Do you want to start an online business but not sure where to start?

The first step when starting an online business is to pick a niche!

It doesn’t matter what type of business you are thinking of, it could be digital publishing (blogging), information products, affiliate marketing, eCommerce (selling physical or digital products), or services like coaching and consulting. Picking the right niche is critical because the right niche can make a business and the wrong one can break it.

Industry vs Niche Market

So what is a niche market?

A niche market is a smaller subset of a larger industry. For example, Sports is not a niche, it is an industry, Badminton is a niche.

Travel is not a niche market, it is an industry. Van Life is a niche. Camping in the UK is a niche. Road Trips USA is a niche.

Pets are an industry. Dog training is a niche. Guinea Pigs are a niche.

In general, niches are smaller and there can be better niches the smaller you go. This is called niching down. Using the Pets example from above. Pets is an industry, dogs maybe a niche but it is a very big niche. You can make this niche smaller by niching down to a type of dog, or a breed or group of dogs. Like Working Dogs, Poodles or Terriers. These would all be better niches than Dogs.

Not all Niches are Created Equally

Just because you have found a niche doesn’t automatically make it profitable. All great niches do one thing and that is they fulfil the wants and needs of the target audience.

What are the needs of your audience? This is not as hard as it sounds. Every human on earth experiences the same set of basic needs.

We know these as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Making an effort to fulfil these needs leads to the creation of problems. A great niche solves these problems.

So what kind of niches can be found on each level on Maslow’s pyramid?

Physiological – think health and wellness. Things like diets, gluten free, paleo, low carb. As well as maladies that affect people, like rheumatoid arthritis, stress, sleep disorders, and erectile disfunction.

Safety niches would include the obvious like survivalism, and personal security but it also includes work related niches like blogging, forex, location independence and online education and SEO. If your topic is in any way related to making money it would be in this category.

The love and belonging level could include dating/relationship advice, family travel, and mentors and life coaches.

Niches that are in the weight loss, and fashion and style industries would be in the Esteem level of the pyramid. As would sewing, music, and exercise gear.

The last and top level of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs is self actualization. Niches in this category would include dog training, yoga, nootropics (brain enhancing supplements), and parenting advice.

When people try to fulfil these needs they will run into problems this is where your niche comes in to help.

How to Pick a Niche

When picking a niche the key to finding a profitable one is evaluating its potential.

Passion

Lots of online advice says pick a niche that you are passionate about, I am not sure that is the best advice. Turing a passion into work can back fire, and make no mistake, starting a profitable niche site takes work. Having a passion is double edge sword, early on it can keep you motivated but over time when working the passion is hard you may find that you no longer enjoy the passion.

However, I will say you will have the best chance of success if you pick a niche that you have an interest in or one that you have at least some knowledge.

On the other hand picking a niche that you have no interest in but may be a money maker is also not a great idea. Making money in niches takes time and if you have no interest in the topic you will lose interest just before you start to make decent money.

The best advice I can offer here is when picking a niche look at topics you have an interest in and then follow the steps below to evaluate if it can make you money. You don’t necessarily need a ton of passion but you do need to be interested.

Products or Services

When picking a niche the first step is to determine if there are products or services that exist to sell in that niche. Are there affiliate programs available or can you create a product that solves a problem?
First look at products that you use and enjoy in your niche. Go to their websites and look to see if they have an affiliate program, or just Google “company name affiliate program” see if something comes up.

This is how I find most of my affiliate programs. If I find something I like whether it be a product or service I find out if the company has an affiliate program.

Next take a look at affiliate platforms and search for products that would service your niche. I have found good products on ShareASale, Awin, Impact Radius and a few others. I tried Commission Junction years ago but hated the platform. Clickbank maybe another place to find products to sell.

Or better yet pick a niche that has some affiliate products but also one where you can create info products like e-books, reports, online courses, video courses or webinars. This takes more work but the rewards can be enormous. When you create your own product and have some success selling it you can then start an affiliate program of your own.

You don’t necessarily need to have products or services. You can have a successful niche site by publishing information that people want to read and then sell advertising on your site.

Jon Dykstra from Fat Stacks Blog has built very successful niches sites that primarily rely on advertising as it main source of income. His top niche site earns high 5 figures a month. (The last monthly income report I looked at his top site earned $74000). The biggest hurdle here is having enough topics to write content on, he estimates that he has 5000 articles on this site.

Competition

DO NOT look for a niche with no competition. Competition is a good thing because it means that people are spending money in that niche.

The more competition there is, the more affiliate offers there will be to promote. There will be more information on how to promote the offers and more people will be looking for those offers.

Some competition is awesome as it will warm up the niche for you and you should be able to find great affiliate offers or the audience will be ripe for a digital info product.

Do be aware some of the most lucrative niches also have incredible cut throat competition. Surprisingly the mattress niche is extremely competitive.

Quality of the Audience

Every niche has an audience, in general the bigger and more active/passionate the audience, the better the niche.

Facebook Audience Insights is one of the best ways to find information on an audience. Facebook Audience Insights provides detailed results that will be broken down as follows:

• Demographics
• Page Likes
• Location
• Activity
• Household
• Purchase

Another great way to evaluate your audience online is through Reddit. For those that are not familiar with Reddit it is a collection of communities divided into subreddits. That means Reddit is already organizing its community for you into subsets of topics, in other words, niches!

The website Subreddit Stats takes all of the data from reddit and organizes it by growth and follower count. You can find a subreddit’s popularity is within its follower count and growth. Find out how passionate the audience is by how many comments in the subreddit.

Keyword Search Volume

This is a very different from the keyword research that you would do for writing an article. Unlike keyword research for your articles you are looking for large numbers.

A keyword for your niche is basically your entire website’s topic. So if you want to start a niche site on Guinea Pigs, you need to find out how popular the keyword is, the keyword being “Guinea Pigs”. According to SemRush, Guinea Pigs gets 550 000 searches per month in the US alone.

This is good, there are a lot of people that are interested in Guinea Pigs. The best niches will have a high volume of monthly searches. If your niche gets very few searches you will have a very hard time driving traffic to your site.

For my keyword research I primarily use SemRush, it is a great website does a lot more than just keyword research. SemRush is an “all in one SEO tool”. They offer a free level that you can use for some limited searches and SEO info and a free 7 day trial for their full suite of tools. Once you get your site up and running you can decide if the higher level plans offer any benefit, for now the free level should work for you.
If all you are looking for is awesome keyword tool check out Long Tail Pro it does not do all the things that SemRush does but it is awesome for keyword research and it much cheaper, you can get a full year for the same price as a couple of months on SemRush.

Evergreen Niche

Does your niche have long term potential?

This is a very important question to ask yourself.

Do not pick a niche that can potentially only last for a short time. Fads come and go but you want your niche site to last a long time.
Think of the people that created sites around fidget spinners. Even if they started their site right at the beginning of the fad they would have been out of business a year later.

Compare this to Guinea Pigs. Nice and steady over the last five years and growing slightly in the last 12 months.

Google Trends can be a good tool to help understand if your niche has evergreen potential.

Competitor Analysis

This is a tricky subject. You want to find sites that are similar to the one you have in mind and look at those. Do not look the huge sites covering the industry. Going back to my guinea pigs example you do not want to look at Petsmart.com or Petco, you want to look at the niched down sites. So for Guinea Pigs you want to look for sites like guineapig101.com and guineapighub.com. This would be your your competitors, not Petsmart.com or Petco.

The way you can find these sites is doing some longtail keyword research. First start on Google search start typing a question (make sure Google is auto-filling in your results.) I started typing “can guinea pigs…” and Google gave me a bunch of auto suggestions like “can guinea pigs eat grapes”. I took a look at the results and found several sites that would be a guinea pig niche site competitor. If “can” doesn’t bring up anything try, “will”, or “what” etc.

After you find a few sites that are similar to the one you you are going to create. Go to SemRush or Longtail Pro and type in the website in the domain analytics area. This will give you all sorts of data about the niche and your competitors.

It will give you the estimated traffic the sites get, other competitors, the keywords they rank for, the top pages and much more.

In April of this year Guineapig101 got 30000 visitors! And it was only started in the last 2 years. That is great! If I had an interest in Guinea Pigs, I might want to start a site on them. A site that is getting 30000 visitors month can make anywhere from $300 to $500 a month in advertising alone. My best guess is that Guineapig101 makes between $500 and $800 a month if you include their affiliate income.

Now it is time to roll up your sleeves and take a few notes. Find 4 or 5 competitor sites and take a look at them, actually go to the website and take notes, and find opportunities to beat them.

Write down what you like and dislike about each site. This should give you ideas for things you can do differently especially if there are some things you don’t like.

Find older outdated posts and make a note of them. This will help in the next step.

Look at the type of content these websites are publishing, is it written content, videos, infographics, webinars, image-based, what is the average content length, does the site lack depth?

What products or services are they selling and promoting, are they affiliates for anyone including Amazon? Do you see anything they aren’t selling? Are they selling advertising? Many niche site owners overlook seemingly obvious products.

Does your competition seem like they treat their site like a business or are they hobby bloggers doing it for fun? Marketing skills can easily beat hobby bloggers.

Are they making obvious marketing mistakes like not building an email list, publishing badly formatted content like big blocks of text and very little in the way of images, is the content filled with spelling or grammatical errors, are they using an outdated theme and style, or not optimizing content for SEO?

Create Better Content

It really is that simple. Using your notes from the above step figure out how you can create better content.

Write longer more in depth content, use images, videos and infographics. Write content that updates any old information that you found during the competitor research step.

Google likes fresh content, so when you find an old piece of content on a competitors site update it and make it fresh and in depth.

You can use SemRush to find content gaps on your competitors sites. Then fill the gaps on your site.

Other ideas could be writing up a case study, or an in depth guide. Make sure your content has images and social media-friendly content. Do a podcast, create videos or webinars!

Create a community around your niche. Start a Facebook Group. Or if your niche is visual start a Pinterest account or IG account. Use all of these accounts to drive traffic back to your site.

Now that you have found a niche all you have to do is buy a domain name and start a website.

Huge List of Niches

The below list of niches is just to give you a starting place. There are thousands of great niches. This is not an exhaustive list, for example German Shepherd is a great niche but this does not mean it is the only dog breed to look at, if you have a favorite breed do some research to see if it is a great niche. The list is meant to help you brainstorm when you are trying to pick a niche.

For me, the most frustrating part of freelance work is getting paid for my work. Some clients are great with paying in a timely fashion but in my experience, especially when I first started my freelance career, some drag their feet when it comes to paying their bill.

Setting up an independent website, marketing that website, and taking care of all aspects of terms, conditions, and invoicing is how a lot of freelancers make their living. That’s how I started. But, after a lot of hustling to find new clients and the huge amount of time and effort it took chasing some clients for payment I knew I had to do something differently. I needed to find a marketplace for my skills that could help me get paid quicker.

Don’t get me wrong, having an independent website is paramount to success as a freelancer. But, when it’s a struggle to find clients or get payment from clients for work you’ve already done it’s important to have some consistent supplemental income. Freelancing platforms are a great way to do that. Signing up to work on one or some can also be a way to promote your own site and grow your repeat customer base. But, not all global freelancing platforms are great places to sell services.

