Till next week.

I promised to make an important announcement today. You’ll find it in this post. Unfortunately, I am not ready to make the full announcement I was planning. The announcement I’ll make today is truly the most important I’ve ever made on this blog, but the rest of the announcement will have to wait about a week till I am ready.

Four years ago today, I made the first post on this blog.

It’s been fun. I’ve made some blogging friends. I’ve had some impressive visitors who’ve left comments. I hope I’ve helped some other people along the way too.

I did a lot of things wrong when I started this blog.

It’s got that stupid .info domain name. I did not really know what I was going to do with this blog when I started it. It has sort of meandered around different topics and not had a clear message and theme. At least not as clear as it should be. It seems to get the most search engine traffic for the keywords hair salon in Pacific Mall, Toronto. Did I mention it has that stupid .info domain name?

After four years, it really has not gotten very far.

I have other sites that get far more traffic. I have other sites that make far more money. I can stumble a page on another site and bring more traffic there than any post on this site will get naturally. I get far more spam comments than real comments. It’s kinda sad, really.

So, the most important announcement ever on this blog (till next week) is:

I am giving up on Digital Key.

Rest in Peace Digitalkeyto.info

I will soon no longer be promoting this site. I don’t expect to be making many posts in the future, although I may still make the occasional rant (without trying to criticize anyone in particular). I’ll probably make some feel good posts that I like to write, like the post before this : “I am not going to die here.”

For the most part, after the announcment next week, this blog will be dead.

Make sure you read that post, or you’ll miss something truly big.

Google wrongly labels Alphatrends.net and blocks author’s access.

Is your blog safe?

Alphatrends is the BlogSpot home for Brain Shannon’s financial videos.

His analysis of stock trading videos are some of the most subscribed financial videos on YouTube. He has over 600 videos and over 5000 YouTube subscribers. He posts a video on stock analysis daily at his blog. Here is an example:

Friday, I got a message through MyBlogLog that he was unable to update his blog because Google was blocking him as a spam blog.

My first reaction was "You’ve got to be kidding." One look at Brian’s videos will show you they are not spam. The is quality content. In fact, most of it is a bit over my head, but I want to learn about stocks and subscribe to his blog because, eventually, I’ll understand. His blog consists of his daily videos and an occasional post about something related.

Alphatrends is not a site you would think could be labeled as spam.

Brian has a PR from Google of 5. He has an Alexa rating of 159,700. This is a financial blog, not a blog that is going to attract lots of readers with an Alexa toolbar. In other words, Alphatrends has good links and decent traffic. I think it is from the content and not from Brian working hard promoting his blog.

Brian is back up on Alphatrends.

Usually, Google is quick to fix these situations. It still takes time. If your label as spam by Google, you get no warning. You are guilty until proven innocent. That can take a couple days. I noticed that while Brian was not able to update his blog, AdSense was still advertising. What happens if your AdSense account gets labeled as spam also? You would not be able to remove it from the blog as Google blocks your updates and still keeps the blog showing. You better hope they let you back in.

I think this is a good example of why any blogger should look into their own hosting.

Brian has a domain name already Alphatrends.net. All he would need is hosting and he would not have been cut off from his blog. With your own hosting, even with a bad host, you should at least have a warning before something like this would happen. In Brian’s case, I doubt if any host would have considered a complaint against him valid.

If you are using WordPress.com or Blogger/Blogspot you are adding an unnecessary risk with your business.

If you are looking into stock trading, Alphatrends is a blog you should look at.

Brian Shannon does not give investment advice. He teaches how to understand stocks and evaluate them technically.

For Alpahtrends.net maybe hosting might be a good investment at $10/month.

Choose the right domain name for your online business!

How do you know you have chosen the right domain name for your blog or website?

There are a few good rules you should always follow. There are also lots of examples of successful blogs or websites that break those rules. Still, following the rules will help make things easier for you to get your site to rank well in the search engines. Keep in mind that even when I give examples of rule breaking domains, these are the exceptions and you will be better off following the rules.

