Get Backlinks with Link Packets

If you need back links (and who doesn’t)… Then you gotta check out Link Packets… Here’s why…

For a limited time Link Packets has made available to you 300 PR4-PR8 backlink sources to help boost your websites traffic and rankings… All links come with screenshots and step-by-step instructions on how to get these sites to link to yours… More importantly…

Instead of wasting hours searching for websites and trying to convince site owners to link to your site you will have control of 300 websites and get them to link to all of your websites!

For the more advanced users…

You can pick your own anchor text without waiting or negotiating with site owners… Bottom line is…

It takes links to increase website traffic and rankings… Link Packets did all the hard work… Every link is packaged up nice an neat just for you…

So, here’s the deal…

Only 250 spots are available for the “Summer 2010″ release… This was done to make sure members get maximum value per link… Plus, Link Packet members get first dibs on new upcoming releases before they are offered to the public…

One more thing, Link Packets comes with a 30 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee… That means that you get to test drive the service Risk Free for 30 days… If you feel that it wasn’t for you, then you get your money back!

It doesn’t get easier to get links than this folks… Go check out Link Packets today and get the “Summer 2010″ limited release plus secure your spot for all future releases!

Go here: http://linkpackets.com/

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

Killed My Blog (WordPress 3 MU)

I completely destroyed one of my sites after upgrading to WordPress 3 and activating the Multisite (MU) feature… With all my post links broken, messed up permalinks and 302 redirects springing up left and right…

I remembered what ol’ Cesar Serna does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Cesar Serna just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.”

Or was that Jack Burton…?

Here is what happened… I had and existing blog and upgraded it to WordPress 3 using the Upgrade WordPress button in the admin dashboard.

Then I added the following line to my wp-config.php file:

This activates a new link called “Networks” within the admin area of WordPress… Tools->Networks… In here is where you upgrade a standard blog to use the new Multisite (MU) features…

How I screwed things up…

Here is where it gets screwy and WP completely drops the ball when converting existing blogs…

Screw up #1… WP3 requires existing blogs activating the new MU feature to use “SUBDOMAINS”… for some reason it cannot do sub-directory type blogs…

Screw up #2… WP3 suggests you switch to non-www domain… so I did…

Screw up #3… I clicked upgrade and committed the changes… yay!

Here is what I did to fix what broke…

Fixing permalinks… As it turns out WP3 decided to mess with my permalinks… oh yeah… just changed all of my permalinks… Even though it knew it was an existing blog upgrade… not that this would impact anything important… like say, I don’t know… indexed content in search engines and backlinks!!! WP3 used a 302 redirect for every post and sent it to the homepage… Thanks WP!

Here is how I fixed it…

1. Opened phpMyAdmin to my WordPress DB
2. Clicked on the wp_blogs table and added www to the domain
3. Clicked on the wp_options table and added www to the domain for “home” and “siteurl” option
4. Also changed the “permalink_structure” field back to my original setting “/%category%/%postname%/”
5. Clicked on the wp_site table and added www to the domain
6. Clicked on the wp_sitemeta table and added www to the domain in “siteurl” field

Opened the wp-config.php file and changed the “define( ‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, true );” to “define( ‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false );”… also added the www to the domain name here… see below example…

But things were still not well… you see WP3 MU decided that it needed to hard code “/blog/” to the beginning of all my blog post urls (it does this for the main blog only)… WP3 MU currently has no way to disable this… WordPress Devs either don’t care or don’t get that changing all established URL’s will seriously screw my site up…

Of course I did what any rational person would do… I modified the core files… just one…

In the “/wp-admin/options-permalink.php”… starting on line 94… I removed the hard coded “/blog”…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

One more change… Remember how in the “UPGRADE” WP3 MU forced me to go to sub domains instead of sub directory? Well it installs the sub-domain .htaccess code and at this point I need the sub-directory code… here is the code for sub-directory…

As you can see the code for “Sub Directories” shown above is just a bit different from the “Sub Domain” .htaccess code WP installed shown below…

All fixed and working… Thanks WP! (yea right…)

So after getting my blog back online and everything working as before I decided to test the new MU feature… I created a new blog and you know what? sub-directory blogs work just fine… even without the “/blog” WP hardcoded in the core file…

WP3 Devs take note… There is no need to force existing blogs to use “subdomains” or screw up existing posts with new permalinks and hardcoding “/blog”…

Just when the average coder would have thrown in the towel, I pulled it out in record time… reminds me of something I always say at a time like this…

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Cesar Serna always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Cesar?” “Yessir, the check is in the mail.”

