My New WordPress Book Available

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on my new book. I haven’t talked much about it until today, purely because it’s a project that’s not wholly related to online business.

The title of the book is “WordPress 3.7 Complete,” and it’s been released with Packt Publishing just a couple of days ago (available on Amazon and in all major bookstores).

In short, it teaches how to build a site on WordPress and get it online in minutes (without losing your shirt along the way). Suitable for both beginners to site building, as well as folks with some experience under their belts already.

wp

Now, the reason I’m mentioning the book today is because I do believe that you can still benefit from it a lot if you’re using or planning to use WordPress as the platform running your online business sites (something I’ve been advising for years).

More details about the book

The book goes step-by-step through things such as:

  • how to install WordPress in minutes,
  • how to create content that’s optimized for the web and then publish it,
  • picking the best plugins that your site really needs,
  • picking the ideal theme,
  • how to build your own plugins and themes,
  • how podcasting with WordPress works,
  • how to launch non-blog websites with WordPress.

I really did my best to make it as comprehensive as possible, with tons of illustrations and examples.

Available in all major bookstores, and on Amazon (both print and Kindle).

title-tag

Moving on to the good stuff…

The Holiday Giveaway

UPDATE: Sorry, this giveaway isn’t available any more. But I can still offer you one chapter – chapter 2 – on basically the same rules as described below.

I am not one of those people who would pitch you on a product just for the sake of it, so instead, I will give you a big part of the book free of charge. This way you can get familiar with the message of the book, get some value right upfront and then maybe decide to buy the complete version if you think it’s worth your dollar.

In short, here’s the deal:

I am willing to give away 1/3 of the whole book – 4 full chapters out of 12 – for free.

The only thing I’m asking in return is for you to kindly submit a customer review on the book’s Amazon page (link). The review can be as short or as long as you wish. Amazon doesn’t have any regulations about this as far as I know.

And I’m going to be right up front with you on this one. Amazon reviews help to spread the word out. They help a lot. The more reviews there are, the more Amazon will do to promote my book to people browsing through various related categories. But above all, I do appreciate your honest opinion about the parts of the book you’ll read. If you don’t think that it’s worth 5 stars, or 4 stars, that’s completely okay. As long as you’re honest when writing your short review.

The chapters that are part of the giveaway:

  • Chapter 2, Getting Started, explains how to install WordPress on a remote server, change the basic default settings of your blog, write posts, and comment on those posts. It also shows how to work with sites hosted on WordPress.com, which is one of the branches of the WordPress world.
  • Chapter 5, Plugins and Widgets, discusses everything there is to know about finding the best plugins for WordPress and then using them effectively. Plugins are an integral part of every WordPress site’s lifespan, so it’s more than hard to imagine a successful site that isn’t using any of them.
  • Chapter 6, Choosing and Installing Themes, describes how to manage the basic look of your WordPress website. You also learn where to find themes, why they are useful, and how to implement new themes on your WordPress website.
  • Chapter 12, Creating a Non-Blog Website Part Two – Community Websites and Custom Content Elements, explores the endless possibilities of WordPress when it comes to using it to launch various types of websites. The chapter presents the second batch of our non-blog websites and explains in detail how to build them on top of a standard WordPress installation.

How to Participate

Just go to the contact page on this site and shoot me a message saying something like “Hey, I want the book now!” … or you can be more descriptive if that’s your thing. I will send you the chapters via email.

Oh, and please tweet about this if you think some of your followers could benefit from this giveaway too. Many thanks.

My New WordPress Book Available | newInternetOrder.com

Oh, You Again … Here’s Where to Get Started

startPardon me with the title, it’s the first headline that came across my mind and I’ve decided to just go with it!

Let’s focus on the second part of it – “Here’s Where to Get Started”

I’m happy to announce a new page on newInternetOrder.com. It’s a “getting started page” – as in, how to get started with newInternetOrder.com and why would you even want to start in the first place.

In a (two) word, it’s a road sign pointing the way to the core content on this site.

