WordPress Plugin - Duplicate Post

Wordpress Plugin - Duplicate Post

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Did you ever want to reuse parts of a post in a new one, or just use it's format, or reuse the tags of a post?

Well, you could enter "WordPress templates" into Google ... and end up with links to thousands of WordPress themes ... you could refine your search query to "WordPress post templates" ... and end up with descriptions on how to adjust the post part of themes ...

... but there is a much simpler way ... just copy the post you want to reuse ...

... which is again, easier said than done. If you use the WordPress hosted version - they include tons of plugins - you don't have to worry ... there should be a plugin called Writer Helper ... it will help you with copying & reusing posts ;)

... if you host your own WordPress blog, there is a nice plugin which will make your day. Duplicate Post does what it's title says. You can duplicate (clone) complete posts or parts of it ...

Which plugins do you use?

Smart Passive Income #255 - Three Words

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Pat involves his readers once again:

What three words will you choose that make you stand out from everyone else? 

He derived his question from trying to describe his web site using only three words ... Why that might be useful? Have you ever heard about elevator pitches? ...

Try to explain your business/project/orSomeThingCompletelyDifferent to a stranger (a potential investor) during an elevator ride (note, that would be a "normal" building not a 500-storey one) ... Being able to describe your web page in three words really helps ...

Smart Passive Income #254 - Security through Obscurity

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Pat describes in great detail how to tell Google not to index a certain page, and how to remove it from Google if you do not want it there ...

For the first part you create a file called "robots.txt" and place it on  your web site e.g. with the following content:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /NAME_OF_THE_PAGE_YOU_WANT_TO_KEEP_HIDDEN

Most likely your service provider will have an online tool to create this file automatically. If not, there are tons of free tools online ...

Nevertheless, please note this does not keep Google or any other search engine away from your "secret pages". It just asks "in a friendly way" not to do so ... Google might follow your pleading, others might not ... the fun part is that you can actually browse those files yourself and you will know immediately which sites the owner of that webpage does not want to show everybody ;)

For the second part, Pat's description is a little bit outdated ... Just google for "remove page from index" and you will find an up to date documentation ...

... again this helps for pages indexed by Google, other search engines might not provide such a service ...

Why did Pat actually want to remove a page from Google?

Normally - in the business of internet marketing - you might think that the opposite is the case, we like to get indexed by Google ...

Google had indexed Pat's download page ... people just had to visit that very page to get the download link for his eBook(s?) ...

This is very bad if it is an eBook you charge money for, but it's still bad if it is one which you give away for free in exchange for an email address for your newsletter ...

In both situations it is a really bad idea to protect your property just by not telling everybody where to find it. ... there is a term for it: Security through Obscurity ... and it does not really work ...

Imagine you lock your house door, and keep the door in your backyard open ... nobody knows, so you are completely safe, aren't you? Nobody would dare to go around your house and enter from the back entrance ...

Please, please, please - you wouldn't do something like that in real life - please don't do that on the Internet ...

Even when Google follows your request, not to tell other people about your page ... what happens when you provide the link to that page to your "customers" ... what keeps them from sharing your link?

If you want to protect your pages, protect them using passwords:

• ... use different usernames and passwords for every single user
• ... use the email address of your customers as their usernames
• ... use scripts that do that automatically for you ...

Smart Passive Income #252 & #253 - RSS & Mobs

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Another of Pat's secrets is that he involves his readers. This time he asks them whether he should include the complete post in his RSS feed or only a summary ...

... the answer:

Pat's readers want the complete post included in the RSS feed ...

... Pat calls this Social Proof - that if everybody likes it, it must be right! It might be correct, that "groups of people have influence". But does that mean they have to be right?  What about mobs? What about

The IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters. (Terry Pratchett)

Smart Passive Income #251 - Being Everywhere

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... we know already that Pat recommends bloggers to mingle with YouTube ... but that is not enough for Pat, you should be everywhere!

