Your long term goal in having your own internet business is so you can spend less time working and spend more time doing what you want to do, right? You don’t want to just shift from a job working for someone else to your own job that consumes even more of your time, right? Too many times that’s exactly what ends up happening. Sometimes it can be even more of a burden having your own business because you are the head honcho and have to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible. You could end up being a slave at your own business. You don’t want to end up like that.

In the early years of my internet business, I just wanted customers and would bend over backwards to get them. I would promise them the world on their website and then spend 10 or so hours a week working on their site for a whopping $50 per month. Let’s see, that works out to about $5 per hour. Not even minimum wage….. That’s not a very good business model. After a while, I slowly started picking up more customers and learned how to better value my time and adjusted prices and more importantly my hours accordingly.

The key to being able to spend less time on each customer’s site was setting up a business system. A good business system allows you to accomplish tasks with little or even no time involved (or at least not YOUR time). For my particular case, I wrote software that would create websites automatically based on some simple customer input. You could think of it as an automatic template. I would plug in the customers information into my software and the software would create the website with the customers data, set up their email accounts, update the DNS entries, configure the database, load up the site on the webserver, and turn the site on. Everything would be complete in just a few seconds. This process would have taken several hours to do manually (and it did until I wrote the software). This software and the process of using it became one of my business systems. Business systems are essential to a successful business so you can devote your time to growing your business. I did not set up business systems for some of the processes that were essential to the growth of the business in the beginning and I am still paying the price to some degree for not implementing a business system earlier.

I would recommend that you document your processes that you do to run your business. Then, take each process and see if you can create a business system that can do the task for you whether it is a software program that does it or you outsource the task to someone else. Either way, do what needs to be done to get the same tasks completed without you having to spend your time on it. This will allow you to spend your time on other important tasks. If possible, do this with all parts of your business as you grow. You will compound your time and efforts this way. Your business will get closer and closer to running without you. It will begin to take on a life of it’s own so you can have a life of your own.

- Hill Robertson

One way to get traffic to your blog or website is by having visitors “stumble” your blog entries by submitting them to stumbleupon.com. You will probably get quite a few visitors from StumbleUpon if someone submits one of your posts. While the traffic isn’t ideal, you will at least get visitors that have an interest in the topic of your blog. This should at least give you a little better chance of the visitor staying on your site instead of bouncing away.

If you don’t have an account already, you should set up account at StumbleUpon. It is simple to do and you can specify the types of sites you like. You install a toolbar on your browser so you can easily give a review of any site you find interesting and want others to know about. You’ll want to be careful about stumbling your own site. It is frowned upon in the StumbleUpon community. Self promotion in this case is not necessarily a good thing. It might even get you banned if it is abused in this way. However, you can encourage others to stumble your posts.

I just added a StumbleUpon link at the bottom of my blog postings to encourage visitors to click on it and write a short review. You can do the same for your blog or website to hopefully increase your traffic.

You will also have a Stumble button on the toolbar. If you click on it, you will be taken to a randomly selected site that has already been submitted to StumbleUpon that meets the criteria of your selected topics as listed in your profile. You may find some really interesting web sites that you never would have found otherwise. Then, you can give them a thumbs up or thumbs down depending if you liked the site or not.

Stumbling around the internet can be very interesting. However, be careful when doing it because it can be a major form of distraction. Before you know it, you will have stumbled away to some really cool and entertaining site and wasted hours of time instead of focusing on building your internet business.

- Hill Robertson

As I have stated several times on this blog, I am primarily a Linux and OS X geek. However, running several web design and hosting companies, I need to have a wide variety of OS platforms available so I can see how the websites look in many different browsers and in many different environments.

Obviously, one of the most prevalent operating systems is Microsoft Windows. Unfortunately, about the only reason I ever need to run Windows is to be able to test websites in Internet Explorer. In addition to testing Internet Explorer using XP, I must also test it using Vista (and any other derivatives such as 64-bit versions and such). I have to test Firefox as well as some lesser known browsers. I also test various browsers under Apple OS X and well as different flavors of Linux.

Having to test in all of these environments is enough of a pain as it is but if I had to have a room full of PCs with all of these combinations, it would be ridiculous. So, how to be best handle this issue? Virtualization

There are two competing products (VMware and Parallels) that give us the ability to run a computer inside of a computer (to put it in simple terms). These “inside” computers are called virtual machines. The virtualization software basically creates a software version of a PCs hardware. Then when an OS is installed or loaded in one of these virtual machines, it “thinks” it is running on real hardware even though it is software telling the OS that it is hardware. Are you confused yet?

Virtual machines have actually been around for several years but it was sometimes difficult to get the software running properly and the hardware requirements of the host machine were beyond most consumer PCs. However, today with memory being inexpensive, processors getting faster, and processors being able to handle virtualization in the hardware itself, it is becoming a lot more feasible and in many cases essential to use Virtual Machine technology.