I researched and tried a few different freelancing sites in my quest to get paid for my services faster, including Freelancer and Upwork (formerly Odesk, or Elance). A few things became glaringly clear during my first year on these platforms- competition for jobs was fierce and the race to the bottom for pay was even fiercer. The whole experience left me feeling violated- for lack of a better word.

The bottom line, I was working way too hard (completing huge projects) for way too little pay.

One site I had avoided when I was searching reliable paying freelance platforms was Fiverr. I thought it would be the same or even worse for huge effort for little money. I did some research to find the opinions of freelancers who had experience on Fiverr and learned many loved the platform. Their glowing reviews motivated me to give it a try and I’m happy to say, now I love selling on Fiverr too!

Here’s what I think makes Fiverr the best freelancing website.

It’s Quick, Easy, and Free to Set up a Fiverr Account

You can set up an account on Fiverr in as little as an hour. A lot faster (and cheaper) than building a website to market your work! You can sell any service you like as long as it meets Fiverr’s terms of service. There are hundreds of categories of services offered on the site that you can peruse to get ideas for what you could sell.

It’s free to set up an account on Fiverr, absolutely no fees to list services on the site. Fiverr takes a portion of your profits when you sell something- there is no outlaying of money until you’re already earning.

There are lots of ways to represent your service- the key is maximizing the gallery and your profile. Here are a few helpful articles to give you some inspiration on what you can offer and how to set up your Fiverr profile to woo clients.

15 ways to make money on Fiverr https://www.forbes.com/sites/gingerdean/2016/08/29/15-ways-to-make-money-on-fiverr/#248d219c5cda

Getting Started https://www.fiverr.com/academy/getting-started

Setting up Gigs for success http://blog.fiverr.com/setting-gigs-successful-seller-fiverr-part-1/

The Market Place is Huge AND it’s Not Hard to Get Your First Client

There are thousands of customers hunting for services on Fiverr daily. New start-ups and seasoned business owners that are looking for a wide variety of services at varying degrees.

The thing I love about Fiverr is it’s not that hard to break into that market.

Take a look at the top performers in whatever category you’re service falls under. What are they doing to be so successful? Emulate their offering and improve on it a bit.

The key to landing clients is getting a few stellar reviews to your name. Could friends, family, or coworkers benefit from your service? Promote your Gig (service) to them to get feedback on your service. Also, including a video in your profile is one sure way to get more exposure for your Gig on Fiverr. Doing so increases your chances of closing a client by over 100%!

Pricing Your Work is Simple and There is No Negotiating with Clients about Costs

Pricing is simple; check out the competition within the Fiverr marketplace for the service you want to provide. Click on similar Gigs and look at their gallery to see how their quality of work compares to yours and check out their pricing. Make sure you look at Gigs that have had some sales. Price your Gig the same or a bit better to attract buyers. Pricing goes in increments of $5. This made it easier for me to scale my pricing quickly.

The best part is terms and pricing are agreed upon before you begin work. There is little or no negotiation on pricing. Clients get a menu like list of requirements (things you need from them to complete the Gig) and some choices for extras (additional services clients can buy to accompany your Gig offering) if you’ve included any. Then they buy and you start the work.

You’re Not Limited to Charging Only $5

The coolest thing is you’re not limited to charging $5. You have the freedom to offer 3 different packages with your Gigs. You can price them anywhere from $5- $945 with 3 different varieties (tiers) of your service at 3 graduating prices. I sell more of my top tier Gig than any other.

If Done Right, Projects are Small and Quick to Complete

What do you excel at? The key is narrowing down a service that you’re skilled at (a job that takes you very little time to complete well). If you design your Gigs right, focusing on small, valuable tasks you’re good at, the work will be fast, fun, and plentiful.

Payment is Quick with No Hassles

Once the Gig is complete, you’ve delivered the work and the client has accepted your work Fiverr takes care of the payment. The money is transferred to your account. No haggling or hounding on your part. Payment is quick no more waiting months to receive payment for services rendered!

The Bottom Line on Why I think Fiverr is the Best Freelancing Website

Fiverr is great for leveraging skills you already have. Alternatively, it’s also a perfect place to practice and perfect a new skill. You can scale your Gigs (services) to offer clients great value and make more than $5 a job. It’s free and quick to set up an account. There is no haggling over the price for your work and, most importantly, payment is quick.

I don’t make enough to live off my earnings from Fiverr but a lot of freelancers do! This article has some great tips if you’re interested in making a full-time living on Fiverr- 6 Secrets to Making a Full Time Living on Fiverr.

I use Fiverr to supplement my online income. It is a great place for me to continue to develop my skills and gain insight and inspiration for building my online businesses. I wrote this article, “5 Awesome Websites That Can Help You Earn Money From Home” that highlights a few more specialized freelancing platforms if you’d like to market your skills a few different places.

These are the top reasons I think Fiverr is the best freelancing website. How about you? What’s your experience on global freelancing platforms? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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This post has been updated for 2020 deals as the daily deals are announced I will update the discount codes.

It is that time of the year again for the annual retail weekend extravaganza. This is the time of year I buy any software or online tool or anything I need to run my business online.

It use to be that Black Friday was dominated by in-store, brick and mortar sales, and the online deals were deferred until Monday. However this is not the way it has evolved. Now almost all of the deals start on Friday and run until Monday, some running until the end of the week. 

Most of the deals below start Friday, however there are one or two that hold off until Monday and only run for 24 hours.

All of the products that I have listed, I personally use on my sites or on my client sites. One thing I strived to maintain was that these are the BEST products and services,  I did not look for sub-par products that had a bigger discount, just the best products that I use.

Because these are products and services that I use myself and I think they are awesome and offer value, I joined their affiliate programs, so if you should purchase something after clicking on one of my links I will earn a small commission. You do not pay any extra, I just get a little something for spreading the word. 

Hosting Deals

Hosting deals are a dime a dozen this weekend, almost every host will have some sort of a deal. You will not see the usual list of suspects, a lot of the most popular hosting is terrible. A lot of the most popular hosting deals suck you into sub-par hosting with huge Black Friday deals. So I have a few top choices for you to consider before you make a huge mistake. All of these choices are being used by myself or by my clients. 

The first one is my host of choice and by the end of next week most of my personal sites will be hosted on this little known provider.

My first two options are “managed” hosting. These options are for people that don’t want to mess with their hosting and they just want to get on with building their businesses and earning money.  These are the hosts I like the most! Starting a profitable website is hard and there is a lot to do and trying to do everything yourself is crazy. That is why getting managed hosting is so appealing. 

Managed hosting typically offers more services, better support, and far less websites on a server than typical shared hosting. Managed host servers are usually highly tuned for WordPress, extremely fast and include a bunch of services that standard shared hosting just can’t offer.

The downside is they are more expensive. Although if you have to pay me to fix your website, in the long run paying for better hosting will save you money.

WPX Hosting $2 for the first 2 months trial and 6 months free on 2 year plans

WPX Hosting is a fantastic host. They offer so much value for their managed hosting, and this is my host of choice. I have moved most of my sites to WPX Hosting and I have been extremely impressed with the hosting and the customer service. I moved 5 sites over two years ago and the service has been nothing but fantastic. This year, for Black Friday, they are offering one of 2 deals:

• For new customers – $2 for the first 2 months trial
• For new and existing customers – 6 months free on 2 year plans

As an additional bonus they include the WPX Cloud Service to all their customers completely free! This is a custom-built Content Delivery Network. That means a substantial boost to your website speed around the world, increase security, and no need to buy a 3rd party external CDN. Other highlights of WPX Hosting include:

• Fully managed WordPress hosting with FREE email included
• Superfast, highly optimized, new, high-end new SSD servers deliberately underloaded with fewer websites for high performance under extreme traffic loads
• Enable HTTPS with unlimited free Google-Sponsored SSL Certificates installed and active in under 10 seconds
• Unlimited FREE site migration from your current host to WPX Hosting Within 24 Hours, 7 Days A Week
• Website security with Enterprise-level Incapsula DDoS protection on ALL plans
• “Fixed for You Guarantee” Unlike a lot of the more popular hosts that send you a link to an article when you get into technical trouble and expects you to fix the issue WPX does it for you! Fast and FREE! Technical support 24/7/365
• An innovative “Staging Area” where you can merge your staging site version with the live site version WITHOUT losing new blog comments or post/page changes on the Live site since the Staging version was created
• WPX Hosting’s 24/7/365 support team that averages under 30 seconds response time

Check out the reviews from real people in the video below.

Kinsta – 2 months free on all annual subscription plans

This is an all-time deal not just for Black Friday. We’ve included Kinsta on this list, even though their ‘2 free months’ discount is offered year-round, because we love their hosting.

Kinsta is a fully managed WordPress host but their service is very different than other hosts. Every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it. The resources are 100% private and are not shared between anyone else or even your own sites. They provide awesome hosting and you should definitely check them out. I have a couple of clients on this host and they love it. The only downside is they do not host email so if you use your hosting account as your email server you will need to use something like G suite, GMX Mail or Proton Mail.

Kinsta has just launched their custom designed Application Performance Monitoring tool.

Kinsta’s APM is a unique feature that provides actionable data to debug WordPress performance issues without having to pay for third-party monitoring services. The secret to a faster site!

It’s free for all Kinsta customers and can be accessed directly from the MyKinsta dashboard.

Other features include:

• Free CDN
• Free Let’sEncyrpt SSL Certificates
• Staging environments
• Automatic daily backups and the option to create manual backup points anytime
• Full page caching at the server-level to deliver content almost instantaneously to visitors
• A Kinsta in-house designed cache plugin
• Free Hack Fix! If your website is hacked they’ll fix it with immediate priority
• Server-level rules and optimizations for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Download sites to ensure a smoother checkout experience for customers
• A custom designed dashboard (no more confusing CPanel) with lots of data that helps you improve further your site
• MyKinsta analytics reports for data analysis and performance insights
• Multi-user access with fine-grained permissions. Add any number of users to your team. Give them access to all your sites, just billing or add them as developers or administrators to a subset of your sites
• SSH access, Git, and WP-CL
• At least one free migration, completed by their expert support team
• 20 data centers around the world
• 30-day money-back guarantee with no long-term contracts

GreenGeeks – up to 70% off

Like Kinsta, GreenGeeks offers their deal all year round. The longer the plan the better the deal. In 2020 I started 2 more new sites and wanted to try out a new host and GreenGeeks has been awesome. Their support people have been great and the hosting has been fast and high quality.

If you are just starting out I would highly recommend you give GreenGeeks a try.

They are the world’s #1 green energy web hosting provider is offering 70% off on web hosting if you pick a 3 year plan. You also get a free domain, free SSL and free CDN. Also, they will migrate your website for free.

Aside from providing excellent service, the best part about GreenGeeks is that they actually care about the environment. They use renewable energy to reduce your website’s carbon footprint.

SiteGround up to 75% off 

I debated whether or not to include Siteground in my list. There are a lot of Siteground fanboys out there so a lot of people think they are one of the better hosts and at one time they were.  In my opinion their service has gone downhill.

Siteground used to be my go to host that I would refer people to, as they have a very client friendly hosting account dashboard, it is easy to use, and their customer service has, in the past, been very good.

