Menu

admin

About admin

http://andrewsaffiliatetoolbox.siterubix.com

Posts by :

Milford Sound

Journey to Milford – A Magic Masterclass in Manifestation

0

In compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about links and posts on this site: Any/all of the links on LivingHorizontally.com could be affiliate links of which I may receive a small compensation from sales of certain items.

A travelogue may seem like a strange article on an affiliate marketing website. What I’m exploring here is the importance of intention setting as a prelude to manifesting anything. There may be a journey involved in order to produce a result. And there may be some obstacles to overcome on the journey whatever it is you are wanting to manifest in your affiliate marketing business. Our journey to Milford Sound taught me some lessons and became a Masterclass in Manifestation.

Planning

planning
Thanks to Darius Sankowski for this image

We were planning a holiday in a caravan with our black Labrador, Gracie. Always a bit of a challenge. Turns out this holiday becomes more of a challenge than we imagined. We decide to visit a part of the South Island that we’ve not visited before. Milford Sound. The journey becomes a Masterclass in Manifestation.

We don’t tend to plan our journeys to the nth degree and leave plenty of room for spontaneity along the way. Create a few landmarks and allow the journey to evolve around those as we go. Paying at the holiday parks night by night is something we can do outside of the silly season.

Weather can be an issue and so it proved even before we left. It’s hosing down the day we’re meant to leave and so we put our travel off for a day.

Pets can be an issue on holiday especially when you want to book an activity that isn’t pet friendly. We decide the ultimate destination for the holiday would not only be to reach Milford Sound but to take a cruise there. Something that, unfortunately, pets can’t do.

Intention


IntentionThanks to Geralt for this Image

So, when seeking to manifest anything we first need an intention, and ours was to take a cruise on Milford Sound.

Next is to look at the possible obstacles to bringing that intention to reality. We have certain conditions that must be met before committing to the cruise. These concern how Gracie is going to be looked after.

Even before we leave home we have enquired with kennels and vets in the general area where we’ll be staying. Answers from the kennels aren’t forthcoming and eventually, the response that comes back is no. The queries to the vets hold some promise but they’re not open over the weekend. I still haven’t booked the cruise prior to leaving on holiday. It seems like there are plenty of spaces available still, so it feels all good.

We’ve drawn up a loose plan for travel that we change a couple of days out. We were going to travel State Highway 85 – aka “the Pig Route” on the way out.

Instead, we take a different path, choosing instead to take in the sights around Twizel, where we stay a couple of nights. We arrive to an overcast sky, and a forecast not holding much promise for the following day.

Opportunity

Opportunity - Mt Cook

We think it’s a great opportunity to see Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. This is the region where Sir Edmund Hilary cut his mountain climbing teeth, before going to Nepal where he’d be the first man to summit Everest in 1953. Another master class in manifestation.

Looking up the Pukaki Valley from the campground it seems the cloud is gathering thickly around the mountain, but we decide to go anyway. The mountain toys with us while we’re there but decides in the end to show its face. Spectacular. Especially for my partner who’s not been in the presence of Mt Cook before.

The next day is given over to traveling. A long day in the car unsure if we have any accommodation at the end of it.

Roadblocks

roadblocks

And it is on this day that roadblocks to the journey to Milford begin to appear. On the literal plane, roadworks halt progress as we drive toward Manapouri. On the plane of manifestation, the goal we’d set for cruising on the Sound, develops obstacles.

We’ve shot out our arrows of intention prior to the holiday. The cruise on Milford and a place to house Gracie for the day. Somewhere fenced on all sides. Somewhere she can roam untethered. And with people we feel are a good fit for her.

Doesn’t seem much to ask of the universe. And yet barriers seem to be thrown up the closer we get to the goal.

We contact the local veterinary surgeon in Southland, and they offer the name of a woman who worked for them but is now retired. She might be able to help. We leave a message on her phone but when we ring to follow up we discover she has been taken into hospital. This is our second roadblock.

We arrive at Possum Lodge in the peaceful lakeside town of Manapouri. It has a quirky air about it. And the sandflies which we hear so much about don’t seem quite as bad as their hype. We feel lucky to have found this place. With a pub and a cafe within easy distance, it is a match made in heaven.

We go to the pub when we arrive and though they’re on the verge of closing manage to rustle us up a decent meal. And we share our story of needing to find some kind person to look after Gracie while we go on a cruise in Milford Sound.

As luck would have it the woman behind the bar knows of someone who is dog savvy and would perhaps have the time to look after Gracie. We leave the pub with a phone number and a little bit of hope.

Not long into the phone call, it’s apparent this woman isn’t the answer to our prayers. We didn’t even need to state what the parameters of our intention were. The questions she asked about Gracie – “does she tie up?, Will she go in a crate on the back of a truck?” – led us to reject her offer. Her response to our answers was she thought Gracie sounded spoilt. Back to square one. Never mind.

So back to square one. Setting intentions and seeking their attainment can be like playing Snakes and Ladders. Sometimes the closer you get to your goal the more obstacles get put in your way. Following a recommendation is a bit throwing the dice. You land on a snake and go all the way back down the board. Land on a short ladder and make a bit of progress. Anyway, we still have a couple of days before we need to make the trip. Keep believing and maintaining the trust that it will be a masterclass in manifestation.

Two Wee Bookshops provides the Masterclass

two wee bookshops

The following day we decide to take a drive to Te Anau about 20 minutes up the road. As we drive through Manapouri, we see a little green Fiat Bambina on the side of the road advertising a business called “Two Wee Bookshops”. Never one to turn down an opportunity to browse for a book we turn round and search it out. We follow the Covid protocols for business there and that is us for the next hour. Browsing the books and chatting to the lovely owner Ruth.

We mention our predicament – wanting to travel to Milford Sound for a cruise and nowhere to leave Gracie for the day. Without us even purchasing a book, Ruth & her partner offer to look after Gracie for the day. We are humbled by her offer and are allowed to bring Gracie out of the car to familiarise herself with these new surroundings then and there.

We leave potentially having the last obstacle clear and with 4 books to read on our travels. And a recommendation of a place for lunch and a coffee in Te Anau. Hi fives all round.

Te Anau is another road not yet traveled and a new town not yet explored. Situated next to Lake Te Anau, the town is a mix of oldish holiday homes in the outskirts and modern motels and homes near the centre of town. There are lakeside sections available with views out to Fiordland. We can easily imagine building a house by the lake. On a beautiful day the scenery is amazing.

The effects of the pandemic are present even here. There is no shortage of parking around the town and the motels appeared mostly empty.

As Te Anau was a hub for travelers transiting through to Milford Sound, I imagine what it must’ve been like during the peak season. It was probably heaving with people, campervans, cars, and buses. Now it is a gentle lake-side town serving its permanent community with minimal input from tourism. We’re thankful for finding a well-stocked supermarket and a cafe serving good coffee and food.

And back to Manapouri. The cafe serves a good coffee and breakfast the following day. We were taking Gracie round to Two Wee Bookshops for her play date. Not only did she have the company of Ruth and her partner they also had another dog they were looking after so Gracie had a playmate. Well until she got too boisterous with the other dog Cove. Over 4 times Gracie’s age. She’s put in her place. All OK.

Their looking after Gracie ticked all our boxes. The property was fully fenced with almost an acre of grounds. She could roam around freely, play with Cove, attempt to herd the chickens and there was a shelter where she could curl up on her own bed. Somewhere she could find smells familiar to her.

Here the manifestation masterclass was nearly complete. I was yet to purchase the tickets for the cruise. Even buying the tickets online held challenges as my card was rejected on a couple of occasions during the process. But we got there.

The Arc of Manifestation

arc of manifestation

The manifestation process describes a bell curve. A bit like the arrow analogy earlier. When you shoot one into the air, it reaches the top of its trajectory and then descends.

