Internet Babel

Time for a new approach for Internet Babel.

Look across the ‘mid-range’ MMO/IM Bloggers (and even the ‘top’ Bloggers, as I’ve mentioned before) and you see a lot of the same stuff – the latest affiliate schemes, our ‘success’ stories, competitions, so-called ‘black-hat’ rubbish and paid reviews.

IB has been as guilty of that in the past as anyone,and now is as good a time as any to give it a revamp – the Blog currently has a ‘tired’ theme that needs a re-skin, and it’s missing a couple of plugins that I consider important.

The Blog itself (like most in this niche) lacks the interactivity and value-added things that a really useful site needs – and no, comments (even threaded ones) on their own aren’t enough.

I have a full-time freelance occupation developing sites and systems for people – Blogging is a sideline and my goal is to make enough from my own sites that I don’t have to work too hard for other people. I suspect many of you are in a similar situation (or at least aim to be).

So, I’m experimenting with a number of approaches to developing my current domain and site portfolio:

• via domain/site flipping
• by taking advantage of quick-hits on hot niche areas
• by developing a wide range of content-rich sites that I can SEO into a money-earning position
• by creating new scripts and software that people will want to use (or buy)

Nothing too ground-breaking there, but by reading about my little successes AND failures in these endeavours people reading this Blog might just pick up some practical tips and save some time in achieving their own goals.

To that end Internet Babel will expand to address what I hope people really want - namely:

• straight to the point tips and news about SEO, content, development and flipping
• a Forum, to introduce much more of a community aspect, and to be able to cover other topics in more detail (coding questions and tips, template/plugin discussions etc) without cluttering up the Blog 
• Classifieds/Directory areas to make it a genuine ‘resource’ site
• updates on ‘real’ projects and experiments that might give some pointers
• useful downloads

The blog will of course remain but I want to make Internet Babel more than that. If you don’t want to come along for the ride, that’s fine – but I hope you hang on in there and see what we can make of it together.

First off – a decent theme to replace this tired old thing – what’s the best one out there at the moment? (preferably free, cos I’m a miserable git – but I do like the look of the ‘Ultimate’ Theme)

OK – here’s an idea to throw out to the masses, and something I reckon could take off quite nicely as a widget or whatever.

Could somebody please write a Spam analyzer (‘spamalyzer’/'spamalytics’ etc).

I think a little league table of hot spam topics might be a cool little tool. It should be easy enough to write something to trawl through the comments in your akismet queue and do some kind of keyword frequency breakdown.

You could extend it to geo-breakdown the originating IP to see what kind of spam comes from where, and produce daily/weekly charts of hot spam keywords, or perhaps analyse the originating email addresses and names. There’s a heap of variations out there - you might need to censor some of the keywords when outputting the information, but I reckon it’d make a cool little tool.

I could probably knock one up meself but I haven’t got the time – so if anyone out there wants to pick up on the idea and build one just let us know.

I don’t think there’s anything like it out there at the moment – I could be wrong of course but i had a quick search and couldn’t see anything that did this.

Over to you…

It’s a commonly accepted ‘rule’ that many Blogs fail within 3 months of starting up. There may be a number of reasons or factors behind each individual case, but I think a common trait of a lot of failed and failing bloggers is pandering to their readers.

A lot of bloggers write what they think people want to hear as opposed to writing what they actually think themselves.

If you take a look at some of the most successful bloggers, there’s one thing that stands out: They all have a ‘loud’ opinion…most do, at least. We are not just reporters of news or reflectors of the current trends – if you want that you might as well just populate your Blog with RSS feeds and never write at all.

Without the injection of your own personal opinion, you’re just another guy aimlessly tapping keys to the tune of a miscellaneous audience. You have to set yourself apart by writing content that defines itself through your personality, your experience and your beliefs.

By doing this you gain a readership that is like-minded, loyal and attentive (or at least you generate some debate with those that hold other opinions, which is just as good) – as opposed to just writing to an interweb of faceless blobs.

