Adding a Flickr Slideshow to your Wordpress Blog

To do this:

1. Go to your Flickr Photostream, e.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanwalsh/

2. Click Tags, for example, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanwalsh/tags/

3. Select the tag you want, e.g. Cordoba http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanwalsh/tags/cordoba/

4. Change the tag in this line of code to your tag

<iframe align=center src=http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?user_id=10883933@N07&#038;tags=cordoba frameBorder=0 width=500 scrolling=no height=500></iframe>

5. Change the width and height if you want.

6. Paste the iframe to your blog! That’s it.

Other Flickr Tips?

Do you have any Flickr Tips you’d like to share?

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10 Cities To Visit Before You Croak!

1. Beijing – forget the Great Wall and go to the Summer Palace. You can get there on the metro and it’s a jewel. Try to go during the off-season and beat the crowds.

2. Berlin – hard to beat real black beer, even better than Guinness. I like Germans, probably the most reliable people I’ve ever met. When I arrived there, I got off at the wrong train stop. The Berlin Wall had just fallen and the taxi driver (an east German) dropped me off somewhere in the east side. He’s never been to the west side of the city. I eventually found the apartment. Thanks to Martin P and Bernd W.
3. Buenos Aires – Italians that speak Spanish! Hard not to like Argentina!
4. Glasgow, Scotland – try the deep-fried ice-cream; that’ll thicken your arteries! Scots are a unique sub-species and, for some, an acquired taste. I like winding them up – so easy! – and they like a good argument. Edinburgh is also lovely but Glasgow has that nice gritty edge.
5. Mexico City – never met a Mexican I didn’t like, go during Easter and see the pyramids. Yes, they have pyramids in Mexico!
6. Paris – when you get tired of Paris, you’re tired of life. It’s all here, folks.

7. San Francisco – swim in the ocean and then go ski in the hills. I never got to the east coast of the US despite living there for 8 years. I heard Carolina is lovely. Spent 48 hours in New York once but that hardly counts.
8. Seville, Spain – the land of Dali, the Moors and the best paella in the world. Barcelona, Granada, and Cordoba are all worth exploring.

9. Venice – a great place to get lost. You can go to Austria from here by train and go thru the mountains. Magical way to travel or head down to Rome, Bologna and Napoli.
10. Vienna — go to the Opera House & see where Mozart and Beethoven played. And the best chocolate in the world.

That’s me. What’s your fav city?

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Starting a business is stressful, we all know that, but did you know that small businesses make up around half of all U.S. private-sector workers, and have generated 64% of net new jobs over the past 15 years?  With new businesses popping up more and more, what are these current and new business owners doing to gain the capital backing they need?

5 Alternative Ways to Attain Money for Your Business

The best thing to remember is to get creative.  Banks are not lending like they used to, and businesses still need help from time to time.  It doesn’t matter if you are starting your business, or are currently in business—finding alternative ways to get some cash for your business is something every business owner new and old should know about.

Below are 5 alternative ways to get money for your current or new business.

1. Business cash advance: Similar to a payday advance, these types of loans are much quicker to get than traditional bank loans. It is wise to note that these types of loans are more expensive than traditional loans, but they are becoming more popular. Business cash advances allow business owners to manage their cash flow easier and is a viable way to get money fast, but your company needs to accept credit cards in order to receive
2. Factoring: Factoring can aid business owners by “selling” unpaid invoices to a factoring company in exchange for cash. Most factoring companies will buy your invoices for anywhere from 70-90 percent of the value of your unpaid invoices. After purchasing the unpaid invoice from you, the factoring company will reach the customer who is responsible for the unpaid invoice and collect the full amount owed.
3. Grants: This is a good possibility, but wise to remember many people are now looking at grants who weren’t able to get bank loans. Many are finding this outlet harder to get, but it is still is an applicable option. Instead of looking at the federal level for grants, look to local authorities—this could be a better option for some. If you are a non-profit, there are grants specifically for you to look for as well.
4. Venture Capital: Before contacting venture capitalists about financially backing your business, you should first draw up, or clean up your business plan. Have your goals clearly stated, and back everything up with statistical data to prove how you will be able to pay them back. There are groups out there that are willing to invest, it’s your job to find them and convince them you are worth their investment.
5. Private Investors: A private investor is a great way to get financial backing for small businesses. If your business is geared toward a small niche audience, private investors who are also passionate about the same topic are more willing to give you a chance than a bank would. You can find private investors in many ways. One way is to search online. There are many sites out there to help you get connected with investors who are ready and willing to invest. Sites like prosper.com and findinvestors.com are just two of many. There are also agencies that can help you find a private investor as well.