In a masterclass in manifestation, we are creating our intention and taking action even though being discouraged by the obstacles along the way. Getting past the barriers to reach the top of our trajectory, hit our target, and then sustain that moment of achievement as we descend through to the bottom of the bell curve.

The day trip to Milford described a similar sort of arc. It was a fine day when we started out. We’d been keeping a close eye on the forecast, and it looked like it could be a reasonable sort of day in Milford Sound.

We were surprised by the lack of traffic on the road, thinking that maybe there would a few people making the journey. And there was just less than we’d imagined.

Along the way, there were reminders that we were in the grips of a pandemic. We passed an area that looked as though it had been a staging area for vehicles making the journey. Off to the side of the road, there were another two lanes with barrier arms at the end. Empty.

Driving was easy through the Eglinton Valley which, to use a culinary metaphor, was an “amuse-bouche” something to tickle the palate for what was to come. The roads were mostly flat through here. And then we started to climb. This was the entree. Through tree-covered hills until we broke out above the bush line. Here was the main course.

Nothing before had prepared us for this the raw power of nature. Like imagining you can get through a 500-gram Ribeye Steak with all the trimmings and when it is finally served you realize your eyes are bigger than your belly.

One look to right up the Gertrude Valley and then to the shear wall of rock that fills your windscreen, and you realize that words and pictures will never capture the grandeur the sheer majesty of nature that you’re witness to.

And then there’s the Homer Tunnel. I’d been hearing on news reports for years about this tunnel and imagined something like the tunnel that goes from my hometown in Christchurch through to its port of Lyttleton. Tiled sides and ceiling and reasonably well-lit, though you have to turn your lights on to traverse it.

Homer Tunnel. Nothing like it. The road is well-paved. You drive over a hump to get into the tunnel. It’s like they started at either end but most of the digging was done on the other side. And when they came to meet they were slightly out. Could be wrong. It’s dark in the tunnel with lights perhaps fifty meters apart that only illuminate the area directly underneath. There are no tiles just the raw roughly hewn rock walls and ceiling. And dripping wet. It’s one-way traffic as well. Ok for us traveling through with only a few cars in our line but I can imagine if it was busy. It would’ve been a nightmare. Once we reached the other side of the tunnel it felt like we’d been birthed into Milford Sound.

We’d reached the summit of our Bell Curve and what came after was almost B list stuff. And the weather in the Sound didn’t help as the peaks around weren’t visible so we were only getting half a picture.

Going with the food idea I think we must be expecting dessert. We got it. We’d hardly been on the cruise for 20 minutes when dolphins were spotted. For the next 20 minutes, they followed the boat surfing the bow wake and sharing their joy with us. Certainly sweet.

And we were on the downside of our Bell Curve surfing to the end of our trip. We stayed another day in Manapouri and then began the trek north.

Winding down

A night in Cromwell and lunch in Clyde. We take in the wonders of the Pig Route. And wonder why it’s named this way?

Google searches didn’t throw up any definitive clues as to why it was called “the Pig Route”. We cross a waterway called Pigroot Creek. Perhaps this was the answer. Well, it could be. Turns out there is a plant called Blue Pigroot and while it is native to South America it has arrived in New Zealand.

We wind down with a couple of nights in the Herbert Forest Campground and then homeward bound.

Blessings

local-by-flywheel

What’s So Good About Local by Flywheel?

0

In compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about links and posts on this site: Any/all of the links on LivingHorizontally.com are affiliate links of which I may receive a small compensation from sales of certain items.

What’s So Good About Local by Flywheel? Have you ever had a situation where you are your wit’s end and you feel lost as to where to go or what to do on a project. Then something comes along to save the day. I’m lucky to have had that happen for me recently.

I’m working on updating a WordPress website and was struggling. I’d been trawling through some of the tutorials at WPCrafter.com. Membership plugins, payment forms. And then I saw he had one called Live to Local. I watched. Wow. Live with Local an answer for me out of Left Field.

Trying to sell a product with membership capability on a site that had already had some challenges. I was getting along at snail’s pace with the work. Internet ain’t that fast in our rural area. I’d stripped the current site back to the bare essentials and was still having problems.

He mentioned in the tutorial that he used Local by Flywheel to work on existing sites. I thought I’d do that. So I followed his instructions.

Local Hosting

Local Hosting enables you to work on websites on your local computer. I had tried it before without much success. I had had to build the functionality from scratch and when something went wrong I struggled to find the answer. Another project swept under the carpet.

And here was LOCAL  – Download for free and away you go. So I went. I took advantage of the free download. I backed up the site I was working on using the plugin WPVivid. The plugin worked as per instructions and I restored it on the site I’d set up on my computer with LOCAL. I continued working on the site but became more and more bogged down. I decided to simplify what I was doing.

I set up a new site. A blank canvas. Started with the basics: a Security plugin, (ithemes security), an SEO plugin (I use RankMath) and an E-Commerce plugin – WooCommerce. I’ll add an image optimizer as well later.

Those plugins and others associated with WooCommerce and the Themify drag and drop builder I use with WordPress were enough to create a site. We were good to go with a shop front for the product my customer wanted to sell.

How to navigate Local by Flywheel.

I used the download for free option to begin my journey to completing this refurbishment of the website. As it was a favour I wanted to be able to use its function to provide a “client” with a code so they were able to have a look at the work I’d done so far. Unfortunately, this functionality is unavailable on the download for free. I had to create an account to do this. And so away I went. Things become clearer the further you get into them.

When you’ve created your account you can begin to set up a site. When you open your dashboard there’s a plus + sign in the bottom left-hand corner. You’ll be taken to a new page where the setup process begins.

You start with a name. If you’ve already got a domain name use that. Have a look at the advanced options to familiarise yourself. I don’t think you’ll need them.

Next set up your environment. If this is a site you are building from scratch you can start with the Preferred option. If you have to migrate a backup from a site currently in use you may want to use the Customise option to fit the environment your site was created in.

Then it is just a matter of setting up WordPress. If you already have an account with WordPress use those details. If not create a user name and password and add an email. There’s an email preloaded but just add a personal email.

Then create your site.new local site details

If you click on trust it’ll create an SSL certificate. Each time you sign into your site you’ll have to click trust and follow the prompts. Once you’ve done that click on the admin button to go to your dashboard and click on Settings and General.

You should see this on the page:

Settings/General

After the HTTP add an s in each of these addresses and then go down to the bottom of the page and save the settings. This will enable the SSL for your site. Check it from time to time in your browser’s address bar to make sure the s’s are still there.

You’re ready to start the business of creating your site.

Content

If you’ve found this you’ve probably already dipped your toes in WordPress and perhaps you’re looking to expand your knowledge.

What are you interested in? Is this a personal blog you’re wanting to bring to a wider audience? it could be that you’re a budding photographer with pictures and techniques to share with like-minded people. It may be a hobby or a health issue you’ve dealt with and want to bring the things you’ve learned to others that may need them. Any of these ideas have the potential to earn you some income through affiliate marketing when you refine your niche.

When you’ve got your niche sorted it is time to start mapping out content for it. If you’ve ever been part of a group brainstorming with a group of people and someone writing ideas on a blackboard or a whiteboard you’ll know where to start just do something similar on a sheet of paper and then transfer them onto a spreadsheet or word document. Now you’ve got a plan.

Themes

themes

At the top of the Appearance Tab on the WordPress Dashboard are Themes. When you click on that you’ll be taken to the themes page. These will be the themes that are installed with your site. If there’s none there click on Add New and a banquet of themes will appear before your eyes. The images above are but 6 of the many that are available. 

If one leaps out at you pick that one, otherwise start out with a simple theme. The ones that are named for the years Twenty-Twenty, Twenty-Nineteen are the simplest and easiest to start with. 