Pat's seven ways to heaven/hell:

• Leave your comfort zone ... only you are limiting yourself ... (of course there is a reference with an affiliate link to Tim Feriss's book The 4-Hour Work Week)
• Be consistent ... it helps people to recognize you as brand whether you are on twitter, FaceBook, or on your blog ...
• Use other forms of media ... videos, eBooks, real-paper books, ...
• Use social networks ...
• Write guest posts on other blogs ...
• Deliver quality content ...
• Create fans ...

... actually ... there is nothing Pat has not already told us in the past ... and what those seven items have to do especially with "being everywhere" slips my grasp ... but that's why Pat is a marketing mastermind, and I am not :(

Wordpress Plugin - Social Media Feather Updated ... again ...

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Not long ago I mentioned the social media plugin Social Media Feather for wordpress ...

Remember it automatically creates those little buttons with link to various social networks:

... it's free version supports:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google Plus
• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Linkedin
• Tumblr
• Mail
• RSS
• Youtube
• Vimeo
• Instagram
• Flickr
• Foursquare

Guess what! It updated again ........

Smart Passive Income #247 to #250 - YouTube for Bloggers & Income Report

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Pat advises that all bloggers should be on YouTube. If you follow his advise you should

• provide quality content
• provide quality videos (1280x720 ... please note that HD does not actually mean that your video is high quality, it's just it's size ... don't just upscale your video ...)
• be different ... don't upload the same stuff others do ...
• don't be afraid ... the worst that could happen is that you are getting sued for copyright infringement ... so please upload only content you own the rights to do so ...
• add a watermark to your video ... not to ensure your copyright, but that people know who's content they are watching, and maybe want to visit your site/blog ...
• start with an overview ... which allows your viewers to stick around for the interesting parts ;) ... otherwise they might run screaming away after the first ten seconds ...
• add calls to action ... you know the "buy now"s and "click here"s ...
• use screen casts ... (don't forget the copyright part!)
• add an intro, outro and music ... but don't go overboard ...

... and he continues:

• be concise ... 10 minutes is enough ...
• split your video into (multiple) equal parts if it is longer ...
• embed the keywords in your title but make sure it still makes sense ...
• start the description with the URL of your blog
• use keywords as tags
• add an additional tag to link all your videos, e.g. using the name of your blog ... "passive income" might be to general, but "smart passive income" or "spi" might be nice ...

... and he continues further:

• place the video inside your blog
• post links to your blog/video to all possible social-media platforms
• use your video in comments to other popular (of course suitable/similar) videos
• add annotations to your video, e.g. a call to action ...
• make sure to choose a suitable thumbnail for your video ...

... and we reached July 2010 ... Pat's income for June 2010 tumbled down nearly 3.500,- USD ... to about 13.000,- USD ...

Smart Passive Income #246 - Recap Webinar

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Pat recaps his experience from his first webinar.

• Pat liked the tool/service he used -> GoToWebinar ... note it's an affiliate link ;)
• back then (June 2010) ... GoToWebinar ... was not that awesome for Macs (it is by now)
• ... not everybody who registers, does actually participate ... to maximize the number of participants, send reminders, define a fixed time for your webinar (including time zone), don't let them know that there will be replays (should you plan to run replays) ...
• make sure your your audio is perfect (note telephone quality is NOT perfect!) ...
• limit the time of the webinar (3 hours is bad, 1 hour might still be bad, be short and concise)...
• present the webinar in advance to a friend ...
• prepare a printout/handout in advance ...
• involve your participants ...
• expect problems ...
• have fun!

Smart Passive Income #245 - Optimize your Error Page

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Pat - marketing mastermind - knows even to use 404-error pages ...

An 404 page or any other error page is a website that appears in your browser when you mistype a link, if a link does not exist any more or any other problem appears ...

Normally you get something like:

Oops! We couldn't find what you were looking for.

 ... but because the appearing page is nothing but a web page, you can adjust its appearance ...

• Change the text, give more detail, be nice ...
• Add a search function ...
• Add links or excerpts of your most popular posts ...
• Add links, excerpts, or even the complete resent posts ...
• Add links to categories and tags of your posts ...
• Add an opt-in form for your newsletter ...
• Add advertisements for your products, promotional material ...

However, make sure your visitors still knows that the page she/he sees, is an actual error message ...