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

No Pie at Marie Callender’s

Outrages isn’t it? How could one visit a place known for and built upon its reputation for delicious pies and not be able to get any? You want to know how? I will tell you, someone forgot about the pies and it wasn’t me.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Up rather early this past Sunday I made my way down to Marie Callenders for breakfast. Sure I could have picked up hash browns, pancakes and eggs at several places between my home and Marie Callenders.

Only one obvious thing makes me drive the extra distance for breakfast and its called PIE! Every time I walk in I know I will see a glass case of fresh baked pies. The smell from the kitchen is one of a kind and the service up until recently was not to bad.

No Pie For Me

After eating my typical Sunday morning breakfast I was thinking over what kind of pie I should have. Apple or Cherry, maybe perhaps one of the seasonal variety.

As I was thinking in my mind what would go well with my coffee my waitress walked up to my table and without a word placed my bill in front of me. She walked away just as quickly to tend to another table and did not come back for some time.

Was it a mistake? Was she new? The place was not anywhere near full as it was early in the morning, so no need to rush me out right?

She forgot to ask if I wanted pie. The one thing I drove the distance for and looked most forward to. In fact I would be willing to bet that over 50% of the people in the restaurant that morning were looking forward to a slice of pie.

What happens when an eatery who’s has built a wonderful reputation for pies, begins to forget to offer pie to its customers?

A Better User Experience

Of course this write up is not completely about me not getting a piece of pie. More importantly I want to make you think about what is it that your clients or customers come to you for when they can go anywhere else? What is your pie equivalent that you have built your solid reputation on and are known for?

Your clients and customers can choose to go to several other places for products and service both online and offline. They choose to come to you for some reason.

More importantly is your unique user experience consistently delivered by your employees, website, business cards, packaging and even emails?

If you have ever visited Disneyworld you know that from the moment you enter the parking lot you are immersed in a magical experience. Walt Disney made sure that his vision of the Disney brand never failed to deliver starting from the parking lot to the ticket, food, rides, the buildings… well you get the point, until every last detail was covered.

Every moment was accounted for and every employee (aka Cast Member) understands the importance of the visitors experience. I know this for a fact as I was a Cast Member once. Even though I was a programmer at Disney, I was thoroughly trained in how to deliver the Disney experience, just in case I should ever be at one of the Theme Parks and encounter a question or request from a visitor.

Ask yourself if you and your employees are delivering the pie and the magical experience everyday and every time. If not, how much better could your business be if you started exceeding the expectations of your customers? How could your business deliver a consistent message and experience in person, in products, in services and online?

I Still Want Pie

Just out of curiosity, anyone else ever not get offered pie at Marie Callenders? Or was it just me?

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

Pay Per Click Calculator Application on iTunes

I got my first application in the iTunes store! I figured I would start out simple with a Pay Per Click Calculator and called it PPC Calc. You can download it via iTunes or the App Store on your iPhone or Ipod Touch.

How Does It Work?
Using simple sliders to control your Affiliate Payout, Cost Per Click, Conversion Percentage and Total Clicks you can quickly see if your Pay Per Click campaign is headed for major profit or major loss! You will get instant information on:

Campaign Spend – How much you will be out of pocket
Break Even Units – How many conversions before you get your money back
Break Even Percentage
Converted – How many conversion with the current settings
Revenue – Gross Income
Profit – Net Income
ROI % – What is the Return on Investment?

Get PPC Calc!
If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch and access to the App Store you can download PPC Calc for only 99 cents!

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

The Art of Disconnecting

We are living through some interesting times right now. Of course I believe people should be aware of what is going on around them. What is really easy to do is cross the very thin line between awareness and obsession. Losing your job, having no money and losing your house are all real fears that everyone has. One sure way to make them all come true is to obsess over them to the point that you fail to do your job, focus on what makes you money and keep yourself moving towards your goals.

Recently I have walked into stores where sales people are huddled together talking about who got layed off or if the store will shutdown. I must have stood waiting for them to notice me for at least five minutes until I said “I hate to interrupt but I would like to buy xyz product”. To my surprise instead of getting the usual sales service where I would get walked over to the product and got the old up sell speech to a better product they simply pointed me over to corner of the store and told me to go get it. I even had to wait again just to be able to pay for the product!

Here are very simple methods I use to avoid getting caught up in the daily barrage of negative news.

Turn off messaging and emails!
I borrowed this from the Four Hour Work Week, great book and I highly recommend it. I got the audio book version and it has made a tremendous impact on my productivity.

