My New Project

// September 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Projects

I have been thinking for a while about starting another project in the wake of NameSeek. The success of my NameSeek project has inspired me to give it another go and hopefully something will become of it.

Me and my girlfriend Ruth have decided to start a travel blog. We are planning a 3 month trip next year and have already travelled a good bit of Europe over the past 2 years so we should have plenty to write about between now and when we start travelling in about a years time.

This will be more a personal diary of travel experiences in the hope to educate future travellers or those planning a big trip around the world. We have been in enough planes, buses, trains, hotels, hostels, taxi’s, pubs and clubs to have learnt a trick or two, so hopefully we can pass on this information to wanna be travellers.

We are still in the planning stages at the moment and are trying to think of a smart and witty name. I don’t want to call it something like “DanandRuthsTravelAdventures.com” – I want something smart, clever and funny.

There is no aim to make money off the site as yet, the goal for now will just to build some solid content and generate some traffic.

Hopefully we will have the blog up and running by the end of October so stay tuned!

StumbleUpon Exposed!

// September 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // Making Money

I am not normally one to buy eBooks or fall for advertisements telling me I can bring instant traffic to the blog. Something caught my eye today though that I actually did buy and I am very glad I did.

I have been using StumbleUpon for the past month or so, bookmarking my sites to the social community in order to try and generate some traffic. I get a strong percentage of my traffic using this method so it turns out that it is very effective.

Today I purchased “StumbleUpon Exposed” for only $4. I thought I may as well spend the $4 because if what I read actually works then it is a good investment, and if it doesn’t work then it is only $4 and not a great big deal.

“StumbleUpon Exposed” explains how to drive targeted traffic to your website. Targeted traffic is actually the good type of traffic because you are getting visitors who are actually interested in what your are providing rather than a bunch of people who have no idea what they are about to click on.

“StumbleUpon Exposed” teaches you what to do and not to do when creating a campaign using a PDF manual, audio and video guides that explains how to create effective landing pages, lure targeted traffic, create advertising campaigns and what to do to make sure your traffic keeps coming back,

I found the methods fairly simple and easy to follow and it all makes good sense. For only $4 you can’t really go wrong with this one and if you buy using the below link you’ll be given a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not happy with the purchase.

Buy “StumbleUpon Exposed” Now!

Make Money With PerformancingAds

// September 28th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Making Money

I recently signed up to PerformancingAds after reading good things about them on other blogs. PerformancingAds is a 125×125 advertising network which is one of the most popular advertising banner sizes among bloggers.

After running a private beta for a few months the network has now become open to all publishers. Most ad networks will only approve your application if your website meets their certain criteria, however PerformancingAds are accepting all types of blogs, no matter what size it is or how much traffic it receives.

As a publisher you are able to add as many blogs you wish. Once you have setup all your sites, you can set the price that you wish to sell your adspace for per month. I suggest starting small and working your way up as you start selling space. I am currently selling a 125×125 on the sidebar for 50cents a month.

Potential advertisers can search the marketplace and find blogs that would suit their product. If your blog suits them and they are happy with the price you are selling your 125×125 ad space, then they can buy your 125×125 slot for the asking price and starting show their ad on your blog after you approve it.

There is also a free banner exchange program between other publishers in order to fill your free ad slots and also earn credits. The credits can go towards buying similar ad space on other sites.

Like most ad networks there is also an affiliate program. As an affiliate you can earn yourself $10 for referring a publisher or advertiser to the network and also 5% commission on any ad sales generated by your referral.

The site is very easy to use and it is a great way to advertise your free ad space. If you are looking to make money off your blog and have a few 125×125 slots available then this is a great way to bring some revenue to your site.

If you sign up from the referral link below I will happily exchange ads with you for a month!

Make Money With PerformancingAds.

How to Start a Blog: Part 2

// September 27th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // How To

So you have decided on the topic of you blog, so the next thing you need to do is find a suitable domain name. There are plenty of free blog hosting websites around on the Internet, but if you want to be taken seriously you are best off registering your own domain name.

Choosing A Domain Name

Your domain name is the most important identifying factor of your online presence. Your domain name should relate to the title and name of your blog and also represent your niche. Choosing a domain name that represents the type of blog you are going to create will also help your potential users find you a lot easier and will also fare better results within the search engines.

Things to consider when choosing a domain name are:

• Keep it short
• Avoid numbers and hyphens
• Avoid trademark words or brands
• Make it easy to remember
• Make it unique
• Register a .com or .net where possible, and even both
• Register it NOW. Don’t procrastinate too long as it might be registered from right under your nose.

There are millions of domain names registered already, so chances are the first attempt you make the name you choose is going to be taken already. It is best to try and have a few different alternatives just in case you are unable to register you first choice.

Registering A Domain Name

Now you have decided on your domain name it is time to register it. There are a number of places where you can register a domain name and every person has their own personal preferences due to factors such as cost, location and service.

If you are registering a .com or .net you shouldn’t pay anymore than about US$10 a year. I use a number of different registrars depending on what kind of name that I am registering.

