosting fee will start.

You will obviously need a website address for your WordPress website so that people can find you on the internet so you may want to think on this part for a few moments before purchasing one.

At the time of writing this article Hostgator was using two different ways to purchase a website address. You will either be on “Step 1” or on the “Hostgator order wizard“  Both are fine and when I spoke to Hostgator about this they said they were experimenting to see which worked best for customers.

If you are on “step 1″ then enter your Domain (website address) in the left hand box and then underneath add in the coupon code HGC25.

This code will give you your first months discount. Now click “continue to step 2” and read on from step 5 below.

TIP: If the domain name (website address) you have chosen is not available the first time then you will need to think of a different way to write it.

I had to put a hyphen in my name, nick-squires.com because, nicksquires.com had been taken.  Always remember to check that the coupon code at the bottom says HGC25 for your discount, then click “continue to step 2″

If you are viewing the “Hostgator order wizard” for purchasing your Domain (website address) then check the button on the left for “register a new domain”, enter your domain in the box below (all lower case, no spaces) and then follow the steps below from 5 onwards.

You will also probably be given some other domains that you can purchase that are very similar to the one you have entered and unless you want one of them, my advice is to move on.

TIP: If the domain name (website address) you have chosen is not available the first time then you will need to think of a different way to write it.

I had to put a hyphen in my name, nick-squires.com because, nicksquires.com had been taken.

5) This page will be where you submit all your personal details including user name and security pin + payment details.

When creating your username and security pin make sure that the red crosses below have turned to green ticks. You will then know they are OK to use

When filling out you billing details make sure you fill every section in and for the part where it says “Company” just put in your own name. And if your address is outside the USA make sure you choose your country first before adding your state.

You can use a debit card as well as a credit card for paying or PayPal.

TIP: Double check you have filled out your email address correctly as you will receiving an important email from Hostgator in a few minutes once your account is set up.

6) In the next two sections “Account Use” and “Hosting Addons” first check the the button for “individual” and then uncheck any addons that Hostgator have included for you.

You can always add these addons later on but if you want to keep your costs down for now then uncheck them all.

7) If you are using the “Hostgator order wizard” for signing up then now is the time to add the coupon code HGC25 just underneath the Addons section. Click the validate button and this will give you your first months hosting for free.  

All you need to do now is check the order details at the bottom and if this is all OK then confirm you have read the terms and conditions (yes I know, no one ever does read them) then click the big orange “Create Account” button.

You should then see a page confirming your order and saying an email is on its way.

If you decided to pay through PayPal you will be given the option to either “Pay Now” or”Subscribe” after you click “Create Account”. I highly recommend you hit Subscribe. This way you will not have to keep paying your monthly hosting fee manually, it will be done automatically for you.

I say this because I have had clients in the past who have built up incredible websites, forgot to pay their hosting and lost the lot.

Now you can go on and pay through your Pay Pal account.

Congratulations you have just set up your Hosting Account.

You should now see the thank you page explaining that an email will be sent to you with all your Hostgator account and payment details.

The email your looking for that you will need in the next section to set up your WordPress website with will be titled “Your account info” When this email arrives keep it safe (check your spam box) you will need it for the next stage.

If you paid through PayPal then you will also receive an email detailing this.

The account info email can arrive immediately but it also can take a few minutes, so don’t be too alarmed if its not there just yet, its coming. There is also a slim chance Hostgator will ask you to verify who you are so be on the alert for this email too, they may even phone you. Its just to protect against credit card fraud.

OK once you have the email then you are ready for next section.

WordPress installation via your hosting account

1) Once you have the New Account Info email from Hostgator you can now log in to what’s called your “Control Panel” (CPanel). This is the place where you will activate your WordPress website so that you can begin work on it.

To find the CPanel just open up your Hostgator email and in the middle you will see something that will say ” Your Control Panel ” with a blue link next to it which you can click on. If for some reason its not a clickable blue link then just copy and paste it into your browser bar at the top of your computer, the place where you would normally write a website address and go to it from there.

Remember that your log in details for the Control Panel are also contained within the email, usually just underneath the link, that is your username and password.

2) Now on this page enter your username and password then click log in.

Little tip here, if you have copied and pasted the password into the login box and it does not work try typing it in manually and sometimes you may find its difficult to log in to your Cpanel from a shared computer such as an internet cafe or when you are using internet from somewhere like Macdonalds etc.

If you still can’t log in then Hostgator probably want you to verify your account. Check for an email from them regarding this.

3) The page you are on now is what’s known as your Cpanel. Its where you can access all of the features that come with your hosting account, one of which is the WordPress installation. You may see a pop up sign that says “welcome new user” for now just click on the “no im fine thanks” to get rid of this.

4) Now on this page scroll down to almost the very bottom of the page and in the center of the screen in the second main box from the bottom ( Titled “Software/Services) you will see a blue smiley faced icon named “Fantastico De Luxe” Please click this icon.

5) From this page, the Fantastico Control Panel, you will be looking to the left hand column and the second section down called “Blogs” Just below this you will see the word, “WordPress“. Click on this please.

6) On this next page in the main box you will see a blue link in the middle that says “New Installation”, click this please.

7) Ok this page is about as difficult as it gets and everything we do from now on will be in the center section of the page you visit. Don’t worry, we are only a couple of minutes away from finishing.

First you need to make sure that the domain (website address) you have chosen for your business is shown in the first main box with writing to the side of “install on domain.” If its not showing then simply hit the dropdown arrow and scroll down the drop down menu that appears until you see the domain you want to install WordPress with and click that.

To be honest as this is a new account there should only be one domain to choose from.

Next you leave the box underneath called “install in directory” empty.

Now the two next empty boxes under the title “Admin Access Data” you need to put in your username and password. These will be what you use to log in to your WordPress dashboard to do any work on your website.

Make them something you will easily remember and write them down on a piece of paper. You will be sent an email with them in but we all know what technology can do sometimes.

OK next you need to put in some details under the title of “Base Configuration”.

So fill out your admin nickname and the admin email underneath.

With the admin nickname I would go with your first name as you can use it for people to see on your website attached to any content you add.

There probably is already an email address in the admin email box, this is what Hostgator have given you as a business email. Just replace it for now with your more usual email address.

Next you want to give your website a “site name” which will appear at the top of your website, don’t worry too much about a great name just yet as you can change it later. The same goes for the box below “Description” this is not set in stone, it can be changed later.

The final part here is to click on the large grey button that says “install WordPress”

The next page you will see is a brief description of your WordPress website details, all you need worry about here is to click on the big grey button “Finish Installation”

One final piece to do on this next page (your almost done) is to enter your email address in the empty box at the bottom that you want all your WordPress details sent to such as username, password, etc. just fill in the box and click “Send Email”. This email may get filtered to your email spam box.

That’s It, Your Done.

Congratulations you have now successfully installed your WordPress website in to your hosting account.

All you need do now is check that it is up and running.

So type in the website address you used for your blog/website into your browser (the place where you type website addresses in at the top of your computer screen) and see if its online and available to the world.

What you should see eventually is the standard WordPress theme with the title you gave it and the description. Don’t worry if it is not there just yet as it can take anything from a few minutes to a few hours for the servers to do their work and get your WordPress site on the internet.

When it does appear online you are now then ready to begin building your site to look and do exactly as you wish, and to do this, that is to access your WordPress Dashboard where you do all the work, you simply need go to the following address.

First use your WordPress website address (domain) and at the end add /wp-admin so it will look like this www.yourwebsiteaddress/wp-admin.

For example, the address of my WordPress blog is www.nick-squires.com but for me to access my dashboard I would type www.nick-squires.com/wp-admin. From here you will then enter the username and password you filled out earlier that you also wrote down.
Now that you are all up and running and ready to start work on your site, my articles, WordPress Help & Instructions, will give you lots of advice and help on how to get the best from your new site.

One last thing to remember, when you get started just have a play around and see how it all works. Yes you will make some mistakes but you will also learn from these mistakes and pretty soon you will have an incredibly good looking blog/website that can be or do anything you want.

If you get stuck with anything to do with installing WordPress or building a WordPress website then use my “Contact Me” page. You may also want to share this article via the social buttons to the left of this page.

Nick Squires-The English Entrepreneur

This is not my normal type of blog post but I am back in Paris after 3 weeks holiday in the UK and I am really happy to be here.

Summer seems to be coming and Spring certainly is here. As for my online affiliate business, well it only took me less than 1 hour to bank some money today and less than a day to pick up a new client.

Just reflecting back on my 3 weeks in the UK and even while I was there I never lost the gratitude I have about being able to decide when and where I work.

I chose 3 weeks, it could have been 4 or 2 weeks holiday but it was me who decided. I cant remember that sort of power in any job I had.

I did do a little work I must admit as I took my laptop with me and I did meet up with a few clients, all be it down the pub with a pint.

But now I am back in Paris running my business as I normally do, that is 6 hours a day, Mon-Thurs. I don’t start until 10am after my morning run. Yes I sometimes work weekends but only because I want to.

I saw a Facebook post from a guy in a similar position to me earlier on where he described an email he had from a UK woman telling him to get a job and a real life and to stop bumming around. I feel sorry for this woman as she is living in the past. Yes I am sure there are some great jobs out there but as for them being the answer, well that has never been the case.

To spend your life doing something because you think you have to or because others expect you to is no way to live at all. Live the life you desire because eventually you will be 6 feet under and no one will give a shit wheather you had a job or not.

Make the most of this time, make as many people happy as you can and play life to your rules. Hey why the hell do you think I live in Paris right now or have lived in Tahiti, Portugal, Spain. I am doing my thing and I am doing it today and im not waiting for all the lights to be green in my life to wait and do it.

Yes Amigos, The English Entrepreneur is Back in Paris, making money and loving it. So what do you think, let me know, “Message Me”

If you have an online business or blog, you may already know about the importance of connecting it with social media. This can expand your audience and allow you to reach out to your existing customers in fun, fresh ways.

Most online businesses have Twitter and Facebook profiles, but Pinterest is also worth taking a look at. Using Pinterest can help you grow your business and make money online. This virtual pin board allows you to pin photos of interest to your social profile, offering you a free forum for promotion.

The following are a few ways to integrate Pinterest into your online money-making plan.

Using Pinterest to Promote Products

One of the first ways to make money online using Pinterest is by promoting your products. If you run a small business or already sell products on your blog, you can expand this to Pinterest by pinning photos of your products.

For example, if you write a blog about dogs and sell dog coats and accessories on the side, you can start pinning cute photos of dogs wearing these coats on Pinterest to generate buyer interest.

There’s a reason why catalogues and fashion magazines help sell clothing. People are generally visual creatures, and photographs tend to catch their eye. Part of the popularity of Pinterest is that it is so visual, allowing you to reach out and really grab attention. This can help you boost sales and increase customer loyalty.

Pinterest also allows you to re-pin other people’s photos and content. This is an easy way to grow your customer network and increase visibility for your online store or blog. When you pin and re-pin content from other users, they may re-pin your content in return.