But first…

Why did I even create it?

Since we’re talking online business for normal people here, let me share one observation.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m noticing more and more beginner advice online that would be in fact very difficult to apply for a starting entrepreneur who just happens to be a normal human being.

For instance, advice like “learn SEO if you want to get a good spot on Google,” “read the forums,” “spend days crafting your content,” “engage with the community by commenting on other sites” and so on.

Although these all sound okay-ish, considering the fact that most people start their online businesses as side projects, I can only say (quoting the classic), that:

“Ain’t nobody got time fo’ that!”

If that’s not enough, there’s also the “create quality content” advice that’s in a league of its own. I honestly don’t know what the expression “quality content” means. Really, no joke. It is by far the most overused and meaningless phrase in online business and blogging.

Actually, whenever someone says that you need to “create quality content,” what they are actually saying is “hey, I don’t have any real piece of advice for you, so let me just say that you should create quality content.”

Finally, there’s also a lot of messed up advice and products circulating around the web. Things like:

  • tips on how to create simple PDF products (which are crap 90% of the time and provide no value whatsoever),
  • advice on how to get rich with simple affiliate promotions,
  • tools that promise great rankings in Google when in fact all they do is spam,
  • or even educational products that promise to teach you how to build a profitable business overnight.

None of the above is for normal people!

The goal

So, the goal I’m trying to achieve here at newInternetOrder.com is to take all this online entrepreneurship down to the basics and provide some actual advice for normal people. Again, normal people; not spammers, not felons, not big brands with massive budgets, not people with 48 hours a day of free time.

That’s why I’ve been publishing all those resource/hub pages lately and that’s also why I’ve created this getting started page. Here it is finally:

Get Started Here

Even if you’ve been a reader here for a while now, I still encourage you to check it out. It’s not a long read anyway.

Since I’m at it, feel free to comment and point out some quality online business sites where you’re getting your online business education from. I’d be happy to pay them a visit too.


Oh, You Again … Here’s Where to Get Started | newInternetOrder.com

5 Diet Methods That Appeal to the Entrepreneurial Mind

Portrait of a styled professional model. Theme: teens, education, sport.Today I want to talk about something a bit different. If you know me then you’re aware that I’m a big fan of healthy living and being in shape in general. And by healthy living I don’t actually mean being a vegetarian or any of that BS. My rules are simple, (1) exercise, (2) drink yerba mate, (3) eat a lot of dead animals, and (4) enjoy your life.

But why am I even telling you this? The thing is that being an entrepreneur is not the healthiest profession out there. Most business people are usually stressed out and think that they don’t have time to be healthy (as silly as this might sound).

That’s why today I want to take a break from the usual business-advice-driven post and focus on something that’s probably even more important than our businesses themselves – our health. Yes, I really think that way. If I had to choose between my health and my business, I would go for my health with no hesitation.

The following is a guest post by Matthew.

Enter Matthew

Entrepreneurs are known for their challenging and innovative approaches not only when they launch a business venture but also when they want to solve an everyday problem. Once they perceive an opportunity, they position themselves in a way that brings them big results from small efforts – a condition called “leverage.”

Obesity in the US has reached 30%. That means, 1 out of 3 entrepreneurs is obese. When it comes to losing unnecessary weight, knowledge is the biggest leverage. One of the biggest problems most people have with weight loss plans is that they are difficult and confusing to follow. And for this reason, many people get frustrated and give up which only leads to further weight gain.

But entrepreneurs look for simple, easy everyday things anyone can do to lose weight. They will stay way from unpractical, unproven, difficult to follow diet programs that have little leverage. Instead, they have identified methods that have been scientifically proven to work; methods that give big results for small efforts. This gives them the motivation and incentive to achieve their weight loss goal.

Here are five of the easiest ways to lose weight that appeal to the entrepreneurial mind:

1. Put The Right Images in Front of You

Images are not only for blog posts. Entrepreneurs believe in the power of images. They use images to help their mind focus on what they want to achieve because images can direct our thoughts. And since our life moves towards the direction of our predominant thoughts, entrepreneurs use the right images to get to where they want to go.

