It was a headache with trying to process orders and manage customers when there was no way to view the actual orders, much less the payment information.

If you’ve ever experienced this same problem, you’ve probably pulled out your hair, fighting with the customer support personnel of your website hosting company, probably getting nowhere (because truth be told, most of them don’t really know what they are doing beyond what they were trained to do).

A Solution To Your Website Viewing Issue

If you’re having this problem and white-listing your public IP address doesn’t help, then the problem has nothing to do with the server settings your website is hosted on.

The problem most likely lies with the name servers owned by your internet service provider.  When an internet service provider’s nameservers aren’t resolving IP addresses to their respective host names, this prevents you from seeing your website.

To fix this issue, simply following the steps outlined below:

1. Click your “Start” menu (Windows Orb on the taskbar of Windows 7 & Vista).
2. Select Control Panel.
3. Double-Click Network & Sharing Center or Network Connections Icon.
4. Click to Open “Local Area Connection”
5. Click “Properties”
6. Choose Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), then click “Properties”
7. Click the radio button that  says “Use the following DNS server addresses” and type in one of the below listed IP addresses in the “Preferred DNS Server” and “Alternate DNS Server” fields.
8. Click the OK button, the close all of the open windows.
9. Click on your “Start Menu” again.
10. Click “Run” on Windows Vista or earlier, or type the following into the search field in Windows 7.
11. Type cmd & hit the enter key.
12. Type ipconfig /flushdns
13. When it says that your DNS has been successfully flushed, close the window.
14. You should be able to access your website via your preferred internet browser.

If you’re not using Windows, you can find a list of steps to following here:

www.opendns.com

List of Available DNS IP Addresses

You can use any of these available IP addresses you want.  It doesn’t matter who your internet service provider is.  I’d recommend OpenDNS over any of the others.

OpenDNS

• 208.67.222.222
• 208.67.220.220

Genuity

• 4.2.2.1
• 4.2.2.2

Level3

• 209.244.0.3
• 209.244.0.4

DNSAdvantage

• 156.154.70.1
• 156.154.71.1

Google

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

DynDNS Internet Guide

• 216.146.35.35
• 216.146.36.36

Have you ever had any issues like this?  How did you solve the problem?

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So why, if there are so many blogs on the internet, do we only hear about a small group of them being very succesful?

Because most bloggers who are interested in being successful or making a ton of money with their blogs, aren’t doing it right.

Reading Between The Lines

Many of those blogger’s who are successful are giving everyone the same answer when asked what is the best topic to blog about.  I even catch myself doing it over and over again, without thinking.

The answer is correct, but it’s not a full explanation of what we really mean.

Like the many religious views that are taken out of context, rather than seeing the big picture, just as many bloggers are taking the “blog about your passion” answer out of context.

Do I think it’s on purpose?  Absolutely not.  It’s a mere ignorance of the real meaning.  And I think those of us who are successful at blogging should start explaining ourselves in better detail when we answer a question of such importance.

Find The Demand

The best thing I can say to you before choosing a blog topic, is to forget about your passion!  I know, you’re probably thinking I’ve gone and lost my mind, but just hear me out.

There are other steps you need to take before choosing what you’re passionate about, and demand is the first.

Is there a demand?

Just like in any business, if what you supply isn’t what the consumers demand, you will not succeed.

Blogging isn’t any different.  So when choosing a topic make sure there is a demand for the information you’re giving.  The topic doesn’t have to have the highest demand.  There are millions of internet users on the web each day and even a demand from a small percentage of them can yield great results.

Is the demand shrinking or growing?

If the demand for a specific topic is on it’s way out, then you probably shouldn’t choose that particular topic either.

The best way to go around this stumbling block is to blog about something that is timeless.  If you are blogging to make money or be successful, then you probably plan on blogging for many years.  If you choose a fad topic that will be gone by next summer, then your long term plan will fail.

If you’re interested in blogging about fads, then create a blog about fads as a big picture.  Don’t focus on one specific fad, but on all fads, as they come and go.

