Now That’s Why I Use Namecheap

A quick message today, just to update you on my last post.

Well from that last post, you can see how I couldn’t manage to register a domain name because it was apparently ’banned!’ So I headed over to NameCheap and decided to see if the ‘Domains’ department was on live support first, and to my amazement…they were!

I filled in their required details, and got given a nice person called Kate to handle my inquiry. I guess this is standard procedure but they still asked if I had enough money in my account to cover the domain, and also if I was renewing it or not. But hey, that only took me 2 minutes to answer!

As I had uploaded the screenshot for the first post, I thought I’d sent Kate the link so she could see what error I was receiving. (I wasn’t sure if it might help them out a little?!)

Within 5 minutes of checking the screenshot, I was told that they could register it manually for me. I thought GREAT, but I still wanted to find out why it was coming up when the actual domain isn’t banned itself. The response I got was, “It may contain a string of some banned characters!”

Fair enough, these domain registrar companies don’t want to be held accountable for maybe selling something that they shouldn’t have, so systems are put in place to stop proceedings.

They were even cheeky enough to make ME pay for it! And as I only had enough money to cover the domain with a coupon code discount, I sadly had to confirm the coupon code too! Grrr, what next would I have to do? Ask for my free WhoIs Guard that I’m entitled too?!?

(Oh, wait a minute…I did ask for that!)

Anyway putting all that aside me, I am officially the owner of that domain name and will be setting myself up a squeeze page quite soon. Just got a few things to complete first.

Popularity: 39% [?]

And The Problem With This ‘Banned’ Domain Is?

While I know I don’t normally ‘work’ at the weekends, I felt that I wanted to get a few little things complete so that I could start my week on a high. Well what I’m about to say, may have just dampened my spirits!

Shall I begin?!…

I never thought I would see the day were I go to register a domain name and find that it has been BANNED! Well guess what happened over at NameCheap today? Today was that very day, and to put it in a polite way, I’m not best pleased!

Just take a look at the screenshot below that I took, as some proof and just in case anyone told me that it was not a banned domain.

From the image, you can see that all I was trying to do was register MarkMcWilliamsNewsletter.com and for some bizarre reason it tells me the domain is available, but when you reach the checkout, all I receive is that.

(A trip to NameCheap support is in order I think!…)

Ever since I got started online, I have used NameCheap for all my domains and this is the first problem I’ve ever had! While I should have contacted their support first, I just wanted to make this quick post for you! HEHE

This 5 minute job is probably going to turn into a couple of days, and means that I’ll have to drop the odd job and make this my priority. There is NOTHING stopping me from using http://www.mark-mcwilliams.com/newsletter/ for example, but I personally think the other looks a lot more professional, and cleaner.

I’ll definitely make sure to post the outcome of this, and if there does happen to be a valid reason WHY this domain has been banned, then you’ll find out for sure!

In a way, I am kinda shocked at the whole event! Any comments and/or suggestions you have will be much appreciated, just use the comments box below.

This could quite possibly turn into a very educational blog post! So keep your eyes peeled!…

Popularity: 35% [?]

The NEW Blog Is Getting Ever So Close!

Back in late January 08, you may remember that I mentioned how I was going to ‘beef’ up my blog in various ways. One of them being with a unique blog theme, and make myself stand out.

Well I’m glad to say that this is finally going to happen VERY soon. I’m hard at work, with a little help from Brian Gardner as well, customising one of the Revolution Themes. (Have I mentioned how much I love these themes?!) It should be finished in a matter of days, although I’d like to implement a few other things too! (You know what I’m like!)

So this is really just a quick post today to keep you informed on what’s happening! And if you have any suggestions on what YOU would like to see, then why not tell me in the comments below? (Is there a plugin that you feel I should have for the new design, or just naming the colour scheme?!)

I’ve yet to set a date on when I’ll launch the new design, but as always I’ll keep you informed! If I can get the main work complete, then I’ll try and grab you a screenshot of what the new design looks like!…

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Talk About Branding For D9 Hosting!

Over on one of my favourite forums (Standing Start Profits), Dan Thompson posted a picture of his football team and you’ll never guess what the tops looked like! I said, “Trust them to do this!”

(But before I tell you though, Dan is co-owner of D9 Hosing, so you can maybe see were this is going!)

These football tops are unique and one of a kind, the only way you’d be able to get your hands on one would be contacting Dan and asking him, were he might send you one out! And just the same as any other football team out there, they all have a sponsor, well Dan’s football team is no different! You’ll find that D9 Hosting are actually sponsoring the team, but it’s also another way getting your links ‘out there’ branding your company.

While it is a very small way, just imagine if they made it onto the TV!

Anyway, it’s pretty cool don’t you think?! (Well I think so!) Just imagine the possibility of what you could do!…

I suppose I should find out the REAL reason they did this (I’ll see what can be done!)

Popularity: 29% [?]

So What Internet Marketing Experts Visit Your Blog?

Mainly with the use of MyBlogLog, I can see just who visits my blog and when I see some of the names, it brings a smile to my face! I’m kinda keeping tabs on what Internet Marketing Experts are visiting my blog and hopefully reading my posts. I would also hope that it was up-to scratch for them and they ‘enjoyed’ however, what I’d like even more was if they posted a comment! (It’s just me, I like this kind of thing and it also motivates me from time to time!)

