Integrating Custom Blog Templates in Blogger

Posted by Wealth Research | Monday, August 31, 2009 | | 2 comments »

Redesigning my Blog with a New Blogger Template
I Spent the afternoon redesigning my blog. I cruised around the internet for about half an hour doing some research and found many different Free blog templates. I was looking for a 3 column blogger compatible template in particular, because I like the way the 3 column layout looks.

There are some very nice free blogger templates out there. I selected a few that I thought might work and downloaded them, then proceeded to load them up on one of my test blogs. I decided I liked this template best and started the task of integrating it into my blog.

Warning: If looking at HTML code makes you want to run home to mommy, you may need to hire a professional to install a custom blog template, you need to at least be able to search through html code and replace some text and hyperlinks that may not be correct after you upload a new template to your blog. You don't need to know html, you just need to know enough to look through it for items that may reference links that have nothing to do with your blog.

Finding Compatible Templates
When searching for a blog template make sure the one you want to use will work for your blogging platform. There are some very nice wordpress templates, however they won't work on blogger without some serious modifications. Here are some great templates compatible with Blogger, some have been converted from very nice WP templates. Blogger Blog Templates

If you are looking for a professional level Wordpress Template, I recommend Theme Forest.


Backing Up Your Old Blog Template
Nothing like a good backup to save the day when you need it. Before you begin the task of integrating a custom template its a good idea to back up your current template. I also keep offline backups of my templates and all the articles I have written, just in case.

To backup your template go to:
Dashboard -> Layout ->Edit Html ->Download Full Template
.
This will save your template in a state that you can reload in the event that you want your old blog template back, or you can load the saved template onto a different blog.

The easiest way to backup the blog articles you've written is to look at your RSS feed. If you click the RSS feed icon at the top of your blog you should see every article all in one long feed. Your blog articles should not be affected when you upload a new custom template, I just like to back stuff up to be safe.

In addition to backing up the template itself you may want to back up some of the Widget data, because you may have custom widgets that you will want to add back in after you upload a new custom template. To get the widget data go to:
Dashboard -> Layout -> Page Elements
Then click edit on any widgets you want to save, and make sure to cut and paste any custom html, or links into a temporary text file.

I like to keep temporary text files on my desktop which hold many bits of information which I use on a daily basis in my business as an affiliate marketer. On my computer desktop I keep little text files to organize and easily retrieve data like html code for widgets, account information for all of my different affiliate accounts, affiliate link codes, short descriptions for submitting to link directories, and little short ads I write up for submission to free ad services such as USFreeads.
Free Classifieds

Unless you know a lot about the widgets on your blog, it might also be a good idea to make some written notes of all the widgets you are using, so that you can replace them later. Especially the name and types of each widget.

Installing a New Fresh Custom Blog Template
Now your old blog is all backed up
Once you find and download a blog template you like, decompress it and unzip the .xml file into a folder that you can find easily. Then log into Blogger and go to Dashboard -> Layout -> Edit Html, click Browse, then find your xml template file, select it and then click Upload.

At this point you may see a warning that some of your widgets are going to be deleted. That is when you look at the list and double check that you have all of those widgets saved somehow. When you are confident that you can replace any widgets that might get removed, then it's ok to proceed with completing the template upload procedure.

Integrating the New Blog Template Design
Reload your blog front page and make note of all the things that may not be correct, like links that go to different sites than you want, or advertisements that do not have the correct affiliate codes. Many of the incorrect items can be changed through the widgets that are now installed under the Page Elements Tab.

Try to correct what you can through the widgets, be a little careful here, you may see some widgets that appear to be empty, but they are working from the template code. Sometimes with those 'empty' widgets you can input the desired html code directly into the widget and it will come out perfectly. For instance a widget that displays a banner ad in the top of your page.

After correcting what you can through the widgets and removing widgets you don't like or don't need, there may still be items in the template html code that need to be changed. To view the template html code go to:
Dashboard -> Layout -> Edit Html then check the box Expand Widget Templates.