So if you write that blog about dogs, you could not only post your own photos but find other photos of stylish dog beds on Pinterest and then re-pin these. This will help grow your audience and help you make money online using Pinterest

Using Pinterest as a Research Tool

It’s easier to make money online using Pinterest when you have specific information about your target demographic. Pinterest is an excellent way to do this. This particular social network is most popular among females between the ages of 16-35, but there are numerous categories within the network that could appeal to different demographics.

Pick and choose a few different categories to post in, and then see who is looking at or re-pinning your photos most frequently.

Using the dog business example, you could examine the profiles of users who frequently pin photos of dogs or dog accessories. This can give you some indication of who your target market is. With this information, you can then also see what other types of interests they have, judging by the other photos and content that they have posted on their profiles.

Take some time to explore the website and see which types of profiles or photographs are currently trending. This can help you get in touch with the preferences of other Pinterest users, and target your audience more effectively.

All in all you can make money online using Pinterest as with all the other social media sites but you will need to be persistent and always be offering your target market the best quality at all levels.

And don’t forget that if you have any questions regarding this article or anything else to do with making a living online then send me a message via my “Contact Page“. You can also share this content using the tabs to the right of this article.

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If you are someone who currently works a job or is paid by the hour, then if I was to ask you “What is Your Hourly Rate” you should be able to answer me quite easily.

But if the roles were reversed and it was you who were asking me “What is Your Hourly Rate” then as someone who makes their living by ways of the internet my answer would not be so easy to give, and here is why.

With a job you are paid by the hour and you know for certain that if you do X amount of hours you will receive X amount of money. The problem with this though is that once you have been paid for that hour of work then you know that you will never be paid for it again.

Now you can decide to work another hour and be paid for this and so on, but never do you get paid for the same hour twice.

This is where working in a job and working with the internet differ greatly.

I know for a fact that I can spend an hour writing an article or a report that has some information in it that people require but also has a product within in it that they can purchase. I can then put this report or article online for people to access, read and then buy whatever it is I am offering.  And this article or report can be paying me over and over again for as long as people can view it.

Yes I put my hours worth of work into it as you would do in a job but the big difference here is that unlike a job that hours worth of work will be paying me over and over again.

Now of course I often put a lot more than an hours worth of work in to what I am doing, just like you would do in a job and it does not always have to be a report or an article I am doing. It might be a new website I am building with products on or placing adverts for my services. Whatever type of work it is though, I can guarantee you it will be paying me many times over for the work I have put it.

And do you want to know the real beauty of what I am talking about here is. The work that I do not only is paying me over and over again but its paying me when quite often I am nowhere near my home office or my lap top but instead I am out living my life. Now hows that for an hourly rate.

So the next time someone asks you “What is Your Hourly Rate” have a think about what your answer might be if you made your living online.

And don’t forget if you have any questions regarding this article then please let me know. Just visit my “Contact Me” page and send me your message. I will respond ASAP.

Making money online with affiliate marketing is probably the most popular method of internet marketing being used by the average person today.

It is a great way to make money online without having to deal with customers on any level and you also don’t have to worry about creating or updating a product/service (the vendor of the product/service takes care of all of this).

The number 1 responsibility of the affiliate marketer is to create websites etc that bring targeted visitors to the vendor’s site via affiliate links placed on your websites. Once the visitor clicks through your affiliate link to the vendor’s site and purchases a product, you as the affiliate make a commission from that sale.

Quite often these commissions can be quite a high percentage of the sale cost especially for digital products (e-books etc.) due to no real over-head costs for the vendor. You as the affiliate are basically doing all the advertising for the vendor.

So, can you make a serious living online from affiliate marketing… the bottom line answer is YES! You sure can make a great living online from affiliate marketing. Many people all over the world are working online as affiliate marketers and are doing very well with their businesses, but it does take some hard work on your behalf before you start reaping any rewards.

There are some important steps that you must take with affiliate marketing if you are to be successful as an internet marketer. In brief these steps include:

• finding a niche market that is hungry;
• researching that niche market and finding out what they need;
• finding a product or service that the targeted niche audience require;
• creating a website focusing on the niche market and the product;
• driving targeted traffic (visitors) to your website ;

If these steps are followed and your niche market is “hungry” for a product or service than there is no reason why you can’t make sales as an affiliate marketer!

Once you have many targeted websites up and running in multiple niche markets that are “hungry” for a service or product then you will start to see some serious cash flowing in as long as your websites are successful at providing useful content which in turn will lead visitors into future buyers on the vendor’s website.

So as you can see making money online with affiliate marketing is definitely possible. With so many hungry niche markets out there constantly looking for a solution to their problems or constantly looking for the best available product, the potential for making sales is endless.

And if you feel now that you would like some help with all this then there is a great affiliate marketing program called Affilorama that can show you every step of the way to setting up and running your affiliate business.

And best of all its free to get started, just click the advert below to find out more.

If your looking to create a better work life balance and you see the internet as a way of doing this then a brilliant online business idea is to have a landing page.

A landing page which is often called a squeeze page or a captcha page is a one page website whose sole intention is to collect peoples email addresses. I personally like to get their names as well but most definitely their email address.

Then once you have their email you then, with the aid of an email auto-responder begin to drip feed these people information and offers that they can read and purchase.

This type of online business often referred to as list building is a very effective way of creating a long term income online and it has the added benefit of being fairly low maintenance to run.

You do need to put a bit of effort in at the start making sure it is set up correctly but once you are up and running then your main purpose from then on will be to keep a flow of more email sign ups via your advertising.

And all of this type of business can be done around you schedule, be it family or work.

Using a Landing page along with an auto-responder makes up a large part of my income and I am happy in the knowledge that not only am I making money but the people who are leaving their email details and buying my offers are receiving exactly the help and information they were looking for.

Here is a break down of how it all works.

1) Find yourself a good market to be involved in. Preferably a market where there are active buyers in it. Its nice if it can be one you enjoy as well but its not essential.

2) Next you want to discover what is going on in this market and what issues there may be. Find out what problems people are having as this will help you with step 3. You can find this sort of information by going to relevant online forums. This step is probably the most important step you can do.

3) Now look for something you can give away for free to the people who are going to leave their email details. You need to have an incentive for these people to leave their details otherwise why would they do it.

The sort of free gift I am talking about is a free report, a free Ebook. Something that is going to give them benefit and help them with any issues/problems that you have discovered in step 2.

Either write the report/Ebook yourself or get someone else to write it or pay for one already created. To pay for something like this will cost no more than a few Pounds or Dollars but make sure it deals with the issues discovered in the previous step.

To Have a report created very cheaply go to www.fiverr.com

4) Get started with an auto-responder company. An auto-responder is basically a system that automates the whole procedure for you from collecting the emails on your landing page with a contact form box, to giving people their free gift once they do sign up and then on to sending out pre-written emails to these people at a schedule you have set.

Whats great about an auto responder is that when you have set everything up correctly you will then have a business that is largely running its self.

Aweber is the system I have always used for all this- Aweber auto-responder details

5) Create your Landing page. Remember the landing page only intention is to collect emails and possibly names if you so wish. So with this in mind it needs to be straight to the point telling people exactly what you want them to do. You also want to highlight some key points about the free gift they will receive.

Always keep your landing page simple and uncluttered so that everybody knows that they must fill out their details in the contact form box and in return they will receive a free gift that has some information relevant to them.

Here is an example of one of my Landing pages aimed at people looking to break the 9-5 routine. It has a contact form to the right and information telling them what they should do and what they will receive. Have a look www.Flexible-Working.com

To create a Landing page like this I used a system called WordPress.org.

6) When your landing page is complete you will then want to configure your auto-responder. By this I mean create some follow up emails that will be sent out to your sign ups. The first email will obviously be the free gift your offering which will go out to anyone who has just signed up immediately after they leave their details. Any following emails will then go out to them at set times after.

Me personally I like to have enough emails to go out that will last a month. Bearing in mind they can be set to go out every 2 or 3 days which means I would need between 10 to 15 pre-written emails to last me a month.

Your emails will contain information that these people will be interested in and they will also contain products they can purchase.

These products I am talking about will be affiliate products you have signed up to through an affiliate program.

In a nut shell you can join all sorts of different companies in all sorts of different markets who will all have an affiliate program. These will be free to join and once you do you can then start selling their products using special product links or adverts that they provide.

When someone clicks on one of your unique links or adverts that you have sent them in your emails and they then makes a purchase, you get paid a commission from the company you are promoting. This is known as affiliate marketing and it can be very lucrative indeed.

You do not even have to own the products, stock the products or even take payments for them, the company your promoting does all this for you.

7) Now that you have completed all the previous steps your job now is to get people to visit your Landing page and to leave their details, and you do this by advertising.

There are literally thousands of ways to advertise your landing page be it online or offline, free or paid. The main thing is to make sure you advertise to the types of people who will be interested in your free gift. This way you give yourself more chance of the people visiting your Landing page leaving their details and also being interested in your following emails with your affiliate products in.

To conclude.

The above steps are a genuine way to have an online business that can be worked to your schedule. Be it part time alongside your job or full time from day one, but always flexible to your lifestyle.

Yes there is a bit of work to be done at the start to get it up and running and yes you will need to make sure new people are going through the system and receiving your emails and products which means you must be advertising your Landing page in some way shape or form.

But I think your agree that after the initial set up, to have a business that almost runs its self and one that can make you a full time income but with only you working when you want to is a tremendous way to improve your work life balance.

Not Sure How to Set this all up Correctly?

If after reading all this you find yourself very interested in this online business idea using a Landing page but you feel a bit overwhelmed as to exactly how you would go about creating it all then why not let me know.

Just go to my my Contact Me page and leave some details. I will then get back to you for a quick chat with some help and advice as to the best ways for you to be up and running.

Your website is going to need content in order for you to attract the right type of people to your business and to keep the search engines such as Google and Yahoo happy.

When I say keep keeping Google etc happy I mean if you add content to your website it gives Google more of an idea as to what your website is about and this in turn helps them put your website in front of the people who are doing a search (looking for information) via Google for what you have on your website which ultimately means they get to see your adverts.

Also when you have the right content that reflects the type of business and market you are in you can then attract the right type of people through your advertising ( you have to give them a reason to visit your site) which will in turn give you the opportunity to show your products/adverts/content that you have on your site so they can make decisions or purchases.

Quality is Best

You want quality content on your website that can then be used as the bait to get people to go to your website through your advertising. Notice I say quality content. You want to be giving the best value at all times and that includes the content on your website.

This content will match up with the products on your site thus increasing your chances of people clicking on your adverts. You create interest and give advice with your content and you offer solutions with the products.

EG, You may use Facebook to advertise your business by placing messages on your Facebook wall about certain content on your website. People will then click on your website link in your message, they then arrive on your website, read the content and then see your products/adverts. This is how it works.

Most people will get this part wrong. They think they have to be promoting the products at all times in their advertising but if you want to make consistent sales then its the content that comes first and then the products. People are sick of being sold to all the time.

