This is fine if all your products have weights in proportion to the selling price, but what if you have very light expensive products, or heavy cheap products? The Paypal postage scale becomes unworkable, and I haven’t even mentioned the problem of UK, European and Worldwide postage differences!

Enough about problems! Here is the solution. Set up a separate Paypal account for the products that don’t fit into your normal postage scale.  

My problem products were American superhero comics. They are very light but old ones can also be very expensive.  Setting individual postage prices doesn’t work, because collectors often buy
multiple comics and they would end up with a ridiculous postage cost. 

I needed a Paypal shopping cart system for the comics, with a separate postage scale that took into account how light the comics are. This is now done and you can  see the resulting effect here;

To set up a separate Paypal account, you need to submit different bank details for verification. I was lucky, I already had a business account for my main Paypal products, and I used my personal account to sell the comics. My comics are my personal collection anyway, so they need to be separate for tax purposes as well.

If you have been stuck with this postage price conundrum I hope this helps.

John McNally

But somehow, they do.  In fact, some artists have become extremely affluent just from the sale of their artwork and art  merchandise.  Do you think they were just lucky?  You know… in the right place at the right time?

I’m not saying that sheer luck doesn’t have a part to play in this and for a select few that’s all it took to succeed and  become leaders in the art market niche.  But what about the rest of the artists out there pouring their hearts and souls  into their creations, shouldn’t they have a shot at the golden ring?

Well if you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth and a pocket full of “Lucky Charms” then you’re just going to  have to come up to speed on leading-edge internet marketing skills. 

That’s where “Art Marketing Success” comes into play.

Professional artist and internet marketer Joelle Rene’ Hughes has developed a brand new product that will demystify the  process of becoming a financially successful artist.  She can teach you how to get started selling your art online with  little or no initial investment, or transform your existing art business into an income generating sales machine.

Is this a get-rich-quick scheme?  Nope.  You are going to have to work hard and implement these marketing strategies. 

Will you achieve overnight success?  Not likely, but if you follow her guidelines  then you will possess the skills  you need to become one of the Art Sales SUPERSTARS!  “Art Marketing Success” comes with a no-questions-asked money back guarantee.  So what have you got to lose? 

Aren’t you tired of being a “Starving Artist”?  It doesn’t have to be that way.  You just need to learn the skills that  will put you in a league with the big players.

Are you ready to get serious about your art business and catapult your sales into the stratosphere?

If so – then you might want to check this out:
To your success!

John McNally

The only reason I still have this paperback is because I find it impossible to throw books away. But unknown to me this bit of pulp fiction I bought in a junk shop in the 1970s is out of print, and I suppose because of Dan Brown and the popularity of “The Da Vince Code”, conspiracy theories are back in fashion.

This made me wonder what other hidden gems I might have lurking on my bookshelves. Here’s a random selection of books I thought might also be valuable with the Amazon sale price:

£15-  ’Behind the Flying Saucer Mystery’ by George Adamaski (1967)
£20- ‘Fischer-Spassky Move by Move’ by Larry Evans (1973)
£35 – ‘ The Silver Surfer’ by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (1978)
£44 -  ‘The Jesus Scroll’ by Donavon Joyce (1972 – out of print)
£78 – ‘Secrets Behind the Comics’ by Stan Lee (1994 – Limited edition)

Take a look around your attic, or on your bookshelves, you never know what hidden gems may be lurking there.  One person’s bit of junk is another persons antique or collectible item.

I haven’t sold anything on eBay yet, but I’ve suddenly realised I have a house full of stock.

John McNally

I was slightly disappointed when I discovered this, but then smiled to myself – what a great motivational gesture by Ezine Articles, and it didn’t cost them a penny.

My article was “Why do you want to Run Marathons?” - the best thing about it was, the only new part was the title.

All I did was combine two old blog posts ‘London Marathon 26th April 2009′  and ‘You can compete with World Champions’.  I always intended to use old blog posts for my articles, but it’s nice when a plan comes together.