Going through the Html Code
Look through the html code at least one maybe 2 times real carefully and remove or correct any items that obviously point to the wrong website, reference an affiliate id other than your own, or contain text or meta data that is not correct. I like to expand the widget temples checkbox, then I copy and paste the whole chunk of code into a local text file for editing, that way I can use my local editor's search functions to find little bits of text or links and change them to suit my blogs layout.

I keep one copy of the un-modified code in a local file in case I make a mistake, and edit the code in a second text file. When I've made a significant change, I paste the code back into the blog 'Edit html' page and click save template. Then I reload my blogs front page in another firefox tab to insure that each change looks the way I want. Unless you are very skilled, do not make a whole bunch of changes all at once, make small changes and test as you go, so you will know exactly where any mistakes that might be your fault are.

Redirecting Urls that Call Graphics
There may be references in the template code to little graphics that effect the way your blog looks. These images may be hosted on a third party free hosting server under someone elses account. You may want to redirect these url references in the template code to protect the look of your blog. That way your not hot-linked off of third party image hosting which you have no control of. If the image host stops serving a particular little .gif that your blog template relies on, your blog will look like junk until you fix it.

To redirect these little links, you must find them in the html code, if you look carefully you will find them, they look sort of like this:
'http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8066/468x60xr1.gif'
(That one was actually a kind of space holder for a banner ad which I just changed to a real ad banner hot-link of my own)

Once you locate these little graphics urls, you can copy and paste the reference url into a browser window and save the little graphic with a "r-click save image as" operation. Sometimes its a little tricky as they can be quite small. Once you save the graphic then you can host it on your own image host where you will have more control over it, then change the template code to reflect the new location of the graphic.

Always a Better Blogger Template
I think I cleaned up this Blogger template pretty good, there are still some fairly minor things I still want to change. Then, naturally as I was doing a little more research to make this article complete, guess what, I found an even better template! It figures, now I'll have to do it all over again, maybe I'll just leave it this way, it looks pretty good, what do you think?

Finding a niche product to sell online

Posted by Wealth Research | Tuesday, August 25, 2009 | , | 0 comments »

To make money on the internet you need either a product to sell or a website that informs or entertains people in some way. Today we will be focusing on the most straightforward approach to creating a profitable niche website, which is to sell a product. It requires less creativity, and the only real content you have to create is directly related to your product. You can get some great content ideas from the niche product website itself, as long as you present the product content in your own words.

First find a product that you would like to sell. A great place to start out with is Clickbank. Create an account, then browse through the marketplace and select several products that interest you or that you think you could write a good article about.

Choose your favorite products, then write down any keywords you think a user might search for related to your product. As an example, lets say we chose a weight loss e-book product. Keywords to search for might include: dieting, weight-loss, weight loss, getting fit, lose weight, losing weight, lose fat, fat loss, weight loss diet, etc...

Now take your keyword list and check it with the Google keyword search tool.

Set match type to "exact" and sort by global monthly search volume. Look for keyword and keyword combos that don't have a great amount of competition. Select keywords that have a fairly low global monthly search volume, I try to look for niche markets that are not under 1,000 or so searches per month. Stay away from the ones that are too big when you are just starting out, the keyword combos with a high monthly search volume will have too much competition, unless you are an expert niche product affiliate marketer you will have trouble breaking into those markets.

You will be able to utilize all the keywords that you wrote down, when you create your niche product oriented blog or website, but for the moment really focus on just a handful of keyword combos. Once you have made a selection, try to think of ways to include those keywords in a domain name. Write all of your domain name ideas down, so that you can do your domain name research.

Lets say you chose the keyword "quick weight loss tips" the most straightforward domain name would be quick-weight-loss-tips.com, you can get some indication of whether or not a domain name is taken by simply opening a fresh blank tab in your browser and typing in the url you just made up and see where it goes. Optimally you want a "page not found" type of error. That means that the chances are good it is not taken yet. If it looks good initially, then to be completely certain the domain name is free, use a service like Network Solutions free Whois search.

Once you have a good idea about what you want your domain name to be, and you know its not taken, it is time to get hosting and register your domain name. Hostgator is an extremely affordable and reliable service. You can get a hosting account for as low as 4.95 a month. Having your own hosting account gives you much greater flexibility about the type of content you want to have to promote your niche product. Another major advantage of having your own hosted blog or website, is that every inch of advertising space will be under your complete control.

