Ninja Space Content Blog

Last year, while on my Instagram page, I received this prompt that turned my social media marketing upside down. It's the "Link Not Allowed" prompt. What this meant was that the link that's on my bio was no longer clickable from instagram because they have marked it as an inappropriate or fraudulent website. How did they determine this? I think I had some clues.

Before I received that problem, I think I was "loving" too many posts within a short period of time. Maybe this caused Instagram to think I was being a spammer. Who knew? So after Instagram had determined that my "Link (is) Not Allowed", I was also unable to include any text in my photo posts on there or "love" other posts. It was all so frustrating.

How did I recover the "Link Now Allowed" issue on instagram?

Well, it took a while but the first thing I did when I had this issue was I removed my bio link from my Instagram's bio. If you're a business, this could be so maddening because you've just lost another big marketing avenue for people to get to your website. Then after a couple of days, I went on my computer (not mobile device) and logged out of my instagram page. I turned off my wi-fi on my computer. Then I restarted my wi-fi modem and turned on my wi-fi on my computer again. After my internet was working properly, I logged into instagram (on my computer, still not mobile phone) and inserted my bio link again and it finally worked! I didn't get a "Link Not Allowed" prompt anymore and could start "loving" other posts and including text in my photo posts. Phew! So if you're having the same issue, try that. Good luck to you.

I ran my first Pinterest ad recently to see if it would help with converting sales. Unfortunately I didn't make a sale but I did get 28 clicks within a span of 4 days for $4. I had originally planned to have it run for 5 days but my credit card that I had on file had expired at the beginning of March (today) so it cut it short. I was actually happy that it cut it one day short because I wasn't too pleased with the results. See the pin that I had used to promote as an ad below.

It didn't let me narrow down to any geographic targets but they only charged me by the number of clicks and not impressions and then it would stop the ad for the day once I've spent my budget for the day. It came down to 7 clicks for $1 a day. The website I was promoting this picture for was SCBeachTrips.com. This website promotes traveling to South Carolina beaches.

This is pretty important to consider when you are starting a website or a blog. If you're an e-commerce website or collecting proprietary and personal information directly through your website like your visitor's driver's license number, credit card information, etc., then an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate is mandatory to protect your visitors and customers. However, if you're creating a very informative website and not asking for any information from your user for a credit card transaction from your website, then I don't think you need to spend the extra $70 - $150 a year for it.

For example, if you're creating a website for your coffee shop that you're opening in Darlington, South Carolina, where you're going to be the only Alita's Coffee Shop in the whole town and just want to have a website that lists your hours, address, pictures of your coffee shop and your menu items, and you're not selling anything like a t-shirt and not collecting a credit card number or important payment information from the website via an online form or something like that, then you don't really need it. 

It's been said to me by a Godaddy rep that Google's algorithm is factoring in whether a particular website has an SSL cert in their rankings. If your Alita's Coffee Shop is like one of 3 coffee shops in a particular area, I don't think you're going to be worried about rankings. Your website is going to show up on that first page when they google "Alita's Coffee Shop Darlington SC". Of course, you'll have to index it in the search engine first in order to ensure it's going to be properly indexed. But no, in this instance, I don't think you'll need an SSL certificate for Alita's Coffee Shop in Darlington, SC where you're listing information only. See how much this simple website costs to build without an SSL certificate.

I also want to note that important government websites, large corporations with websites and banking websites all have at least an SSL certificate (plus other security protection). If your website evolves into more than a simple and basic website, and you need to keep up with your competition in search rankings, then definitely consider getting one. 

How about for a website that's integrating affiliate ads and they will eventually have to purchase with a credit card from an Amazon affiliate link, for example? 

I can see where this gets confusing. If you have a blog or website that's only providing content and information and they are not inputting their credit card number and other credit card information, etc. directly on your website and all of that is on Amazon's secured website on an Amazon.com domain (not yours), then you still really don't need it. However, if you have the capital and generate enough money to spend on an SSL certificate, then totally go for it. However, when you're just starting out and haven't completed your content yet, then don't purchase it quite yet.

I also want to note that many affiliate programs do have strict rules when deciding to let you join their network. One of them could be that they would require you to have an SSL certificate in order for you to become their partner. If you feel that this particular affiliate program is that important to you and you'd need to have that SSL certificate to solidify that business relationship, then that is really up to you. I hope the sales from that particular affiliate company will make up for the cost of an SSL certificate every year.

What is the most cost-effective way to run an e-commerce website on a tight budget?

If you don't care about having a domain and just want to find a really cost-effective and convenient way to have an e-commerce site, you should totally look into Weebly. They offer you an e-commerce solution that is connected with SQUARE and this makes selling your merchandise online a lot easier. Meet Weebly’s New Suite of eCommerce Tools. It's a website, e-commerce and marketing solution, all in one. Their e-commerce links as default are secured with https.

Recommended Reads:
See all of my recommended domain and hosting companies to purchase your domain and find hosting solutions under the Domain and Hosting page.

Read about a free new SSL service that I've recently discovered after encountering an index problem!

I went to Kaiser Permanente yesterday because the travel department recommended that I get the Hepatitis A shot before I go to Costa Rica in a week in a half because Central America has a lot of people with this particular virus.

I happily went in the morning and discovered a long line already at 8:30AM on a Wednesday morning. Anyway, after 45 minutes later, my name got called and they gave me one shot. They said I can't take the second shot (last shot) until 6 months later but that this one shot should work for me in the short term.

After the pinch in my left arm, my arm felt instantly sore which is typical. That was the only side effect I felt until today. Today, I feel lethargic, sluggish and have a bit of a headache. I'm not sure if it was coincidental but I can't point a finger to anything else except for that.

Did you experience the same?

Everytime that I'd go to the local Korean tofu house and order my tofu soup, I feel like I'm eating like a king because it comes with all of this yummy kimchee and ban-chan.

I love Convoy Tofu House. I always feel like a king, or I mean a queen.