This is the conclusion of my thesis that property values will remain stagnant for the next 35 years or more.

Take a moment and consider what I have laid out and leave your comments.

Do you think I am in left field?

What are your thoughts?

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Blog Family,

I confess. From time to time, I watch QVC. I said it. But you have to hear me out before condemning me as an outcast to know that I was doing market research for you. While 

watching a sale for pediatric posturepedic pillows,  it hit me.

The lessons to be learned from QVC are invaluable.

What is QVC?

QVC is one of the largest multimedia retailers in the world, and broadcast live 24 hours a day, 364 days of the year. This is the live show that sells the products constructed by the worlds entrepreneurs in a quick hitting, in your face, shop at home style.

According to their website, QVC is a wholly owned subsidiary 

of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Interactive Group. Trades under the Nasdaq as LINTA. QVC was founded in 1986 by Joesph Segal. In it’s first full fiscal year of business, QVC’s revenues exceeded $122 million. This is outstanding and was a record in American business history for sales of a new public company.

Additional information on the QVC website reveals the company received more than 181 million phone calls last in the United States alone, shipped 166 million units worldwide. Net sales for 2007 was more than $7 billion and they reach more than 166 million cable and satellite homes worldwide.

What does QVC have to do with Entrepreneurs?

I think it is safe to say that QVC has a winning business model and is doing a lot of things the right way. Therefore, I thought that maybe as entrepreneurs and bloggers, we could gleam some insight from QVC that has made them so successful and apply it to our individual businesses.

QVC sales the products of entrepreneurs like you in real time. There tactics and influencers have been effective enough to drive the kind of numbers that they are reporting. Maybe there is something to learn from this phenomenon known as QVC for each of our businesses.

Marketing Lessons from QVC

1) Prominent Product Positioning. Although they are only limited to your television screen, the QVC administrators have mastered art of prominently placing their products on the screen to maximize visibility and give the potential buyers an idea of how big the product is they are viewing and how it is used. This is done by showing the product next to common items in the home or someones hand to give an idea of size. And they are always demonstrating the use of the products as well as giving suggestions on how it can be used by the end buyers.

2) Repetition of your message and selling points. Repetition seems to be one of the key strategies that QVC employs to move their products. And moving their products is their specialty. Watching the show on pillows, they sold over 52,000 units while I was watching the show. Simply amazing! And one of the key points I noticed during this segment was how many times and variety of different ways they repeated the product name and unique selling points. The lesson for you is to make your offering visible and repeat the benefits as often as you can without driving the customer or readers crazy. The point is you have to get your message into their minds so they can realize this is something they need. This can only be done through repetition.

3) Urgency. I love the way QVC uses urgency to convert sales. Yes, they spokes person does let you know that this is a limited time only offer. But the subtle way they do it is the best….with the clock. They will have a countdown clock in the corner of screen letting the viewers know that this product will only be available for the next 5 minutes, so they better act now. Another way they utilize this tactic is by saying there is is only 1,000 of these units available and they show how many are left in stock. Again, emphasizing the urgency the viewer needs to use to get one of these great deals. In your business, maybe you could have time sensitive dates for your readers or customers to act on to take advantage of your offerings.

4) Appeal to Desire to Belong. I had trouble naming this, but it works. The point I am trying to illustrate is they use of “everyone else is doing it, so you should as well” tactic utilized by the QVC. Example, on the screen they would flash how many orders have been sold. As mentioned above, during the sale of the pillows they kept flashing the number of sales they have made. This was done for urgency because they said only so many units would be sold, but also to let people know that others have found this to be a great buy. Sometimes as entrepreneurs and bloggers, we utilize this tactic in the form of testimonials, which QVC does as well with live callers that are buying the products. They allow the presenters to interview them after making a purchase. The viewer identifies with the buyer and thinks maybe this will be a good deal for them as well. The desire to belong is great in a many of our markets, so consider using this tool at your disposal as well.

5) Show Savings. Regardless of the market and especially today, people are looking for a savings. You should not allow the consumers to calculate the savings they will benefit from buying your product or service. QVC does this with the side bar on the screen where they will show the retail price of an item, the marked down price, and the difference is the saving. In addition, they will have specials if someone bought two items, then they would get the second one for $5 off. Instead of just letting this savings slide, they would highlight that and encourage the buyers to get two in order to save more money. The more they buy, the more they save. It is a great way to get your potential buyers one step closer to making a purchase with you.

6) Make Purchase Recommendations.  As mentioned in #5, QVC will make various packages that the buyers can choose from and illustrate the savings involved. This is a great idea, but don’t loss the other recommendation in there. The opportunity to tell your audience what they need. QVC was selling pillows in sets of two, but encourage the viewers to buy two sets of two pillows for the savings, their spouse, even the guest bedroom. If you can build your ethos, trust, with your audience, then they will believe you and take your council in purchase decisions.