Promoting Affiliate Products

Posted by Wealth Research | Friday, August 14, 2009 | , | 3 comments »

Promoting affiliate programs can be lucrative....for the people you are promoting!

When you are ready to make real money you will understand the need to promote yourself and your own products. I know a lot of you don't have your own product yet. Don't let that slow you down. You can still earn a substantial income and become an expert in subjects like content creation, website promotion, and monetization.

My point here is to pay attention to what you are promoting. If you are spending all your energy advertising affiliate links all over the place for worthless clickbank ebooks or mlm schemes you will most likely fail to make a decent income. Those types of products tend to make money for the people who own the products. Especially MLM schemes, to be successful in Multi Level Marketing you need to understand how to be a great sales person, and know the intricacies of website promotion, and how to be a teacher so that you can teach your downline sales distributors how to duplicate your efforts. I could go on and on about Pyramid scams and such, instead I refer you to a document on squidoo that speaks about the problems with MLM.

The Truth about Internet MLM Pyramid Schemes



Promoting affiliate products can be a very powerful way to make money, I use it and it is a valuable aspect of my money making strategy. However, I want to show you that your true pot of gold at the end of the rainbow will be found when you have your own e-mail database and a product that you really believe in to promote. Try to keep that in the back of your mind as you create your advertising system.

Later, when you have a niche oriented blog or website, and articles that you've written spread around the internet, you can go back to many of those tools and redirect them and tweak them to promote yourself and your own products, or a product that may not be yours, but you believe in it and are willing to invest your time to bring it to other people.

Focus on creating an internet presence that will last, and that does not destroy your credibility.

There are several major drawbacks to promoting affiliate products from places like clickbank. As I mentioned I am not against affiliate marketing or clickbank, I think clickbank is awesome, it is just good to keep these limitations in mind as you work towards your goal of financial greatness.

When a potential customer follows your affiliate link to the product landing page, clickbank tracks the hop and if a sale is made at that moment you will recieve a portion of the profits, at least if it is a decent product and the customer does not demand a refund, in those cases you get nothing.

You will notice, that on any good landing page there is a place where the customer can sign up to a double opt in mail list. That mailing list is where 80-90% of the sales are made. Using auto-responders, the internet marketer who actually owns the product can keep in touch with potential customers and build trust and loyalty. Later, 6 weeks down the road, they finally make the big sales pitch and sell a $400 product. The clickbank affiliate who originally provided this lead to the affiliate marketer gets zip, zilch, thanks for the lead, keep trying I love all the traffic you bring to my landing page.

I wanted to bring these ideas to your attention. When I began to realize these things some time ago, it completely changed the way I look at how I want to use affiliate marketing to build my own residual income streams.

-Wealth Research

My extensive research on the subject indicates that the wealthiest, most successful individuals all have one thing in common. They have a mindset for success. Success driven individuals do not "try" to succeed, they "know" they will succeed. Failure is simply not an option.

To create wealth, you need to create in your mind a wealth mentality. Train your mind to focus on the positive. When you can truly visualize yourself as a healthy, successful person, the reality of that vision will inevitably follow.

Making money online is not a get rich quick scheme. People buy into many affiliate programs because of the promise of fast money and it gets them nowhere. Effective affiliate marketing takes time and effort. There is no doubt that the potential income of a successful marketer can be tremendous. Make no mistake however, it takes dedication and time to reach those kind of income levels.

While you are building your business, train your mind to hold the vision of success. Dedicate yourself to putting in the time and research necessary to create the residual income streams. With the right attitude anyone can succeed at affiliate marketing even if they can only focus on it part time.

Stay focused on the goal and never give up. Seek balance, do not sit in front of the computer 24 hours a day straining to make money online. Maintain your health as well so that when your income streams start flowing you have the health to enjoy all that wealth.


What is your motivation for increasing your wealth? To pay the bills, take care of your family, go on nice vacations? Write down the reasons you want to succeed. Print out a picture of that new Corvette you desire, or your children who you Love so much. If your resolve begins to waver, remind yourself WHY you are so determined to succeed.