Have you ever noticed how hungry you become after looking at a picture of food or watching a food commercial on television? Well, there is a good reason for this. The blood levels of hormone ghrelin, which affects appetite and the physical process of food metabolism, increase when you look at images of food.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry observed that when people were exposed to images of food, the amount of ghrelin increased in their blood. The hormone did not increase when people were exposed to images of non-edible objects. The bottom line-turn off the television and avoid magazines or periodicals that are heavy on the food articles and advertisements if you are trying to lose or maintain your weight.

Get the right images in front of you! Put a picture of a lean, muscular guy on your refrigerator and visualize you are this person, and your life will start moving there effortlessly.

2. Start Big

If you have read Dr. David J. Schwartz’s all-time best seller book “The magic of thinking big” you know that in order to attain great success you need to start with a big thinking. Expect success. Set unrealistic goals. Realistic goals are not that motivating. When I started my online venture I set my first goal at $5,000/month. That was way more than my 9-5 job was paying me at that time. I achieved my goal and moved beyond that.

How does this relate to your diet? Should you start your day “thinking big” about food? Yes, you can eat cake, cookies or a doughnut for breakfast and still lose weight. How is this possible? Researchers from Tel Aviv University discovered that starting your day with a big breakfast, that includes dessert, a healthy serving of protein, and carbohydrates, can help people lose weight.

The study divided 193 obese people into two diet groups. Both groups were given the same amount of calories each day. However, one group was given a low-carb 300-calorie breakfast while the other group ate a big 600-calorie breakfast high in protein and carbs, which always included a dessert (cookies, cake, or chocolate). Participants who ate the big breakfast with the dessert lost on average 40 lbs more than the low-calorie breakfast group over the course of the 8-month study.

By indulging in the morning when your metabolism is most active, you have the rest of the day to work off these extra calories, explains Prof. Jakubowicz. One of the biggest problems people face when trying to lose weight is that they crave carbs and big meals. If you start your day with a big breakfast you do not have to worry about that.

chocolate

3. The Chocolate Business

There is no business like the chocolate business” says report Jeanette Hurt of SecondAct.com describing the inspiring stories of 3 chocolate-entrepreneurs. And some of you may have heard of Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haut-Chocolat’s founder, known as the most avant-garde chocolate entrepreneur, who started her company when she realized the need to innovate in chocolate.

Well, when it comes to weight loss, do you know of any diet that would allow you to eat chocolate? Probably not. Sounds outrageous huh? (Think: “Announcing The Chocolate Pie Diet“). After all, chocolate is full of sugar and fat, and will make you fat, correct? Well, quite the opposite. Scientists from the University of California at San Diego asked 1017 people how often they consume chocolate. They discovered that those who ate chocolate at least twice a week had a lower BMI (Body Mass Index, a metric that shows how overweight you are) than the non-chocolate eaters.

Interestingly, it was the frequency rather than the amount of chocolate consumed that predicted a lower BMI. Other studies have linked chocolate to lower cardiovascular mortality. Researchers believe that the antioxidant effect of a polyphenol called epicatechin contained in chocolate helps you burn fat and increase muscle mass. This is good news for chocolate lovers all over the world.

4. Lean Thinking

When it comes to building businesses, entrepreneurs understand the concept of “lean thinking described in Womack’s and Tones’ book. It is the application of value-based strategies that aim to create more value for customers while minimizing waste.

It’s the implementation of Pareto’s Law of 80/20. Eliminate 80% of your activities, which produce only 20% of the desired results. Similarly, strengthen and multiply the 20% of your activities, which are responsible for 80% of the desired results. When it comes to losing weight, “lean” means eating more protein. You have undoubtedly heard many times how important eating protein is-especially after a workout.