If you just write about what’s happening with no real thought or personal insight then you’ll become nothing more than an alternative news outlet, we really don’t need anymore of those. I have a million news feeds I can choose from – I (and others out there) want personal insight, experience, opinions and originality. I don’t want to be spoon fed but I do want to be inspired to try new things.

It’s tempting to pander now and then as it will gain you some immediate readership, but as you prostitute yourself more and more, the readership will diversify and broaden. We’ve all seen Blogs that were initially focussed on a clear topic drift off into trivia and chit-chat. This will leave you with a completely random readership that will most likely be unreliable, just scouring the Web randomly, rather than specifically coming to read your content.

With Internet Babel I have specific goals in mind, and those revolve around giving people the tools and ideas to make them think for themselves.

I care about trying to give people useful information and seeing them do something with it, and that’s why I want to extend Internet Babel to become more of an interactive community, via a Forum, WIKI or some other means.

You may have other goals for your Blog/Site but the main point is to know what you want to say, and stick to that goal – and don’t get distracted from it in a rush to get cheap visitor stats or diversify your audience.

Cheers

Well, Blogging about MMO, won’t MMO.

Why Not?

Most of us working Blogs in this MMO/Internet Marketing niche try to provide advice (basically to each other) – we talk about affiliates, on-site advertising, reviews and whatever, and the majority of what we talk about is aimed at the guys working in the same kind of field.

There’s a lot of needless obsessing about subscriber numbers (and artificial and temporary ways to boost them), Alexa rank, PR etc, and a lot of chatter about methods for making money online.

While it’s true that these Blogs can provide a lot of inspiration, and a small number of people make decent money from them – the truth is that the kind of traffic we get is not good for converting. Most Blog/Webmaster type visitors are too savvy to click on ads, and the kind of traffic you get from social networking is transient and not focussed (as a rule).

What works?

The recent massive sale of Bankaholic (widely reported elsewhere) is a perfect example of a brilliant piece of business and should serve as the real lesson for those of you who want to really Make Money Online.

Bankaholic is a Blog/Site with unspectaclar traffic and Alexa ranking. However, it is squarely and directly aimed at a very high-paying target market, ranks highly for major credit/banking keywords (due to it’s content and SEO) and this (plus its layout/structure) will bring a visitor population that is highly focussed on the subject matter and MUCH more likely to click/convert.

The timing of the sale (given the current Credit Crunch) is a bit unfortunate, but the appeal of the site to the Buyer is unquestionable.

What Next?

So – the lesson to be learnt (as always) is that finding and focussing on a target niche, building good content and running effective SEO/backlink building is the way to Make Money Online. So stop talking about it, go out and try it for yourself. 

I will be running a 1-year experiment starting soon, developing between 10-20 sites based on selected niche markets and I’ll be reporting on progress here. But don’t wait for me, or anyone else, to do it:

• find a niche (preferably one with good pay-per-click, pay-per-action)
• find a domain
• build some content
• build a site
• SEO it
• build some backlinks
• plant some occasional link-bait
• repeat until Rich

Don’t talk about MMO – go and do it.

Cheers

Dave

Hi guys,

Finally up and running again (well, hobbling anyway). Battered and Bruised but ready to roll again.

You’ll be pleased to know that my time convalescing didn’t go to waste. I went through all my Aksimet spam and as a result I’ve:

• obtained a couple of Masters Degrees
• restocked on my pharmaceuticals
• improved my sex-life, and
• seen some very ‘educational’ videos

Fully refreshed, I’m ready to start posting again so will be getting some fresh stuff on-line this week.

In the meantime, I also had a chance to review the comments posted in September. Not as many as I would have liked but that’s the way it goes…Jim (as always) made a couple of interesting points – I don’t always agree with him but got a lot of respect for what he does. Melvin and Carl also made some nice contributions (it seems like ‘beabetterblogger.com’ has gone off line though?).

Anyway – John from Coffesh0p was a consistent and intelligent commentator so I’ve decided to to give the hosting and domain prize to him.  John’s agreed to post reports back on his progress with RankFoundry.com  – I know he has a few ideas in store so I’d urge you to support him while he’s trying to build the site.

