I believe that by buying my own web server (dedicated) I did the best decision I could because now I have total control over it. No one is limiting my usage (in term of sql query, bandwidth, cpu usage, etc). The only down side is that I have more management to do, but I like that down side since I wanted to learn about web hosting, and specifically how I could do it myself.

Here’s a quick tutorial of what I did:

1. Installed the operating system
I opted for Fedora, which is a solid solution based on Red Hat.

2. Install Apache/PHP/MySQL
Those are the easiest to setup, mostly because they are pretty much correctly setup from the beginning, so issuing a small

yum install httpd mysql php

would do the trick.

3. Install mail
This was a bigger problem than expected. Installing a mailing software is not as easy as you’d thought it would. I’m not going to go into much detail but if you aren’t familiar with software installation, I’d suggest you get a friend or someone who’s good at it to help you out, like I did.

4. Install mydns/Bind
Since you’re most likely going to act as a server, you need to be able to manage your domain name, but this is not necessary. I found that mydns was the easiest to setup and it works with mysql. Managing it is also a piece of cake.

5. Transfer
When your installation is complete, it’s time to transfer your data onto your new server. I had ssh access on my old server, so I simply did a

tar -cfv base.tar.gz /

in order to get all my stuff into a compressed archive.

I also did get a backup of my mysql databases with a simple

mysqldump –all-databases

With all that done, I simply put that stuff onto my new server and I was good to go.

Remember to always check out if everything is working fine. Some of the time, due to different server settings, thing may work while others may not. I often had to correct the permissions over the files I had transfered, which was a SMALL pain in the ass compared to the new control I have over my stuff.

The first idea that comes in mind is to start your own business. But which business? Is there anything you like? Well, for me, programming and/or anything related to computer is great. Currently managing many websites is a really interesting job that keep me passionnated. If it’s not your kind of stuff, maybe you should think about what you actually want to do… Maybe you like to interact with people, help people, work on machines, buy stuff for people, sell stuff for people. You can make any profession your own. If you didn’t notice, most of the “geniuses” in our world don’t have diplomas. They started as self declared whatever they wanted to be. If they liked robotic, they just played with a lot of robot until they were recognized has an expert in the field.

Most of the time when you go to apply for a job, what employers are looking for is experience. Do you know how to deal with various stuff? If you do, then you’re most likely their best choice.

This small story of mine should help you understand how this idea works.
At age 18 and before, I had a huge interest in websites. I did my first website out of Geocities, at age 13. From that point forward, I learned a lot about computer and programming. I was so interested in the topic that I was often ahead of my peers in the domain. I had seen the potential computers had and I wanted to take part of it.

At age 18, I began to manage around 5 websites, mainly blogs which I would try to update regularly. At first it was fun, new. Then routine made the whole thing a chore. I was bored to do all the work alone. At that moment I had no idea what to do. I was making money out of the advertising on those website I owned and because I didn’t see a drop in how much I was making even though I wasn’t writing anymore, I though that if I’d stop, it wouldn’t make a huge difference. For a year I did nothing on those sites, but still, revenue was in. I was partially happy, partially because I did money, but not totally because I knew I could do much better. At the moment I though I could do better, which was around age 19, I said to myself I had to find a solution to my biggest problem: generate content without it being a chore.

So my first solution was to find people to write for me. I though about friends and family members, but most of them where not as passionate as me for the topics I was writing about. I waited for some months until I read the 4-hour workweek by Tim Ferris. In the book, I learned about elance and registered there. I decided I would try to get some people to help me write content, even though it would cost me up to 300$ of my personal money. I engaged 3 different writers to write about my main blogs topic and gave them specific instruction.

After a month, all the articles were ready and I began to put some of them on my blogs. Some articles were great, some sucked huge time, but I didn’t have the time to do it myself anyway. I began to see revenue increase, I was beginning to see some results. I told myself that it was actually time I tried again to write on those blogs.