When I first started out it was with a simple theme. As time went on and I saw what other sites did I wanted that sort of functionality for my site. The free themes just didn’t cut it so I started to invest in the premium versions. And then I tried themes with drag and drop builders. 

These became a great home for the ideas I wanted to express. And Local by Flywheel is the laboratory where I can experiment and finally bring these pages to life and then publish them through a host.

Working Locally – Publishing Globally

As a newbie Local by Flywheel gives you the opportunity to cut your teeth, learning how WordPress works. Find out how the plan we talked about earlier can become real on the internet. 

Once you’ve got your head around how WordPress can become the vehicle for your online presence you’ll then need to settle on a good domain name and find a hosting provider. If you feel you need more training and a community of like-minded folk you could try joining Wealthy Affiliate. Wealthy Affiliate will teach you how to monetize an offering you have if that’s the direction you’re seeking.

For those who have got some time online under their belt Local is a great opportunity to expand your skills. One of the most useful aspects of Local by Flywheel is the ability to create Blueprints of the sites you create. If you’re looking at developing a clientele for your designs this is a great start.

If you make a mistake learn from it and move on. In WordPress there is the opportunity to go back and check different revisions. You can do start over from a place where it was working for you.

Above all have fun!

Blessings

heaven-a

Your Niche – A Match Made in Business Heaven?

, 0

Is your niche a match made in business heaven?

 

Do you:

  • Have a product or service that you can market to a select group of people?
  • Have a hobby? Others who also invest their time in the same pastime are potential customers in a niche market based around that hobby.
  • Have a particular problem in your business or hobby that you’ve overcome? Perhaps there is a service you can offer that helps others with that or a similar problem.
  • Have a service or products you have used to conquer a wellness challenge you have faced? Others facing a similar challenge are a potential customer base for this service or products.

When ecologists look at “niche” they are looking at any organism and seeing how it relates to its community. The niche of any species involves what it requires in its environment and how it cooperates with other species.

Having a store front, having a mobile business, having a website, are all ways of interacting and cooperating with your community whether local or virtual.

Deciding on a niche is like finding an area where it is probable that you can drill for oil. From your test you’ve discovered, there could be oil in the general area. It is only when we drill down we find the oil. When picking a niche, often we’re only thinking in general terms. We need to clarify that further is there anything about this niche we’re particularly interested in?

oil field

For me, my general niche was affiliate marketing and making money online. When I drilled down further I found that a lot of the personal and professional development tools I had picked up during my career would be of use to people looking for ways to make an income or enhance their earning potential through having an online presence. These “tools” became my sub-niche.

What is your business heaven?

I thought this was an interesting question. How do you want your business to look? You have to consider how you personally define success when you sit with this question as well.

 

Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

When you examine what your personal definition of success is you may need to firstly consider your values. The VIA Character Strength Survey is a great tool for doing this. When I took the survey my top strength was my Love of Learning. This was closely followed by Humour, Spirituality, Forgiveness, and Humility. This website I hope encompasses these.

They say we need to teach what we need to learn. If learning is simply an intellectual exercise, without real-world application, it won’t be long before that learning fades away. Teaching creates relevance and significance when we pass this on to others.

Lifting up our brothers and sisters through teaching honours the strengths of spirituality and humility. I’m not sure I bring a lot of humour to what I’m doing but I realize it is an antidote to the seriousness and gravity of what the world is facing in these times. Humour is a gift to give and a gift to receive. In fact, each of the values are gifts to give and receive.

gifts

So my business heaven honours these values. All these character strengths aren’t the be-all and end-all, though. There may be other values that you rate as equally or more important.

Perhaps your business has to work around spending quality time with your family. May be there is some charitable endeavour you want to include as part of your business that needs time allotted to it.

What is your business heaven? if you take the Character Strengths survey feel free to share your results below and if they’ve created any meaning for you.

The first date with your niche.

When we know what our business heaven looks like we’re now able to share that vision with others. Creating our first content for an e-commerce site, opening our bricks-and-mortar store for the first time, both are like going on a first date.

There’s a lot of nervousness leading up to that time. Hopefully, we’re not catastrophizing. While we may be experiencing nerves we’ve done the preparation for this first outing. The shelves are stocked, we’ve done the market research, we know our demographic and have a character profile for potential customers. We’ve built or had a website constructed for our offer.

We’re ready to invite our date (our customers) into our world. Perhaps they initially come and do a bit of window shopping to see what we’re all about. Maybe they’ve already heard we’re opening and can’t wait to get the first look.

Then there’s those who could just be driving by and are immediately interested by what they see. They could be surfing the web and something pops up in one of their feeds and they decide to drop into the site.

Just like you take care with your appearance on a first date, chances are you want your store or your website looking good too. First Impressions are always important.

More than likely this first date is just a casual meeting where the two parties are sussing each other out. So your bounce rate (when visitors turn up then leave without any interaction with your site) will probably be higher in those early days. Same in a bricks-and-mortar business. Customers may turn up, wander around and then leave without buying anything.

Don’t take this as total rejection. They could be back when they’ve checked out the value they’ll receive purchasing from your website or store against the value they’ll get from your competitors. Maybe next time you’ll have a coffee together.

coffee

Where will we go on our next dates?

As we create more content we’re getting a feeling for where we’re going with our niche. We’re building a business here and as with any building there are certain things that are non-negotiable, that are foundational.

Any new content you put out there is an invitation to your niche. Another date. You may want to have plan in place. Places you take dates to often include landmarks, enjoyable experiences you’ve had, locations of interest to you, beautiful scenery.

Writing for your niche could include any or all of these. What’s going to be in your list.

Good places to start are those things that are critical to the success of your niche. When bloggers are building out content for their niches one of the concepts they understand is cornerstone or pillar content. They’re crucial in having a strong structure for the rest of the building.

Maybe those first dates are the landmarks – prominent places that everyone can see the importance of. Prime places where you can get an overview of the rest of your niche. As you reach further into your niche perhaps the website can be populated with interesting and enjoyable opportunities arising from the experiences someone will have in their explorations.

Engagement

As you create more content you develop your authority as a blogger. You become someone who, when it comes to your niche, knows what they are talking about. You are considered an expert. Your audience can now look to you provide what they need regarding their niche whether that be product or service.

They may begin to leave comments on your website if they need clarification on a point you’ve written about. It may be a comment from someone who is at a similar level of expertise in your niche looking to connect or validating what you’re saying about it. They may even be able to add something to the conversation for other readers or viewers.

When this starts to happen it is opening the door to engagement. You’re now able to relate with your audience through the medium of comments.

When you’re making sales of your service or product you may receive queries in regard to the use of the item purchased.

At some stage, you may receive a complaint. The way this is handled may mean losing your customer or at the other end of the spectrum gaining a client for life.

The best option here is to agree with the customer and engage by listening carefully to what he or she is saying and then feed back the essence of what was said. Not only will they feel heard but you will get a sense of how to deal appropriately with the complaint. As I said this could be a make or break in retaining a client.

Divorced from your Niche?

divorced from your niche

One of the ideas that you’re invited to look at when doing a course in Small Business Management is having an exit strategy for the business. If you’re starting out with a passion, doing something you love, you may wonder why you’d ever considered this. Why you would decide to get divorced from your niche. After all, it has given you the lifestyle you’ve wanted from it. You’re happy, customers are happy, suppliers are happy, family is happy. What a tough decision.

Perhaps you’ll receive an offer you can’t refuse. It could be that you come to a point where the challenge has waned and you’re looking for something to strike a spark again and it turns out it isn’t your niche.

Maybe you’ve come up with an exit strategy before you kick off the business and it has reached that point. It may feel a bit clinical to do this and there may be a little soul-searching before you take the step. You can still choose to stay with it if it feels right.

When one door closes another opens.

Another adventure beckons with a new business heaven.

Blessings

what's inside the doorway to wealthy affiliate.

