Instant Search Engine Listing

Upgrading WordPress is easy and follows almost the same procedure as when initially installing WordPress. I recorded step by step instructions in a video.
[tags]WordPress, upgrade, video, tutorial[/tags]

Installing software on a Linux server is often way beyond beginner level. Even WordPress with its famous 5 minute installation requires you to create a MySQL database, a database user, assign permissions, and edit a configuration file. It’s not rocket science and if you follow my WordPress Installation Tutorial it’s just a matter of following along the steps.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you could just click one button and have the whole process be done for you? Of course there are solutions out there that do this. But as with any product you need to weigh the benefits against the drawbacks.

Some web hosting providers, like 1&1, provide a one-click installation of WordPress. When I last tried this about 6 months ago it was as simple as can be: just click the icon and a few minutes later you have a WordPress blog. The problem with this particular setup was that it ran as a shared installation and I did not have access to the WordPress directory. This made it impossible to install any new themes or plugins, thus defeating the main benefits of WordPress, in my opinion. Honestly I did not spend a lot of time to figure out if there was a way to install themes and plugins with the 1&1 setup. (If you know how please post a comment on this blog.) It was just quicker to install WordPress manually.

Many web hosting providers that offer cPanel also include Fantastico De Luxe. This is a tool that has installation scripts for many products, including WordPress. Since it’s integrated with cPanel, it’s very easy to use. One important item to be aware of regarding installation tools like Fantastico is which version number is being installed. Open source projects typically release new versions often. In many cases it doesn’t matter if you’re not running the very latest release. But when there’s a security issue involved you really want to be able to quickly upgrade to the latest version without having to wait for the installation tool to be upgraded and then for your web hosting provider to upgrade the installation tool.

Wikipedia has a good article on Fantastico.

[tags]WordPress, cPanel, Fantastico, installation[/tags]

There are thousands of web hosting providers and dozens of web sites dedicated to evaluating and recommending reliable web hosts. Without diminishing the value of these sites, here are the simple reasons why I selected BlueHost as the web host in the WordPress Installation Tutorial:

• BlueHost is listed on the WordPress.org Web Hosting page. The WordPress community is a tough crowd to please when it comes to commercial services. Their integrity, and thus their recommendation, carries a lot of weight with me.
• Their versions of PHP and MySQL are recent enough to run the latest version of WordPress, and likely the next version as well.
• cPanel is included which simplifies setup.
• The price of $6.95 is competitive for the features included (host up to 6 domains, 200 GB storage and 2,000 GB transfer). If you pay for 12 months in advance one free domain name is included.
• You get $50 worth of free Yahoo credits and $25 free Google credits. This almost offsets the cost for 12 months of hosting. (Be careful with your Google and Yahoo ad campaigns though; you can use up $75 in a hurry. Better get help from an expert before you get into too deep water.)

The Installation Tutorial shows how to setup your own domain and web hosting using BlueHost as an example. If you already have a hosting provider you can of course skip this video and begin with the next step: Download and unpack WordPress.

[tags]WordPress, tutorial, web hosting[/tags]

Do you know of any scripts, programs or services that can integrate Kunaki’s ordering process with an affiliate program?

Do you think it’s a good idea to combine a physical product with online delivery to meet customers’ desire for instant gratification while keeping the benefits of a physical product?

I’m considering delivering the Instant Search Engine Listing product on DVD. But since I’ve done mostly pure digital products to date, I have a few questions about delivering a physical product. And since James Brausch is volunteering to answer them, here goes. The questions are in a separate backtrack entry to follow James’ rules.

James has strong opinions, but he does not have a monopoly on answers, so feel free to chime in here. Comments are open.

James Brausch continues his campaign to get people to take action. And as usual he is putting his money where his mouth is.

Why is taking action so important? It’s easy really: without taking the action it is very unlikely that you will receive the desired results of that action. Say you want to make money online and you believe that creating and selling an information product is a great way to do so. But if you don’t take the action to create the information product, then it’s not likely that you will make any money from it.

Does the action have to be significant or complicated? On the contrary, it’s infinitely better to get in the habit of taking (and completing) small actions, rather than procrastinating and “saving up” for that “big action” that will solve your financial needs forever.

In that spirit I’ve decided to take the following action: Create this blog and write this blog entry. That would take about 5 minutes on Blogger.com, but I would probably never visit that blog again, so that’s a waste of precious time. To make the blog really useful and worth my time, I want to have my own domain name, use WordPress, and attach a product sales page to it.

As I’m doing this, I will record every step using Camtasia - thus creating an information product that I can sell. Yeah, but WordPress installation tutorials are a dime a dozen these days. So my twist and added value is to show you how to get your brand new website listed in the major search engines within 5 days or less. Does that sound interesting?

Almost as important as taking action is knowing when not to take action. You should always have a master plan and each time an opportunity presents itself you should evaluate it and determine if it will move you closer to your specific goals in your master plan.

James frequently runs “take actions contests” on his blog. I entered and actually won one of them in the past. The prize was all of James’ information products he had developed to date. That was a great step forward for me in my business and I have since earned several thousand dollars using that information. That was a good action for me to take.

Like me, you probably receive hundreds of emails every week urging you to take action to secure your financial freedom. The “action” required of you in these cases is of course to buy a product. Many of the products are legit and if you follow the action steps laid out in the product you will achieve positive results. But most people don’t take the required actions. The latest and greatest wealth building product just gathers dust on their hard drive, together with last weeks’ latest and greatest product. Bad action.

I like James’ take action contests because the barrier to entry is always low and you don’t have to purchase anything; just show that you can take action. Did I come up with the idea for this information product just this morning after reading James blog entry? No, it’s an idea that I conceived a while ago. James’ contest prompted me to take action on it and get it done today.

If you have been thinking about creating your own professional blog, you can take your own action right now by downloading the first part of my Instant Search Engine Listing information product for free. The URL is:

http://www.InstantSearchEngineListing.com

[tags]James Brausch, action, WordPress, tutorial[/tags]

I’ve been working fulltime in Internet businesses since 1994 when I started an ISP. My background is primarily technical and in recent years I’ve worked with automotive clients. For example, I was the technical architect behind www.infiniti.com, www.lexus.com, www.mazdausa.com, www.nissanusa.com and www.toyota.com.
Some other rather large companies where I’ve worked as an Internet consultant include: AOL, The Gap, GMAC, Pacific Gas & Electric and Toyota.

Recently I’m enjoying doing smaller scale projects where I don’t have to wait for the bureaucracy of a Fortune 500 company every time a decision needs to be made. Now I can come up with an idea, implement it and be on the market all within a week or two. And just as quickly I can get direct and honest feedback.

After launching many websites and blogs I’ve collected a few tricks on how to get sites listed quickly in search engines. It’s not rocket science or black hat tricks; just a detailed and systematic method. That is what this blog is about.

Share and enjoy!
Nick Dalton