by Robert Plank

Back Up Your Data Using One Of These Three Options


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I know it's not glamorous or exciting but you need to back up every web page, graphic, document, report, anything else you make because you're going to wish you had if you lose all of your information.

Luckily it just takes a few minutes every day or every week to store a copy of your valuable content so that if the worst does happen, you have a back up record of everything you have created. To back up your data, I want you to use the Drop Box service, make sure that your web sites are running back up in addition to your desktop software and you have some kind of a G-Safe hard drive so that your data is stored in a redundant fashion.

There's a service called Drop Box which basically allows to set a folder that when you store anything in that folder, it will automatically copy and store it somewhere off site. This is very important because if your house ends up in a fire or is burglarized or, even worse, your valuable information is somewhere else on the Internet so that you can go and grab it at any time. There are tons of services that do the same thing such as Carbonite where you pay some kind of a low yearly or monthly fee like $50 per year and all of your information is stored somewhere else. It just takes one locked file or one locked hard drive for it to be worth it. I see people back up their desktops but it's also important that you back up your web site.

If you use a cPanel web host, you can download a back up of your entire web site or  web site at once in this back end control panel. Make it part of your schedule to take your web site, download it to your computer, and back it all up in one area. You might have a ton of information to back up so in that case I also recommend you get some kind of a redundant hard drive. I use what is a G Safe hard drive which plugs in to your computer and actually stores your information identically on two hard drives. That way if one fails, you can use the other one. To back up your data use Drop Box for off site back ups. Be sure that your web sites and any other information from your laptop computer is also saved on your hard drive and get an external hard drive so that your information has yet another place to be recovered. I recommend a G-Safe hard drive, that way if one of the drives fails, you have a back up.

Now that you have successful have your information backed up, it's time to get productive right now by going to www.timemanagementoncrack.com.

by Robert Plank

Single Opt In Or Double Opt In, Which Is Better For Email Marketing?


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When you setup your sign up form for the auto responder usually you have a choice of single opt in, which is also called as unconfirmed opt in and double opt in which is called confirmed opt in. let's make sure you understand the difference and you know which one you should use.

Single opt in means there is no confirmation email, someone comes to your web page they type in their name and email address and they are immediately redirected to that free gift and they are also immediately placed on your email subscriber list. The problem with that is that any person can type in an email address and that person will be added to your list but someone was playing a joke adding someone else to your auto responder. The alternative is double opt in, in which someone needs to confirm to receive the gift, they come to your site, they see they want the gift, they type in their first name, their email address, they click send but instead of receiving the gift straight away they're shown a message that says to check their email inbox for a conformation link, that they so their email program, they get the mail, they see that message, and then they have to click on a very special link to then get redirected to the gift and now and only now they are placed on your list of email subscriber. The advantage to this is that you have a cleaner list and you can prove basically that anyone who chose to join actually does have control over that email account. But the problem to this is that it is a very confusing process for someone to take.

Before they just filled in the form he collected the gift, now they fill in the form, checked their email, click a link and finally collect the gift and there are many places where people can lose them, they might not think to check their email, they might check their email but the conformation message may not appear right away but either way you should give people something to do while they pay, which means that if you have a single opt in unconfirmed process give them the download gift but then, afterwards, send them to your sales letter where they can possibly buy something. If you have a double opt in, instead of showing them usual "check your email or confirm your opt in message" send them to your sales letter with the box at the top saying "check your email to confirm your subscription" that way they always end up, no matter what, to your sales letter, there is no dead end.

So now comes a question should you use single unconfirmed opt in or double unconfirmed opt in? and the answer is, use single opt in where ever possible because it's easier on your subscribers and you'll build a list faster that way, remember that most auto-responders will handle email bounces which means that if someone types in a fake email address it will automatically remove that and all emails come with an unsubscribed link and keeps a record of ip address and location where someone joined for list. That ways even if someone places a spam complain you can prove that someone somewhere joined the list. Use single opt in when you can and double opt in only when your order responder does not allow it or if you get too many junk subscriptions.

Use the same order responder I use, use the same web page templates I use at www.newbiecrusher.com and start building your business today!

by Robert Plank

Membership Site Or Download Page?


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When you are setting up the digital delivery of your product, you can either set up the membership site or a download page. How do you know which is right for you?