Whoever you choose, most companies operate the same way when it comes to registering the domain name. You will normally have to type in your desired domain name and search to make sure it is available to register.

Once you find an available domain name you will be prompted to add it to your shopping cart.

Hosting Packages

Once you settle on a domain name you most likely will be prompted to purchase a hosting package. This again varies on the company you are registering with, however they all are basically the same.

There are a few things to consider when choosing a hosting package – such as Windows or Linux based, bandwidth, disk space, e-mail, online tools.

This of course depends on your needs, however as you are starting a blog from scratch is it best to start with the lowest package available and then as your blog grows you can increase your package as you need to. There is no point in spending the money at this stage.

You will also need to make sure the package you choose meets the below requirements if you are going to run WordPress:

• PHP 4.3 or greater
• MySQL 4.0 or greater
• The mod_rewrite Apache module

Once you choose the package you are happy with, and meets the WordPress requirements, add the package to your shopping cart.

It is now time to check out and complete the purchase. You will be prompted to enter some personal details such as name, address, e-mail address and payment method.

Depending on the type of domain extension you registered you will receive confirmation and approval within 24 hours, but if it is a .com or .net address then you should receive the confirmation almost straight away.

Your hosting details will normally be sent in a seperate e-mail and contain your user name and password for the admin control panel and FTP server addresses. This may take 24 hours or so to come through and be setup, depending on your hosting company.

Keep these details in a safe place because next time we will be downloading and installing WordPress!

5000 Premium Expired Domains Per Month

What a Week!

// September 24th, 2008 // No Comments » // Project Blogger

This week has been absolutely fantastic for the blog in terms of growth. This has been building up for a while, but this week has blown away any expectations that I had for the week. I did not expect to reach this level for another few months.

Traffic in the first half of this week has already exceeded all of last week – not only that – it has exceeded all of August! August wasn’t a good month to begin with, but it wasn’t that bad, so to achieve that in 4 days is amazing!

I have not really been doing anything different this week, in fact I have probably blogged less this week than previous weeks.

I started to submit all my posts to StumbleUpon and Digg a few weeks ago, and looking at the traffic sources I am getting a good number of traffic from those sites. Search engines are also proving to bring in some good results with referrals from searches such as “create a blog”, “how to create a blog” and even “make money online”.

It is good to see that the site is gathering a bit of a following. Next step is to generate some revenue!

Thanks for all of your support!

Earn Credit for your Website!

How to Start a Blog: Part 1

// September 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // How To

In part 1 of my “How to Start a Blog” guide, we will start with the non technical aspect of choosing your topic. There is no point in registering a domain name or choosing your WordPress theme if you have no idea what you are going topic you are going to choose to blog about.

What to Blog About

So you have taken the plunge and decided to create your very own blog. Before we even begin to touch on the technical side of things you are going to have to choose a topic to blog about. If you have already decided to create a blog, then you must have a few ideas in mind.

Although this seems like a fairly easy question to answer, it can often be the hardest decision you will make and will have a big effect on whether your blog will succeed or not.

Types of Blogs

There are a number different ways to blog, and depending on your own vision you will need to figure out what type of blog you want to create. Blog types vary from personal insights to informative posts, educational to reviews, news to rants and the list goes on. Essentially the types of blogging can be categorised into two main categories.

Personal

A personal blog is written in a diary style type of writing, written in first person. Normally it revolves around the bloggers life experiences such personal issues, work, friends, family, relationships, money and travel.

A personal blog can be a way for the blogger to keep in touch with friends and family – sharing their thoughts on what is going on around them, or can be an outlet for the blogger to write what they are feeling in order to give them some perspective.

Informational

An informational type blog is a blog that is dedicated to a particular subject matter. Informational type of blogs are normally chosen based on the bloggers knowledge and interest of the subject matter. For example, a friend of mine is interested in fashion so she created a fashion blog based around the latest fashion trends and what is currently popular in the world of fashion.

An informational blog is aimed at educating your readers on the particular topic. Whether it be news, reviews, opinions, informative – you are blogging in order to share your knowledge with the end user.

Finding a Niche

A niche is the subject matter or theme or your blog. This is possibly the most difficult choice you will have to make regarding your blog. Chances are that whatever topic you choose to blog about, there is going to be 100 other bloggers doing the same thing.

The best thing to do in order to find your niche is to write a list of your interests based on how much knowledge you have on each.

Consider these points:

• Do you have enough knowledge on the subject to post about it consistently?
• Does your subject interest other people?
• What can you tell your audience others can’t?
• Are you passionate about your subject?

If you choose to create a blog about a hobby or interest, then make sure that you have enough knowledge and experience on the subject matter to ensure you can create an unlimited amount of posts. There is no point if you create a blog based on a subject if you only know enough information to last you ten posts.

The most important thing you have to remember is to choose a niche you are going to enjoy blogging about. You don’t want to start strong and realise a few months down the track that you are struggling to motivate yourself. You have to make sure you enjoy blogging otherwise you are going to loose interest very fast.