As Carl mentioned in one of his comments, it’s all about giving people the base material (be it a domain or information or whatever) and then letting them have a go at building something themselves. I’d much rather do that than spoon-feed people, so I look forward to seeing what John can do. Will be in touch with details very soon, John.

Anyway – thanks for bearing with me while I’ve been out of action. I promise that Internet Babel will soon be in full flow again (with the assistance of Whisky & Bourbon).

 Cheers
Dave

or “How I Learned to Love Lists”

Now, I’m just guessing here but, if you’re anything like me, then you find “Time Management” easier to say than to do. I have a lot of Web development work to do, plus writing, domaining and managing this and another couple of Blogs and, while I have the best intentions of keeping on top of everything it just doesn’t always work out that way.

What sometimes happens as a result of this is that I get to a point where I’ve just got way too much to do and don’t know where to start – I get caught up in a kind of action-paralysis where I flit around from task to task without really accomplishing very much.

For me, the only way to stay out of such a state is to use lists – but use them effectivley.

A list in itself is of limited value – because you can just keep adding items to the bottom – and seeing a three page list on my table doesn’t make me feel any better or make me do things smarter. So – here are a few home-grown tips that just might help you manage your own time: 

1. Decide on your method/medium: Being old-fashioned at heart, I use pen and paper a lot for my list building. The main reason being that I just find that the act of physically writing the stuff down helps to focus my thinking. You may prefer to use a whiteboard, a text editor or even a mind-mapping type tool.
2. It’s not just a list: Writing down (or typing in) your lists will help you start to organise yourself, but don’t think of it as a ‘single-level’. I create ‘sub-lists’, i.e. lists of smaller tasks that belong under a single heading. You list your ‘major’ items at the top-level, and for each major item you can then create a smaller, more detailed list of individual tasks within that. This helps keep the list size down and allows you to focus on that specific area when you’re creating your ‘sub-list’.
3. Let it Grow: I mentioned ’mind-map’ tools in the first point. Whether or not you actually use one of these, the same approach is very useful in list/task management. So, in practise, I might find that an item on my list spawns other related categories/lists. I just let the list grow outwards as well as length-wise – and then re-organise it later into a more readabe ‘shape’. Yes, I may spend time building and refining my lists but this brings a much greater return in efficiency. Don’t be afraid to let your lists grow organically this way.
4. Know when to stop: Don’t let the list have a life of its own. The list is there to help you work smarter, not to distract you from actually working. You might decide to spend some time each morning on a list, or to take a 30 minute break during the day to revisit it and check progress, but DON’T let it rule your day.
5. Prioiritise: Some items are more important than others. It might be a Client review you’ve promised to do, it could be a contest you need to enter. Doesn’t matter what it is – if it’s important then mark it as such on your list (highlighter, assign it a big red ’1′ or whatever, but do something to make it stand out from its less vital friends on the list).
6. Do Something You Don’t Want To Do: There will always be things you want to put off, it’s natural . The trouble is that the longer these things hang around, the more fearsome they become – they sit there in the back of your mind, nagging away at you. You know that you’ve got to do it, and you know that you don’t want to but it won’t just go away, believe me. So – make yourself do something from you internal ‘stuff I really don’t want to do’ list. Pick one task that you’ve been putting off, and just get it done. You’ll almost certainly be pleasantly surprised at the sheer relief of getting it finished and out of the way.
7. Do Something You Do Want To Do: Go on, give yourself a treat. Put something on the list that isn’t neccessarily the most important thing, but that you want to do. Give yourself a little something to look forward to.
8. Update Your List: ‘The List’ is a living document. Update it when you’ve done something – put a big black ‘strike’ through it (you might want to delete items from your list as you do them – I prefer not to but that’s just my choice). Enjoy the warm glow when you look back at that previously daunting list and see that it’s been reduced to a record of all the things you’ve achieved.

So there you go, just a little grab-bag of tips and tricks that might help you in managing your time a little better. They have all worked for me over the years, and god knows I’m not a naturally organised person. Feel free to comment with any little techniques or tips of your own.