I will be using my ‘running’ posts to submit articles, but I don’t expect them all to fit together so easily.  Hopefully I will just have to write one new paragraph, to knit together two different posts and make it flow. 

This article writing plan seems to be working, and I’m now confident that I shall be starting my eBook sooner than I expected. All I’m going to do is submit loads of marathon running articles, then when I’ve got enough, I will use them as the basis of my eBook. Simple.

It’s really great when plans work out.

John McNally

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real Mockingbird of this pulitzer prize winning novel, Tom Robinson a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl.

As I read this book I remembered the film with Gregory Peck
who portrays one of the great heroes of literature, a lawyer whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy.

This book is a very well written ‘page turner’ which captures the atmosphere of the deep South in 1930’s America. A time which is drifting into the shadows of the past now that we have Barack Obama as President. Although the story is very moving and poignant there was one part that made me laugh out loud.

Tom Robinson was being quizzed at the trial as to why he ran away;
“Like I says before, it weren’t safe for any n****r to be in a – fix like that.”
“But you weren’t in a fix – you testified that you were resisting Miss Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you?”
“No suh, I’s scared I’d be in court, just like I am now.”
“Scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?”
“No suh, scared I’d hafta face up to what I didn’t do.”

This short film extract demonstrates how it was impossible for Tom Robinson to have committed the crime, yet he was still found guilty by an all white jury.

One thing jarred in the book with me, and the only other instance I can think of is with Bart Simpson and Homer. Throughout the book the children call their father by his first name Atticus. Does anyone know how or why this happens in some families?

John McNally

Although my ’sticky’ post lists the top 10 traffic blogs of Sally Neill who got over 4,000 visits in a month, I never thought about how Sally knew which blogs they were.  But Igor pointed out that everything is in Google Analytics, and it’s important to focus on the blogs that give you traffic in  return for the time you spend commentating.

Good idea I thought, let’s have a look at Google Analytics a bit more deeply than the cursory glance I usually give it. You too can find the traffic sources for your own website or blog, have a look at the screen shot if you’re not sure how.

OK , so for anyone looking to increase visitor numbers to their blog, here are my top 10 traffic sources:

1)  www.barry-wells.com
2) www.creatingmybusinessonline.com 
3)  www.billmurney.com
4)  www.barrywilliams.com
5) www.alexwhalley.com
6) www.mike-j-shepherd.com
7) www.steveking.biz
8 ) www.mandyallen.com
9) www.mikewalshblog.com
10) www.randolfsmith.com

Enjoy your blog-hopping, and really enjoy looking up your increased traffic on Google Analytics.

John McNallyPS. I just checked Google Analytics,  and I now have 1,945 visitors in a month;     2,000  + here I come.

In numerology twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve hours of the clock, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.

The earliest known written reference to Friday 13th being bad luck occurs in 1869, however many superstitions are passed on by word of mouth, and there are theories that trace the origin back 1,000 years.  

One theory combines Paganism, Christianity, and the Battle of Hastings.

In medieval times the number 13 was considered a lucky number (such as 13 lunar cycles each year).  But Christians attempted to degrade all things Pagan, and they promoted 13 as an unlucky number (13 at the last supper). With Friday being the day of Jesus’s crucifixion, this was also considered a bad day of the week.

On Friday the 13th of October 1066, the decision was made by King Harold II to go to battle on Saturday, rather than allow his troops a day of rest (despite his army having made a long and arduous march from a battle near York just 3 weeks earlier).

This decision in going to battle before the English troops were rested (the English lost and King Harold was killed) further established Friday the 13th as an unlucky day.

Friday the 13th may be unlucky for some, but it’s made a fortune for the owners of the ‘Friday the 13th’ film franchise.

John McNally

Louise Woof is obviously a prime candidate for my ’Unethical Sales’ category. She started off with her outright lies, showing forged examples of her days trading. Now she is more careful and only shows possible earnings.