That being said, I have heard a lot of complaints about Siteground and I think they will only get worse. On their shared servers the websites don’t load very fast, people are having their websites suspended because of CPU over usage, customer service mostly consists of getting an auto-responder email with a link so that you can solve your problems yourself, and you will get a huge increase in price when you go to renew. 

I still have several clients on Siteground and so far the clients that remain have had little, to no issues, and for the most part I know what Siteground wants to see to get an account un-suspended. Their sites are all fairly small and do not get a lot of traffic so until they grow Siteground should be fine but as soon as they start getting decent traffic I think they will all want to move to a different host.

So consider yourself warned if you decide to choose Siteground.

Domains 

Namecheap up to 98% off domain registrations, and 27% off transfers

Your perfect domain name awaits! A website domain name is your address on the Internet, it carries your brand, your public image, and your professional reputation. It’s the first thing people see when they visit you online. Choosing the right domain has become more important than ever.

Namecheap is a great place to buy domain names. They are less expensive than other domain registrars, and they provide WhoisGuard Privacy Protection for FREE, for life with any domain registered with Namecheap.

I now buy all of my domains at Namecheap and in 2020 I transferred all of my other domains to them as well.

Keyword Research

Keysearch 20% off with discount code: KSDISC

Keysearch is a very popular keyword research tool. Good keyword research is important if you want to rank highly in Google. With Keysearch you can easily find related, niche relevant keywords. Just enter your main keyword or seed keyword and Keysearch will come up with tons of related keywords all with search volume, CPC & PPC data.

But that is not all Keysearch does. With a click of a button you have the ability to do in-depth keyword competition analysis. Find the keyword difficulty score and see the full first page search results. Plus you can track your rankings and your domain authority stats automatically.

You can try discount code BLACKFRIDAY to get 40% off the Starter plan!

SEO Software

If you need more than just keyword research then take a look at the following tools. They are all outstanding and they all have different strengths. 

SerpStat 20% off annual plans

SerpStat is billed as an “All-in-One SEO Platform”. This is the tool I use the most. It really has everything you need and one of the best all round SEO tools.

SerpStat has a comprehensive suite of tools that consists of 5 modules – rank tracking, backlink analysis, keyword research, site audit and competitor research. It allows you to keep track of your projects in order to track the history and analytic reports 

There is just way too many things that this tool does to list them all here so just check out the website to this if this is something you can use. (My guess is that it is) Over all this is the SEO tool that I find is the best over all tool to use. If you can only afford one SEO/Keyword tool this is the one I would choose.

SE Ranking 30% off (BLACKFRIDAY2020)

SE Ranking is an all inclusive SEO tool. You can guess from the name where SE Ranking really excels. That is rank tracking. I use this tool for rank tracking and site audits and I think it does both of those things very well.

They claim they have 100% accurate keyword position tracking. Showing real-time positions of your website’s keywords in major search engines. Depending on your plan you can track your rankings on a country / region / city level as frequently as you want. If you choose a lower frequency like 3 days or even a week the subscription is heavily discounted.

SE Ranking also has other features including a keyword suggestion tool, On-Page SEO checker, backlink monitor, and you can tune up your website with their website SEO audit.

Use Code: BLACKFRIDAY2020

Themes

30% off of the Genesis Pro annual fee for your first year – Coupon Code:SP3FREE – Sale Runs Monday, November 23, 2020 – Friday, December 4, 2020

I use StudioPress themes on almost all of my websites. They are well coded they load fast, the support and community are outstanding. If there is something you are trying to do with a StudioPress theme chances are there is a tutorial on the internet that will help you.

The themes are Gutenberg ready, SEO optimized and have great security, they really are a leader for premium WordPress themes.

I bought the Pro Plus All-Theme Pack 10 years ago and it has been invaluable to me. Almost all of my websites are running StudioPress themes.

WP Engine has replaced the Pro Plus All Theme with Genesis Pro.

With the purchase of Genesis Pro, you get access to and support for Genesis & all 35 StudioPress-made themes. You don’t have to host on WP Engine to use Genesis Pro!

You get access to and support for the Genesis Pro plugin which delivers new site building super powers for creating beautiful websites quickly.

You can use the Genesis framework, the Studiopress premium themes, and the Genesis Pro plugin on as many sites as you’d like wherever you host!

Access a library of professionally designed & fully customizable blocks, content sections, and full page layouts.

StudioPress is now owned by WP Engine and if you sign up for hosting with WP Engine you get 35+ StudioPress themes for free. (WP Engine is not one of my top picks for hosting but they are also running a Cyber-Weekend sale 5 months free when you buy an annual plan) Just use Coupon Code: CYBERWPE30 for the WP Engine deal. It includes a 60 day money back guarantee.

Astra Pro Theme 30% (code will be auto applied) Valid 24th November 2020 to 1st December 2020

Astra Pro Theme is a theme I just started using a couple of years on one of my sites and I can say that I like it. It too, is well coded and super fast loading. It also works seamlessly with Gutenberg.

Astra Pro has some great features and integrates incredibly well with page builders like Beaver Builder (more info on Beaver Builder at the bottom) and Elementor, and shopping plugins like Woo Commerce.

One of the best parts of Astra Pro is the ability to import a pre-made website demo among 100 + options, and go live with just a few tweaks! This can help get you up and running with a beautiful website in just a few minutes rather than a few hours!

GeneratePress Premium 35% off

GeneratePress Pro is similar to Astra Pro it is also light weight and well coded the free version is extremely popular, but the Pro version is far better and very affordable.

As with Astra, GeneratePress has many downloadable demo sites that will get your website up and running in no time. It integrates well will page builders and Woo Commerce. GeneratePress is also Gutenberg ready.

Caching Plugins

Both Swift Performance and WP Rocket are excellent caching plugins.  Swift has a few more features than WP Rocket, such as an Image Optimizer, a Data Base Optimizer, and a Plugin Organizer. 

However if you are just looking to make your website faster WP Rocket is great and is 35% off this weekend. It is less complex to set up and it works pretty much as soon as you activate it. WP Rocket also offers a 100% No-Risk Money Back Guarantee, they will provide a refund if it’s requested within 14 days of purchase.

Swift Performance is offering a limited amount of licenses for Black Friday starting at 70% off and going down to 60% then 50% off as the licenses are purchase. If you don’t already use an image optimizer then seriously consider getting Swift Performance Pro as it includes an image optimizer in the pro plan. 

Other Super Useful Plugins

OptinMonster up to 60% off 

OptinMonster is a great lead generation/collection software that is feature rich. It will help grow your email list, reduce cart abandonment and increase sales conversions and as far as I am concerned it is a must have plugin if you want to make money on your website. OptinMonster integrates with all the well known email marketing systems such as Mailchimp, Aweber, Constant Contact and many more.

Features include:

It is worth mentioning that OptinMonster also has a training course called OptinMonster University.

They market it as “Digital Marketing Training to Explode Your Business Growth. OptinMonster University is where entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketing professionals learn how to attract and convert website traffic into customers.”

OptinMonster University is absolutely FREE with the purchase of ANY OptinMonster plan.

MonsterInsights 70% OFF Discount Code -BF2019 – Live NOW – Nov 25

MonterInsights is the best WordPress Google Analytics plugin there is, bar none. It can be set up in just a few minutes and with just a few clicks to connect with your Google Analytics account.

One of the things I like the best is the tracking features. Enhanced Link Tracking can track clicks to your outbound links and affiliate links. Other tracking features include Popular Post Tracking, Forms Tracking, Referral Tracking, Ads Tracking, and File Download Tracking. 

Find all your real time Google stats right in your WordPress dashboard plus get link tracking and so much more with MonsterInsights.

Beaver Builder 25% off Will be automatically applied at check our between Nov 27th – Nov 30th

Beaver Builder an awesome page builder. Page builders are design systems that allows you to build great looking pages without knowing any code. Position images and text with precision, and build column based layouts in minutes, insert custom modules for extended functionality. Beaver Builder has dozens of beautiful templates that you can use as you own or use to unleash your creativity to build your own custom built pages.

Since Gutenberg was release I do not use Beaver Build as much as I used to. That being said it is the best page builder for WordPress that I know of.

Thirsty Affiliates up to $70 off! Discount code BF2020

Thirsty Affiliates is a plugin that you should use if you have any affiliate links anywhere on your site. With Thirsty Affiliates you can cloak the long ugly affiliate links making them look better, it protect your commissions from theft and lets you insert affiliate links into blog posts easily.

But Thirsty Affiliates is more than just any run of the mill link cloaker. It has all the tools you need to be successful as an online marketer. From auto-linking keywords, Amazon integration, amazing reports, smart uncloaking, geo links and so much more. It pays for itself in just a couple of affiliate sales! Get Thirsty Affiliates before midnight 2nd December 2019 for a whopping 30% discount, use coupon code “BF2019”.

The Pro version has many more features.

Social Warfare Pro 40% off with discount code: BLACKFRIDAY2020

A last year I was looking for a new social share button plugin as the one I was using hadn’t been updated in 2 years and it was one of the slowest loading parts of my sites. So I was looking for faster, nice looking social sharing buttons.

I found Social Warfare, not only is it faster it has more functionality and I was able to get rid of 2 other plugins and having less plugins is a good thing.

Social Warfare Pro has a bunch of sharing options such as:

Social Warfare also has a “Pin All the Images” function that when enabled will place a “Pin” button over top of every image inside of your content when a reader hovers their mouse over it. This made another plugin I was using for this redundant so I could deactivate it and delete it.

You can also customize how your content is shared. Any network that uses Open Graph Data can be customized, this includes Facebook, Pinterest and more. This add-on allows you to decide exactly which image, title and description appears when your content is shared.

Social Warfare also has a Click to Tweet function (good bye to another plugin I was using for this), and perhaps one of the biggest reason to use Social Warfare is to recover lost share counts. If you have ever changed permalink structures, domain prefixes, connection protocols (http-https) or just flat out changed domains you know that you end up losing all your social share counts. Social Warfare has a tool called Share Recovery which allows you to get back your lost share counts. 

Black Friday / Cyber-Monday Weekend Conclusion

The above list has everything you need to set up, start, and run an online business. These sales only run for a limited time. Some will be over by the end of the day on Friday, some will only run 24 hours on Monday

So don’t delay if you like some of these deals, click on the links and buy the product or service. I use all of them on at least one of my sites and several of them I use every day and on all my sites. 

There is a question I get asked every week, sometimes several times during the week. The question goes something like this “I am so excited I am launching my blog/website. It is going to be about Heath and Travel and Parenting, and Relationships”

The person then goes on to explain how they think they can link the topics. (When I say the “topic” of your blog or website I mean the overall subject matter of the content on your site, the ideas that you will be writing about. In this post I will use topic, subject and niche interchangeably.)

They usually choose 4-6 subjects that they think they can somehow connect. These are things that they are interested in personally and they think that their readers will also find these things interesting. From Pet Care to Finance, Cooking to Sewing, Fashion to Fitness almost anything, and the combinations are endless.

Here is the thing, it… won’t… work. Starting a multi-topic blog is a terrible idea particularly if this is your first attempt at starting a website.

Now I am talking about a site that you want to make money from, a site that can provide a passive income, I am not talking about a website that is your personal blog that is just for your own entertainment. 

If you are writing just for yourself then have at it. Write about anything and everything that occurs to you, but if you want to make money, be found in Google and generally be a success online then you need to take a step back and rethink what you are doing.