Improve Your Search Ranking

Adding content on your site is also good for your internet presence or rather your internet search ranking. Having regular fresh content added to your site is exactly what Google/Yahoo etc are looking for because they want to give its customers, the people dong a search, the best experience possible by giving them the most freshest and up to date websites/content rather than showing them old out of date content and websites.

What Type of Content

The type of content you want to be adding is obviously content that is relevant to the market your involved in and the type of person you are looking to attract. You will have a good idea of all this from my article on Target Marketing.

EG; If your chosen business market is ladies golf and you have discovered that lady golfers are never sure what type of golf clubs to buy then some of your content would be to do with this. You would place content on your website helping them make the best decision on golf clubs.

You would then tell these types of people through your advertising about this content on your website and you would also be promoting products that match this content for them to buy.

Or if your business market is travel and through your target marketing you have found out that parents have a hard time finding family orientated hotels in the UK then of course you can provide content to match this and help them.

Another type of content to have on your website which can be very effective in making sales of products you are promoting is a”Recommended” page or a “Product Review” article.

This type of content would be for highlighting a product you are promoting and giving the reader some feedback or details about it. At the end of the article you can then lead them to clicking on your advert to see for themselves.

TIP: Try not to be singing from the rooftops about the product in a recommended page but rather a more down to earth practical report. Of course if the product is amazing then say this but don’t say that just because you want to make a sale.

Other content could be a Bio page or a about me page. This type of content is great for making connections without ever speaking to them particularly if you have a story that relates to your target market.

My bio page talks of me traveling a lot and how I got started online which relates to a lot of people.

A contact page on your website can also be useful, not only for people to send a message but it just makes your website a bit more approachable rather than a faceless one. A bio page can help with this too.

To add a contact form see my article about WordPress Plugins.

Where is this content

Now whatever types of content you are looking to add there are 3 main ways to get this content for your website which are as follows.

1) Copy & Paste the Content

There are places online that you can go to (Article Directories) that are specifically set up so that you can find content and place it on your website for free. They are happy for you to do this with just one condition, you have to leave the link of the author intact at the bottom of the article (see 2nd image below). Its like a payment for their service which is fair enough. You get free content, they get free advertising.

Remember though this is not original content which is always best in the long run but certainly at the beginning of your business their fine for getting great content quickly onto your website that you can use in your advertising and for free.

A great place to go for this is type of content is,

www.ezinearticles.com

Here you will find thousands of quality articles on almost any subject you can think of and its just a case of clicking the above link, doing a search for the type of content your after, selecting an article from the search results and then copying (not their picture) and then pasting the article content into your website.

You will see the links you need to keep in place (Article Source) at the very bottom of each article.

If you ever want to look at some more of these types of sites then simply type into the Google search bar “article directories” and you will find many more.

I also like using article directories for getting inspiration when I am writing my own content.

TIP, Make sure you read the article first to see if its any good before you copy it. My advice here is to only go with authors who already have a few articles under their belt and their first language is English. Doing this will increase the chances of it being well written.

You can see all these details by looking to the right of the article your interested in for the Author info box.

That’s not to say persons whose first language is not English can’t write a good article but its naturally just harder for them to achieve perfect grammar.

2) Purchase Some Content

How about getting someone to write it for you. For not much money at all you can hire quality writers who will get articles together on any topic you like that will be original
content.

Some great places for this are

www.fiverr.com With this site you can browse the offers and decide who is going to be best and then employ them for the job. Everything starts at $5 but you can negotiate. As an example a client of mine recently purchased 20 original articles for £14/ $20. Just check the categories on the right of the page for “writing”

www.elance.com With Elance it operates the other way round. You propose the work you want done and then see what offers come in.

www.textbroker.com Similar to Elance this site but what you can also do here is find content you like on the internet and then ask them to re-write it for you.

3) Write It Yourself

Along with purchasing your content this is always the best option because it will ensure it is original content and not second hand.

If you have some knowledge on the topic/market your business is in then put some effort in to write some of your own content.

It does not have to be pages and pages long, just a few hundred words will do. In time you will get better and better at writing your own content.

Some Advice

Before you start advertising your business you want to make sure you have a decent amount of content on their to keep a reader happy. As a rule of thumb have enough content so that they would have to return at least a couple more times to finish reading it all.

Long term you really want to be adding a fresh piece of content to your website at least twice a week and more if you have the time. But don’t always think it has to be long, a quick article (150 words) that is full of quality is much better than a huge article that is full of fluff.

Online Income Coaching Course

If you are looking for help with your business be it online or offline then you might be interested in my one to one coaching course. For more details on this and prices visit the Coaching Page.

When you have a business and you have a website then it makes sense that all of this is being seen by the search engines like Google and of course the people who in turn use Google doing their online searches.

Now there are various ways to achieve this but all of it falls under the term of Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. And with this article “Is your website being seen by Google” I am going to explain to you one of the ways to do this, especially if you are using a WordPress site for your website.

How Does SEO Work

Without going into the nitty gritty of SEO (believe me you will fall asleep if I do) the basics are all about configuring your website so that Google knows what it is all about so that in turn it can place your website in front of the right people who are doing a search.

EG, If somebody types into Google “online home business” ( These are known as keywords) they will then be presented with the search results for “online home business” and from there they can make their choices as to what they will look at.

Now if you have configured your website to be associated with the term “online home business” then theoretically your website will show up in the search results when it is typed into Google.

What this all means for you is not just is your website being seen by Google but your website is now being seen by lots of potential customers who are interested in what you do and remember too that this is all free advertising that will only cost you your time.

But of course there are a number of things to do before hand to make sure your website is being seen by Google and by its users of which I am going to explain one of the procedures in the next few paragraphs.

Step 1

For all you WordPress users log in to your dashboard and install the plugin “All in One SEO Pack”. If you are a client of mine then I would have already done this for you. If you are not and you are unsure of using plugins then I suggest you read my short article on                     how to use wordpress plugns  before you continue with this article.

Step 2

Now the plugin is installed you will need to first go to the settings tab to the left of the dashboard page and within here you will now see a link for the all in one seo which needs to be clicked.

On this new page is where you can first enable the plugin and also configure the home page of your website so that Google etc knows what is going on.

So first check the enabled button in the plugin status section.

These next bits are the important steps. You are going to fill the next 3 empty boxes with information about your website. Again if you are a client of mine I would have done this for you, your work comes a little later.

The first box,Home, Title needs to be filled with some keywords relevant to what you site is about. Just a few words will do, perhaps 3 or 4 that best describe your website.

NB, towards the end of this article I will give advice on how to find the best keywords to use.

The next box, Home Description, will be where you write a small paragraph describing what you website is about. Its a good idea to use relevant keywords again. Remember this is the description people will see when Google gives them their search results so try to make it informative and appealing so they click on to your website.

The final box, Home Keywords (comma separated), is where you place various keywords or keyword phrases (a sentence of keywords) that are applicable to your website, EG, if your site is about working online from home ( a keyword phrase) then use words similar to this such as, home business, work from home, online incomes and so on but always remembering to separate each one with a comma.

Once you have completed these steps then all you need worry about on this page is clicking the blue update options button at the bottom of the page. Once done if anyone now asks you “is your website being seen by Google” you will now have an answer.

Step 3

What needs to be done now is basically the same procedure as you have just gone through but this time you will configure any content you have added such as posts or pages to your website.

If you have not added any yet then you can do this configuration as you go along but the basic procedure is as follows.

Either go to a post or page already on your website or if you do not have any just go as if you were adding a new post or page. Once you are on the said post or page just scroll down the page until you see the section, All in One SEO Pack.

From here its a case of doing what you did with the home page, that is giving it a title, description and keywords. But this time they will all relate to the piece of content that your post or page is about and then remembering to click the publish or update button for the post or page when done.

This is the procedure you will want to do for any exiting content on your website or for any new that you add in the future to make sure your website is being seen by Google.

NB, Now here is the deal folks. Just because you have added keywords, descriptions etc does not mean your website will immediately be in front of anyone who is doing this type of search. What you need to be doing is this on a regular basis and that means adding content on a regular basis. This gives you over time more and more reasons for Google to start putting your website in front of these people but it will not happen over night.

Until this does happen you will be using your specific advertising to get your website in front of the right people.

How to find the best Keywords

If you want to be a bit more precise about the keywords you use on your website then you will want to use a keyword tool.

The one I always use is Google’s own keyword tool which is free and is in fact designed to be used with an advertising tool they have known as Adwords.

What this tool will do is help you find lots of relevant keywords for your website and it will also tell you how many people each month type those words into Google.

First Step

Go to  https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

Next in the box that says to the left of it, Word or Phrase, type in a relevant word or words about your website or the content you are configuring.

Now to the left of the page you are looking for the section named, Match Types. Make sure that you un-check Broad and click Exact.

After enter the cryptic words and click search. You can refine the search before hand by changing location and language etc.

What you are now presented with is all the search terms related to the word or words you entered in the box at the top. And to the right of these you will see how many times these were typed into Google over the previous month. Global results are for the whole world and local will be for the country that is indicated in the locations section just above.

What you can do now is copy any keywords you like and paste them into the appropriate sections in the All in One Seo Pack. You can refine your search even more for even better results with all the other features that come with this keyword tool and I encourage you to play around with it.

I often use this tool to see whats being searched for online and then either create content for my website around that or look for products to promote that match up with whats being searched for.

Conclusion

All in all this article “is your website being seen by Google” has given you what really amounts to another way of advertising your business. Yes in my mind SEO is super boring but when you realise that it will help you gain customers and make more money then boring can seem quite exciting.

Are you looking to make a living online or to monetise your WordPress website. My Home Business Guru Course teaches you all.

Is it starting to frustrate you, is it starting to get you down, can you see no obvious answer. Why is it, what’s blocking your business success. Your doing all the right actions, your doing them consistently.

In fact your putting in way more hours than anyone else but still it just will not come good, you just can’t seem to make that break through that you know is possible.

What Is It

What can be causing this lack of business success. Well I am sorry to have to tell you this but its YOU! You are the one who is causing the problem. It is you that is stopping that deal going through or that advert to not work or the leads to be bad.

Yes you are doing all the physical actions correctly like placing the adverts, talking to the prospects, building the websites, promoting affiliate programs etc but after all that, your attitude lets you down. You have successful actions but you don’t have a successful mindset.

What Do You Mean

I mean you can be placing a brilliant advert the one minute but the next be thinking it will not work or you can have a list of prospects to call but your mental chatter is “I bet they are all like yesterdays, just a bunch of losers who don’t have a penny.

You see what you expect you invariably receive. Your mental chatter is what you are expecting to receive regardless of the good actions you may have done.

Here is the Science or Voodoo bit

Depending again on your attitude, this next bit is either going to be a science lesson or some sort of bizarre cult teaching.