Using this technology, I can be running Apple OS X as my primary (host) OS with a virtual machine running Windows XP, another virtual machine running Windows Vista, another virtual machine running Ubuntu Linux, and another running Red Hat, and so forth and so on. Also, I can save a “snapshot” of each virtual machine at a given time that I can always revert back to. These snapshots are ideal for things such as keeping a version of Windows with Internet Explorer version 6 before upgrading to Internet Explorer 7. This way, I can load up either image to test either version.

Virtual machines usually boot up faster than if they are on “real” hardware and if they crash for some reason, it is just the virtual machine that crashes. The host operating system keeps running.

One of the biggest benefits to me is if I am using my Mac, I can run all three major operating systems at the same time. They all act just like real machines all networked together.

I could go on and on about all of the benefits but it would turn into an entire book (hmmmm - maybe an ebook….) If virtual machines sound like something you may be interested in, check out Parallels or VMware.

When using virtual machines to run all the major operating systems all on the same hardware, you can have your cake and eat it too.

- Hill Robertson

To run a successful internet business, you need to value your time and understand what it is worth to you. If you really take time to think about it, you are probably spending a lot of time on “business activities” that you can better outsource or otherwise take the load off your own plate. It can be easy to get in this trap because you feel like you are working on your business and taking the next step. You may very well be doing that. However, can you spend that time on something more productive that you can’t outsource? Let’s look at this in more detail.

When I started my internet businesses, there were many services I could have outsourced easily. There was also software I should have bought to be able to do certain tasks of my business. Instead, I looked at the cost involved in outsourcing the services and purchasing software. So, in order to “save” money, I would write my own software that would accomplish the same goal as the services and software. But did I really save?

I would find a software product that would help me do a certain business task that I needed to do. It would cost $200. I knew I could write my own software to do the same thing. I would code it up myself so I wouldn’t have to spend the $200. However, it would take me 40 hours to complete the software. Let’s see, that is $200/40 hours. That works out to $5/hour. That is less than minimum wage! I haven’t worked for minimum wage since I was 16 years old. I certainly wouldn’t want to work for that today. Yet, that is exactly what I was doing. In addition, I lost that 40 hours that I could have spent with my family. That 40 hours is gone forever. All for a measly $200.

Of course, if you are starting out and don’t have any money, you may have to go this route to some degree. But really think about the value of your time compared to what it would cost to accomplish the same task through outsourcing in some way or another. There is a cost to everything whether it costs money, time, or both. You can always make more money but the time is gone forever. Think about how you are spending both and then spend your money and time wisely.

- Hill Robertson

Have you subscribed to this blog yet? If you haven’t yet subscribed to this blog, now is the time to do it. The best way is to fill out your name and email address in the subscribe area at the top right of this blog to get email notifications. You get several benefits by signing up for email notifications as follows:

• The popup box will not annoy you any more (see No Aweber Popup for Subscribers Procedure for more info)
• You will get passwords for special private blog posts
• You may get product offers earlier or at more of a discount than those who are not subscribed
• You may get other bonuses that I decide to give at any random time

If you don’t subscribe, you may just miss an awesome deal. Go ahead and subscribe to get updated with great success related information and products. There is no obligation and remember, I will never give or sell your information to anyone, guaranteed!

Subscribe and Enjoy!

- Hill Robertson

The No Aweber Popup for Subscribers Procedure is really taking off. Thanks to everyone who has given me such great comments and posts on their blogs. I left it at $10 for a while since I wanted to give everyone a shot at the low price after I had to remove it temporarily during the first launch. I didn’t feel right after a few comments were made about the sales page not being clear enough about using cookies. So I took it down until I got the sales page more accurate. Now that everything seems to be going good and there is no more confusion, I’m starting the special again and relaunching it.

The special will keep the price at the ridiculously low $10 for another 24 hours. Then, at 11:59 PM EST on Thursday (1/17/08), the price will go up to $35 as the normal price (which is still a great value). Be sure to get it before the special expires.

I also would like some testimonials from those of you who have the procedure. If I use your testimonial on the sales page, I will give you a refund on your purchase so yours will be free.

Here is the link again:

http://hillrobertson.com/aweberNoPopup

Now stop those popups!

- Hill Robertson

I am a Mac and Linux geek. I primarily use Macs or Linux servers to connect to my linux web servers that I have scattered all over the internet. I love using the almighty command line (we’re not talking old DOS here, we are talking real linux command line). It is very powerful if you know how. It is actually faster in many cases than using a GUI (graphical user interface). For instance, when I modify the underlying code of this blog or I update MySQL tables, I open up a terminal session on my Mac and ssh (secure shell) into my linux servers.

Am I confusing you yet with all of this geek talk? Well, this blog is suppose to be a bit geeky. I like to give some geeky blog posts occasionally. So keep reading and enjoy it. You just might learn something….

When I connect to my linux servers, I edit the PHP files directly on the server using a text based editor called vi (actually it is vim which is the improved version). This allows me to quickly update files without having to update a local copy and the FTP it to my server.

