Protecting Your Computer Using Deep Freeze
Jun 3 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
It’s now almost three weeks ago when I installed Deep Freeze on my machine. Time for a review.
I stumbled upon Deep Freeze via James’ retired blog when he talked about computer security and how it affects our Internet business and can become a pain. He recommended a small tool which is being used by Internet cafés and libraries, for example. With that neat little tool, there is…
- No need to run and install the latest version of anti-virus software
- No need to run and install the latest version of anti-spyware software
- No need to run and install the latest version of Windows Update (some of which destroy your Windows installation; isn’t that funny?)
- No need to run and install the latest version of firewall software
- No need to make a new, clean OS install every 1-2 years because the computer became too slow
- No need to worry about data loss due to hackers, trojaners, viruses, system crashes, etc etc
- No need to worry about whether or not Windows’ System Restore works (it never worked in my case)
Sounds too good to be true? Read on…
It came in handy because one of my three Operating Systems (”OS”), Windows XP German, did not run properly anymore. And shortly after this, the second one (XP English) as well not anymore. It seemed as if I had a virus, although I ran updated anti-virus and anti-spyware… (Sounds familiar?)
So, I found it to be a good time to give Deep Freeze a shot.
Preparation For Deep Freeze
Now, the tricky part was to prepare for The Day and set my system up properly. What I mean is this…
As the name implies, Deep Freeze puts your machine into a deeply frozen state. Once you reboot your system, all is back to normal. It is as if you’re bringing your computer back into the freshest or newest state possible.
Here is how one would normally install Deep Freeze…
- Format the system disk/partition
- Install the OS and all of the software you need on a daily basis
- Install Deep Freeze and tell it to freeze your system.
- Now, whenever you boot your system, all is back to the point where you installed Deep Freeze.
As mentioned, the tricky part for my particular case was the set up process. First thing I did was formatting my main hard drive.
There are four hard disks in my computer. The first one with 180 GB is for the operating systems. I split that disk into 3 partitions: #1 for Windows XP, #2 for Windows Vista, and #3 for “other stuff” such as testing a new operating system, or if the other two do not boot I still have one partition remaining to install an OS on and boot my computer to see what’s wrong with the other two partitions.
Then the next disk (180GB) is one I use to save all kinds of data (for several years already), more or less timeless stuff.
Then comes the third disk (500GB) which I use primarily for my SiteSell video productions, my Web sites’ files, product creation files, some more “stuff”, as well as for “My Documents” and the MS Outlook data file (which I do not use anymore though since I “outsourced” e-mail to GMail).
Finally, there is disk #4 (150GB) which I used to use as a backup disk for my most critical data (video production files, Outlook data file, Web sites files, etc), but because of Deep Freeze I can safely skip this step and use disk #4 for saving the day-to-day software programs there. (For performance reasons, it is a good idea to install software on a separate disk so that you have one disk for your OS and one for installed software.)
I still do use a hard drive for backup purposes, which is an external one and requires USB only, and it is excellent for when I’m traveling. (Seagate FreeAgent Go 160GB – I love it! :-)
Now, before I set up Deep Freeze, I was under the impression it would create images (i.e., clones) of all the disks that I want to freeze. To my surprise, though, it is a neat little program running in the background, which I notice by its taskbar icon only (and perhaps a 3-second message during restart).
Compare that with some of the anti-virus or anti-spyware programs out there and you know what I mean. Once you installed them, they immediately slow down your system in order to “do a good job”.
Deep Freeze, however, keeps your machine in good, fresh shape.
How Deep Freeze Works
The only thing that may annoy people and got me to change my habits: Deep Freeze resets everything.
Saved a URL in your browser’s favorites? That is lost once you reboot the OS. Saved a file on your desktop? Yup, that is lost, too. Changed settings in a software application? That’s also reversed to the previous setting. So, how do you save your day-to-day work or change preferences?