Set your Blackberry to phone only and if you really must stay on top of emails check them at the top of the hour. You will be amazed how much more work you get done when you don’t check your phone every two seconds due to it chirping or vibrating.

While you are at it turn off Instant Messenger, Twitter Client and anything else that will bring a distracting screen or blinking icon that requires your attention. If people need to get a hold of you they will call.

Change your browser homepage!
Seems simple right? I used to have Yahoo! and at times Google News set to my homepage. The problem is that habitually I would hit the home button on my browser and then immediately be distracted by some major news or new viral story. I would say this habit alone is responsible for hours of lost productivity.

So the answer? I changed my homepage to the project or site that required my attention right now! If I tend to fall victim to my adult attention deficit disorder and go off chasing some news story, I just hit the home button that would usually keep me in la la land and I am now immediately taken back to what I should be giving my attention to.

Do not answer your phone!
Here is the real test that most people fail as they are conditioned to answer the phone when they hear a ring. Most people out of habit will stop what they are doing and get up to answer a phone without much thought. Stop doing this! Let your answering machine pickup and screen your calls. 99.9% of all calls are from Telemarketers or people who just want to chat for while. The goal is to stop talking to telemarketers or discussing the worlds problems with your friends and family.

Some of you may have to answer the phone for specific people like your boss, significant other etc… Use caller id and have those numbers clearly marked somewhere so that you know to answer only those calls. Everyone else goes directly into the message machine for screening.

Building your empire takes focus!
Times are tuff no doubt about that and if you do not have the ability to delegate work to others then its all on you to deliver. Staying focused will keep you working while others are losing work, jobs, money and homes. Times call for going the extra mile, keeping a clear head and getting your work done. Even when it seems everything is tumbling down you need to keep moving forward.

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

2009 Year of the Cockroach survive and thrive!

This will be a short but sweet post based on recent events and Greg Boser’s mantra for 2009. If you follow Greg Boser on twitter you may have caught a conversation that took place between Greg and Todd Mallicoat a.k.a Stuntdubl. Greg goes on to describe why his mantra for 2009 is “I’m a cockroach” I’ve included a screenshot of the conversation below.

It’s a tough time out there for sure and despite all the bleak news I’m reading and hearing on the radio one thing one constant seems true “you have to be really really good at what you do to survive in these times.”

Coming from a coder’s perspective I have always said you are only as good as what you can create. It is not enough to just be good at code anymore you have to be GREAT! And you have to be great at customer service, marketing and everything else that comes with having a solid business model. As in Greg’s mantra being a cockroach you have to find a way to not only survive but to thrive. It is obviously not the same way for everyone, it may mean learning new skills or spammin and jammin at 3am (ahem), what ever it is… You do what you have to in order to stay alive.

Another blog posts I caught goes on to talk about how some of the greatest innovations came from times just like these. To quote the blog post

Recessions are opportunities for real innovators. Those who are motivated, inspired and committed to thinking out of the box will rise to the occasion and achieve success that grows exponentially as the economy cycles.

Blog Post: Hey Chicken Little! The Sky is NOT Falling!

So this brings me to my next question. Knowing that in a few hours the President of the United States will be meeting with General Motors to discuss plans for its future, I’m still asking myself what I posted on twitter.

What if instead of bailing out General Motors we (and I mean We because it’s taxpayer money) gave money to new innovative car companies instead? What if instead of feeding the same old formula we push for companies to survive and thrive rewarding innovation.

Not to pick on General Motors specifically but I’m sure research marketing was well aware that competitive companies likely Toyota and Honda where pushing for alternative fuel and hybrid technologies while they were still cranking out SUV’s. Earlier this year at the Auto Show American car companies where still pushing SUV’s with base a price of 40-50k while competitors where showcasing hybrid and electric technologies.

My question to you is are you caught up in the current media hype or are you strategizing to survive and thrive?

Secondly knowing that there is going to be several bailouts do you feel this is a time to break free from the old and invest in new innovative companies who could move faster to market with new and proven technologies?

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it

MP3 Player Widget Plugin

Member StalkerB asked for an extension to an existing mp3 player plugin that would allow for an mp3 player in the sidebar. The request was pretty simple so I posted a complete plugin extension in the forum and you can download it here:

Attention: Code has been re-written and only available to those on my email list! This makes it easier to keep you updated with changes… Use the signup form in the sidebar to sign up today!

• Bookmark :
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Stumbleupon
• Redit it