A blog between something and everything

What if I told you that this blog is not just about Internet marketing, WordPress or SEO? Yes, there is a lot here. Is there a method behind the madness?

After my post about never making money online, I got a couple of unsubscribes (email subscribers). That's OK and normal, people unsubscribe, but because it was timely with the post, I'm guessing the topic had something to do with this...

I started wondering if all the awesome readers and subscribers of this blog really know what I do and what I'm about? Some have read my About-page, but not nearly everyone. And to be honest, I don't want to scare people on the About-page with all the things I do and write about, just the highlights...

As I have variety of topics covered here (yeah, yeah, you should niche down and focus), one might think I'm a one-trick-pony, depending on what page they originally landed on, read and decided to subscribe and continue reading...

If one came here because they read my W3 Total Cache -guide and read my posts on how to speed up WordPress, they'd know that I know

• WordPress


• Website optimization

But would they know I'm into affiliate marketing and earning money through the Internet? Would they know I'm interested in personal development, getting things done, and have written post or two about personal productivity.

Would they know that I love efficient tools and ways of working like using a blog post buffer, and have shared tips on how to use Google Reader like a pro? They probably wouldn't, unless they'd read my top posts page or browsed through my blog archives.

That's the problem with being jack of all trades, a generalist.

If one would land on my blog and first read the perfect permalink structure study or the WordPress permalinks guide, they'd know I'm deep into WordPress and the tech behind it all, and also that I do in-depth research for the stuff I write and don't take the easy to road to find the right answers.

On the other hand, coming in through the guide on how to connect your social media profiles or the top 7 must-use social networking sites, one might think I'm just one of the "social media coaches" you see around.

If they left right away, they wouldn't see my Beyond Blogging book review or my take on the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook, which both reveal that I don't half-ass anything here, including the reviews (which are microformatted with hReview mind you, something I definitely should write about).

If one landed on my posts about blog SEO, keyword research or how to get indexed in Google in 6 hours or less, they'd also know I'm interested and know a lot about

• search engine optimization


• blogging, and little


• WordPress mixed in.

But they wouldn't necessarily know that I like optimizing images and htaccess rules to make websites faster? Or that I'm a big fan the ultra-optimized Google Analytics' async tracking code?

If the first post one would read here was little advice on getting nowhere or do less, well they'd know I can be pretty damn lazy blogger at times and that I'm not afraid to admit that I have failed or made mistakes. Or that I'm occasionally tired of the games we play and stupid **** we do just because everyone else is.

Those who've read the last post on why some people never make money online, might not know that it's really about making time, not money for me and that I'm not looking to get rich (quick or not), but rich enough.

And with all that marketing talk, it might not be apparent to an occasional reader that I don't just know WordPress, but PHP as well, and have posted neat tricks like how to show RSS subscriber or Twitter follower counts as plain text.

If someone read my comments on some other blog and ended here as a result, they'd know I that like blog commenting, but would they know that they were exposed to the advanced blog commenting tricks I've used to drive traffic and links to my blog?

Those who've read this blog from the start, or know my story before I started this blog, would also know that I'm into gaming, XBox 360, World of Warcraft, EVE Online and stuff, although all my gaming posts have since been moved from this blog to my gaming blog (to reduce the variety of topics even a little).

• I don't expect people to go through my whole blog and all the links in this post, but I wanted to share you a bit about what I write here on the blog, since it's a lot.


• I write about things I'm interested in and things I do. They're all somewhat related to blogging, Internet marketing and using different methods to do online business and make money.


• I don't limit myself to any one tool, system or tactic, even that I do specialize in WordPress, SEO and website optimization in general (that's a wider topic than just speed btw).

So don't expect me to write just about WordPress, just about SEO or focus only on making faster websites. Don't expect me to write only about making money or marketing. That's just not who I am. I like to study and learn a wide variety of topics, and share those experiences with you. There's so many things I want and can do that being a generalist is the my way.

I write about and help people with wide variety of things related, but not limited to Internet marketing, WordPress and SEO. I wrote this post to shed a light on the broad spectrum of topics I'm interested about.

If all that is cool with you, you subscribe and read this blog. If not, wander away, and I welcome you back the day when something I've written is useful and helpful to you.

In addition to reading this blog, you can connect with me via my Facebook page, follow me via Twitter and check out my YouTube channel.

---

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

A blog between something and everything

Liked this post? You can find more great posts from the blog archive.

