Interview with Joe from Backlinks Genie

Sup folks! As you know I use and love Back links genie.  You can check out the full review on the site here http://www.chrisazzari.com/backlinks-genie-review/

We all know having great tools and knowing how to use them makes all the difference. I was fortunate to get Joe from Backlinks Genie to answer some questions for us. Here ya go! Thanks Joe!

Q1. How long has BLG been in business and who is behind this awesomesauce?
A1. We launched BLG in September of 2010.  Before that we were
providing link building services on a one off basis.  We found that
most of our customers were returning and ordering multiple services so
the idea of a daily link building service came to us and BLG was
created.

Q2. Why did you create BLG and had you used other softwares like SEnuke or
brute force seo? See above for why.
A2. Yes we had used just about every software that is out there.  There
are many applications that do things well but they don’t do everything
well and most have a steep learning curve.

Q3. You have a whole new pricing structure can you explain what it is and
why you changed from only 1 premium package?
A3. We had many requests for a smaller amount of daily links with a
lower price so we introduced our Standard package.  We also were able
to cut some of our costs by bulk purchasing servers so we were able to
pass the savings along.  This resulted in our previous package(now the
premium package) being reduced in price by 30%

Q4. How do you guys figure out what is the best linkbuilding options to
offer. Are you constantly keeping up to date with the latest and
greatest so
called “Seo methods”
A4. We are constantly researching and testing new link building
methods.  When we see positive results in a way that can be automated
we add it to the service.

Q5. I think a lot of people get scared by services like this? From
experience I know your services deliver day in and day out! Its obviously
automated and I have no clue how you do it, so maybe you can explain a bit
of how things work and how you can get us these links and why customers
should not worry?
A5. We have many “script” servers in data centers across the world.
Each server has a specific project type it works on.  Users projects
are stored in a database and each script server pulls the data needed
from the database to run each project one at a time until they are all
completed.  If a project fails to deliver the minimum amount of links
it is automatically put back into the queue for the day and is run again.

Q6. OK I know there are so many ways to use BLG, but could you offer up a
few strategies? Say 1 strategy for a brand new site. 1 for a site that is
6months to a year old and has a decent link profile and lets say 1 for a
site that is over 1 year old, has ranking and a good amount of links
pointing to it.
A6. This is not an easy answer since there are so many factors
involved.  The best advice I can give that fits every type of site is
to build as many different types of links as possible.  If you have a
new site you would want to limit the link velocity until you have built
it up slowly.  You don’t want to go from gaining 0 links per day to
thousands overnight.  If you have an established site that has some
link velocity then the options are wide open.  Build some quality 2.0
sites and hit those with some high velocity links like blog comments or
xrumer links.

Q7. Sometimes I wish I could run 2 projects in one day instead of the
allotted one. Is there maybe something like that coming in the future?
A7. We have this option but it requires an additional account.  We do
offer bulk pricing for 5 and 10 packages.  When you have multiple
accounts we can tie them together so you don’t have to keep logging in
and out but can switch between them with 2 clicks.

Q8. Speaking of the future, you guys are always coming out with new
features which is why I love BLG. Can you tell us about a few things in
the
pipeline?
A8. We have a couple new project types in the works as well as a whole
new project management system that will add many new features such as
project grouping and copying.  We also have a revamped set of multi day
projects in the works which will increase the variety of links you get
each day of the multiday run.

Q9. How much do you pay the magic elves that work in your servers to go
out and get all those links so fast?
A9. We pay them all the gyros and monster energy drinks they can eat.
Actually, everything is run by scripts.  Our staff simply monitors the
scripts and takes care of customer requests.

Q10. If you had to tell people one thing on how not to use BLG what would
it be? We are only as good as our tools right, so I mean some people go
out
and by that brand new tool, but then go about using it the completely
wrong
way.
A10. What not to do is to use only one project type to build links.  We
offer different types of links so you should take advantage of that and
build a variety of link types.

Q11. Joe thanks so much for taking your time to answer these questions,
any chance you have any coupons even though there is a free service
available  I am a true believer in BLG and the fact that you are coming
up with new services almost on a monthly basis is what will keep me around
for the long haul

A11. We do not have any current specials going on but if we ever do I
am sure you will know about it as soon as it comes out.

