Wishlist Member for Wordpress
If you are just here for the coupon code, click here to be redirected to the Wishlist Member Coupon. If you have some time you can read why I like Wishlist Member for Wordpress below…
Why I’m Getting Into Wishlist Member:
I’m trying to move away from trading hours for money in my life. I just recently re-read Rich Dad Poor Dad and was reminded that assets are what it is all about.
Making subscription-based sites or sites that sell an informational product are great ways to provide value to the web and make money at the same time. A lot of info-products get a bad wrap because people oversell them or claim that they can do more than they really can. I think this is bad marketing and would never want to be involved in a business like that.
On the other hand, there are a lot of very good info products or guides out there that solve a real problem. And many times that the guide allows people to solve the problem themselves and save a LOT of money. For instance, I’ve done 3 guides in the last few years that have sold pretty well. Take a look at the cost of the guide versus the cost of hiring someone like me to do it for you…
Make A Wordpress-Powered Review Site
This guide shows how to combine The Thesis Theme and DG Review Site to make an awesome-looking site that people can review products on. When I did this for a client, it took half a day and cost about $260.
Now, $260 is actually a pretty great deal to have a website that looks great and lets you get user-generated content.
But nowadays people want to do things themselves and save money, so you can get the guide for only $9.95 and it will show you exactly how to do it yourself.
So people who want a review site can save $250 and do it themselves AND they don’t have to wait for me to have availability. That’s a win-win.
Wordpress Landing Page Guide
Another example of a win-win is this Wordpress Theme that let’s people easily make Landing Pages in Wordpress. This is another example of something that would cost 10x as much to have a coder do for your site, but you can get the guide for only $24.95.
I like to think of that as a win-win too.
How Wishlist Helps:
Wishlist Member is a great example of a win-win too. I suspect it would cost 10k-20k to have someone code Wishlist Member for you. But we can all buy a copy and get it for only $99 or so. What a deal, right?
Wishlist helps each of us to make websites that will give us passive income without much of a headache. Or at least that’s the plan…
Based on the last couple of days of research after buying my own copy of Wishlist Member, I’d like to share 5.5 really awesome things about Wishlist Member I found out… [click to continue…]
Maybe I’m just used to Website Grader always giving me a great score, but I was bummed when I ran my website through WooRank today to get a measly 56.7 WooRank. Even though I have no idea what constitutes a WooRank or even how good 56.7 is (is there some kind of bell curve?) well…
My 56.7% on WooRank. Click to Enlarge...
I just wanted it to be a lot closer to 100% You know, like what Website Grader does…
Same day, same site. 97.4 on WebsiteGrader.
But then I started searching around and found out that being a long way from a WooRank of 100 (what I assume is the best) puts me in damn good company. [click to continue…]
Did you know…
- People can see pages on your site that were up months ago without you knowing?
- When you delete a page from your site, it can still be seen for months?
- People can look through your site without showing up in your analytics?
Learn to stop showing your website's cache.
This is all possible through the magic of Google’s caching feature. And although website caching on Google has some benefits, it may not be a good fit for your site. Let me tell you why (and how) I decided to stop having a cached version of my site on Google.
I’ve been watching my traffic a lot more closely lately, especially 404 errors. I’ve noticed a lot of very funky stuff going on, especially with people (or bots) coming from cached versions of my site. When I get a peek at some of the search terms that these people used to get to my site, it is interesting what kinds of things you learn.
If you aren’t sure what Website Caching is (in terms of search engines), check out this explanation from Google’s site:
Google automatically takes a “snapshot” of each page it crawls and archives it. This “cached” version allows a webpage to be retrieved for your end users if the original page is ever unavailable (due to temporary failure of the page’s web server). The cached page appears to users exactly as it looked when Google last crawled it, and we display a message at the top of the page to indicate that it’s a cached version. Users can access the cached version by choosing the “Cached” link on the search results page. (As seen here)
So the only benefit of caching as far as I can tell is that a copy of your site is available in case your server goes down. My server doesn’t go down much, so that isn’t a big bonus. But the downsides seem to outweigh the good. [click to continue…]
Well there comes a time in every designer and developers life when they have to put together a portfolio page. I started mine tonight and put 5 new sites up. There are many more where this came from, but you can take a look at the first 5 Wordpress Designs here.
Check them out and let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Artwork from 37Signals' upcoming book... 'Rework'
I got a new mac mini about this time last month. (It’s great by the way). The new computer finally meant I could download Google’s new browser, Chrome (which is also great btw). Having a new computer and browser means that all of my old bookmarks and such were thrown to the wind and I had the chance to start totally fresh.
After a month, I’ve put only a small handful of new ‘favorites’ in Chrome. I thought you might find it interesting to see what they were.
So here’s my unadulerated and unedited list of favorites from my browsing over the last month… (ps: I encourage all of you to leave some of your favorite bookmarks in the comments section below, too!)
{Note: Most of these bookmarks have to do with design, esp. Wordpress related. If I’m running out of ideas for a new design, my bookmarks are the first place that get a look} [click to continue…]
Predictions for 2010....