Quoting from Trade2win.com “……don’t touch with a bargepole or waste a penny of your hard-earned cash. She developed a ’system’ (The Earlybird System) that broke all her clients’ compounding banks late last year. Then suddenly, these losses ‘disappeared’ from her results table early in 2008. She has now unscrupulously ‘tweaked’ her results table so that her results no longer show actual results but ‘results that are attainable’………”

I accept that a “fool and his money are soon parted”, and Louise Woof does offer 30 day money-back guarantees. However it would take longer than 30 days to learn her “system” and evaluate it. Her first ‘Foolproof Forex and Foolproof Earlybird’ systems were sold for £297, which is not a throw-away figure like most ‘get rich quick’ schemes.

The reason Louise Woof  is featured here however, as a warning to all my blog readers, is that she deals in trading systems that don’t work. If you believe her hype, you could potentially lose thousands of pounds on the financial markets………Don’t touch, even with a bargepole.

John McNally

PS. Customer losses have now become too hot to handle, and the first two ’systems’ have been withdrawn. However Louise Woof is now selling “Foolproof Evening Trading Package” for £197 – DON’T BOTHER!

The book itself makes many ridiculous claims about Christianity, ala Dan Brown and his ilk, and is just a psuedo-science work of fiction. However I did come across a problem with Christianity that I was unaware of.

The problem is this; Jesus never claimed he was the Son of God.

When at his trial he was asked “Are you the Son of God”? Jesus’s reply was “I am the son of man.”…….. WHY?…..Why did he answer this way?

Not happy with this answer, Jesus was asked the same question in another form. “Is God your Father”? 

Again, Jesus did not reply directly, instead he said something like (depending upon translations) “My Father lies in Heaven”. If you believe in life after death, as Jesus did, then this is an answer any man could give.

Why was Jesus so reticent to directly claim his divinity? Christianity is based on Jesus the Christ, but why is the foundation stone of the faith so obtuse when questioned?

The Jewish people are still waiting for their Messiah, and the Islamic faith recognise Jesus as a great prophet, but not the son of God.

I know Christians can claim miracles, virgin birth and resurrection as proof of divinity, but I would be more comfortable if I knew that Jesus claimed it for himself.

This is not a frivolous question, I have asked many of my religious friends and they don’t know the answer. I attended the ’Alpha Course’, which is organised by churches in the UK, and even they couldn’t give me an answer. 

Can anyone quote anything from Jesus that would clarify this issue for me?  Thanks in anticipation.

John McNally

What you need to Implement the 5 Day plan:

1) Web Design Software (XSite Pro)
2) Hosting Company with unlimited domain space (1&1)
3) Keyword Analysis Software (Market Samurai)
4) Affiliate accounts with Clickbank and Amazon
5) A Profitable Niche

This plan won’t work by ‘outsourcing’. If you have to pay people to create your website, the cost/profit ratio will not be in your favour.  I persevered with Dreamweaver web design for 18 months, but found it to be too complicated and clumsy.

Purchasing Xsite Pro for around £150 was the best thing I have done since starting Internet Marketing. It’s a really easy WYSIWYG programme that you can learn to use in just a few hours. I can now create a website in a day.

Every time I uploaded a new website, I waited for my hosting company to send a bill for the extra charge, but nothing ever came. It said “unlimited domains” on their website, but I didn’t really believe it. Now I do.

Creating websites is now easy, but it’s only worth doing if they have the potential to make money. You need to do keyword research for this, and there are free tools to use.

However a comprehensive analysis of both keywords AND profitability can be completed with Market Samurai. For a profitability checklist have a look at the excellent post by Bill Murney.

Once you have found a profitable Keyword, get a domain name that has the keyword in it, create a website optimised to the keyword and load your website with affiliate products from Clickbank and Amazon. Sit back and wait for income.

What’s the Catch? This all sounds too easy, and I assume the hard bit is getting enough traffic to make money. However as the cost is minimal, I will try this plan with 10 different websites and let you know how I get on.

John McNally