Last time, I had the pleasure of reviewing Flashloaded on Tubetorial. In that review, I took a look at the big picture. I talked about an overview of Flashloaded, particularly with it's ready-made scripts for publishers whose sites run on Flash.

This time around, I am focusing on one of Flashloaded's ready-made Flash components, the fCMS, a Flash-based content management system. In the previous review, I simply used the freely available demonstrations, and as well as the trial versions. This time, I'm fortunate to have my hands on an actual copy of fCMS.

As an overview, fCMS is:

The fCMS is a Flash CMS component (Flash Content Management System) that allows you to update text, images and SWFs directly on a live Flash website without ever leaving your browser window. The website developer or their client has no need for a separate administration panel for managing the content of the website and all of the changes can be applied at runtime.

In short, fCMS lets publishers update content directly through a Web browser using a Flash-based interface. fCMS also lets publishers edit or update Flash content without the need for any added software aside from their Web browsers. This makes it easy for end-users, particularly those who may not necessarily have access to client-side Flash-authoring software, to edit content.

To expound, here are some of the highlighted features of fCMS.

• Direct updating of content on a live Flash website
• No client training required. As easy to use as a word processor
• Editable textfields with built-in text editor (allows for multi-page textfields)
• Updatable images and SWFs - includes auto size, auto fit, positioning and captions
• Customizable font list, font size list and color palette
• Hidden login - type blindly a predefined word to access the CMS
• Allows for multiple users with different file upload permissions
• All data stored in an XML file - suitable for small so medium website content (no database required)
• No end user coding or HTML knowledge required
• Easy to use and customize
• Secure - username and password are securely stored on the server side only
• Light weight - adds only up to 20kb to your Flash movies

You can play around with a working demo of fCMS at the Flashloaded fCMS component sample page. From there, you are able to edit the text on the sample website just by clicking on it--and a Flash-based text-editor will be launched on your browser. You can even change the website images by uploading a new image, and editing it within your browser.

Installing Flashloaded fCMS should be a breeze if you are familiar with uploading scripts to your webhost, and editing XML files. You simply upload the back-end files to your server (Linux/Unix or Windows are supported) with edited config files. What's great with fCMS is that you don't need to set up database tables, nor do you need to set it up with a database at all. It uses XML to store settings on the server, such as user accounts and other data.

Then to use Flashloaded fCMS on your Flash content, you set-up the front-end by incorporating the fCMS extension file into your Macromedia Extension Manager. From there you can already apply Flashloaded fCMS on your Flash-based movies or websites, as explained on the fCMS userguide.

This is assuming you meet the minimum requirements of Flashloaded fCMS, which means you should have either Macromedia Flash MX 2004, Flash 8 (standard or professional) or Adobe Flash CS3 for authoring (Windows or Mac). Content using fCMS may be published for either Flash Player 7, 8 or 9, or ActionScript 2.0.

Flashloaded fCMS is reasonably priced at $149.95 per website. This is reasonable enough, considering that the software is readily available and easy to install and customize. No need to pay big bucks for a developer to write code from scratch.

Being in the business of blogging for a few years now, one might already tend to think having all the skills and knowledge required to run an online business successfully. However, truth is, of course, that there's always something better and there's always information that is useful out there. And you can learn a lot from other professionals or experts in the industry who are also slugging it out in the real world of Internet marketing, making a good living or making a killing off of the Net.

In a way that's what we do here on Performancing. In our aim to help fellow bloggers achieve their goals in blogging, we share our stories and insights. So we help bloggers succeed by sharing our collective intelligence.

But we're always on the lookout for other good resources out there, both free and otherwise. One such resource is Internet Marketing Ninjas, which is a collection of videos from various experts in the field of online marketing. These include search engine optimization, social media marketing, link building, authority building, networking, website monetization, affiliate programs, and the like.

The site also includes various topics that will help publishers develop good content, and the various means to distribute these, as well as other issues like legal and copyright matters.