Well there you have it, a pretty good overview of Backlinks Genies. Thanks again for your time Joe and keep those awesome updates and new features coming!

EZPZ OCB Backup for WordPress

Well it’s not Friday and I have really been slacking with plugin updates so I figured I would let you know about this plugin I just used. It is the EZPZ OCB- ONE CLICK BACK UP. A wordpress backup plugin that works!

I am not going into great detail about this. Over the years I have tried many wordpress back up plugins, but none were never that great and they cost money. Yeah this one is free! I am sure there are some other ones that work well, but I just gave this a shot and all I can say is wow that was EASY!

There has been a handful of times where I had a site and somehow lost it. Ugh all the time, content, and money put into it only to lose it and not have a full back up. Back up yer crap people!!!

1 Warning

I only have one warning for this plugin. It creates the backup here /wp-content/plugins/ezpz-one-click-backup/backups so it could possibly be downloaded by others so after you save the backup to your computer or wherever you want to save it I would go in and delete the zip of the back up.

There is actually an option to make it secure, but by default it is out there in the open so just be careful thats all. In fact there are a lot of options, you can schedule the number of backups you want to run, you can even have it put the files in a dopbox acount.  Pretty awesome. I am def adding this to my arsenal!

Give it a shot

CLICK HERE FOR EZPZ OCB BACKUP

Backlinks Genie Free

Hey folks I am sure you have read my review of backlinks genie, but since it is a long case study post you may have missed the update that backlinks genie is now offering a free plan! Yes FREE!

OK so what do you get in this FREE package?

• Unlimited Projects “1 a day of course”
• daily choice of 25 blog comments or 50 profile links per day.
• Schedule out for months

Listen there is no reason why you should not be signed up for this? That is 775 comment links a month or 1550 profile links a month for free! Why would you not do this? You can sign up and schedule this as well, so you can set this up for weeks or months in advance on autopilot. Remember free is better then cheap. There is no hidden anything as well, you just get this for free. Of course the goal is that you use it and see how well it works, then BLG will hope you sign up for the other packages, but hey take advantage of it.

How would I use this free offering?

Well… typically I never use the comment or profile links to link directly to my money sites. The way I use them is to link to other online entities i have created that point to my money sites such as, hubpages, ezines, videos, etc…. Most people will create a hubpage or ezine article pointing t0 their site and then never touch it again. By creating links to them you are creating more power to your money sites. Get it?

Anyways if you don’t sign up for a free account, then there might be something wrong with you

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

Backlinks Genie Review

****Go to bottom for most up to date update – Traffic is getting better ***

FYI THERE IS NOW A FREE PACKAGE! YES FREE CLICK HERE!

My no fluff Backlinks Genie Review! 7 day case study! If you came for some simple overview of Backlinks Genie like most of the garbage reviews out there, then this review may surprise you. I am going to give you a thorough review and real feedback of how this service has been working for me.

Right off the bat! This is a $199 a month service. UPDATE 5/12/2011 There are now 3 new options BLG Free | BLG Standard | BLG Premium If this scares you then don’t go any further! At one point $199 was a lot for me as well, but now it saves me so much time it pays for itself 10x over. You need to think in terms of spending $500 can make me an extra $500 and so on and so on…  If you are looking for something to save you time and run on autopilot “well sort of auto pilot” keep reading.

There are 3 Parts to this review -

1. What is Backlinks Genie
2. My overall review of it
3. My specific 7 day test with an established site that has been sitting for about 2 1/2 years.