My First “How to” Guide

// September 22nd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // The Internet, Wordpress

Off the back of my previous post, and over the next few posts I am going to attempt to educate the newbie’s among us. I have been telling friends, family and work colleagues about blogging and I constantly get asked, “Why blog?”, “How do I start a blog?”, “What should I blog about?” and the most popular question “How much money do you make?”.

I am going to make this as simple as possible and start from the very beginning, from how to register a domain name, set yourself up with web hosting, installing software such as WordPress, finding your niche, writing your articles, attracting traffic, and the list goes on and on.

I will write based on my own knowledge and experience and also use some sources that I have found along the way that have been a great help to me. The internet is a big place, and finding everything you need to know in the one place is difficult to come by.

I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, however I think through my own experiences I will hopefully be able to help those to wish to start their own blog. It doesn’t have to be a blog that makes money, nor does it be one that has to attract thousands of hits a day. It can be for your own personal use, business use or whatever you want to do with it.

I am going to try and tempt one of my mates to be my “official” tester. He knows nothing about blogging, domain names, web hosting and WordPress so hopefully I can get him to put my guide to the test and finally set up the blog that I have been begging him to for the past few months.

Hopefully a few of you can learn a few things and who knows it might even be a best seller! No plans for an eBook or anything of the like as yet – I’ll wait to see how it is received first! Baby steps, Daniel, baby steps!

I better start writing!

How I Make Money Online

// September 21st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Making Money

I have added a new page to the blog that lists all the ways I have made money online. I have used the listed networks at one point or another so thought I would be a good idea to list them all so if you are new to blogging and want to start making money online you can get started easily enough.

I normally sign up to a few networks a month and see how they perform on the site. Some of them just don’t have the ads that I am looking for, so then I normally go on the lookout for another network that suits me and what I want out of it.

Each network has its own positives and you will have a different experience with them than I will, and vice versa. I think it depends on your type of blog or website as to whether the network suits you or not.

The text link ads are the ones that have made me the most money. I think it is because they are not so intrusive and if a keyword catches the eye of a user than they are more likely to click it. I am not a big clicker of banners myself so I don’t expect everyone to click all the banners that are on the blog.

You can find the new page in the top menu or just click here.

What Is the Point of Blogging?

// September 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // General

One of my good mates recently asked me what the point of a blog was and why would someone want to read about what I am doing. It was a very good question and one that took me a while to think of an answer. I mean, what is the point of this? Why do you care?

I have been trying to get him to start a blog of his own for the past few months. He is passionate about old Aussie muscle cars and has successfully brought, sold and made a profit on pre 1980 Ford Falcons over the past 5 years.

He is an average guy, with a good job and wage, but has made an absolute fortune out of buying and selling cars in his spare time. He has owned 28 cars in the past 5 years and I thought it would be a good idea for him to blog about his current projects, experiences and thoughts on the subject.

He started with old pieces of junk and only making a few hundred dollars profit here and there, and now has worked his way up to $60,000 cars – with no loans and debt attached to it. Whatever he manages to get his hands on, you are guaranteed that his next car will be even better.

I told him he should start a blog about what he does. He could share his thoughts with other likeminded people, or people who are currently attempting to do the same thing for themselves.

He isn’t very technical minded when it comes to websites and computers in general, so he is struggling to see how this could benefit him and not be a waste of time. I offered to build the site and set it up for him so all he would have to do is blog every now and then.

Everyone has their own interests, whether it be cars or computers, fashion or sport. There is always going to be someone else who is interested in the same thing you are and will at some stage want to know more.

Every internet user relies on someone else to give them the information they are searching for – the blogger, the website builder, the reporter, the guy who created the wiki entry, etc. They are all contributors to the world wide web.

Without these contributors there would be no internet. These users rely on us in the same way that we rely on them for traffic.

So my answer to “what is the point of blogging” was “to share experiences and provoke thought, and hopefully someone will learn a thing or two. You might even learn from the people who visit your blog.”

Fairly simple answer- though that is my reason for blogging. What’s yours?

Is Your Blog Mobile Ready?

// September 17th, 2008 // No Comments » // The Internet

Accessing the internet from mobile phones is becoming increasing popular – especially with the new generation of 3G and ever increasing mobile internet speeds and with the introduction of devices such as the Apple iPhone, the internet is becoming much more accessible on the go.

There are so many websites that look dreadful on mobile devices, and with the increasing number of users needing to access information wherever they are – there will become a time that people will become dependent on accessing information via a mobile device – just like we have become dependent on having a computer within our reach at all times.

There is a very nify website where you can check if you website is viewable on mobile devices. Check out the results of danielfelice.com.

If your site looks as bad as mine does, you can try to install the WordPress Mobile Edition Plugin which is a plugin that shows an interface designed for a mobile device when visitors come to your site on a mobile device.

You can also try things like reducing your image size and overall page size to increase download speeds.