“You Become What You Are” “You must first BE before you see” You will never ever obtain the results your looking for in business unless you become the person who has already obtained those results. You must be the person first who has great leads, who has successful adverts, who has the income there looking for.

When you do this, and assuming you are doing the actions that correspond with these thoughts, you will see the result.

Like it or not we are in a vibrational universe here. (stay with me on this one) A universe that gives you exactly what you ask for, every time. It does not know whether you want more money or less or great leads or bad ones or a website that works or one that Google just laughs at. It only knows what thoughts you are thinking and vibrating and if your thinking lack thoughts then that’s exactly what you will receive.

Lets make this sound a bit less voodoo for you. Everything in this universe is energy. When you break everything down from the biggest star, a human being to the tiniest insect, you will find that they are all made up with energy. And this is a scientific fact. Another scientific fact is, that like energy attracts like energy.

OK still with me, now the really important part of all this, is that our thoughts our energy too which means that what ever types of thoughts we are thinking, be it positive or negative will be what we attract to ourselves. So going back to our earlier problems of not having business success, we need to look closely at the thoughts we are having when we are doing the actions and the ones we are having after.

How To Apply This

The simplest way to apply all this is to, as mentioned earlier, become now the person you wish to be. Is it that your looking to make more money each month with your business, well then be that person now who already is making the money. And in being this person it must correspond that you are being the person who has successful adverts or websites or prospects otherwise you would not be making the money.

Some Final Words

You need to apply these principals and mindsets on a consistent basis. We tend to negate the good work we do by letting our minds slip back to one of fear and lack. At first this will be the case of being positive then negative but in time you will quickly be aware of this back and forth going on and then be able to concentrate on the good results you want.

If after reading about what’s blocking you business success, you are still not convinced, then I urge you to do some more research into the power of positive thoughts. You may want to look up the “Law of Attraction” just Google it and take your pick. Believe me once you understand and apply this universal law your life will never be the same again.

For more help with your mindset you can find some interesting articles here Correct Mindset

I hope you enjoyed this article and it has given you some food for thought and by all means if you have any questions then just leave me a message on my contact page.

“Life is a journey, we just need to find the right path…”

Nick Squires has certainly been on the path for some time now, having been a pioneer for his first network marketing company by being the number 1 income earner within France and one of the top 5 in Europe. Picking up awards and the financial benefits of this.

Those early years were no bed of roses for him building an online reputation from Paris while doing all of this from internet cafes, having to borrow computers and phones and deal with an industry he had no previous experience of, but persevere he did.

Now this adversity has helped him become a respected and knowledgeable business owner and advisor/teacher within Direct sales/Internet Marketing, giving new and refreshing assistance to anyone who desires a life of choice and freedom via an online income but does not know how to achieve this.

Nick really does have a passion to show others that life can be fun and can be lucrative at the same time, there does not have to be a trade off. With his experience, knowledge and industry leader contacts, he is looking to touch the lives of many more people who know that they want a change for themselves and can see the internet as the answer but just don’t know how to go about it.

My Story

I was born in the late 60′s in a place called Malvern in England, a very beautiful part of the world close to the city of Worcester which is about 200 miles north of London. Malvern is famous for its bottled water and its hills which permit you, on a very clear day, to see into Wales to the west. All of the area is known as the Cotswolds and is very popular with tourists.

My time in Malvern was a very short one, approximately one year but I have always returned as I still have close family there and of course it’s a great excuse to see the countryside.

I was in fact born in a house rather than a hospital due to no bed space at the time. The house is still standing and I often joke that one day the council will come to their senses and place a plaque on the outside wall commemorating my birth but still I hold my breath on this one.

London Bound

My father’s work was the reason for leaving Malvern so soon as he needed to be closer to London. So with this in mind my parents and I headed for the leafy county of Surrey: Camberley to be exact, about 30 miles from the center of the metropolis. Looking back on my life so far the decision to leave Malvern was a good one for me as being so close to London opened up a lot more opportunities for me as I was growing up. Malvern for all its beauty would have been perhaps a bit too quiet.

As for my childhood, this was an extremely happy one, I am afraid if you’re looking to work with someone whose life was a complete roller coaster of personal tragedy then you’re probably going to be quite disappointed.

No life was good, there weren’t too many troubles for me and the soon to arrive 2 brothers and to this day we still have the same family home with all the great memories to go with it.

My time at school was enjoyable , I particularly excelled at sports, athletics and football but academic wise I was always middle of the road, no educational retard but not always showing the look of Einstein, much to the disappointment of my father.

Working and Traveling

After leaving school I flirted with college but realised this was not for me. My time in formal education was over and I was eager to get out in the world to earn some money and travel. So I found some work with a local car auction house which lasted a few years on and off and was actually great fun although it was never going to be my future. This is a feeling I have always had when in a job. The thought of doing the same thing for 40 years or more is just too scary a prospect.

It was in these early years that I really got the taste for travel. Even while at school I could feel this energy inside of me just wanting to explore the world, a knowing that there was something better out there. This is probably why I gazed out the classroom window so much. So travel I did.

Most of the time I would travel by myself. I found that when traveling I wanted to devote most of the time to my schedule rather than someone else’s. Please don’t get me wrong I am no loner, it’s just I would rather find travel buddies as my trip progressed.

For the most part I explored Europe and the Americas, North and South. In fact as I write this bio I am actually in a hotel in central Lisbon at the start of a 4 month stay here with my partner.

Espana Por Favor

For a long time Spain for me has been a destination I constantly return to, I just love the diversity of the landscape, the people and studying the language has always been a passion of mine. And with it being so close and cheap by air from London it was never a long time before I was back to being a gringo.

This may sound like a bit of a cleche but travel really does broaden the mind. I have truly seen some amazing sites and met some incredible people along the way, my partner being one of them. Although it has to be said, I have met some right idiots too.

The thing with travelling is, it needs funding and the only way I knew at the time was to keep finding jobs (just over broke). Remember this was all pre internet days. So my life from late teens to my thirties was one of travel and then return to the UK to work. I did find work sometimes while travelling but earning any decent money for me meant returning home.

Eventually enough was enough, this yo-yo lifestyle was fine when I was young and although I still loved to travel my mind was looking for a bit of stability. This was when I decided the best option was to just move abroad.

As I mentioned earlier I had a love for all things Spanish so with this in mind I decided upon Andalucia in Southern Spain. It had great weather, low cost of living, I knew it well and it was only 30 minutes by boat from North Africa and just over 2 hours from England. Perfect.

Marbella it is

The actual location I chose was Marbella, right on the coast and very close to the city of Malaga. Marbella for me has a perfect mix of all I love about Spain. It has retained its old Moorish Arab feel to it but at the same time it has a modern side to itself as well. Plus I like being able to absorb myself in the Spanish way of life but then mix it up with the large international community who have always been going to this region.

In Marbella I rented an apartment in the old town near Orange Square with a huge balcony, great views and made friends everywhere and really did live the beach lifestyle. Although as for improving my Spanish this was a very slow affair, everyone just wants to speak English in this region (how inconsiderate).

Moving to Paris

Now during my stay in Marbella I ran into a wonderful French lady, who was on holiday. We hit it off immediately and of course one thing led to another, a typical boy meets girl story, which eventually involved me moving to Paris where she lived. This was in 2007 and I am still with the same lady, “mon dieu”.

And yes it’s all true about Paris, it’s so beautiful, so expensive and the waiters are even ruder than you could imagine but I love it.

At first I badly missed Spain with its excellent climate, the weather in Paris is the same as in London which the French don’t seem to believe, but the city just grabs you.

Whenever I am away the lure of Paris is always calling me back. Our apartment is in the 18th district, close to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, which has some of the best views of Paris but we are also very handy for Gard d’ Nord and the Eurostar so train trips back to London through the tunnel are no problem.

Becoming A Business Owner

It was my arrival in France that really got me looking at the idea of being an entrepreneur and using the internet. At the time of arriving in Paris my French was non-existent, save for a few lessons I took in Spain, so finding employment was probably going to be the same. Besides, my days of working for someone else were over.

My eyes were now open to the madness that a job is. Trading time for money is crazy and spending this time in a place where you have no desire to be is even crazier. Life is just too precious to waste, you have got to make it count and make the most of it. There are only so many tomorrows.

I could see all the advantages for me of running a business or at least earning an income online, such as the flexibility in when and where I worked and the choice of income I can have. This was very important for someone who still liked to be on the move to some extent.

And since those early days I have built an online business/income that allows me to do exactly that. My business has allowed me to continue seeing the world along with my partner but at the same time it’s been a great financial decision too.

How My Business Evolved

Initially I became involved in a business opportunity based out of the USA that I quite literally stumbled upon looking through the classifieds of an online advertising site. Essentially it was selling personal development products along with the opportunity for the customer to do the same, better known as Multi Level Marketing.

I was already very interested in personal development by this time. Understanding how, we as humans, really do dictate how our lives go rather than thinking everything is just a random act had always fascinated me. But the thought of making money from it had never occurred to me.

Very quickly I became successful with this business. It was not easy by any means, plenty of obstacles to overcome from day one. But I could see others making a success of it, I could see they were making money and that was all I needed to know.

Soon I was the number 1 income earner in France and one of the top 5 in Europe. In the 2 years I was with the company I travelled all over the world to various events (Los Angeles, Barcelona, Acapulco, Malaga) and really did have the time of my life but changes were a coming.

New Direction

Some time towards the start of my third year with the company they decided to take a completely new direction ( don’t ask me why, I will never know). It was still personal development to some degree but now it was more media. The company had a complete face lift and changed the compensation plan. Overnight, what was a great business, had now become the opposite.

People were leaving in droves, it was a sinking ship mentality. I did persist for a couple of months more but my heart was no more in it, plus the business was not making any money (major issue to say the least).

After leaving the company I decided to venture out on my own and started mastering many of the other ways to make a living online. I was already aware of these ideas but as I had been making great money anyway there had been no real reason to implement them.

It was at about the same time that I began offering help to others who were interested in making a living online. Having seen the success I had as well as people around me I realised that there was a common thread to all this that could be taught to anyone who was willing to learn.

This is what I continue to do to this day business wise and I love it. Doing my own thing and sharing my knowledge and experience with anyone who is interested is a real buzz.

Personal Life Update

As, fortunately, my life is still going strong there have been some great updates to my life story that I will quickly share.

Since the beginning of 2010 the partner and I left Paris to sample some new locations. Yes it’s difficult to shake that travel bug.

For the first part of the year we based ourselves in Lisbon, Portugal which was a great move. I can really recommend a visit to Lisbon. Such a great way of life and a place I could see us moving back to.

We had a beautiful apartment very close to the center and overlooking the river Teijo. I always found it fascinating to watch from our terrace the tourist cruise ships sail up the river from the Atlantic sea and unload their passengers for me to see. It’s times like these that I really appreciate being in charge of my life and deciding how it will be.

Tahiti, Why Not!

We left Lisbon in June and departed for Tahiti in French Polynesia after a few weeks back in the UK and France visiting friends and family. And wow what a contrast to Europe this was. It’s a real tropical paradise, particularly Tahiti’s other islands such as Moorea, Bora Bora and the Marquises.

