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How to Set Up WordPress and Launch Your Website

setting up wordpress

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. After you get your web hosting account setup, the first order of business is to install WordPress into your hosting account. Almost every major web hosting service will …

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

Modern network and telecommunication technology computer concept: server room in datacenter

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. In order to launch your website, you will need a basic web hosting account that will provide the technology and infrastructure needed to serve your website up to …

How to Recover From Choosing a Crappy Name for Your Established Business

A teacher hand cleans the chalkboard in the classroom

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. When I first launched MarketBeat.com in 2011, the business was called Analyst Ratings Network. I chose that name because I wanted to highlight the fact that we offered …

Should Your Business Center Around Your Personal Brand?

male in suit with crossed hands and thought bubble, looking on camera

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Some online entrepreneurs actively work to build a brand around their name. They portray themselves as subject matter experts and teach their readers about relevant topics through blog …

Don’t Worry That the Dot Com Domain You Want to Use is Already Taken

dot com domain name not available try other ones

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. All of the good dot com domain names are already taken. Domain squatters have gone through and registered every dictionary word, almost every combination of dictionary words and …

How to Choose a Great Name For Your Business

brainstorming with post-it notes

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. There are two schools of thought for choosing a name. First, you can choose a name that represents what your business does. Businesses like Bank of America, Ford …

How to Identify Possible Niches for Your Online Business

eating sushi at computer business idea

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for potential niches, there are several strategies you can use to come up with ideas for your niche: Consider Your …

Keyword Research Should Not be a Consideration in Choosing Your Niche

search engine and keywords

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Many other resources that talk about niche selection suggest that you choose a niche based on whether or not you can rank in Google for keywords in that …

How to Choose a Niche with Willing Customers and Strong Advertiser Demand

customer ready to pay

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com. Not all niches are created equally. Readers will have a much higher propensity to buy products and services in some niches than others. In some niches, customers might …

Why Choosing a Business Niche with Existing Competition is a Good Thing

sitting on racetrack with no competition

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com As you begin to evaluate different niches, you will immediately notice that there are already people creating content and selling products and services in just about every market …

Why Niching Down Too Far Will Doom Your Business to Mediocrity

don't pick too small of a niche like goldfish breeding

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com A common piece of advice given by Internet business gurus is that you should “niche down until it hurts.” The idea is that you should pick a small …

Don’t Choose Your Business Based on Profit Alone

choose a business with good product-market-founder fit

Below, you will find an unedited excerpt from my new book about building Internet-based businesses, Online Business from Scratch. To receive updates about the book, visit www.fromscratchbook.com In 2015, I attended a conference for software entrepreneurs called Microconf (www.microconf.com). One of the speakers, Patrick McKenzie (www.kalzumeus.com), told the story about how he launched his online …

Charitable Giving: How to Give Wisely and Joyfully

planting seeds and living generously

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” ~ Albert Einstein There are only so many different things that you can do with …

Pay Attention: Insurance, Taxes and Other Boring Financial Topics

protecting assets

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.” – John Maynard Keynes While much of this book has been devoted …

Why Dave Ramsey and Robert Kiyosaki Are Both Wrong about Debt

staying out of debt to build wealth

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com Every time you borrow money, you’re robbing your future self. –Nathan W. Morris If there’s a topic that divides personal finance authors more than anything, …

Quit Worrying About Your Budget and Focus on the Income Side of the Equation

increasing income side of equation

Below, you will find an unedited chapter from my new book about wealth building, investing and personal finance, The Ten Year Turnaround. To get your copy of the book, visit www.tenyearturnaround.com “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” – Jane Austen For several years, I had the privilege of teaching …

How to Generate Sales by Sending Cold Emails

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The majority of this book has focused on using email as a means of building an engaged audience and generating revenue by selling or recommending products to that audience. While growing a community …

How to Keep Your Email Legal and Stay Compliant with CAN-SPAM and CASL

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  While email marketing and other aspects of Internet business can sometimes feel like you are operating in the Wild West, email marketing is actually regulated in the United States, Canada and in some …

Email Deliverability: How to Make Sure Your Messages Get in Your Subscribers’ Inboxes

delivering mail, a picture of email deliverability

When you send a letter through the U.S. mail with a stamp and a delivery address, you can be fairly certain that your letter is going to arrive safely in a few days. This isn’t always the case with email. While you shouldn’t run into many email deliverability issues if you are following best practices …

How to Earn Money from Email Opt-Ins through Co-registration Advertising

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In the list building chapter of this book, we discussed co-registration advertising from the perspective of an advertiser. As a mailing list owner that collects organic opt-ins from your website, you can also …

How to Make Money by Renting Out Your Mailing List

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit myemailmarketingbook.com.  If you have grown your mailing list to more than 25,000 subscribers, advertisers may be interested in paying you to send an email to your mailing list on their behalf on a cost-per-thousand …

How to Earn Money with Your Email List through Affiliate Marketing

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  There are thousands of companies that will pay you commissions for any sales that you generate on their behalf, an arrangement known in the online business world as affiliate marketing. Promoting other companies’ …