What’s Inside the Door to Wealthy Affiliate?

, , , 0

You’ve seen it in the movies. The main character looking up at a high-rise building from the street as though his destiny lies somewhere inside. He walks through the door into a corporate environment and its like he’s walking into another world. So what’s inside the door to Wealthy Affiliate?

 

It is a bit like that when you click on a link to take you into the world of Wealthy Affiliate. From the introduction you received in a blog post, a facebook post, a pin on pinterest, a tweet, a photo on instagram, or a video on YouTube you are imagining your destiny could lie within.

A link is a threshold. When you stand at a threshold, life before it lies behind you. Your life beyond it – your destiny – lies before you. The future awaits you.

Welcome to the future when you click on a link to Wealthy Affilate. It’s not get rich quick. It’s learn the system, apply the system, do the work and enjoy the benefits.

First Impressions

first impressions of wealthy affiliateWhat you see above will be your first impression of Wealthy Affiliate. I added the arrows, so more on them soon. They say a picture paints a thousand words. This page keeps it simple. The only pictures we see when first clicking through are the pictures of those people who have just done something on the platform. The words here say it as it is. A platform designed for Affiliate Marketers of all levels. And it is.

Wealthy Affiliate was founded by Carson and Kyle to create opportunities for others that they had experienced for themselves. To date they’ve assisted over 1.5 million entrepreneurs who’ve started out on this affiliate marketing pathway. And they have 16 years in business behind them already.

By clicking on the small arrow below Learn More you will scroll through on overview of the platform. If that’s not enough to get you entering your email address and opening the next door you can click the items in the menu bar to get more detailed information about those different aspects of the platform.

Once you’ve decided to cross the next threshold you’ll enter into Wealthy Affiliate proper where for a week you’ll have access to almost everything WA has to offer. Below is a picture of what your dashboard will look like when you enter your email address and get started. I have added the arrows and text saying what the icons are in top right corner.

wealthy affiliate dashboard

Next Level

next level

If you’ve clicked through from someone’s link you’ve probably received an email telling you all about Wealthy Affiliate. You’ll have access to the first training module of 10 lessons to get you up and running. In the process you’ll get a chance to set up a free website if you haven’t already got one.

Also, you’ll be able to check in with questions in the Live Chat function. And you are able to write questions in the New Questions area and receive answers from more experienced members of Wealthy Affiliate. That’s one of the most encouraging aspects of WA. Once you step into a paid membership you’ll never lack for members to help you with answers to questions and encouragement.

The basics of Affiliate Marketing are covered in 10 lessons in the first module.

  1. Getting Rolling,
  2. Understanding how to make money online
  3. Choose a niche
  4. Building your own niche website
  5. Setting up your website
  6. Getting your site ready for the search engines
  7. Creating your intial website content
  8. Creating custom menus on your website
  9. Understanding keywords, the start of your content
  10. Congratulations, and your next steps.

At this point it’s a bit like the Matrix, you can take the blue pill and reality will stay as it is. Sure, you’ve learned a few things in the first module, you’ve created a free website, you know what is required to create content. You can potter around with your free website for the next six months.

Unlike the Matrix you’ll get another chance to take the red pill at the six month point and move to premium. Or you can jump immediately in to life at Wealthy Affiliate Premium after taking the red pill and take the journey to the next level.

Training – Your Passport to Success

passport

If you are embarking on an international journey of significance you’ll need a passport. It may not be an international journey when you decide you want to find out what’s inside the door to Wealthy Affiliate, but if  you’re willing to take the steps that are mapped out for you you’re going to need a passport.

The Wealthy  Affiliate Training is that passport. In the Online Entrepreneur Certification there are 5 levels of 10 lessons each. You’ve seen the first level Getting Started above. The others are: Building your own Traffic Producing Website, then Making Money, Mastering Social Engagement, and finally Achieving Maximum Success through Content Creation.

There is another pathway you can take and that is the Affiliate Bootcamp. This contains 7 levels with the same amount of lessons per level. Here we have: Getting your Business Rolling, and Content, Keywords & Conversions, then Giving your Site Social Value and Get Visual, Get Aesthetic, Get a Brand through Media.  The last three levels in the Bootcamp are: Knowing your Audiences and Catapulting your Referrals, and Bing, Yahoo and the Power of PPC, then finally
How to Scale Successful PPC campaigns.

 

Your Niche – holding hands with your customer.

holding hands

You now know what’s inside the door to Wealthy Affiliate.

Your niche is the door you are offering to your customer or audience so they can meet you in your website. It is one of the foundations of affiliate marketing. So, to get really clear about what your niche is, there are a few resources within Wealthy Affiliate to help you. Follow the training, use the search tool.

Just like Wealthy Affiliate is holding your hand while they walk you through the training, what you’ll be doing is holding the hands of your customers through the content you are creating. This process gains their trust and trust is important in the marketer to customer/client relationship.

Step forward into your future.

Let WA take your hand into their world. Find out what’s inside the door to Wealthy Affiliate. It’s a platform that will nourish your dreams and give you the tools to nourish your customers. Step forward into your future.

step forward

Blessings

the empowerment dynamic

The Empowerment Dynamic: A Top Tool for Affiliate Marketers

, , 0

Davidemerald, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Attribution for The Empowerment Dynamic featured image.

At the the end of my last post I said I was going to flip the Drama Triangle on its head and take a look at the Empowerment Dynamic. The Empowerment Dynamic is the work of David Emerald. After a series of challenging life events he was moved to explore the Drama Triangle designed by Stephen Karpmann. This got him to thinking about the roles of persecutor, victim and rescuer and how they brought forward a mindset of fear and anxiety.

He found this negative dynamic in himself as a victim. Why then,  could he not turn it on its head to provide a more positive outlook on life. What he came up with was TED. The Empowerment Dynamic. The sides on this Triangle are Coach, Challenger, and Creator. Each of these are vital qualities when it comes to affiliate marketing.

Empowerment

Empowerment

Emerald could see as he looked at the Drama Triangle the roles of persecutor, victim and rescuer created a merry-go-round of angst a downward spiral if a person could get out of the maelstrom of fear and anxiety. It may seem that the rescuer might have some redeeming qualities but if comes from a sense of need and the need isn’t met then the rescuer move into victimhood. Nothing empowering going on here.

Empowerment means accepting control for all aspects of your your growth. I prefer to put myself in the middle of the Dynamic and see each side as a facet of myself. These qualities are then easier to internalise and make one’s own.

Empowerment allows us to assume a challenge from something outside of ourselves, or to create a challenge from within ourselves that will move our lives or businesses forward. That immediately brings the creator into play. In order to be empowered to advance this idea we need to work out the resources required.

If there is something missing we may need to seek some assistance for the project. We may need to find a coach for ourself or we may need to coach others to empower them for their part of the project.

Learning something new is empowerment. It gives us new options, the ability to forge a new path for our life. My finding affiliate marketing and Wealthy Affiliate has enabled me to cut a new trail for myself. Wealthy Affiliate is the most complete platform I’ve found for affiliate marketers on the web. It provides all the sides of the Empowerment Dynamic for anyone willing to follow the system. You will become a Creator. Wealthy Affiliate will challenge you and coach you. You could become a Coach yourself showing others how to follow its methodology.

Coach

coach

What qualities would we be looking for in a coach?

We may expect him to be an expert in the particular field we need assistance with. You may hold that very expertise yourself and share it with someone else on order to move the project forward. This would enable you to maintain perspective on other features of the project. To keep a wide angle view of things.

If we’re looking at qualities of a coach there maybe attributes he is looking for in you. He or she will be looking for people that are teachable or coachable. They’ll be looking for someone who can be accountable. That will put a line in the sand and stick to it.