Two options for saving your day-to-day stuff…
- You let one disk (or one partition) in an unfrozen state. You can define that during installation of Deep Freeze. You specify which drive letters you want Deep Freeze to protect. In my case, I have disk #3 in unfrozen state, the one where I save and work with important day-to-day data. The crucial parts (disk #1, #2 & #4) are in frozen state though and therefore perfectly protected.
- You use a thumb drive, memory stick, or simply an external hard drive.
As for changing settings, preferences, or saving favorites, you simply tell Deep Freeze to restart your computer in an unfrozen state (by pressing the Shift key on your keyboard while double-clicking on the Deep Freeze symbol in the taskbar, then modify accordingly).
Once you reboot, you can change whatever you wish, save passwords, bookmark, etc. Once you reboot your computer again (so it’s in the frozen state again), all your changes are saved, and you can continue to work more conveniently and fully protected—without anti-virus nor anti-spyware nor any other of that crap.
Additionally, once I notice some weird happening, I simply reboot the whole system and that “weird happening” magically disappeared as if it was never there. (Just happened in a coaching session yesterday… black screen while still on the Skype phone. A quick reboot and it was solved.)
There is a downside though… Although it is supposed to restore everything, including your browse history, it does happen on my machine that visited URLs disappear from the browse history. (Though, I figured that to be a very minor downside.)
Also, in case you delete something, it restores it. Even when you hold down the Shift key while pressing Delete, it restores it. This may be a downside for some. But when you look at it from the other side, Deep Freeze is supposed to completely protect whatever you have installed and saved.
Just imagine you let one of your friends (or kids?) on your computer and s/he “accidentally” deletes crucial data. No worries with Deep Freeze… it’s all still there after reboot. :-) (That means, when you do want to delete something from protected partitions, unfreeze your computer, delete the file(s), and refreeze it again.)
Bottom Line
The Bottom Line is that I now save a whole bunch of valuable time—at least a couple hours per month—fixing idiosyncrasies on an ongoing basis. And I can sleep a bit better now. ;-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
Why I Do Not Use FeedBurner
Apr 30 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Reviews, Strategies, Traffic Generation
Ever heard of FeedBurner? Stupid question, huh…
It seems as if the majority of bloggers use FeedBurner to distribute and track the use of their RSS feeds.
Every day I come across blogs showing off the neat little counter proudly displaying how many subscribers they have, just like so…
Here is the thing I have with Feedburner.
Feedburner feeds are, per default, in a format that looks like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/KeywordPhrase
And more strangely, when you view a blog post in a feed reader their URLs look like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/KeywordPhrase/~3/279888022/
Isn’t this a bit strange? How do you know to which site or post you’re subscribed to or what that post is about?
Another thing is word-of-mouth. Imagine you send the FeedBurner URL of a particular blog post to a friend. You eventually provide a short description to entice him/her to click trough. Yet still, it is fairly hard to imagine what one will find when clicking on such a ghost link.
Whereas, when one sends an RSS feed link of one of my blog posts to someone it is clearer what you will find when you click on it since it serves as a “URL headline.”
Do not underestimate word-of-mouth! I get lots of visitors from mail services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Live Mail. Many of them enter my blog on individual pages. (My blog announcement list mentions the home page only.) It is likely some of them picked up the post’s URL from my RSS feed and sent it via e-mail to a friend.
How often did you hear that the headline is the most important part of a message? With a great headline you can pull a reader to your site to read all the rest. You can entice him, brag him and encourage him, but with a Feedburner feed… where is that “URL headline?”
Let’s compare the following two RSS feed links. Assuming both lead to the same location, which one would make you click?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetBusinessGuide/~3/279888022/
http://www.hochstadt.com/aweber-secret
See?
This is my main reason why I’m not a FeedBurner.
Another thing is that FeeBurner owns your feed when you use their services. Theoretically, they could do whatever they wish with it. They could even terminate your account. In such a case, you would instantly lose all of your subscribers. Think that won’t happen?