It doesn’t matter if you are starting a business or need money for your current business, the main point here is to remember banks are not your only option. Getting a little creative in your search for a business loan can really pay off in the end, and it is wise to look at many different options before committing to the one that is right for your company.

Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing decisions and a comparison service for everything from a debt management program to phone systems.

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Facebook: the Quickest Way To Get More Fans

I run twelve Facebook pages and this seems to work best. To get more followers:

1. Join groups – with less than 1000 members. More than this and you can’t make an impression.
   
2. Join fan pages – same as above. Choose niche or specialist subjects.
3. Contribute – add comments, photos and videos. Stand out from the crowd in a nice way. Don’t be weird!
4. Respond – to questions people have. Help others. Do this once a week minimum.
5. Suggest – quality links that you find that relate to the group.  Share, share, share.
6. Off Facebook – talk up your Facebook groups on your blog, LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanwalsh) and elsewhere.

Then Ask!

Here’s how you ask:

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy/paste your invite text. Don’t write it from scratch every time. Keep this on your desktop, so you don’t  have to go rooting around.
3. Choose someone you’ve helped, complimented etc (i.e. they’ll most likely know who you are)
4. Click Add as Friend
5. Click the Add a Personal Message link.
   
6. Personalize the message, “Hi David, this is Ivan from the Camtasia group, if you’d like to connect, that would be great. Ivan.”
7. Click Send Request.

And that’s it

How about you?

What do you do when you want to connect to someone on Facebook? What’s the worst mistake people make? Spelling your name wrong?

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Once the initial wave of enthusiasm wears off, where do you find the motivation to give yourself a kick start? What do you do to make your next video or blog post? Here’s what I do to get myself working again.

Video Blogging – How To Stay Motivated & Find Your Mojo

Making videos is not hard. But, the editing, testing, fine-tuning and uploading takes time. And once it becomes a grind, we tend to lose interest. That’s not just you – that’s all of us.

1. Be realistic — if you can’t make a video every day, try for every week.
2. Baby Steps — Don’t defeat yourself. Start small, work up.
3. Batch Shoot — Don’t do one. Stop. Start. Do another. Stop. Start. Work in batches.
4. Be Consistent — Shoot five videos at the same time and then edit in one go.
5. Batch Edit — Edit in batches. Once you get into a groove, it’s easier to run thru the videos.
6. Storyboard — Bullet point or diagram what you’re going to shot. Don’t wing it. You’ll lose time.
7. Shoot everywhere – Places you find boring, others will find fascinating. Instead of shooting in your office, go outside and shoot it on the street corner. These small details give your video (and you!) a more interesting edge.
8. Get creative – Is there anything more boring that a guy talking into his laptop, sitting at home? You can do better – give it a shot.
9. Rewards – once you’ve completed a nice piece of work, treat yourself to a book you wouldn’t usually buy, maybe too expensive, or some equipment that you’ve always wanted. I want a Canon Monopod 100 for SLR Cameras.
   

How about you?

How do you avoid defeating yourself? What do you do get back in the saddle when you’re going thru a down-phase?

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2 Ways to Outsell Your Fiercest Competitor!

Now, this makes sense up to a point. But:

1. While it’s important to be aggressive in the pursuit of business (we all need to eat, right?), I’d try to avoid appearing aggressive.
2. Aggressive types tend to intimidate others; their energy tends to be negative charged.
3. Stay focused, know your enemy, and use your charm… as aggressively as possible, of course.

Doyle is here 2 Ways to Outsell Your Fiercest Competitor!

What do you think?

How aggressive is aggressive? Where do you draw that line?

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How To Create More Content & Be More Productive

Seven ways to be more useful to your readers:

1. Current – Talk about a current issue that the reader can relate to – and that you helped solve. Keep it simple. Don’t crow. Don’t take all the credit.
2. Problem – Discuss some common problem/business situation that arises every day and show how it can be fixed, reduced or mitigated against.
3. Angle – Provide an observation that encourages the reader to make a comment. “Ever been to London, here’s something I didn’t know about using mobile phones here…”
4. Ask for help. Ask the reader what they think about a business or technical problem you’re having. 
5. Challenge the reader. Ask them if they agree with you?
6. Provide useful information. Does it really help? No-one wants to hear you ramble. Share something that helps that other person with their business.
7. Focus in one area. Keep your blog under control. Keep drilling-down into these areas. Go narrow, not wide.

What do you think?

I know I’ve missed something here. What is it?

