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Posts Tagged ‘challenge’

MB Challenge: Name and Domian Choice

Posted by Mark Cuda on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 | 6 Comments »

Well, last time, we spoke about niche choice. We went into detail about exactly what niche I had chosen, and all the reasons for doing so.

Today we are going to talk about another very important factor when starting a blog, especially when you plan to sell at some point. Your choice of name, and you choice of domain.

When it comes to blogs, you want to be able to achieve as many loyal readers and visitors as you can. One important yet simple way to do this is to have good domain choice. If someone can easily remember your blog’s name and domain, it is more likely that they will return at some point. But if you name is off the wall, hard to spell, or confusing, people will very easily forget.

For example, if you have a tech blog, and you call it www.techblog.com, you will get a lot of vistiors to return due to the draw of your domain, making it easier to brand your name, which is something I have talked about before. But if you call it, www.scorpiansden.com, a lot of people are going to forget what your blog was called. See, many people do not subscribe on the first, second, or even third visit. A lot of them read your blog for quite some time, and then decide to sign up for your RSS feed. So you at first need to get them coming back a few times if you want them to eventually subscribe to the RSS feed.

So when choosing your domains, make sure they are somewhat related to your niche, or at least something very brandable. In my case, www.monkeyblogger.com doesn’t really make you think “Tips and Tricks for Internet Professionals”, but it’s very brandable and easy to remember, which can catch a reader’s eye.

For our chellange, considering we have a tech blog in the works, we want to go with something related to tech obviously. Also, trying to stay with .com and .net is preferable, other extensions are harder for some to remember.

I have a few ideas for domains myself for this challenge, but I would like to hear what you have to say! In the comments, leave ideas for what you think my domain should be, and if any one of you get picked, you’ll get a special prize! :D So just leave a comment with your ideas and with your opinions on this post and this challenge, and we’ll move on to the next step in this challenge, Set up the blog, organize, customize, and optimize.

A Challenge, not a Competition

Posted by Mark Cuda on Friday, July 18th, 2008 | 11 Comments »

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. :D

The MonkeyBlogger Challenge Begins…

Posted by Mark Cuda on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 | 10 Comments »

Well guys, had a tough week, my grandma had a stroke, and is well, dying. It’s been hard for the family and I but I know I must get my mind off it, so I’m going to start the Official, First….MONKEYBLOGGER CHALLENGE! :D

We are going to be having a lot of fun with this theme.

“Create a blog and sell if for $500 profit”

For this, we are going to have to go through a few steps to start up.

1. Pick a niche

2. Pick a name and domain

3. Set up blog, organize, custom, optimize

4. Start the content flow

5. Promote, promote, promote

6. Build lasting readerships

7. SELL THAT BAD BOY!

So to start off, we need a niche. A theme. A starting point.

I will be brainstorming and reasearching this a lot, and I’ll need your help in making final desicions. So in the comments of this post, I want you to leave your ideas regarding niche choice, and tomorrow I’ll be listing mine here. :)

On another note, at the end of the challenge, whoever brings this post the most traffic will get an amazing price. :) So don’t make haste to post about it in your blogs! :D

In Orlando but things chuggin’ along

Posted by Mark Cuda on Monday, July 7th, 2008 | 7 Comments »

Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t tell you, my family and I made an unexpected trip up to Orlando this weekend to stay with my sister, I will be here a week. over the weekend I had no access to a computer, but now I’m good, so don’t worry, tomorrow will bring aome great tips you all can use in your blog. :)

In other news, the voting for the MonkeyBlogger’s first challenge has ended, and it seems that the choice “Create a blog and sell it for $500 profit”, has come back to win. :D

So that will be our challenege, and we’ll get that underway in just a few days, so stay tuned! So sorry for the content delay folks, didn’t know I was coming up to Orlando, but I’ve alotted time for my blog, so no worries! :)

News and Updates: 06/30/08

Posted by Mark Cuda on Monday, June 30th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Alright well, no real post today, just some news and updates I think are useful.

For one thing, the Alexa is dropping, which is awesome, as of today we are down to 239,024, we’ll be in the 100,000s very shortly and under 100k as well! This is a great feat, and I’m looking forward to that day. :)

Also, the votes are coming nicely for the first MonkeyBlogger Challenge. So far, the “Create a blog and get it earning $100 a month” is winning, and the voting will end in a few days, so get your votes in quick! Once the voting ends, we will start working on the challenge. I will cover my process in choosing a niche, domain, theme, customizing, content, promotion and monitizing. I will post updates more than once a week on the blog’s progress and we will see where this takes us. :)

In other news, my shoulder is healing well, doctor says in 8-10 weeks I’ll be recovered fully so that’s good news. :D Also, I will be going out of town in a few days for a week or so, but I will make sure to take my notebook with me and keep the blog running and start on our challenge. I think that this will add a new level to the challenge, showing that it can be done anywhere. :)

I want to thank all of you for sticking with me and the blog during my hard times, and rest assured, once this challenge starts, you will learn more about blogging and running and promoting a blog than you ever had. Why? Because it will be real. It will be a case study. And best of all? You will be involved. You’ll have a say, you’ll know what’s going on, and why, and I think it will be great. :D