Daniel Felice

One Year On…

// April 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // Project Blogger

In the distraction that was last week I missed the first anniversary of danielfelice.com! I remembered sometime in March that it was coming up, but I lost track of time with the recent server issues and then the new server configuration over the weekend.

In March 2008 I created this site to blog about my travels, but after reading about bloggers who had turned their blogs into a steady revenue stream, I decided to give it a go and create “Project Blogger“.

The original idea was for the next year to try to make this a money making blog – and after 12 months I have done just that. I have made enough revenue from this blog to cover the costs of registering the domain name and to pay for the hosting. So I guess you would call “Project Blogger” a success.

I said back then that I would give Project Blogger a life of 12 months and then renew the concept and decide if I will keep danielfelice.com in its current form. I have decided that I WILL keep this blog running and continue to use it as a way of keeping you up to date with my projects, as well as keep you up to date with my online money making efforts.

In the past year I have create over 160 posts, had over 180 comments and generated over 10,000 pageviews. It seems that I did “create something from nothing”.

While the blog has not made me the next internet millionaire, it has taught me a lot and opened up the doors to a number of other things. Off the back of this blog I created NameSeek, Explore With Me and Free BuddyPress Themes which I don’t think I would have done if I didn’t get the experience creating this blog and learning about WordPress, domaining, affiliate marketing and how to write a decent post.

I have also made  number of contacts that I might be able to use in the future and more recently I have been selling myself as a freelance WordPress/MU/BuddyPress designer/administrator/developer.

Here is to the next year, and beyond!

Building an Online Business can be Frustrating

// March 16th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Making Money, Project Blogger

Let’s face it. It’s no fun building a successful online biz.

• Many late nights
• Endless testing
• Frustration
• Even lost money, time

At the end of the day, you often find yourself running in circles trying desperately to find something that works.

Your goal might be $10 per day, $100 or even $1000 per day.

But, the challenge is… how do you get there?

(without waiting 2 years or burning through 3 grand on your Visa card)

About a year ago, I stumbled upon a website and read about a community of serious (and successful) Internet Marketers.

These people were actively involved in grabbing free traffic from the search engines. They exchanged ideas, strategies and had access to some power-tools to quickly build websites and blogs.

No search engine tricks. No “risky” or short-lived tactics involved.

Plus, this community also pooled their resources and collectively “own” a private network of over 6,000 niche-specific, quality content blogs.

So, all members can get backlinks and syndicate content to this blog network.

When I read this, I couldn’t help but get excited.

Everyone knows that getting a large amount of quality backlinks to your website or blog is one of the big keys to dominating the search engines.

This “community” that I am talking about here is called PortalFeeder.

Once I signed up with PortalFeeder, there was a lot more included than I even imagined.

If you want to build several streams of income online and get the guidance, information, tools and resources to make it easier and faster, you really need to go see this:

Portal Feeder Priority Announcement List

I’ve been involved with PortalFeeder for over a year now and I highly recommend it. The doors are often closed and membership is limited.

Go to the website for details. Put yourself on the waiting list and be the among the first to be notified when PortalFeeder is accepting new members again.

This could be the best decision you make in 2009 to take your online business to new heights. Go and check it out now:

Portal Feeder Priority Announcement List

One last thing. The last time I checked the website, they were giving away a free copy of the PortalFeeder monthly newsletter. It’s always filled with great information. You can probably still get yourself a copy from the PortalFeeder website once you visit that link above.

Fantastic February

// February 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Project Blogger

The past few months have been tough at danielfelice.com, with hits and revenue being very slow since October last year. We had a great month in September and for some reason it went downhill in October and November and has been slowly recovering since.

I am happy to say that even though February is a few days shorter than most months, it has been the most successful month to date in terms of traffic. Traffic this month skyrocketed and surpassed the September high, although revenue seems to be virtually nil.

It is good to see that although I am not posting as much each month as I was in September, hits are have been on the rise since the October slump. This just proves that content is king – you should attempt to create quality content than have hundreds of posts that no one wants to read.