Cheers
Dave

As you guys know, I’ve talked before about NamePros and DigitalPoint in relation to picking up Domain names.

Well – browsing NamePros yesterday I came across a ‘for sale’ thread that I thought one of you might be interested in.

This guy is selling a domain AND WordPress Blog. What that means is that if you purchase the Domain name (which still has nearly 12-months left on it) you’ll get the site contents & database as well (you’d then have to find your own Web Hosting and upload the files, DB etc of course).

The domain name itself has good potential (AvailableDaily.com) – the seller has it set up as a ‘special offers’ type Blog but it could just as easily be used as a ‘dropped domain’ service for example. There are a number of posts on there already and it’s got a decent clean theme – with plenty of scope for building on it. It’s only a few weeks old but has a few hundred visits already.

It’s the kind of package that could make a nice base for someone wanting to try out Blogging for the first time or for someone with experience to expand into a new area.

The seller mentioned a BIN (Buy It Now) price of $100 but is open to offers, so you could get a decent deal here. The NamePros thread is given below but please note the following:

• you have to be a NamePros member to view the thread
• it’s your responsibiity to negotiate any sale, perform any checks on domain ownership, arrange payment and site transfer etc.
• i have no connection with the seller (other than asking their permission to post about it here) – I’m posting about it because it might be a good ‘pick up’ for someone.   

http://www.namepros.com/turnkey-websites-for-sale/514727-blog-for-sale.html

Cheers
Dave

Most people coming to this Blog (and many other Blogs in the same field) are looking for an edge – something that will help them stand out. For the most part we cover broad topics relating to SEO, Blogging techniques and Affiliate matters because the standard thinking is that we want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Think Local

Even when we do focus on a niche, its almost always a market niche, so we’re getting (or trying to get) visitors who are interested in a certain subject matter, wherever they are geographically located.

What about we turn that on its head, and aim for a purely geo-based market? and where better to try that than in your own town?

What I’m talking about is making a Local Blog – and not just a Blog, but a Forum and a Directory, a News site or local reviews even.

The Benefits

If you get yourself a good, locally relevant domain name and content that is aimed smack-bang at a local audience – you are going to have a great chance of grabbing visitors and retaining visitor loyalty, because people feel a natural preference for a ’local’ site over a generic one. They have a sense of attachment and that is something you can build on.

What’s more, once you are able to establish a ‘brand’ locally, it will be relatively easy to build on that by expanding the scope of your site/network – and even reproduce it for neighbouring Cities/Towns.

Say, for example, I pick up a domain “BirminghamBuzz.com”, “HotInPerth.com”, “CapeTownReviews.com” etc. (I just plucked those names out of thin air – I don’t know if they have been taken, I’m just using them as an example). I can use names like these to build a very focussed, very targeted niche site.

Aren’t I restricting my potential Visitor Numbers?

Sure, I know that straight away I’ll be ignoring the vast majority of people in the world who don’t actually live in those Cities, but in this case i don’t care, because I know that the people visiting the site will be considerably more likely to be interested in what’s on there.

More to the point, I can sell that ‘exclusivity’ to advertisers – because they will also know that the vast majority of people visiting the site will be those most likely to be interested in their services. That means that they will be guaranteed a better success rate when compared to taking pot luck on some generic term web site.

It’s the Web equivalent of local newspaper advertising – you don’t get so broad a reach but you get a better hit rate.

Getting Advertisers

What it means to you, as the Site owner, is that the normal advertising ‘model’ doesn’t apply. You will have to do more legwork to attract advertisers, as generally speaking you won’t be able to use the usual mainstream advertising/affiliate methods.

The upside (and it’s a big one) is that you will be able to negotiate deals direct with local businesses – you’ll cut out middle-men and, of course,  you will be WAY cheaper than traditional print advertising, which means you could pick up business from people who have previously avoided advertising.