It’s never cold there, regardless of what the sun is doing. Can you believe I brought a coat (always a true Brit). We really did enjoy the lifestyle there. We had a beautiful house in the hills overlooking the sea and the capital Papeete and we made some great friends. A word of warning though, if you’re thinking of going to Tahiti, the cost of living is outrageous. They grow or make hardly anything so everything is imported. I don’t care how much you earn, walking around a Tahitian supermarket or any other shops for that matter is a sobering experience.

We stayed in French Polynesia until mid January 2011.

And Why Not The South Of France

After returning from Tahiti and spending a couple of months back in the UK, which I have to say was really nice spending time with friends and family albeit bloody freezing, we shipped ourselves out to the South of France for a few months: Marseille to be exact, right on the coast. Marseille is France’s second biggest town and has one of the busiest ports in the world.

We rented an apartment that was in the center of town (perhaps a little too central) and not too far a walk from the beaches. Now I am going to be up front and honest with you here, although we enjoyed our time in Marseille it’s not somewhere we are looking to return to. In my opinion it could do with a damn good clean and a few less people. The town seemed very over crowded.

But having said that there are some lovely places to visit in and around Marseille particularly along the Riviera. Places such as Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice, Antibes, Cap D’ Ali, Cassis. We had some great weekends away to these places especially in Cap D’ Ali, a place I had never heard of but am now desperate to get back to. If you could see what heaven looked like before arriving then I am sure it would look like Cap D’ Ali with its stunning coves and beautiful coastal walks that take you into the heart of Monaco or towards Nice.

One thing I don’t recommend and that is to visit Monte Carlo a week after the Grand Prix, its full of scaffolding from all the grand stands, C’est pas grave.

We stayed in Marseille until mid July 2011 spending the rest of the year between Spain and the UK. From January 2012 we have now based ourselves between Paris, France and Surrey in the UK with the view of settling down for the next couple of years.

Just About There

So as far as meet Nick Squires is concerned we are just about there. The sort of lifestyle I lead now is one I could only have dreamed of a few years ago and certainly dream I did. I am truly grateful for what I have now and what is to come.

If you are looking for something new or better in your life then understand it’s not hard to do but rather it’s all about making the right decisions now and then sticking to them with the persistence to see them through.

Would you like some help?

If after reading my bio you feel this would be the sort of lifestyle your after, one where you get to work when and where you choose then why not let me know. I would be more than happy to talk with you about the various options available for making a living online.

Just leave your contact details and a quick message on my “Contact Me” page and then I will get back to you with some details.

So there you go, you have now met Nick Squires.
I thank you for your time.

“Life is what you choose, So choose well…”

With this article I just want to go over the fundamentals of adding images or for that matter any type of media (videos, audio) to your WordPress site via your dashboard and into your content for a post or page.

If you are not familiar with adding posts or pages  in WordPress then it might be wise to learn this first before you tackle adding images.

Lets Start

OK first thing to do is either click on add new in either posts or pages depending on what you are planning to do and then on the new page look for the upload/insert options which you will find underneath where you place the title of your post or page.

Now click on the icon that looks like a camera and music note together. If your using an older version of wordpress you may see 4 options all of which will either add images, video or audio. In this case we are adding an image so click the first or only icon of what ever version you have.

NB; I find its best to add the content first before you add any images this way you can decide better where you want the image to appear. This is done easily by clicking your cursor in the place you want the image to appear before you click on the add images/media icon.

Uploading Your Image

Next we are confronted with a box that allows us to find images/photos etc that are located on your computer. All you have to do is click select files and you can then locate your image on your computer and then double click on it to upload it. When this happens your WordPress screen will say  crunching.

One good thing to remember here is you only have to upload an image once to your WordPress dashboard. This means if you want to use this image again all you have to do for future reference is click the image icon as normal and then instead of clicking select files you can click media library or gallery at the top of the box. This will then reveal any media you have uploaded in the past for you to insert and use again.

Editing and Inserting Your Image

Right, now you have uploaded and WordPress has crunched the image you should be on a screen that gives you the image in the top left as well as some options just below. There are several things we can do hear first before you actually add the image.

The first being being the edit image button underneath the image. Clicking this allows you options such as cropping the image or rotating it in various ways. Once done with editing you simple click save.

The next thing you want to do is give the image a title in the title box below. This will give people information whenever they place their cursor over the image. You could use this as a call to action such as “click here for more details”.

The alternate text box is a bit more complicated to explain and perhaps too much detail for this article but basically it is useful for gaining better search engine visibility and also for instances where your image does not appear but the alternate text does. I generally would just add some keywords in this box that are relevant to your image.

Next bit is a caption. This is if you want a caption to appear just below the image, if not leave it blank.

The description box is really for your benefit so that you know exactly what this image was for if you come to use it again via your WordPress dashboard.

OK the next section is quite important. The link url box is where you have the website address of where you want people to go to if they click on your image. By default it is set to take people just to a page where the image will appear on its own if they click on it. Me personally I do one of 2 things here.

1) If I want the image to link to somewhere else perhaps a product I am promoting then I replace the current Link URL (web address) with whatever website address I need to put in there. This means when they click on my image they will go to wherever I have decided to send them

2) If I want them to stay on my website when they click the image then just click the  none button underneath and this will make the image dead.

Now we want to choose the alignment. This will dictate where the image appears on your page or post. Now a rule of thumb here is if you clicked your cursor in the place you want to see your image appear before you clicked the add image icon at the start then you want to check the alignment button that corresponds with this. IE; if your image is going in the center then check that or left or right then check these. It just makes sure your image goes exactly where you want it to go.

The last thing you need to do before inserting into post is decide on the image size. Me personally if the image is not too large (less than 500×500) then I will check the full size option, if it is too large then you might want to check one of the smaller options. Either way you can edit the size once it is uploaded.

OK now click insert into post and you will see your image in your post or page. Now don’t worry if it looks wrong or is in the wrong place as there are options to edit it. My advice is to first publish it to see how it actually looks live on your site.

Final Editing

If you then want to edit it just click on the image in your dashboard and you will then see 2 options.

The red circle is to delete the image and the other is to edit. The edit options gives you lots of options such as size, position, link url etc so that you can get the image just right.

Please be aware that adding media especially images is often a case of trial and error. Often it appears slightly in the wrong place or the wrong size but as you gain more experience so to will you have less editing to do.

This now concludes my article WordPress- How to add images into your content.

Do You Want to Make an Income with WordPress?

If you would like more information on WordPress then please feel free to read my other WordPress articles  or if you are looking to make an income from your WordPress website with Affiliate marketing then my Home Business Guru Course will take you through all the steps you need to have success online.

If your serious about using social media such as Facebook and Twitter as a way to advertise your business and you want to automate it as much as possible then there are various platforms out there that will do this for you. One of these being Hootsuite, hence the title of this article Hootsuite for social media marketing.

Hootsuite basically lets you send out all your social media messages such as Facebook and Twitter at times and dates that you set. This can be very useful at the start of your business if your still working a job as well. You can pre-write your messages the night before and set them to go out at intervals during the next day or week or whenever.

Now you can get some people who say that using a system such as Hootsuite for social media marketing is not really playing by the rules, meaning social media messages sent should be on the fly. And yes I do get this but if your doing your job properly and you are giving amazing value and information with your updates that people want to receive then who cares when the message was written or sent out.

Just so you know, when you send a message via a system like Hootsuite people receiving them will see the little Hootsuite logo. Most people will not know what this is but the ones who do may take offense, its very rare and I have never had a complaint but these people are out their.

I personally have used Hootsuite extensively over the years to market my business to people I have pre-targeted (How to Market Research) on Facebook and it works very well. I would write my messages in the morning and set them to go out during that day. I could then get on with other marketing aspects of my business knowing Facebook was covered.

There are other systems you can use such as Tweetdeck which work well. Tweetdeck comes from the developers of Twitter and as you can imagine is focused a lot towards this but you can also use it for Facebook. Me personally I found it a bit complicated compared to Hootsuite but I am sure if your really going to focus on Twitter for your marketing then this would be a great option.

At the time of writing this article both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck offered free accounts which are both fine to begin with. You may want to upgrade at some point if social media marketing becomes your main focus of advertising your business.

Hootsuite’s free account is excellent if your just going to be using Twitter or Facebook. As I said earlier I used it a lot and I never have upgraded to their paid option.

To see which option would suit you best just click on the buttons below.

One of the most important things you can do if your running an online business or you are just about to begin an online business is “Target Marketing”.  And I don’t say this lightly. Target Marketing is what keeps my business going with a continuous flow of new orders and new clients

So with the aid of this article I am going to explain exactly why you should be target marketing and how to do market research.

Why Target Market?

Well first off if you spend a bit of time working out who it is your looking to attract to your business and you build up a picture of what they want and where they are then several things will happen.

1) You will leap frog over 95% of all the people looking to make money online.

2) You will save a huge amount of time and money running your business

3) Your business will not be based on luck but rather on sound judgement.

In a nutshell you will know who you are looking to attract to your business, you will know what they want, you will know what to give them, you will know where to advertise and you will know how to word your adverts.

Can you now see how important it is to do your target marketing. Can you now see how you will save so much time and money and can you now see that your business will not be based on luck or random acts but on cold hard facts.

So lets now look at the steps required for target marketing

1) Who are You Looking to Attract?

Who exactly will be interested in your business. Now I know at first this might seem obvious. If you take my business for example. I help people make a living online and anyone interested in that is part of my target market.

But within that I have identified certain niche markets such as working parents, people moving abroad. And because I have done this I now have a clearer picture of who it is I am looking to attract.

So make sure you now get a clear idea of who you want to attract.

2) What are there Problems

Once you have an idea of your target market and exactly who they are you want to then start finding out what issues or problems these people have. Remember we are building up a complete picture here so that you can use this information to your benefit later.

One of the best ways to discover your target markets problems is to search online forums. Taking me as an example again, I know that one of my targets is working parents so in that case I would Google “working parents forums”.

Now I would see whats being said on these forums, remembering to take notes and slowly you will begin to see a common thread. You will discover what their issues and problems are which is all critical info we can use later.

3) Where do they Hang out

You now want to be asking yourself where do your target markets hang out either online or in the real world. One obvious answer here is they hang out on online forums, we know this because we have just been there.

But where else do they go. For me working parents might go to job sites or parenting websites. Just have a good think about where your target market likes to go.

Now What

OK so you know who your target market is, you know what their problems are and you know where they hang out. But what do you do with all this information.

Well if you now know there problems then you now know what products to offer them as a solution to their problems. You also now know what content they want to read that you can add to your website or blog.

If you also now know where they hang out then you know exactly where to place your adverts promoting your products or content. And when it comes to your adverts because you know lots of information about your target market then you will know exactly how to word your adverts.

You will be able to write a headline that really speaks to your audience and you will be able to fill the body of the ad with compelling words that 100% resonate with your target market.