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The Fuzzy Logic of the WordPress (.com) Terms of Service

In this post I will prove to you that almost every WordPress.com should be suspended as a violation of the Terms of Service of the site. Proceed with caution

Warning: There's a healthy dose of irony (and little bit of sarcasm) in this post.

Did you read the line above this?

And the one two lines above this?

Good - This post is about WordPress.com and it's Terms of Service, and me wondering how any blog can comply with the TOS :)

OK, now - smile, laugh a bit... And read on.

FACT: WordPress.com Does Not Like Commercial Sites and/or Random ****

Take a look at the quote below, from the WordPress.com Terms of Service, or TOS, as it's often called...

the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing); - WordPress.com TOS

That quote is highlighted on the page, so it's damn important, OK?

Excellent - now check this quote from WordPress.com support as an partial explanation for the above quote and the TOS in full...

WordPress.com does not allow blogs that are created for the purpose of directing traffic to commercial web sites, affiliate/ptc programs or multi-level marketing campaigns - WordPress.com Support

According to these two quotes, any WordPress.com that has been created for the purpose of directing traffic to commercial web sites, is in fact, against the TOS.

FACT: Links are the most important factor for the search engine rankings

Further, any hyperlink has the purpose to "direct traffic" to it's destination. And each and every website is either directly or indirectly commercial, even the non-profits (because they link to their donators / sponsors, from whom some are commercial).

Because any link, in theory will provide tiny support to search engine rankings, and thus, increase traffic of the target site, all links on WordPress.com are bad.

Clear so far?

• Directing traffic to a commercial web site is against WordPress.com TOS


• Any hyperlink will drive traffic


• Every website is indirectly or directly connected to a commercial site (with a link)

Ergo, each and every WordPress.com that has links must be banned, because each and every WordPress.com blog links to a commercial website, directly or indirectly (2-3 links away), thus at least "boosting the search engine rankings" of a commercial site.

We're all doomed!

Stay with me. Read that TOS quote again.

WordPress.com blog must not have links to any site, because each and every link will "drive traffic to third party site" if anyone clicks on it (and someone will), or boost search engine rankings of third party sites (= not WordPress.com?), that are commercial.

OK, it also says with unethical or unwanted commercial content...

Unethical is kinda clear, but WTF is unwanted?

"Happily", the "clarification" from the support pretty much says that any content directing traffic to commercial website is bad = each and every website in the Internet, apart from Wikipedia maybe, but then again, there are links to commercial sites in Wikipedia, which boost their SE rankings, so linking to Wikipedia will boost the rankings too...

The 14 million blogs of WordPress.com (as of September 2010, according to WordPress.com stats), should be deleted. Maybe apart from the ones ran by WordPress.com staff / Automattic folk, since it's their place.

Doomed!

Not convinced?

Think of it, and look at your WordPress.com blogs:

• Do you not autopost content via Posterous there?


• Do you not link to your Twitter account?


• Do you not post links to your WordPress.com blog?


• Do you not create WordPress.com only to act as a satellite to your "main site"?

Links to Twitter are bad, let alone (auto)posting your Tweets to the sidebar or the blog itself (that's double whammy since it's machine generated/automated). Plus, 100% Twitter users link to some site that is commercial, and Twitter links purpose is to drive traffic to the site.

Adding Delicious widget is against the TOS since it links to god knows what places that sell stuff = commercial.

You certainly cannot link to your main site, because obviously you'll be boosting your search engine rankings, and why you'd want to do that unless you're in it to gain something...

Doomed, I tell you.

I'll be the first to admit it, that I have created WordPress.com blogs, because I want to aggregate stuff I do into one place, including this blog, Twitter and Posterous, just to name few sources - and that's machine generated, isn't it, although I wrote it the first time, but I'm geeks are pretty damn close to robots, so that makes it nearly-machine generated.

And I certainly have posted links in WordPress.com posts to sites I've something to gain from, as a pitiful attempt to boost the search engine rankings, and even that I'm the Zen Master of *Not* Making Money Online, one might argue that I'm "driving traffic" to a commercial site (I'm 100% sure one site I've ever linked to from WordPress.com, is commercial).

On the other hand...

Since the ~14 Million blogs are still running, I'm guessing I've misunderstood something of this :D

What do you think?

---

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

The Fuzzy Logic of the WordPress (.com) Terms of Service

Here's more posts like to this:

1. Blogspot Blog Migration to WordPress


2. Why I Have a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog

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He DOES exist! He DOES exist!

As if to debunk rumors that Clayton Makepeace is a mythological creature – a possible cousin of Big Foot — the big guy has agreed to speak at AWAI’s 2012 Boot Camp, October 24-28!