Let’s get started.

Always, always get a .com domain!

This is probably the single most important rule I can think of. Chances are, if you try to work on a non .com domain, all you are doing is advertising for the owner of the .com. You may be tempted to save money with a .info (I was) but after talking to those who have done some research, .info’s seem to rank lower in the SE’s (search engines) than .com’s.

Darren at problogger.net spent years trying to get the .com domain for Problogger. Now that he finally has it, it is not easy to switch the domain over to the .com without taking a hit from the search engines. At least now Darren can redirect the traffic from the .com that he was losing back to his original domain.

An example of another successful non .com domain would be del.icio.us.

del.icio.us is a popular social bookmarking site. Probably one of the few well known .us domains. Of course, if you have the option of a .edu or .gov domain those might make an exception, but most people will automatically put a .com on the end of a domain if they try to type it in. Avoid the chance and stick with a .com over any local or other type of domain.

Try to have a niche related keyword in the domain.

While not as important to SEO anymore, it may still help you rank a bit better if you have a popular keyword for your niche in your title. Also, Google bold faces the keyword if it is in the domain. Also, when someone sees the keyword in the domain itself, they know that site is likely to be about the subject they are searching for. Every little bit helps.

Keep is short and simple.

Shorter will be easier to remember, write down, and spell. Avoid too many words. Avoid words that are easy to misspell. We all want success, but can everyone spell it? Is that with one or two C’s and S’s?

Check your spelling.

I remember a demonstration video where the author did a search for possible domains and purchased a domain before realizing it was misspelled. Double check your spelling before you click the purchase button (triple check if you spell like me). Google is a play on the word googol. Sometimes spelling may not be that important.

Don’t use hyphens or dashes.

These are nearly impossible to tell someone unless they read the domain name. Maybe you will run a radio advertisement or be on a podcast someday. It is really inconvenient to explain dashes by voice. While the dashes or hyphens can make it easier to read the domain in a listing, you are better off just avoiding them.

Avoid trademarked names in your domain.

Even if you are planning to do an affiliate program for a company, avoid using and trademarked names in your domain. Nearly all affiliates will have a list of words that you cannot use in a domain if you wish to advertise their product. Even if you do get permission from someone at the company remember the person that replaces him or her may not feel the same. Don’t become lawyer bait. Find a related generic term. That way if the Zune never takes off your mp3 player site can still talk about iPods.

Avoid using free domain name search tools.

More than once I have read complaints from someone who used one of these services only to find that the domain names they checked were suddenly taken. I understand that there are some sites that apparently use the searches people do to find potential domains to purchase for themselves. Stick with the domain search tools provided by your registrar.

If you have the time and money, a used domain can have advantages.

A domain that has already been used can give your site or blog some advantages from the start. It may already have some page rank associated with it. It may have links pointing to it. It may still have some traffic coming to it. This can help your site hit the ground already running. It could also have been banned or delisted considered spam or associated with bad subject material that will prevent the domain from becoming successful at any level. If you go this route, be careful and check everything you can about the domain first.

Stick with well-known reliable domain registrars.

It will do you no good to save a few dollars on your domain if you cannot renew it because the registrar is messed up. This has happened to me. I also know someone who lost hundreds of domains and thousands of dollars in monthly income after a registrar failed to renew domains that he had renewed.

There are 3 registrars that I trust.

GoDaddy.com , eNom, and NameCheap. GoDaddy is the best known. Avoid purchasing anything other than the domain and whois protection. They will try to sell you everything under the sun. Also, I rarely hear good things about their hosting. I find eNom expensive. I do recommend NameCheap. They have been reliable and very affordable. The GoDaddy link is an affiliate link. This site is registered with GoDaddy, I have one or two with eNom and the rest are now with NameCheap. Personally, I find NameCheap to be much easier to buy from than GoDaddy.

The most important rule is to get your own domain.

Any domain is better than no domain. Use your name (unless your last name is difficult to spell like mine). If you are putting your traditional business online, using the company’s name would be good, or using part of the company’s name.