The very features we are looking for in a coach and mentor are more than likely aspects they’ll be looking for in us. Humility, honesty, trust, respect, empathy, willingness to share and to learn. Not only will we be looking to them for motivation, they may be looking at us to see how we motivate others.

In the empowerment dynamic the coach is the antidote to the rescuer. The rescuer’s interventions come from a place of thinking they have the answers to everything. A coach uses curiosity to move his client towards his own answers, to his own solutions. When you do this the solution or answer is more deeply embedded into the clients consciousness.

Creator

creator

David Emerald who came up with the Empowerment Dynamic, says the Creator is the consciousness that grows when we tire of or begin to see through the futility of being a victim. The victim allows life to happen to them and then demands of life, “Why are you doing this to me?”

The creator allows life in all its facets. Perhaps life throws them a challenge. They respond by creating a solution to the challenge and then moving on to the next thing. When we allow life, it becomes a blank canvas and our response to challenges is the paint we daub onto it. Its a whiteboard on which we sketch our plan and then adjust as required.

A victim bases his reaction to life on what happened in the past, “Why does this always happen to me?” The creator might come across a similar event and develops a response to it that will empower him to move beyond it.

A creator will fashion something of beauty. She’ll be the person who makes lemonade from lemons and then sells it from a stall on the street. To the victim the lemon will just be something sour on his tongue.

Our life preferences can become addictive. Victimhood is a preference. At the time we took it on it may have seemed a natural consequence of events. But was it? Perhaps we weren’t able to check in with ourselves at the time; or maybe we had no one that listened to us when we were seeking answers. It may have been the Big Boys don’t Cry syndrome, or the Suck It Up and move on syndrome.

If our life preferences are addictive I think I want to be addicted to being a creator. When you’re a creator you have options. Instead of the light at the end being an oncoming train perhaps as a creator you can be the driver of the train heading towards the light of day.

Challenger

challenger

They say there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain. In the Empowerment Dynamic I’d say there’s a fine line between its Challenger and the Persecutor in the Drama Triangle. We have to be so careful when communicating a challenge that we don’t overstep the mark and venture into persecution territory. As I had begun to think about this section I was introduced to an article on feedback at Strategy + Business. It makes for very interesting reading.

It would be easier to pose a question to someone you are challenging in order to get a feel for how they’ll accept a challenge. An unsolicited challenge is likely to turn them off and send them ducking for cover even if that is within their consciousness. They may throw an invisibility cloak over their sensitivities and not be open to anything you might say.

It is easier as a challenger to be invited to give feedback than to just put it out there. In this case some will just turn off. I remember a few times being given feedback and because it was given by someone who I trusted I had to sit down and deeply think about it. I definitely had to push pause and rewind. And then considering. Is this really who I appear to be to another human being. Is what I’m doing serving my best interests.

Often when we’re reaching beyond the glass ceiling in our lives we butt right up against the feeling of being a fraud. What right have I to put these ideas out there? What if someone catches me out? The heart will give us the answer to that.

Whenever I have to look at my failures I gain a deeper sense of humility. Failures are a great source of challenge to our status quo. They are an immediate reality check to our beliefs.

One of the things I find the thought of intensely challenging is the concept of 360degree feedback.

I heard about this while listening to Take it to the Next Level by Marshall Goldsmith. He is an executive coach with an interesting way of working with clients. He’ll only get paid if the coaching is successful. The people he works with are on the threshold of becoming top level executives.

He takes his clients through this 360degree feedback.They seek feedback from managers, reports, family, friends, church, hobbies etc. getting a complete picture of how this person is in all area of this life. There is on place to hide. Talk about a challenge.

When I find someone whose not afraid of challenging me in a sensitive and appropriate fashion then I heed what they have to say. These guys are the Values Police and hold us to a higher order.

What am I doing and where am I doing it?

where am I going?

As a person seeking authority in my niche as an affiliate marketer I must ensure that what I put out there is in the best interests of my audience. The Empowerment Dynamic offers me a framework for this. I use these tools to check in with myself first. Am I embodying these qualities in myself before I ask them of someone else?

What am I doing and where am I doing it? I am using the Wealthy Affiliate platform to structure my offering. The platforms within the overall platform encompass the empowerment attributes of coach, challenger and creator.

They have a feedback platform where you can ask for an evaluation of your website. You are able to ask for comments for particular pages and posts in their Site Comments function. In either of these arenas you may receive advice that may be challenging to you.

Their Blogging platform, Site Content and training functions offer you the ability to bring your creator to the fore. You can make a difference not only in your own life but also in the lives of your audience.

When we’re writing posts in Site Content and providing information for someone wishing to buy a product or service, we need to think about possible objections they may have. Any objection is a challenge to what the seller believes about his product. So consider this carefully.

And finally you can seek coaching, not only through following the different trainings that become available on a daily basis, but you can also ask questions. Those questions you can turn over to the community to receive answers. So you may get a range of answers to sort through and find what fits best for you. Finally there is the Live Chat. 24/7 there are people online to connect with and seek help from if required. It’s a community that looks after their own.

Summing up: The Drama Triangle & The Empowerment Dynamic

In this and the previous post I have discussed these two tools as being useful for affiliate marketers.

I see the Drama triangle being a powerful tool as long it is used with a sense of detachment. It is a tool of Self Knowledge. Witness events that happen to you or you are involved with through its lens. Try not to see yourself in the tool.

It was Zig Ziglar that said, “Failure is an event, not a person.” With detachment we can see that these events whether they be a personal challenge or a glitch in the matrix of your hobby or niche, are happenings that can advance your business when you use them as examples for your audience. Yes, you may have felt persecuted or a victim to events. You may felt those who rush to rescue were interfering.

Use it simply to uncover the reason you’re focusing on this particular area or product and then use this knowledge to provide great service to your niche.

The Empowerment Dynamic is a tool of integrity. It moves our communication from past to present and future. Where the Drama Triangle often dwells in what happened before, the tools of Coach, Challenger, and Creator are firmly planted in the present and sowing the seeds of empowerment for the futuresumming up

Blessings

the drama triangle

The Drama Triangle: How to use it in Affiliate Marketing

, , 0

The Drama Triangle arose from the therapeutic method of Transactional Analysis (TA) the where the client’s social interactions are analyzed by the therapist. From a social perspective it was thought that in any interaction the client inhabits either a child-like parent-like or an adult persona.

Transactional Analysis

TA grew out of the work of Eric Berne who proposed that the client through childhood and adolescence develops scripts and life-plans that inform their relationships with others. These are expressed through their ego states and as mentioned before their social transactions.

These transactions became pattern-like and he referred to them as games. Each side of the social transaction would be seeking to win. Hence, we now have the whole win-win and win-lose scenarios. How each side conducted themselves in these interactions is by presenting as Child, Parent, or Adult.

Stephen Karpmann further added to these ideas with his development of the Drama Triangle. To him the three corners of the triangle represented the Persecutor, the Victim (not in the traditional sense but as in feeling like a victim) and the Rescuer.

How can this help us in the field of Affiliate Marketing?

The Drama Triangle’s Victim

victim

One of the things an affiliate marketer looks at when he or she is deciding on a niche is, did they have a problem they had to solve? They can then find products they used in their solution and market them through the content they produce?

If an affiliate marketer has a problem, at some point they felt “Poor Me”, victimized by the difficulty they experienced. If you’ve ever had a challenge, a disease, or an obstacle, you want to find an answer to it and grow past it.

Even if as affiliate marketer you are focusing on your passions, you probably suffered through some setback that created an obstacle to your enjoyment of the pastime. Again something you needed to find an answer to find your way back to your happy place.

Some marketers have had health challenges they’ve had to find cures for, or ways to live with the challenges when it left them with a permanent disability. Those cures and the systems they developed to live comfortably with their disability become the products they used to combat their persecutor.