But there is much scientific proof as to why eating more protein is a great way to lose weight. Several recent studies have shown that a high protein diet (one that provides up to 35% of calories from protein) leads to lower energy intake. While researchers do not have a definitive answer as to why this happens, there is evidence that replacing fat with protein has a satiating effect and therefore decreases the risk of weight gain.

5. Green Coffee – an Emerging Weight Loss Business

It’s fascinating to watch a business idea unfolding before your eyes. A few months ago (Spring 2012), Dr. Joe Vinson discovered that unroasted green coffee beans reduce body fat, an effect he attributed to a substance called chlorogenic acid.

When coffee is roasted, the acid breaks down so it has no weight loss effect. But consuming coffee beans in their natural state results in weight loss even if there is no change in one’s eating or exercise habits.

The study participants lost nearly 10% of their body weight and 16% of their body fat during the twenty-two week study period. The interesting part is that today two companies are selling green coffee capsules under their label already. And while more research on the exciting weight loss effect of green beans is still pending, the “green coffee” business idea is facing a promising future as it is perfectly positioned to offer the highly desired inexpensive, safe and easy weight loss that 30% of the population is craving for.

About the author: Matthew Denos blogs at WeightLossTriumph.com. An entrepreneur passionate for online ventures, Matthew started his affiliate marketing website promoting weight loss products in 2008. Creating a successful online business requires a set of values-the entrepreneurial values. These values and principles can also be used by an overweight person to lose weight permanently and live a healthier life.


5 Diet Methods That Appeal to the Entrepreneurial Mind | newInternetOrder.com

New Design at newInternetOrder.com!

nio-designIf you’re reading this through an RSS feed then hop over to newInternetOrder.com and check out my new design! If you’re already here then … well … hi!

Long story short, here’s the new design.

I wanted to change something for a long time now. These days, more and more blogs decide to go a more purpose-centered path, where the posts themselves are not all that matters, and the aim is to make the advice much more structured. This is also the path I’ve chosen for this site from now on.

There are a couple of important things to mention about this new look. So here we go:

The blog

As you can see, the blog (link) is no longer present on the homepage. Instead, it has its own dedicated section.

The blog design is kind of minimalistic and only consists of a handful of elements. The biggest change is the sidebar, which now features hardly any additional boxes.

I basically wanted to make things a lot simpler, which should make the content much more visible. As it turns out, using extensive sidebars isn’t the best strategy out there to make your content reader-friendly…

The homepage

The homepage consists of a number of different blocks, and an overall big focus on the email list (more on which in a minute).

email

I’m also working on a completely new “New Here” page that would welcome new visitors and show them a good starting point around the content on this site. In the meantime, the current new here link points to one of the recent posts – the 6 pillars of online business.

new

The next section is all about some online business resources. Those four boxes will change every now and then so don’t forget to visit the homepage from time to time.

resources

The last two sections are pretty straightforward (the about me block and the latest posts), so no explanation needed.

The email list

Today, I’m officially retiring my subscription bonuses, which are:

  • e-book: Create Irresistible Blog Posts in Just 6 Steps,
  • e-book: 192 Unique & Creative Niche Ideas for Your Own Online Business,
  • online tool: A/B Split Test Significance Checker.

Important. They still are and will remain available. The only difference is that you don’t have to opt in in order to get them. You can download them just like that. I will be providing download links soon.

My resource pages

There are some resource pages on this blog. For example:

Currently, they’ve only gone through a slight redesign, but I will be introducing some new content and turning them into something bigger soon (to be announced).

Technical stuff

If you’re interested in this sort of stuff, the design is built on a completely new framework (Genesis). It still runs on WordPress and most of the old plugins continue to operate normally. As it turns out, I was quite lucky not to face any plugin compatibility issues.

I hope you like the new design. I’m open to comments and suggestions so feel free to let me know what you think.


New Design at newInternetOrder.com! | newInternetOrder.com

Once Upon a Time … There’s Some Malware on Your Site

malwareThis isn’t actually funny at all.

I don’t know if you noticed this, but my site got infected with some malware about a week ago.