7) Connect Features & Benefits to Buyer Needs. You are aware that QVC utilized spokespeople to promote the products during the individual segments. The people are not talking aimlessly about the products they are selling, but they strategically mentioning the features and benefits of each item and drawing a directly relationship to the needs of their buyers. As an example, the pillows were to provide great support for the users and this point was demonstrated by having someone lie on their pillow and a regular store bought pillow. Once this demonstration was made and you could clearly see the difference in the two pillows, the presenters spent a lot of time telling the viewers how and why this will benefit them and solve their needs. Everything from the quality of the pillow will save you money because you will buy less, to the better nights rest and refreshed feeling you will spring out of bed was covered. Your buyers will not buy if they don’t understand how your product will help them out specifically. Spend time driving that point home.

8 ) Easy, Visible Purchase Options. If you watch QVC, there is no doubt that you can find out how to purchase their goods. First of all, the spokesperson is going to mention how you can do this every so often, but it is also plastered all over the screen. They have the phone number visible (large) and the website clearly visible. They let their viewers know exactly how they can pay for the goods, by credit card, eCheck, PayPal, but not C.O.D. It is very important to never leave your potential buyers guessing. Every delay is a moment for them to turn away and entertain someone else’s offer. Don’t give them that chance, provide them the information they need to make a purchase decision.

The Monster Marketer that is QVC

Without a doubt, the people at QVC have mastered their business model and does very well with it. As entrepreneurs, we should not spend out time trying to talk down or bad about another business, but instead we must learn from their successes. Everyday QVC runs in most countries, take a few moments to watch their broadcast from time to time. You might find a bargain that is right up your alley, but I am certain you will feel the power of their marketing efforts, notice the tactics I mentioned, and more.

Now go into the world, find your markets, implement the marketing strategies of the QVC and dominate. These tactics can be used on your website, commercials (if you run them), flyers, during presentations, radio spots, news paper ads, and more. If you find any additional strategies they are using, be sure to share them with us here. We are all here to learn and grow from one another.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

Believe it or not there are still thousands and thousands of people that still think social networking is for children. I would caution those people to pump the breaks and consider the phenomenon that is social media.

I Started anti-social network

Like most people, my first thought of social media and social networking was MySpace. This was the first real mega site that had social media platform as it base. And upon first introduction, I was amazed. It was pretty cool with all the features that was available. Tom, everyone’s first friend, was the man. The trend of MySpace was booming. My friends and family where creating pages and communicating. Everything was great.

Then something happened. I cannot be certain what it was, but I found myself going to MySpace less and less. Soon, I didn’t even care about it at all. Could have been the million and one half dressed girls trying to get a friend request, or the 70 promoters per day posting announcements and singing acts on your page. I had enough of it and didn’t want anything to do with it. This made me very anti-social networking

Resistance Is Futile

Despite my best efforts, social networking continued to penetrate my life. It was everywhere, but when I heard about President Obama using this Twitter for campaigning, I had to do some investigating. And once you get a whiff of Twitter, you are usually hooked. 

It happened to me. Twitter got me hooked. I starting meeting some wonderful people and interacting with them on a micro-blogging level. I like to think of it as delayed messaging. It is great how you can build relationships 140 characters at a time, but it happens everyday. It was great.

Getting Involved

I embraced Twitter and today find myself dusting off my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts as well. I figure that resistance to this social phenomenon is futile. It is everywhere and growing. Besides, the upsides are tremendous for entrepreneurs, but you cannot see that until you put down your guard and get involved. 

Think about it. This is an opportunity for you to develop of network of people that are familiar and comfortable with you. Increasing your brand or name awareness. This is valuable once you learn how to turn this awareness into value, thus earning from it…., but that is another conversation.

Bottom Line: SOCIAL NETWORKING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

This is not your teenagers social networking. This is social networking for the 21st century entrepreneur. The time is now for you to get involved. Yes, there is a learning curve, but it isn’t as big as you think it is. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be discussion many different ideas about social networking and how to implement it into your business for fun and profit.

Do you have social networking accounts?

If yes, then be sure link up with me on my social networking sites. Let’s get connected.

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1) Askismet - This one is a no brainer because everyone hates spam on your blog. The wild thing is that you don’t really realize how much spam you get until you install this plugin and actually see what it catches. Amazing! Simply a must have for all blogs and bloggers, period. No link because Askismet comes on your blog automatically.

2) Comment Luv - If you have a desire of building a community on you blog, then Comment Luv is a must. This plugin encourages readers to participate by listing their most recent article post (most of the time) beneath their comment. It gives them a better chance of receiving traffic from their comments because their latest article may intrigue another reader enough for them to visit. Thus the increase in potential readers means an increase in comments for you. Besides, I think the Blogosphere basically expects you to have this plugin by now.