There are lots of examples of very successful blogs and sites that do not necessarily follow the rules I have given. Many popular blogs are on domain names of the author’s name. There is whatever.com that has become a million dollar business for a teenage girl. However, these recommendations should help your site get more traffic from the SE’s.

What is the advice you would give to a friend that wants to make money online?

For me, the advice would be simple, and non-expensive. Advice that anyone could use to make money online. It would be make money online advice that would not cause them to lose money online.

For starters, I would recommend they start with a blog or two.

There are many advantages to blogging to make money online. It is cheap, so there is little money to lose and anyone can afford it. No expensive software, and very short learning curve. The only real cost is time.

I would recommend starting with two blogs. Start with a personal blog and a niche blog. The personal blog you can talk about anything, even your success at making money online. You can talk about your car or what you had for dinner. Whatever.

The niche blog should be based on a subject that you are nearly an expert on. A sport, hobby, or some aspect of business may be what you niche is. It could be about some disease you are especially familiar with (although something like this could also be the basis of your personal blog). I truly believe everyone is an expert at something. The niche blog will need to be focused on that subject and that alone.

The first investment should be the domian name.

This is the most important part of your blog. Your domain name makes you independent. It gives you something to own and sell at a later time. With your own domain name, you can move your blog to another host if there is a problem with your current one.

After you have a domain name, you need a host for your blog.

I would recommend HostGator. This blog is currently on XXXXX and I have not had too much trouble, nor do I plan to move it off, but I have a HostGator account for other sites and that is what I would recommend. Other than a domain name or two, hosting is the only thing you should spend money on till you see real regular income. ***This site was moved to HostGator and the name of the above host is now removed for various reasons.

This is where every Internet marketer eventually falls into the trap.

There is no ebook or magic program that is going to make you instant money online. We all claim to not believe in the get rich quick scheme, but we all try to cheat. You spend money on some ebook, or program that is going to make it easier or faster or more profitable. It will never happen. Not that they do not work, some do. Prove you can get the blog to work first before you even think about anything else. If you cannot stick with the blog long enough, you will not stick to the other methods long enough either. You will just waste your money. That is what I am trying to save you.

Use WordPress for your blogging platform.

WordPress is easy to use. Easy to set up. Easy to modify. There is a plugin to do almost anything in WordPress. There are lots of free themes. You can use it for nearly any make money online purpose. It is also free to use.

Use free social networking to build your traffic.

Not just Digg. Use MyBlogLog and Blogcatalog. Blogging Zoom has the potential to be a major factor in helping your blog get good traffic and ranking. Use it. Use StumbleUpon on other Blogging Zoomed posts. You’ll find someone will eventually start to Stumble your sites too. With social bookmarking sites, it is better to give than to receive. That means you’ll find they work better when someone else bookmarks your site than when you do it yourself. Also, commenting on other blogs is an effective way to gain links and traffic. *Update-Blogging Zoom is dead while the domain is still in use.*

Plan for the long term.

Try to stay on the good side of the search engines. Avoid the paid links situation and penalties. Don’t trade the future of your site for quick income with TLA, ReviewMe, and Paid Posts. You can make an income without damaging the potential PR of your site. It may not be as fast or easy, but in the long term, your site will be stronger and more profitable.

Also, don’t expect real results until you have given serious effort for several months. Dedicated Effort+Persistence=Eventual profit. Lackluster effort+Inconsistency=Nothing and you will be wasting your time. Yes, it is possible to still not be successful after working hard, but that is a rare problem. Usually, the problem is dedication in some form.

Read good resources on making money online.

I recommend Vic at Blogger Unleashed and Courtney Tuttle’s blog. These two are behind Blogging Zoom and they have excellent information for making money with your blog. Read about using keywords in your posts. Learn about niche blogs and sites. They have good advice.

Above all, post!

Don’t spend more time reading on how to post than posting.