Revenue has been slow for the past few months. I do get very good clickthroughs on the ads that I do display on the blog, however no one seems to be buying. That indicates to me that my adverts don’t appeal to you, my audience, and that I need to evaluate my advertising methods – or drop them all together.

As this blog is seen as a personal blog because it bares my name, I think I am going to leave it as a personal blog and stop trying to make money off of it. I have a few other blogs that have a better money earning potential so I am going to concentrate on monetising them rather than trying to make money from my personal blog. I will still continue to use this blog to tell you how I do it.

Just like every other month, I am hoping that March will continue to bring in more traffic and generate new readers. I will concentrate on building new content for you to read and also keep you up to date with my projects.

Thanks for all the support!

If you are yet to subscribe to danielfelice.com, then click here!

Building Content & Getting Hits

// February 19th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Project Blogger

I have taken a step back lately from the making money aspect of this blog. If you have been visiting here for a while you’ll probably notice that I haven’t done my monthly earnings report for the past two months or so - and not only becuase I am not making much money!

I thought it would be a good idea to try and continue to build content and traffic before I looking for private advertising, find more affiliate partners and run contests.

The way it stands at the moment, this blog covers a range of topics covering the likes of WordPress, BuddyPress, making money, my projects, blogging tips, and so on. It doesn’t serve an information source in one particular area, but numerous areas, which I am not sure I like.

I am trying to concentrate on building up this blog as an information source on one particular area – and the way things are going at the moment it looks like it is heading into the direction of becoming a blog about WordPress and BuddyPress.

But I also want the blog to cover the projects I am working on and then I also want to share my MMO tips. So what do I keep and what do I stop blogging about?

I don’t want to ask people to advertise on the blog until I figure out what direction I want to go in. I think it will easier to find private advertising/sponsor once I do define a niche.

So instead of forcing myself into a niche that I think I should go, I am going to keep doing what I am doing for a while and see how the blog evolves over the next few months. I want to make sure that whatever I choose as the “niche” for this blog is something that I enjoy blogging about rather than being pushed into it.

Maybe this is just a blog about blogging?

Chasing the Dream

// February 5th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Project Blogger

When I first started blogging about 9 months ago, it was an experiment to see if it was possible to make money from the Internet. I can confirm that it IS possible to make money online, however whether you can make enough money to support your lifestyle is another thing all together.

However, when I started blogging I didn’t have any online contacts and since starting this blog and a few other websites over the past few months I have met a lot of people who have helped me create my online “empire” and who have opened up doors that I wouldn’t have had access if I didn’t start this blog.

I am currently employed in an IT infrastructure support based job which I do enjoy and I think I am capable of making a life long career out of it. But my passion lies in web development/design and that the direction I would like my career to head in the direction of.

Over the past few months I have made some contacts online that can make that dream come true. At the moment I do some part time web development and my workload is increasing week to week – all from having a few online contacts that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t start this blog.

If I can increase my level of web development work over the next year or so and can make enough money to survive (and more hopefully) I might be able to leave the normal everyday 9 – 5 and work on my own terms, run my own websites and develop sites for other people – all while working from home!

The way things are looking it is looking like I am heading in that direction, however it would want to be 100% secure before I up and leave my full time job. Running your own business is difficult, and I think it is even harder to run a web based business as things change very fast and you always have to stay ahead of the game and learn the new tricks.

Fingers crossed….what dream are you chasing?

Weird Stats

// February 2nd, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Project Blogger

I had a quick look at my stats a few minutes ago and noticed something weird. Normally I can expect the same everyday, with some growth week to week- however I was not expecting this…

I had a look at the referrers and it doesn’t seem any more than normal so I cannot explain this increase..

Where did you come from?

Advertise on danielfelice.com!

// February 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Project Blogger

I made a few changes to the “Advertise” page over the weekend so I thought it would be a good time to give it a bit of a plug!

Why not advertise on danielfelice.com? Check out your options here. You can also donate to the blog if you think haven’t got anything to advertise. Just male sure you drop me a mail so I can mention you.