Smart Passive Income #244 - Checklist ... after you publihsed your post ...

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Pat refers to an interesting blog post on what to do before publishing a blog post ... now he lets us know what to do afterwards:

• Reread your article ... you can still change errors your find ... and seeing it live increases the incentive to find them ...
• Reread your article again ... and check for formatting and spacing errors ...
• Tweet ... let people know you posted your article ...
• Let people know on Facebook ...
• ... use any other social-media platform you know ...
• ... and there are social bookmarks ... use them ...
• Respond to comments on your post ...
• Thank people who retweet and repost your article ...
• Comment on your comments ...
• Add transcripts for video and audio blogs ...
• Rewrite and summarize your article for marketing ... (Facebook) ...
• Check the stats on your traffic, click throughs, sources ...

Smart Passive Income #243 - How to Spam

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Imagine, you have a newsletter, you send it to your subscribers, and nobody opens it ...

... Pat has advise ;)

But first, let's increase the suspense ...

What's the reason, your subscribers don't open your mails?

• it's the size of your list ... the bigger the list, the smaller the rate of subscribers opening your emails ... well, don't know about that one, I would say this is a duplicate of the following issue:
• it's the quality of your subscribers ... meaning that people subscribing to your newsletter  should really want to receive emails from you. So be honest, did you trick them into subscribing ... e.g. by exchanging their email address for a freebie?
• it's the subject of your newsletter email ... well, yesss ...

... and now the big advise ...

... the suspense has reached it's maximum, please wait at least ten seconds before reading the next line to enjoy the tension ...

Resend the email to everybody who did not open your email

... and that's what I would call spam ...

... to make it look less like spam:

• ... wait a couple of days, before you resend your mail (Pat's magic number is 4 days)
• ... change the subject line ... that's foul ...
• ... tell your subscribers that this email is a resend ... ok, that's fair ...

Smart Passive Income #242 - ... How to Choose Your Keywords ... continued

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Pat tops his last affiliate-link post ... he has created a 75-minute webinar  for the same product ...

... it seems Pat was overwhelmed with the length himself, thus he felt the need to provide an additional description how to play his video faster ;)

... first you need a keyword relevant to your website/product ... it does not make sense to create traffic to your website, which is useless to you when people are not actually buying, because they where looking for something else ...

... second you need a keyword which creates traffic ... a keyword nobody will use in his/her search query is useless ...

... you need a unique keyword ... if you are using keywords, everybody is using, it might get quite hard to compete ...

... you need a high value keyword ... meaning a keyword people use it with the intend to actually buy ...

... and you need to like your keyword ;)

Smart Passive Income #241 - How to choose your Keywords

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... another affiliate link embedded in personal information and marketing advise ...

It's about using the right keywords ...

... you need to choose keywords, which people actually use in their searches ...
... and you need to know how your competitors are doing using those keywords ...

... there is a free tool, you could use (it starts with Google and ends with Adwords) ... but of course you could use Pat's affiliate link to the paid one ... paid tools are of course much better ;)

... and a quick note, this blog does have it's own video ;)

Smart Passive Income #240 - P90X, Crush It

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Did you notice the "Smart Passive Income" part in the title? ... The last couple of postings did not really contain passive income topics ... well, the blog posts, I am commenting on, are from Pat's Smart-Passive-Income blog thus there was a little bit of context ...

Pat's current blog post brings us back to passive income ... remember, you create a product once, setup an automated way to monetize your product, and make money without additional effort ... thus it's called passive ...

Affiliate links are a way of passive income ... you place links to a product, somebody clicks on those links, buys the product, and you make money from it ... without further work ...

Pat does not only place affiliate links to a single product, but to two products into his post:

• a 90-day workout program ... to get healthy, ...
• and a business book ...