3) Keyword luv - This is basically an extension of the comment luv feature and allows your users to include keywords that relate to their site and hyperlink them back to their site. This is again great for community building blogs. But to be honest, I rarely use this feature when I am commenting because I am usually just trying to engage the blogger or get a link back to my site, so sometimes it appears to be a bit of over kill for me.

4) Related Post – If you ask me this is a must for all blogs. The related post plugin provides a list of post that might be similar to the one that the reader is reading. This is great because if the post was eye catching and enjoyable, the reader may want something similar to that one. This plugin gives that to them. You can put this plugin into your side bar or footer, but my favorite place for it is at the bottom of individual post, or on the Single.php page, usually. That is the optimal place for it because if a reader gets all the way through the post, then it may mean that they liked or was intrigued by it….maybe even enough to stay on your site to read something similar or related.

5) WP Print – This is a standard plugin that allows all of your readers to download and print your articles in a printable format. If you are taking the time to produce quality content, many of your readers are going to want to print them out to read later. Everyone doesn’t like to read on a computer screen believe it or not.

6) Sociable – I love the sociable plugin because it allows your readers to spread the word about your great post anytime they want. Usually, you will find this plugin at the bottom of an article so when the reader makes their way through it they will be able to click a button and Digg, Propeller, Stumble, Redd it, Mixx and more your article to all of the best social book marking websites out there. And believe me, all of them are included in this plugin. You can mark a check box next to the ones that you want to utilize or not.

7) Tube Press – This is a great plugin for grabbing relevant YouTube videos and putting them into your blog. I use this plugin a lot when flipping websites as it ads great content, looks very professional, and does the job very well. Did I mention how simple it is to install? No, well, it is and you should be sure to check it out.

8 ) WordBay – Here is another simple plugin that I use on flip sites as well. It could be great for niche sites if you are into them as well. All that is require is you download the plugin, get a free ebay developers account, plugin your account number, and use the WordBay plugin to display relevant ebay auctions right inside your website. When a browser clicks on a listing, they are taking to the ebay website and if they make the purchase, you get the credit. Simple, easy way to cash in on the power of ebay.

9) AW Stats – Yes, everyone and their mother are using Google Analytics, but sometimes you might want some stats that are a little different and right there on your server. AW Stats give you that option. And you can use it as a check to see how accurate GA is from time to time. It is free, so check it out.

10) Contact (cforms) - How are you going to have a blog without a contact form? What if you readers want to contact you? After all, blogging is a contact sport. Download this plugin and you will be amazed how easy it is to implement a customized contact form into your website. There are so many websites out there that do not have a contact for that it is sickening, especially when it is so easy to get. It will take two minutes to put a form into your site and that is if you are being picky!

11) Google XML Site Map – Download this now! Don’t ask questions about what it is, just do it! If you have any desire at all to gain search engine rank positions, SERPs, then this is a must for search engine optimization. Google XML site map keeps the Big G, Google, updated on the site map of your website site. Very important plugin, even if you are not really into plugins.

12) My Page Order – This is a nifty little plugin that allows you to change the order of your web pages. Sometimes you might want more important pages to the left of your page navigation and this plugin will allow you to do that as well. Moving around the pages is so easy with this plugin that I highly recommend it if that is what you are looking for. This is great for personal blogs and interest blogs as well.

13) All in One SEO - Here is another plugin that you should just download right now. Don’t worry about it, just get it. Again, if search engine optimization is anywhere in your future, then you need this plugin. It is the best for updating your title and description tags automatically based on the nature of the content. You got to love that. You can customize further if you need, but this plugin really takes the work out of SEO work in my opinion. It goes into every blog I produce. Must have!

14) Head Space – Head space is another one of these SEO plugins that you can use. I have been using it less and less since really understanding the functions of All in One SEO, but it is another option as well for you to use when customizing the head section of your blogs.

15) Random Post – Random post is great for creating addition internal links within your website and even keeping the reading interesting for your readers as it will suggest random post that they may not have  ordinarily clicked in the first place. Typically, you will find the random post plug at the end of an article, enticing the reader to take another round through your material.

16) Subscribe to Comments - If your blog is about community building and your trying to encourage participation amongst your readers, then you have to take a moment to install this plugin as it will allow your readers to subscribe to comments and receive an email when someone else has said something on a post them might have interest. Again, great for building the community and keeping the participation going.

17) Ozh-Admin Drop Down Menus – This is a must have. You might be thinking drop down menus on a blog is no big deal, but this is drop down menus in the WP-Admin area for your internal use!!! I got hip to this plugin by Joe from ImWithJoe.com and have been addicted to it every since. There is no blogs that I own that don’t have this plugin into it because of how it will increase your work flow and time spent on a site. You might not understand now, but download this one and you will quickly  wonder how you ever got along with out it. Trust me on this one, I will never blog again without it.