First, he’ll reveal the techniques he uses to create video sales letters that attract armies of new customers…

And, second, he’ll host a workshop on how to make your benefits sparkle!

This is the first and ONLY time Clayton has spoken ANYWHERE in three long years! He’s been too busy creating winning campaigns for his clients. So I’d suggest you jump on over to AWAI and check this out for yourself.

Here’s the link: http://www.awaionline.com/b12/makepeace

We’re looking forward to seeing YOU in October!

Wendy “The Redhead” Makepeace

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We’re still here…

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful comments. They are greatly appreciated.

But, don’t worry…we’re still here!

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. You can do so by posting right here on the blog…or…email me at our support email box at support@makepeacetotalpackage.com. I try to check it every day to see if there are any customer service questions that need to be answered.

And, don’t forget, all of Clayton’s articles are still available at the top of this page under the masthead. Just click the “Archive” link.

Plus, you’ll find some very valuable information in the “Copywriters Tools” section. In this section you’ll find our extensive Direct Response Glossary, Interviews with some of the top copywriters in the field and recommendations from Clayton on what you should be reading.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Yours for Every Success,

Wendy Makepeace

General Manager

The Total Package

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Time for a Change

By Clayton Makepeace

Publisher & Editor,

THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Dear Business Builder,

Seems like only yesterday I was writing the very first post on this blog. Actually, it was the end of June in 2005; five years and seven months ago.

Since then, we’ve …

• Attracted nearly 40,000 regular readers …


• Published 1,110 issues …


• Hosted well over 100 marketers and copywriters at our “Power Marketing Summit” at $5,000 per seat …


• Held dozens of webinars and teleseminars and created dozens of products to help you succeed …


• Received more than 1,500 pages of “Thank-You” letters and testimonials for our efforts …


• And learned one heck of a lot about the nuts and bolts of online publishing(!).

And the one thing this experience has made me absolutely sure of is that I always want to have an e-letter and a website that keep you and me in touch with each other.

But now, I find myself at a very different place in life than when I launched this blog in 2005. And far greater changes lie ahead.

For one, I’m turning 59 this year – nearly six years closer to the time when, as my friend Gary Bencivenga so eloquently phrased it, I will “lay down my pen.”

No, I am NOT planning to retire anytime soon – in fact, I still get bored over long weekends. But the fact that my 60s are just over one year away calls for some significant changes.

For instance: I’ve often told you that one of the greatest benefits this copywriter’s lifestyle affords me is that I get to decide how much money I want to make. If I want or need more, I simply accept additional clients and work additional hours.

So, with my 60s rushing at me like a run-away freight train, I’ve chosen to spend the next several years fattening the kitty for my eventual retirement. I’ve already added one additional client and plan to accept one; maybe two more in the weeks ahead. And of course, that means I’ll have significantly less time to spend on The Total Package.

Another big development for The Redhead and me: Our kids are grown up! Our younger daughter goes away to college this year. Our son, who is about one year younger will follow her soon.

That means we no longer need to brave the frigid North Carolina mountain winters. But before we can remove to warmer climes (most likely, to Prescott, Arizona), there are the little matters of selling our 25-acre estate here in the Smokies and doing some serious down-sizing.

With me putting the pedal to the metal at work, supervising all that remodeling and other projects is falling into The Redhead’s lap – a fact that means she will also have significantly less time to spend on running this e-letter.

… So we’re simplifying

this blog in several ways:

First, as you know, we have now closed our online store. If we introduce new products in the future, they will be offered via e-mail and in our regular issues. That alone vastly simplifies our operation.

Second, you are now viewing the new, simplified version of this blog. It still contains all the things you’ve come to value most here – including all of my back-issues, free copywriting and marketing tools, the opportunity for you to comment on articles, etc.

Third, we will no longer publish articles by other authors. So, to keep up with any of our contributing editors, you’ll need to subscribe to their free ezines and/or visit their websites by clicking the appropriate links below:

• Gary Bencivenga


• Michael Masterson


• Drayton Bird


• Daniel Levis


• Troy White


• John Forde


• Carline Anglade-Cole

Fourth, instead of publishing my articles on a regular schedule (every Monday, come hell or high water,) I will publish articles when I have a new idea or technique that’s just too good to keep to myself – kind of like Gary Bencivenga and others do now.