Recently, there was a guy using myspace.com as platform to social network with others and promote his upcoming first music CD. He built a large following in a fairly short time period. He had lots of friends and even established connections to popular names in the music industry. What happened?
Myspace.com terminated his account two days before his CD came out, without providing any reason.
BANG!
What was supposed to become a hit became a flop.
Bottom line, if, after reading the above, you still think it is advantageously to use FeedBurner, I at least strongly encourage you to remove the counter (unless it shows thousands of subscribers.)
—Marcus Hochstadt
45 CommentsPermalink Tags: feedburner, rss feed, subscription, word of mouth
MuVar Vs. Google Website Optimizer
Apr 24 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Reviews
Since Google recently opened the gates for its Website Optimizer to a wider audience, and because we have a paid alternative called MuVar for quite a while, I figured it’s time to compare both programs and see which one brings greater returns in terms of profitability and actual results.
First though, what is multivariate testing anyway?
Before I answer that question, ever heard of split testing, or A/B testing? It is an approach where you show one piece of “something” to 50% of your visitors and another piece of that “something” to the other 50%. After a while, you’ll see which version brings the greater returns (in terms of profitability, conversion rate, etc.)
So split testing is indeed a powerful thing when optimizing sales letters, sign-up pages, and the like. You have a number, a conversion rate, and you want to increase that number. Sure, the first thought would be to increase traffic then you often automatically increase sales or sign-ups. But what if traffic stays the same and you still can optimize the process?
That’s where testing comes into place. And while split testing is a well-known option, multivariate testing is more often than not a much better one because you get results much faster. What it does is it compares multiple variations with each other and shows you which versions or combinations convert better.
So let’s say you want to compare 3 different headline versions with each other, then at the same time you also have 4 different testimonials, and 3 different pictures, different font sizes, and on and on. You get the idea. It actually doesn’t matter what, just that you compare whatever you have in mind, and various options with each other at the same time (not just two.)
Lots of ideas and possibilities, and multivariate testing helps you find out which combination sells better or converts more visitors into subscribers, etc. You have different variables, plug them into the testing system, and compare them with each other to find THE combination.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the two options at hand, MuVar and Google Website Optimizer (gonna call it GWO from now on.) I’m going to continue with bullet points to illustrate the main elements…
- GWO gives you the opportunity of setting up multivariate as well as split tests while MuVar focuses on multivariate tests only. Google says that split tests may be better when your site gets less than 1,000 page views per week. I’m not sure about that. You need a considerable amount of traffic anyway in order to get statistically significant results. When you have only 100 page views per week any testing result is not as meaningful as with 1,000 or 10,000.
- Both MuVar and GWO provide you with video tutorials to walk you through the set-up process. GWO further explains the differences between split and multivariate testing, which does MuVar on its sales page. Google may have an advantage here since it offers an extensive online help (in many different languages!) “behind” the two video tutorials (and its integrated powerful search feature which we’re using every day, aren’t we?)
- The video tutorial MuVar provides walks you through the whole installation and configuration process, so does the GWO, too. But I found the lady in the GWO tutorial is rushing through all the steps within 14 minutes, while the gentleman in the MuVar tutorial takes more than 30 minutes and makes sure each and every step is explained thoroughly. Besides, he shows you a real computer screen instead of a Powerpoint presentation. In other words, I find the GWO tutorial a bit superficial. Yes, I do see what I can do, but I miss the real live examples and “walk-through” shown in the MuVar tutorials. Further, the Google lady speaks into the microphone instead of aside from it, which is the reason why you hear those annoying pop sounds when she’s virtually spiting into the mic. (I’m allergic against this; it’s something many video tutorialists do wrong, often unknowingly.)
- GWO is placed on your Google Account’s home page and is accessible from within your Google Analytics account. I like it when many of my daily tools are available from one place and I don’t have to go to multiple locations in order to get what I want. With MuVar, you need to log in to your site’s MuVar account. When you installed MuVar on, say, 5 sites you need to log in at 5 different locations.
