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The Best Internet Marketing WordPress Plugin

November 7th, 2010 · Blogging

You’ve been wowed by all the neat little WordPress plugins that promise to automate posting, create autoblogs, ensure proper keyword density………and of course make you $25,000 per month.

The WordPress plugin industry has become quite the cash cow for developers and savvy Internet Marketers alike.

What they don’t tell you, of course, is what to REALLY look for in a plugin. Ignore these suggestions, and you risk having your plugins fail, your blog fail, and a major blow to your online income.

Here’s some tips (taken from my personal 1st hand experience):

1) Support – Does the plugin have proper support? Has it been through at least 3-5 major iterations of the WordPress Blogging platform? You see, while WordPress may be the best Content Management Solution since sliced bread, the development team has a nasty habit of rolling out upgrades in an almost frenetic fashion (welcome to Internet Time, grasshopper).

It seems that every time WordPress has a major upgrade, it breaks whole swaths of existing WordPress plugins. They simply fail to work with the new versions of WordPress.

Make sure that the plugin developers have weathered the WordPress Upgrade storm and HAVE A TRACK RECORD of updating their plugins, not only to fix bugs or address security concerns, but to also deal with the latest and greatest WordPress upgrades.

2) Longevity – Has the plugin been around for awhile? I see a nasty habit with WordPress plugin developers…….they may come up with a fantastic plugin. But over time, they simply get bored with it, or just don’t want to hassle with it any more. Check that the plugin and the author has been around for more than a few months.

3) Have a Coder in your Pocket – Over time, a plugin WILL go abandoned. It may be the key plugin you need to make your WordPress-based site work properly. If the plug-in developer has gone AWOL, you’d better have a backup plan. Be sure you have access to a dependable coder/programmer who has experience in developing WordPress-specific plugins. You can go to the usual haunts to find them (Elance, RentaCoder, etc., etc.), but better yet, get some personal referrals from other Internet Marketers who’ve used a good coder-type.

Your plugin may just need a simple tweak, or it may have to be re-assembled from scratch. Be prepared for this eventuality.

Rather than update your plugin, some of you may just opt to not upgrade your version of WordPress. That might be ok for a little while, but we now live in an age of multiple exploits by spammers and hoodlums. You’ll want to keep your version of WordPress regularly updated, mainly to keep your site secure.

And that, my friends, is the hidden cost of using WordPress as the CMS for your Internet Marketing Website.

Mr. P

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When Internet Marketing Spin Fails the Reality Test

September 12th, 2009 · Gurus Behaving Badly

The other day I got a pitch for a get-rich quick product from an Internet Marketing Guru wannabe.

He promised to stuff my wallet with a 10-figure income monthly.

His profile mentions that he is currently a Waiter at a restaurant.

Now I have nothing against Waiters and Waitresses…………my wife waited tables for years while she put herself through school, and it is hard, honest work.

But for God’s sake man…….do you see the disconnect here? Isn’t it obvious?

If you’re selling the secret to a 5-figure income monthly, what the hell are you doing waiting tables?

I am constantly amazed that the utter idiocy of some of these people.

Mr. P

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The Young Millionaires

September 3rd, 2009 · Gurus Behaving Badly

It happens in nearly every industry, but I tend to see it a lot in Internet Marketing and Affiliate Marketing.

The young hotshots who’ve struck gold with their Affiliate Marketing, CPA Marketing, blackhat techniques, and on and on and on…………who’ve made their first million, and subsequently think they’ve become invincible.

Odds are, in a year or two, many of them will be broke, destitute, back at their hourly wage jobs, and bitter………….and some will even be in jail.

Its because they think the money train will last forever. Which leads to sloppiness. Which leads to poor financial planning for the future. Which leads to bitterness. In some cases it leads these people to take shortcuts, break the law, and all sorts of gory, unethical practices.

The smart ones perservere.

They sock money away into all means of conventional investments, whether it be retirement vehicles, real estate, or other securities (yes, stocks, bonds and more).

They hire competent CPAs and Tax Attorneys to advise them accordingly.

They enjoy a quality lifestyle, but avoid wretched excess (while the reckless simply indulge in the closest form of bling to cross their path).

They understand that their revenue streams WILL NOT LAST FOREVER, and so they DIVERSIFY their business.

They donate some of their wealth, not because its a good PR move or a smart tax move…….but because its the right thing to do, and it keeps their ethical lives balanced.

So, young Entrepreneur……..while “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” may have gotten you the short term monetary success you’ve craved, perhaps it is “The Millionaire Next Door” that will get you increased longevity.

Mr. P

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Joining an Internet Marketing Membership Site

August 25th, 2009 · Membership Sites

Internet Marketing Membership sites seem to be the rage these days, offering lessons on Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Marketing, Mailing List Marketing, and numerous other topics.

I’ve been a member of numerous sites over the years, ranging from small $10 a month sites, to sites charging in excess of $250 per month (you don’t want to know how high I’ve gone).

Here are some things I look for to assess the value of a membership site:

- Many sites have integrated blogs that give members news, commentary, or other information. See how recent the latest blog post is – it shows the owner’s level of engagement with their customers. I joined a membership site today and saw that the last blog post was nearly a YEAR OLD. FAIL. I won’t be a member anymore.

- Lots of these new sites like to stuff their sites with boatloads of training videos. That’s ok, depending on the kind of training the membership site provides. If the information is evergreen and long-lasting, no problem. However, if the information is very time-sensitive, these videos will have a very short useful life. If you see a set of videos that seem to be growing moss in a corner of a membership site that has rapidly changing information, then its time to move on.

- Some membership sites have member discussion forums. Make sure the forum is on-target, well-moderated (trolls and spamsters are neutered), and most importantly – that the owners are frequently VISIBLE and INTERACTING with the members. In many cases the owners/founders talk a good story, then effectively disappear from the site.

- Most important – is the information useful, actionable, timely, and understandable to you?

Lastly, don’t make the mistake of hanging on too long. If the site is not meeting your expectations for whatever reason, CUT THE CORD and leave………you don’t want it becoming a major drag on your time and money.

Mr. P

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Get A Thousand Twitter Followers

August 23rd, 2009 · Gurus Behaving Badly

Twitter seems the latest magnet for neophyte Internet Marketing Gurus and Guru-wannabes to pitch their wares.

Just the other day, one of these pseudo-gurus followed me on Twitter………occasionally I take a closer look at who is following me. This particular individual was promoting his software that promised to get you 10 THOUSAND Twitter followers in just 14 days!!!!!!

So I did the obvious thing (maybe not so obvious to the dewy-eyed newbie) and checked to see how many followers he had. He had started twittering about 3 weeks ago, and had a grand total of……………400 followers.

My friend, the chasm from 400 to 10,000 runs VERY deep.

I was struck by the sheer idiocy of this individual………..shilling his wares with numerical proof of his own failure staring everyone in the face.

Good lord………..are the gurus and guru-wannabes that cynical, or that desperate…………that they’d run such an moronically transparent ruse?

Apparently so.

I know you aren’t that stupid.

Right?

Mr. P

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