The best way to be notified when a new article is available will be to use an RSS feed to send each article directly to your computer’s home page. The link is below:

http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/feed/

Fifth, we’re keeping the e-mail address for customer care active; you can still send questions or comments to support@makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Finally, sincere “Thank-Yous”

are in order …

I don’t mind admitting that I’m extremely, unabashedly proud of everything we’ve accomplished in The Total Package since we published our first issue way back in June of 2005.

As I’ve often said, our greatest rewards are the thousands of notes from readers who’ve thanked us for helping them.

So now, it’s my turn to give thanks – first, for the wonderful people who have helped us publish this e-letter nearly every day for all these years … who helped develop our products … and who single-handedly untangled the inevitable customer service SNAFUs that all marketers are heir to – particularly to Jill, Martha and Pete, who will soon be leaving us.

And secondly, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Daniel Levis, Troy White and all of our contributing editors for the wealth of direct response wisdom they have provided in these pages. Without you guys, this rag could never even have begun to enjoy the success that it has.

Finally, thank YOU, dear reader, for your friendship and loyalty over the years. I can’t begin to count how many times your blog posts and e-mails have touched our hearts and made us grateful for the opportunity to help you in some small way.

You also have my word that we will continue to be here for you, publishing special issues when time permits and most importantly, when we have something we’re sure can make a big difference for you.

Until then, I am … sincerely, with all my heart …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace

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Why Some People Never Make Money Online

Imagine to make money online by working for just couple of hours. That's the Internet lifestyle. But without ONE THING, you will never make any money

During the past year I've read a lot of eBooks and studied many training courses. All that in addition all the blogs I follow and read, the email lists I've subscribed to. In addition to the free stuff, I've purchased many information products, starting from simple $7 products and up to the $97 a month coaching/training programs.

I've liked (nearly) all the products and courses I've bought and learned a lot. In total, I've used hundreds to educate myself to online marketing. By now, I should be making tons of money, right? Well I'm making some, but we're talking a few dollar here, another there — probably in the range of four figures a year (not month).

So I am making some, but I didn't go through all that "education" to make couple of bucks. I want the hundreds, the thousands, the tens of thousands. But only very few get there, so how can I make sure I get there? It certainly won't happen if I (or you) sit on your ass and do nothing.

I shared my thoughts about this topic in my Posterous already (you can check it here: Success - Doing the things that you don't enjoy, which have to be done), but I wanted to continue on the subject...

How to Never Make Money Online

As got past that intro, there's a chance that you're interested in making money online. You are, right? But you haven't made much either, no matter how hard you've tried. You want to build yourself the Internet lifestyle you hear people talking about. You've already worked your ass off to make it happen.

Or have you really? By running around and looking for the perfect solution, looking for the next big thing, you keep yourself busy. False sense of productivity. Instead of working hard on the stuff that works (but is hard and boring), you go for the shiny new object. Sound familiar? The Never-Ending Cycle of Internet Marketing Product Jumping(TM), the eternal journey, where the only action you take is: "Add to Cart".

You want to make money online, but instead of making it, you look for "the system". You look for the amazing new software that will make you money, push-button easy. Just enter your PayPal address and hit go, and let the money flow in. Not gonna happen.

There are new cool products, services, eBooks and Internet marketing courses launched all the time, each promising to make you rich. You watch the product launch videos with your eyes wide open, stunned at the amazing information they give away for free.

You read their perfectly formatted, A/B tested, but so annoyingly long sales pages. You see the proof. You see how the marketer or someone else have made a lot of money using "the system". The system works.

You're hooked in. You buy their shit stuff. You dive into the training, reading the eBooks, watching the videos. Your brain is full of new information. You can't wait to start using that to make money. The product was worth every penny. Wow. You're so excited that you acted fast enough to get the limited offer. You're in the exclusive group who got to see the info, and now all you have to do is make it happen.

Why you're still waiting? You're not going anywhere, because you're not doing anything. Instead of doing something, you move to the next product. You use hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to WSOs at WarriorForum. Amazing stuff. If you have the budget, you buy the Product Launch Formulas, Kajabis and Video Bosses too. You're learning so much! You really are.

All That Info — And Nothing... Still haven't figured out why you're not making a dime? You're not making money, because you buy yourself a feeling of progress in the next shiny new object you buy. It's gonna be all the same. No matter how good the information you get is, nothing will happen.

Nothing will happen because you are lazy. Or you're afraid to do anything. Maybe you're afraid to waste time and money, so you don't put any effort into what you do. You're half-ass, instead of kick-ass.

Somehow you convince yourself that you're good where you are. Of perhaps you have the self-doubt. Whatever the reason, you're not gonna do anything. Why some people will never make money online?