The malware was not a result of my reckless behavior or anything. Just some malicious Apache module sitting on the server at my web host (cheers, WPWebHost, we’re probably not going to do business any more).

First of all, here’s how it all started.

One day I received a friendly email from Google:

Dear site owner or webmaster of newinternetorder.com,

We recently discovered that some of your pages can cause users to be infected with malicious software. We have begun showing a warning page to users who visit these pages by clicking a search result on Google.com.

[…]

We strongly encourage you to investigate this immediately to protect your visitors. Although some sites intentionally distribute malicious software, in many cases the webmaster is unaware because:

1) the site was compromised
2) the site doesn’t monitor for malicious user-contributed content
3) the site displays content from an ad network that has a malicious advertiser

If your site was compromised, it’s important to not only remove the malicious (and usually hidden) content from your pages, but to also identify and fix the vulnerability. We suggest contacting your hosting provider if you are unsure of how to proceed.

[…]

Sincerely,
Google Search Quality Team

Now, the tone is very friendly, yet what it actually means is this:

Your site is infected. We’re banning it from the search engine results. Get it fixed now!

And this is something my SEOmoz monitor confirmed a while after. Here are the rankings for my main keywords:

rank

Nice, huh?

And of course, whenever there’s malware on any site, every major browser starts to display a warning message when someone tries to visit it. Which means that what followed shortly afterwards was a decline in traffic.

stats

Well, it was about time to do something.

So I started digging and found that the malware was only visible on http://newinternetorder.com/tag/business/ which was funny because the template file responsible for this URL is archive.php – and this is a file that also runs my date archives and category archives. Besides, there are also tens of other tags on the site, yet only this one was infected.

This was clearly not a problem with any of the template files. The problem was sitting somewhere deeper.

Since I’m an engineer and have a Master’s Degree in computer science I have to say that this malware was a nice piece of coding.

It didn’t come up during every scanning attempt (it only presented itself once every X times), it banned the most often used IPs (so whenever someone tried to visit the page more than X times the malware was no longer active), and as I said before it didn’t put any suspicious code inside any of the WordPress files.

While doing my research I stumbled upon this great post: Malicious Apache Module Injects Iframes.

It describes the exact problem I was experiencing. Here’s a screenshot from one of my Sucuri scans:

scan

There’s an iframe located outside of the visible area. The URLs and the method is the exact same one as described in the article.

Hosting problems

Now the best part.

The support team at WPWebHost is crap.

Here’s the usual scenario when you contact them:

Me: hey, there’s a problem with my site.

Them: no, there’s not.

Me: yeah, there is, {explanation}.

Them: no, we did one single test, there’s not.

Me: there is; here’s {evidence #1}, {evidence #2}, and {evidence #3}.

Them: okay, there is, I’m transferring your ticket to our upper level support.

Them (upper level): hey, we did one single test, there’s no problem.

What. The. Hell?!

Anyway, after going back and forth a number of times they were finally able to fix it. Without even explaining what happened. And without saying anything about what I can do to prevent similar situations in the future.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Here’s my downtime graph:

downtime

The red spots indicate the downtime.

Oh, and there’s also one more problem about my emails not reaching their destinations…

Long story short… Sorry guys, but it’s time for me to move on. And make sure that this post ranks well for phrases like “is WPWebHost any good” or something similar.

The current situation

Well, everything’s fixed. I’m in the middle of transferring my account to HostGator, and hoping that my rankings will return soon.

There’s no longer any malware on my site and I hope it stays this way.

[UPDATE]

As it turns out, Google works quite quickly to recognize every change. What this means is that my site is back in the ranking, which is great. Check this updated graph by SEOmoz:

seomoz-new


Once Upon a Time … There’s Some Malware on Your Site | newInternetOrder.com

Why You Should Get as Many Haters as Possible

Haters gonna hate – as the poet says.

Should you try to fix it, and turn a hater into a believer? Should you respond? Should you even care?