Still, it’s a huge task. I believe the best solution is to find some friends which would agree to write for me for a small amount of money per article. With that idea, the business became.

I’d pay my friend over 5$ per article, which is similar to what I would pay over elance, but the results would be much better and since those people were my friend, they had a better understand of what I was looking for and they often had the same interest as me. From that moment forward, managing my blogs and website was a piece of cake.

What I want you to grasp about that story is the how I did it. Notice that I wasn’t able to do what I wanted at first, but after a while, I succeeded. It’s not because you fail once that you’re necessarily going to fail twice…

When you don’t have money, you look for what is free. But how could free web host be possible if there’s a business for it? Well, because some people like to give for FREE. At that time, I went to my best friend, Google, and asked him “free hosting” please. Most of the free host you’d find would have a nasty side effect: “banners”. I didn’t want banners, but it seems it was the only possible option. I lived with that for a long moment, maybe one and a half year. Later, I found it was enough and went ahead to look for another host. That time, I found what I was looking for: a free hosting package with PHP and mySQL for free, without any banner.

5 years later, my needs in term of webhosting have changed. I have a much more broad understanding of how to manage web servers and for that reason I have different needs.

This article topic is on how to find that web host you’re looking for, at age 15. May it be to host a blog or to write on a specific topic, this should give you a general idea of what to do.

1. Find the topic you want to write on.
Do not begin to look for a web host before you have any idea about what to write on. If you’re doing this solely for the purpose of wasting time, reconsider that. If you could be doing something else more productive, do that instead.

2. Search on the topic to see if you can write a lot about it or not.
With some research you can see whether or not the topic you want to write about is interesting, broad and targeted. If you want to write about honey production in the mountains, maybe you’ll have to look again… (or not).

3. Start looking for web hosting.
Many websites have as primary task to help you find free hosting. For free, check out http://www.freewebhostingtalk.com/, and for paid services http://www.webhostingtalk.com/. Those forums allow you to get information about various hosts such as positive and negative reviews.

4. Register to the web host.
Go to their website, check out if you like how they look. A web host that takes time to make a good first impression is often a good host afterward, but not ALL the time. If the host you’re looking at look cheap, it probably is. When you’re decision is done, simply go to their sign up page and sign up!

5. Write/Design your web site.
This step could have been done before step 3 and 4. Here you write about what you want. You design your website the way you want it to look. If you’re having trouble, never hesitate to find help online, many forums are dedicated to that task.

6. Upload your web site.
Using one of the various softwares called ftp clients, upload your website (put the files from your computer onto the server).

7. ENJOY!
This is pretty self-explanatory.

That illustrates the power of skillful negotiation.

Negotiation is defined as the process of conferring with another so as to arrive at the settlement of some matter. Negotiation is an art. It is a learnable art. Learning and taking action are poles apart. Practice makes it perfect.

The followings are crucial factors to keep in mind:

i. Prepare: Prior planning prevents poor performance. With proper planning and preparation, you can negotiate with confidence and power. Most successful negotiator spent 60-70% of their time preparing for the negotiation process. This is when you set your objectives: identify values, issues, and priorities. Determine what you are willing to give and what concession you need in return. Do your due diligence and gather as much information as you can. Create a strategic plan with supporting information and tactics.

ii. Probe: Once you have set your objectives and prioritized your needs, you are now ready to communicate with the other party face to face. Besides communicating your position, you need to be attentive and listen carefully to your opponent’s needs, and explore their positions. Use assertive language to imply authority and strength. Speak clearly and directly, to strengthen the position you represent. Assertive language is persuasive and it puts people forward.

iii. Propose: As both parties have shared their wants and need, you can begin to propose ideas to solve the differences. Keep all proposals conditional, flexible and brief. Rephrase rejected proposals in positive words. Do not reveal too much of your priorities as the opponents may use them against you.

iv. Trading Concession: Now that you have explored what is the premise of possible agreement, you are ready to move on to the trading concession. Keep in mind your bottom line objective, do not forget the priorities you have set earlier. If you are unsure or do not have enough information about your opponent proposals, ask, justify and lay them all out on the table. You cannot be assumptive while trading concession. Weigh the pros and cons of each concessions. Calculate the relative risk and return.

v. Close the deal: Stay calm and vigilant as the negotiation may have become tense at this point. Watch for any closing clues, words of indication, body language, such as uncrossing arms, open palms, leaning forward, etc.