The Drama Triangle’s Persecutorpersecutors

These problems, obstacles, set backs and challenges are our persecutors. It makes our job easier if the persecutors are things in the external world. A bit more difficult if they reside within us as procrastination, lack of motivation. When this happens, we can become our own worst enemies.

The times that “It’s all your fault” rings in your ears can be debilitating and sometimes send you into a bit of a downward spiral. Luckily each day is a clean slate and the persecutors can be put behind us.

As we grow into our business more challenges will come up to persecute and victimize us. All these become opportunities to further our story and create more traction for the market.

Any means we use to overcome our persecutors can potentially become a product to market through an affiliate system.

The Drama Triangle’s Rescuer

rescuer

What we use to conquer our persecutors, whether they lie within or are external manifestations, becomes our rescuer. They can see we’re a victim being set upon by our persecutor and come to save us.

Negative self talk is something I’ve come up against as I been navigating the field of affiliate marketing. It was only this morning that I was doing it again. Wondering whether what I was writing for this post was any good or not.

This is a perfect example of the Drama Triangle at work. I’m bullying myself about my credentials to put this information out. I become a victim to my own sense of self-worth. Then in turn I notice what I’m doing to my esteem and have to pull myself up, give myself a swift kick in the behind and jump right in and get on with it.

No I wasn’t blocked. Yes I’m actually OK. And yes I have something to say here that may be of use to an audience who are going through a similar situation. By recognizing when I’m getting into that funk and revving myself up with a little positive vibe and self talk I come back to the good space where I’m open and listening to the possibilities coming through.

I then take some action. Sitting down at the computer and tapping out a few good words is good to keep the motivation flowing. You realize – “YOU CAN DO THIS”

Resolution

resolution

We’re almost continually going through this process of persecutor, victim, rescuer especially when the percentage of our negative self talk is actually higher than our positive self talk. The cycle is always seeking resolution. We need to be vigilant, and switch to the positive when we feel the negative taking hold. And then to take a positive action to cement the change in our mindset.

When challenge is going on internally for us, yes, we can play all parts of the triangle. When it is going on in the external world, though we may be the victim and rescuer, the persecutor makes its presence felt. We may also experience the rescuer in our day to day reality.

I was ready to venture down the path of affiliate marketing and had tried a couple of opportunities that never developed traction for me. I can’t even remember how it happened but I was reading a blog or email and the site Wealthy Affiliate was mentioned.

I followed the clue and discovered one of the most valuable corners of the internet there. They have platforms for training, blogging, domains, websites, SEO, creating content, and comments. Everything you could need to begin your journey into affiliate marketing.

I wouldn’t say they came to my rescue, because once you begin you have to become your own rescuer by utilizing the wealth of material on their site. I found my rescue in them.

Aside from the rescuer both the victim and the persecutor have a negative connotation. In the next post I’ll flip the triangle on its head and we’ll look at “The Empowerment Dynamic” – challenger, creator and coach.

Blessings

Online business - building a virtual castle

How to Build your Online Business into a Virtual Castle?

4

Starting a new website is often the groundwork for a business venture. In the beginning it is in a primal state. You really want it to be a Castle from the get-go but in reality it is the opening to a cave in a cliff face. So how do you build your online business into a Virtual Castle?

How do we evolve from the cave to dwellings covered in Mammoth hides, from grass huts to stone houses and then to the grandeur of a virtual Castle? It all takes time and content.

 

Laying the Foundation

Archaeologists have often noted that on the sites of ruined castles there is evidence of previous dwellings prior to the foundations being laid for the castle. And even the initial build of the castle evolved further into its final glory before it fell into ruin for whatever reason.

Websites are similar. The means of building them has changed from decade to decade. This site is built on the WordPress platform with Themify Ultra which is a drag and drop builder. It creates a modern looking site and the builder itself is evolving all the time making the process easier for the developer. So the foundations of LivingHorizontally rely heavily on WordPress and Themify to bring my virtual ideas to life. To create the magic in the browser.

When you’re making concrete to pour a foundation it has four ingredients – cement, sand, gravel and water. The four elements I rely on when building LivingHorizontally are WordPress, Themify, my hosting and domain provider – Wealthy Affiliate, and the content I create to build out the site.

I got the inspiration for my domain name from some work colleagues who said that if I was anymore laid back I’d be horizontal. I thought that was a great launching pad for an affiliate marketing business that could set me on the path to running a business from a hammock. Hence, the image on my HomePage.

I’m glad I added that link. I noticed that the image from the top of my Home page had disappeared. Oops. Crisis averted and some changes made in real time to fix the problem and possibly make the user experience (UX) better. That’s what happens when you delete some duplicate images from your media library. All good now .

The Corner Stone and the Pillars

pillars

Once we have the foundation in place, we begin the build. The first stone set into the foundations was called the cornerstone. On top of the first cornerstone a pillar would be set and the building of the castle is begun. It is no mistake that there is in RankMath a checkbox for Pillar Content and in Yoast a checkbox that you can tick that says Cornerstone Content.

So what is Cornerstone or Pillar content? Given the building metaphor it is content that is needed to provide strength to the niche you are writing about. If you think about your niche – what are the concepts that are absolutely no-brainers when people are considering your offer. That if they didn’t know these things their interest would wane and potential as a customer would fade away.

Let’s think about a cornerstone. After the foundation is laid what is the single most important idea you want your readers or viewers to know? If it is a hobby, if it is a problem or complaint that you’re solving, what is paramount to the solution. This will be the cornerstone content to your website. It will be something without which the endeavour is doomed to fail. It maybe a piece of equipment a person needs or a discipline to master before headway towards the goal can be made.

Once we have that cornerstone in place, there will be other concepts that are next in importance these become the pillars. The pillars will carry the roof of the castle. And what do roofs do but provide shelter and keep out the rain. So pillar content acts as a magnet for the search engines to seek out what is imperative to a niche.

Why is this so important that two of the leading providers of SEO tools Yoast and RankMath include check boxes as part of their make up? If you optimize your content for the search engines you will be going a long way toward building authority as an expert in your field whether that be a hobby or business. When you can rank on the first page of a search engine for a keyword there is more likelihood of you selling your product or service.

Masonry

Once those pillars have gone up the walls can be started. Stone by stone, brick by brick. Each stone or brick is a piece of content. The more content there is the more authority you will have at least in the view of the search engines. When starting out on this path there can be times when you may feel like a fraud and often that is just insecurity.

If you have an enduring hobby or passion, if you’ve solved a problem or complaint then you’ve done the hard yards you may not yet know how to put that into words and on a website and then to monetize that, but all those skills can be learned with the right training and the right mentorship and coaching.

Each piece of content is not only building your virtual castle it is also adding to the knowledge of your readers or viewers if you’re creating in YouTube

Towers and Turrets

Castles were generally built on the tops of hills. If one had the high ground, one had the advantage. Towers and turrets gave the castle keepers to opportunity to watch more of the surrounding countryside for possible threats and to keep their people safe. As I thought about this I thought of social media and how the use of social media enables us to cast our vision further and enables the scaling of the business to gather a larger audience.

Most small business training suggests that you may have to work in the business in the beginning to get it going and running smoothly. To create systems and processes that work for the efficient running. However, if you don’t allow space to work on your business you’re not doing you or your enterprise any favours. Viewing the empire, small though it may be, from a height gives perspective. Instead of being focused on the routine you give yourself time to expand your vision across all aspects of the business and tweaking it when necessary.

Looking after the People

Castles were sanctuaries for the people that lived outside the walls. If there were wars against neighbouring communities and the stronghold was going to be attacked the people would take shelter inside the castle walls safe from the threat.

What you’re providing by being an authority in your niche and the content you’re putting up on your site is a sense of safety and trust. People know they can trust what you’re saying. They can depend on the stronghold of information you’re giving them. They can rely on you.