John Chow has always posted 3-4 times or more a day. So does Problogger. Now they can hire someone else to make posts, but they did it to start with. A lot of people (me included) want to blog but do not post enough. Even one post a day is really not enough. How did these guys start making money with a blog? They actually blogged! While your niche blog may not need that many posts (depends on the type of niche) your personal blog can use it. Once a day is the minimum. Why Twitter when you can post? There’s a thought.

OK, now I am going to spend some time this week posting.

Maybe not everyday, but I am going to post! Expect to see some posts with more details about hosting, domain names, and WordPress. I have some other posts that I have been too lazy to make that I need to work on.

Now, what advice would you give to a friend who wanted to make money online?

This video will show you how to edit the WordPress wp-config.php file to manually install WordPress to your host.

It is very simple, but if you are like me, it can be a bit intimidating the first time you install WordPress manually. I hope these videos give you the confidence to do it and help you do it correctly. Make sure you read below for a few hints in editing the wp-config.php file and installing WordPress. If you haven’t created the database, check the other video I made on creating a MySQL database for WordPress on your host in cPanel.

Here is the video on editing the wp-config file.

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Installing WordPress manually.

Start by downloading the latest version of WordPress to your desktop. You will need to unzip or extract the file you download before you edit the wp-config file.

Edit the wp-config.php file in notepad.

Do not use Microsoft Word or even Wordpad to edit the file! You need to use a text editor that does not add formatting to the file. That means notepad. For Mac users, I do not know what program you should use. Perhaps someone who knows could comment below. Otherwise, you could see if a friend with a Windows computer would let you use theirs. I am sure that will make their day.

Remember that cPanel will probably change the MySQL database name and username you created.

Usually, cPanel will add a prefix of the domain name and an underscore to the database name and username you create. Make sure you enter them right in the wp-config file or it will not work.

You will be changing the names within the single quotation marks. Do not delete the quotation marks. Leave them there. This is part of that code stuff. WordPress calls it poetry. It looks like code to me. But then, I am not into poetry too much either.

Save the file as wp-config.php.

In the video, I use the "Save As" command and delete the sample part. You can delete the sample file before you upload the WordPress files to your server or you can leave it in as a spare just in case you need to redo it. You can often edit files on the server using the file manger in cPanel.

When you ftp WordPress to your host, upload the files that are inside the WordPress folder.

You do not upload the WordPress folder itself. You will most likely be uploading the files to the www directory in your host account.

Manually installing WordPress is easy.

Don’t be intimidated. Once you have done it once, it is even easier to do it next time for your next site. Don’t forget my video on creating a WordPress database in cPanel.

No matter what you do, you have some investment in business.

Are you investing smartly?

I wrote this post after having someone literally hang up on me as I mentioned that there would be a financial investment in starting a business.

I didn’t even get to the numbers before the line went dead. What kind of mindset does a person have with no plans to invest in their own business at all? In fact, the numbers I would have told her are almost ridiculously low and even refundable, but just the mention of money turned her off. This is someone who asked for information about from home because she could no longer do her former work due to a back operation that work had caused. She had risked her time and health and lost. She will lose more because she has not learned be informed before making her decision. Any financial investment or even risk would be small compared to what she already risked and lost.

Even if you are working a traditional job, you are invested in it and you have risk.

You invest your time. Your pay is the reward for the investment of your time. You also have a risk with that investment. Your risks could actually be just as much as a stockholder of the company you work for. After all, if the company fails, you lose your income. A stockholder loses money only if he invests in stock that is overpriced or if the company fails. Your investment of time is also at risk of the whim of your boss firing you, or you becoming unable to fulfil your job duties. Maybe, this make the risk of a traditional job holder even greater than that of a stockholder.

The investment in an online business or a home business can be very low, yet many don’t want to invest.

Starting a website or blog can cost as little as a domain and hosting for a year. That would an investment of well under $150. You may need to invest in some software or training. That may mean an investment of money or an investment of time. After that, much of your investment may be time. Again, you will be investing time in the business. The financial investment is low but the time investment can be high. The risk is dependent on your ability to succeed. Risking $500 or even $1000 total to start an online business is not a large investment. It is a small percentage of what a traditional brick and mortar business would cost. You would most likely pay $1000 for a month’s rent just as a start.