So anyway there is actually a serious side to all this, and I’ll try and explain it in the best way possible. Cause at times, I can be very bad at explaining some things and people grab the wrong end of the stick!

Let’s take Kevin Riley for example (You know who Kevin is don’t you?!) Well as Kevin is famous for all his recipes, it would be perfect for me if I had just created a step-by-step guide and was looking for some JV partners!

But WHY you say?

Well I know that Kevin has visited my blog a few times (I asked him, about something and he told me that he’d seen it the night before!) and I hope that he’s read a few, if not all the posts I’ve written. Kevin would have been able to ‘build a picture’ of the kind of things I’m talking about and decide on what he felt the content was like. I then feel that he could use this when checking out my product I’d sent him for a review. (Does that make sense? - If not, then give me a shout and I’ll try and expand on what I wrote!)

I could have also used Lee McIntyre as an example as I know that he’s posted 2 comments, and each time…I was over the moon as they say! I felt *special* and it motivated me into producing even more articles for my blog!

So before I go, I’m not leaving you in the dark either as I’ll run through some or most of the people that I’ve noticed who have visited my blog!

Lee McIntyre, Daniel Sumner, Kevin Riley, Sara Brown, Terry Dean, Paula Brett, Randy Smith, Tony Shepherd, and many others who I haven’t noticed!

If you have a blog (And why shouldn’t you?), why not go and install the MyBloglog widget today…and see what experts visit your blog tomorrow?!

Popularity: 22% [?]

20+ Draft Posts All Coming Your Way Very Soon

Just a short post today and yeah, you read that title right!

I literately have just over 20 draft posts sitting here half written, and I never got round to finishing off writing them, and publishing! So now you all know about this, I’m going to head over to them right now and start getting them finished and published on this blog over the coming weeks and months.

Plus I’ll let you into a secret right this minute! Your going to find out about the ‘ITUS‘ bug that’s going around and how you can stop yourself becoming infected by it! So watch this space as they say!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Have You Taken The Wordpress 2.5 Plunge Yet?

It’s been around 2 weeks now since Wordpress released their latest version (2.5) of the blogging software! Now as first, it can be quite daunting when you go to upgrade your older version…and some people keep holding off and off. But have you thought what could actually happen if you DON’T upgrade?!

Look at it this way, you’ll have some people with nothing better to do with their time (mainly hackers) who will take advantage of your old WP version and you could run the risk of losing your blog completely!

I bet that’s NOT what you want, is it?!

As soon as I found out that Wordpress 2.5 had been released, I upgraded straight away! Some people did have the odd problem with incompatible plugins (and the odd theme I think) as this was a completely new version, but I’m glad so announce nothing bad happened here and the upgrade was done in less than 5 minutes. (If your unsure what to do, you can follow their instructions that come included!)

Now as Lee McIntyre mentioned this morning (On his blog!), you could quite easily head over to RentACoder or whatever freelance site you use and get someone who knows what they are doing to do the upgrade for you in double quick time.

You could also ask one of your Internet Marketing ‘friends’ if they could possibly upgrade the version for you, and an experienced person should manage it no problem. (I’m sure most would say yes!)

I really like the *BRAND NEW* design of the admin panel in v2.5, and find it easier to move around. Things are easier to find out and you can change the colour scheme if you like as well, just by the click of you mouse!

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Clickbank Send Me My FIRST Ever Cheque For $269.32!

What now feels like ages away, on Wednesday 5th March (I finally got round to blogging about it!), I was delighted when I came home to find a Clickbank cheques waiting for me! I was like, YAHOO! It really is a GREAT feeling to open your mail and find a cheque for a certain amount, plus the fact that I was shocked when I logged into my account anyway…just to find I’d make some affiliate sales!

Well before I get any further, this post isn’t being published to brag about anything in particular! The reason I am though is because I want to show YOU that making money online CAN be done! Many others receive their Clickbank cheques through the door every couple of weeks, so why can’t you?

I was going to post a picture of the cheque, but it didn’t come out right with the camera, so why not a screenshot from my Clickbank account?!

Here you have it then, my very FIRST cheque for $269.32 (Account screenshot!)

Sidenote: Before I go any further, I must mention that I have now changed over to their Direct Deposit. All that means is they pay your cash straight into your bank account. (NO more waiting around the bank for 2 hours trying to cash 3 cheques! ) If you want to find out more, why not check out Paula Brett’s blog post on that very topic?

There is only one question that I’m going to ask you now, and that’s…

“Have You Started Marketing Clickbank Products And Earning A Commission?”

I personally hope that you answered YES to that question! This is just ONE way to make money online, and it doesn’t need to cost you ANYTHING to setup!

Yip, that’s right! There is NO cost to you if you’d like to start out in affiliate marketing. It’s quite easy to go and setup a Squidoo lens or even a Blogger blog. These are FREE sites that allow you to do this very thing. There have been times when I setup a Squidoo lens to promote a few products and from them I had a sales here and there.

One question that people have been asking me, is “What Am I Going To Spend My Clickbank Cash On?” Well that would be telling wouldn’t it?

I’ve had a long hard think about what my hard-earned cash is going towards, and while I may have decided myself…I welcome you to post a comment on what you think I SHOULD invest in.

Have fun, and I look forward to your suggestions!

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