- GWO provides you with reports that show you which combination gives the best results. MuVar gives you these kind of reports as well, but it does a very important task… it optimizes your page by itself without me having to lift a finger! This is a huge advantage and a great time saver. One can say GWO tests while MuVar tests and improves. It’s like having a human resource do that for you every single day, for free. (OK, there is a sort of “batch processing” thing in MuVar that you have to perform occasionally, going to a particular URL once a week or so. I did it myself already; it’s pretty straight forward and can be done within a couple minutes.)
- MuVar can only be used on HTML or HTM pages, whereas (as far as I can see) GWO can be used on PHP pages as well, is that right? They only show HTML extensions in their examples, but they do not explicitly state that you cannot use it in PHP, ASPX, or something like that. I don’t see a need for PHP when having a sales letter or a sign-up page, but more technically inclined Webmasters may have some arguments towards PHP and ASPX.
- Setting up a multivariate test with GWO is a bit more challenging (and perhaps complicated?) than with MuVar. It may be because the lady in the tutorial rushed through the process and even after watching it the third time I haven’t completely understood it quite yet. They do show you where to put which JavaScript code. Though, with MuVar you simply upload a couple files, go to the MuVar administration area on that site, and then enter all the variables you want to use. It’s pretty straight forward. You can even add variables without logging in! And you can use existing HTML code, copy & paste it into MuVar, and then modify it or create multiple variations right there. Pretty simple, pretty neat.
Bottom line, GWO is available for free while MuVar cost $300. I see the quality in what Google does since I use a couple of their tools myself every day. So the word “free” may not apply here when talking about quality. How often did it happen you had to pay for a certain service, then Google bought that company and made that service available free of charge from that point on. (Now, you may wish Google goes ahead and purchases MuVar, but let’s not go that direction for now…)
The biggest advantage MuVar has is its automation and “built-in human resource.” It optimizes whatever you wish to optimize by itself, without me having to do anything (except the occasional “batch processing” and perhaps adding more variables.)
I don’t know about you, but when there is a tool available that saves me a bunch of time I become VERY interested and excited, and I’m more than happy to pay for that excitement. There are lots of things I have to do during the day. And when there is a tool that helps to empty my desk, I’m very grateful for that.
And although all your GWO tests are available from one location, it does not take so much time to go to a few Web sites in order to manage your MuVar installations.
With all that being said, my vote goes to MuVar. I’m going to use it from now on and am really looking forward to substantially improve my business and conversion rates.
—Marcus Hochstadt
Larry Brauner Conference Call
Mar 25 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Larry Brauner is an expert when it comes to Social Networking. That hit me the first moment I found him through Entrecard.
He just published a video replaying his August 8, 2007 conference call covering the difference between social networking and advertising.
Very interesting. Check it out…
http://online-social-networking.com/social-networking-vs-advertising/
Way to go, Larry! And so true, many people still mix those two.
—Marcus Hochstadt
Video Site Review
Feb 25 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
I’ve come to the end of the Video Site Review of readytoberich.blogspot.com.
Fitz, you already got my e-mail with the link to your video package (3 videos – 160MB – 50:19 Min.) Enjoy watching and learning from them. :-)
Now, since I promised to give a short written review on my blog (so others can learn from it too,) let’s go straight to the meat…
When talking about Internet business, working at home, and how to get rich, I love sticking to simplicity and focusing on content. Flashy layouts and blinking banners are distracting. They push visitors away from your MWR (Most Wanted Response.)
You do have a clean layout, using black & white as the basic colors. You do use the color blue occasionally, which is OK since it’s not overly used. So principally, I like your layout.
Very roughly and distilled from the three videos, here are some of the improvements I would implement when your blog would be mine…
Layout
- Increase font size of headline slightly – The headline is the most important part of a blog post.
- Decrease font size of the post date slightly and move that line below the headline – Right now it seems the post’s date is more important than its headline.
- Have the “Comments” link appear more prominent.