Of course he embeds everything into a personal story. Wanting to get/stay healthy Pat recently started this new exercise program - called P90X - which consists of 90 days "gut-busting, iron-pumping, fat-trimming, muscle-building, endurance-enhancing, nutrition-mastering, life-changing". Pat is on day 4 - Yoga - ... note that he does not give any more information to make us restless to know more and therefore visit P90X to learn more, buy the product, get healthy ... being a couch potato myself, he got me interested ... next thing I will do, I will click here to learn more ;)

Pat would not be Pat if his story ended here ... he compares the P90X program to being/becoming an entrepreneur:

• it takes time - 90 days for P90X, becoming a successful entrepreneur probably more ... 
• keep track of numbers - weight, body fat percentage, exercise time vs. income, payments, rates, ...
• take breaks - your body needs to rest in between excessive session, so does your body/mind when working ...
• get motivation from others - P90X seem to have message boards, for your work you have mastermind groups ...
• bring it - at least so says each workout DVD ... in business that would be Crush It, go on click on the link, I dare you ;) ...
• and finally commitment ... your body will not change sitting on your couch watching TV ... and your business will not either ...

Smart Passive Income #238 & #239 - Income Report & Mastermind Group

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We have reached June 2010 ... Pat's income report for May 2010 is up another 5.000,- USD and has reached about 16.000,- USD ...

... as mentioned before, Pat is part of a mastermind group ...

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

A mastermind group is a group of people striving for a common goal - in Pat's case running a successful online business based on smart passive income ...

They meet periodically, talk about their goals from previous meetings. One person - determined in advance - talks about current problems which then are discussed in detail. Finally everybody shares the goals to be accomplished till the next meeting ...

Pourquoi est-ce?

• You get answers to your questions, or at least the are discussed from different perspectives ...
• You get new ideas from perspectives you never thought of ...
• You get different opinions which is essential when you work alone otherwise ...
• Defining your goals and discussing the result in the next meeting makes it more likely you will achieve your goal ...

Où  cela?

• Create your own group ... diy always works ;)
• Ask other people, perhaps there is already one close to you?
• There are lot's of online resources: meetup.com, xing.com, linkedin.com ...

Are you already part of an mastermind group?

Smart Passive Income #237 - Blog Posts and Dead Links

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Once in a while Pat provides links to interesting blog posts ...

• the secret to be more successful doing less is "find a co-blogger" ...
• a lengthy post on how to build trust ...
• ... a not any more existing blog post ...
• ... a post about friendship ...
• ... and another not anymore existing blog post ...

 Question! What to do with dead links? Should we remove them from older blog posts?

Wordpress Plugin - Social Media Feather Updated

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Did you ever wonder how to get those little buttons linking to various social networks?

Well you could add them manually ... which is kind of tedious ...

Or you can use one of many plugins to create them automatically ... one of them (for Wordpress) is Social Media Feather ... it's free version supports:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google Plus
• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Linkedin
• Tumblr
• Mail
• RSS
• Youtube
• Vimeo
• Instagram
• Flickr
• Foursquare

... you can create share or follow links ...

The pro versions provides additional icon styles, etc ...

... and, it just has updated ... well to be honest, it updates quite often ... is this a bad or good sign?

Smart Passive Income #236 - Case Studies are the Best

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In his guest post Chris Guthrie praises case studies as the perfect blog content:

• they are unique ... at least if you did not copy them ...
• simple to write ... ??? ...
• ... and provide that bit of personal information we grave to hear ...

Smart Passive Income #235 - Goals & Numbers

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We heard already goal setting is essential ... It works even better using (realistic) numbers ...

Why goal setting is essential?

... because you get a direction where to go next, you can focus on what to do and are less likely to get lost ...

Why do numbers help?

... because you can measure where you are, see your achievements ... that's why you should choose realistic numbers ... to high and you get demotivated, to low and you will never reach the stars ...

... by the way, dates, when to reach a goal, count as numbers, too ...

Smart Passive Income #234 - Strange ...

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... Pat chose his number one revenue sharing site to write for (I will not tell you which one, which is part of the "don't tell everything" marketing trick) ... However, is it strange, that the one site Pat has chosen, is the one he has an affiliate link for?

... I have an affiliate link for hubpages, thus it is the best ;)

Smart Passive Income #233 - eHow et al ... continued

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Pat revisits the "eHow" topic ... writing for revenue sharing web sites ...

Why should you write for others when you could use your own blog?