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100 Words You Need To Speak Any Language

Here are the 100 words. Try to learn 5 a day. By the end of the month, you’ll have 150.

Give yourself every opportunity to practice. For example, go to an Italian restaurants and practice with the waiter. Tell him you’re learning – most everyone will help.

1. A/an  2. After 3. Again 4. All 5. Almost

6. Also  7. Always  8. And  9. Because  10. Before

11. Big  12. But  13. (I) can  14. (I) come  15. Either/or

16. (I) find  17. First  18. For  19. Friend  20. From

21. (I) go  22. Good  23. Good-bye  24. Happy  25. (I) have

26. He  27. Hello  28. Here  29. How  30. I

31. (I) am  32. If  33. In  34. (I) know  35. Last

36. (I) like  37. Little  38. (I) love  39. (I) make  40. Many

41. One  42. More  43. Most  44. Much  45. My

46. New  47. No  48. Not  49. Now  50. Of

51. Often  52. On  53. One  54. Only  55. Or

56. Other  57. Our  58. Out  59. Over  60. People

61. Place  62. Please  63. Same  64. (I) see  65. She

66. So  67. Some  68. Sometimes  69. Still  70. Such

71. (I) tell  72. Thank you  73. That  74. The  75. Their

76. Them  77. Then  78. There is  79. They  80. Thing

81. (I) think  82. This  83. Time  84. To  85. Under

86. Up  87. Us  88. (I) use  89. Very  90. We

91. What  92. When  93. Where  94. Which  95. Who

96. Why  97. With  98. Yes  99. You  100. Your

There are many reasons to start learning aside from the business opportunities and personal gratification. I’ve started Chinese here in Beijing and am now… about 75% of the way there.

I can order a beer (critical), find a toilet (helpful) and get a taxi. All the small little things. Give it a try. See how far you get. You’d be surprised how easy it is once you start.

What language do you most want to learn?

And after that?

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Clickbank Gravity: How To Choose High Performing Information Products

Matthew Bredel explains in this video that one of the most misunderstood concepts in all of information product affiliate marketing focuses around Clickbank and its Gravity score.

• Gravity is NOT a measure of popularity of a product or its sales.
• Gravity is a time-based measure on the success that affiliate marketers have had selling this product.

In this video, he focuses on Clickbank’s Gravity and how you can derive the Gravity of a Clickbank product.

Understanding Clickbank Gravity
Uploaded by MatthewBredel

How Gravity works

ClickBank’s affiliates earn a percentage (%) of every sale made by customers they refer. The ClickBank Marketplace is where affiliates go to select the products to which they will refer traffic.Every product listed in the ClickBank Marketplace has a sales commission rate.

• Commission percentages range from 1% to 75%.
• Minimum commission is $0.25
• Maximum commission is $100.00.

In the Marketplace products are ranked by their “productivity score”. To preserve the integrity of the system, Clickbank does not publish the formula for the score—but says that it is a combination of these factors:

1. $Earned/Sale: this is the Average (net) amount earned per affiliate per referred sale.
This is the net earned per actual sale, i.e. it is impacted by refunds, chargebacks, and sales taxes. Unfunded sales, including returns, do not impact this number.

2. Future $: Average total rebill revenue earned by the affiliate due to sales from a site —the average sum of all rebills.

3. Total $: The sum of all initial sales and rebills divided by the number of initial sales.
Average total $ per sale, including all rebills that may come from that sale.

4. %Earned/Sale: Average percentage commission earned per affiliate per referred sale.
Only vary if the vendor has changed their payout percentage.

5. %Referred: Fraction of vendor’s total sales that are referred by affiliates.

6. Gravity: Number of affiliates who earned a commission by referring a paying customer.

This is a weighted sum and not an actual total.

For each affiliate paid in the last 8 weeks, Clickbank add an amount between 0.1 and 1.0 to the total. The more recent the last referral, the higher the value added. All factors are combined, and adjusted such that more recent sales activity is given greater weight.

Clickbank Tips

To improve your Marketplace ranking, your products must show a history of reliably converting referred traffic to paying customers over the past 8 weeks. Products that maintain a higher ranking attract more affiliates, and therefore make more sales overall.

FREE ACCOUNT – You can sign up for a free Clickbank account here.

Does Gravity Help Sell or Choose Information Products

• Do you feel that the gravity of a product helps attract affiliates?
• Do you feel that the gravity of a product is simple to understand?
• Do you think that Clickbank should use different criteria to determine Gravity and other sales metrics.

Over to you.