When this happens, they’re more likely to share what they’ve learned through social channels or word of mouth. As J.R.R. Tolkien said, “Not all who wander are lost”. Those who have your site or content shared with them and it resonates are liable to wander into your castle. This has the potential of increasing the amount of business that is coming your way.

The greater the trust your audience has the more the kingdom grows. This will enable you to further scale your business. At this point you really need to be working on the business rather than in the business. Chances are you’ve collected a team of allies around you that are loyal to the cause or kingdom. A team you can trust to look after the day to day tasks while you are overseeing the kingdom.

Sharing the Love

“Small things done with great love will change the world” ~ Mother Teresa

Wanting to share something you love and care about is what drew you to this business.

Let each brick or stone you set into your building be done with love.

In this enterprise you’re not only changing your world but you’re also offering this sense of care to those who enter your castle.

Blessings

sharing the love

 

Domain Name Search

How do you Choose a Good Domain Name?

, 0

What’s in a name and how important is it to choose a good Domain Name?

Searching for something in Google is like looking in a shop window. You’re walking down the High St or Main St and something catches your eye in a shop. You look in the window or if you’re in Google you enter it into the address bar and lo and behold you get a list of things that could meet your requirements.

You enter the shop and look through the shelves for that something that caught your eye. That thing won’t have the same name as the shop. Likewise, that list that Google or Bing, Yahoo or Duck, Duck Go throws up won’t have the same name as the shop either.

There is a piece of content that has been registered by the search engines that is now sitting in its Google shelf waiting for you the customer to click on it. When you do you are opening the door to the store and walking in. Perhaps when you click through you even be greeted by their Domain Name.

Home Page

A Home Page will usually have the Domain Name emblazoned across it with perhaps a tagline giving a little more about what you may find in store. Is it a product? Is it a service? Whatever it is your Domain Name will become your Brand so you need to be happy with it. You’ll want to internalize it to make it not only about your product or service but also an extension of you. An extension that can grow with you. That will scale as your brand grows and evolves.

A good Domain name will hint at your vision, give a clue to your mission or perhaps it won’t. But it will get a prospective customer interested enough to set whatever they’re doing aside and enter your space.

A good domain name lays a foundation for the client’s first impression of your business. When you choose a good domain name you’re rolling out a red carpet to the customer and saying welcome to the premiere. It’s the start of your relationship.

red carpet

I purchased this domain name Living Horizontally because of what it meant to me. Some of my colleagues and acquaintances would say if I was anymore laid back I’d be horizontal. A lot of the time I don’t necessarily feel that way on the inside but I obviously cultivate that sort of demeanour around work. It seems to put people at ease.

With Living Horizontally, I not only wanted to share the ideas that led to this calm personality but I also wanted to create an actual business that I could work in from the comfort of a hammock. How good would that be? That’s my vision depicted on my home page. And also alongside that to give others the tools with which to create a business that could have them living their vision.

Should the Domain be Niche Specific?

Should the domain be niche specific? You’ll find out more about niches HERE. When I purchased the domain LivingHorizontally.com I wasn’t sure how I would use it. But it evoked a feeling that I wanted to experience more of.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’d come across tools in the path I seemed to be cutting through life. Sometimes it felt like I was in dense bush or wading in deep mud as I traveled from one landmark to the next. Perhaps it was having to walk that path that led to the laid back attitude. And if I want to be able to run a business from a hammock what were the options?

Probably internet based. I was already involved in affiliate marketing through Wealthy Affiliate and making money online through disciplined and consistent action can lead to that kind of lifestyle. I thought it would be good to share some of those tools but I wasn’t sure how that would work.

So your domain doesn’t necessarily have to be niche specific. It will help if it is. But as I said by being disciplined and consistent creating content will bring you authority in your chosen niche. Building your authority leads to increased traffic to your domain. And as this grows your domain will become your brand.

Your Domain is Your Brand

They may forget what you said – but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Carl W. Buehner

How could I build a brand from LivingHorizontally? When you’re doing something you love, it shows in what you produce. I love writing and creating. To make money from any niche you’re going to be creative whether that means writing, photography, creating info graphics, or producing a video to bring people to your product or service.

When your creations are being shared they are producing back links to your domain and creating traction for your brand. Word of mouth is great for your domain. It means people are sharing what they find at your virtual address. Organic traffic walking into your store.

So I had to think about what I stood for? What was the meaning I was going to create not only for myself but for others? Meaning creates feeling. The feeling was one of freedom. Freedom to create your future from a place of peace and calm by doing something you love and enjoy. And as Zig Ziglar said, “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

They’re buying from your brand because you’ve created a feeling or the anticipation of a feeling. Your brand through your domain has solved a problem for them. It has provided them with a passage out of their pain if you’re solving a problem for them or you have increased their pleasure if they’re reasonably content but think there must be more to life.

Foundation

foundation

So the feeling you want to evoke from your domain becomes the foundation on which you’re going to build your content. You want your domain to be your rock. Then as you build out your content it will become evident that some articles are stronger than others when it comes to putting your niche on the map. They are what’s called pillar content. They provide the strength of your building.

So where do you start laying your foundation?

Domain Registrars

Luckily most hosting operators are also domain registrars. They provide a one stop shop – domain registration, hosting, website builders, WordPress installations, website security. All the usual suspects when it comes to opening up a virtual storefront.

Here are a few as rated in TrustPilot. The links will take you to their Trustpilot reviews. There is a link in the review to each individual website. Hope this helps you in your choice of provider.

NAMECHEAP – Rating 4.4

MAILCHIMP – Rating 1.6

GODADDY – Rating 4.0

HOSTGATOR – Rating 3.5

HOSTINGER – Rating 4.3

SITEGROUND – Rating 4.7

BLUEHOST – Rating 3.2

NAMEHERO – Rating 4.8

A2HOSTING – Rating 4.2

WEALTHY AFFILIATE – Rating 4.8

I have had personal experience with 5 of the companies mentioned and most of my experiences with their support teams have been productive on 95% of occasions.

All the best and happy hunting.

Feel free to comment below on any experiences you may have had with any of these providers. Thanks.

what to do about ssl for wordpress

What to do about SSL for WordPress and What I Did

0

Have you started a WordPress website with a hosting provider and when you’ve come to set up SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) been completely bamboozled with the process. This was what happened to me recently. So here’s what to do about SSL for WordPress and what I did.

The History of SSL/TLS

the history of ssl/tls

When Google first started favouring sites that had been secured with SSL in 2016 it was quite expensive to get the little lock in the browser. Fortunately, the price has come down with some hosts even providing SSL for free. Well some say free as long as you set it up and maintain it yourself.

SSL/TLS (TLS stands for Transport Layer Security) has been around since the mid nineties in its first iteration as SSL. Fast forward to 2018 and we have the current platform. It’s prime function is to provide a authenticity for both your website and the website being communicated with. Alongside of this is a confidential connection which protects the information that is communicated. Lastly SSL/TLS gives the process integrity by stopping any change to the data while it is being transmitted.

When I signed up with Wealthy Affiliate that same year it wasn’t long before they were offering SSL for their websites and as long as you were a premium member, SSL for your domain or domains was all part of the package. One less thing to worry or stress about.

What it does for you?

Having said that if your site is simply a personal blog or purely informative the need for SSL may not be as high. What it does for you if you’re offering products or services for sale and want to accept any payments (you could be a charity or nonprofit) is to enable a connection with another computer that has integrity, is confidential and authentic. SLL is mandatory if you want your site to be indexed in Google. If not, any potential customer will be greeted with a message saying that your site is not secure.

It was a bit of a surprise for me when I opened this new portal into the cyber world on an unfamiliar hosting platform that though it said the SSL was free I would have to set it up myself and then maintain it. What would I do about SSL for WordPress? There was a video tutorial in their help centre but when I read in the reviews that customers were having difficulty and even the CEO was recommending that they could get some assistance from an SSL provider I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands.