Last but not least, once the deal is closed, you need to confirm exactly what has been agreed on and summarize all the details on paper.

This blog reveals the 10 common ways that ordinary people use to manifest great wealth and abundance in their life experience.

At the end of each review on different profile of these highly successful people , the author highlights the asset that these people possess that drive them towards their goal.

The following is a summary of these traits:
1. Hard work
2. Persistence
3. Genius
4. Luck
5. Skill
6. Enterprise
7. Guts
8. Sacrifice
9. Frugality
10. Ambition

If you have read Think and Grow Rich, you can immediately recognize how similar these traits are with those described by Napoleon Hill.

Wealth creation is a mindset. It starts with a burning desire to be wealthy. Once you have the desire, you must believe that you can acquire what you desire because thoughts are things. Be persistent about your desire but not attached to a specific outcome. When you have convinced your subconscious mind that you can have what you desire, through autosuggestion, or self-talk in modern language, you can then created a belief in you, and your subconscious mind will begin to organize your actions and behaviors to drive you towards that goal. You will also begin to attract people, events and circumstances to assist you in order to achieve those goals.

When you have an inspired thought, act upon it with no delay and no question. If you try to reason yourself , you will get lazy. Our reasoning is usually based on our limited personal observation and experience. It is human nature to that we believe what we believe is true. We get into our comfort zone too much, and it is time to get out. Be aware of how your thoughts will drive your behaviors and eventually your results.

Surround yourself with the right people, people with the right mindset and with those whose value is in alignment with yours.
We create our luck, with our own beliefs . It is our dominating thoughts that creates our reality and hence, our luck. We ask for the key to unlock the genius within us, and when we do, we act in faith, with persistency.

Dedicate yourself to mastering what you do, develop the skills you will need. Luck is the junction road between preparation and opportunity. Be prepared for the opportunity when you notice it is there, organize a plan and work on your plan.

2. Affiliate network: A network of merchants and affiliate marketers.

3. Anchor text: Clickable text in a hyperlink which is visible to visitors. Also referred to as text link.

4. Autoresponder: A web application that sent out automated email message to subscribers or members such as subscription confirmation, newsletters and etc.

5. Bandwidth: Denotes the data transmission of a service, measured in bps (bits per second). Nowaday, this amount as increased a lot and can be known as MB, GB or TB (mega bytes (1024 x 8 bits), giga bytes (1024 x 1024 mega bytes), tera bytes (1024 x 1024 giga bytes))

6. Click through rate (CTR): The ratio of clicks on the number of times the ad or email is viewed (click/view).

7. Conversion rate: The rate of which the click through is converted into actual sales or actions (sale/click).

8. Cookies: Small files that collects information about visitor, such as date, time, username and etc.

9. Drop Shipping: Online business model where the individual orders is shipped by the supplier directly to the end-user.

10. eZine: Standard electronic version of magazine or newsletter distributed on the internet.

11. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): “Programming language” designed to create webpage.

12. IP Address (Internet Protocol Address): Numeric address used to identified each computer that is connected to the internet.

13. Keyword: A word or keyword phrase that is relevant to a targeted group of audience or niche.

14. Link exchange: Swapping links between two websites. Also known as reciprocal linking. This can improve visibility in the search engine and increase page rank.

15. Opt In: The consumer voluntarily choose to allow the webmaster to collect and disseminate information.

16. Page rank: A measure of quality back links and relevancy of a website (by Google) .

17. Podcast: Video or audio files posted on website that can be downloaded for playback.

18. RSS (Rich Site Summary): Distributing and sharing content among different sites. Serve as alerts on new information on a syndicated website, blogs and other internet services.

