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There are some things that I have learned from running my science forum that I thought I might come along and relay some of these things to you. Now, I am not a forum guru. Hell, I am having a hard ass time getting my forum up to sustaining itself, but I do have to say that I understand what needs to get done for it to really start going somewhere. So, let me give you some of the things that I have learned from running the forum and also what I think might help you and me make our forums all the more powerful.

When running your forum, you need to ensure that you are constantly there posting new things. This is one thing that I find difficult because it is so damn hard to think up new things. I am having a hard time constantly making new threads, but I have some ideas on how I might be able to get some new ones up. Three words: post the news.
Having a contest is good, but don’t expect people to stick around once it is over. I learned this first hand. People came and were posting up a storm, but suddenly, the contest was over and people began to stop posting. It’s a good way to get initial traffic, but people aren’t really going to stick around unless they’re really passionate.
Don’t be afraid to use paid forum posting. Go onto digital point and pay ten people a dollar each to make ten posts each. Demand a minimum of two threads and when it is all over, you’ll have gotten eighty new posts and twenty new threads that people will hopefully reply to which will help your site grow even more.
Constantly update. If you see a forum hasn’t had a post in a few days, make a few new threads. Show people that the site appears to be active and they will quickly sign up. I need to start doing this some more because my site is looking a little dry. Perhaps I just need some more forum posting, who knows?
You need to use search engines if your niche is somewhat targeted. I run a science forum, so if I want to get people, I need to target certain keywords. If you can get listed strongly on the search engines, you’re going to find that you’re getting more sign ups.

These are just a few things that I think are imperative to understand when running a forum. It’s a lot of hard work and I definitely don’t think it’s something you want to do if you’re not going to really work with it. However, it can be very rewarding and because of that, I highly recommend people think about setting forums up. But, only do it if you’re ready to work. Forums are a lot of fun once you see people posting. Every time I get a new post or thread, I get so excited. It really does help a lot. Anyways…Good luck.

One of the big things that I have found on the web is people’s interest in “Class C IP Hosting.” They want to have these different IP addresses because search engines will trust a link more from many different IP addresses than if they were all on one IP address. What do I mean? Alright, let’s say that you buy shared hosting from where ever. Mine comes from Host Gator, but you can get it from where ever you want. I am on one of their servers because it is shared. But so is someone else…And someone else…And so many other people. There are tons and tons of people on this server. That’s cool and all…But the problem is, what happens if one of those sites links to me? The strength is not as strong because they are on the same IP as me.

However, some bright minded individual decided to take a chance. I’ll write in another post about taking chances. But, this individual decided to not just make a hosting company, but to create a new TYPE of hosting company. From Host Gator comes SEO Hosting. What is SEO hosting, you might be asking? It is your way to make each and every one of your sites available on a different class C IP address. That means that if you have five sites all about medicine or about sports or about whatever and you want to interlink them, you can get five different class C IP addresses and the interlinking will be a lot stronger than if you just used shared hosting.

The way this site works is very simple. You decide on how many different class C IP addresses you want. If you want five, then you are going to pay seven dollars a class C IP address. If you want fifty, then you can get each IP address for $4.75. Basically, you are paying for the number of IP addresses you can get. Now, what if you don’t have a network that you want to interlink. Why would you want to do this, you may be asking. A big thing that I have seen on digitalpoint and other webmaster forums recently is people creating a ton of blogs and selling blog posts. And what they offer are links on separate class C IP addresses. What SEO Hosting has done has guaranteed you a way to have those so you can, in a sense, offer this sort of a deal.

A few of the great things that this hosting has to offer is a Cpanel/WHM control panel, which you would only find if you purchase reseller hosting; instant backups, which is amazing, especially if you’re running a lot of blogs; private branded nameservs; and so many other things that really make this hosting look amazing. Now, I have not personally used them yet; however, since I have been using Host Gator since I entered the web business about a year ago, I have to say that I am genuinely pleased with their hosting. I’ve had no down time and it really is a state of the art provider of hosting. So, I can pretty much bet that their hosting is going to be just as amazing.

Their Hosting Plans:

Hosting Plan Per C-Class Pricing Diskspace Bandwidth
05 C-Classes $7.00 / c-class $35 / month 20 GB 200 GB
10 C-Classes $6.75 / c-class $67.50 / month 40 GB 400 GB
15 C-Classes $6.50 / c-class $97.50 / month 60 GB 600 GB
20 C-Classes $6.25 / c-class $125 / month 80 GB 800 GB
25 C-Classes $6.00 / c-class $150 / month 100 GB 1000 GB
30 C-Classes $5.75 / c-class $172.50 / month 120 GB 1200 GB
35 C-Classes $5.50 / c-class $192.50 / month 140 GB 1400 GB
40 C-Classes $5.25 / c-class $210 / month 160 GB 1600 GB
45 C-Classes $5.00 / c-class $225 / month 180 GB 1800 GB
50 C-Classes $4.75 / c-class $237.50 / month 200 GB 2000 GB

As you can see, getting hosting from them is a really nice way to ensure that the links that you have linking away from your site to other sites is going to be really strong. Whether you offer a service that offers blog posts on blogs that all have different IP addresses or you run a small niche network that you want to interlink, or if you just want to have your site on amazing hosting with all different IP addresses, this hosting is the way to go. Try SEO Hosting out.