18) WP Back Up – Got to back up your material. All it takes is one time to lose everything you have been working on to understand the importance of this plugin. The idea is to never experience that pain in the first place, so download this one now.

19) OIO Publisher - Ok, this plugin cost a little money to use, but if you are after advertisers on your website, then you got to have it. OIO manages the advertising for you and ensures that you are paid before ads are posted on your website, freeing you to move on to bigger and more important issues concerning your blog. Get the OIO publisher today.

20) Easy Pay Pal - If you wan to sell items on your blog, you might have found it impossible to link to PayPal with WordPress. Well this plugin does the trick for you.

However, since I have started this list, I discovered a way to make this happen without the use of a plugin. If you are interested in that, then check out this article I wrote entitled, How to Link to PayPal Payment from WordPress without a Plugin.

21) Feedburner Feedsmith - Feed burner Feedsmith is another way to integrate your feedburner and Rss material into your site and syndicated around the world. There is no need doing all of this typing if you are not going to make it as easy as possible for people to use it and enjoy it. Give this one a shot today.

22) Technorati Incoming Links – Technorati has become an important part of the blogging world. If it has taken over your life as well, then consider using the incoming link monitor to help determine how many links you are generating that is coming into your blog that Technorati will give you credit for.

23) Top Commentator Plugin – Community style blogs must have this plugin. It rewards people that communicate in your blog by commenting with a listing on the your site and a backlink to their blog. This back link is counted by Technorati and is a way to generate traffic to the commentors blog as well as encourages participation in your blog. It is a win-win for all parties involved.

24) Gd-Star Rating – Often times, your readers like to rate various comments and your blogging as well. GD star rating allows them to do this. If you are producing practical and useful articles, then you might want to allow your readership to rate your work, but if you are producing crap, then I would suggest that you spare your feelings cause your readers are going to be honest with you.

25) What’s your suggestion? - I like to hear from you. What plugins not on this list would you recommend for bloggers to use? Let’s continue the conversation and I will post some of them here.

Closing Comments

At the end of day, there are hundreds even thousands of useful plugins available for your to utilize. My suggestion would be to find the ones that are doing the most for you and the growth of your blog and try not to use them all. That is the think about the plugin market, there are so many, but too many on your blog will begin to slow it down. Keep this in mind when you are adding every plugin you find to your blog that you need to focus on the ones that will bring you the most benefit and get you closer to your goals. There is no prizes for using plugins, only prizes for using them effectively.

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Blog Family,

The facts are clear. The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the Superbowl.  I know, that is crazy right. It even feels funny to type Cardinals and Superbowl in the same sentence, let alone say it. The Steelers are not a surprise to me because they have displayed all year that defense is for real and the BRING THE HAT!

I will give it up to the Cardinals, they are playing great football. They will only get better with the return of Andquan Bolden, the other monster receiver on the team. Larry Fitzgerald is really elevating his game. They say while the world is watching the NFL playoffs, starts are born. This is true and we are witnessing Larry’s ascension into the football elite. Not sure what he is going to do against that Pittsburg defense, but no one gave them a chance to get here and they did it. So you cannot rule them out of anything.

I cannot say enough about Kurt Warner. He is one of those guys that just makes everyone better. The difference is accuracy. The NFL is a game of inches believe it or not. And a ball place 2 to 3 inches in a particular direction can win or lose the game for a team. QB passing accuracy is critical. I believe McNabb lost that game because of bad ball placement. There were times when people could have caught and ran for daylight, but a low thrown ball causes the receiver to slide and catch instead of catching it in stride to keep run. This is a game of inches.

So, who is sick that they are not in the Superbowl? The PACKERS!!!

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS!!! That is right. Think about it football fans. That same team last year with Brett Farve was a 13-3 football team on the doorstep of the superbowl. They release Farve, don’t make the playoffs in favor of Aaron Rodgers and the future. 

Don’t get it twisted, Brett Farve is still the truth. With the weapons, trust, and chemistry he has with that team, the problems the NFL had, Giants losing Plaxico Burris, Farve would have the Packers in the Superbowl with a legitimate shot at winning another superbowl. There is no doubt in my mind that would be the case. Farve has it and is just a winner. 

You may be thinking that defense isn’t good enough. But consider that a good offense, makes a defense better. This is done because they are rarely put in tough positions with useless turnovers deep in their own territory. By keeping the ball longer with no three and outs, scoring touchdowns and kicking off to win the game of field position. A good offense can really make a defense by allowing them to rest on the sidelines and be fresher on the field. Farve brings all of this to a team.

Don’t get me wrong, Rogers seems like he is going to be a good QB in the future. The thing about the NFL is if you have a chance to win now, YOU BETTER WIN NOW! Tomorrow is never promised.

Tomorrow is never promised.