19. Server: Computer station used primarily to store and share files over a network, at the same time, allowing clients access to the files.

20. Squeeze page: Landing page that collect opt-in emails from prospective subscribers.

21. URL (Universal Resource Locator): World Wide Web address to locate a website.

22. Viral marketing: An effective marketing effort that propagates itself. Recipients are encouraged to pass along the marketed message.

23. Web hosting: Data storage space that is accessible via the internet, collections of websites hosted on web servers.

24. Webmaster: Individual who is responsible to administering, updating and maintaining a website.

25. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get): generally means that what you see on the monitor screen is the same that will appear as the final output, be it a webpage, hard copy print out and etc.

This tool allows you to search Google using any keyword(s) you wish and determine the relevancy of the sites associated with those keywords you searched for. It is free and a reliable tool you can use while finding and selecting which niche you would like to tap into.

To get started, first go to www.seochat.com
On the left panel, select “Page Rank Search” under SEO Tools in bold type.

On the space provided, type the keyword or keyword phrase related to you niche. To get better result, conduct search with “ “.

For instance, you want to create a weight loss program for vegetarian. Then type
“Weight loss for vegetarian” in the space provided, with the “ ”.

Below the space, select “order by page rank” on the drop down menu and Results (100).
Click “Search”.

The reason you are searching with “ ” is to get more accurate results for the people who are searching for the exact terms or keyword phrase as it is.

You might question how helpful is this in selecting your targeted niche, the answer is very simple .

On the upper right corner of search results, you will notice a number of results found in correspondence to your target niche. The smaller the number the better, that means you have not many competing pages. But that is not enough; you need to look at the graphical bar that represents the Page Rank of those particular sites. Look at the top three search results, the smaller the page rank, the higher your chance of dominating that particular niche.

Bottom line: There are two criteria for a profitable niche. First, the number of competing pages, or search result has to be less than 5,000. Second, the page rank for top three search results has to be at most 3 or less.

It’s the first month of the year and you have “Starting an online business” as one of your resolution. You told yourself you’ve had enough and nobody is going to put a thumb on you anymore.

Many people who want to start a business online end up buying themselves another job. Instead of working for someone else, they have opted to work for themselves.

“Anything you can conceive, you can achieve.” The only limit we have is our perceived limitation.

The followings are 5 baby steps to help you start your online business.

1. The bigger: the why, the smaller: the how.
The first step to start an online business is to ask yourself “Why would I want to start an online business?”. Be it for the financial independence, to eventually replace your full time income or simply to have a side income, find that reason.

2. Define what end result you would like to achieve.
For instance to create certain amount of passive income. Without a goal, you will get to anywhere. This is different from the first step because here you set yourself end goals you need to achieve in order to complete the “why” you’re doing it.

3. Do your research.
An hour of research can save you up to $1000 of operating costs . Read anything you can about the industry you want to get started with, then make decision very carefully. Find a model in the area you wish to pursue. Read articles or books those models wrote and participate in forum. Beware of of paralysis analysis, don’t get engaged in the mind set. Of course you need to do your due diligence in researching, but never expect you will get them all perfect. Take educated action, make informed decisions.

4. Put a plan in place.
Think on ink. Flexibility is not gained by not having a plan. With a plan, we have more time and energy to invest on high value tasks. In your plan, determine what commitment you are willing to make, such as time commitment, financials and etc. Make a list out of all the resources you will need to execute that plan.

5. Set realistic and manageable goal at the beginning.
Raise the bar every time you reach a goal. Act in faith and believe that you will achieve your goal.

There are so many ways you can make money online. You can choose to create and sell your own product, you can sell other people’s products or render professional service online.

Many newbie entrepreneurs made the mistake of jumping too fast into the water and only to realize it’s too early to jump and too late the pull themselves out of the water, and the water is freezing.