What is Backlinks Genie

In a nutshell it helps you create backlinks to your site on auto pilot. Chances are you have seen the backlinks genie site and know what it offers so I don’t want to bore you with regurgitating the info on their site, but here are the basics of what it can do for you…

• Web 2.0 sites creation – minimum of 15 sites per project per day
• Web 2.0 repost – Post articles to existing web 2.0 sites
• Article Submission – Article submitted to over 100 directories each day
• Page Rank 4+ Profile linkwheel – minimum of 60 profiles per day
• Blog commenting – minimum of 750 verified comments per day
• Xrumer Blast- minimum of 2,000 profiles per day
• 3 Day project – combine web 2.0, PR4+ profile linkwheels, and blog comment into one project
• 4 Day project – combine web 2.0, PR4+ profile linkwheels, blog comment, and xrumer into one project

If you have ever used SE-Nuke you know how awesome it can be, but you also know how tedious and time consuming it can be. Backlinks Genie basically does it all on auto pilot for you. The thing with Backlinks Genie is that you can only do one project a day. You can promote as many sites as you want,but you only get one project a day. So Monday you could do Blog commenting, then your done for that day, but its 750 verified comments. Tuesday you can do an xrumer blast of 2,000 profiles. So again to make my self clear you are limited to 1 project a day, but after a months time that adds up to a lot of links! Just think about that for a minute.

OK you want to hear about how it really works and how I have been using it right? Read below…

Overall Review of Backlinks Genie

Ease of use -

The Backlinks Genie is very very easy to use. When  you log in you will want to create a new project.  This is where you select the project type you want. Select your project type first, because if you give it a Project Name then select the type it refreshes and you have to enter the project name in again.“Update – Joe from BLG updated this so the project type is first – Did I mention they have great and timely support“  There is a screen shot below. Look at all those wonderful link building projects for you to choose from

Click For Bigger Image

Adding Projects -

Depending on what project your are going to choose from there are a few different ways to add your info. Any articles or web2.0 submissions must be spun. I use TheBestSpinner to spin and it is by far “the best spinner” I have found.  Click Here to learn more about the best spinner. After you have selected your project and added content  you can schedule it.

Using the Calendar -

So there are 2 options with the Calendar – Daily Scheduling and Weekly scheduling. To be honest I have only used the daily scheduling since I am promoting many things at once. If you have 1 site you were promoting, setting things up and getting the weekly calendar set up would be your best bet. In fact I think when you are promoting only one or two sites backlinks genie can be a powerhouse for you! I am currently still testing and learning everyday, but I am sure I will be buying more accounts to promote individual sites and truly get them on auto pilot. Speaking of “AUTO PILOT” I am going to talk about that below, but let me finish about the calendar. It is real simple you check the box of the date you want the project to run, then add the project and it is set! Check the screen shot below.

Click for Bigger Image

Auto Pilot? Really?

Listen nothing out there is on “auto pilot” so don’t think you are going to logon and just hit a button and your sites will rank.  Using this tool takes some knowing what you are doing. You can get it pretty close to auto pilot, but you will have to set some things up. You need to have articles written and spin them. You will have to create the projects etc… Don’t get me wrong this is still a time saver. If you spend some time getting your projects set up and then schedule them you can get pretty close to auto pilot. It is a beautiful thing to know that these links are being built while you sleep!

How have I been using Backlinks Genie?

First off a word of caution… Don’t just start blasting off comment links and profile links to your main domains without any planning. Everyday you have a chance to create awesome links and power back to your site in one way or another. So have a plan made and execute.  What I have been doing is lately is creating web 2.0 pages, article pages, and other blog posts pointing to my money sites then rolling them into the blog comment function. So>>> I make a few web2.0 sites, article pages, blog posts that link to my money site and the add them to a Comment Blog Project. So now I have all those comments spreading out to the web2.0′s which all point to my money sites. These are not the web2.0 that backlink genie does, these are my own.  I am trying to promote many sites so I am really just trying to stick to a couple game plans. Since you can only do one project a day this is what I have been sticking with for the last few weeks. In the beginning I was testing with all the projects to mostly web20 and article pages I had created before and also doing some profile links to internal pages on my money sites. Like I said when promoting one site you can really come up with a sick game plan for this, which is what I will show you in my Case Study below. They also just released a new article submission project which I have used a few times. It is a great thing, over night my article is blasted out and posted! The great thing is the next day you get all the links in your project report file.

What to do with all the links?