The basic thinking is that people are interested in a wide variety of things, so why not write on a wide variety of topics. There are many problems with this line of thinking. First off the odds of a person that is reading your blog having not only the exact same interests that you have but agreeing with your point of view are slim to none.

Say you write about photography, religion, parenting and relationships.  Maybe your reader thinks your parenting advice is crap so why would they want to read what you have to say about photography?

Another problem with this line of thinking is that this is not how people consume information. When you search for information online or in a book store or library, you search for the topic you want learn more about. When you want to learn about landscape photography you want to get to a website that is about landscape photography, not one that talks a little about photography as well as baby care and extreme couponing.

Reasons Why You Should NOT Start a Multi-Topic Site

A common thinking of new bloggers is that their readers will inherently care about them as a writer and be interested in everything they have to say, but the ugly truth is where you are first starting out nobody cares about you or your experiences. 

I don’t say this to be mean, I am just stating a fact. When you are just starting a WordPress blog, you do not have a track record, any readers that might stumble upon your site know nothing about you and you will not have very much content on your site for them to read so it will be hard for them to get to know you. Add to that a site that has just a handful of posts and each post is about a different subject, you will quickly see those few readers bounce from your site never to return.

SEO, Google and Other Search Engines

Not only will your readers not initially care about you and your opinions, Google and the other search engines won’t care either. The thing that most website owners want the most is to have high rankings in Google so that their sites will get get lots and lots of free traffic.

If Google has no idea what your site is about you can kiss any hope of ranking for anything goodbye.

How Google ranks websites has changed a lot in the last 5 years. More and more Google is concerned about a websites brand and the writers “authority”. Google wants to send its users to the best website that answers the search query. The best website is usually the one that is an expert or authority on the subject matter.

Building authoritative reputation takes time, effort and a massive amount of content. In fact one of the biggest additions to Google’s recently released Search Quality Valuators Guidelines was the addition of “creators reputation”. Google now looks at who is creating the content and evaluating what expertise the creator has on the particular topic.

How do you show your expertise on 6 different topics if you only have a few articles on each one? Sure you can buy content but Google now is looking at the author’s reputation as well as the sites. Buying cheap, poorly written articles and publishing them with you as the author does nothing to improve your reputation and having experts supply well written articles will not be cheap.

The SEM Post has a well written post on things site owners and content creators can do to make the most Google’s creators reputation criteria.

A blog or website that has been created with intention to earn income needs to be cognizant of proper SEO so that they can rank highly in Google. Maintaining proper SEO is far easier in a single topic blog.

In the Search Quality Valuators Guidelines, Google use the acronym E-A-T, this stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google wants to rank pages that have a high level of these attributes.

The sheer amount of content, and time or money to correctly establish a multi-topic website as an authority is mind boggling. So it is far more likely that you will be able to create an authority site by sticking to a single topic. 

Visitor Experience – Your Readers 

Let’s talk a moment about you, your readers and their experience of visiting your website.

As I said above, people consume content in a specific way. When you buy a magazine it is on a specific topic, fashion or gossip or sports etc. The same it true when people search on Google. They search for a topic looking for a website that will answer a specific question.

Once they land on a site they are looking for info related to their search query and if they subscribe to a newsletter it is presumably because they want more information on the subject. Say you sign up for my newsletter that focuses on making money while living a location independent lifestyle and you get an email from me telling all about how to cook Atlantic Salmon.  I suspect you would be surprised and may unsubscribe because that is not what you signed up for.

Ask yourself “why is it that you subscribe to a blog?” and “why do I go to a website I find on Google?”. My guess it is because you have an interest in the subject matter that you searched for. You want to get information on a specific topic, from someone who has some expertise in the subject.  If you have an interest in online multi-player video games, what type of blog would you subscribe to? One that is dedicated to online gaming or one that has articles on gaming and relationships and travel?

As for you the site owner will be much harder to define your audience when you have multiple topics, which makes it harder for you to drive traffic to your site. What type of person do you target with your marketing if you have 4 different topics?

Driving traffic to your site and have a defined audience is extremely important when you are trying to monetize your blog which brings us to the next point.

Making Money

Here is the all important question how will you make money from your website? Do you think it will be easier if you are focused on one topic or if you have multiple topics?

Consider this:

The amount of high quality targeted traffic will determine how much money you make from your website. Perhaps you believe that you can drive more traffic to a multi-topic blog. But ask yourself this how targeted is this traffic?

If I have software that is designed for editing photographs and I am looking to advertise and to start an affiliate program. Where should I focus my efforts.

• A site that gets 15000 visitors a month, focused on photography, cameras. All the traffic that comes to this site is looking for information on photography and cameras.
• Or a site that gets 60000 visitors a month, but the site has articles on travel, parenting, photography, relationships and DIY home care.

Do I choose the site that is dedicated to photography where every single visitor is looking for photography information? Or do I choose the site that has more traffic but the vast majority of that traffic will not be interested in photography editing software.

I think the answer is obvious. You want the site that has the targeted audience. The people that are most likely to buy your product.

It is the different side of the same coin when you look at your site. If you have your own product or are recommending someone else’s product via advertising or joining an affiliate program and you are marketing your site to the masses, what would rather have, traffic that is targeted and interested in your product, or a bunch of traffic that is focused on a bunch of different topics.

It is not realistic to think that you can develop a product or service for every subject you have on your site, when your site has 4 or 5 or 6 different topics.

So what should you do instead?

Start a Single Niche Website First

When starting a single topic niche site you can start one of 2 ways. You can pick a domain name that gives you the freedom to change or add niches and you grow. Or you can pick a domain name that instantly lets people know what your site is about.  

I choose Daemontown because I was unsure what the site was going to focus on when I started. I too thought in the very beginning that I could write about multiple topics and be successful. If you search for an old version of my about page you will see how ridiculous I was.

On the other hand my wife and I also started another site at the same time called The Expat Experiment. Which as you can guess, is more of a travel site. That focuses on our travels in a quest to find a place to live.

So what do you do if you want to write about different things? I would suggest that you first focus on the topic that excites you the most and build a site that has a narrow topic. Write content , develop a content strategy, and build it up so that you can see what it takes to make your blog a success.

Once you have a significant amount of content and you are driving a decent amount of targeted traffic then you can start to think about starting a second site. (By the time you have done this you will understand my point of view and I doubt you will want to add a second topic to your blog).

If you have not actually started your blog then check out this post that explains how to get great hosting and how to set up WordPress, it is not as hard as you think!

You have chosen the perfect domain name and you have installed WordPress on great website hosting, now it is time to set up WordPress and install your theme and some plugins that I recommend for every blog. (Plugins are a piece of software that can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress website).

WordPress works right out of the box, a default theme is installed and you can start blogging right away with no additional set up, but there are a few things that you need to do before you sit down to write that first post.

Setting Up Your WordPress Install

When you first login to your new WordPress website you will be taken to the “Dashboard” screen this is the screen that tells you in a glance what is happening with your website.

Along the left hand side is a menu where you will find everything you need to run your site. This is the menu you should look at first when you are going to do something like create a page or post, add a photo and customize your themes appearance. Along the top, is a icon menu, that after you add some plugins will be filled with quick pick options as well as alerts that something needs to be taken care of like plugin or theme updates.

As I said, there is not much to do to set up your WordPress website, but there are one or two things that you will need to do. Go down the left hand menu and hover on “Users” then click on “Your Profile” you will want to fill in some of the information on this screen before you write your first post.

Under the “Name” section add your first and last name and your “Nickname” as well choose which name, from the drop down, will be public when you publish a post.

Further down the screen under the “About Yourself” section there is a box where you can add “Biographical Information” this is the info that will be included in the authors box at the bottom of your posts so you will want to fill this in (if your theme supports authors boxes).

There is one more section that MUST be changed before you write your first post – the permalink. A permalink is your URL structure, it is how your pages and posts are saved as url addresses. For example, the url structure of this post is https://domainname.com/post-name/ this is how most people want there url’s to look.

To make sure this is the structure that your WordPress install uses go to Settings<Permalinks. It is this screen that you choose how WordPress saves your url. The default is usually https://domainname/category/post-name/. You can leave this if you like or choose another setting but most people and Google prefer just the domain name and the post name. Click the button in front of Post Name and click save.

There is nothing else that HAS to be changed in your WordPress settings, you are now ready to install your theme and your plugins.

If you would like to see the other settings and tabs then watch the video below where I go through every tab to explain what settings are in each of them.

Adding WordPress Plugins and Themes

Installing and activating WordPress plugins and themes is easy however there are 3 ways to do this.

1. Install from the WordPress repository
2. Install a downloaded zip file
3. Install via FTP

Install Plugins

First hover over the Plugins tab in the left hand menu and click on add new this will open up the Add Plugin screen and this is where you find all of the free plugins in the WordPress repository.

It is as simple as typing the name of the plugin you are looking for into the search box in the upper right hand side, looking for your plugin in results and clicking on Install in the plugins box. After the plugin is installed just click on Activate, and the plugin is ready to go. That is it, it is just that easy.

Upload a Plugin Zip File

The second way to add a new plugin is usually used if you buy a premium plugin and it is downloaded to your computer. The plugin download will be a zip file, do not unzip this file.

At the top of the Add Plugin screen you will see a Upload Plugin button click on that button and a new section will screen will open at the top of the screen, click Choose File and your file manager will open, navigate to the file where the downloaded plugin is located and click on the plugin file.

Once you have chosen your plugin file just click on Install Now and the plugin will be installed. When finished click on Activate to activate the plugin. That’s it, the plugin has now been installed.

Using FTP to Upload a Plugin

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and you can use this method if you have a large file to upload to your WordPress site, including very large plugins.

First you will need to download an FTP client to your computer. There are quite a few, but one of the most popular and the one I use is FileZilla. Go to the FileZilla website and click on Download FileZilla Client. This software is free to use. Once the software has finished downloading you will open it it up and sign into your website using FTP.

To find the settings to connect FileZilla to your website you will need open your CPanel and under the File section click on FTP Accounts.

At the bottom of the next screen there will be a Special FTP Account section. This is where you will find the main administrative FTP account. The account should be named the same as your user name you used to login to the CPanel. Click on Configure FTP Client at the end of the row where your user name is and it will open up the settings you need to set up FileZilla.

There should be 3 settings:

• FTP Username:
• FTP server:
• FTP & explicit FTPS port:

The Username will be the same as the one you used to login to the CPanel, the server will start with ftp.,and the port will just be a number. Next open up FileZilla and click on File at the top left and then Site Manager.

Next click on New Site and add the info that you were given from the FTP section in your CPanel. The Host section is the server that starts with ftp., add the port number, change the Logon Type to Normal, add your Username and your password that you use to log onto you CPanel, and lastly click Connect. If there is a problem and it won’t connect you may have to change the Protocol section try SFTP from the drop down. Click on OK for any windows that open up.

Once connected you should see you computers file on the left and your website files on the right.

You will have to navigate to both where the file is on your computer on the left hand side and where you want to copy the file into your WordPress site.

For me, the path to my download folder was This PC<C:<users<rutll<downloads, yours will be different.  Next you need to find the plugin folder in your website files, for me the path was username<public html<wp-content<plugins. Your plugin file should be found in the same place look for the public html and then wp-content then plugins.