Not planning is a plan to failure. End of a plan is the beginning of a new plan. Take calculated risks and massive actions to make your vision a reality.

It is used by search engines such as Google to determine a site content’s relevancy. The more links point to your site, the more relevant the site and hence, higher your ranking on search page will be .

While having a high page rank is vital to the popularity of your site, back links also contribute to driving quality (targeted) traffic to your site.

There are groups of websites where they hyperlink to each other in order to get lots of back links . Those groups are known as “link farms”, a form of spamming in order to get on the index of search engines . It could be done either manually or automatically . This method seems to be unscrupulous and unfair because it influences the search engine index.

Of course, your website won’t be banned by Google for using link farms. Search engines are able to identify and filter pages that are suspicious of link farming, and those pages will be removed from the search engine index to prevent them from entering the search results.

To do it the right way, make sure that the back links that you insert are placed on sites with quality content, and they are of same niche as yours, with similar content, targeting the same audience. Anchor relevant and important keywords to attract more quality traffic to your site.

Keep track of your backlinks to see how many have been indexed.

You can create more backlinks through Article Marketing by submitting quality articles to articles directories with a link to your blog or websites. Other methods include social bookmarking, publishing RSS, commenting on other blogs, participating in forum discussions, creating a post containing links on your blog and making sure they are related to your niche.

This post is written in order to help you outsource your tasks. This is a small “how-to” guide that will allow you to look for people that can accomplish task for you. Since communication is sometimes difficult and can lead to unwanted results, this guide will aim to prevent you from making various errors beginners do when they first start outsourcing.

For this article, we’ll be using elance.com

To get started, go and signup and account. You’ll have to pay a 10$ “account setup” which will be refunded after a week. This is in order for elance to make sure you are 18 years old and that you will use the system correctly.

When that is done, we can start creating “projects”. In MyELance, Buyer Activity, you’ll find Post new project.

You’re then presented a list of fields to fill. For our first project, we’ll be looking for a virtual assistant (an assistant that can do tasks for us online, such as researches, write email, find prices, etc).

(defaults are in italics)
Posting Title: Virtual Assistant (or whatever you may want to write)
Category: Admin Support
Subcategory: Virtual Assistant
Work Type: Hourly
Budget: (Depends on you, I generally go for under 500$)
Who Can Bid:All Elance providers
Response Deadline: Bidding closes in 14 days
Sealed Bids?: Sealed, proposals are hidden from other providers.
Work Location: Work can be done anywhere.
Use Escrow: Yes, I want to use Elance Escrow service (FREE) for my project.

Now, for the bigger part of the submission, the Work Description. This is where you ask for specific aspects. This is the place where it’s possible for you to fall into the “not descriptive enough” which leads to many bids which aren’t responding to your needs. This mean additionnal filtering which we want to avoid as much as possible.

To help you, use bullet points. What you want, and don’t want. Here’s a list of things you may want to consider talking about.

- Must speak/write in a specific language
- When must the person be available for you (all day, night, morning)
- How you’ll communicate your tasks (phone, email, messenger)
- What type of knowledge and education you are looking for (be as specific as possible)
- What are the task you’ll have them perform
- How much are you willing to pay them
- State that there will be a trial period (and how long you’ll be testing them (2-6 hours))
- How long you expect to work with them
- How much job do you expect to give them (in term of hours)
- What are the period there will be work involved (if you’re looking for seasonal help)

With this list filled up, you are sure to target quite specific needs. The idea here is to make sure that our listing only attracts people that are willing to do a job under condition you’ve listed.

More often than not, people will post on elance with vague description. They’ll be getting a dozen of bids (that may sound good), but most bidders will offer too high prices or will not fulfill specific needs you have because they didn’t know you where expecting it. Remember, in conversation, the explicit is always known by both parties, not the implicit.

With that in mind, I wish you good luck in outsourcing your work, may it be for ghost writing, online researching or for web designing.