If you have a chance to win now, you have to do it. The Cardinals would not be in this position if they would have stuck it out with their young QB. Warner has the savvy, leadership, skill, and sagger to get it done.

So I am laughing at the Green Bay Packers! I was totally against them doing that. It was some crap. Brett Farve is the legend in Wisconsin and made that Franchises what it is, you don’t do that to someone off his calibert. Especially when he had a strong year in the tank.

That is a violation and the penalty is my laughter.

(((( Imagine me pointing my finger at them and laughing hysterically )))))))))

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Blog Family,

The life of an entrepreneur is not always glamorous and desirable.  Let me be the first to tell you, if you never heard that before.

Yesterday, was an unbelievably cold day in Chicago, IL. I know that surprises you, right? The temperature was four degrees. I had a 10 o’clock appraisal appointment that was an hour and an half from my home. I left out at 9am. A little after my two children went to school. 

It was a relaxing ride. Rush hour had past, so I-294 was wide open…except for the construction that is going on. I am riding a long for about an hour and 15 minutes when I began thinking that I have passed the street. Tried to call the homeowner, but no answer. So I exited the freeway to figure out where I was.

Thinking ahead, I brought my map book of the Chicago six county area. Whipped my book out and the home owner called me. Verified that I got off a few miles to soon and I got back on the road. This time I knew where I was headed.

Changing the music, started vibing to something I liked, when BLAOW!

I ran into a humongous POT HOLE! Seriously, I am surprised the car didn’t fall into the center of the earth. This was ridiculous. I thought I was in an accident. Incredible. 

After feeling for my teeth to see if everything was still in place. I noticed the care was running a little funny. Then all of a sudden, it was fine again. Bewildered, I continued down the highway in search of my appraisal inspection. Then the car started to drift to the left. I had to pull right just to get the car to go straight. Pulled over to the side of the road. Flat tire…BOOOO!!!

Staying Positive

Ok. I stayed positive and looked at this as an opportunity to see how quickly I could change my tire. Challenges work very well for me as for motivation. I think that is why I was a decent athlete. I just couldn’t stand to lose, so I was willing to do what it took to win. Anyway.

I popped around the car to the trunk to get my tools, jack, and tire. But before I could get everything out, a large semi-truck passed along side of me on the freeway. Quickly, I realized that the side of the free way changing a tire is not a good place to be since there would be maybe four feet of road between me and 1000s of pounds of metal motoring pass me at 70 miles an hour. 

I wasn’t far from a ramp where car could enter the freeway, so I drove on the flat to that location and got as far over to the side as I could. It was a good spot and really worked out for me. It was only about 1/4 of a mile down the highway. 

James from Toll Way Assistance pulled up as I was getting my tire out of the trunk and gave me a hand. Basically, that amounted to an hidralic jack. Wow! What a difference that makes when changing a tire. It was basically nothing. Might have taken 15 minutes total. Maybe not even that long, but I am including the conversation. James was a good guy and says he sees waaaayy too many flat tires everyday as a result of all the Pot Holes on the freeway.

My rim was bent badly, so I just threw it all in the back of his truck to dump. I must just get a new one. Life goes on and I made it to my appointment. Naturally, during the ride to the side of the ramp I called the homeowner and informed them of my misfortune and to give me an additon 30 minutes to get there. Good business is keeping in touch. I made it there at about 11am, which was good. I got it done.

Pot Holes for a reason

Have you ever considered that we may have Pot Holes in our life for a reason? Serious question. Maybe we have set backs, obstacles, disappointments for a reason. Maybe there is a lesson or intervention there. You never know. How many times have people been able to turn set back into accomplishment? Disappointment into victory? It happens more than you think, even on a smaller scale. Maybe there is just some lesson for you to gain during that experience.

I think for me the lesson was to just keep it moving. Keep going towards your goals and dreams. Keep getting your task list done. Keep on planning, working, acting, learning, doing, reading, growing. Just keep it moving. The things that happen are suppose to happen and it is your job to just keep it moving.

Surrender to the Pot Hole

You may as well surrender to the realization that there are always going to be Pot Holes in your life. Remember what James said, there are waaayyy to many flat tireds caused by these Pot Holes. They are going to be in your life. You just have to rise above them and keep it moving.

Coming back from the appraisal inspection, I was feeling good and ready to go to my next one. There was a traffic jam. Staying positive, I didn’t trip out at all. Can’t stand traffic jams or traffic, but I was good. Had some good music on and it was all good. 

When I finally got to the front, turns out there was a traffic accident. Not sure exactly what happened, but it didn’t look good. Remember, it was 4 degrees in Chicago, with snow on the ground. It didn’t look good.

Whenever we are faced with mortality driven situations, it causes us to speculate, wonder. You know? Your mind races from thing to thing. Well, I started thinking out precious and special our lives really are. And it is so fragel. We are but a split second away. 