Well after you create a project you can check the reports the next day and you will get a copy of all the links created. It is pretty awesome. Now the question is what do I do with the links? There are a lot of things you can do with the links… create rss feeds and submit them, build some links back to these new links, ping them, etc. I am currently using  http://linklicious.me/ which has an api and pulls all your project report data and creates rss feeds and gets them indexed on the fly! This is not a review for http://linklicious.me/, but I highly recommend you check it out!

Backlinks Genie best practices and final thoughts on what I have been doing?

I just wanted to throw out some best practices in my opinion and some thoughts on what I have been doing. Like I said before you only get one project a day so use them wisely and make sure you don’t miss a project. I hate when I get an email that says you do not have anything scheduled and I end up missing a day. That could have been 750-2000 links I could have pointed somewhere!!

My Results?

I have been using this on a lot of sites. The one thing I can say is this. I have had about 4 sites that have just been stuck either at that #10 spot or just sitting at #3 and #4 and now 2 are sitting at #1 and the others have bumped up a few spots. I have seen a few hubpages that I have promoted jump up as well and are getting more traffic. Even in this last week of 2/21/2011 I have seen a jump in traffic to the handful of sites I promoted. The key is to be consistent and of course make sure your onsite seo is good. I assume if you are ready to drop $199 a month you know a few things about onsite seo and keyword research. I hope to really show how this works with the case study below.

Here are a few best practices I have laid out

• Take existing web2.0 sites, articles, blog posts and build links to them via comment posts or profile link wheels.
• Submit an article to back links genie, then comment post to those links the next day
• Use the 3 and 4 day projects ” I didn’t go into that but will in the case study”
• Build of a small web2.0 network “up to 5 posts to each web2.0 property” build links to them

The beauty of this is that there are so many ways to set up a plan, you just need to figure out what that plan is and execute it.  I hope this has answered some of the questions you might have had about Backlinks genie and if you have any more just leave a comment or contact me.

Backlinks Genie Case Study

Ok here is my case study. I want this to be honest and all out in the open! If it works which I think it will, if it doesn’t I will still post the results because I know when looking for reviews finding a true honest review is a hard thing to find. Regardless of what the results are in this case study, I know this service is working for other sites and I will continue to use it.

Site – Cap Cana Fun . Com  “I don’t want to send any links or exposure to the site via this site” I know you will check it out, but that won’t skew my rankings.

History - This is a site I made about 2 1/2 years ago. It was registered in October 2007. It has just been sitting. It has about 6 unique articles that were written 2 1/2 years ago.

Traffic Stats etc… - I just realized I don’t even have google analytics installed so I am doing that now. Click Here for Webalizer Stats. Wow so that’s not bad for a site I have not checked in who knows how long. Doing just over 1,000 visits a month. Can’t wait to look at google analytics to get a better idea. Mind you today is 2/25/2011 and I am doing this as we speak! Dang wish  I had some adsense on here. I remember I took it off awhile back to clean up my adsense account. Anyways… Click Here for a ranking report I did on the site for its keywords. Those are the keywords I will be testing.  Also Click Here for a yahoo site explorer screen shot.

Thoughts… – So as you can see the site is not doing much, really has no backlinks and is getting some traffic. I also feel that the competition is fairly low for this term. Now this case study I am just using the $49 7 day trial for this just to show you. It may take 3-4 weeks to see some changes from this, so stay tuned for it. I just wanted to create something out in the open for all to see and take a look at some real genuine results. You might be saying well this site is older and my site is new, or this site is getting traffic already. Hey it is what it is. If you have been doing this for awhile I know you have some sites sitting in the hopper, if your new at this, well its time to learn how to start building back to your site.  Below is my plan of attack for the 7 days. I am actually going to take the articles on the site, tweak them a bit and spin them. This will be the only content I will use. I would say get original content for the best results.

UPDATED 05/12/2011

For 7 day trial at $49 Click Here

Get $50 off first month – Click Here

There is no longer a $49 trial or $50 off, but they have created a new price structure which I think has something for everyone.  They are as follows ;

******************************
Free account – Free of course
Standard – $67/mo
Premium – $137/mo

The Free level will include:
Daily choice of:
25 Blog comments or
50 profiles per day

The Standard level will include:
Daily choice of:
500 Blog comments or
1,000 profiles per day

The Premium level will include:
Daily choice of:
1,000 Blog comments
2,000 profiles
100 Article Directory
100 Social bookmarks
100 PR4+ Linkwheel
10 Web 2.0 sites
******************************

OK then starting today 2/25 well the first project won’ t run until tomorrow 2/26 here is what I will be doing.