To move the file is easy, just find the file on your computer on the left hand side and drag and drop the file into the plugins file on the right.

That is how you transfer files using FTP.

How to Install WordPress Themes

You install WordPress themes much the same way you install the plugins.

As with plugins there are 3 ways to do this (although slightly different in where to find the proper screen):

1. Install from the WordPress repository
2. Install a downloaded zip file
3. Install via FTP

To install a free theme from the WordPress repository, hover on Appearance, click on Themes and then click the Add Theme button at the top of the screen. This will open a similar page to the add plugin screen. It will show some themes from the repository.

Just type in the name of theme you are looking for in the search box at the top left. Once you find the theme you want, hover on the theme and click install. That’s it! You just installed a new theme. You can click on Activate at this point to change over the theme but if you don’t have time to change the settings, to make it look good to your readers, you should wait until you have the time and activate it then.

You can see how much work it will take to make the theme look the way you want by choosing Live Preview. This will open the theme and the customizer to show what the theme would look like when you click activate.

Upload Premium WordPress Theme

Uploading a premium theme is done the same way as a premium plugin. In the Add Theme screen click on the button at the top of the screen that says Upload Theme. This will open a panel at the top of the screen where you click Choose File, your file manager will open. Find the theme zip file in your downloads and once the file is chosen click Install Now and your downloaded theme will be installed.

Uploading Theme using FTP

This is the same as uploading a plugin with FTP. The only difference is instead of dragging the theme into the plugin file, you drag the theme into the themes file.

See the video below to see this in action.

What Themes and Plugins Should You Use

There are literally tens of 1000’s of WordPress themes and plugins. this is one of the reasons that WordPress is so popular and has become a dominant force for online publishing. But what theme or plugins should you choose? With so many choices it can be hard to determine what you want or need as far as themes and plugins go. Below are some of my top picks for themes, free plugins and premium plugins.

WordPress Themes

For the most part choosing a theme really is a matter of personal choice. The things to look for are a well coded, well supported, mobile responsive, fast loading theme that has the options that you need and nothing more.

If you are brand new to WordPress then choosing a free theme from the WordPress repository to start with, will give you some ideas as to what you really want and need on your website. Buying a premium theme right away may be a waste of money if you really don’t know what you want and how it will function.

There are many popular “do everything” themes such as X, and Avada, these themes have every option under the sun, lots of people love them, I don’t. I feel for the most part themes like these have too much stuffed in them and that makes them load slow and hard to set up. I personally do not use any themes from ThemeForest as I find it hard to find themes that are well coded with decent support, there are a ton of crappy themes to be found there.

If you are looking for a well coded premium theme that has lots of good support, that loads fast and will work well, I personally use StudioPress themes or the premium version of the Astra theme. Astra does have a free option but it lacks some of the features that I consider a must, such as a footer section and some other advanced options.

Along with these 2 themes I sometimes will use a plugin called Beaver Builder to add custom coded pages and posts. Beaver Builder also comes with a very customizable theme.

WordPress Plugins

Free plugins that I use on most if not all of my websites:

[one-half-first]

• Akismet – AntiSpam comments
• Simple Social Share – adds social buttons for “follows” in a widget area
• Social Warfare – Social share buttons (both a free version and a paid) or Shared Counts –  (very much like Social Warfare but totally free)
• All In One Migration – Backups and Website migrations
• Wordfence – Website security (both free and paid I only use the free version)
• Yoast SEO – helps with onsite SEO and creating sitemaps (I use the free version)
• Icegram – Email subscribe popups (I do not use this plugin as I strictly use paid plugins for this function)
• JQuery Pin It Button – Adds a pin it button on hover to your images

[one-half]

• WP Fastest Cache – Caching plugin (best free caching plugin in my opinion)
• WP Related Posts – Adds related posts to the bottom of your posts to increase time on site
• Ninja Forms – Contact forms and more (free and paid)
• Tiny PNG – Image compression
• Monster Insights – Website analytics and easy way to insert Google Analytics code (both a free and paid version)
• Anti Malware Security – as the title says anti-malware scanner / remover (not really needed until you have a problem
• Instagram Feed – Adds an Instagram feed to footer or sidebar

Optional Paid Plugins

If you want to start an Amazon affiliate site then I would recommend EasyAzon, I tried the OneLink that Amazon offers and found it glitchy and it did not always work, you can use this plugin for link localization and to extend the Amazon tracking cookie by 89 days. It also makes inserting good looking Amazon images easy.

If you are planning on using affiliate programs this is a good plugin for making your links look good, check out Thirsty Affiliates. They offer both a free and paid version.

This is the plugin I use for popups and subscription boxes Optin Monster I have also used Thrive Leads.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I also use a page builder on some websites. A page builder is a plugin that helps you build awesome looking pages and posts with out any coding knowledge. I highly recommend Beaver Builder it is by far the best page builder.

The last premium plugin that I use on a few sites is a caching plugin called WP Rocket. If you want to try a premium caching plugin this is the one I suggest you try out.

So you have decided to start a website. That is awesome!

How do you choose a domain name?

Coming up with a great domain name is the first thing you need to do. A domain name is the internet address where your website can be found, it is the URL. It is what people will type into their web browser to find your site.

Google.com is a domain name, expatexperiment.com is our travel website and is the domain name for that site, as is daemontown.com for this site.

There are some best practices when it comes to choosing a good domain name. Not only from a personal standpoint but a from a business standpoint as well. Following these best practices can help with Google rankings and make is easy for people to find and remember your website.

Brandable

The first thing you need to consider is whether the name is brandable not just some generic name. It does not need to be a specific word or phrase, Google was not a word, nor was YouTube or Facebook.

Your name should be unique and to be easy to remember. Using generic keywords in your name might accurately describe your site but it will do nothing to make it memorable or for it to stand out.

For example “digitalphotosonline.com” is not brandable and does nothing for you as a website owner. It may accurately describe what you will find on the website but it is not unique or memorable.

Unsplash.com has digital photos online as does Pixabay.com, these types of names are far more brandable than the generic phrase. They are memorable and unique.

Keep it Short and Simple

Your domain name should be short and simple. Shorter names are easier to remember, and they are less likely to be misspelled and are easier to type into the address bar. They are also easier to read when there are no spaces. (like in a domain name)

Shorter names matter in social media, Twitter for example has a character restriction of 280, so if your name takes up 50 characters you have less space for your message. Shorter names are also easier to share on social media.

Long domains names may not fully display in search results, they may get truncated in social media sharing.

Try to keep your name to 15-16 characters or less. Fewer words also make a difference. I would try to keep your name to 3 words or less.

Do not get creative with spelling. Do not use LyfeofMyke when it should be LifeofMike. Your users will be confused and it will make your site hard to find in search and harder for people to remember.

Pronounceable

Make sure your name is pronounceable. If your domain is hard to pronounce it is less likely to be remembered and less likely to be typed in correctly.

This also means avoiding hyphens, numbers and acronyms. All of these make it hard to say and even harder to remember. When you tell people your domain name you shouldn’t have to explain it. For example, say your site is ring-of-9.com but you need to tell people that it is ring hyphen of hyphen nine dot com, but it is the number 9 not nine spelled n i n e.

It should be ringofnine.com no explanations are needed and you don’t need to explain to people how to find your site.

Infringement

This should go without saying make sure your name is not infringing on someone’s else’s business or trademark.

You can do a simple Google search of the name you like to see if there is someone else doing the same thing with a similar name. Don’t choose something like Uberfood when Ubereats is already taken. Don’t just change the extension, like airbnb.apartments, that would not go over well with Airbnb.com and they would most likely take you to court.

Top Level Domain Extensions

Even with the release of huge amounts of new TLD’s (top level domains) you should still try to get a .com extension.

A .com is still the most common extension, it is what people know around the world. It is the most common extension for domain names.

Google says that it treats all TLD’s the same and has no preference for .com but a quick search shows that almost all of Google’s listing on the first few pages are .com.

There is a second reason to choose a .com instead of another extension and that is competition, lets say you want travel.com but it is taken so you get travel.net, and again lets say travel.com is a well established, well run website.

Both sites will obviously be about travel and trying to get your travel.net into the search ranking above travel.com will be next to impossible. It also may be an infringement on their name even if the TDL is different.

HOWEVER there is an exception to this, if you find a name that you absolutely love but the .com is taken, type it in your search bar to see if it actually in use, just because it is owned by somebody doesn’t mean there is an actual website.

If there is no website then go out and buy the .co or .net or .org if your website is out first then whoever has the .com will be at a disadvantage, as well they may decide not to renew the .com or they may try to sell it to you.

This happen to me, I found a name I want to use but the .com was taken. I checked and there was no site. So I bought the .co and put up a site with in a few days I received an email and the owner offered to sell me the .com. He was reasonable so I bought it and now have the .com that I wanted in the first place.

As well, there are reasons and times to use something else. If your site is technology focused you could consider a .io extension. Or if your audience is country specific then you can use your countries extension. For example .ca for Canada, .co.uk for the United Kingdom, .au for Australia and so on.

Intuitive meaning

Ideally when you tell someone what your website name is, they know intuitively what to expect on your site.

For example if you are starting a travel blog with a name like travello.com people would most likely expect a travel website, it is intuitive.

How do you start? Brainstorming the perfect domain name.

Write down your thoughts on your website, names that you may have already thought of. Describe what your website is going to be about in a few short words. Think about your name first and last of where you are from. Do not analyze at this point.

If you are having trouble brainstorming, try this technique.

1. Write down a list of words that are related to your blogs subject matter or focus, try to come up with at least 10 but the more the better 20-30 would be perfect.

If you are having trouble getting started go to Wikipedia and search what your blog is about.

For example if you are thinking about a travel blog, search “Travel” in Wikipedia and read the article, writing down words that you find in the article.

Here are a few words I found in one of the paragraphs:

[one-half-first]tour
travail
trip[/one-half-first]

[one-half]explore
discover
culture[/one-half]

There are maybe another 20 on that page that would help stimulate ideas, each one if these words can lead you to new words for example “tour” might lead you to “voyage”, “voyage” might lead to “cruise”.

2. Grab a thesaurus or go to Thesaurus.com or WordHippo and find all the related words for the words in your list in step 1, write these words down as well.

3. Put any possibility into a list with each name on a separate line then head over to the NameCheap bulk name checker and check to see if any of your possibilities are available using their bulk domain search. Copy and paste your list into the window and NameCheap will search for all of them at once.

If all of your possibilities are taken go to the next step.

If you’re already an established business and your business name online is already taken try adding prefixes or suffixes or get creative with the name or change the TLD (if your business is already established having TLD that is not a .com is fine).

Use a Name Generator

My favorite name generator is Wordoid. With Wordoid you enter language, pattern and length and it will generate a made up word. Give it a try see what you can come up with.

There are other name generators that you can try:

Buying your domain

Once you have found a domain name you will need to buy it and you will need to renew it every year.

I have used a couple of different places to buy my domains.

My new favorite is NameCheap. I also have domains at Netfirms and at Godaddy. Since I first wrote this article I have moved all of my domains to Namecheap.

They offer the best pricing and free privacy for all of my domains so there was no reason for me to keep domains elsewhere.