Naturally, I couldn’t help but think that could have been me. It could have been anyone. Be careful on the roads. But it made me realize that maybe that Pot Hole was more than just happenstance, maybe I was suppose to get a lesson and avoid an accident. 30 minutes was the window created by the Pot Hole. 

Whoa. That is interesting, but point remains…things are going to happen in your life that you may not or get frustrated with, but look for the lesson or opportunity and keep it moving.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

I wanted to take a quick moment to share something with you that I discovered and had been trying to figure out for some time now. How to link from your WordPress blog to a PayPal payment option?

Why would you want to do this?

If you are actually asking this question, then making money with your blogging efforts might not be your main focus. And that is fine, but there are people out there that are interested in doing such a thing. These individuals might want to sell goods, products, ebooks, ideas, consulting, or even accept donations through their blog, but Paypal doesn’t work the regular way with WordPress.

Why not just use a plugin or a landing page?

Cause I am tired of loading 500 plugins to my sites and using one less will help with my sanity. Ok, maybe it isn’t that bad, but using less plugins than necessary couldn’t hurt. Besides, this method is actually easier than using the plugins that are available.

As for landing pages, well that is another possibility, but it also creates extra work as well. You have create, design, layout, and tweak the landing page to make sure that the branding is consistent with your blog and then upload the PayPal html to make the link work. What a hassle when you can just link directly from your WordPress blog and have all the branding and everything in tact already.

How to link to WordPress to a PayPal Payment.

First of all, go to PayPal and follow these instructions.

1 – Log in to your PayPal account

2 – Click Merchant Services

3 – Click Buy Now Button, or whatever is necessary

4 – Customize your purchase experience

5 – Click on Create Button

6 – THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE MATTER - You will have two options, one with HTML code for Websites & the second for links in email. Even though you are linking from your website, you want to use the Email option, believe it or not.

This is where my problem was in the past because I wanted to use the code for Websites. However, the code for websites is a form and  you are not allowed to use these functions on WordPress. So, use the email link.

7 – Search for a PayPal button that you would like to use & upload to your WordPress blog

8 – Insert the PayPal button in the location you desire, switch to HTML view and create a link from that PayPal button to the email link that you generated from your PayPal account.

9 – Save and Publish!

10 - Smile because you just created a link to your PayPal payment from your WordPress blog and didn’t have to use a plugin or landing page.

Hope this tip is useful for you in the future. I know it is going to help me take my blogging, site flipping, and niche site building efforts to the next level by allowing me to link directly to my PayPal payment pages and not having to use plugins or landing pages.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

Happy New Year and all of that jazz! This is the first week of the new year and the first week of the rest of our lives. Let’s treat it that way and make it special. I have a lot planned for the coming year and need to get off to a great start. I feel like January is going to be a tell-tell of how the rest of the year is going to go and January is going to be awesome.

First up, I had a tall order on my plate from last week. I started this niche site about a month and a half ago that I wanted to have 30 articles on the site as of January. Therefore, I had to write 13 articles to complete that goal. Well, it was after January first, but yesterday I wrote 13 articles to make it happen. I figure it is 2009 the year of accomplishment and there are NO EXCUSES! Succeed at all cost.

A Little Change in Goal Setting Sundays

Let’s do somethings a little differently this year, Blog Family. At the beginning of each month, I will layout a few month long goals. Then, each week I can provide an update on this progress and specific things each week that I am doing to accomplish these goals. Weekly goal setting is great, but each week should move you closer to the overall goals that you have for month, quarter and year. I have those as well and will be unveiling them in the future.

January 2009 Goals

Here are my top 5 goals for this month:

1) Earn $1,000 flipping websites – This has been something that I have been doing over the last couple of months, but now is the time to start getting serious and generating an operating income. I figure that I will need to sell between 5 and 7 sites to hit this number. This is completely attainable although I have never sold this many sites in a month. There is always a first month and this is it.

2) Generate between 30 to 50 visitors on my real estate investing site – Invest With Passion! is my real estate investment site and is the subject of my IME #2 that we will be getting more into this year. My immediate goal is to start generating some more traffic to this site. Right now it receives between 10 and 30 visits per day, so i want to at least double those numbers. This site has tremendous earning potential, but I must get serious about it.

3) 30 New Email subscribers to FreddieTaylor.com – This may not sound like an achievement to you, but it will be a good thing for me. I have had a good amount of increase subscribers since launching the book, but just want to keep it moving in a positive direction. Also, I am getting my email campaigns together for their subscribers as well. There is no real rush, but I would like to build my subs and brand a little more first.

4) Create store for HempExposed.com - This is another niche site of mine that I have. Originally, this was a site flip, but it didn’t sell and I like it so I decided to keep it. However, I am changing the direction of the site and making it more of a store that sells hemp based products, while providing information on the hemp revolution. Should be some good stuff. Once the store is created, I will SEO optimize it and put it on the back burner as I focus on other projects.

