Fortunately for me, this time I had a recent blog database backup, thanks to having installed the WP-DB-Backup plugin when first starting blogging. I had chosen to receive the backup file weekly in my mailbox, so I had it handy for the job ahead. Now I just had to find out how to use it…

After doing some research in Google for ‘how to restore a WordPress database’, I concluded that the simplest set of instructions appeared to be in the WordPress Codex itself. Following the steps in the Using phpMyAdmin section of the document, I logged in phpMyAdmin through the Cpanel of my domain. Next, the codex instructs to “…select the database that you will be importing your data into.”

It took me a while to figure out how to identify which database to use since phpMyAdmin listed three different ones under my domain login username. Finally I realized that the backup file name that the plugin generates contains the database name. In my case, the file name was brighter_wrdp2_wp_20091229_243.sql, so I picked ‘wrdp2′ as the database to restore:

And that was the trickiest part of the process! The remaining six steps required three simple clicks of the mouse and in a few seconds I had my blog back.

What a difference from the four previous mishaps… Having that backup file was the key to an easy recovery of my blog, so many thanks to Austin Matzko for a most effective plugin!

I started with dmoz, as it was referred to as “the largest and most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web”, which sounded impressive to me. For some reason I found it hard to define the category for my blog; finally, I chose Business: Marketing and Advertising: Internet Marketing: Marketing Services as the best fit. Unfortunately, dmoz does not acknowledge a submission and they do not offer any alternate method to follow-up on it, hence the only thing to do is wait. But as of today, waiting has not worked and my blog has not been listed. I guess I could try again, as suggested in this interesting article on the subject.

As for the Yahoo! Directory, I shunned from it after I found out there is a substantial fee for their service ($299 is substantial to me). Instead, I opted for submitting my blog URL for free to Yahoo! Search.

Other actions I have taken after the suggestions in the report: I have added the Alexa traffic rank button to my blog (there is nothing to brag about my rank just yet) and submitted one article to Digg; I bookmarked on del.icio.us myself, maybe something I should not have done…  I also added the Twitter Follow Me button to the side. The little blue bird looks good there, I think.

A rather puzzling statement from Website Grader is the one about “Too many images found”. There is not much to do except for ignoring it: the pictures I have are the gravatars of the top commentators and the image for the e-book cover in the opt-in form. They stay!

One thing that has botehred me a bit is that I could not get the Website Grader badge to show my updated grade after all the above actions (it got up to 82). Since I could not establish the root cause, I decided to remove it. Something similar happened with the Alexa rank button, but this one updates automatically now. I might give the badge a second chance…

There is always more that can be done but I think I have addressed the Website Grader report sufficiently. I should now go back to focus on getting links and continue commenting on other blogs.

Gosh! It took me too long to post again…

To set up the plugin, the three main fields, Title, Description and Keywords, also known as metadata, can be appropriately filled in based on the suggestions in the report. In the case of my description, I had to make it shorter, since it was way longer than the recommended 150 characters. But most important, I came up with a completely different title for my blog. I changed to “Notes on blogging and list building”, which includes two keywords with which the search engines can have a better idea of what my blog is about. This title can still be improved but I think it is better than the old “The blog of Jose Perez” , considering that my name is a very common Hispanic name…

After these few changes I requested a new report for my blog. Website Grader gave me a 73/100 grade this time, a modest 4 points better than my initial rating.

According to the report, my grade could benefit from listing my blog in DMOZ and the Yahoo! Directory, as well as bookmarking it with del.icio.us and submitting articles to Digg.com. But also according to the report, the main course of action for me is to work on increasing the number of inbound links to my blog, that is, getting more sites to link to it. The Superb business blogs & sites list I already have can help me a lot, I just have to post more often in those places and identify additional ones to list. I should also continue to post on forums, since Google Analytics tells me I’ve been getting links from the two places where I’ve been participating.

And one more step I’ve just taken that can bring me more links (by bringing in more visitors) is setting up the KeywordLuv plugin. Again with the help of my friend Vance Sova from Learn List Building, I will learn how to make the most of this tool that rewards commentators by separating their name from their keywords in the link to their website, giving them improved anchor text.

Well, I’ll keep scratching the surface of SEO. It’s worth the effort!

Vance told me about the importance of having links to other blogs or sites that are well established among the marketing community. Heeding his advise, what I did was to add a text widget I titled ‘Superb business blogs & sites’ to the top sidebar. My first two choices were Rick Schefren’s and Yaro Starak’s.