How to Sell Your Products and Services through Email Marketing

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Most companies use their mailing lists to market their own products and services. If someone comes to your website and completes an opt-in form, they have already  expressed interest in your content and …

How to Write Email Marketing Copy that Converts

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  You have undoubtedly written thousands of emails in your life. You probably regularly send email to and receive email from friends, family, coworkers and even complete strangers on a regular basis for any …

Broadcast Emails: What, Why and How Often

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In addition to your auto-responder series, you will want to regularly send messages to your entire email list. These messages are known as broadcast emails because you are effectively broadcasting a single message …

How to Write the Perfect Welcome Email

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The first email that every new subscriber will receive from your mailing list is referred to as your welcome email. Sending a well-written welcome email to each of your subscribers is the first …

How to Create an Auto-Responder Series that Actually Works

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Creating an Auto-Responder Series An auto-responder series is a series of pre-written emails that every new subscriber receives in sequential order after signing up for your mailing list. A new subscriber might receive …

How to Select an Email Service Provider

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The first step in building your email marketing empire is to put the technical infrastructure in place in order to handle the type and volume of email you will send. If you were …

14 Ways to Build Your Email List Independently of Your Website

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Growing your mailing list through your website will allow you to steadily collect opt-ins and grow your list over time. If you want to accelerate your list building efforts, you can make use of …

List Building: Split-Testing Your Opt-in Form and Creating Your Thank You Page

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  The key to getting great opt-in rates is regularly running tests to determine if making changes to your opt-in forms will increase the percentage of people that complete your opt-in forms. In order …

List Building: When Your Website Doesn’t Get Much Traffic

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  How many opt-ins can I expect? Asking how many opt-ins you should expect to receive on your website is one of the most common questions asked by new email marketers. The volume of …

List Building: Selecting an Opt-in Form Plugin

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  In order to design and place opt-in forms on your website, you will most likely need to make use of an opt-in form plugin or a cloud-based opt-in form service. As email marketing …

List Building: Understanding Types of Opt-In Forms

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  Opt-in forms come in many different shapes and sizes and can be put on many different places in your website’s layout. Some opt-in forms are large, hard-to-miss and somewhat intrusive. Others are smaller …

List Building: Writing the Killer Copy for Your Opt-in Forms

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  After you have created your lead magnet, you will need to identify what kind of messaging you are going to use to get your potential subscribers to sign-up for your mailing list. The …

List Building: Creating the Perfect Lead Magnet

Below you’ll find an unedited version of a chapter from my new book, Email Marketing Demystified. To get your copy of Email Marketing Demystified, visit www.myemailmarketingbook.com.  You should offer your subscribers something of value in exchange for signing up for your email list, such as a discount coupon, a free report or a resource list. In the world of …

Some Hard Truths About My Business (What I Learned at Microconf 2015)

I had the opportunity to attend Microconf, a conference for self-funded entrepreneurs that run technology businesses, earlier this week. One of the challenges that they gave attendees was to identify three actionable takeaways that you can implement in your business in the next few months. While many attendees came away with tactical strategies they can …

Podcasts I’m Listening To (2015 Update)

A couple of years ago, I published a list of podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis. Of course, podcasts come and go and my interests have evolved over time. I’ve also scaled back on the number of podcasts I listen to (from 31 to 20) because I’ve recently started listening to audiobooks …

My 2015 Reading List (Part 1)

It’s hard to believe that we’re already through the first quarter of 2015, but here we are. My reading habits made a marked changed this quarter. Instead of the usual mix of repetitive business books, I’ve branched out and have read biographical works and more fiction. I read a total of 20 books during January, …

My Q4 2014 Reading List

Now that 2014 has come and gone, it’s time again to share the books that I’ve been reading in the last few months. I had the opportunity to read a lot of good books during the fourth quarter. The amount of day-to-day work that my business required has slowed down as I’ve brought on a …

AdSense Optimization: How to Maximize Your Earnings from Google AdSense

One of my company’s largest revenue streams is running contextual ads from Google AdSense. Our network of financial news websites garners approximately 3 million page views per month and we’ve found that AdSense is an extremely effective way to monetize our audience. Recently, I was searching for a good article about AdSense optimization tips and …

How to Add Rocketfuel to Your Product Launch with a Podcast Tour

When most people release a book with a traditional publisher, they will make a series of appearances at local bookstores as part of their marketing strategy–commonly known as a book tour. Since my book was being published exclusively through Amazon, it only made sense to do a virtual book tour. Instead of reaching potential readers in persona few hundred people …

My Next Project: US Golf TV

A while back, my wife Karine received an email from one of her former co-workers at Terry Redlin Elementary. The co-worker’s husband, Todd Kolb, was building an Internet business and wondered if I would be willing to meet with him to see if I had any suggestions to help grow his company. At first I …

40 Rules for Internet Business Success: Launch Details, Pricing and Bonuses

[UPDATE 7/21/2014]: 40 Rules for Internet Business Success is now available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook formats. Click here to get your copy. My new book, 40 Rules for Internet Business Success, will be available two weeks from today. I’ve received a ton of positive feedback about the book from people that …