Essentially, no.

hate

And this is no trick on my part … I really won’t turn it into an advice on how you should always find something constructive when someone criticizes you. You shouldn’t.

Some people are just haters. They don’t care about you, they can’t stand the way you live your life, do your business, or share your thoughts with others. You shouldn’t care about such people. They bring nothing positive to your life.

More than that, you should do everything you can to get even more haters hating on you. Yes I mean it!

Let me quote one of my favorite stand-up comedians – Katt Williams: “if you’ve got 14 people hating on you, you need to figure out how to get to 16 before the summer gets here.

I know that he’s a comedian, but this doesn’t make him wrong. Actually, this is one of the best pieces of advice I ever got.

Why?

You’re not taking enough chances

The fact is that if you don’t have a fair number of people hating on you, it means that you’re not taking enough chances with your business, or your blog, or anything else you’re doing.

This is just the way how it is. Success always attracts a group of haters. If there are no haters in your life, it means you haven’t had a true success yet.

Haters as a measure of success … that’s a piece of advice you don’t get every day. :)

I’m not kidding. Just think about it.

What happens if you do really make a change in your niche, by offering a superb product for less money than your competition? Will they hate on you? Likely.

What happens if you discover a scam and get it to the sunlight for everyone to see? Will the people behind it hate you? Surely.

What happens if you simply tell someone to screw off because you’ve had enough of their BS? Will they hate you? You bet.

What I’m trying to say is don’t be afraid of haters. It’s their job to hate.

Besides, there’s no such thing as bad press. If people are talking about you, they are talking about you, no matter what they say.

Just enjoy it. Enjoy the things people are ready to do to let you know that they hate you. Sometimes it gets really creative.

crowd

How to get more haters

Simply, do what you’ve been doing so far, but do it better, and don’t be afraid to fail.

Whatever you do, don’t try to please everybody. This is simply not possible. Just a small group of people really happy with the products you’re offering, or the posts you’re publishing, or the opinions you share is enough.

If you try to be all things to all people you end up being nothing to no one. (I know, double negative, but it sounds better this way.)

What I’m trying to say is a little vague so let me give you a more exact guide on what to do to attract haters.

First of all, define who’s your desired target audience – the people you really want to get connected with.

Once you know this you can create a truly tailored message to them (in form of products, posts, other content, or offers) and give them exactly what they want.

And the most important thing – don’t care about anyone else. Care only about the people who matter to you.

Don’t try to create your products or services in a way that they’re suitable for everyone and their dog. Unless, you work for Coca-Cola or something.

And if, hopefully, you find yourself in a situation where someone gets pissed off at you for what you do … well, mission accomplished – you have a hater. Great! Now get another one.

Are you going the right way?

There’s one more thing you should keep in mind. Haters shouldn’t make up the majority of your audience. This is probably not the right path to follow.

However, another thing to keep in mind is that haters are often the most vocal people out there. So they will go a long way to let you know that they hate you, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s more of them than people who actually enjoy what you do.

One final advice on how to make a hater really angry …

Nothing angers a hater more than being laughed at or ignored.

This is great, I’m telling you. Whenever someone hates on you in real life, laugh at them. If it happens online, ignore them. If they email you asking if you’re ignoring them, respond “yes.” This stuff is fun. :)

Please share your own ways of dealing with haters. Do you have any cool tricks on how to make them even more angry? I’m curious to know.

Related Posts:
  • No Related Posts


Why You Should Get as Many Haters as Possible | newInternetOrder.com

How to Set Up a Standing Desk (and Why)

Today’s post is a little different. I’m switching from the online world for a minute to show you how, and why, you should set up a standing desk.

A what?! – Says you.

Well, the idea of a standing desk is quite simple – it’s just a desk that you’re standing by, instead of sitting at.

At first, this doesn’t sound right at all, so let me address some of the FAQs right away:

Is a standing desk suitable for long-hour work?

No.

But before you dismiss the whole idea, think whether it’s really a flaw… Chances are that if you need a working environment where you can spend long hours, you need to find a different job.