If you don’t want to advertise here then why not check out Explore With Me and Free BuddyPress Themes?

Goals for 2009

// January 7th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Project Blogger

I have spent the past few days thinking of what I want out of this blog in 2009. I think it is important to set yourself some goals for your website or blog, especially if you want it to grow and eventually start earning an income from it.

The original “Project Blogger” plan was to create a blog that generates revenue. I did that in the first month of launching the site. By “revenue” I mean I made about $6 from the blog during the first month. I guess that is considered making money from blogging.

I think I need to redefine my goals this year, especially if I want to succeed and make more money. After a little bit of thought and consideration I have set myself the following goals for 2009.

• Define a purpose for this blog: At the moment I blog about a range of topics  including Domaining, WordPress, Affiliate marketing, web design, social networking, BuddyPress, my project work, making money online, blogging, and so on. I think I need to set a clear purpose for this blog and stick to it. “Project Blogger” will remain the underlying theme of the blog, but I need to establish a niche in order to engage more readers. I think I will stick to “blogging”. This means I will still blog about WordPress, BuddyPress, themes, plugins, making money, social networking and my projects that revolve around blogging. So that pretty much means I am dropping blogging about domaining!
• Increase subscribers: I think this is important for my blog. At the moment I have a handful of subscribers, but this figure seems to hover around the same number. One of the goals I have set it to increase my subscribers and make sure they stay. I have not set a specific number, however I would like to see a massive improvement in this area.
• Increase revenue: This blog generates revenue every month, however I want more than just a few dollars a month from it. I want to generate enough revenue so that I can put it back into the blog for contests and advertising and then a little bit for myself.
• Have fun: I do enjoy blogging and maintaining this bog, however sometimes in 2008 I found myself frustrated and annoyed that I couldn’t think of anything to blog about, that I wasn’t making enough money, and that I felt like I was wasting my time. I want to enjoy myself this year and not stress about so many things!

Hopefully I can look back on 2009 in 12 months time and say that I met all of my goals. It will take some hard work and dedication – but as long as it is fun! That I think is the most important goal. The minute I hate doing this I should give up as it is not going to benefit neither you or I.

December Looking Better!

// December 19th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Project Blogger

The past two months have been tough for danielfelice.com. After a great September, traffic started to head south in October and got even worse in November. However I am pleased to say that December is looking better!

So far hits have surpassed November and slowing catching October, however with the holiday season and Christmas around the corner, things might start to slow down next week so I am not expecting to beat October by too much, if at all.

However it is good to see that traffic is getting better and it would be nice to start the new year on a high note.

Thanks for your support!

November Report: Hits Down, Revenue Up

// December 11th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Project Blogger

November was an interesting month for danielfelice.com. I was away for most of the month meaning that I did not get a chance to blog as much as I would have liked. However, although hits were down for the month, it was the best month yet in terms of revenue.

Traffic

There is not too much to report here. November was officially the worst month of all time. Not only did I post just 5 times in November, I also didn’t do the normal social bookmarking “marketing” or promote the blog in any way.

Traffic sources still seem to be coming from the same places, DNTrade.com.au and GoofBlogger, though most of the traffic is coming from search engines with top searches being “WordPress MU”, “BuddyPress” and “Create a social networking site using WordPress”.

Revenue

 As mentioned earlier, November was the best month for revenue to date. I made over US$50 which is more than double the previous best. This is due to a few private ad sales which I sold for US$50. I made a few dollars from Google, however it revenue from Google has really slumped over the past few months.

Freebies4Webmasters has stopped paying me, even though they said they would continue to pay existing clients while they are working on their issues. I have yet to contact them about this, however I might just take down the banners and look for some more private ads.

So that was November! It was a bad month for traffic but a good month for revenue. I have not got any advertisers lined up for December so I don’t expect to get anywhere near the $52 I made in November, however you never know!

Since I have been blogging, danielfelice.com has made over US$100. This has covered both my domain name and hosting expenses, so at the moment the blog is making a profit if you take out the time it takes me to create posts and respond to emails, as well as search for advertising.