Yet, I see so many who are willing to risk the time investment but completely unwilling to risk any monetary investment even a small one.

In the long run, I see this as a setup for losing much of the investment in time. A domain name is cheap. Often less than $10 a year from GoDaddy or Namecheap (I use Namecheap now for most domain names). Yet, so many start a blog without a domain. I fail to see why this is a step so many skip. Meanwhile, domainers are out there just investing in domain names alone for their potential value in a few years.

I find that many people think that there is money to be made with no financial investment.

There is. It is called a job. I already talked about your risk a little bit. Your job comes with perks like a boss and workers you cannot stand, following the same rat race every day, and the knowledge that job security doesn’t exist like it did for your grandfather.

So many people refuse to make any financial investment in themselves.

They seem to be afraid they will get scammed or ripped off. It is true there are many scams. There are many ideas for making money that require you to invest money in them that do not work. I think a lot of the eBay businesses and online store products are a bad way to invest your money in an online business. Why? Simple. They want you to sell the same piece of junk that 10,000 other people are selling and it’s junk no one really uses anyway. So, yes, there are bad ways to invest your money to build a business.

The point is to make a wise, informed decision on what to invest in and how much of an investment is needed.

Buying a McDonald’s franchise can be a wise investment, but it is a significant financial investment. Few of us have the spare million dollars that would take. Not to mention, you are also going to have a significant time investment in that McDonald’s. There are other businesses that have a very low financial investment and can make you just as much money.

I am not saying you should not be skeptical.

You should be informed before you invest. You should make a wise decision. Just do not let the fact that it may cost a little bit and have a tiny financial risk be the reason.

Sometimes, that financial investment is the motivation to use the time investment wisely.

How to manually create a Database for WordPress in cPanel

If you want to install WordPress on your host manually, it is not very difficult.

All you need is access to the administration panel (cPanel) on your host, the latest WordPress download, and an FTP program to upload.

In this video, I show how to create the MySQL database in cPanel.

I assume you can already access cPanel on your Web host. Usually your domain name followed by /cpanel will get you to it. You will need your user name and password.

There are three step to creating the database for WordPress.

1. Creating the database
2. Creating the user with a password
3. Adding the user to the database

It is very important to write down the database name, user, and password.

You will need these later when you add them to the wp_config file before you upload the WordPress files to your server. Make sure you take note of them. You will find that cPanel will add a prefix to your database and user name.

Here is the video:

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Let me know if you find this useful and please mark it in your favorite social network.

The next video will cover adding the information to the wp_config file.

Video on how to edit the wp-config.php file for WordPress

You can win an iPod

Michael Kwan and Ed Lau are creating a new hockey blog.

They are asking for help with a domain name. Read more about it at Michael Kwan’s Freelance writing blog or Ed’s personal blog. You have to email your suggested domain name and link to their sites.

By the way, they are actually giving away 2 iPods.

Ed and I have run into a big of a snag, however. We can’t think of a cool name for it. We tossed around a few ideas, but most of them were either pretty ridiculous or already taken/registered. Wanna know how you fit into this picture?

We’re giving away TWO iPod Nanos. Yes, TWO. The winner of the contest will receive a brand new 8GB iPod nano in black, valued at $249.99. We’ll hold a random draw for the brand new 4GB iPod nano in blue, giving everyone an equal chance at a stellar prize. What this means is that even if you’re not the big winner, you have a chance of taking home a prize with an MSRP of $199.99!

Source: Freelance Writing blog

I’m giving it a try.

I may be one of the few people left that do not have an iPod.

Not a bad idea for coming up with a domain name.

It can always be a hassle trying to come up with a domain name. Once you think of one you like, it always seems to be taken. The other trouble is coming up with one that is relevant to the content or uses a keyword.