Working long hours was never healthy. Nor profitable. Nor productive.

The truth is that you gain maximum productivity when you work in short spans of time, divided by frequent breaks. Not when you sit 12h+ in front of a computer and pretend to work.

Is it possible to sit down if you feel like it?

Yes.

You just need to use a different kind of chair. One that’s taller than a standard office chair. (More on that later.)

If you’re doing something more passive in nature, like reading an article or checking your website’s stats, you can sit down for a while. But when it comes to standard active work I advise you to create a new habit of standing. So treat your chair as an addition to the whole setup, not as an integral part of it.

Is it more expensive than a normal desk?

No.

Actually, it’s cheaper, and I’m going to show you why in a minute.

Is it difficult to get it and set it up?

One word: IKEA.

Why having a standing desk improves your productivity

The reason is very simple. When you’re standing you tend to get your work done faster. You don’t want to be standing 3 hours by your desk like an idiot procrastinating on stuff, right?

There’s no time to go on Facebook or watch a quick YouTube video when you’re standing. All common distractions like this simply cease to exist, they no longer make sense.

Now the big issue. If you’ve been working 8 or even 10+ hours until now, you may think that you simply won’t be able to get the same amount of work done in less time.

I can’t promise what the outcome will be in your case, but for me, switching to a standing desk enabled me to get my work done much faster and also have more free time.

How to organize your time

The method I use focuses on having short periods of intense work, divided by a number of breaks.

Here’s what I do:

  • Work for 50 minutes.
  • Have a 10 minute break.
  • Work for 50 minutes.
  • Have a 30 minute break.
  • Repeat the process.

I use a stopwatch to make sure that I follow the above guidelines exactly. For me, it works more than great.

I hope that by now you’re at least interested in the whole idea, so let’s get down to business and teach you how to build a standing desk.

How to build a standing desk

I wouldn’t advise you to buy a standing desk just like that. It will be ultra expensive for no apparent reason. Building one yourself is a lot better solution.

Here’s my current desk, made from stuff found at Ikea:

IMG_4386

and the top part:

IMG_4387

Final cost … around $110 (your mileage may vary depending on your location; I do my shopping in Poland).

What I did there is an “Ikea hack,” so to speak. I simply bought some standard elements and combined them into a standing desk.

Here’s an exact step-by-step guide:

1. Get two EXPEDIT Shelving units

Link ($39.99 x2): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80135298/#/20135300

There are different colors available, so you’re sure to find something that fits your home office.

IMG_4389

2. Get one VIKA AMON Table top

The exact table top you should get depends on how big you want to make your workspace.

Here are some possibilities:

3. Get one LACK Wall shelf

This is where you put your screens ($14.99): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10159099/

4. Get one set of CAPITA Legs

This is what you use to mount the table top on the EXPEDIT Shelving units. Get the tallest legs possible – 8 ” ($14): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20049538/

Here’s my setup:

IMG_4392

IMG_4393

5. Put it all together

This is the fun part. Start by constructing the shelving units normally, according to the instructions.

Then take the table top and screw the four CAPITA legs to the bottom of it (like you see on the picture above). You’ll end up with an ultra-low table.

Now just place this table on top of the shelving units.

Next you take the LACK Wall shelf and place it on the table top. For getting the perfect height I advise you to use some books you no longer read, like I did:

IMG_4395

That’s it, your standing desk is ready.

What about the chair?

Ah, right. You can get one, why not.

Traditional bar stools work great for standing desks, or any other type of tall chairs (you can get one at Ikea as well).

Here are mine:

IMG_4399

This one’s from Ikea:

IMG_4401

There you have it – getting a standing desk in one trip to Ikea.

What’s your take on this? Do you think that the whole idea of standing when working can be good for you?

Also, you can visit my gallery at Flickr to get high quality versions of the above photos. They are all Creative Commons, so you can use them anywhere you want (with attribution).

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How to Set Up a Standing Desk (and Why) | newInternetOrder.com