Its a no Brainer

Can you now see how by spending a bit of time target marketing you can really take your business from just random sales or sign ups and on to calculated regular sales and sign ups.

And remember this article, “Target Marketing-How to do market research” and all its details can be applied to any market/business model you wish, its just a case of getting into action and doing your homework.

STOP PRESS: START AN ONLINE BUSINESS TODAY-INSTANT DOWNLOAD

If your someone like me who uses blog commenting for your advertising and back-linking then you will want to maximise your return on this by having a universal Avatar or Gravatar.

Blog Commenting can be a powerful way to advertise your business if done consistently and correctly.

In layman’s terms this means having a picture of yourself automaticly appear every time you leave a comment on a Gravatar enabled blog.

This has 2 benefits. 

1. Quite often you will see most people do not have a picture of themselves alongside there comments they leave on other blogs. Which means that if you do then when anyone is reading the comments (which a lot of people like to read) they are more likely to see yours along with any of your website links you have placed with it.
2. Having an Avatar gives you a another way of promoting yourself because when anyone clicks on your photo they are taken to a profile page that can give more details about you, your services, your products, your websites and your contact details.

To make sure your picture appears alongside your comment just type in the email address associated with your Gravatar. There will always be an email section when you leave a comment.

But before all that though you need to set certain things up such as your profile details and picture which can all be done for free by using the services of www.gravatar.com

Using Avatars for free advertising like this that can have huge benifits for you in the long run especially if your focusing some of your advertising time on posting comments on other blogs.

If after reading this you would like to learn more about this advertising system then why not leave some details on my Contact Me page. I will then get back to you with some help.

Until then, Nick Squires-The English Entrepreneur

What I am going to talk about here in the next few paragraphs is really a win, win situation for all involved. And I mean by this that not only can you be in business and make money online from home but at the same time give the people paying you, your customers, excellent value to go with it. So with that in mind, this short article “how to make money online from home by giving value” I will explain exactly how you can do this.

The Basic Idea

Whether you are just considering making money online or you are already down this path one thing you must remember is to always give as much value to your target market as possible. Your target market is the people you have identified as people interested in what services or products you offer.

When you give them value be with quality free information like content on a website or recommending excellent products or services that will solve their problems then you create a relationship/trust that will serve you well again and again when you repeat this process. And this process can be applied to any type of market out there.

Where do you begin

Well the first thing you need to know in the process of how to make money online by giving value, is to work out exactly what your target market problems are. You need to understand what they are concerned about, what fears they have and what questions do they keep asking. And when you know this, you will then know what value to give them.

How do I find out there problems?

Let’s say your chosen market is Golf and let’s say that within this market you have identified a niche market of left handed lady golfers. Sometimes a market such as golf can be too big a subject to cover so then it’s important narrow it down a bit which in this case is left handed lady golfers.

Now to find out there concerns one of the things you can do is visit online forums. These are great places to find out what your chosen market is talking about. Just search in Google for your particular niche forum and see what is being said.

Find out there concerns and there questions which in this case will be on ladies golfer forums. There may even be a left handed ladies golfer forum but the main thing is that you do your research via several of these forums so that you can build up a picture of what they want to know or do.

You can also visit relevant websites to again build up your information about your target market.

How do I monetize this information?

Once you have a good picture of what your target market is talking about and you know what their wants and needs are then it’s time to look for the solutions, which in this case could be content, products, services or a mixture of all three.

If you are just starting online then you may not have a website that you can place content on so in your case you will just need to find some quality products to promote.

If you do have your own website or blog then armed with your research you can add content that really speaks to your markets concerns.

With regards to promoting products then you will do this as an affiliate, which means you can promote other peoples products without having to stock them, take payments for them or deal with any enquiries. Its a great way to be quickly up and running and making money online from home.

Basicly you join for free a companies affiliate program who then give you a unique affiliate link that you can use in your advertising or on your website. When someone clicks on this link they are taken to the main companies sales page and if a sale is made you are paid a commission.

My article “make money online with affiliate marketing” will give you all the details you need around this such as how to and where to find excellent products for free to promote to your target market.

As an example lets say you have discovered that your target market, in this case left handed ladies golfers, have a real problem in finding quality golf clubs. It may be that the bulk of golfing companies cater mainly to the right handed market and its a real problem finding left handed golf clubs.

So with that in mind you would go looking for companies providing such golf clubs and then join their affiliate program so that you can then start promoting their products or services. Bearing in mind you are looking for excellent companies who offer great value and service to all their customers.

How to advertise your products and services

This is the easy part. With your newly acquired affiliate links you go back to the same forums and websites that you originally checked out to find out their problems and then start advertising there.

Or if you have a website then you can either use your affiliate links or your website address for advertising.

In the case of forums you will need to join them first and then you can start interacting with these people and answering their questions/problems with little messages about what you can offer. And at the bottom of your message you will normally be allowed to type in your personal affiliate link/web address to the product/website your promoting.

Not all forums allow you to do this but most will, but make sure you don’t just go on them pasting your affiliate links. Give some genuine value/information regarding the topic/question your posting on.

This is again where the value comes in. Using the knowledge you have built up through your research enlighten these people to what you have found out. It could be tips an tricks or a genuine review of a product you are promoting.

If you did your research on websites then with these you will look to place a comment at the end of any articles on their site relevant to what you are offering with again your affiliate link/website address in. Remembering to give value as always

Will it Work

In a nutshell, YES. But you have to be consistent, you have to be going on these forums and websites consistently to build up some trust so that people see you as someone to look out for and then are inclined to click your links.

And the more value you give with your information and quality products the more inclined they are to click your links and the more likely you are to make a commission.

Turbo charge your results

If you really want to increase your earnings then consider having a website/blog specific to your target market. Just like I have with this website that caters for people looking to make money online from home and the internet, you can have one that is full of great content (value) centred around your target markets needs with links and adverts to your affiliate promotions.

You can, as before, promote your website to the forums and a whole host of other places where you know your target market hangs out. They can then come to your site and see lots of great free content that builds up your trust with them as well as anything your promoting.

Value, Value, Value,

At the risk of banging on too much about it, to ensure the highest success with all this, your #1 priority is to give all concerned massive value, hence the title of this article “how to make money online from home by giving value”. If you do this then success is yours but if you go into to this just looking to make money then you will struggle all the way. And hey, it feels a lot nicer when you do get your commission payments knowing you have provided a great service to get it.

Over to you

All of the information above plus the link to my affiliate article will be what you need to get going but if you feel its a bit daunting or your not quite sure how to do it then why not consider using my Home Business Guru download course that offers step by step instructions on such things as,

• Finding a great market to be in
• Finding great products to promote
• Setting up a website to promote your products
• Where and how to advertise your website and affiliate links
• And everything else you need to make money online

The course its self is just a one time fee of £39.95 and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. Plus you also get my personal phone number to call me on if you need any assistance as you work through the course.

To find out more go to Home Business Guru download course

To your Success, Nick Squires-The English Entrepreneur

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to have an online business and make a very good living without all the expense and hassles normally associated with starting your own business, particularly having to develop your own products to sell or to purchase a stock of products ready to sell .

Affiliate marketing gives you all of the flexibility of being in business for yourself such as choosing your working hours ,choosing an income but none of the constraints of going it alone.

Affiliate marketing gives you the chance to sell products online but without having to stock them, own them, take payments for them, ship them out to customers or handle any queries.

In my mind its a no brainer for anyone looking to start an online business and wants to be up an running as quick as possible. Its also perfect for anyone looking to make money online but is also working a job as well. It allows you to start in your spare time and then if you so wish go full time later on.

What Exactly Is Affiliate Marketing.

In a nut shell there are all sorts of different companies out there who have what’s known as affiliate programs and who will pay you a commission on any sales that are generated from your efforts.

These companies range from some of the biggest and most famous on the planet such as Amazon, Nike, Microsoft, all the way down to a guy operating on his own who has Ebooks for sale. And 99% of these companies affiliate programs are free to join.

What Do You Do?

Your job in all this is to attract people/customers to the companies website with the idea that they will purchase something. When this happens you get paid. That’s it, that is your job and if you do it well you can be paid very handsomely indeed.

The sort of commissions you can expect really depends on the company itself but overall you will find affiliate programs that payout anything from 3% to 70% of the total sale price. Normally the higher commission payouts come from products or services that only have to be made once such as download courses and the lower payouts will be for actual physical products like clothing or electrical goods.

My advice here is to find products to promote that not only pay you this commission for the initial sale but also have a residual payment built in to it, such as a monthly subscription program, which will mean you get paid every month on a product you sold only once.

Much better to concentrate your efforts on products with repeat sales as it takes no more effort to do this than it does for a product with a one time only sale.

How Do You Get Paid.

When you join a companies affiliate program, which will nearly always be free, you are given, along with lots of other tools, a tracking code (link). This tracking code is unique to you and no one else so that when someone clicks on a link of yours and they are taken to that companies web/sales page then any sale that’s made will be credited to your account.The company knows the customer came from you because they clicked on your unique link.

Then once your account reaches a certain level, perhaps $100, the money is then released to you by way of a cheque or bank transfer or Pay Pal. Although this really depends on the individual company as to exactly how you get paid.

Be aware that companies will have set dates for sending out commissions so don’t expect a cheque as soon as you reach $100, you may have to wait until the end of the month and some companies will hold your money until any return dates on the product you sold has expired, normally 30-60 days. But if you imagine it is only the same as starting a salaried job where you don’t get paid until the end of the month.

How Do I Get Started.

First thing you need to do is find some products to promote. It might be best to find ones that interest you first rather than ones that pay the most, perhaps you will find both. Or you could do a search online to see what is popular at the moment and then find products that match this.

Some of the best place to find these products are through affiliate networks. These are places that quite literally have thousands of companies on their books who have products they want to sell via the efforts of you.

Affiliate networks are great because you will get paid by them for any of the programs you join within there network rather than having to wait for all the individual companies to pay you. A few of the best ones are,

• www.clickbank.com
• www.tradedoubler.com
• www.paydotcom.com

Just visit one of these sites above and join. Its free to do and as soon as you do you can start looking for and then promoting products. I would recommend you read any help pages they have so that you can become familiar with how they work.

You can also search for affiliate programs individually through Google. Just type in what your looking for such as Home Business Affiliate Program and then join an appropriate program.

What Next

Ok so now you have your products, you just need to sell them and of course you do this by attracting customers.

Now you can just go out there and start posting your affiliate links wherever you feel is appropriate. My Free Advertising article will show where and how.

But one of the best ways to make affiliate sales is to have your own blog/website filled with great content that will appeal to the type of persons your looking to sell to and have your links to the products your promoting on there as well. Normaly a good affiliate program will not only give you links to use but attractive adverts to use as well that can be linked to you.

The idea here is, you create a blog/website , you fill it with great content that matches the type of products your promoting, you then have your links/adverts on there, you do some advertising promoting your website, readers arrive at your own site to read the content which will be content matching your products and they then click on these links and ads. The company your promoting then takes over from there.