Much like the stock market, if you can predict the next big thing that everyone will be searching for, then you will be a winner.

Overcome Over-Saturation

I often find that new bloggers like to choose a topic that covers something a large majority of bloggers already cover.  They’re thinking is that if “what’s his name” is making money on that topic, then I can too.

That is the wrong way of thinking when you’re choosing a topic, and more often than not the chosen topic was one that was already over-saturated.

Over-saturation of the market for a particular topic actually means there is less demand.  Not physically, as in lower numbers, but mentally, as in “I’m not looking somewhere else when I can find it here”.

Think about where you go when you’re interested in buying a specific book online.  You’re first thought was probably Amazon.  Would it make sense to start an online book store when there is already a huge contender in the market?

When looking for something online that is in the niche of a particularly famous blogger, or a group of bloggers that have already super-saturated the market, most internet users no longer use Google to search for that particular topic.  They know the website address and will type it instead.

If you’re stubborn and you still want to blog about an over-saturated topic, then try to find something not covered within that topic and blog about it.  This is called creating a “sub-niche”.  Many bloggers have become successful in an over-saturated market by focusing on a specific point that no one was covering.

Create A Monetization Strategy

In a nutshell, the problem of monetization simply means, if you cannot monetize your particular topic and your end goals are to make money, then you should probably choose another topic.

So before you begin your blog, choose two or three topics you’re interested in, do your research and find any and all ways to monetize that topic, compare the two or three topics, then decide which ones offer the better payouts and monetization sources.

Choose Your Topic

Now that I’ve utterly confused you about the topic you should choose for your blog, it’s time to take your first steps:

1. Generate a massive list of topics that have a high demand.  I’d try to list at least 100 or more of them.
2. Mark out all topics that are over-saturated, unless you can narrow it down to a specific area that isn’t being covered.
3. Research the various methods of monetization each topic remaining has, and cross out the ones that offer little to no monetization.
4. Of the remaining topics, find two or three you’re really passionate about and write them on piece of paper to stash away somewhere.
5. Choose one of those topics and begin your blog.

The other topics you chose that you were passionate about are your backup topics should you realize later that you may not have been as interested as you thought.

Remember not everyone can be successful blogging, but taking the right approach and using the right steps, anyone can increase their chances for success.

How did you choose your blog topic?

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All of these social media spaces have two things in common:

1. They are being used to leverage awareness of a brand or product.
2. They are most often being used in the wrong way.

The Wrong Way To Use Social Media

With the overwhelming growth of social media, major corporations like McDonald’s, BestBuy, and Dell are creating accounts to interface with potential and already existing customers.

The sad part is that most companies using social media just don’t get it.  They are promoting their products but not taking the time to engage in conversation with their customers.

Social Media is a place to build and foster relationships for so much more than forcing your product on everyone with whom you come in contact.

The real reason companies are getting it wrong is because they are bundling social media with their marketing department.

Social Media is so much more than marketing, and the two should never be paired together as one group in a company.

If companies want to be successful with social media, their best bet is to create a social media position or even team, and hire those of us with experience in creating and maintaining those relationships.

Look at Crocs.  They are a company that understands social media enough to know that they didn’t understand social media.  And hired someone for the sole purpose of running the social media side of the house.

The Right Way To Use Social Media

If you really want to use social media correctly, hire an expert and let them run the show.  But if you can’t afford and expert, here are some simple guidelines to follow that will help you tremendously, at least until you figure it out.

1. Never forget that social media is about person-to-person connections. You are not speaking as “the company”, but as an individual within that company. Many companies don’t know how to do this, and it takes a lot of practice to find that voice and feel comfortable with it.
2. Be a good listener. All companies say they listen to their customers, but do they really LISTEN and let people know that they are listening by responding?
3. Be patient. This takes a long time because you are going to be transforming your company, one person at a time.
4. Be opportunistic. Start small with the people who are most passionate about building relationships with customers.
5. Be flexible. You never know what’s going to happen so you have to constantly adjust your thinking and learn.
6. Be collaborative. You need people from up and down the management chain to buy-in.
7. Be humble. Remember that you are not as influential as your community. If you forget this, they will let you know.