If this is your first time registering a domain I would recommend NameCheap, just follow the video below to see how easy it is.

Namecheap is Easy to Use

I would not recommend GoDaddy the last time I bought a domain from them I got a ton of emails from their “partners” I still get crap from them a 2 years later, so avoid them.

You can choose to register your domain anywhere, at any company, you do not need to buy your domain from your hosting provider in fact I tend to stay away from registering my domains where I host my websites. If you have to change hosting it is less complicated when your domains are separate.

Also almost every registrar has a bunch of add-ons, you DO NOT need email add-ons, or hosting add-ons or website builder add-ons, or SSL cert add-ons, nothing like that, do not buy them.

The only add-on to consider are the privacy add on, most domain registrars make you pay for this, up to $19.99 a year! (It is free at Namecheap) When you buy a domain name, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) registers that name to you and makes the information public via WHOIS, so if you would prefer that your info is not public get the privacy feature and that info remains private.

The only downside to this is that it is rumored that Google is not fond of privately registered domains, as it is a spam/scam flag. Scammers use privately registered names 100% of the time.

Half of my sites are private and half are not, so I really don’t know if there is a difference. All of my sites are now private, I was getting way too many spammy emails that were taken from the public Whois.

That’s it that is all you have to do to choose a domain name. Once you have paid for it you will need to get web hosting. Check out my post on finding the perfect web host and my top pick for hosting.

There are good hosts and bad hosts and it is hard to distinguish between the two. Searching Google will usually lead you to “review” pages that supposedly are reviews but in reality are thinly veiled affiliate sites. The reason is that website hosts pay their affiliates very good money to recommend them. To make matters worse they don’t tell you that their links are affiliate links which to me makes the recommendation somewhat shady. (full disclosure some of the links in this post are affiliate links I will tell you which ones). I have several decent hosts that I would recommend and one that is my new top choice that I think you should try.

Bad Website Hosts

Bad hosts can cause you a lot of emotional pain and stress. From terrible customer service to overloading their servers with too many sites which in turn causes servers to go down and for your site to become unavailable. Bad hosts can also cause your site to load slowly and that in turn can hurt your Google rankings.

Hosts I would avoid would include any that are owned and managed by a company called Endurance International Group or EIG. You can see a partial list of their companies here. You might be surprised at some of the names on the list.

Common names that you may have heard of like BlueHost (this is an affiliate link just in case you don’t want to take my warning) Many people use Bluehost with no issues. Pat Flynn a well-known internet marketer has been recommending them for years but you can find plenty of people that have had a less than stellar experience with them.

I have had my share of bad experiences with an EIG company. A couple of years ago I was with a great hosting company called Site5. They were fast, the uptime was great, and their customer service was fantastic. Until EIG bought them. Then everything changed in the first month my sites were down more than the previous 2 years combined. It was hard to get a hold of anyone in customer service and when my sites were up they were painfully slow.

Recommended Web Hosting

So I moved to my current host WPX Hosting (This is the host I use for most of my sites and this is an affiliate link). They may be too expensive for a beginner site. They have servers are in Europe and the USA. WPX never overloads servers with too many websites, unlike less expensive hosting which crumbles under any traffic load. WPX owns its own high-spec hardware, highly customized for performance.

They pride themselves for outstanding support, averaging around 30 seconds response time for Live Chat by support agents who can handle most issues themselves.

As I said my sites load super fast, the below image is the speed measure ment beofre and after I moved to WPX. I did nothing else to my sites, just moved to the WPX servers.

All of their plans include free SSL certificates, and use of their free worldwide CDN or Content Delivery Network.

A popular choice is Siteground (affiliate link). This used to be the host I recommended the most. They had good customer service and lots of people love their hosting. However their service has gone downhill in recent years, too many servers issues, they have a well known up-sell by suspending your account for using “too many server resources” then they tell you, that you need to buy a bigger, more expensive plan. Many people still use them because they have a ridiculously cheap starter price but beware the renewal price is 300-400 percent higher.

So I have stopped recommending Siteground.

I have searched and done a ton of comparisons, and have found another hosting company that I think is far better for basic hosting. If you are just starting out and can’t afford WPX then check out BigScoots. Their 105CC plan offers great hosting for a starter site for a reasonable price.

Remember it is still shared hosting but BigScoots is fast reliable hosting. They will handle migrations, installations, offer expert recommendations, fix broken plugins, set up emails and SSLs while also ensuring your websites are optimized and running smoothly.

On the other side is fully managed hosting. Managed WordPress hosting is a kind of like a concierge service. All technical aspects of your website are managed by the host. This includes security, speed, WordPress updates, daily backups, website up-time, etc, and you get premium support.

Kinsta is a fully managed WordPress host but their service is very different than other hosts. Each WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it. The resources are 100% private and are not shared between anyone else or even your own sites. They provide awesome hosting and you should definitely check them out. I have a couple of clients on this host and they love it. The only downside is they do not host email so if you use your hosting account as your email server you will need to use something like G suite, GMX Mail or Proton Mail

Top Pick For A Starter Site: Incendia Web Works

Incendia Web Works has no affiliate program so the money Bud makes goes back into his equipment. His servers run fast and he has lots of different plans for every need. One of my primary factors when looking for a new host is finding one with no affiliate program.

The basic Economy Plan is where you should start if you are just bringing on a new site when your traffic picks up it is easy and affordable to move up to the next higher level plan. The support is outstanding and I have talked to Budd and he happily answered all of my questions about his service.

To get set up go to Incendia and choose a plan. If you are just getting started the base economy plan is $1.85/month. To see a video with all of the following instructions scroll to the bottom of this post.

You choose whether you need to register a domain through them or use your own. If you have bought a name through someone like NameCheap choose the second option (use existing name) and enter your domain name.

You will then need to review your order, the only thing to change here is where you want to server to located. Try to think of where most of your audience will be from. If it is in the USA then just leave it where it is, if you think you will get mostly a European audience then choose Germany and if your audience will be from South East Asia or Australia then choose the Australian location.

Proceed to the check and choose to pay either via PayPal or Stripe.

Congratulations you now have a hosting account!

WordPress Install and Set Up

You will get 4-5 emails from Incendia. A Welcome email, invoice, confirmation of payment and a couple of more.

The email you need to watch for is the titled “New Account Information” this is the most important email and to continue you need to have the info in this email so do not delete it.

The first section of this email will have your CPanel log in information, there will be a username and password, this will be different than the username and password that you entered when setting up your hosting account.

Click on the Control Panel URL included in the email and use the provided username and password.

Once into your CPanel look for Let’s Encrypt SSL, it is about 2/3 of the way down under the “Security” section. Google now use https as a ranking factor so websites now need to have their URL’s secure with an SSL certificate. SSL certificates are included with Incendia’s hosting even their basic $1.85 a month plan includes a free SSL certificate.

Click on the Lets Encrypt SSL tab and then on the next screen find your new domain and click on “issue”. Then on the following screen click “Issue” again at the bottom to install your free SSL certificate.

After you have installed the SSL cert you need to go back to the home page of your CPanel and look for the “Software” section towards the bottom of the page. Click on Installatron Applications Installer.

You now want to scroll down to the second section called Apps for Content Management and the first icon should be for WordPress.

On the next screen in the top right hand area click on “Install This Application” this will load the screen where you choose your preferred domain of your website. (Check out the video at the bottom to see this in action)

This means you will need to choose the https version if you installed the SSL cert from a few steps ago. You will also need to choose whether or not to use www in front of your domain or to not use www. For the average user, there really is no difference between the 2 versions and it makes absolutely no difference in terms of SEO. The www does have a technical difference in that it acts as a hostname which can help with flexibility with DNS, ability to restrict cookies when using multiple subdomains

My preference is to choose the non www name, https://domainname however if you want to use the www go ahead.

Depending on how fast you got to this step you may get the below error message, don’t worry it just means that your SSL cert hasn’t finished populating around the world. It can take up to 24 hours but I have never seen it take that long maybe an hour or 2 at the most and most of the time it is within a few minutes.

So don’t worry if you get the above message there is something else that you need to do while you wait for the SSL cert. Go to the website where ever you bought your domain whether that be NameCheap, or Go Daddy or NetFirms. You are going to need to log into your account and change the nameservers.

Remember the email from Incendia titled “New Account Information” you will need to go that email again and go to the second section with the Nameserver information. The nameservers should look something like: ns1.something.com and ns2.somwthing.com. You will need to navigate to the area on your domain registrar where you can change the nameservers, it might be called domain manager, or domain center or something to that effect. When you find the nameserver area you will need to change them to whatever the server name was in your email.

Nameservers can also take up to 24 hours to propagate around the world but most of the time it takes less than an hour. After you get your nameservers changed and if you got an error when installing WordPress go back to the WordPress install page at Incendia and try to install it again.

When your WordPress application is finished installing it should have an image of the basic current WordPress theme. Above shows the Twenty Seventeen base theme, Twenty Eighteen should be released shortly.

You will also have yet another username and password to log into your WordPress dashboard. So you will have a username and password for the hosting account, a username, and password for your CPanel and a username and password for your website dashboard. If you don’t use a password manager I would recommend using LastPass. It is what I use to keep my passwords safe and it works great.

You also will receive an email from WordPress telling you that you have a new account and it will give your username. Although this information can be found on the Installatron install page.

Right in the middle of the above page, you can see Administrative Username and Administrative Password this is where you can set your username and password. I would leave the username as is, you do not want to use your name or anything like you blog name or the word admin. Hackers will try these username to try to hack your website so having a random username is best.

Also you can set your password, just click generate and then show password to reset to a new dashboard password.

Once you have both your username and password go to https/:yourdomain/wp-admin to log into your website’s dashboard, and log in to your site!

How to Install WordPress on Incendia Web Works Web Hosting Video

Congratulations you now have your own website set up on WordPress!

In the next post, I will be going through the setup options and how to upload themes and recommended plug-ins.

Homework: WordPress Theme

You need to pick a theme that you like. A theme is a template that makes your site look the way you want it to. The easiest way to do this is to go to the website that you really like or search Google for blogs in your niche to find the websites that you like and then use WordPress Theme Detector to find out what WordPress theme they use.

The best themes are well coded, small in terms of upload size and blazing fast. You can find hundreds of free themes at the WordPress repository. These are the only free themes you should use and they should only be downloaded from the official WordPress theme directory. The themes that can be found there go through a strict review process. DO NOT download a free theme from any other source.

Or you can choose to buy a premium theme. The biggest advantage of a premium theme is that you get more features and customization options. (Since I use and recommend the below products I joined their affiliate programs)

I primarily use StudioPress Themes with the Genesis Framework. These are premium themes that are fast, well coded, SEO optimized and designed to be secure. With StudioPress there are 2 parts the Genesis Framework and the theme itself. Think of the framework as the frame and body of your car and the theme as the paint and accessories.

I also use Astra Theme. Astra is made for speed. It is the most lightweight theme available and offers great performance, it is very customization. This theme is a light weight and small, less than 50 KB whereas a lot of the other WordPress themes require at least 300 KBs. The base theme loads in less than a half second. It is built for speed and is fully optimized for performance.

Both of the above options work great with Beaver Builder. Beaver Builder is a flexible drag and drop page builder that works in the dashboard your WordPress website. You can design beautiful page layouts and it is easy to use.

