It depends on what you want for your website.  Free and simple or fabulous and advanced?

www.WordPress.com 

Pros:

• Free
• No technical knowledge required
• Takes care of spam for you
• Takes care of SEO* for you

Cons:

• Limited theme designs
• Limited widget features
• Bad for SEO (WordPress takes the credit instead of you)

 www.WordPress.org

Pros:

• Install a fabulous theme
• Unlimited widget feature plugins
• Lots more control
• You take credit for SEO

Cons:

• More expensive ($70-$500)
• Technical know-how required
• You take care of spam
• You take care of SEO

Please note that you will be able to manage both using the user-friendly wordpress admin panel without any technical requirements.  In other words, once your web designer sets your websites up, you will be able to easily write a post, edit it, add an image, post a video, etc. the same way you did with your free blog.

This is one of the most frequent questions I get these days.

Sounds like a simple question, but it can get really confusing and complicated.  If you’re willing to fork in some money and time, you should be able to do it in no time.

But first, you have to decide what type of blog you are looking for.  Study the breakdown before you plunge in.

Ok, now that you decided, if you still want to go with www.WordPress.org, then follow these steps:

1. Buy the domain name (ex. from www.1and1.com). (~$8)
2. Buy web hosting** from someone like www.bluehost.com. (~$100/year or less)
3. Choose a wordpress theme.  Just google it and you will find tons. (free or up to $50)
4. Install your wordpress theme onto your website and customize it. (Technical knowledge required*** – free or up to $80-$300 depending on the complexity of your website and customization)
5. Customize your website.
6. Install all the plugins you want, especially Askimet and SEO all-in-one. 

Example of a wordpress.com blog: www.greekmuslim.wordpress.com.

Example of a wordpress.org blog: www.greeksrethink.com

Footnotes:

*Search engine optimization – ex. how high your page appears in google searches.

**You can get a free domain name from your web hosting company but you have more control if you buy it separately from another company, in case you don’t like your web hosting company, it’s easy to switch and they don’t lock you in.

*** If you don’t know what you are doing, here’s some golden advice that will save you loads of money and tme.  Instead of spending 50 hours trying to figure it out (and in the end, your site looks crappy), just hire a web designer to do it and use those hours to make money for your project.  I know you might be cringing right now because most likely you are on a very low budget, but I go through this process all the time with so many people and in the end, they are exasperated by the experience and go to a web designer for help anyway, so why not just skip that frustration?

The best powerwebinar I’ve heard about ever before is NOW FREE online on June 14.  It usually goes for around more than $150 to attend, but not it’s free and you can join from wherever you are in the world.

Check it out.  The first 150 to rsvp get in free.

In the journey of life, are you DRIVING?

or are you a passenger?

Watch LifeCoach Muhammad Alshareef present a LIVE POWERWEBINAR ONLINE (Just RSVP )

(http://discoverulife.com/blog)

If you want to learn how to make vidoes or media for your business, here’s a great program to sign up to:

www.messagemastery.com

You can check out their video on their website.

This book I read recently, Blink, is a different kind of book.  Although, it’s not my style, it did make me ponder on a few things pertaining to my business and personal life.  You know those first two seconds when you look at something, anything, and make a snap judgement?  That’s what Blink is about.

Blink analyzes your first impression, which depends on your experiences and environment you live in and this first impression can be changed, or conditioned.  Your first impression can be accurate or inaccurate and here are some ways it can be conditioned: 

1. Thin Slicing:

Coming to a judgement without having lots of information, ON PURPOSE. It is proven that if you have few but key information points in the right context of the situation, you can make a better snap decision that if you have information overload because in the latter case you get sidetracked by irrelevant details.

So, the next time you are shopping around, you may want to store LESS information as long as they are relevant and key pieces of information, before making a buying decision.

2. Removal or Addition of the ‘Prime Effect’:

For example, if you prime people to think like professors before taking a test, or fashionable before buying a dress, more than likely, they will score better or buy your product. If you ask a black person (or other minorities) to fill out their race before the quiz, you can indirectly prime them to score lower on a test.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice:

Practicing exhaustively beforehand will get you in a groove so much that it will sink into your unconscious so when it comes time to make that two second snap judgement, more than likely, it will be correct.

After watching Pablo and Bruno, some of you might have thought, wow, but how can I do that?  I would say, read Rich Dad Poor Dad.  It’s not only a book, it’s a paradigm shift in the way you think of business and money. Here are some tips to get you started:

Tips:

1. The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.

2. Learn the difference between an asset and liability (Many people THINK they know, but they really don’t!)

3. Invest in financial education FIRST before you invest your money.

4. Work to LEARN and get SKILLS, even if you have to work for free!  <– Hard to believe? 

You might read this list and become confused, or even disagree.  That’s ok.  Just trust me, read the book and you’ll see what I mean and then you will see the difference in thinking between the poor/middle class and the rich. 

Watching this video brought back a lot of memories.  This exact story was the turning point in my life and the start of my journey from employee to entrepreneur, except, it wasn’t Pablo and Bruno.  It was Tareq and Amina and I heard the story when I was taking the Rizq Management course from AlMaghrib Institute.

This simple but revolutionary example changed my life!  Check it out.

So you want a successful home-based business?

Find out how right here!

 Have you ever wanted to have a stay-at-home kind of job so that you could:

       plan your work hours around the needs of your children

       spend more quality time with your family

       earn extra income without having to leave the house for many hours each day

If “How can I do this?” is your question, we have the answer.  Would you like to find out more?

Right now we are in the process of developing high quality products and services to help YOU meet your individual business needs.  These products and services will allow you to develop the skills and gain the knowledge you must have to create the successful business you really want. 

But to make sure you get exactly what you’re looking for, we need your help.

Here’s the link for a short, 10-question survey.  Take about four minutes to tell us what would help you the most.

= =>> Survey << = =

You could take advantage of being able to offer your opinion today, or not.  You could also continue wondering what the freedom of a profitable home-based business would be like, or you could get what YOU need to make it a reality. 

Completing this survey means that you are already taking your first steps toward making your dream real.  And, it says that you are among a small group of dedicated people who not only think about things, but also act on them, too.  We commend you for that! 

Thank you for your participation, and may you find the greatest success! 

Sincerely,

The Product Development Team

P.S.  If you were to invest time and money in your business, wouldn’t you want to gain the most you could from it?  Let’s make this work for you, now!  Just click here:  survey

P.P.S.  We almost forgot to mention the extra bonus!  As soon as you complete this survey, one dollar will be sent to a Muslim Sister’s charity through HalfDate.com to help other Sisters get more out of their lives.  You can invest in yourself, and others, too!

I stumbled across this post today about the mishaps of Muslims in business.  It’s quite humorous and I think you’ll relate on some level. 

Blog post: Muslims in Business

25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of your time?  If you are spending more than 25% of your time working with your product or service, most likely, you are not advancing in your business.

Why less than 25%?

If you spend more than 25%, where do you find the time to spend on other areas like legalities, structuring how you run your business, marketing and finance management? How much time are you putting towards planning for the future?

Bottom line

Are you working *IN* your business or *ON* your business? 

Try this exercise

Write down what percentage (approximately) you spend on the following towards your business:

product

legal

systems

communication (internal and external)

finance management

future business planning

Note: most of the time, your percentages should increase as you go down the list.