5) Create 3 New Niche sites - I am always into exploring the Internet for new ideas. And since I am an owner of a WordTracker account, finding keyword phrases to target is pretty easy, thus I must go for it. Creating 3 niche sites sounds like a lot, but it isn’t, plus I have a plan for these sites as well.

This Week

Creating month long goals is a great thing to do, but you the week and days is where the rubber hits the road. The work has to get done. Therefore, here is my goals for the week coming up.

1) Load Theme, Plug-ins, & determine categories for 3 Site flips – At this moment, I own the domains for my next 4 site flips. Putting one to the site, i will do a lot of the leg work for these flips. I want to go after it early in the month, so that I am not under so much pressure towards the end of the month. By focusing on just knocking out the themes and plugins and some other minor tweaks, I should be able to keep my energy focused and moving.

2) Get WordPress 2.6 – Let me just put it out there, I hate WP 2.7. You may be wondering why? Well, many of the themes that I have been flipping with are not working with WP 2.7. Maybe I need to get the updated versions of the themes, but I know it is driving me crazy! I have to get to the bottom of that or just use WP 2.6 like I am thinking is the best option. We will see.

3) Get PLR or affiliate products for site flips - Most of the site flips I do have some sort of product that is being sold on the blog. This always create additional value for the buyers of the sites as this is something that the marketplace has come to expect. When selling, always give the buyer what they want. This is the path to success.

4) Write 10 articles & gather pictures – After spending a few hours writing 13 articles on Saturday, I came to the conclusion that I can crank some articles our if I really need to. Well, in order to flip 5 to 7 sites in one month, this is a skill that is going to be tested. Yes, I like to outsource as much as possible, but in order to attain my goal of actually profiting $1,000 I am going to push the keys until I have enough articles to make it happen. Writing 10 articles in this first week will get me off to a great start. Each site will have between 5 and 7 articles with them.

5) Post 1 site for sale - At the end of the week, I will post one of these sites for sale. This means there is a lot more work to be done for the site to be ready to go to sale. That is alright as I will crank it out. I have a great feeling that I know which site I will be using to go to sale with this coming weekend, but I won’t share it just yet. Just know that I am going to get it done.

Time to get to work!

Yes, you are right. This is a lot for one week. However, don’t underestimate my desire for success at this point. I have been holding back for some time now, underachieving, but I am tired of that. It is getting old. Besides, that quote last week from Buddha really has my mind and body moving with some urgency. Well the time has come for us to pause this conversation….and get to work.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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“Happiness is the art of learning how to get joy from your substance.”  — Jim Rohn

Sometimes that answers you seek and the happiness you desire lies inside of you and your abilities.

Greetings Blog Family,

It is the holiday season and I am away from my office on vacation. Around this time of year, every year, I visit my parents home in Michigan and get an opportunity to hang out with them and many of my friends that I grew up with. This is truly a great time for me as I love to dwell amongst great friends and family. There is nothing like it.

To bring in the quote of the week by Jim Rohn, happiness starts with you. It starts from inside of you and stuff you are built of. This time of year allows me to not only reflect on my substance, but meet and mingle with the rocks of my existence…, my parents. These are two of the greatest people in the world as far as I am concerned and I don’t have enough time to get very specific on all of the wonderful things that they have done for me.

* The gave me my determination to continue in pursuit of my goals until I accomplish them. We all know that it is a necessary ability to be able to go over, through, around, or under those obstacles that are sure to face you during  your journey.

* They gave me my passionto chase my dreams unencumbered. The fears and thoughts of what others may think about you have paralyzed many into non-action, but these thoughts are not wasted on me. I have the fire, belief, and ability to continue on the path that I have chosen as the best for me at this particular time.

*The gave my ingenuity to be able to adjust and alter my course while in pursuit of what I deem to be happiness. To be a success in any field you have to be flexible. At times you are going to have to learn new skills, understand different information, or even create original information to be the success you desire.

* They gave me my awareness to smell a rat when I do and to back away from people and situations that may be harmful. Sometimes you have to just trust your gut and even your eyes when they are seeing something you don’t believe is happening. In my life, I have had good friends turn on me, but it was this ability to smell a rat that allowed me to minimize the damage. Trust your instinct at times.

* They gave my vision of marriageafter more than 50 years together, I think I have had a small picture of what it takes to make a marriage work. Family is very important to me as it is a real stabilizer in one’s life. My life is no different and it is very important to me. I understand how to be an husband, father, friend, and mainly that you just have to work on getting better everyday.

* They gave me my appreciation for friendshipfor it is truly essential to the soul. There are some things that our souls just need in this life. One of those things is true friendship. If you have not had the opportunity to experience such friendship, maybe you don’t understand what I am talking about. But if you have experienced true friendship, then you know what I mean. A friend is very special and important on any and every journey you will take.