Anyway, good luck to Michael and Ed on the new hockey site

Choosing a domain name may be the most important step in starting a new website

I said maybe in the title of this post because there is the also the question of the subject the website is about. Most likely, a domain name related  to subject will be preferred.

I think that the domain name may even be more important than the subject

There is a market for used domain names. There appears to be a “sandbox” for new sites with new domain names at Google. This means that any new domain name is put on hold for really great search engine ratings till it has aged for a few months. This is supposed to help keep spam sites (sites just made to get high ratings to get advertising clicks) from going straight to the top. Much of this is theory, since Google does not share its methods with anyone. Still, there is a market for older domain names that have been hosting some kind if content.

Even if you don’t plan to sell your domain name, it may be just as important as the subject of your site

I was originally thinking of using subdomains for extra web sites ( I sill might ). A subdomain is a separate part of another domain. It looks like this www.subdomain.maindomain.com. This would save a bit in creating additional websites. It saves from purchasing the additional domain. It also saves on hosting. Many hosts allow you to add subdomains at no extra cost while they often charge for additional full domains.
Using subdomains, you could save a lot of money on testing ideas for niche sites by making each site a subdomain. Even if this does not give a penalty on the search engines (I have not been able to determine a real yes or no on this question), not having a separate domain name for a site could really cause problems later if you need to change hosts.

Three reasons you may need to switch Web hosts

• One or both domains you have sharing a host are beginning to require large amounts of bandwidth or disk space. You simply may not be able to get enough from your host with one account.
• If a site is generating a lot of income, you may need a more robust host. No matter what the claims a discount host provides, you will experience downtime at some amount point. Really tough backup systems will cost more than you will receive at any discount host. I have a site on one host that experienced a 1/2 hour connectivity outage. This has happened once in over two years. This was a major breakdown by their standards and generated an emergency email even though I did not have content up. They also provide constant and regular backup (and restores when you need it). Another host, recently lost power to all their servers for nearly a day. This was a major breakdown by their standards. They never notified me directly and I would not have known had I not been trying to update the site at the time. They also charge if you need them to restore from a backup. You get what you pay for and should not really expect everything from a discount host. If your site make $10 a day if it is down one day you don’t lose much. If your site makes $100 a day it would definitely be worth the extra monthly charge to make sure it is up and has better backup and redundancy in place.
• May need more CPU time for a site than you get with a shared server. If your site uses databases heavily, even if your host provides high bandwidth, if you share that server with too many other sites that use the same CPU, your site may seem slow.  Also, even if you have a high monthly allotment of bandwidth, your host may not be able to provide a wide enough pipe during a peak period (the fabled site that crashes from volume during a Super Bowl commercial).

Of course, maybe you chose a bad host to begin with

You can read a bunch of horror stories one blogger has had with web hosts here.
www.jimwestergren.com
Sticking to better known Web hosts will help you avoid problems like he has had. Yet, even well known hosters will experience some outages like I said above. At least with a well known host you can expect that there is actually someone there to fix problems (not off to university).

Just Switching domain names later on can cost you

If you decide that a different domain name for your site would be more effective, you may pay a penalty with the search engines when you change. Even if you provide the proper redirects and try to notify the search engines and keep all your content the same.
You can read how one blog has had some problems after changing domain names here.
www.paulallen.net

A domain name will make you independent of the host you choose

This is one reason you should purchase your domain name from a separate registrar like GoDaddy. Your domain name will be completely independent of your host. If you need to switch to a new host for any reason, it can be very quick and painless. Just sign up with the new host. Then transfer a downloaded backup of all your data over or recreate it at the new host. Finally, just change the namservers at GoDaddy to point to your new host. Your all done. You could be up on the new host in just a couple days or even hours (depending how long it takes for the domain to go propagate and point to the new nameservers. There should not be any penalty with the search engines this way either.

I suggest choosing your domain name carefully

You will not want to change it later. Make sure you use an independent registrar like GoDaddy. Use a separate domain name whenever possible for additional sites.