Are You Social Networking or Social Notworking?

If you aren’t sure which it is you’re doing, it’s as simple as asking your community.  People are very opinionated and they will not hold back in telling you whether you’re doing it right or wrong.

This goes back to the step on listening.  If you can keep your mouth closed for a moment and truly listen, you’ll hear things you’ve never heard before.

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While that excitement is great, and you hope it lasts the rest of your life, you don’t want to let it cause you to lose control of your blog, especially if you are interested in running it as a business.

Losing control can be one of the most dangerous things you encounter when blogging, and if you’re not careful, you lose control without even realizing it.

Here are 5 tips to help you maintain control of your blog, and keep you on the pathway to becoming successful:

1. Stay Calm

Just because the top bloggers in your niche are kicking out a post 2-3 times a day, it doesn’t mean you have to do the same to become successful. In fact, many very successful bloggers sometimes only post 1 article per week. Yaro Starak, for example, skips many days at a time on occasion.

As long as you’re putting out great content and building your community effectively, it really doesn’t matter how often you post, as long as it’s consistent.

So stay calm.

It doesn’t matter that you’re running behind on getting a post out at exactly 8:00 am.  Your readers will still see the post.  It also doesn’t matter that some of your Twitter followers didn’t see that tweet about your latest blog post. You don’t have to tweet it 5 times to make sure.  In fact, sending that many tweets about the same thing could actually have a negative effect on you and the trust others have in you.

2. Limit Yourself

Don’t think you have to spend 24 hours a day writing content, marketing it, or building your community.  If you’re spending that much time on your blog, your time management skills need to change.

Everything you need to do in a day for building your blog can be done in a short amount of time with the correct time management methods.

Spending too much time on your blog can also burn you out.  Then before you realize it, you’ve stopped blogging altogether, and that doesn’t make for a very effective business model.

3. Get Rid of Distractions

Those distractions you experience when writing an article, like answering emails, responding to someone on Facebook, or retweeting a great Twitter message, effect not only your quality of work, but also delay the time it takes you to get an article published.

The best thing you can do is to focus on one thing at a time, and make sure you’re completely finished with the task at hand before moving onto another.  Make a list in order of importance if you have to.

Making a list also helps keep you on track with what you need to get done.  Whereas working haphazardly with no real direction can cause you to focus on things that have absolutely nothing to do with your blog.

4. Incorporate One Affiliate Program At A Time

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen among other bloggers interested in making money online is signing up for every affiliate network they can find all at one time and trying to implement them.

The best advice I can give you is to pick one affiliate network you want to work with, and really take the time to maximize it’s effectiveness to fit you and your blog.  Then move on to another.

Taking this approach keeps you from being overwhelmed, which is a major factor in many bloggers giving up altogether.

5. You Decide

Now, it’s your turn.  I’d like to hear your experiences that have caused you to either temporarily or permanently lose control.  Leave me a comment, letting me know.

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So I’ve come up with a real world analogy to better understand how Twitter can only work if used correctly… through real conversation.

3 Major Uses Of Twitter

There are 3 ways you can use twitter.  Each producing a much different outcome than the other.  But only one of these 3 uses of twitter will produce the outcome you desire, unless you’re some kind of psycho stalker.

Here’s the scenario:

“You just got off work and you’re on your way to the local sports bar for a drink and to check out the local hotties.  As you’re enjoying your beer at the bar, you spot the most amazing girl you’ve ever seen.  You’ve got 3 things you can do…”

1. Observe & Leave Alone

You prop yourself up against the bar and whisper quietly to yourself, “Damn, she is fine!” Then you continue to watch her all night, never making a move to go speak to her.  Eventually she leaves with another guy, and you go home to spend more time with no one but yourself.