Day 1 – Article Submission to 100+ Directories “I will link to main page and internal pages in articles”

Day 2 – Then right to a 3 Day Project which is Create 15 Web 2.0 sites, 60 Profiles, then 750 Comments

Day 3 – 60 Profiles – “Part of the 3 day – These 60 profiles go to the newly created Web 2.0′s”

Day 4 – 750 Comments “Last part of the 3 day project”

Day 5 – Article Submission “Round 2″

Day 6-  Web 2.0 Posting “Create 15 web 2.0′s”

Day 7 – PR 4+ Profile Linkwheel 60 Profiles to Day 6 Web 2.0′s

OK off to add 7 days of projects! Wish me luck! UPDATE – I Just added in those 7 days and it took me just about 30 minutes.

CLICK HERE TO FIND THE PACKAGE THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS!

UPDATES – I will be adding ranking/stat updates below here and any other info I find interesting!

2/25/2011 – Well about 30 minutes after I write this review and set my 7 day case study up Joe over at BLG has added some new features. One being the project name/type like Im mention above and the other a WYSIWYG editor in the web2.0 as well as allowing to submit unique articles. This is a feature I had asked for since day one and now its here. Thanks guys! Now you can create 15 unique web 2.0s on the fly. That is golden! Thanks joe!

3/1/2011 – I wanted to wait for the 7 days to be over before I posted, but…. I just googled Cap Cana and bam I am on page 2. Now things can change of course, it could pop up then back down, but this is showing that the process is working! I even ran a new ranking report “Click Here“. You can see some jumps up in rank, a few falling back and a few staying the same. You can see this across all engines as well. In yahoo site explore there are a few more links so I didn’t create a screen shot. Where will we go from here? Hopefully up!

3/4/2011 – Well day 7 is officially tomorrow, but I just wanted to hop on and list some updates here since I prob won’t get a chance to this weekend. I will do a full Update on Monday with a ranking report ran etc…  If you check out http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com you can see  28 inlinks, up 17 from when I started. Not huge, but it shows that it is working! Ah screw it I just ran a new ranking report. Click Here for it! As you can see slowly moving up the ranks! Some stayed the same. For 7 days this is not bad! Lets see where we are at Monday! I have been getting some good feedback via email so leave them below for everyone to benefit from.

3/7/2011 – So this is the official “Update” Day 7 was the 5th and since it was the weekend, I didn’t really have time to put the update online.

Rankings – Ok so first thing. Click Here for updated ranking report. This is the 4th report since 2/25 and as you can see there is marked improvement! If this is not some good proof then I don’t know what is.

Links – Ok so Click Here for yahoo site explorer. We started with 11 inlinks and now are at 34. Not bad for a weeks time.

Traffic – I don’t care what you rank or how many links you have or what that pretty green page rank bar in your browser says. If your not getting any traffic then who cares! Right? Click Here for Google Analytics. Click Here for webalizer stats. I only show the webalizer stats so you can compare to the original screen shot I had. I hate webalizer. Anyways…… So like I said I don’t care about all the #1 rankings, page ranks etc.. I care about traffic! Traffic is something this site is not really getting.  You can see an increase in the daily avgs via the webalizer screen shot so obviously the better rankings have increased traffic slightly, but not enough to really do anything. Better rankings = YES! More traffic = not yet! More time, but solid data to prove better ranks via BLG!