Vance also said I should be keeping track of who my most frequent commentators are. It’s a good practice to show who visits your blog and, by providing a direct link to their own blogs, I’d also be practicing good etiquette toward those kind enough to visit me and comment. I activated the Top Commentators plugin, listing them along with their avatars and quantity of comments left; I also hyperlinked their names to their blogs, to make it easier for others to visit them.

These two additions can be seen scrolling down past the free report optin.

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After the call, I wanted to find out more about search engine optimization for blogs. I found two resources of my interest:

• Website Grader, which gave me a marketing effectiveness ranking for my blog as it currently is and –most important– a report on how to improve that ranking, and
• All in One SEO Pack, a plugin to help me improve the chances of my blog being found by the search engines.

I am in the process of understanding both the above tools, but I think they can help me a lot to make my blog better, one of the items I pledged over when I first started my efforts.

As I fully grasp and implement these concepts I’ll be using the Website Grader badge to show and keep track of how the modifications I make affect my ranking. This should also give material for my next posts, otherwise so scarce!

In my case, there was an urgent reason to do so: my original plan has not worked. Going through my notes, I see that the way I stated it was such that it was not results-oriented. The actions I considered were rather focused on implementing the tools of the trade. For instance, I said “Set up Google Analytics on your blog” but there was no indication on what I would be getting from GA…

In order to come up with a better approach this time, I consulted my ever-increasing library of e-books to find the following list of basics for a sound business plan:

1. Know your target market Here, perhaps, is the main reason for my dismal results: not having identified an audience with a specific need.
2. Have a product or service to sell to that market In addition to the profit pulling platforms given by Alex, creating my own e-book is essential to the growth of my business. Choosing the subject for my e-book would be much easier if I knew who my potential audience would be. Alex himself has given (actually, reminded me of) a hint: “Write about your own progress; write about what you have learned”.
3. Determine your advertising budget So far I have used free methods only, but how about the time I have invested? Shouldn’t I be willing to pay for advertising?
4. Determine your overall expense budget Well, it’s all been expenses until today. I have an idea: beyond determining how much to spend in a weekly or monthly basis, I will factor in the results the projected business growth; for instance, I could say: “I’ll spend XX dollars per month to get YY more persons into my list”. That would mean another step toward accountability.
5. Have a realistic income projection That should be easy, considering anything above $0.00 would do! I’ve been attending Rob Canyon’s Double Click Blueprint webinars and I’ve figured out a target income to start, at least for the end of the month: $100 by October 31^st.
6. Decide on your marketing strategy I’ve been given the formula: Give out good content for free, build your list, then email market to it.
7. Determine your production strategy (consider outsourcing) This is in regard to the product or service in item 2. Being a first for me, I’d like to make it myself.
8. Make a unique selling proposition My marketing proposition must present a specific benefit and it must be unique (not my words, I got them from Wikipedia…) My blog and personal broadcast messages should help with the ‘unique’ side; the ‘specific benefit’ will keep me thinking for a while.

To answer the question that titles this post: It has to be a redo!

I’ve chosen two forums for my endeavor: the Warrior Forum, which is one of the widest-known places in the IM field, and Associate Programs.com. I’m sure there might be other places where to go, but for the sake of simplicity, I decided to keep my efforts within comprehensible boundaries.

I started by choosing the threads that were most recently started and also had the fewest replies, my rationale being that if I got in them early, more later-to-come readers would go through my reply and hence see the links in my signature. Also, if the topic was started as a call for help, I could fulfill the need of the topic starter and make a head-start toward his/her confidence.

But lately I have started to participate in threads that have plenty of replies, considering that there would be more of a chance for my reply to be seen given the interest the thread generated. That is, provided long threads are read and the topic maintains that interest…

In any case, going through the forums has turned out to be learning opportunity and it has also confirmed what Alex said in one of the modules: that we can be a little bit ahead of others and thus be of their help.

Having three very young kids and a full time job, I had thought I had a convenient excuse that also explained why my previous attempts at internet marketing had gotten me nowhere: I didn’t have enough time.

But I knew I couldn’t –I shouldn’t– settle for that. After I decided to enroll in Alex Jeffreys’ coaching program, I knew I had to make up my mind and work around my kids and job. I had to put at least an hour a day aside to work on my blog, without excuses.

I’ve found that it is in the night hours that I can find that time I need to build my business. It’s not as much as I would want, but that’s what I have. What’s important is that I am now working with a different mindset.