You will probably have to offer ‘loss leader’ or ‘opening discount’ type deals to get people interested to start with but the freedom of being able to work out your own arrangements with local businesses can bring great benefits. Plus, the ‘personal’ touch means that these guys will be more willing to give you a chance -particularly when you can literally drop round and discuss deals face to face.

User Involvement

As with any other niche, you want to generate and maintain user involvement. And that means you need to do more than just set up a Directory site and hope it takes off. This is where Blogs and Forums in particular can pay off – people tend to feel involved in their community and are often passionate about subjects of local interest. Once you provide a means for them to air their views you will be able to develop a thriving online community, which will spread by word-of-mouth as well as by SEO.

Once a user base is established (with the help of some good ‘start up’ advertising deals and special offers), you can leverage that involvement with Reviews and increased advertising.

What to Do?

So – if you live in a town with a population of say, 100,000 or more, give it a try:

• Register a locally meaningful Domain name
• Start by Blogging about local topics and news
• Identify local businesses (even just start with 2-3) and approach them on the basis that locally targeted online advertising will be beneficial to them (and also much cheaper than traditional methods)
• Be prepared to offer cheap or free advertising to begin with, or to work on a commission-only basis, perhaps using a basic ‘voucher code’ approach
• Approach local newspapers to see if you can get an editorial plug, local radio stations to get an on-air mention (offer some free advertising in return).
• Encourage Comments and set up a Forum  – exploit the fact that many people feel passionately about their town. Publish and encourage Reviews and Feedback. 
• Get some advertiser testimonials – even if you have to pay for them Put them on the site
• Get your advertisers to offer Website specials/discounts
• Maintain Visitor and Click stats if you can – use them to generate repeat business – don’t  be afraid to approach businesses in the same field as your advertisers – let them know just how well your advertisers are doing
• Don’t neglect your usual SEO tasks 

What we’re looking at here is generating maximum benefit from a relatively small user base – we’re not competing on Keywords with a million other sites and we’re maximising the chances of a visitor actually making a commitment to your site/advertisers.

Give it a go…

Cheers
Dave

Like me, you’ve probably sometimes wondered just what it is that makes Shoemoney, ProBlogger, John Chow etc. so different from the rest of us. So I decided to take a closer look at their recent posts and content, compare it with some of the mid/low level type MMO Bloggers around and see just what their trick is.

What it isn’t

Well, for a start off I’ll tell you a few things that DON’T make them stand out from the crowd:

Content and Originality?

No – looking through Shoe, ProBlogger and John Chow Blogs recently I can’t see much that I couldn’t find on Net Fool, TUK or a lot of other Blogs – and to be honest Jim and Jason do it better in many cases. Looking on the ‘Big’ Player Blogs I see the same recurring subject matters of ‘content’, ‘getting subscribers’, ‘distractions’ etc. 

They also have a high proportion of posts where these ‘top Bloggers’ talk about each other and tell you all about the conferences and expo’s they’re going to be guesting at…yep, really useful.

Like everyone else much of the remaining Blog content is made up of paid reviews, affiliate promotion and general internet/SEO chat (apart from the annoying but probably lucrative restaurant reviews of course).

Grammar?

Nope – the standard of grammar is poor – their stuff doesn’t read particularly well. I’ve seen a lot worse for sure but this isn’t premium quality copy by any stretch.

Posting Frequency?

Partly – Shoe, ProBlogger and John Chow are all averaging 1-2 posts per day recently, which is about as much as you’d want, otherwise you’re just padding your Blog out.

So – what is it?

OK – so they have a flashy skin (nice new look John), good prizes and a lot of good ads, but there are a few main reasons they are where they are:

They’re Big, of course

One thing that makes them big is the fact that they are big – it’s a self-fulfilling thing, because nothing succeeds like success. People want the kudos of being associated with them and therefore want to link to them. Like Doug said in his interview, these sites have thousands of backlinks and eager subscribers because of who they are, not just what they provide. Advertisers and others see a success story and link to it or advertise on it for no other reason than that.

That means that there was a ‘tipping point’ somewhere where these ‘elite bloggers’ graduated to a higher level – either through pure ‘money power’ i.e. a straight purchase of links/traffic, use of contacts in the business, link-bait, luck or (more likely) a combination of all of the above.