In this scenario, you are observing.  The relation to twitter is simply watching others have a conversation.  You don’t choose to follow anyone, or participate in a real conversation, you scan others profiles and read about what they have to say to each other.

2. Make A Feeble Attempt At Being Social

You prop yourself up against the bar, whisper quietly to yourself, “Damn, she is fine,” and take a shot of whiskey.  Then you scribble your number down on a scrap piece of paper, non-chalantly make your way over to her, and without a single word, slip your number into her back pocket.  She doesn’t even notice, and again, you go home to spend time with yourself.

In this scenario, you make an attempt at being social, but in the wrong way. The relation to twitter is following others, never saying a word to those you follow, and blasting out your latest product or offering every chance you get.

3. Engage In Real Conversation

You prop yourself up against the bar, whisper quietly to yourself, “Damn she is fine,” take a shot of whiskey, and walk boldy up to her.  As she makes eye contact you say, “Your eyes are as blue as window cleaner.”  It’s probably not the best thing you could have said, but you’re trying, and she giggles.

You spend the rest of the night talking about both of your likes, dislikes, your careers, and anything else that comes to mind.  You being a relationship and she’ll remember you the rest of her life.

In this scenario, your akward attempt at making a real attempt at connecting work.  And this time it may have been akward, but as you do it more and more, it will become second nature, and you’ll find yourself becoming more and more successful each time.

The relation to twitter is following others, but making an attempt at engaging in conversation with each and every person you follow.

When you truly care about what others have to say and join in the conversation, you’ll notice that others will come from all over because they want to be a part of that conversation.

Being real, causes others to realize that there is more behind a company, product, or service than the cold corporate exterior.  They soon will realize that you are just as real as they are.  You laugh, hurt, sing, and cry just like they do.

Twitter is exactly like a sports bar.  What you make of it, will determine what it makes of you! Rather than asking others to follow us on Twitter, shouldn’t we be asking them to join us in conversation?

So how do you use Twitter?  Are you engaging in conversation and listening to what others have to say, or using it as another tool to talk about yourself?

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So here is a way to get your Twitter Replies sent directly to your email, so you can still be a part of the conversation even at event conferences and when you’re on the road.

1. Find Your Twitter Reply Feed

When you look at your Twitter Replies page, you’ll notice there isn’t a link to your RSS feed.  But with a little searching, I found the link.  Actually I hit view page source and copy and pasted the url.

But when you do this, a popup asks you for a username and password. Don’t worry about entering it, you don’t need to do this.

Here’s the url, it’s the same for everyone, so this should work for you:

http://twitter.com/statuses/replies.rss

2. Put Your Twitter Reply Feed Into Notify.Me

Go to notify.me, make sure you’re signed in (if you don’t have an account, then you need to register), and paste the above url into the url box under the sources tab.

Before hitting “Add Site” you need to modify the Reply Feed url.

Because you replies are password protected, you have to add your username and password to the url. Here’s the format you need to use (make sure you include the colon between the username and password:

http://username:password@twitter.com/statuses/replies.css

When your feed has been aquired by notify.me, you’ll see it listed below the url textbox.  Click the Email icon to the right of the Feed title.

You’re All Done

That is all there is to receiving your Twitter replies via email.  This saves my butt so much when an important tweet is sent to me and I’m not anywhere near my computer.

I also plan on using this to keep in the conversation at IzeaFest this year.

There are also other ways to do this using FriendFeed, Yahoo Pipes, and others.

What tool do you use to get your Twitter replies via email?

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Everyone would like to have their trips paid for, so what makes you special?  Why would a company pick you over everyone else asking for sponsorship?

The Wrong Way To Get A Sponsor

There is a reason only a handful of people actually ever get sponsors to pay their way to conferences.  Because most bloggers are doing it wrong.

You can’t send out a Twitter message asking (in general) if anyone would like to sponsor you.  Companies get proposed to all the time, so they will quickly look over your cries for help.