What to do if you’re running WordPress

what do to if you're running wordpress

I kind of knew what I was in for when I installed and was running WordPress. It already had Really Simple SSL installed as a plugin. When I tried to set it up, it all seemed a bit convoluted with extra bits to sign up and pay for. So I gave up and deleted it. When you’re a drag and drop builder kind of guy you want easy. Really Simple I didn’t find that easy. I searched around for other options.

I went back to the hosting provider and saw that you could pay for and activate WildCard SSL for close to $100.00 per year. Not a bad option at less that $10.00 a month.

I typed in SSL in WordPress Plug-In keyword search and came up with 3 options Really SimpleSSL, Zen SSL, and WP Encryption. You already know my concerns about Really Simple.

The great thing about these plugins is that you can see if they’re compatible with the current version of WordPress. Both Really Simple and WP Encryption had their compatible badge. Zen SSL did not.

That left me with one option – WP Encryption and for $49.00 to go Pro with a lifetime licence I thought that was the best deal. I was hoping it would be easy to set up too.

Setting up WP Encryption

setting up wp encryption

I wasn’t wrong. Once I had purchased WP Encryption and downloaded it to my computer I was good to go.

It was easy to go into plugins in WordPress and click on Add New. Where it says Add Plugins there is a button next to it with Upload Plugin on it. Click on this and then go down to the Choose File button in the middle of the page and click. Find where you saved the WP Encryption file to and open it. It should be in a zip file. Then click Install now and follow instructions.

They do market it as one click. It took me two. I was quick to forgive though, because following this second click there was no problem with the set up.

What WP Encryption does is it automates the certification for SSL from Let’s Encrypt. Let’s Encrypt is a not for profit Certificate Authority that supplies over 200 million websites with an SSL or TLS certificate.

If you’re unsure if your hosting provider supports Let’s Encrypt they have a list of hosts to check. In the NameHero (I host LightingYourFire here) resources I found reference to Let’s Encrypt but there was no sign of them on the list of providers.

So just be aware that if your Host doesn’t rate a mention that doesn’t mean that you can’t set up WP Encryption SSL on your WordPress website. If you want to pay the $49.00 for a lifetime license you’ll make the process pretty stress free.

If you have any problems with the set up I maybe be able to help. Just leave a comment in the section below and I’ll get back to you.

There are also videos to help you on YouTube if you run into difficulties.

On its page in WordPress.Org there are videos and screenshots to help you with set up.

Conclusion:

It’s easy to go with what is considered the status quo when setting up a WordPress website and if you have it, just to pay the money to get set up. Most companies who market plugins will set them up on your site for a fee. This could be an option if you’re really stuck.

I said earlier Wealthy Affiliate had free SSL/TLS built into their platform. Read a review HERE.

I’m glad I made the effort to look for an alternative and hope this gives a pathway for you to follow if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Blessings

tutorial

How to get started with WordPress using NameHero as a Host

, 4

 

You’ve probably seen thousands of websites in your time. Now you’re sitting in front of this one because you have an idea and you want to express it. You’re itching to give it a crack. So we’ll dive right in on how to get started with WordPress using NameHero as a host.

Name: NAMEHERO

Website: NAMEHERO.COM

Price: $3.13/month (36 months) Free .com domain with orders of 24+ months

Owner: RYAN GRAY

Trustpilot Rating: 4.8

HOSTING

 

hosting

Perhaps you’ve gone from host to host wondering which one is best and you’re not sure which one to go with. They’re all vying for your business and the prices for hosting are much of a muchness.

I chose NameHero as a host because I have been a long-time explorer of the Hero’s Journey. I read a few reviews, checked in with Trustpilot and decided to give it a whirl.

You’re not going to know what the user experience (UX) is like until you do that.

It is a great mental exercise doing something new and this is what I’m doing here. Hitting the ground running to get started with WordPress using Name Hero as a host.

Do you already have an idea of what you want to do? Do you have a niche? Have you solved a problem for yourself and can share it with the world. For more on niches you can read more in my post on the Foundations of Affiliate Marketing.

When you have your idea it is time to find a domain. For help in selecting a good domain name, you can go to a site called NameMesh and play with possibilities there until you find what you want and are satisfied with it. Then come back and register it as a new domain. I already had a domain that I’d purchased at NameCheap so I used that.

Navigating the Sign Up

navigating

The first step on the journey is to sign up to Name Hero. Click where it says Get Started Now.

I have two laptops I find it useful to have the tutorial open on one while I’m following the steps on the other. It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog post or a video tutorial it just makes working the process easier.

For the purposes of this tutorial/review, I chose the starter cloud and clicked the order now button. This takes you to a page where you can register a new domain or if you have already purchased a domain elsewhere you can choose to host it at NameHero.

Getting back to signing up with NameHero. Click where it says Get Started Now.

Once you’ve done that and clicked next you’re taken to a page that says Configure Web Hosting Package.

This gives you options of a billing cycle. 3 years, 2 years and 1 year. I chose the 1 year cycle as I already owned my domain name. If you register a domain name and choose this option you’ll have to pay $12.98.

Where it said Configure Package I left the options unchecked and clicked on continue in the blue Starter Cloud box.

The following page is Domains Configuration. Again I left boxes unchecked. Clicking continue here takes you on to the review and check-out page. Here you can check your order and adjust as required. Add your details and create a log in.

When you next log in you’ll be taken to your dashboard.

Take the time to join the affiliate program. As your web presence grows there is the possibility to make some income if readers like what you’ve produced and want to create their own blog through NameHero.

Next, find Your Active Products/Services and click where you can see your domain. This takes you to a page that says Managing Starter Cloud at the top. Here you click Login to cPanel.

Creating the Site

From here you’re taken to another new page. Scroll down til you see SOFTACULOUS APPS INSTALLER and click on the WordPress logo and then the install button.

This opens up a software setup. Find admin account and create an admin password. Below that is select plugins. Scroll down and choose a theme. I chose the academy theme to get me started. Again, scroll down and click install.

Oooops. Problems.

It seems I’m unable to open up my WordPress dashboard and then visit the site to get a first look.

I’m pretty sure I’ve done everything right. In the past when this has happened it is usually just a matter of time until it is rocking and rolling. I gave it 24 hours.

I got busy and the 24 turned into 48. Problem not resolved.

Going back to my cPanel rewards me being able to get into my WordPress dashboard.

Scrolling down to the SOFTWARE heading and clicking on WordPress Manager by Softaculous opens a page where I find my site and a button to log in. I press this and it takes me to my WordPress dashboard.

I managed to get into my dashboard. When I clicked on “visit site” at the top it was obvious something was wrong. It wasn’t showing anything that looked like a website. This is what it showed:problem

Troubleshooting

I put in support tickets with both NameCheap and NameHero and received prompt replies from both. They were only too happy to help troubleshooting my problem.

NameCheap said it wasn’t a problem at their end. NameHero gave me the answer to the problem which is below. Something to beware of when setting up WordPress.

Thank you for contacting NameHero support.

It looks you have installed WordPress in a sub directory ‘wp’ and that’s the reason you are seeing directory listing when you visit the website.

This is what you see – if you see this delete the wp above in directory and the problem is solved.

If this is new installation please remove existing installation and install a fresh copy of WordPress from Cpanel >> Softaculous leaving directory field as empty.

Please note that reinstalling WordPress will delete existing files and the databases and you will have to reupload your data.

Following this protocol sorted the problem and now when I put the domain address in the browser the basic site shows up.

We can now begin to build it out. More on this in the next post.

Thanks & Good luck.

 

 

At a glance

Name: NAMEHERO

Website: NAMEHERO.COM

Price: $3.13/month (36 months) Free .com domain with orders of 24+ months

Owner: RYAN GRAY

Trustpilot Rating: 4.8

 

 

 

Load More