Learning affiliate marketing can be daunting at first. There are so many aspects that need to be understood. Do not let it overwhelm you, take it one piece at a time. Give yourself time to succeed, it can take several months at the minimum to get your semi-automatic money machine off the ground.

I call my plan the Ultimate Advertising Machine because a machine is a device that makes your work easier. That is what we are creating, a machine that helps us make money. It will never be truly automatic, it will need to be created from the ground up, then tweaked, monitored, and directed. The goal is to create a system of money generating blogs, websites, articles, and e-mail database with built in redundancy and resiliency to withstand changes in the internet affiliate marketing climate.

Making friends on Twitter

Posted by Wealth Research | Tuesday, August 04, 2009 | , | 0 comments »

Today I am going to join Twitter. I am looking for people who share my desire to achieve success on the internet and I know there are some really intelligent people in the Twitter community. My twitter name is @wealthresearch.

If you share my desire to create wealth lets collaborate and make some money.
Follow WealthResearch on Twitter


Feel free to drop me a comment I welcome all ideas and feedback. Please Bookmark my page I am going to be writing down and investigating the best of the ideas people share with me on Twitter.

Right off the bat one of my new Twitter friends clued me into this money making opportunity its totally free. Thanks people!




If you're one of my new friends from twitter, leave a comment on my blog and feel free to post the link you want to promote. I'm super busy sorting out the good ideas people are sending me and throwing out the bad ones.

-WealthResearch

Learning to Write Good Content

Posted by Wealth Research | Sunday, August 02, 2009 | , | 0 comments »


My last article I was talking about how to make money on Hubpages. I joined the hubpages community and spent the past week for so reading articles from numerous writers in the community. There are some truly great writers over there and the forums are incredibly helpful.

I joined the 30 Hubs in 30 days challenge and proceeded to crank out one really good content hub each day. I did not even consider just copying some other article on the net and changing it and posting it as my own work. I know from past experience that quality original content is the key to success, and furthermore if you do your research on a subject and then write about it in your own words it is a valuable learning experience.

Each individual has his or her own experience with all manner of subjects that people would like to read about. You can write great articles on any subject that strikes your fancy. You do not have to write about making money on the internet like I do and most of the hubs I am writing are on subject matter that has nothing to do with making money on the web. I am just writing about things that interest me and that I have had experience with, or subjects that I just want to know more about.

What I have found is that spending time writing original articles called Hubs is a great way to improve your writing skill and increase credibility and visibility. The monetary opportunity definitely exists but I should mention that even if you write great content, not too many people will see it if you don't promote your links. I will be writing a specific article about promoting your website or blog very soon, because after writing great content, promoting it is what is going to take you to the next level.

During the past week I learned so much, just from reading other writers hubs, that I am still absorbing the large amount of information I gathered concerning making money on the web. I am constantly doing research about monetization and jotting down the good ideas and throwing out the bad ones. Really it just solidified my own plan for multiple residual income streams, I can see that I am absolutely on the right track, and now I am moving forward with the rest of my Internet Advertising Machine plan.

Hubpages has very much potential as a source of income, and although it will not be great unless you promote your work, it is definitely worth the time you put into it. Granted my hubs have only been around for a week or less, so I do not even know the full potential of earnings possibilities yet. Some adsense revenue has started to come in so that is a good sign, considering I have put very little effort into backlinks and promotion yet. I will keep you posted on future developments of that income stream and I will continue to work at improving my writing skill and building up an arsenal of context sensitive advertising hubs.

Bookmark my page and tell your friends who are interested in making money on the net, more helpful ideas to come as I lay out my comprehensive plan for building residual income from the internet...

Regards, Wealth Research

Making Money with Hubpages

Posted by Wealth Research | Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | , , | 0 comments »

Hi!

I have been watching the internet evolve for years and I have done quite a bit of research in the past about making money on the internet. I have tried some things that worked out pretty well but I didn't really follow through on the good ideas. This time I am Determined to Succeed!