Continuing Updates

03/14/2011 – Well as I promised I would let it sit for a week and see where we are at. Click Here for ranking report. Well as you can see the site has jumped backed a few spots and stayed the same. This is to be expected. I did have one day where I saw a spike in traffic. Not a huge spike, but it was for the term cap cana. I’m assuming I prob got a nice little boost in rank, but it dropped back even further. Well I let it sit for a week. I think what I am going to do this time is the same 7 day regimen, but this time I will use unique content hehe

Update 3/28/2011 – Hey folks sorry I have been slacking!!! It has been quite hectic, but I have not forgot about this case study. Traffic has gotten more steady, but nothing crazy and the ranks have dropped a few notches. Why is that you ask? Well because I haven’t done anything!! I am going to bust out another 7 day project and see where we are in a few weeks. I think we will see a lot better results this go around since I am using all unique content and the site has gotten some attention in the last month. Remember the first project I just took on-site content and spun it which I really don’t recommend, but I figured what the heck!

Check back in a week to see whats up!

4/28/2011 -

Well sorry folks its been a month and I had decided to bang out 1 month focused on this site and it seems things are finally picking up speed!

Click here for yahoo site explorer info. As you can see there are 199 inlinks as of now. They are not the best, but they are there and it proves a point that BLG does get you links!

Click here for google analytics overview and click here for keywords

Unfortunately my ranking tool took a dump so I can show the rankings, but if you see the traffic increased they you know rankings increased.

Overall it has been a cool experience and proof the BLG does work. Now this site was just a random test that I wanted to put on display. I did not even spend a good amount of time with this, just threw stuff at the wall and saw what stuck. I just did not want to go and list all my big $$$ sites that I am using BLG with. If you have any questions please ask. Oh did I mention that they added a social bookmarking feature that is awesome! Check it out!

I haven’t had any ads or anything on the the site so today 4/28/2011 I am going to throw some adsense on there and see what happens. Stay tuned!

FINAL CONCLUSION OF MY 7 DAY BACKLINKS GENIE CASE STUDY

This has been pretty fun. Unlike most reviews this actually shows some solid results. All in all I think the results are really really good! Is the site getting tons of traffic? No, but I am still not ranking on page #1 for the targeted terms. So that leaves me with getting to page one which is what I am going to continue to do! Moving forward I am going to let things sit for another week without doing anything and see where we are. We all know that it takes more then 7 days to rank a site, but this shows you that we are on our way. So after another week of sitting, I will push out another update with, ranking, traffic, and yahoo site explorer reports to see where it is at. After that I will start some more link building via Backlinks Genie. I would love to hear  your feedback about this case study. Please leave your comments below.

Plugin Friday – CFORMS Plugin

I will always remember this! When I first got into websites, I started off making then in Dream weaver. They were horrible, but they served a purpose for the most part. I remember I wanted to create a contact form. I searched the web and tried to learn how to do it. Nothing made sense to me since I knew nothing about programming. I remember I made forms with a submit button and thought this is awesome. When I clicked the submit button nothing happened. I just didn’t realize that there was code in a programming language that needed to be behind the scenes and make it all work. Call me dumb, oblivious whatever…. I just didn’t know how it works and I am sure there are a bunch of you who thought the same way.

When I started using WordPress it was  Godsend and when I found the CFORMS plugin I thought it was the coolest thing ever. All I had to do was hit a button and bamm my contact form was on my site and it actually worked! Go figure! lol. CFORMS does more then just your basic contact form. You can add any fields you want, drop downs, check boxes, captcha, etc.  The possibilities are endless. It is one of the most useful plugins out there today and I use it all the time.

You can see my form uses CFORMS here

To think I spend countless hours trying to create a basic form from scratch when all I need was CFORMS. Hope this helps you… I know it will!

CLICK HERE to learn more about CFORMS & to Download it.

Long Tail Keywords

I got a common question today. What is a long tail keyword?

If  you are just getting into websites and affiliate marketing then you are probably hearing about long tail keywords. The reason is because it is a lot easier to rank for a long tail keyword then a short one.

Here is an example:

Short – Dog Training

Longtail – Dog Training Pit Bulls

So to make it real easy to understand “Dog Training” might get 50k searches a month and would be very competitive and hard to rank for starting off.  Now “Dog Training Pit Bulls” may only get 5k searches a month, but will have a lot less competition. (These are just random #’s I made up)

Do you see what I am getting at? Take advantage of Long Tail Keywords which can also be called the low hanging fruit. If you do correct keyword research and find a good 10-12 long tail keywords to start with you are sure to start getting targeted traffic. That is the other great thing about long tailed keywords. They are typically more specific which means people are searching for that specific item which usually means they want to buy that specific item. Now you just need to be the one to sell it to them!