- Separate posts from each other using horizontal lines (for example)
- Avoid long 5-7 sentence paragraphs – A paragraph shall consist of 1-4 sentences max. (on average)
- Instead of justifying text, have it left aligned – Studies prove text is easier to read when left aligned.
- Have a bigger smile on your face – That you have a photo of yourself on your blog is great! And smiling more deeply and out of your heart can have an infectious and captivating effect to your audience. (I know, need to update my own…)
Keywords & Traffic
Since one of your goals for improvement was to get more traffic from your target audience, I gave you two resources you can use to research and find a bunch of high profit keywords.
The goal is to focus on one keyword per page, distributing the keyword 4-7 times throughout an article. This is also called “Keyword Focused Content Pages.”
With this approach, over time you’ll likely attract lots of traffic from the Search Engines. (SEO can be a science, that’s why I use the word “likely” here since there’s much more to it than high profit keywords alone.)
There are three more strategies to get more traffic from your target audience. One is commenting on blogs in your market or niche, another is posting on forums.
In the second video, I go into more detail of these two, and I give you the URL and a short tutorial for another (the third) method.
Marketing & Money
- Get your own domain name! – This is sooo crucial when talking about money and business. Some (or more) folks think one couldn’t afford the $6,95/mo it cost to host an own domain.
When having an own name, the picture it portrays to others is a much better and more professional one. Not to forget that an own domain name, usually, is easier to remember.
- Get a unique favicon. Stand out from the browser crowd. Be memorable and remarkable. Right know, your blog has the default blogspot.com favicon.
- Less is more – My guess is some of the monetization models you currently use are a waste of valuable virtual real estate. Or in other words, they bring near to zero in return financially (i.e., below $50/mo.)
By removing these, your other revenues usually increase. (Fortunately, your blog isn’t full of banners and distracting “By Me Now” buttons. Yet there may be certain things you may want to remove in order to increase income.)
I go into much more detail in this third video. To summarize…
Drop those that generate no money, keep the best, and have your MWR (Most Wanted Response) above the fold. Be it AdSense, an affiliate program, or the viral marketing stuff (RSS, e-mail, etc), put that up to the top to have it front and center in your visitor’s eye.
What do you others think? Any additional ideas for improvement? Any tips & strategies to squeeze more out of Fitz’ blog?
—Marcus Hochstadt
And The Winner Is…
Feb 23 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
OK guys ‘n girls, the time has come… It’s noon Eastern (2 o’clock here in North-East Brazil.)
Wow, look at this… 24 entries!
It was a VERY tough task to pick a winner, really. There were so many interesting entries, most of which I’d so much love to see improved. Though, only one gets the free site review today.
NOTE: For all others, after thinking through and because I really want to see other site’s improved, please see the special at the end of this post.
Usually, when you get a site review from someone, all they’ll tell you are thinks like “well done” -or- “there’s a typo in the first paragraph” -or- “your site’s loading too slowly; remove the xyz widget on right hand side” -or- “Add X and Y to your site. You’ll see you’ll make lots of money with it.”
That’s just crap!
Did you ever get your site reviewed? Did the person ask you specific questions up front? Did the person give you exact steps to follow in order to improve your site? No? Well, to me that’s a worthless site review.
What you do need is a detailed review that not only points out minor gripes but the big mistakes leading to year-long failures. What you need are straight to the point solutions instead of finger pointing to the obvious little problems. What you need is a hands-on step-by-step plan on how to get out of the misery you’re currently in, once and for all.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here… ;-)
Again, one winner today, and a 2nd price at the end of this post.
That being said…
The Envelope Please!
<open>
The Winner For A Free World Class Site Review Is…
Fitz Villafuerte from readytoberich.blogspot.com
Fitz, I’m going to give you my review on Monday. I’m going to make a short written review publicly available here on my blog, but my actual review goes a BIG step further.
I’m going to record the whole review on VIDEO. Yes, you read that right. You’re going to receive a site review in video format. That way you get the most out of it since most people learn better and much faster with audio and video, and you can watch it over and over and over again.