If you create a good website and you have quality content and products that match then you have a very good way of making an income by way of a business that is working for your 24/7 365.

What Can I Earn And What Are My Chances.

There are many many people all over the world who make money from Affiliate Marketing including myself. Some make a few dollars/Pounds a month part time while some make millions of dollars a year and everything in between. Its not hard to do but there is work to be done and on a consistent basis but when you consider that an affiliate marketing business can allow you to work when and where you like then this effort seems small by comparison.

You can if you so desire make a very good living with affiliate marketing. One that can replace your current income or one that can supplement it. Its up to you and the effort you put in that dictates your level of success.

Finally

If this article has given you food for thought and you do like the idea of making money from affiliate marketing then I would be happy to show you how.

I can show you how to find good markets to be in and good products to promote. I can also create you a website that will promote all this for you and teach you how to advertise .

All you need do for now is show me your interest by leaving your details on my “Contact Me“ page with a short message. I will then be in touch to explain all.

To your success, Nick Squires-The English Entrepreneur

We are going to focus today on how to arrange specific WordPress widgets in a sidebar such as adverts so that they appear only on a specific page or post.

At the moment whenever you add something to a sidebar this feature will always appear on every page or post on your WordPress website. But this is no good if say you have written a page solely about a certain product and you only want to show that product/advert that goes with that article on that page.

With this in mind I would like to explain to you how to use the WordPress plugin “TS Custom Widgets” so that you can have full control over what and where things appear in your sidebars on your WordPress site..

This article is really intended for people who are fairly familiar with the basics of WordPress such as adding posts or pages and know how to use widgets and plugins. If you are not then read some other my other WordPress Articles  first.

Using TS Custom Widgets Plugin

First thing you need to do is install the plugin and activate it. Just type in the plugin search bar  “Custom Widgets“. You should then see it at the top of the search results. The plugin is by ThaSlayer. Once found just install it.

Once installed look to the very bottom of your WordPress dashboard at the bottom left under settings. You will see the link/tab for TS Custom Widgets. Click on this.

You will now see a page that list all the sidebars/widgets areas you have and what is in them.

Just click on the one you want to customize. If you are not sure what a particular widget is in your sidebar then look at your live website and see what is in what sidebar and what position. You will then know what each one is within the custom widget plugin.

So click the widget you want to customize. You will now be on a page where you can decide on what pages or posts + other sections of your site that you want the widget to only display on.

Click the “Edit link” that you see next to Posts or Pages depending on whether you want the widget to appear on either a specific post or page or both.

On this new page you will decide where exactly the widget will appear. Simply tick the box of the page/post you want it to appear on. This could be all of them or just one. When you have decided, look below and see the link for “Add selected Pages/Posts” and click this. Your widget will now be showing only on those specific pages/posts.Go to your site and now check this has happened.

If you decide that a widget is displaying somewhere you do not like then simply go through the previous steps again. This time the widget you have altered will be in red. But when you get to the page where you choose where the widget will be seen, this time look to the left underneath “show in pages/posts” you will see a list of pages/posts that this widget is on. Just click on the page/post you do not want the widget on and it is done.

As far as this plugin goes it seems to work very well. The only problem I have encountered was placing a widget on the Home page and the Blog page at the same time. It would only show on the Home page. Not sure why this happens. But apart from that this is the best plugin I have come across for placing specific features in a sidebar on specific pages or posts.

Don’t forget if you have a specific question about WordPress then why not leave a message on the Contact Me page. I would also be happy to show you how to make money from your WordPress site as well.

]]> http://nick-squires.com/2012/03/12/wordpress-sidebar-customization/feed/ 0 http://nick-squires.com/2012/03/05/adding-youtube-videos-wordpress/ http://nick-squires.com/2012/03/05/adding-youtube-videos-wordpress/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:25:43 +0000 Nick Squires http://nick-squires.com/?p=1034 ]]>

A great way of quickly adding extra content to your WordPress site or to liven up some content is to add Youtube videos into your WordPress website.

How to Add YouTube

First go to www.youtube.com and then search for a video that would be appropriate for your website/blog using the Youtube search bar at the top of the page.

When you have found a video make sure you watch it to see if its any good. Remember that when placing any type of content on your website make sure its of great value to your readers.

If your happy with the video then you now need to get the code that we can use to put into your wordpress site.

To get the code look just underneath the video where you will be able to click the tab “Share“. You then will need to click the tab “Embed”

What you are now looking at is a section that allows you to customize the video and then get the code.

What I suggest you do first is un-check the box which says “Show suggested videos when the video finishes” This way you won’t have your readers caught up in watching other videos rather than your WordPress website.

Now you can decide the size of the video screen. This will largely depend on where your putting the video. My tip here is to just go with the size they have suggested because you can adjust the exact size you need when you have the video on your site.

Get the Code

When you happy with your customization then all you need do now is copy the embed code in the main box. Now with that code go and log in to your wordpress Admin panel/dashboard.

Whether your adding the Youtube video into a post or page makes no difference as its the same procedure but whatever way you are doing it make sure before you add the code that you are in HTML mode. To do that look just above where you add your content and to the right where you will see either Visual or HTML.

Ok now your in HTML mode paste the Youtube video Embed code into the content area. Now you can click on Visual to see how it looks in relation to the page.

At this point you won’t actually see the video its self, that only is available on your website when published. But you can change the size of the video from here. Either just click on the video and use your cursor on the border of it to increase or decrease its size or go back to HTML mode and adjust the size within the actual code its self.

When your happy with it all then just publish and then see what it looks like live on your site, of course editing anything that needs doing.

Once you get the hang of it you will see that adding Youtube videos into WordPress is a very quick way of getting content onto your site plus you can always add a few words of your own on top or underneath the video before you publish it.

One Final Thing

If you want to add a Youtube video into a side bar then just paste the code into a Text Widget using the widget section of your WordPress Dashboard.

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Below you will find a selection of paid advertising ideas that can be used for an offline or online business. Its not an exhaustive list but there is certainly enough good quality ideas for you to promote your business with.

PAID ADVERTISING IDEAS

1) Pay Per Click (PPC)

This is one of the most effective advertising options out there although its also one of the most complicated.

These type of adverts are the ones you see on the right hand side of the search results page whenever you do a search through Google or Yahoo etc. You may even see some at the top of the search results page. There the small advert with a title, a couple of lines of content and a website address.

The great thing about PPC is its very targeted. You decide who will see your adverts. This means you can set your ads to only appear in front of people who are looking for what you do.

The way it all works is you create an account with one of the PPC companies. You then create a few adverts and then you link these adverts to keywords. Keywords are the words that people use when doing a search online.

EG. You have a website/business that is all about golfing holidays in the UK. You create an advert that reflects this. You then attach keywords such as, UK golfing, UK golf holidays to your adverts. Now when someone types into Google, UK golf holidays, your advert appears on the right of the search results page. They then click on your advert and are taken to your website.

There is a bit more to it than that but that’s the general idea.

Now the reason its called Pay Per Click is because you only have to pay for your advert when someone clicks on it. And you set this price before hand. You can set whatever price you like but the deal here is you really want to be on the first page of Google/Yahoo to make sure your ads are seen and this may not come cheap depending on the keywords you are using.

You can typically expect to spend at least £0.15 / $0.20 for every click but don’t be surprised if your paying £2 / $3 a click. You can set a daily budget to keep things safe. But my advice here is to have at least £200/$300 monthly budget and do your homework before hand.

The biggest and best is Google Adwords but Facebook as well as Yahoo have their own versions.

2) Newspapers/Magazines.

Remember well folks even in this day and age people will still want to read newspapers/magazines rather than looking at a computer screen for their news or gossip. And the classified section is the most read part.

Yes their readership levels are in decline but that’s great news for you because deals can be had. A tip here is to always ask for a discount and to run your ad for at least 4 weeks. Some people need to see it a few times before they will take action.

3) Drop Cards.

These are business sized cards that will have a tempting message on there about your business with either a phone number or a web address. There not your normal type business cards. These will be brightly coloured (yellow background with black writing is proven best) and the message will intrigue people enough to pick it up and respond.

The cards want to be in your face, not nicey nicey but bold enough for people to take note and action. Tell them exactly what you want on the card and no more.

The example below is a drop card for someone promoting a home business.

Struggling to Find a Job

Why not Work Online

Visit

www.yourwebsite.com

TODAY

I carry these types of cards around with me all the time and I leave them everywhere such as at cash machines, on a restaurant table, on a bar, car park machines anywhere where I think someone will see it and pick it up.

For me www.Vistaprint.com is the place to get them. Get the cheapest you can (£/$20 for 500). Simply start with a blank card in Vistaprint add your colour then your text and get them delivered.

4) Online Classifieds

There are thousands of online classifieds available for your business. They are very easy to use. Just think of them as an online newspaper ad but normally a lot cheaper. Yes you can find free ones but its often best to go for the paid version.

AdlandPro.com This is a great site for finding lots of classified advertising avenues under one roof. Lots of it free, lots of it paid. Or you can be more specific and search through Google for classified advertising in your particular market.

5) Flyers.

Get your local printers to do you a batch of flyers and start posting them where your target market is.

A great place is outside seminars/conventions that are all about what your business is about. Put them on cars or in peoples hands but get out there.

As I am in the business of teaching people how to make money from home I would hand out flyers to people leaving a train station after a day at work or put them on their cars in the station car park. Think about where your customers would be and go post flyers there.

6) Shop Windows.

Get your adverts in the windows of your local shops. The ads I am talking about are postcard sized. They will have a bit more information than a drop card (see No.3) and of course they cannot take it home so make sure its easy for them to get your details.

7) Banner Ads.

These are eye catching adverts that can be placed on websites similar to your own. They are sometimes animated or simply static but they are always eye catching. You can either have the banner ad link back to your own website or you can have them linked to a product your promoting.

The best way to use them is to place them on a website that gets a lot of traffic/visitors and is in the same business market or a similar market as to what you are in.

Yes you are going to have to pay the owner of the website to do this and their price will depend on how much traffic the website gets plus it will depend on where the banner is placed. The home page will be the most expensive placement.

My advice is to first find some suitable websites to place your banner ad on. Once you do look for the contact us page and make an enquiery as to what they would charge for an advert on their site and what size advert it would be. You will want to know how long the advert stays on their as well.

When you have this information you then get the banner made. I personally would go to www.fiverr.com where someone will do it for $5. The site has a search bar in the top right that you can type “banner ads” into to find relevant people.

Once the ad is made send it over to the website owner along with your payment.

8) Ezine Ads.

These are adverts you place on online magazines (ezines). There are literally thousands of these online magazines in all different types of markets.

And all of them have readers who have agreed to receive a newsletter, be it daily, weekly, monthly that will contain these adverts.

These readers will be people who are already very interested in what you have to promote and these magazines/Ezines can have many thousands of subscribers. Whats great is the reader is happy to receive these adverts and they will be open to the idea of looking at other websites and products similar to what their interested in.