The video contributions are either direct presentations or interviews from the various internet marketing pros, some of which are familiar to us here in the Performancing community and the blogging community in general, such as Aaron Wall, ShoeMoney and Neil Patel.

These are all viewable directly on the Internet Marketing Ninjas site (assuming your browser has a working Flash plugin, which is to say perhaps 90+% of users). And because it's Flash, viewers need not worry about downloading the video file and finding the right codec or application to view, aside from the Flash plugin.

A drawback, though, is that Internet Marketing Ninjas is not a free resource. One has to pay a $2,995 annual subscription/membership fee to gain access to the full video content, and also the website content. So it's not a one-time purchase, but a subscription. This means throughout the year you will have access to videos, and that Internet Marketing Ninjas can still add new videos and resources. To me it's like joining into a club or a professional guild, where members can discuss the industry, exchange ideas about their respective trades, and help each other out.

Still, people interested in joining up can watch sample videos of each contributor, which shows a short introduction of how their respective presentations and interviews are. Also, the $2,995 annual fee is perhaps a small price to pay if you are able to enhance your earnings from the lessons learned from the videos and site content. That equates to just about $250 per month. Or, the $2,995 is perhaps just a fraction of what one usually earns from his/her Internet marketing activities, which is not a far cry from what good blogs and networks of blogs earn these days.

Also, one big bonus is the inclusion of the Private Ninja SEO Toolbox for free! I think even this toolbox alone is worth the subscription fee, considering the high a price of SEO consultations and software these days. The toolbox includes applications like analytics tools, page optimization tools, backlink checkers, outgoing/inbound links checkers, keyword density reports, and the like. One great tool I find interesting is the Page Interlinker, which will automatically inter-link all your site pages by keyword, just like how info pages are hyperlinked on WikiPedia.

Would I recommend joining Internet Marketing Ninjas? If you're starting out and you need a one-stop resource for running your online business, and if you have the funds, then go for it. If you're already an established Internet marketeer, then this could be a good refresher resource (and the price is probably just a drop in the ocean for you). Again, as previously mentioned, even the SEO toolbox alone is worth the annual subscription fee.

It's probably not for everyone, but if you're serious with improving your online earnings, then such good resources of information and tips would be a big boost to your business. Check out the samples and the topics first, and see if the wide array of topics discussed is of interest to you.

This is a sponsored review, written upon the request of Internet Marketing Ninjas.

I've been into professional blogging for the past two and a half years, and I've been through most "stages" of problogging, including being a corporate blogger, a network blogger and an independent problogger trying to earn my own income online through advertising and affiliate programmes. I know I haven't exactly been earning riches from my blogging, but I do get a decent living--at least to my standards. However, I've been regularly reading blogs by the "Gurus" in problogging (you probably know who they are), and of course the very useful tips here on Performancing, and I thought I could probably earn more if I'm able to better optimize my blogging. Maybe if I followed certain formulas in my blogging work and business I can earn better.

Checking out bloggingtothebank.com, the site at first came to me as one of those standard get-rich quick schemes carried out via affiliate marketing. The home page starts with a promise that one can earn up to $34,244 per month from just a few hours' work. Well, it's not really a promise, but an example that author Rob Benwell makes of himself. He says that even "one dumb little blog can earn over $3,947 per month."

So I thought maybe it's worth checking out. There's no harm in trying to learn more about my trade, and probably even earning more than I already am. Actually that's the most difficult part of working any job or running any business--trying to unlearn and re-learn stuff with the hope of being better at what you do.

I did go on to reading more, and eventually downloading a copy of the Blogging to the Bank 2.0 ebook. I've actually read about "BTTB" before, and this one is a revised version, supposedly updated with more lessons and tips from Rob. I did realize that the point behind the ebook is that the author is sharing a success story, and would like to share his "formula" for that success in making money from blogging, so that other bloggers might follow suit.

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