I’m going to send you the link to the video(s) using the e-mail address you provided in the comments area.
Now to what I mentioned earlier…
Although my time is very limited, I’m open for five more reviews for the time once I’m back from Costa Rica (middle of March.)
Since my individual reviews take at least five hours of my time, I would charge $700 for a comprehensive video site review. As you may know by now, it’s not one of those “short & nice” reviews.
My video site reviews include lots of tips on how to boost your Internet business, which false steps to avoid, what to get rid of on your site, what to change, which tools to use to boost your Internet business, how to expand (or create) your individual pool of high potential and high profit keywords (hence, how to research your market properly,) how to make more money, SEO, and much more…
In other words, it’s like a private consultation with me. :-)
Now to the special
Because there are others I really want to see improved, I’m going to take my time and review the Web site of five more people. For these, the price will be $250 per video review. If you want to boost your Internet business and receive a world class site review (one that even goes beyond this free one,) send $250 to PayPal@Hochstadt.com and we’ll set you up.
You will then receive a more comprehensive questionnaire that you fill out and submit. It will give me a much better idea of your goals, your target market, and the tips and techniques I give you to boost your Internet business and bring it to the next level. Once you’ve filled out the questionnaire and sent it in, you’re going to get the ETA for your personal video site review.
Again, only five. Those that are too late are going to receive a refund immediately.
For now though, Fitz, TALK to you soon. :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
Hurry!
Feb 22 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
There are currently 22 submissions to the free site review.
I’m going to pick the lucky winner tomorrow at noon 12 P.M. Eastern. Yes, that means there are only 16 hours left!
I haven’t revealed it yet but the monetary value of my comprehensive site review is $700. Yes, it’s not a crap one. It is a world class site review you profit from for years to come.
It will boost your Internet business and bring it to the next level, guaranteed.
It is a site review you have never seen before, ever.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here…
If you thought of submitting or not (shy?), now is the time to write it up and click that send button (unless you want to pay me $700 instead.)
Once you’ve done this, stay tuned…
Again, tomorrow at noon I’m going to open the envelope.
Good luck! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
Let Me Review Your Web Site
Feb 21 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Do you have a blog or a Web site? (OK, a blog actually is a Web site, isn’t it?)
Would you like to improve it? Would you like to get higher rankings at the Search Engines? Would you like to grow your Internet business? Would you like to make more money online? (Silly question, huh?)
This is your chance… :-)
I’m going to review one Web site, for free.
There are tons of Webmasters making a bunch of mistakes when it comes to putting up a Web site and building a thriving Internet business. Whether they just got started or are on the Net for a couple years already, many of them simply have bad habits.
Usually, I don’t do site reviews. It takes quite some time to give a solid thorough site review, one where the reviewee gains the most rewards.
But I have the time of my life these days. :-)
That said, it’s time I pay forward what I received. Yes, we gonna have a mini-contest, sort of.
Here’s what you wanna do…
Instructions
- Post a comment to this entry
- Give the URL of the Web site you’d like me to review
- One URL per comment. If you want to nominate more than one Web site, submit another comment.
- No sales letters
- Give the top 1-3 things you want to improve
- Give the main goal you have with your Web site
- Give your real name (Your artistic name is OK, just not a “keyword name,” if you know what I mean…)
I’m going to pick one lucky winner. I’m going to do my best to post the review on the next day after pickup.
NOTE: Submit your request IMMEDIATELY. Most likely, I will pick a winner sooner rather than later.
Good luck! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
RaSof And Blog SEO
Jan 23 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Have you ever been looking for how to “SEO” your Internet business blog? Ever heard of RaSof? Are you wondering what the heck you have to do in order to get and retain Top 10 rankings at the Search Engines for whatever keyword phrase?
Lots of questions, I know, “but what the hell is RaSof anyway?”
It was James Brausch who generously gave me a Christmas Gift last year when I got to know RaSof. (James, I really appreciate it and am continuously benefiting from it. Again, thank you very much.)