If you can spend time and create content around long tail keywords, you will be in a great position to start ranking for the bigger and more competitive terms down the road. Again the great thing about long tail is that people are eagerly looking for that specific info. So you need to make sure when they get to your page, the content is great and keeps them reading. Then hit them with the sale or affiliate offer.

I am a firm believer that if you can get people on your site and reading and interacting that the search engines count this as a plus for you. If it is relevant to the visitor then the search engines will show them your page.

Plugin Friday November 5 2010

Is it Friday already! Yikes! Here are a couple sweet WordPress Plugins that will make your life a lot easier and your sites even cooler!

NextGEN Gallery

If you have been looking for a way to display images on your website then NextGEN gallery is the way to go! You can create slideshows, add descriptions to each image, create thumbs. The possibilities are endless. It is so easy to add images as well. You can have a zip file of images and simply upload them and it creates a new gallery on the fly. You can see a ton of examples of the NextGEN Gallery in action here http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/

This instantly gives your site a professional look and it takes minutes. A buddy of mine has used it here http://www.jetpics2000.com/corporate-aircraft

As you can see it does a great job!

Click Here To Download NextGEN Gallery

WP Cumulus

If you use tags in your posts which you should be doing, then WP Cumulus can let everyone know in a really neat way. Look at the bottom right of this site. That is WP Cumulus in action. The set up is super easy and it pulls tags from your posts and displays them there.  I added it as a widget. In the Widget you can change a bunch of settings, color, speed, size, etc.

It is really neat and better then your typical tag clouds. Give it a shot!

Click Here to Download WP Cumulus

Hope you enjoyed this Plugin Friday. If you have any questions or comments just leave them below!

Cloud Living Review

You might be asking what the heck is cloud living?

Explanation… From Glenn – author of Cloud Living
“For those of you who don’t know, Cloud Living is the term I have ‘coined’ for the lifestyle that I live. I earn money from the Cloud (Internet) and make enough to be free from corporate slavery and literally do whatever I want. It is a lifestyle I had dreamed about and now, just like I did, I’m going to show you how to make it a reality.”

When people ask me what I do and I tell them I make money online, they usually respond with:

1. Is it easy to do?
2. Can I do it, how does it work?
3. Where do I sign up!

I used to give long answers and try to explain how it all works. Some people got it… others not so much. The reality is that making money online is not that hard. You just need a game plan on how to do it.

This is when I turn them onto Cloud Living by Glen Allsopp. Let me just say a few things about Glen before I go any further.

About 6 years ago I ran into Glen online. When I first started out I was using PHPFOX which was a myspace clone script and I had a few sites running on it. I don’t quite remember where I met Glen, but maybe it was on the phpfox forum or some other forum. Anyways this “16 year old” kid at the time was telling me all this internet stuff that was way over my head. I was new at this  and really had no clue about making money or getting traffic. I had ideas for sites, just no ways to really make a few $$. Glen even did some paid SEO for soundinitiative.org. I remember paying this 16 year old kid and being like dang… I wish I was doing this at age 16.  So over the years I have always kept in touch and kept track of Glen’s adventures all over the globe lol.

The day he sent me a copy of Cloud Living I was impressed. I knew most of the techniques in there, but it was just what I had been looking for to show friends and family on how to make some money online. Glen took the “hold the beginners hand approach” and that is what I love about it. If you read cloud living you are going to get a huge understanding of how making money online is a real possibility. This is where the AHA moment is going to come and your are going to say “that’s how they do it!” CHA CHING!

Here are just a few features in Cloud Living.

• 176-page eBook
• 6 Tutorial Videos (ranging from 4-10 minutes in length) “This helps so much!!!”
• A Free Affiliate Website Template
• 8-page Documentation Guide
• 100% Free Email Support “You can also count on me for support ”
  

When you go to Glens’ site check out his FEEDBURNER subscriber list! He has over 7600 readers. That is a huge feat in itself and that is why I stand behind Cloud Living and know that this is the guide that will give you the AHA moment and make you  your first dollar on the internet!