In the next post we will be setting up your WordPress install and we will install your theme and some recommended plug-ins.

When it comes to conventional employment for workers, the days of brick and mortar office buildings, tiny cubicles, and soul-sucking two-hour commutes are quickly becoming a thing of the past. As well, employers are realizing the real benefits of having a remote workforce, like more flexible work schedules to meet international business needs. And better yet, less stressed and happier staff because they can avoid grueling commutes, spend more time with their families, and work in an environment they get to control.

If your current workplace does not offer a remote working option, and you think earning an income online is the right thing for you, there are numerous sites that offer listings for companies who prefer a remote workforce.

Many new start-ups or smaller ‘Mom and Pop’ operations like to use contracted or remote staff because doing so keeps overhead costs down, and they can procure talent as it is needed, based on a project or client demand. If you need help finding ways how to make money from home, here are five niche skill websites that can make that happen.

Some sites require a ‘membership fee’, while others are free to use and each one focuses on unique or specific types of work or a wide variety of specialized skillsets.

Belay Solutions- for Virtual Assistants

If you are particularly good at administrative and organizational tasks, Belay Solutions is the perfect site for your skillset. Belay Solutions focus on ‘virtual support staff’ and more administrative, logistical tasks and functions for a remote worker. Like all home-based work, you need to be a self-starter and able to organize your time and tasks efficiently. At the moment, they only accept U.S. based workers, but that may change. Belay also have a reputation as a fair compensator for skilled virtual assistants and because this kind of work potentially involves handling finances and private or sensitive information, you may need to have to clear a background check first for some roles.

Focus Forward- for Transcribers

There is a huge demand for transcription services. It is highly focused work, that requires you to be a fast and efficient typist, pay attention to detail and work independently. Focus Forward focuses on multi-language transcriber services, HR functions, project management and proofreading in multiple languages. You will need to take a test to see if you meet their criteria, and providing you pass, you can start to accept the jobs on offer. Pay is usually calculated by the minute and varies (0.40-0.65) for transcription services. As you become more efficient, your pay will increase with the speed of completed work

Stack Overflow- for Developers

Stack Overflow is specifically geared to developers and code warriors. They seek to align very special skillsets with specific jobs, globally. It allows you the option to seek opportunities close to your geographical area, or anywhere in the world. What is unique about this service is that is offers learning opportunities, as well as job connections, although the immediacy of messaging and feedback is also regarded as a highlight for this particular platform. Should a resource encounter a problem or have a logistical question, there is also an open forum for doing so and this positively feeds into the developer mindset, who work quickly and want answers on the fly.

LeapForce- for Anyone

There are numerous companies who need a live person to assess search engine quality, SEO integrity and evaluate/report upon the results and findings. Leapforce is considered to be one of the better ones. There are no membership fees and you can throttle your time as you see fit. The better you get, the more you will earn. Initially, you can earn about $10 USD an hour. Before you can be considered for an Agent position, you will have to complete a 3-part qualifying exam. It will assess your internet understanding and proficiency of search engine evaluation.

Fiverr- for Anyone

My favorite freelancing website is Fiverr. Need some inspiration for ways to make money from home? Fiverr’s marketplace is huge; you can find a wide range of services to buy and to sell! It is a unique concept that uses the ‘viral model’ to drive your reputation which in turn allows you to increase your market price. The number of positive reviews and volume of work you get will allow that to happen. They have an incredibly diverse pool of skillsets for which they seek talent. These include Graphics/Design, Marketing, Writing/Translation, Video/Animation, Music and Audio, Programming, Business services and Lifestyle, to name a few.

The general idea is that you are compensated $5 USD initially for your work, and then increase it over time as you become more popular and skilled. Although the site is geared to logo design, content and copywriting, and voiceovers, they are moving into the meme and viral video arenas lately. For those with multiple skillsets, this would be a perfect place to flex your skills.

There are so many websites that offer people ways to make money online. I thought narrowing down a few of the more reputable ones could help you see ways how to make money from home. Depending on your unique skillsets, one or more of these sites could be perfect to fulfill your stay at home or remote work vision. Each site will send notifications, alerting you to new opportunities that match your skills and rates. Check out reviews on each one to see that they’re above board, pay when promised, and protect your work and your ability to be successful. 

Updated May 21st, 2018

Would you like to create a business that you can run from anywhere? Maybe, you’d like to work from home and have more time to spend with the people you love. Want to travel more, go where you want, when you want?

If you’re ready to totally change how you live, go forward on your terms, not the ones dictated by your current 9 to 5, keep reading.

This article outlines the best resources to teach you how to become a digital nomad. 

Are you struggling with how to become location independent?

If you’ve started to research how to build a location independent career I’m sure you feel overwhelmed by all of the information available online. There are millions of words, and scads of free advice floating around in cyberspace.

We’ve been digital nomads since 2014, working from our laptops while traveling the world with our son.

We had read a lot of that free information online before we’d set out to travel perpetually. We left our life in Canada feeling we knew all we needed to sustain our travel lifestyle.

But we were wrong, our road to location independence was riddled with so many costly mistakes. All of that reading we had done had been loaded with contradictions and conjecture. We often felt like we were stumbling in the dark, grasping at straws all while time and our bank account were slowly slipping away.

Every way of life includes a routine- a location independent lifestyle is no exception. Living as a digital nomad is very appealing to a lot of people. But many who embark on this kind of journey fail to make it sustainable. They think they know how to become location independent but fall short in one way or another and are forced to return to the same life they wanted to escape.

There are certain fixed components to living a location independent lifestyle. Let me start by saying, there’s a  massive learning curve. If you’re considering location independence you’ll need to get ready to do a lot of learning!

TL;DR

Learn real skills that will allow you to do work you enjoy, for the rest of your life with The Paradise Pack: a bundle of world-class educational products from travel, location independent and online business experts. Over $7500 worth of amazing resources, available for one week for over 90% off. Don’t miss it!

Here are some common things digital nomads have to deal with.

Figuring out the best way to make money on the road,

The biggest challenges associated with this are finding decent paying digital nomad jobs, figuring out which existing skills translate well to different types of online work, and learning which jobs will be enjoyable. 

working to get the best travel deals,

Traveling affordably takes a ton of forethought. Jetting off here or there on a whim can end up costing you a lot more than you bargained for. There is a science to this and it’s imperative to master it as soon as possible to keep your bank account and your sanity in shape.

Plane tickets can be one of the most costly travel expenses. Finding deals and learning effective strategies to reduce the cost of flights is important to preserve funds.

acquiring good affordable places to stay,

Hotels are expensive, hostels can be chaotic, and finding great cheap short-term rentals can be a challenge. Learning ways to procure great accommodation that’s affordable is one of the first things any aspiring digital nomad needs to do if they have any hope of sustaining this incredible lifestyle.

finding the right mindset,

Embarking on a location independent lifestyle takes a lot of mental strength. Finding the right mindset to achieve your goals, manifest lasting happiness, and realize the fulfilling feeling of location independence is paramount to sustaining a digital nomad lifestyle. 

and language learning.

Learning how to communicate effectively in foreign countries is imperative when trying to negotiate a good price, find things you need, or efficiently navigate a new city.

Many people have set out to travel perpetually without having a good grip on many of these important skills. We were some of them! We know how overwhelming it can be to wade through all of the information offered online.

There are experts in each of the areas listed above. Do you know who they are? 

We do, we’ve had personal experience with the services they offer and even consider some of them personal friends.

These are the people who can help you make money online faster!

Here’s a list of them, organized by areas of expertise. 

Experts for online business training, planning, and marketing.

Sean Ogle of Location Rebel– Sean is the founder of two extremely helpful websites; Location 180 and Location Rebel. His site Location Rebel is designed to help people build a business that gives them the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. Location Rebel is the program that helped us get started making money online.

Chelsea Dinsmore of Live Your Legend– Chelsea has created a community whose mission is to change the world by helping people discover their passion and build a career around the work that only they are capable of doing. Live Your Legend is a forum for initiating in-person connections with like-minded living legends.

Brian Lofrumento the author of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur– Brian is an entrepreneur whose businesses have reached millions of people across 200 countries. He’s built a six-figure SEO agency and helped clients and students from around the world grow and automate their businesses.

Michelle Dale of Virtual Miss Friday– Michelle has built a successful location independent business, traveling and living abroad.  Now she supports people around the world in cultivating their own ambitions in the digital world.

Hannah Dixon- Business Strategist-Hannah is a Business Mentor and Strategist who’s helped 5000 plus millennials create location independent lifestyles through her company, Digital Nomad Kit.   

Matt Giovanisci- Website Wizard– Matt is an entrepreneur and website wiz who runs four blogs that make over $150,000 annually. 

Emily Utter- Adventurous Entrepreneur– Emily is a business coach for entrepreneurs who want to scale their location independent businesses and work from anywhere in the world! 

Natalie Sisson of Suitcase Entrepreneur– Natalie Sisson is a bestselling author, speaker, podcaster, and adventurer who believes everybody has the right to choose freedom in business and adventure in life. She teaches people how to get work done super efficiently.

Matt Kosta- Brand Creator & Product Guy– Matt is the founder of Entrepreneurs Association, a community of people from around the globe building businesses they love. His own product brands have done over a million dollars in sales and his goal is to teach others how to achieve the same success.

People with writing, blogging, and blog marketing expertise

Tim Leffel-Writer and Publisher– Tim has won multiple writing awards. He has contributed to more than 50 publications, including Travel + Leisure, Outside, Global Traveler, Boston Globe, USA Today, American Way, and Lonely Planet.

Azul Terronez- Educator & Writing Coach– Azul, a best-selling author, has helped dozens of aspiring authors bring their books to fruition. He helps people find their vision for their book, refine it,  and take actionable steps to make it a reality.

Nat Eliason of The Growth Machine– Nat is the founder of Growth Machine, a marketing firm that builds blogs thousands of visitors per month. He has worked with many top brands, helping them create amazing content. His own site, nateliason.com, regularly gets over 300,000 readers per month.

Nathan Barry- Software Superstar– Nathan is an expert in audience building and book publishing. In less than a year, he made over $150,000 from self-publishing books! After learning the power of email marketing, he left a successful blogging career to build ConvertKit, an awesome email marketing tool for bloggers. 

Silvia Lawrence- Pinterest Expert– Silvia started blogging in January 2014 to document her travels. She’s now making a full-time income through her blog about travel and expat life. Clocking at around 350,000 page views a month, her blog reaches a highly engaged audience.

Dane Homenick- App Developer & Story Preserver– Dane is the founder of Journo, an app he developed for adventurers who want to record the stories of their lives. 

YouTube, Vlogging, and podcasting experts

Kara Buchanan- Travel Vlogger– In January 2016, Kara and partner Nate left their home with a one-way ticket to embark on a three-year adventure traveling the world. They decided to capture and share their experiences with almost daily videos. Today, they’ve created over 500 videos that have received over 30 million views and almost 200,000 subscribers. They now make enough money from their YouTube channel to continue traveling full-time. 

Adam Clark- Podcaster– Adam has launched multiple podcast shows (his newest one hit number two in the iTunes Business category in under a week), co-founded a podcast network, and helped many people dramatically improve their podcasts and engage their following on a whole new level. 