As James says, in terms of ranking factors, a proper domain name covers 20%, off-page criteria are 40%, and the source code of your pages (i.e. “on-page criteria”) cover the remaining 40% importance.
James Brausch is still offering RaSof for a mere $100/mo (instead of $1,000).
With the knowledge I already had when launching this blog, and with the new insights I got with his Christmas gift, I now start getting more and more visitors from Google. My blog does not rank in the Top 10 for the term “internet business” yet, but I’m confident sometime this year it will. (And frankly, there are more high profile keywords available than internet business alone.)
When I first entered my blog’s URL into RaSof it displayed a score of 545. Last week it showed a whopping 1,300+. (Let’s see when Google recognizes this value… ;-)
I’m going to post more about improving your on-page criteria in the future. Meanwhile, if you want to pump up your Internet business and earn top rankings at the SEs, I encourage you to subscribe to RaSof while it’s still available for this price.
—Marcus Hochstadt
7 CommentsPermalink Tags: rasof, SEO
Aaron Anderson’s LaborLiberator.com
Jan 19 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Aaron Anderson’s blog is going up like crazy. I’m amazed. I’m stunned. I love people that take action like turbo speed. Incredible.
I first noticed his blog when I stumbled upon James Brausch’s “retired blog” (was December 2007) when he honored Aaron’s there. I forgot about it for a bit but am now following his blog almost every day and put his RSS feed into my NewsFox reader.
You know, I’m fairly new to all this blogging stuff. I feel like an alien in the blogosphere, and my knowledge of PHP is in the minus section (i.e., under zero.) Although I do have some HTML and CSS knowledge, I was a plain dump when I fist visited wordpress.org and downloaded the free package.
“Famous 5-minute installation” they say; ah yeah, sure! 5 minutes… *pfff*
It took me more than five DAYS!
Not because of WordPress though. After many nights I figured out it was because my old host did not support the “mode_rewrite” module in their Apache server. Sounds Chinese, I know. In plain English, I couldn’t run the blog the way I wanted, so I had to move everything from Germany to a host in the US.
OK, as you can see I’m over the first hurdles and my blog is up and running the way it should be (for now.)
There are still a ton of things on my to-do list though. One of them is was subscribing to Entrecard in order to see if my results will be different to Aaron’s. “What’s Entrecard” you ask?
It is basically an online service where you exchange business cards by visiting blogs that are part of the Entrecard community. The more blogs you visit and leave your card, and the more are visiting yours and dropping their card, the more points you’ll earn, and the more visitors you’ll receive.
And you’ll get to see really excellent blogs that you probably would not find otherwise!
It is not my intent to give you a full-blown review just yet—too early. I’m going to do that once I have enough data, OK? (Aaron reported 308 new visitors in 6 days due to Entrecard.)
Stay tuned for my report folks; perhaps I can beat him (at least in THAT small area, Aaron… ;-)
And make sure to check out Aaron Anderson’s blog. He offers very helpful tips that are spot on.
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. Aaron, there is no spot providing a Trackback URI. Hope you receive my wink though. (Yeah I know, newbie worries.)
Terry Dean Interview, Free To Download
Jan 11 by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Reviews
Just got off listening to Terry Dean’s recent interview. It’s awesome; you better listen to it, too.
The 59:28 minutes are jam packed with good, solid advice. He’s mainly talking about building a relationship with your e-mail list (something I really and still need to improve, so his advice came just at the right time—thanks Terry!). Furthermore, he explains how to jump start your Internet business.
If you just take one single advice from that audio, it is at minute 20:51. The method he’s talking about there is well-worth… um, I better stop using that language… ;-)
Now I’m just wondering why that audio is for free because… Most people don’t realize the real value that is behind “free stuff.” If they’d have to pay $100+ for this audio they’d certainly put more of the things being taught into action. But…
It’s yours free.
Grab it!
http://www.terrydean.org/free-small-business-podcast/
And more importantly, act upon it!
—Marcus Hochstadt
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