Of course I am here for you! In fact I implore you to read Cloud Living… then read it again to really let it sink in and come back here to ask any questions. I want to help you make your first $1 on the internet!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CLOUD LIVING!

Plugin Friday – All in One SEO

Welcome to Plugin Friday! Since Friday can sometimes be a lazy day, I figured I could post about some neat plugins that are available for WordPress that I use on a daily basis. If you have been in this game for awhile then some of these might be old news to you, but if you have never used them before it will be a life changer!

First Plugin – All in One SEO

If you have been using word-press for any amount of time then you surely would have heard of the All in One SEO plug-in! I have been using this plug-in for years and will even use this over some built in themes SEO functions. I have tried a few other plug ins that are similar, but just never had luck.

The all in one seo plug-in is just so easy to use that there is no reason to not use it. This will let you SEO all individual pages and posts to your liking. Change titles, descriptions, keywords, and format of how you want default pages to be displayed. You also get an option to change your tags on the home page as well.

Click Here to learn more & download All in One SEO

Second Plugin – Google XML Sitemaps

Awesome plugin, you better get this one!

This creates a sitemap which helps the search engines find and better index your blog. You can see my site map here The great thing about this plugin is that it will let you filter out what you want in your sitemap and tell the search engines how often they should be checking out certain pages.

After you generate your sitemap it will also ping the big search engines to let them know you got some updates to show them.

This is a plugin that you cannot live with out! The fact that on wordpress it has 4 1/2 stars tells you that it is legit! Download it now!

How to choose affiliate offers

A common question I get is how to choose what to promote and how to promote them. I am assuming in this post you have a website or an email list that you are using regularly and getting traffic too.

Taking the time to read through this and understand how to choose an offer will save you time and make you more money in the long run!

Here are 7 tips to ponder when choosing affiliate offers!

1.  Affiliate Networks : You need a good affiliate network with many offers. Each affiliate network may have their own offers so it is good to diversify and have access to all offers that suit your sites needs.

2. Blog Saturation : Have you ever seen those blogs with tons of ads all over the place? Sure you have and it is just too much. Chances are they are just throwing things on the wall and seeing what sticks which makes it hard for you too know what sticks. Find some legitimate blogs and look for their offers. Chances are if you see the same offer throughout the site it is most likely a good offer and something you might want to look into promoting.

3. Testing Testing Testing : This is what sets apart a good campaign from a GREAT campaign! If you have a big subscriber list then test an offer to a segment of that list to see how it does. If it works roll it out big time and reap the benefits. If it bombs, don’t piss off the rest of your list

4. Niche Offers : If your site is niche then select offers for that niche. If your site is about fishing don’t try and sell them wrinkle cream If  your site is about skin care, offer tanning lotion or wrinkle cream. Get it? Never push out an offer just because it pays a lot. If it doesn’t engage your viewers you are wasting website real estate with it!

5.  General Offers : Depending on your niche you may have to look to general offers. What is your audience? Is it all male, all female, a mix, college students? You get the point. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and think about what they might be into and find and offer that offers just that! Again look at competition sites and see what they are pushing. Chances are it will work for you too!

6.  How about Brand Names : For the most part a brand name offer will always do better then a private company or a new “unknown product”. Half the battle of convincing people is done since the Brand Name has already proven itself! They are going to buy that brand name product from somewhere else right, you might as well remind them about it and have them buy it from you!

7.  Your Selection : We have to remember that what we promote is a reflection on us. Some offers may work really well on some visitors, but turn off others. Also put yourself in  your visitors shoes and if it doesn’t seem like a good fit too you then it won’t be for them!

I know there is a tendency to just go out find the best offer and stick it on your site or blast it out to your email list. Been there… done that! The truth is that the best offers are the ones you put the time into and test first. I have seen so many people make the mistake of rushing out an offer and failing miserably. This does two things; 1 it wastes your time & 2 it kills your motivation because now you are thinking… man I am never gonna make money from this!

Feel free to hit me up in the forum, via the contact page, or via live chat >>> which is in the sidebar to the right up top