BECAUSE IT TAKES A LOT OF WORK!

You need to write ebooks, you need to do affiliate marketing, you actually need to blog to make money blogging (go figure!). You need to get traffic. You need to build a better blog. Whatever your chosen method is, you have to work to get to your goals. Buying the course, training or eBook telling you how is not enough (duh!).

Getting overwhelmed by the number of options is another thing. Don't spend time choosing and looking for the best option, do first, evaluate second. You don't have to make it perfect the first time, what ever it is.

Yaro Starak, in his post about why people struggle to get what they want said:

Sadly most people know what to do, they just don’t do it. The reason is a lack of belief and confidence. - Yaro Starak

Take the lack of belief and confidence, add some laziness, and finally mix in the fear. It's much, much easier to buy new stuff and lie to yourself that you're taking action. You might be lying to yourself that you don't have the skills. That it's too late. You can't possible achieve what someone else did.

Truth?

You master the art of making excuses and you achieve nothing.

That's why some, if not most people are not making money, or they're making tens of dollars, and not thousands. The people who make money put what they know into use, they work hard. Those who don't do, don't get.

Don't be fooled about the big figures someone got "easy". Before they got easy, they worked hard, they failed, they put in the hours and then got results. The only 100% certain fact in the Internet marketing is the result of not doing anything. That's right. The result of doing nothing is zero. Doing nothing, gets you nothing.

Some people will never make money online, because THEY DO NOT DO ANYTHING, they just fake it to themselves by buying information products that teach them making money. The very few who do work hard, make all the money.

At some point, they have put in the hours (or the dollars to pay for someone elses hours). They are not smarter, they are not luckier, they just do more that those who don't make money. It's really as simple as that, even if you don't want to admit it.

Luckily - there's is one, and only one, solution to all this. With this one thing, THE ULTIMATE SYSTEM, everything is possible. But if you expect it to be easy, you're not gonna like it. It's the *real* secret to making money online.

Find the closest (literally) shiny object and look into it.

Will YOU be part of the very few who make it?

---

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

Why Some People Never Make Money Online

Here's more posts like to this:

1. Make time, not money


2. 37signals: A Secret to Making Money Online


3. The games we play and the stupid **** we do to get seen online

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Disqus LOOPHOLE for SPAM Comments in WordPress

Are you running Disqus on WordPress blog? You've probably seen plenty of SPAM and removed them with Disqus. Well, those comments are not really gone...

Are you running Disqus Comments on your WordPress blog?

Have you received comments that you've marked as spam or deleted?

You have, right? We all have.

Standard business, we get spam comments or comments not compliant with our comment policy, we mark them as spam and remove the comment...

Here's an usual lame-ass SPAM comment in Disqus, marked as spam...

Stay with me...

When comment is left to WordPress blog with Disqus comments, the comment is also added to WordPress database, like a normal comment would.

This is good in case you would remove Disqus one day, you'd still have the comments.

OK - cool

BUT

After the comment is received, Disqus picks up the comment, so the comment going to WordPress database it is not caught by SPAM filters or anything...

Not a problem, we just manually marked the comment as spam...

RIGHT?

well...

No.

Disqus doesn't think it needs to "communicate back" to the WordPress database and remove the comment there as well...

Check your normal comments (click 'Dashboard > Comments > Comments' to see comments in WordPress database), and you will find comments there that you've deleted or marked as spam in Disqus, safely in the WordPress database.

The same SPAM comment, marked as SPAM in Disqus, is in the WordPress comment, approved like any good comment...

LOVELY!

And if Disqus being slow as hell wasn't enough...

:sigh:

BUT

IT GETS WORSE

Spot a comment from "normal" comments that was spam, removed from Disqus, but still in WordPress database etc...

Not a problem, Disqus wouldn't show a comment removed from its own system and only existing in WP database, would it?

YOU BET YOUR SORRY ASS IT WOULD!

Go to the blog post in question...

You can't see the comment there...

OK - good...

Open the page source.

Search for the spam comment.

The same SPAM comment is now HIDDEN in the page source by Disqus Comments. Not visible on the page, but there it is...

WTF?

Looks like Disqus Comments on WordPress, at least with the Disqus Comments -plugin, help SPAM comments to turn our blogs into black hat SEO shit, hiding spammy comments and links in our page source.

Please tell me that this is just some oddity in my blog.

---

Original post from Zemalf's Website optimization blog:

Disqus LOOPHOLE for SPAM Comments in WordPress

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