Gabrielle Wallace- Teacher– Gabby is the founder of Go Natural English, a YouTube channel with over 650,000 subscribers, and a course creator with thousands of students from over one hundred countries at her website for ESL learners, GoNaturalEnglish.com.

Travel hacking experts

Travis Sherry is the co-founder of The Paradise Pack and Location Indie-  Travis has racked up over 3 million frequent flyer miles! He’s made it his mission is to help people travel the world as cheap as possible.

Jackie Nourse of Budget-Minded Traveler– Jackie is the founder and host of The Budget-Minded Traveler, an award-winning blog, podcast, and community designed to encourage and equip Americans to travel overseas. She also organizes adventure trips and retreats, blogs about adventure travel and lifestyle, and leads mentorship programs for women.  

Experts at saving money on accommodation

Nat and Jodie- Fulltime International House Sitters- We have personal experience with Nat and Jodie’s program. They have helped us save thousands of dollars on incredible accommodation all around the world with their inspirational advice and actionable steps. Their House Sitting & Travel Lifestyle Summit can connect you with more people already successfully house sitting, more than 60 experienced house sitters!

Self-improvement and learning experts

Benny Lewis of The Irish Polyglot– Benny speaks 12 languages in varying degrees of fluency! He is a National Geographic Traveler of the year and the writer behind the top language learning blog Fluent in 3 Months. His mission is to help people be confident in speaking a second language.

Jacob Sokol of Sensophy– Jacob has coached executives, musicians, Hollywood stars, peak performance coaches and more. He’s interviewed sixty plus leading academics and combined their knowledge with his street-smart sense to devise a roadmap for creating a life filled with success, happiness, and a real sense of purpose.

Jonathan Levi is a SuperLearner– Jonathan has been a top-performing instructor on Udemy. He went on to launch a rapidly growing information products company, SuperHuman Enterprises. Now he helps people improve their ability to learn and retain information with his Becoming SuperHuman Podcast, bestselling “Become a SuperLearner” books, and various online courses.

Caroline Makepeace- Mindset Master– Caroline (Caz) is passionate about helping people travel more and create better memories. Now she helps others improve their relationship with money and even make more of it!

What if I told you, you could get all of these experts best tips, advice, and training programs all in one place?

Ordinarily, if you were to buy programs offered by each of the aforementioned experts it would cost you more than $7500!

The good news is, they’ve put together a neat bundle of great resources called The Paradise Pack. The package addresses all aspects of a location independent lifestyle, everything you need to know for one incredible price, $497!!!

Here’s what you get with the Paradise Pack:

• A comprehensive DIY system to set up a Virtual Assistant Service or Freelance Business fast and on a teeny budget.  Course value $280
• The most up to date travel hacking course. It will have you jetting around the world for almost free in no time. Course value $997
• The exact process for finding in-demand article topics, writing about them and getting them to rank on page one for years to come. Course value $499
• A bootcamp created to get you to take massive action in your life. Detailed step-by-step instruction for you to take your business from idea to reality.  Course value $997
• A starter kit to teach you how to highlight skills you already have and capitalize on them in an online environment.  Course value $348
• A proven, straightforward formula for writing books that sell. The 6 module course will guide you through the entire process from idea to launching your book. Course value $697
• You’ll learn how to build and grow a business across Kindle, Udemy, email, and more. Course Value $397
• Access to resources and cheat sheets to help you explore a whole litany of income options for your location independent lifestyle. Course value $99
• You’ll learn about revolutionary scientific findings on lasting happiness, reaching goals, and building a fulfilling life. Course value $97
• Learn how to explode your Pinterest traffic and connect with an engaged audience worldwide in as little as 45 minutes a week on Pinterest. Course value $67
• Learn how to deal with the things that are holding you back, cope with failure, make the most of your time, and more! Course value $97
•  Learn how to build a brand around something you love and make a living from it! Course value $497
• Actionable steps to build your mindset, define your change, and set up systems for success. Build incredible momentum toward doing work you love in only 21 Days!  Course value $97
• Learn how to use SEO to get huge traffic to your website. Course value $197
• A comprehensive guide to international travel. Course value $59
• Learn how to create a popular YouTube channel and make powerful content that attracts your ideal viewers for free. Course value $97
• Learn how to transform your week and get on track to accomplish great things in your writing. Course value $99
• 11-module step by step video course to help you build and make money with your podcast, even without a huge audience. Course value $497
• Learn exactly how to make your very own physical products business and make ongoing passive income. Course value $1297
• The 6 Figure Coaching Business Bundle with everything you need to get your business started and running. Course value $997
• Lifetime access to Journo. Value $140
• A simple to follow system that shows you how to put language learning on auto.  Course value $149
• Plan your entire year and learn a success plan that will make you more productive in a week than you are in a year!  Course value $69
• A roadmap to making money from your writing.  Guide value $79
•  Course value $97
• A 60 day free trial for ConvertKit. Value $58+
• Bonus- Digital Nomad event discounts you can’t get anywhere else!

What’s it worth to you to skip all of the guesswork and trial and error? Would you like to start with the best information, and sound advice from people who actually live a location independent life?

We have bought some of these courses and implemented the strategies suggested in them and been successful. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about the Paradise Pack when we first began our location independent lifestyle. But, we sure wish we had! It would have bought it we would have saved so much precious time and money.

The bottom line about The Paradise Pack

If you want to build a location independent lifestyle The Paradise Pack offers incredible value. If you were to buy each of the courses in the pack separately it would cost you over $7500. The Paradise Pack bundle is only $497- that’s a saving of $7000!!!

This Paradise Pack is only around for a limited time- Pre-sales are happening now, but the valuable opportunity is officially available from May 29th to June 5th, 2018. After that, it’s gone forever.

Don’t let this rare chance pass you by- Get 90% off these effective courses today. The Paradise Pack will set you up for success.

Get it Now!

Would you like to earn a living from home or create a little extra income on the side? Do you wish you had more money to travel, or do anything else you love? Maybe you have a job you hate or you’re bored with your work and want to make a career change?

We know not everyone wants to quit his or her job to travel the world as we did, and we would never say that you should. The process that goes along with that kind of lifestyle decision is a deeply personal one. We love the freedom that comes with location independent work. But, you don’t need to travel full time to reap the benefits of working from a laptop.

If you’d like to learn ways to build location independent income or need ideas to start a side business from home this list can help you begin your journey, so to speak.

This article is meant to be a starting point. It highlights different online jobs people can do to earn a living while traveling and tools to make learning skills to start a new online career easier. The list includes ways to create income if you wish to remain at your 9 to 5, or the information contained here can serve as a launch pad to jettison you into an entirely new digital career. That is the beauty of online work, it can totally change how you live.

Disclosure: This article contains some links to products that we use and love. If you’d like to purchase any of them, we are affiliated with Unconventional Guides and Location Rebel. A small commission would be paid to us if you buy but the products won’t cost you any extra.

Ways to build location independent income- Job possibilities

There are so many different ways to make a living from your computer. You may already have a lot of job skills that could translate well to online work, the key to success is choosing a job you truly enjoy doing. You might know what you love to do already or maybe you need a little inspiration to figure out what your ideal job may be.

Here are some ideas to get your wheels turning.

Freelance writing based jobs (Content creation, editing, proofreading, translation, web copywriting).

Media jobs (podcasters, videographers, photographers, journalists, bloggers, social media marketers).

SEO Services (consulting services, website auditing, SEO writing).

Affiliate marketing (Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog is a great example of affiliate marketing success).

Legal or medical transcription (“you can become a medical transcriptionist without taking a course“)

Tutoring (language learning, high school, college, business).

Teaching English as a second language (here’s a look at 10 Steps to Beginner ESL Lesson Plans).

Travel Agent (be an agent or build a travel agency business). Certain types of bricks and mortar businesses can be run solely online. Travel related services are a perfect example of that. You just need to open your mind to the possibility.

Here are a few posts that list a multitude of ideas. There is some repetition but each article shares something unique.

64 Ways Location Independent People Earn a Living

101 Best Side Business Ideas to Start While Working Full-Time

100 Websites that Help You Make Money in Your Spare Time

If you need some ideas on where to market skills you may already have that are akin to freelancing or working remotely check out these articles:

5 Awesome Websites That Can Help You Earn Money From Home

Top 5 Reasons I think Fiverr is The Best Freelancing Website

Both highlight reputable freelancing platforms that can help you make your debut as a remote worker.

Inspiration- Articles to enlighten and get you in right the mindset to pursue location independent careers

Below is a list of articles that we think outline requirements to tackle learning certain online careers.

Assess your suitability for the freelance economy- This article Are You Suited For the Freelance Economy? This Assesment is somewhat simple but a great place to start.

If you’re considering a travel blog- This thread by Mark Manson on Quora, What tips & suggestions would experienced bloggers give to young bloggers? is in depth and honest about blogging. Not just his point of view but, the opinions of the seasoned bloggers in the thread.

If you’re considering freelance writing- This article by Ryan Robinson, How to Earn More Money Freelancing (Even if You’re a Total Beginner), offers a basic outline for what it takes to be paid well for freelance writing.

If you’re considering a remote working agreement with your job (or a new organization)- This post, How to Make the Case to Your Boss to Work Remotely, and this one 7 Best Practice Tips For Successfully Working Remotely both offer a peek into what it looks like to work for an employer from home (or the road).

Resources we’ve used- Books and programs designed to help you develop the skills you need to build a location independent business

Keep in mind, it is possible to learn skills and build an income online with little money. Alternatively, if you have money, there are programs that can make your foray into the digital workplace a lot easier. The books and courses listed below are what we believe to be the most effective. And, the biggest bang for your buck.

Practical low-cost Resouces for World Domination- Chris Guillebeau (from The Art of Nonconformity) is the creator of Unconventional Guides. Originally rolled out as a small business to help people achieve their “big” goals. The suite of guides has grown and so has their list of raving fans! They publish a variety of affordable, high impact resources to help people increase independence through self-employment and travel.

The guides offer help to publish a book, start a business in a year, create a sustainable writing career, and more.

The Live and Work Anywhere guide is one of our personal favorites. We’d read many stories about people setting out to travel full time but this guide is more, it’s an action plan. And it costs as little as $49! They even offer a first-year rock solid money back guarantee on all of their guides.

Blueprints for a new online career ready made for you- The course I found the most helpful for building location independent income was Sean Ogles Location Rebel. Both Rob and I had been reading Sean’s blog, Location 180 for year’s before we set out to travel. The tagline for Location 180 is Build a Business, Live Anywhere, Achieve Freedom. All of the content you’ll find there supports that tag line. Inspiring, supportive, actionable tips and advice to build an online income.

Location Rebel is a course Sean created that offers members step by step blueprints to learn specific online skills. What sets Location Rebel apart from other programs is the long list of testimonials that speak to the support and effectiveness of the program. It is truly step by step and I can honestly say, if you heed Sean’s advice on how to use the program, participate in the forums, and follow the blueprints anyone can succeed.

We hope this introduction to online work has given you some ideas for ways to build location independent income. There is a lot more information about starting a career from a laptop out there. But, we think these ideas and resources are a great place to start if you’re considering working online.

Do you work from home or have a location independent career? What sound advice or effective resources do you have to offer? Please share your ideas in the comments below.