Your Blog Tools

Seeing as it is the weekend, I wish to add a slight twist to my regular style of posting, which brings me to the question…

What Blog Related Emails Do You Enjoy Receiving?
If like me, you constantly get bombarded with tons of emails from all walks of life, out of those will be some that brings a smile, joy or satisfaction – something of a reward for your hard work.

Then again, you may have most of your notifications switched off,
but surely, there must be some you rather keep a watchful eye on.
What are they?

I have listed 3 of my top happy emails below, emails that I subconsciously look out for.

(1) Disqus [Yourblogtools]

• (New blog post comment notification)

(2) AWeber Sign-up

• (New Email list subscription)

(3) Affiliate Commission Report

• (Sales made through affiliate marketing)

It’s now over to you.
What emails or subject lines are you ever happy to receive, if any?

If you regularly tweek your blog’s design, layout or test plugins – I would recommend having a local version of your blog.
Hosting locally means running a duplicate copy of your live blog on your local machine. In other words, your PC becomes your web and database server.
Having your own development area is a bit like having your own playground, with freedom to test and tweek as you please without affecting the live system. Web developers generally adopt this approach before deploying.

Hosting your blog locally is a very straight forward process, and would require the following;

• Installing a web server on your computer.

• Creating a database.

• Downloading the latest version of wordpress.

• Tweeking one wordpress file.

There are several ways to achieve this, but one the easiest ways is using a tool called XAMPP, which happens to work across most operating systems.

Step 1

Install a local web server

PC

This is quite straight forward on a PC, simply visit http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html to download and install XAMMP Lite executable file.

Linux

For Linux users, applying a few commands in your terminal should get you up and running. Simply visit http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html for download and install instructions.

MAC

MAC users, download and extract XAMPP file from here http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html

Step 2

Create and active your database
Using the downloaded XAMPP tool, you can create a new database for your local blog. Simply open XAMPP control panel and select the Admin button next to MySQL. This should then take you phpMyAdmin page.

On this page, under MySQL Localhost section,  you can create a new database name.

At this stage, to make sure everything is working fine, start the Apache and MySQL services, it will notify you once it starts.
You should also see the XAMPP splash screen when you type “localhost” into your browser.

Step 3

Download and Extract Wordpress
You can download the latest version of Wordpress by visiting wordpress.com Once downloaded, extract the zipped file and move it inside the htdoc folder. On a windows machine, this can be located under c:\xampp\htdoc

Step 4

Update your wp-config.php file
In this file, you will have to define your database parameters to enable connection.
In your wordpress folder, c:\xampp\htdoc\wordpress\

1. Rename the file wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php
2. Define your database name – (‘DB_NAME’, ‘test‘);
3. Define your database username – (‘DB_USER’, ‘root‘);
4. Define your database password – (‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘test‘);

You can find your database information from the phpMyAdmin page, located under the MySQL section

Step 5 and final step

Configure and Install
Run install.php file by pointing your browser to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php and hit enter.

1. At this stage, you then see the configuration file, complete the fields with the same information as your wp-config.php file.
   
2. Complete your blog title along with your email address and hit Run install
   
3. ALL DONE – You now have a copy locally.

To transfer files from server to local machine, I would recommend using a an FTP client such as FileZilla.

What are your thoughts on testing locally?

David Risley will be doing a Live FREE public webinar

on 25th January 2010, at 8PM EST

I would highly recommend that you attend.

You can really learn a lot from this guy.

RSVP For The Webinar Now

In today’s review, I will be looking at an exciting coaching program known as the Blog Masters Club, by ProBlogger David Risley.

David has been one of my blogging mentors and coach for a while now.
And am proud to have been part of his first group of students on his coaching club.

For the past 6 months, this cool guy from across the pond has been working hard on his Blog Masters Club project which he is about to re-open very soon for a limited time.

This exclusive club, focuses on building up passionate individuals into true Blog Masters. The coaching program isn’t only about blogging, but about running a full-time online business, using blogging as a platform.
In fact, the first two modules of the course gets you into a Pro blogging mode.
Every action you take on the blog has to be strategic and structured.
David is a able to achieve this by bringing the world blogging and internet marketing together in this course.
The blog masters club also teaches and demonstrates how can you potentially make a 6-figure income from your blog, and the rest is really down to you

What’s in the Club

The whole course is packed with 16 modules of in-depth stuff.
The ‘Dude’, as I’ve recently been calling him, over delivers EVERYTIME.
The course is a complete brain dump of how he’s currently making a 6-figure income from his blogs. (PCMech and Davidrisley.com)
You’ll be getting well over 30 hours of high quality training videos.
In fact, I have studied his videos so much, I think I may have picked up some of his American lingo
In addition to the 16 modules, the club consists of an active forum and wealth of basic and useful blogging information.

• [Module 1] ProBlogger Orientation
• [Module 2] Selecting The Right Market
• [Module 3] Setting Up And Optimizing Your Blog
• [Module 4] Becoming a Blogging Master (Creating Compelling Content)
• [Module 5] Social Media Strategy – Becoming the Guru
• [Module 6] Pure Traffic-Getting Tactics
• [Module 7] Search Engine Optimization for Bloggers
• [Module 8] Making Videos For the Web – How To
• [Module 9] Top Blog Monetization Strategies Explained
• [Module 10] Creating Your Product Line & Sales Funnel
• [Module 11] Building Your List, From Zero to Thousands
• [Module 12] Creating a Membership Site
• [Module 13] Persuasion Tactics Every ProBlogger Should Know
• [Module 14] Creating Your Storyline
• [Module 15] Using The Power of Your Blogging Empire To Build Massive Profits
• [Module 16] Creating Powerful (and profitable) business relationships
• [Bonus Module] Automation & Outsourcing

Teaching Style

Majority of the materials are delivered on video, although, David also takes into account different learning styles. So, expect to find:
- Audio MP3’s
- Transcripts
- Action guides check-list
- One to one coaching calls.

Course Prerequisite

Be prepared to put in some hardwork, as David would put it ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’
In a nushell, you need the following:

1. To be self-motivated
2. Passion
3. Enjoy writing
4. Enjoy interacting with people

Who is David Risley?

David Risley is Problogger who earns a full-time income online, and has been in this business for the past 6 years.
I really can’t really pinpoint how I bumped into this fella, but he has been a great discovery.
He’s a cool, easy going, down to earth guy whose work ethic is admirable.
You can learn more about him below.

Become a Blog Master

I would like to share with you three quick ways to get more eyeballs on your blog this weekend.

[1] Share your expertise

Run a quick Q&A session on Twitter and help someone who has a question.
You can do this by finding tweeted questions related to your market.
You’ll be surprised how much people would appreciate a helping hand.
So go ahead, jump on Twitter and search for typical questions such as :
- How do I…
- How can I… in wordpress

[2] Email your list

• Give them a quick update of you’ve been up to
• Find out how they are doing?

Also, Keep them informed of any latest news on your blog.

[3] Do a quick video post.

This doesn’t have to be anything fancy.
Just a quick hello along with quick tips.
Videos are very powerful, and bring you closer to your audience.

What are your 3 tips for this weekend?