* They gave me my sense of humanity that allows me to see the world through the eyes of those less fortunate than me and give what I can to make the community a little better. The think about this world is that we are all in this together. There is no way around it. We have to help one another.

* They gave me my happiness for without the entire lot of these things, I could not have the love, family, friends, and opportunities that I do. It is wonderful to be able to create the world and life that you desire based on the substance that is inside of you. Remember, there are some very important people in your life that helped you to be come the person you are, honor and appreciate that.

Therefore, I agree with Mr. Rohn that happiness is the art of getting joy from your substance. Thank you to these remarkable people I am able to get much joy from my substance.

Who are you indebted to and feeling especially thankful for this time of year?

First in the Mind, Then in Reality

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Greetings Blog Family,

You may be aware that I own an offline business and it is my desire to move the online world full time. Well, I really need to fire my offline business.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate and enjoy the revenue earned from this profession as a real estate appraiser, but the business is becoming increasingly more complicated by the day. It is really unbelievable what we have to go through now as appraisers. It is getting to the point where I really don’t enjoy the work anymore and I am really ready to move on.

My Appraisal Business

If you don’t know, real estate appraisers provide their opinion of value for real property, ie someones home, condo, townhouse, or income property. This is property is permanately fixed to the ground.  I have a residential appraisal business where I only appraise residential property, 1 to 4 units in size.

Another option would be to appraise commercial real estate, which pays a lot more. There is another educational, testing, and experience requirements that I would have to go through in order to be a commercial appraiser. Also, one could be a personal property appraiser that valuates items such as jewelry, clothing, furniture, or painting. LOL! I was trying to think of the items that are shown on the Antique road show where people have their special belongings valued by a professional.

Anyway, the residential appraisal business has been good to me for more than the past six years. It has fed my family and provided us with the opportunities we needed to get where we are at in our lives. It has provided me with a chance to be in the lives of my children and wife on a daily basis. I am one of the Fathers that they expect to be on the field trips. The school expects us to participate in all the after school and during school activities. This is only possible because my wife and I both work from home. (My wife is an online professor.)

This has been a great time and I don’t want to seem disrespectful to our opportunities, but I feel that I am ready to grow beyond the appraisal business. 

My Entrepreneurial Vision

When I was 7 years old and dreaming of owning my own business, I am not sure what I dreamt of owning, but it was not an appraisal business. I can tell you that with certainty. Factor in the state of the economy and what is happening in the lending business, it becomes obviously why I am considering moving on.

One reason is that there just isn’t a lot of business floating around in this industry at the moment to start and it doesn’t look like much is coming in the near future. Added to that reality is the fact that they sources of appraisals have changed and the majority is paying a third of appraisal fees in the past.

I don’t know about  you, but I felt like $300 an appraisal was not enough money and many of these companies are paying $100 now for the same work, same liability, and risk in a more dangerous environment. I for one don’t thing this is a very good trade off and refuse to take work for those rates. That is crap!

As homeowners and payers of the appraisal fee, I assume that you might feel like that is plenty, but look at like this. In 2009, if I wanted to match what I did in business in 2008, I would have to work three times more. That is straight up crap!

Plus, the lending laws is changing and the requirements put on appraisers is getting crazier and crazier by the day. Couple with less sales, means less comparable properties to determine value and you I for see a real problem in the future. 

Therefore, my online business skills, work ethic, and income all need to rise quickly over the course of the next few months because I cannot see myself doing this much longer. I have already had multiple times when I had to turn down an appraisal job because there is a sever lack of comparable properties to valuate a property from. Not to mention, most of the Realtors working the markets have absolutely no clue how to valuate a property, thus they are blaming us for not coming in at the values they need to sell a property.

The Bottom Line

Let me set the record straight. No, I am not saying that every realtor doesn’t know what they are talking about, JUST MOST OF THEM!!!! Second of all, it is not the appraisers responsibility or job to hit the number a person needs to make a sale, pay the realtor, cover the mortgage they own, and put some money in the sellers property. That is not our wrole. Our role is to interpet the value as demonstrated by the market through steps to determin value. Many times, this value doesn’t come out to what you might hope, especially in this current market, but understand that it is not our fault. It is just the truth of the market interpreted by appraisers.

Believe me, I am good at my business and know my material, but I have lost the fire. It doesn’t excite and challengement any longer. I am looking for a new challenge to conquer and Internet marketing, blogging, and online entrepreneurship seems to be the way for me.

I was talking to the wife the other day about not growing up wanting to be an appraiser and not really being sure of what I wanted to do, but being an online entrepreneur really seems to fit my desired lifestyle, talents, and temperament. Thus, I am going to make the mental shift necessary to begin taking this business to the next level. Thanks for listing and allowing me to remember that I am in control of my future and destiny.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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