What you need to do first is find a suitable Ezine mag for your particular business. So as always do a Google search. EG; if your business is golf then you would search for “Golf ezines”

When you have found a suitable Ezine mag look for a link on the website that lists their advertising rates. If not look for a contact us page and ask them their rates. Also look for where you sign up for their newsletter and sign up yourself to see if its any good for your advert.

What you want to do is get as much information together about the Ezine to see if it is a suitable place to put your advert.

Expect to pay around £30/$45 for a basic advert.

To find out exactly how to use this method have a read of my article all about Ezine advertising.

More Help With Advertising

If you would like to implement some more advertising ideas then take a look at my article about Free Advertising

I am also available for any help when it comes to setting up or running an online business. Just leave your details either on my Contact Me Page or my Coaching Course Page. I will then get back to you for a talk.

You will find below a selection of free online and offline advertising ideas. These are ideas I have either used myself successfully or seen others have success with. They are not the only ways to advertise your business but they are some of the best free advertising ideas.

FREE ADVERTISING

1) Facebook. www.facebook.com

Whatever you think about Facebook (FB) it is one of the most powerful advertising tools out there and for the most part its free. At present there are 750 million users and when they join and as they use Facebook they all give you hints as to what they are interested in which means we know exactly what to sell or offer them.

If I were starting my business all over again then my number 1 choice for advertising would be FB. I would be giving this a large part of my attention.

With FB you want to set up an account and then create an interesting profile. This is your profile that everyone will be able to see so make sure you use a decent photo of yourself and fill out the details with quality information rather than silly, jokey stuff.

You want your profile to be as professional as possible but without being boring.  You can even put your website address in your profile that will become a link people can click.

When your profile is complete its then a case of interacting with others and creating relationships. You can do this by first finding groups on FB that are similar to your business by using the FB search bar at the top. You can then join these groups and start leaving messages about your business on their FB group wall. You can also make contact with the members of these groups and become friends with them.

What you can also do is leave messages on your own FB wall about your business such as content on your website or perhaps a particular product your promoting (don’t over promote). This will all be seen by any friends you have made on FB such as the ones you found in relevant groups.

As with all social sites its about creating relationships and FB is no different. And even though you may only be connecting with one person at a time on FB they in turn may have thousands of connections and these other connections may have thousands too who will all see your interaction with the original person. Its a viral thing that can spread like wild fire.

2) Twitter. www.twitter.com

Another social site that you can use for free and again like Facebook you can target people who will be interested in what you do. You start following people and in return they follow you. Its a similar procedure to FB as in you create a decent profile and then you start connecting with people. Again its a viral thing where your Tweets (messages) can be seen very quickly by many thousands of people and lots of them can be interested in what your business is about.

3) Linkedin  www.linkedin.com

Although Linkedin is primarily a business social site that people use for job searching or networking it can be a very good place to promote your business. At present it has over 150 million users. Now not all business are suitable for Linkedin. You would not go there and promote beauty cosmetics. But if your business is about something that could help people with their careers then you may be in the right place.

Examples of this could be a business involved in self improvement, personal development. Perhaps your website is about public speaking or resume writing. If its along the lines of business people and things they would like then Linkedin is a great place to go.

Again as with FB and Twitter its all about making connections and getting yourself out there. But difference here is that its a much more formal way of connecting. Imagine everyone is wearing a suit rather than on FB where everyone is in jeans and trainers.

You want to make a professional profile that states some of your qualifications and careers to date as well as information about your new business as this is obviously what your there for.

4) Online Classifieds

There are many of these free online classified sites that you can place an ad on and get instant viewings for your business. Yes there are paid ones out there but stick to the free ones if your budget is tight.

The biggest one out there is www.craigslist.org which allows you to place ads in cities all over the world but its not perfect for every type of business and a lot of the larger cities particularly in the USA you will have to pay for.

Another huge classified site  www.Gumtree.com

There are many other free classified sites online that you can go to, just Google something like “free online classifieds” or Free UK classifieds” and take your pick.

My advice with this type of advertising is to be very consistent on a daily basis. Its no good placing an ad a week and expecting miracles.

5) Shop Notice Boards.

A lot of large supermarkets/stores will let you place a small ad on there notice boards for free. Go round your local area and find as many as you can. Be aware that your ad does not stay up forever so you will need to place new ones every few weeks.

The type of ads I mean will be postcard sized and you want to make them stand out from all the other ones around it.

6) Email Signature.

This is simply where you put a little message at the bottom of every email you send out.

It will have a quick message about what you do and your website address that people can click on. Just think of all the emails you send out, everyone of them could be promoting for you.

You can set this up so its done automatically for you within your email system such as Hotmail, Gmail etc so that every email you send has this signature at the bottom. Don’t make the signature too long, just a quick message and then your website.

7) Article Writing.

Not for everyone but if your happy to sit down and write some good articles of between 250 and 1000 words then you have a great opportunity to advertise your business for free.

The way it works is by you writing articles relevant to your business and then uploading them to an article directory. The article directory then lists your article on their site which in turn is highly listed in Google. Your website is then seen by people doing a search online.

The advantage of all this is that at the bottom of all your articles there will always be showing whats known as a resource box. This box will contain a little message about you and your business as well as your website address of which people can click on to go to your website.

Article writing is a great way to quickly get your content ranking in Google because your piggy backing off the success of an article directory that is already ranked high with Google.

A good article can be picked up by lots of people who either read it and then click on your website address. Or they can freely copy and past the article via the article directory on to their blog or website and it will still include your resource box with your business link in it for everyone to see. This is great free advertising.

One of the best sites to join and upload your articles to is www.ezinearticles.com but if you Google “article directories” you will find many more you can post articles to for free.

8) Forums.

Forums are great places for interacting with people who will be interested in your type of business.

What you can do is find forums that are specifically about the type of market you are in and then join them. Then you can start answering or posting questions as well as interacting with other forum members and at the end of your messages you will have your website address. Now if your interacting genuinely and not just spamming your products then people will be inclined to click on your website link.

This is a bit like the social sites where you create relationships but with forums its more about creating credibility with the way you behave and answer people within the forum its self. And be careful, if people think you have just gone their to promote your business or products you will get black listed fairly fast.

The best way to approach it is by having a real genuine interest in answering people questions and comments, this way they will be more inclined to visit your website and view your products.

Remember as well that a lot of these forums content including your interaction will be picked up by Google for people to see when they are searching for similar information via Google’s search box.

To find suitable forums just use good old Google. EG, if your business is around cooking then look for cooking forums.

9) Q & A sites.

Similar to forums but with the sole intention of answering questions and at the end of your answer  you can have a clickable link to your website.

Its fairly straight forward, you simply look for questions you can answer that are to do with your business and you answer them as best you can. If yours is the best answer then you will get recognition for this and you will start building up your credibility.

Again remember to be genuine here and not just spamming your products otherwise your be shut down. Plus a lot of these Q & A sites allow Google to pick up the content and spread it around the internet which means your answers and website address will be out there too.

Two good places to join are,

www.aolanswers.com

www.answers.yahoo.com

10) Video Marketing.

Why not make a quick video and upload it to the internet using sites such as www.YouTube.com or www.Vidler.com

Make an informative video about an issue people may have within your particular market with obviously a link to your website that has more content about this issue and a product that helps. You don’t have to be Spielberg here, you don’t even have to be in it, just your voice with some pictures. A simple clean video will do.

11) Contact Marketing.

A good old fashioned conversation or better known as contact marketing. If your comfortable doing this then when your out and about strike up some conversations with strangers, don’t go out deliberately looking for people but the ones you casually encounter during the day. Invariably the talk will come around to what you do and then you can do some self promotion.

This is really a great way to promote your business as it immediately creates a connection with your potential customer that they can still remember when they do visit your website.

My advice here is to have something to give them such as a business card. Yes I know this is about free advertising but you can go to somewhere like www.vistaprint.com and get a few hundred made for less than  £20 / $30. Or if not get some details off them and email your details over to them.

12) Commenting.

Adding comments to websites/blogs that are in your market and similar to your website content is a very quick and very effective way to advertise.

Find websites/blogs that are in your market and leave a comment at the bottom of any articles you see on the site.

Read the article first so that you can leave a genuine comment. When you do this you can leave your business website address for people to click on as well.

People like to read comments and if your comment is on a high ranking website or blog then there is a good chance a lot of people will see it and your website address too.

13) A4 Tear offs.

Now this idea may seem very basic but its one I have used and many others as well to generate income with.

Simply create an advert on your computer in Microsoft Word or some similar program, nothing fancy, just some exciting words about your business or the products or service you offer. Then at the bottom create some vertical sections that have your website address in it. This part is the tear off bit.

Now print your advert off and then use some scissors to cut around the website address part but still leaving a part of it attached to the main piece of paper.

You can then place these ads all over your local area or wherever you like. I put them in bus stops, at cash dispensers, anywhere there is a high volume of traffic. What will happen is anyone who is interested in your advert can simply tear off your website address and check your site out later. Very effective and very free.

14) Back Linking

This method is one of the most important things you can do for your websites search rank with Google which ultimately leads to free advertising.

The idea is to be placing your website address all around the internet on places that are especially similar to your business market. You can leave your address anywhere but its more effective when its relative to what you do.

Now if your doing some of the other methods of advertising I have suggested earlier such as Q & A sites or Forums or Commenting then you will be naturally back linking as you go along.

But I make it a habit of leaving my website address whenever I get the opportunity online. If I have to leave my name somewhere then I will write my website address with it too. Any opportunity and I will leave my website details.

And here is a little tip, you want to be putting,   http://  in front of your web address.

EG, my website is,  www.nick-squires.com   but in this case I would write it,  http://www.nick-squires.com

This way you make it a clickable link and easier for Google to notice it. Google can then see that your website is appearing more and more around the internet which starts to tell them that your website is becoming more and more popular.

This gives them more reasons to rank your website higher and show it more times to the people doing a search through Google looking for information about businesses like yours. They in turn visit your website and Google again sees your website is getting more activity so again it ranks it higher. Its an endless circle that gets better and better for you.

15) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

OK strictly speaking this is not a method of advertising but if applied correctly it will bring you lots of traffic and customers and all for free.

SEO is all about configuring your website so that the search engines like Google know what your website is about and in turn they can place it in front of the right type of people doing a search online.

SEO is one of the best things you can do for your business which is why I have devoted a whole article to it titled “Is your website being seen by Google?“  and I strongly recommend you read it and implement the advice especially if your using WordPress.

If you would now like to see some more advertising ideas then take a look at my               Paid advetising Ideas article.

Do you want some help with your business?

If your looking for some help with your marketing then why not leave me a message on the Contact Me Page and I will get back to you or if your looking to start an online business and you are not sure of the best way to go about this then why not leave your details on my Coaching Course Page. I will then be in touch to explain all.

Nick Squires-The English Entrepreneur