I should not let three more years go by just to see myself in the same spot I was six years ago!

I told Heidi I’m taking the challenge but warned her that it might take me a while finding all 25 things in such a square character (I had a hard time before, when working on the About me page of this blog). But let’s get going:

1. Right now, I’m at the tender age of 49. Well, maybe more of age than tender!
2. I think I can say I’ve always been a quiet person. I was a dutiful student, not particularly bright, but very persistent. Yet that persistence came out of fear of failure, not of a love of knowledge, I’ve come to realize lately.
3. I didn’t start driving until I turned 21. I was just mentally blocked, I think…
4. It took me almost eight years to complete my college career, Civil Engineering, which normally goes for 9 semesters (4,5 years); oddly enough, my overall average was good, thanks to that same persistence.
5. Much more odd is the fact that after all that effort, I have never practiced CE (I took on a job in the auto industry, which I’ve kept until now).
6. I almost lost that job in 2007, when a big round of salaried cuts hit the Company; I was able to stay thanks to the intercession of my boss then, who has always been friendly to me.
7. My first date didn’t come until I was 34…
8. …and I didn’t marry until I was 39.  It was 1999, I barely cleared out the century!
9. We have three lovely boys; although they’re aged 18 months apart, everybody ask us if they’re triplets.
10. Our youngest kid, Pablo, had to stay for 26 in the intensive care unit due to a serious blood condition. He overcame it and now is a husky little guy apparently in the way to become a lawyer.
11. I like animals and always enjoy a visit to the local zoo with my kids. However, I don’t like to keep animals at home for pets, except for aquarium fish.
12. I used to be a pro football (soccer) fan but not anymore. It’s not that I don’t like to watch it every once in a while, as much as I don’t like the way this and all other sports are hyped.
13. I used to practice tennis for several years but I stopped playing after my first kid was born. I only played during the weekends and I thought I would be missing too much by not being with him, in exchange for chasing bright yellow balls.
14. I underwent surgery for both herniated groins three years ago. Very painful…
15. I like to think of myself as a practicing Catholic. I love my Church and I should get more involved in parochial activities.
16. I like languages yet I have only gotten somewhere with English. I’ve tried French also but with much lesser success, despite the similarities with Spanish.
17. Reading is my favorite hobby yet I have refrained from it lately, in part to be able to dedicate more time to IM.
18. Learning to play a musical instrument is in my wish list. If I only had had the good sense to do it in my younger years!
19. Swimming is also something I never learned to do and would like to. I am making sure my kids do learn early.
20. I once despised publicly playing the lottery. That was in my early years in the job, when my salary was still growing (and I was single too). Now I consider it a viable way to make money, to the extent that I play once, sometimes twice a month.
21. I love chocolate, whether in candy bars or ice cream! I also go nuts for nuts: peanuts, almonds, etc.
22. I wore contact lenses for many years until one day my right eye started hurting bad. I’ve been wearing eyeglasses for the last five years. They’re so annoying sometimes!
23. Speed of implementation has always been a problem to me. I mull over things way too much…
24. I also have a hard time handling more than one thing at once.
25. The doctor told me I need to exercise vigorously everyday in order to avoid problems with diabetes later on. I’m struggling to find enough time out to keep up with the routine I’m following…

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Phew! Getting to 25 was really a challenge. I started working on this list on Aug 30th and run out of gas around number 9 for the first time. But it was a good exercise, after all, except for the fact that it’s all self centered…

I’ll PM my tags now.

But I had not been able to implement that desirable structure without causing my blog to crash when visitors tried to see the comments or leave one…

I digged a little into WordPress Codex to try and figure this out; I soon got overwhelmed by the technical jargon they use there! I did, however, settled down for an intermediate approach: what they call PATHINFO permalinks.

Although they lengthen the URL considerably with the inclusion of  ‘index.php’ and the post date (click on the title of any of the posts in this blog and then take a look at the address bar to see them at work), these concoctions include the post title in the URL structure and still don’t cause the blog to crash.

I have a lot of catch up to do on the latest modules of the coaching program, so I’m settling down for these “almost pretty” permalinks!

My coach Alex Jeffreys enthusiastically advocates for having this information in a blog. It brings a personal touch to the site and being in a separate page from the posts it’s sort of a haven that can be reworked through time.

Come on in, it’s a short read! I’m sure you’ll like the pic inside.