If you want to be noticed and truly considered for sponsorship to a conference, you have to prove to the companies you’re targeting why you are the best candidate.

Don’t assume anyone else knows how great you are, just because you think it. If you do, you’ll never be looked at for a sponsorship.

The Right Way To Get A Sponsor

There are many things involved in increasing your chances of landing that perfect sponsor, but with determination and the right guidance, you’ll be suprised at how simple it really is.

1. Create A Sponsor Me Page

The first thing you should do, before anything else, is to create a page that contains the following:

• The reasons bloggers should be sponsored.
• The reasons you should be the blogger to be sponsored.
• What you’ll offer the sponsor.
• What you want from the sponsor.
• What conferences you would like to be sponsored for.
• How to get in touch with you.

2. Create A Letter That Sells You

Once your page is created, you need to focus on writing a letter, that is short and concise that includes all of the same points included in your sponsor me page.

Not every company wants to spend the time scouring your blog trying to find out why they should sponsor you, so sending them a letter by email (or even better, by snail mail) containing the same information, not only makes you look professional and sophisticated, but it also makes sure you’re key points of interest don’t go un-noticed.

3. Contact Companies Through Social Media

The companies more likely to sponsor your conference trip are those that are already into social media and blogging.  Those that know where the future is going and want to be in the front of the pack.

They understand already why sponsoring bloggers is so important, so half of your work in selling yourself to them is done.

When you contact the companies using social media, make sure to provide a link back to your sponsor me page.

In Summary

Companies don’t just give money to anybody that asks them.  If they did, they’d be out of business within a week.  They have to have a great reason to sponsor you and justify it with some kind of return on investment (ROI).

If a company doesn’t see a return on investing in you, they will move on to the next person.  And first impressions are still everything.

Have you been sponsored for a conference?  What process did you go through?  I would love to hear your feedback on your experiences.

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And in our excitement to try to be like them, we often do just that. But what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another.

The best way to stand out is to be yourself.

Be original in everything you do.  Don’t add something to your blog’s sidebar because your favorite blogger did it.

All of us have different personalities.  Different likes, dislikes, and hobbies.  So why try to be like someone else?

Our originality is what makes us stand out.  And at the end of the day, there is only YOU.  People will like you for who you really are, not who you pretend to be.

So be yourself, and you’ll be surprised at just how much you will stand out.

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Because when it comes to paying for a product that will make you money online, the second best thing to free is “Super Cheap”.  Who doesn’t easily have $7.00 to try on a big money making product?

When you look at this program, you are simply buying an e-book for $7.00.  The e-book tells you not only how to create and budget, fast selling info products online but you’re also given the software to create your own product site using the exact same script.

I know, it’s always the same old thing.  But the information in that e-book isn’t what makes me money!  In fact, I deleted the e-book as soon as I finished skimming the pages.  I could care less about creating a website using their script to sell products online.  I’m into one thing, and that’s making money online by blogging.  That’s it!

So how am I making money with it?

Part of what you get when you purchase the e-book, is the chance to become an affiliate of it.  That’s what we all do as bloggers right?  Send people to a website using our affiliate links.

So you spend $7.00 to become an affiliate, you send people to the website using your affiliate code (through ads), they purchase a copy of the e-book so they can become affiliates, and $7.00 gets deposited directly into your Paypal account!

That’s right, you get 100% of the profits.

Will people pay for it?  Hell yeah!  Because it’s only $7.00!

Why does the author give you 100% of the profits?  Because he sticks a bunch of his own affiliate links into the e-book’s content, and that’s how he makes his money.

So click here to get $7 Dollar Secrets, and start making money on your blog!

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But with no explanation of how to do it, I realize it may have left some of you wishing they would have done a demo.  So for those of you who may not understand how to use Yahoo Pipes, here’s a step-by-step guide to building your ego feed with Yahoo Pipes.