2009 was a huge year in online publishing. The methods for getting traffic changed drastically from almost exclusively Search to include walled gardens like Facebook and, of course, Twitter. When a shift of this size happens, there are a lot of people trying to figure out what the next big thing is going to be and how to make the most of the new landscape. I’m like everyone else- uncertain of what’s going to happen- but I do have a few predictions.
1. Twitter & Facebook get bigger, but don’t replace Google.
Sometimes when you get online you are LOOKING for something. Maybe you need the number for a pizza joint down the street, or maybe you need a discount on a Wordpress theme. Either way, you are looking for something and you are still going to use Google to find it.
And sometimes when you get online you are just looking to be entertained. You aren’t looking for anything in particular, and Facebook and Twitter and any “portal site” can give you a wealth of interesting things to read or watch.
These are very different mindsets. Both mindsets are very important. Both groups buy stuff, have opinions, and are good audiences to be aware of when you are creating content.
Google is not going to be replaced by Twitter or Facebook, and the fact that Google reigns supreme doesn’t cheapen Twitter or Facebook. I hope that 2010 has a lot less arguement about how Google is going to be toppled by Twitter. Geez.
2. Search is still a better place to sell and connect.
When people are searching for something, they are a better ‘lead’ than if you convince them to look at something you posted on twitter or facebook. That’s why people enjoy the internet… because you can drive yourself around (seemingly) without distraction and do what you want with commercial interruptions.
I believe that search and ranking high and broadly in search is still an excellent place to put your marketing budget. Twitter and facebook are cool for sure, but there are thousands of people looking for what you sell, so let them find you instead of hitting up your friends.
3. Bing does better, but is still just Bing.
Ah, bing. Not much to talk about here.
4. 2011 Finds us almost exactly the same as we are today.
In the end, we are going to have another year of a lot of changes but we’ll find ourselves basically where we are today a year from now. Most web users aren’t overly savvy, they don’t have a twitter account, and if they use Facebook they have never purchased anything from facebook.
The fundamentals are- and will be- exactly the same. They are:
- Create good content. (Content, content, content.)
- Make it easy to read, use, share.
- Have a solid plan for making money off of that content.
- Repeat.
Of course you can always improve on any of those steps, but that’s the recipe. Get cookin!
Best,
Learn to procrastinate better.
I challenge you to think of anyone who doesn’t procrastinate.
Can you think of anyone? I can’t.
Procrastination seems to me to be one of the most ubiquitous traits in human nature. We all do it. So if we can’t get rid of the tendencey to put things off, how can we become better at procrastinating. How can we stay effective at what we do but enjoy… even relish… putting things off?
As I’ve gone through the GTD method lately, I’ve had the chance to try out a lot of different ways to approach procrastination. A lot of people and books will tell you to just do whatever it is you are putting off. But sometimes it’s just not that easy.
So here are 3 tips to being a better procrastinator…
1. Break up your todo list into whatever environment you need to accomplish it in.
This sounds more complicated than it is. Basically my todo list has three different lists. They are:
- At Computer
- Telephone
- Real Life
Since I work on the computer, a lot of my work stuff goes on there. The telephone can basically take place anywhere, and generally the ‘real life’ stuff has to happen outside of the office.
So I found that for myself a lot of what I considered ‘procrastination‘ was just that I wanted a change of envirnoment. I just needed to get away from the computer for a bit. So now when I feel the urge to get away from the computer I can just hit one of the other lists… either telephone or real life.
This way, I’m still getting stuff done even though I’m ‘procrastinating’ on the computer stuff.
2. Brainstorm about the steps needed to do whatever you are resistent to.
A lot of times the things I’m most resistent to are the things I ahven’t brainstormed enough. So take the time to think out whatever project you don’t want to do. A lot of times the details and ideas you come up with when you are brainstorming can give you the motivation to tackle the project.
And the best thing about brainstorming is that you can get out of the office to do it. (See tip #1 above)
3. Clean up your room/office/kitchen/car.
I need a clean space to work. If my office is dirty I keep wanting to clean it. But instead of cleaning it, I stop myself and try to get focused.
Sometimes it’s better to just stop working, take 10 minutes (or an hour) to clean up your space. Getting out of the workflow gives you perspective on your problem and can really clear your mind. In the end your project gets done and you’ve got a clean room.
So I hope these procrastination tips have helped you. If you’ve got some tips of your own, please leave them in the comments below. And if you think your twitter followers might enjoy these tips, then by all means please tweet this post!
(photo by this guy)
Thanks,
This is a public retraction in regard to a post which has since been taken down called ‘How To Catch a Cookie Stuffer’. Thesis Theme HQ was and is in no way involved in Cookie Stuffing.
As with all of the posts on this website, that post was purely my opinion. (Please see my website disclaimer to clear up any confusion about the liability of this site.)
At the time when the post was published, I showed a video of my research and discussed why my opinion was that Thesis Theme HQ had been cookie stuffing. I made the statement in good faith and had reasonable belief that they were true. However, after receiving notice that they were untrue, I immediately took down the post and the post has been unavailable since.
Once again, I want it to be very clear that Thesis Theme HQ is in no way involved in Cookie Stuffing.
My name is Brad and I love to help people drive traffic and make great blogs. Thanks for coming by. If you like what you see here then check me out on 