Download page is the quick and easy solution. If you want something to setup in next few minutes and it's a temporary page if you haven't made a few sales of your product yet, but a download page is a good starting point to link to a video or downloadable materials that someone just bought from you. The sequence is, they see your sales letter. They click on payment button, and after they have pay they are sent to your download page. Where you then say thanks for your order and you link to whatever zip file they need to download or play or whatever video they should be seeing. It's easy to setup but it's tough to update. Because if you want to improve your product you have to go back, upload a few file, change the link, and notify your buyers of the new change. It's also tough to drip content out. On few of my site I like to set things up where somebody pays me money once to get one thing but every few days he gets something new as bonus as a surprise and it's difficult to do that with the simple download page. Plus it's easy for others to copy that exact URL web address and share it with their friends.

A membership site requires a little more setup but there are bigger benefits to that. It's more secure, which means that it's tougher for others to share links. Because they also have to share a username and password and there are built in tracking in most membership software, such as wish list member where if same user account logs in from two mail locations it will temporarily freeze the account. It's also easy to drip content with plug in such as WPDRIP and setup a membership site where someone joins and they get their first piece on content, but get something new every few days. But the membership site needs a little more setup, but there are little more advantages and which should you use. The answer is you should choose both. For now, set up a simple download page, so your buyers have some place to go. And after you've got few sales, you can now justify the cost and the time of setting up your membership site to secure it and to drip out your content.

I want you to come with me and make a download page and membership site together at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

Exactly What To Put On Your Download Page When You Offer A Digital Product


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If you are not yet ready to setup a full fledge membership site or shopping cart, you can easily get setup in just a few minute and have a website created where someone sees what you have to offer they click and pay and they are immediately sent to a very simple webpage where they can download that thing they just pay for. It's actually easier than you think, just make a webpage that links to a zip file, contains an email opt in form for update and then promotes an additional offer. First you need to zip up the things you're offering, that way people can easily download it to their computer. This means if you are offering a video and you don't know how to embed it on a webpage. You can have the download reversion, just take the video file, right click it, go to send to, then create a compressed folder, that will create a zip file or basically a package that puts your video inside it.

Likewise if you create a PDF report and you simply link directly to the PDF and someone clicks on it, it will open up in their browser. But if you want people to save it, put the PDF inside a zip file and link to that zip file. You can use any use any HTML editor and any webpage template to create a hyperlink to that zip file on your web server. Somebody loads that download page after they buy from you and the first thing they just see is the link to what they just bought. Underneath that, step two, you should have, sign up for updates. If you have an email auto-responder such an Aweber, you can make a separate sub list of just your buyers. And put the form on the download page so that the only people who can sign up for this buyer's update list are people who paid you money!

So far we have step 1, download your zip file, step 2, sign up for updates, and finally add step 3, promote another offer, make it the next step. If you offer a beginner's course on word-press then find someone who offers the advance course sign up as an affiliate and link from your download page directly to this additional offer. And that's your download page!

Step 1: They download.

Step 2: They register for updates.

Step 3: They check out the next logical offer you have for them

Let's figure out cPanel, FTP, Download pages, webhosting and all the other technical details together, in easy to follow, step by step video format at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

What Payment Processor To Use?


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When you are taking payment on the internet, you need to have a payment processor. This is a service that will collect you customer's credit card information and to tell you if the order was successful or not. Locally setting this up is fairly easy and all you have to do is create a sales letter, and a download page. And after somebody pays you it simply redirects them to the download page. And they did not pay you it does not redirect them to that download page.

You have a few choices out there about, what payment processor you should use, lets figure out which one is right for you. Your choice is basically PayPal, Clickbank or your own merchant account. If you're not sure, start with PayPal. PayPal has a very easy setup process, it's free and once you are proved, you can create as many buttons as you want and sell as many products as you want. You can get setup in a few minutes. The only drawback to PayPal is that it does not have a built in affiliate program which means you cannot set things up where other people recommend your product to their subscribers and customers. For that you can use Clickbank.

This service has its own pros and cons. First of all it does have a built in affiliate network. Which means as long as you sell on Clickbank, literally, anyone can promote your product for 50-60% commission. The problem with click bank is that, they handle most of your customer support for you. So, if customer wants a refund, they can contact Clickbank directly. And to pay for these customer support costs Clickbank takes out a slightly higher fee or percentage out of every sale and this is how services like PayPal and Clickbank make their money by taking out a tiny processing fee out of every transaction the other thing with Clickbank is that they do require you to pay $50 as a setup fee but it's only one time. And after you're set up and after you've set up they will have to approve every additional button or every additional product you have for sale. And this process takes a couple of days. But the thing about Clickbank is that all these extra affiliate sales are just that!