A little about FTP…..
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is probably the most commonly used way to send files from one computer to another. It is usually the method to upload files from your PC to your web server. One thing to keep in mind about FTP is the fact that it is clear text. This means that the data is NOT encrypted when you send it from your PC to your web server. So, if someone was sniffing (or monitoring) the network traffic somewhere between you and your web server, they can see your FTP login and password. If this concerns you, you may want to use SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) which encrypts the data as it is sent so it can’t be easily seen by someone sniffing the network.

In the same manner as SFTP, SSH also encrypts the data as it is sent. I use SSH all the time from my Mac and Linux boxes. If you are a PC person and you want to use SSH, there is a free client call Putty available. If you want to use SFTP or SSH to connect to your web server, your server will have to support it. Many web hosting accounts only support FTP.

Get a little geeky if you haven’t already. You just might like it. One of the goals of this blog is to help geeks and want-to-be geeks learn how to run a successful internet business. I had to learn the hard way before there were good resources like this blog to learn from. As I geek, I wasn’t too comfortable with the marketing side of things and especially the “dealing with people” aspect of it. Now, I understand internet business a lot better and understand how important it is to have a great relationship with your customers.

If you want to keep learning more about how to build a successful internet business, subscribe to this blog by sending your name and email in the subscribe form at the top right of this page.

Geeks can make money online too…..

- Hill Robertson

The No Aweber Popup for Subscribers Procedure is once again available. I made some changes to the sales page for more clarification about the product. The main change was pointing out that it is a cookie based solution and that anything the subscriber does that can effect cookies may cause this solution to not work in their case.

I am feeling really generous about the offer so I am going to leave it at $10. I have been told by previous purchasers that the information was worth well more.

Here is the link:

http://hillrobertson.com/aweberNoPopup

Reward your new subscribers by not pestering them with popups once they have signed up…..

- Hill Robertson

So, you are spending a lot of your time writing blog posts, submitting articles, posting in forums, optimizing your site, and everything else under the sun as you attempt to get more people visiting your blog. You feverishly watch your analytics and other stats. You watch your web server access log as visitors hit your site. You pray that the next visitor will sign subscribe to your blog. You keep tweaking your opt in form. You make it pop up from every possible direction and you throw in every type of buzz word you can as you watch and wait for the next subscriber.

Dreams of 100,000 subscribers spin in your head. Maybe 10,000 is enough for you. You think to yourself that if you could sell something for $100 and just 2% buy it, you would make a cool $20,000 and could pay off your credit cards or buy a car. Or, you just want 1,000 subscribers or would be happy with 100. Whatever your subscriber goals are, you just want subscribers, right? Not so fast…….

While you do want subscribers, you want quality subscribers that are specifically interested in your products. It wouldn’t do any good to have 1000 subscribers that just signed up to get your free report on the top 5 ways to chew bubble gum if your products are all about shoes. You would make more sales to a subscriber list of 30 that were interested in shoes than 1000 that were interested in bubble gum.

The next time you start to get upset or depressed when someone cancels their subscription, you should be thankful. It is simply their way of telling you that they really aren’t interested in your information. It actually improves the quality of your remaining list. The longer the rest of your subscribers stay subscribed, the more likely they are to purchase your products somewhere down the road.

When the next subscriber cancels their subscription to your blog, it is not a bad thing. Your list just got better. Be thankful when they leave.

- Hill Robertson

Most people don’t even think about it but it is really pretty easy to have more than one monitor connected to your computer. There are a lot of advantages to having multiple monitors. You can be much more productive in many ways and save a lot of time.

Just using one monitor can give you limitations. The smaller the area you have to work with, the more you will be switching from window to window and seeing less at a time. If you just add another monitor (or two, or three, or four, or five, or…….), the window swapping goes away.

This picture is of one of my setups. It is a Linux system running six 19 inch monitors all running at 1600×1200 resolution. This is the equivalent real estate of a monitor that can do (3×1600)x(2×1200) or 4800×2400. Have you ever seen a monitor with that kind of resolution? It is VERY nice. For Linux, the graphical server process (Xfree86) has an option for multiple monitors called xinerama.

Microsoft Windows has multiple monitor capability built in as well. It is really simple to set up. You just plug in the monitors and Windows detects them and gives you a little grid of the locations of the monitors and you can just move them around on the grid to specify where each of the monitors are physically located. Apple OS X also supports multiple monitors.

In addition to having the monitors, you must have video cards that have multiple output ports on each card or you can have multiple video cards (or a combination of both). If you have more than one video card, you are usually better off if they are the same make and model. Or, at least the same hardware chip set.

The capability of multiple monitors has been available for years but was a bit expensive to have a nice setup in the beginning. When multiple monitor setups started taking off, flat screens were brand new and REALLY expensive. Even large CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors were still too pricey for the average consumer to afford several. Video cards that had more than one video port were also expensive. Now, with the rapid price drop of nice flat screen monitors and many video cards coming standard with dual ports, it is a lot more affordable to have a multi-monitor setup.

With all of those monitors you can edit your blog images, read your email, visit your favorite blogs, monitor your blog web server access log, edit your latest sales page, code up some PHP, access your database, and just about whatever else you want to do all at the same time without having to hide or minimize any windows. Now that is productivity!

- Hill Robertson