Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Hey everybody. Well, like I promised, we are going to start producing kick butt content. Today. That’s right, I said today. Right here, right now, you are going to start getting blown away by what we’re going to accomplish here.

The challenge continues today, but I’m going to raise the stakes, and make this a little more interesting. Remember when you all voted to pick which of the three choices I would pursue? Click here to check out that post. Now, if you look, “Create a blog and sell it for $500 or more of profit” is the choice that won. But wait…what came in second place? Ah yes, “Create a blog and get it earning $100 a month” came in second. But guess what? We are officially adding that goal to the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. So now, we will create a blog, get it earning $100 or more a month, and sell it for $500 or more. But you know what, why stop there? Let’s make it $750…heck $1,000! Yeah! Now we’re talking!

So it’s settled then. We’ll create a blog, get it earning $100 a month, and sell it for at least $1,000.

When I say $100 a month, I don’t mean $100 gross profit, we’re talking net. So yes, there will be expenses for every month, but we’ll be profiting off it, so who cares right?

Now, the next step in the challenge is picking a name and domain, and we’ve done that. The name for our technology blog for the challenge is “Tech Smack” and the domain is www.techsmack.net

One reason I went with .net is because I can prove to those few skeptical ones that a .net site can still be just as valuable as a .com site. The other reason was that everything .com was taken. Haha, at least all the good ones. Either way, this challenge will prove that it can work.

That’s it for today, tomorrow we’ll start the blog creation, organization, customization and optimization processes and get the ball rolling. So stay close, it’s coming!

*NOTE* We here in Florida have a Hurricane/Tropical Storm coming, so there is a chance that tomorrow’s post will be delayed, but if it’s at all possible, tomorrow’s post will come tomorrow. *NOTE*

Hey guys, so sorry for not being around last few weeks, things have been more hectic then every in offline world for me.

I’m not dead, gone, or selling this blog, I’m here.

And I’m coming back, and this time for good.

Starting on Monday of next week, I’m going to consistently start bringing content to this blog, as well as start back up the MonkeyBlogger Challenge! (Speaking of which, if you have any ideas for names for the technology blog for the challenge, email me or comment here.)

So stick around (Pretty Please?) and you’ll be glad you did. I promise. Pinky Promise this time.

Yes, you heard right!

My hit series, “The Freelancer’s Guide” is becoming an eBook!

The eBook version will contain new content, examples, and more! This eBook will be sure to get even the most lazy person with artistic ability on their way to freelancing!

I won’t give a release date just yet, but I want to get your guys opinions on this. I think it’s a great idea, and it will be a great eBook. I’m thinking free for subscribers, and a small price for others, but we’ll see. This might lead to another case study, so we’ll see.

I also want to mention that tomorrow we will have the next p ost in the MonkeyBlogger Challenge, I promise. So don’t worry about that, you’ll get you MB Challenge fix.

Well, I’m taking a one day break from the MB Challenge, and tomorrow we’ll talk about name and domain choice. But for today, we’re going to go over a subject that needs to be hammered into the heads of every blogger. Regardless of niche, popularity, and other factors, there are 5 things (I’m sure you can think of more, but I like the number 5 ) that you should go over before pressing that pretty little “Publish” button in your Wordpress admin.

The problem that most bloggers have is that they rush their posts, they skip editing, they skip spell checking, and they end up with poorly formatted posts with bad grammar, misspelled words, and more. They are simple “Publish Happy” if you will.

Let’s list each of those 5 things, and talk a bit about them all.

1. Spell Check your posts

Well, this is a pretty straight forward one, but I’m bringing it up anyway. You need to use the spell check feature of Wordpress! It’s included, just choose your language and toggle it on/off. Obviously, we want on. So many times have I come across an otherwise great post on a great blog, but, what’s this? Ovviously? That’s not a word! You see my point? When you don’t have good spelling, it can really detract from a post that would have been just fine. Spell check your posts. Right now. Go ahead, do it.

2. Check your Grammar

Besides the fact that good spelling is needed to make a good post, grammar is right there too. When writing a post, it’s important that people can understand exactly what your saying, or what you mean. Sometimes if you don’t finish sentences, or you mix up some words, it can leave a reader going, “What did I just read?” “I’ve got no clue what this guy meant!” There is a cool tool I use called SpellChecker.net. All you gotta do is plug in the text of your post, and you get a great grammar check in a pop-up, and it can help you fix up those posts real quick.

3. Edit out the Fluff

Now, I won’t give you much fluff in this point, wouldn’t be fitting. Basically, if a reader has to go through 400 words before you get to what that post is about, then you have a problem. You need to get to the point, get what you need to say out, and finish the post. No rambling. (Unless your post is a ramble or if your blog is ramblings. ) Either way, no one needs to read tons of content for nothing, so try and cut it out, or at least keep it to a minimum.

4. Ask yourself if the post is helpful

A bit related to point 3, but is something that needs going over. Sometimes, I’ve written a post, and thought to myself, “My readers don’t really care about this subject.” Or, “My readers may not understand where I’m getting at with this.” See, you need to look at the post from the perspective of your readers, not you. Maybe you get what you mean, but will they? Think about it.

5. Sort out your permalinks, categories, and tags

Ah, something a bit more technical here. But, it’s something that can potentially make or break your SEO presence, especially when it comes to getting traffic to your posts, not just your home page. Adding Tags and separating your posts up can make it easier for readers and new coming visitors to search through your blog, and find what they really want. Categories are great to, they can make navigating your blog, and finding what you want to find easier, and it just organizes everything, which is always good. Lastly, and also the most important one for SEO. Permalink structure. I personally set the permalinks to show the posts name with each name separated by a -, and this sort of permalink structure is great for SEO, and can boost your site and inner pages in the SERPS.

Well, there your go! 5 things that are essential before pressing that coveted “Publish” button.

We’ll be talking more about the challenge later today or tomorrow, but I wanted to make a quick post to clarify something.

Apparently, some of you think this is a competition of all of us trying this and seeing who “wins”, or who can sell first with the goal or whatnot.

I just want to clarify, it’s a challenge for me to see if I can do it, and you guys are helping me, which helps you learn the process and see what works, and what doesn’t. Obviously, you can take the knowledge you learn from me and from this challenge and do it yourself, but it’s not a competition between us to see who can do it the fastest, or make the most money.

Just thought I’d clarify that.