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Difference between English, Chinese and Japanese syllables

He starts by showing the different between how syllables are created in these languages. And as someone who has studied Chinese for a few years, it’s both fascinating and frustrating. Oranges and apples, so to speak.

Latin – allows ‘numerous variations for combining letters and the amount of syllables is extremely large. English has more than 11,000 syllables.

Chinese and Japanese is very different: Chinese (Mandarin) is written in characters; each reflects a syllable and not a single letter.

Adopting loan words in Chinese and Japanese

He shows three mechanisms for the adaptation of English words in both languages:

• Phonemic way
• Semantic way
• Adaptation without any transformation

For example: Coffee 咖啡 ka fei

Suggestions

He cautions that when translating or transferring into a foreign language, ‘even obvious things may shape up as something completely different. So you should always treat your customer attentively, take him seriously and be prepared to communicate in his mother tongue.’

Read Carsten Mende here

Opportunities

The quality of technical documentation in China is often very poor. It’s not for lack of trying, rather they lack experience technical writers and have had little exposure to international audiences.

For foreigners this represents a huge opportunity. Technical writers who can come to China and test the waters could do very well. The pay is increasing all the time and the cost of living significantly lower than elsewhere.

Fancy moving?

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Video Blogging – Creating a Call to Action

Here’s how to create a Call to Action with your videos. Use your video blogs to encourage viewers to take some action. One of the mistakes new video bloggers make is that they overlook this step and assume that viewers will take the next step. They won’t!

Remind your viewers to take the next step.

1. Encourage them to sign up to your newsletter
2. Subscribe to your YouTube channel or
3. Leave comments

Also, remind them who you are: ‘’Hi, I’m Ivan Walsh from IvanWalsh.com, visit my website”.

Keep it short, less than three minutes and ALWAYS encourage the viewer to add a comment. That’s the easiest thing for them to do. Don’t make it difficult for them to interact – just remind them.

What did you think of this video, by the way?

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5 Careers Opportunities for IT Professionals in China

Before I start, I’m in China so I see things from the other side of the fence, so to speak. I’ve worked in the US, UK and most of Europe. I see where he’s coming from and the future is indeed bleak if you’re in the US IT industry, at least in the QA, technical writing & coding.
It’s not if it will happen, it’s when.

For those who are looking at China, especially Shanghai and Shenzen, the skills most in demand are:

1. Project Management – Asians are terrific workers but lack leadership skills. PM is a (relatively) new discipline here and as companies develop they need people who can put shape on the deliverables.
2. HR – likewise, there is a shortage of skilled HR execs who can develop a strategy and show Management the career paths they need to develop to attract, nurture and retain talent.
3. Legal – as China goes global, it needs people in the legal field to help with contracts, litigation, procurements and other such issues. Mandarin skills are a plus, but not always mandatory.
4. Finance – Shanghai aims to be the Asian hub for Finance. They’ve recently opened a new Nasdaq-type stock exchange. So much money is getting plowed into its Finance Centre. You have to see it! The financial world involves interacting with bankers all over the world – and the default language of all business communications is English, which brings us to…
5. Communications – Chinese CEOs want to improve their English. Can you help?  Chinese Marketers want to refine their campaigns. Can you help? Chinese HR Depts want to hire the right people. Can you help with the interviews? Chinese exporters want to arrange meetings in London, New York & Amsterdam. Can you be there to help?

Remember, there are more BMWs per head in Beijing than any other city on the planet! Lot’s on business to be done here.

Opportunities for Entrepreneur

Saying that, I see many opportunities here. Let’s take a step back for a second. Many Indians, Chinese, and Europeans made the move to the US to better their careers. I’m sure you know some.

• They’re hard-working, right?
• They studied English (a foreign language), right?
• They made the move to a new country and survived, right?

Well, it’s the same for you.

It’s do-able.

Unless you’re held back by domestic commitments, which are understandable, then moving to Asia is worth considering. Maybe now it’s (possibly) the turn for US folks to move to these countries to find work. I know this is hard to swallow for many people, but well… why not?

There are so many opportunities for people in India, Singapore, China, and now Vietnam (the new low cost dev centre). And no, you don’t always need to speak the language but if you do, just learn it.

One of the most successful web marketers in the US is John Chow, a guy who moved from China as young man. Today, he’s minting it.

How to get started

• Read the China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ to get an insight into China today
• Read China Tech News http://www.chinatechnews.com/
• Connect with me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ivanwalsh where I share links, photos and videos
• Signup to LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ and connect with me http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanwalsh there.