The point is that once you’re at this level its easy to stay there – you just keep churning out the same old stuff and keep patting your mates on the back – and as long as you don’t really screw up there’s not a lot that will drag you back down. Hey, if he charges $500 for a review post , he MUST be good eh? 

Value Add & Stickability

What you’ll also find on these Blogs, and this is what keeps a lot of people coming back, are the value-added features, such as Job Boards ($50 a month to post a job anyone?), Forums, Chat, Blog networks plus the E-Book purchases and regular comps of course.

These guys know that posts alone aren’t going to keep a visitor on the Blog, particularly when the same stuff is on a hundred other Blogs – so they diversify and put features on the site that are going to make people WANT to come back. In that way, they’re more like a ‘portal’ than a pure Blog.

Visitor Retention

They sign them up and keep them coming back. Big FeedBurner numbers speak a thousand words, and they’re sexy advertiser-bait as well.

Interaction

Active and lively commenting keeps things fresh. Just looking over recent posts, ProBlogger’s averaging 20-30 comments per post, Chow 40-50 and ShoeMoney is way up around the 80 mark and more. Threaded commenting is great as well.  

What to do?

OK – here’s a few things we can try that might help us get promoted into the Premier League – in addition to the core requirements of creating quality content and doing good SEO:

• Diversify & Value Add – This is an area where all of us can learn. Put a Marketplace, Jobs Board, Forum on your site – find some kind of service that’s going to make real visitors want to come back on a regular basis.  
• Build Subscribers – Regular incentives for subscribing, regular incentives for staying subscribed. Offer individual sign ups for different services, and make those lists contribute to the overall subscriber numbers. Create Newsletters. 
• Interactivity – Keep your comments areas active. Deeplink to recent and not so recent posts to kick-start some up to date feedback. Hell, open up a chat or shoutbox area, or show how many people are currently online.
• Help each other out – the top guys have their clique. We should also be doing the same. Keep visiting the mid and low level Blogs you like and spread the love. If you see something you like. comment or post about it.
• Posting Frequency – You have to keep adding content, but find a level that suits you. Don’t just churn out rubbish because you think you have to. When you get an idea, turn it into a draft post, and aim to have a few drafts that you can return to and get ready for publishing when you have a little time.
• Give practical advice – if you have a good result, tell people about it but more importantly, tell them how you did it. Don’t spoon-feed them though – it doesn’t have to be a step-by-step guide, just give them enough information to let them work it out for themselves. 
• Go off-topic occasionally – most normal people have interests outside of Making Money Online, and they have opinions. Every so often, throw in a little off-topic post that might grab some interest from outside your normal target market.
• Act Clever – analyse your individual posts and see where visitors go in your Blog. Work out what works and work it even more.
• Act Big – increase your advertising and posting fees, cos if you undercharge people think you’re desperate, but if you charge premium rates, you must be worth it, right?
• Stick with it – have a plan, don’t get disheartened and don’t give up after three months. Work on building a brand and people will start coming to your Blog to see what you’ve got to say about a subject*

Basically, the upper echelon is very hard to break into, unless you’ve got a lot of money to throw around or some good contacts to take advantage of. For the rest of us, we can look for incremental gains in traffic organically through good content and good management. And you can look for that killer piece of link-bait or Value-Added service (interaction, real-time updates, a service) that’s going to tip the scales and get a heap of quality traffic heading your way.   

Any other tips and tricks for mixing it with the Big Boys?

Thanks
Dave 

* Plus, of course, “don’t forget important bullet points off your list” and “be prepared to edit/update your post if someone points it out”  (see first 2 comments) – thanks Coffesh0p

I just went Head-to-Head with the mighty Germz on Melvin’s Blog – see the results here.

By the way, I might have lied a little bit when I described myself as ‘Handsome’ and a ‘Hunk’. The bit about being old and balding was right though.

Thanks to Melvin for doing this nice little series, and thanks to Germz as well ;-)

Dave