Extra... The sales you would not have had if you stayed on PayPal. That's why I'd recommend you start with PayPal and move to Clickbank. And then there is an option of having your own merchant account. Which allows you more control, for example allows you to take credit card payment directly onto your sales letter instead of requiring you to link and to be able to click over to that service, but there's higher fee and more risk, risk of you to losing that merchant account, there are more restrictions, and you have to keep money in the bank for the longer period of time. That's why I would stay away from merchant account for now and start off with PayPal and once you made a few sales then I would Clickbank to have an affiliate program and in the future if you grow big enough think about having a merchant account.

Create your sales letter, payment button and download page with PayPal by following along this easy video instruction at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

What Is A cPanel Web Host And What Can I Do With It


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I understand you might be shopping or comparing which web host to use. Whatever you decide on, make sure it is a cPanel web host. You might already have a web host, and are just not very familiar with what a cPanel interface actually is. That is what we will talk about today.

On most web hosts, whatever your .com name is - you can add a /cPanel to the end of the web address and end up on the back-end or control panel or management area of your site. This is a fairly easy to use page with lots of icons, and you can click on the thing you want to change and change it without having to log in or type in any scary commands.

With a cPanel back-end, you can add databases, or install a WordPress blog. On your web host, you will have files which are things like audios, or .pdf's, or books, or web pages. But there are also databases, which is your content. If you set up a WordPress blog, it will run off of a database because the content of those pages change, don't they? If you edit a blog post, your site looks different. If someone leaves a comment on your post, the page looks different. When you run anything like a blog or a forum, or any kind of page where it changes the look, depending on what people do. That will probably require a database.

Luckily, many pieces of software including WordPress, including Forum software, will show you what to click on in your cPanel back-end.

There are some easier things to do in a cPanel, for example you can add an email account. You can make it so someone can email you but the after is not a Yahoo, or a Hotmail, or a Gmail address. It is at your .com's name address. You can even set it up to where it forwards your email going to your .com name right to your remotely hosted email account.

One of my favorite things to do with the cPanel web host is an area called awstats. You can view traffic statistics. You can actually see how many people actually came to your website. What pages they visited. How many people came this month, this week and where they came from. This means you can tell if people are linking to your site, if visitors type in a certain phrase and a search engine takes them to your site. It is a really easy way to see how people come to your site so you can repeat that process.

Make sure you are hosted with a cPanel web host because it has some great features like databases, email accounts and traffic statistics.

Get the hang of your web host and its cPanel interface inside the training at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

Factors To Look For In A Web Host


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It's not enough to register a domain name, you need to find a server so you can pay about $10 per month to host your files, such as your WordPress blog, your download pages, or shopping carts. There are a few factors to look for in a web host because there are so many to choose from.

First of all, the web host I recommend is called hostgator. I've chosen that particular web host because it has the features I am looking for. If you are considering a different web host, make sure that is at least provides you with these features.

First of all, the most important feature I would say is that they are priced around $10 per month. There is no reason to pay more than $10 per month for simple web hosting. You can grow into a more complex Dedicated server cluster for $100 or higher, but when you are starting out - $10 per month is a good, and a fair price.

When you pay $10 per month, make sure that your web host provides you with unlimited domains. This means that for the same $10 per month, you might set up 4 or 5 different .com names, 4 or 5 different websites that all are independent of one another, becuase you might have different websites. You might make one website be your blog, one might be your newsletter or content site, and another might be where something is available for purchase.

You don't want to be stuck, and you don't want to have to spend a higher monthly fee just because you thought of another website to create. If you can pay $10 per month for unlimited domains, that's great.

Something you should also look for is you are given a cPanel web host. What this means is that you have a fairly standard back-end, or a control panel that is available on most web hosts. This includes the ability to FTP, or transfer files to your web host. The ability to add databases, which are useful if you ever set up a blog. And, lets you set up email accounts, which means you can have an email address at your .com addresss that is either your own email account using Outlook, or it might forward to your Gmail or Mac account.

I chose hostgator because it incluces $10 per month, unlimited domain, and a cPanel interface that includes FTP, databases and email accounts. So whatever web host you go with, make sure it includes those three features.

I am going to walk you through the exact steps including chosing a niche topic, registering a domain name, and getting it all working on a web host in just a few minutes at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

Web Templates, Sales Letters, Opt-In Pages, And Download Pages


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When it comes to the internet or anything computer related in general, you are going to come across lots of terms or jargon that are important but can be confusing at first. That is why today we will explain web templates, sales letters, opt-in pages, and download pages.