LinkedIn is an excellent gateway with some really super groups where you can ask questions and get real feedback. It’s for business professionals and has been the most productive social network for me.. I really recommend it.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section so we can share with others.

Likewise, if you think you’re friends might like this article, please send it to them.

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How to Get Added to Google News

To be included in Google News, your articles (and their URLs) must be:

1. Unique

Each web page/blog post that display an article’s full text must have a unique URL. Google doesn’t include sites in its News that display multiple articles under one URL or that do not have links to pages dedicated solely to each article.

2. Permanent

Google can’t/won’t crawl pages (e.g. www.yoursite.com/news.html) if it displays a different story every day.  Make each post unique and permanent.
‘To ensure its links to articles function properly, each article on a news site must be associated with one unique URL, and that URL must be permanent (i.e., it can’t be recycled).’

3. Three-digit number

The URL for each article must contain a unique number consisting of at least three digits.

For example:

Google News can’t crawl this URL: http://www.google.com/news/article23.html

Google News can crawl this URL: http://www.google.com/news/article234.html

Add three unique numbers to each article.

Note: if the only number in the article consists of an isolated four-digit number that resembles a year, such as:

http://www.google.com/news/article2006.html

…Google won’t be able to crawl it.

Exception: this rule is waived with News sitemaps

http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68323

Google News: How to Recommend a site for inclusion

If you’d like a site to be included in Google News, send them the URL here.

http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=40249

Recap: Get Added to Google News

Be

1. Unique
2. Permanent
3. Three-digit numbers

That’s it. Over to you.

Have you managed to get your blog indexed by Google for its news section? Was Bing easier? Share any tips you have below.

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How To Be Current & Avoid Capturing the Zeitgeist

First, do you need to be current? Don’t think so. Being ‘current’ doesn’t apply to all sites. Yes, to news, media, chat, gossip, sports and other stories of the day. But others, not so sure. Look at Jakob Nielsen as an example.

• Take the Long View – Most of my articles are written with a long view. For example, I write about business planning. The material is more educational that capturing the zeitgeist. You could have read it 10 years ago (or in 10 years time) and it would still be relevant.
• Avoid the Zeitgeist – if you write about the news of the day, well, next week it’s old hat.
• What to say – If you don’t have something that adds to the conversation – or challenges the writer’s argument – then it’s not worth posting. That’s my take, anyway. I don’t agree with Ari all the time but I still read his site… and I let him know where/how our views differ.

I honestly believe this is what he wants. Not another fawning high five. 

How To Enhance Your Blog Comments

Here’s another example. I read Chris Brogan almost every day. A very smart puppy & hard not to like. 
But what interesting to see (at least for me) is that:

• Almost no-one ever challenges what he says.
• Most genuflect to his opinions, i.e. take for granted what he says as gospel
• Give the obligatory high five, another great post’ and
• Nothing else.

What Chris Brogan really Wants

Here is the problem.

Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and Valeria Maltoni are all leaders in their fields.

• They’d like to have an alternative opinion. Not for the sake of people being contrary, obnoxious or difficult but to stimulate more discussion.
• This makes their blog more interesting. 
• They want you to interact.
• They want your (honest) opinion.
• They want you to step forward and share what you know.
• They’re learning too!

Do you agree with me?

If you don’t, let me know below.

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How to Protect Your Affiliate Links

To protect your links, we’re going to ‘cloak’ them. To do this we create an intermediate link (i.e. a hoplink) which acts as a bridge between your affiliate link and the hoplink. Essentially, it acts as a way to disallow someone from linking directly to your affiliate link.

For Clickbank affiliates, create the HopLink in the following format:

http://AFFILIATE.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net

Sample HTML: <a href=”http://AFFILIATE.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net” target=”_top”>CLICK HERE</a>

How to create a HopLink

1. Replace AFFILIATE with your affiliate Nickname
2. Replace VENDOR with the vendor Nickname
3. Replace CLICK HERE with any promotional text or image you prefer

For example, to make a HopLink to Kevin, use “Kevin” as the VENDOR name in your HopLink:  http://AFFILIATE.Kevin.hop.clickbank.net

Tip: Replace “AFFILIATE” with your own ClickBank affiliate Nickname.

Open the Affiliate Link In A New WebPage

To open a HopLink in a new window, set the target of the HopLink to “_blank”.

For example: <a href=”http://AFFILIATE.Kevin.hop.clickbank.net” target=”_blank”>Click Here!</a>

How do you protect your affiliate links?

This is the simplest way to protect your links on Clickbank. How do you protect your links on PayPal, ejunkie or others sites that sell information products?

PS – you can setup a free Clickbank account here.

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