• You are not limited to a certain topic ... your own blog should target a certain topic and not cover everything from knitting to quantum physics ...
• You only have to provide the content ... the rest like maintaining the blog, adding affiliate links, advertisements, is covered by the provider ...
• You are not alone ... there is a community which might be able to provide some support, and the site will already have traffic to send visitors to your articles ...

Pat has also some advise on what to consider when choosing a site:

• Check the website traffic (amount and trend) ... it's useless to write for a site nobody is reading ... that would be no different than starting a completely new blog ...
• Check the revenue sharing model ... what do you earn when for doing what ...
• Check the analytics provided by the provider ;) ... does the provide tell you what you earn when for which content, which article performs best, ...
• Check the copy right model ... do you retain the rights to your articles?
• Are you allowed to place your own affiliate links?
• Are you allowed to place backlinks to your own sites?
• What's the community and the stuff like?

Smart Passive Income #231 & #232 - Newsletters are Great & eHow et al (including HubPages)

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A quite lengthy guest post Jonathan Beebe about why newsletters are so great, and how you can increase your visitor numbers ... seems his blog is dead ... probably moved on to greater venues ... or newsletters are not that great at all?


As mentioned earlier eHow has changed his business model, thus Pat provides 13 alternative sites similar to the "old" eHow ... six of them do not exist any more (early 2104) including the one Pat named as "number one" ...

One of the still existing sites is hubpages ... already mentioned before, too ... where you write articles and get part of the income of affiliate links posted with your articles ...

Smart Passive Income #230 - Podcast Survey Results

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Pat provides the results of his online survey concerning his new podcast.

People want to hear about online business and blogging strategies, real-life applications, and interviews with successful entrepreneurs ...

... the "perfect" podcast should be between a quarter and half an hour long ...

... and people, filling out the survey, would also listen to Pat's podcast ...

Smart Passive Income #229 - 5 Reasons to Stop Blogging

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Pat gives five reasons why bloggers stop blogging:

• lack of time
• lack of energy
• lack of results
• lack of content
• ... moved on to bigger & better projects ...

... and he grumbles that lack of content is the worst excuse ...

Smart Passive Income #227 & #228 - Podcast & Unfinished Business

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Pat is starting a podcast (which is still alive in 2014) and to involve his future listeners, he asks for help, ... to fill out a short survey ...

... and embedded in yet another personal story, the secret of calling people to take action ... it seems we - the people - cannot stand that something is unfinished ... Pat uses this insight e.g. by

• asking for name and email address in return for freebies like ebooks, ...
• providing free content, and keeping part of it for the paid version, ...
• ...

I get the concept, but especially the review example seems really far fetched (note that I left this one out above, and now you have to go to Pat's post to see what I meant, you have no chance, you cannot resist, ... unfortunately no affiliate link).

Smart Passive Income #226 - Where to Put Affiliate Links

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Pat lets us know where he places affiliate links ...

... one might think everywhere ... but Pat is more specific:

• there is his resource page, where he collects "useful" links ...
• extension pages are similar, but he tailors them specifically to a certain product, which is also associated with other third-party products ...
• then there are sidebar banners ...
• "hidden" links in blog posts ;) ...
• within products ...
• within physical products and live talks ...

... and one last recommendation from Pat is to always track your affiliate links ...

Smart Passive Income #224 & #225 - Magic Bullet & 10 Secrets on Working at Home

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Another guest post, this time by Glen Allsopp. There is no other magic bullet, but YOU. Meaning, don't look out there for hidden secrets, just do it ...

... and Pat shares ten secrets on working from home:

• eat a good breakfast, ... because breakfast is king ...
• exercise regularly, ... yeah we know that one, and hardly follow it ...
• take breaks, ... see above ...
• don't check your email with your phone, ... agreed ...
• use natural sunlight and good lighting conditions, ... ok ...
• use good ventilation, ... don't wither in your own smell ;) ...
• get dressed ... we had that one recently ...
• get a good chair ... I guess that means working in your bed is out of the question ...
• enjoy what you are doing ... well, yes ...
• get enough sleep ... good night ...