A web template is a design of a web page that does not contain any text or content. A web template might be something that looks like a piece of paper, it might be site design that looks like a blue background or a black background or a white background. Either way, it is a web page design where you have to fill in the content. This content might be a longer report, or article or list of articles, or a list or place to information, or any kind of content you wish can be placed in the middle of this template. Someone else took care of the design, it is up to you to fill in the blanks.

One such way to fill in the blanks is with a sales letter. This is a long web page where you explain some kind of an offer. You might be selling a physical book, a digital book, a membership site, a downloadable video, a DVD. You have something you are offering people, and at the bottom of this web page there is a payment button. There is a button that people can click on and type in there credit card details and after submitting the form they can now download your item or have it shipped to them. A sales letter is a long web page with a payment button.

Not all pages on the internet are meant to get you to buy. There are these things called Opt-In pages or sign up pages. This is a page where the goal of someone coming to the site if for them to fill in a form. They will usually fill in there first name, and email address. In the case of many sites such as FaceBook or MySpace, they ask for additional fields such as last name, or gender. An Opt-In page is a page with a form usually asking for a name and email address.

Finally, a download page is a web page linking to some kind of file that can be downloaded, usually a zip file. What we can have is, take an existing web template, add an opt-in page so that someone enters their name and email address when they come to our site, then they are sent over to a sales letter where we present an offer, and then after they buy we then redirect them to a download page where they can then download and watch what they just bought from you.

Those are web templates, sales letters, opt-in pages, and download pages.

I want to show you how to set up each of these kinds of web pages and how to have them all work together in the easy tutorials you will find at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

Edit And Upload Files On Your Website Using These Programs


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You have a website set up but what software should you use to make changes on your site? There are three pieces of software you need to be aware of which are filezilla, EditPlus, and WordPress.

First of all, you can use the filezilla program to drag and drop files from your desktop computer onto your website. It is pretty easy, you tell it what Host name, username and password - which is provided from your web host. It will magically connect to your web host and you can now drag and drop any files you want, .html, .txt, .mp3, images - any kind of file can go on your website.

Filezilla is good to get all your stuff set up for the first time. But then, to make changes to your website later, I will use a program called EditPlus. This is a text editor like Notepad or Microsoft Word, but it will connect to your website. That means if you need to make a small change in a web page or in a file, it can connect to your website and appear as if you are browsing a folder right there on your computer. You can double-click on a certain file, open it up, make changes, hit the save button, and it will upload those changes back to your website.

If you are really not that experienced or don't want to edit files on your web host, you should have someone set up WordPress on your web host, which is a free piece of software. It will allow you to create a blog on your site, including the front page of your site. You can point and click different designs, easily add new content. There is very little technical stuff to worry about. Just click on a button and you can add new content to your site.

Those are three pieces of software you should be aware of when it comes to editing and uploading files on your website. Filezilla to transfer files, EditPlus to edit files, and WordPress to manage a blog or a point and click website directly on your web host.

I will show you all three of these programs in action on video at www.newbiecrusher.com.

by Robert Plank

How To Upload Files To Your Website Using FTP


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You have a web hosting account, and you have a website set up. Now the question is, how can you get your web pages and your blog posts onto your website. One simple skill you are going to need to master is how to transfer files to your website using FTP or File Transfer Protocol.
Before doing anything, you need to get what is called an FTP client or a program that is made specifically for moving files to your website. I recommend a program called Filezilla. It runs on Mac and Windows. What happens is, you will install this program and it will ask you for a few pieces of information. It will ask you for a Host name, a username, and a password.

Once you have your web hosting account, I recommend hostgator, they will give you this information. They will tell you what Host name to type in, what username and what passwords - called your FTP user information, or your FTP log in details.

If you can log in without any errors, then the information is correct. Once you are logged in, you might see listing of many different folders and most web hosts will put your public web page files in a folder called public_html. If you simple double-click on this folder you will be taken inside the folder. Now you can drag and drop any files you want.

For example, if there was a file in your computer called information.txt, and you dragged that .txt file onto your website - then you could type in whatever .com/information.txt and it would show up. If you named a file index.html then it will function as the front page of your website. Which means that if someone just types in the name of your website .com, the page that loads would be your index.html page.

That is how you upload files to your website using FTP. Get an FTP client such as Filezilla, get the information which is the Host name, username and passwords from your web host and browse to the public_html folder.

I want to show you exactly how to set up every part of your website at www.newbiecrusher.com.