My mission is to Succeed and also to help other determined individuals take the leap with me. I strongly believe there is plenty enough profits out there for anyone who dares to persevere to make a great income. Helping people is a big priority of mine, there is no doubt in my mind that with every person I help with this blog it will come back to me a hundredfold... or at least some backlinks ;)

Sometimes in my blog I may clarify some point that may seem trivial to some people, just so I can be sure everyone is following along. Trust me I know you are intelligent creative individuals or you would be nowhere near this blog.

Never give up and always think twice before you pay some marketing guru $50 - $500 to teach you how to do this. The information is out there for free and people are making it work.

In the interest of wasting as little time as possible with dead ends I embarked on a massive research session over the past 3 days or so. Looking into all kinds of information available on the web for making a legitimate income . I will spare you the agony of listing the astounding number of sites I ran into that are a complete waste of time and mostly just try to take your money.

During my exhaustive research session I ran across this technique for creating a residual income stream which looks like a strong contender for "Its worth a Shot!".

Its not going to make you a gazillion dollars but it could be a solid income to supplement the other Multiple Income Streams that we are going to be developing.

(The following link is my referral link that will open the Hubpages tour/signup page in a new browser window. If you use my link to sign up with them I will get a referral credit and I will be very grateful for it. On a normal blog page I would not generally mention this, but I want you to know exactly whats going on. This blog is intended to Help people who share my interest in creating wealth online. More on affiliate referrals another day.)

Making money with Hubpages

Signup is free and after you get your account setup you may begin making money with hubpages by writing articles called hubs.

Once you are signed in make sure and go to "My Account" --> "Affiliate Settings" update as many of the affiliate codes as you are able.

Hubpages.com is able to offer the services free because they share the ad revenue with you. They get 40% and you get 60% of all ad revenue. You earn money from content oriented advertising and affiliate links that are integrated with the articles you create and submit.

Do not be dismayed at the 40% profits that Hubpages makes, the whole setup saves you time and the huge search rank boost from using thier site to post your articles is a huge advantage to posting your article on a "needle in a haystack blog" in the middle of internet limbo.

When you write an article on Hubpages it becomes what is known as a Hub. Articles on Hubpages range over a large spectrum of subjects. Generally you can write about whatever strikes your fancy as long as its in good taste. There is also a strong forum where you can find help with writing articles and making your articles more visible to your potential audience.

The research I've conducted on making money with hubpages indicates that as with blogs and pretty much any content you create on the web, the best paying hubs (articles) will be the ones that are written intelligently and with some care.

Choose your subjects with a bit of thought behind it, don't just submit any old junk. A well written article can generate residual income for months or years. Think of it as if someone has just offered you $300 for a 400 word article on the subject of your choice. It might take you 2 hours and you want it to be good so they hire you again right. $150 an hour would be pretty good for most people I think.

Now I don't know how much a particular article might earn during its life, the above is just an example off the top of my head. However I am certain that if you write it carefully and consider search engine keywords in the niche you are writing about there's a very good chance of significant search engine traffic - which equals ad revenue.

Write about subjects that you find intriguing or you have special knowledge of. When you create a "hub" with a little passion, it will really come through to your audience and that's what you want. You want a reader who comes to the conclusion, "hey that was very informative/entertaining/exactly what I was searching for, maybe I'll see what other articles this author has written".

Since our goal is to create articles that generate advertising revenue it is definitely important to look at the keywords associated with your article and keep in mind Search Engine Optimization as you write.

I will be covering SEO or Search Engine Optimization in another article I have planned. For the moment what we need to know is that for the purposes of writing hubs (and good blog content) We want to learn to write in a style I like to call "SEO writing". Which is creating an article in a style that emphasizes certain keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to the content of your article.

The goal is not to create a page full of keywords that would make horrible reading. But if we want to be making money with hubpages, the secret is to write in a clear concise style with your own flair and a decent keyword group in your title and several places throughout your article.

Proofreading is extremely important. Always proofread your articles before you click the publish button. Even better, have a friend or family member read your article before you click the publish button and get their feedback . They haven't been staring at it for hours and a fresh perspective can catch mistakes you might have missed.