Creating A Yahoo Pipes Account

To create a Yahoo Pipes account, simply visit http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/ and click “Create a Pipe”.  If you’re not logged into yahoo with your yahoo id, then you need to login.  If you do not have a yahoo pipes account, you obviously need to create one then return to Yahoo Pipes and go from there.

Setting Up Your Yahoo Pipes  Canvas

When you click “Create a Pipe” and have logged in with your Yahoo Id, you’ll see a screen like the following and will be utterly confused as to what you’re supposed to do.

From this screen, click on the plus sign beside “Feed Auto-Discovery” in the left hand panel under “Sources”, and drag the box that shows up to another location on your canvas.  Do this 2 more times.

Then click the plus sign beside the “Fetch Feed” button which is just under the “Feed Auto-Discovery” button.  Drage the box to a blank location on your canvas.  Then do this one more time.

Now choose the “Operators” category and click the plus sign beside “Union”.

Now click the plus sign beside “Sort”.

When all of these steps are complete you should have a workspace that looks something like this:

Grabbing Your Many Ego Feeds

There are so many places that you can use to find what people are saying about you and your brand it’s often-times hard to keep track of them all.  So we’re only starting with the most popular places and you can always add more later.

1. Google Blog Search

Simply visit http://blogsearch.google.com/ and type the following in the search box: link:www.yourdomain.com

Then copy the url in your browser’s address bar and paste it into one of your “Feed Auto-Discovery” boxes on your Yahoo Pipes canvas.

2. Yahoo Search

Visit www.yahoo.com and type the following in the search box: link:www.yourdomain.com

Choose “Except from this domain” in the “Show Inlinks” option. And choose “Entire Site” from the “to” dropdown option.

Then copy the url in your browser’s address bar and paste it into one of your “Feed Aut0-Discovery” boxes on your Yahoo Pipes canvas.

3. Bing Search

Visit www. bing.com and type the following in the search box: “www.yourdomain.com” -site:www.yourdomain.com

Then copy the url in your browser’s address bar and paste it into one of your “Feed Aut0-Discovery” boxes on your Yahoo Pipes canvas.

4. Twingly

Visit www.twingly.com and type the following in the search box: link:www.yourdomain.com

Click the “Subscribe to RSS” link on the right side of the results window.

Then copy the url in your browser’s address bar and paste it into one of your “Fetch Feed” boxes on your Yahoo Pipes canvas.

5. Twitter Search

Visit http://search.twitter.com and search for any words that would pertain to you, such as “@yourusername“.

In the results window, click the “Feed for this query” option on the right.

Then copy the url in your browser’s address bar and paste it into one of your “Fetch Feed” boxes on your Yahoo Pipes canvas.

To add more search results from Twitter simply click the plus sign beside “URL” in your “Fetch Feed” box to add another line to paste an additional url.  You can do this an unlimited number of times.

Finalizing Your Yahoo Pipes Creation

In your “Sort” box, type “item.pubDate” and choose “Descending” for the order.  This will sort your results by the publish date and display them newest first.

Then click on the small circles under each “Feed” box and connect a line to the circles on top of the “Union” box.

When all circles are connected, connect the bottom circle of the “Union” box to the top circle of the “Sort” box and finally from the bottom circle of the “Sort” box to the top circle of the “Pipe Output” box.

Your Yahoo Pipes creation is now complete and it’s time to save and get your feed.  Your creation should look something like this:

Grabbing Your Yahoo Pipes RSS Feed

Click the save button in the upper right of the canvas workspace and choose a name for your feed.

When your creation is saved you will see an option that says “Run pipe…” at the top of your browser window.  Click this link and your pipe will run.

Then choose the subscribe option you want on the created page.

That’s all there is to it.  It takes some time and a little effort, but from now on, anything anyone says about you or your brand will be sent to your feed reader.

You can also perform other searches in each search engine for your desired search terms and add them to your “Feed Auto-Discovery” boxes as well.

Have fun and let me know if this was a big help for you in creating your own Ego Feed.

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