A big advantage to writing hubpages for money is that the hubpages.com staff monitors content and quality of the articles that are submitted. Good quality Hubs that users submit tend to get a high ranking in google search order. Search traffic is exactly what we need to get people clicking on the ads that generate cash into our bank accounts.

That means more visitors to your article which does 2 things. It increases the chances of a good click through for your advertising and it also can build your readership, people who may enjoy your writing style and come back to read more articles posted by you.

Approach this as you would any serious money making opportunity. Quality content attracts quality visitors.

This is definitely a can't lose opportunity. This is great practice for creating web content! You can get paid to submit articles, there is no risk, no one asks for your money and the more writing you do the better you will get at it which will dramatically increase your chance for success when creating content for blogs and web pages down the road.

As you begin to understand more about web traffic generating methods (another article I have planned there are only so many hours in the day) and other Ineternet Advertising Machine practices you can apply those techniques and generate even greater revenue as you go.

Writing quality articles is the skill we want to acquire here. It will serve you well if you intend to make money on the internet with integrity.

I'm going to make a Serious Effort to write at least minimum one quality Hub per day for the next month or 2. I will get back to you and let you know how thats working out.

Be patient with your hubpage income stream it will take time and persistence to build it up.

For a free tour: Hubpages

I had great fun writing this article I hope my passion for making a strong residual multiple stream income shows through and inspires you to keep trying, your comments are well appreciated and if it really pays off for you throw me a link back. ;)


Thank you for taking the time to read my article on Making money with Hubpages. :D

-Wealth Research

Making money with a Blog

Posted by Wealth Research | Sunday, July 26, 2009 | , , | 0 comments »

Hi!
Ok lets talk about making money with a blog for a moment.

If you try a google search on "money blogging" you will note that you get over 20 Million hits.
You will get very similar results if you search for "Making money with your Blog" etc, etc..

Why is there so much interest in this subject?!

My thought on the matter is that it is so popular because it has been hyped as a very easy way to make money on the internet. In certain respects that may be true, however my own experience shows me that though there is money to be made blogging, it requires a commitment of your time and certainly if you persevere you will be successful.

Another reason why there is so much interest in that keyword or keyword combo, is because of all the people trying to sell you a book on "How to make Money with your Blog". While some (very few) of those books / ebooks might turn out to be absolute dynamite and worth every penny, 98% are almost certainly junk and the information you might glean from them can most certainly be found for free somewhere on the net.

I have one strict rule when endeavoring to make money on the internet. DO NOT send Money to some stranger Promising to teach you How To Get Rich Quick.

Ok, back to the subject at hand, how do you make money with your blog?

The basic idea is this:
1. You create a blog about a subject you are passionate or knowledgeable about.
2. Monetize your blog with advertising.
3. Promote your blog.
4. Keep posting new entries so that your blog gains substance and depth.
5. Rake in the cash.

Its a solid enough plan. Some people are most certainly succeeding all the way through step 5.
I want to see if I can do it too. And that is what this blog is all about, my attempt to create a successful advertising system that earns residual revenue. Creating a profitable blog is just one part of my overall plan, but its an important part.

Cheers! Wealth Research

Starting the Advertising Machine

Posted by Wealth Research | Sunday, July 26, 2009 | , | 0 comments »

Welcome to the home of the Ultimate Advertising Machine.

Machines are devices that we use to make work easier. My vision is to create a system of websites and affiliations that compliment each other. Creating the Ultimate Advertising Machine means working to create multiple residual streams of income that combine to create a substantial cash flow.

Anyone with the desire and some determination can build multiple residual income streams from the comfort of their home using nothing more than a computer, an internet connection and the willingness to put some effort into it.

This is my blog detailing my knowledge on the subject. Using the information I have learned from years of working with the internet I am now going to act on my plan and build my Internet Advertising Machine and if you have the same goal I very much hope sharing my experiences in this endeavor can help you achieve your dreams of financial freedom as well.

It is possible to make good money on the internet, the secret to success lies all in your attitude and imagination.

As one of my friends used to say "Today is the first day of the start of a new bank account"

Regards, Wealth Research