The phone that everyone has been waiting for is finally out. Well, mostly everyone…I don’t much care if I get it or not. That’s right…The iPhone is out. They are available at all Apple stores in the United States. However, there are some restrictions. First and foremost, Apple is only allowing two per person to be purchased. Furthermore, AT&T who happens to be selling the iPhone as well is only allowing ONE per person. I suppose there were just not enough of them for those people that buy ten or fifteen at a time and then resell them on e-bay for a profit.

So, how do you get one is my big question. Go to your apple store, make sure you have five hundred or six hundreds dollars in cash, depending on if you want the 4GB or the 8GB and buy one. The phone is internet ready and offers a very nice screen for those to look at. The thing that made me so interested is there are no buttons. Every phone I have ever seen up until now has always had some sort of a keypad. This one doesn’t. It’s just one block (maybe that’s not the right word) and you push the screen, at least, that’s what it appears like.

It’s anticipated that the iPhone will be available in Q4 for those in Europe and in 2008 for those in Mexico and Asia. So, for right now, Americans are most likely to enjoy the phone for quite a while. At five hundred dollars a piece, you must love your cell phone if you’re going to buy one. However, it is a nice looking phone and if Apple put as much care into making their cell phone as they did for making their iPods and computers, it’ll be a very durable, very wise investment. Enjoy the phone, but good luck with all those lines in front of the store.

If anyone here follows my blog all about making money in college, you’ll know that I wrote about how to increase your page rank as well as your search engine ranking for particular keywords just by using the right anchor text. Now, I didn’t really talk that much about picking the right keywords because there really is not real method to picking the right keywords. However, I have begun to realize that there are some general things to try to do when attempting to rank for the right keywords.

• Ensure that all of your links are using the right keywords. Unless you intending on ranking for many different keywords, it is highly recommended that all future links use the text you want. For Dorm Earning, I am using make money in college or making money in college. Whatever works, you know?
• Unless you can get a crap load of links, don’t try and rank for keywords that you are guaranteed not to get. For me, making money in college, while it might seem hard, it really doesn’t seem like it because of what the sites are. I figure if I can get some strong links, I’ll start showing some appearances in the first page. But, the thing to remember is that you’re competing against a lot of websites…Try and find a keyword that is searched, but not too competitive.
• Don’t go for random keywords. If your site is about science, please don’t go for keywords about cars. There’s no connection and what you’re going to do is waste your time, your money, and valuable links getting listed for the most random of keywords. Stick to your niche, stick to what your site/blog is about.
• Finally…Don’t get too many too fast. If you get too many links right off the bat, Google will think something is up and you’ll get sandboxed. If that happens, well, say bye bye to search engine traffic for quite a while. You want to do this slow, but do it efficiently. Work on it and it’ll work.

Now, like I said, I am looking to increase the search engine ranking for Dorm Earning. Because of that, I have been trying to figure out ways to get some more links. If you read my post yesterday about increasing your rank, you’ll notice that I offered a little link trade. For a link, I’ll give a link. Well, I am willing to offer the same thing on here. However, I still want you to link to Dorm Earning. If you link to Dorm Earning using the anchor text “make money in college” or “making money in college,” I will give you a link on this blog with any anchor text you want. I think it is a fair trade…What do you think?

I decided to take the advice of a friend and focus a little more on some more informative pieces. I figure after a while, knowing about the little things of my sites could get boring, so why not, eh? For those that have read my blog since day one, they will know that I have had three different skins for this blog. Now, when the second one was put up, it was downright horrible. It was horrible. It was ugly, it had coding errors, and it sucked. Then I found the one I am currently using and I have to say, I think I found the right design. But the question is, how do you know if you found the right design? Finding the right design depends on three things:

1. Your design needs to be suitable to your type of blog. Don’t make a design that has nothing to do with your blog. That means, if you’re writing about science (like I love to do from time to time), don’t put a header of the mafia. Make it appropriate and I think you might have better luck.
2. Your design needs to be suitable for the eyes. If I am looking at it, make it so I can read without straining. Make it so that the links stand out so that they are clicked. And above all, make it so that when I leave the site, I’m not thinking, “now where the hell is the tylenol?” That’s important.
3. And finally…Your design needs to be you. This is my personal blog and the truth is, I am sort of plain. So, I have a relatively plain theme. But the theme came with what I needed. That is important for me. I like to have that calendar to remind me that I need to post. Your theme should describe you. That’s always important. But it’s hard to find it and that’s alright. It takes time, but you can find it.

Finding the right design for your site - whether it is a blog which I have mentioned considerably since I was using my blog as an example, or if it is a website - is extremely important. You must find the right one. Find a unique one, find one that stands out for you. And above all, find one that allows you to say “this is mine.” You need something that describes you. I’m a plain kind of guy. I’m clean cut (other than my hair) and I like order. That’s why I love this theme. Others like other types of themes. It all depends on what you like. A place I have found that helps is a site that has loads of free wordpress themes. It really is a nice site, but I might be slightly biased since I write about making money with blogs on it.

I have been rather lax when it has come to what ad companies I use on my sites. I throw auction ads even though they make me no money. I throw adsense up even though they make me no money. I throw kontera up even though they make me no money. Why? Why do I bother putting these ads up when they make me absolutely no money? Everyday I write on my two blogs and yet I make no money. I begin to wonder sometimes why. Is my placement wrong? Does my content suck so bad that no one is actually coming here? Excuse the rant, there is a point to this post, I promise.

I guess my problem is that I put so much work into my sites and yet they show such little return. Perhaps it is just blogs in general, but then I look at John Chow and he shows that you can make money. Now, I am not so much frustrated with this site. I never intended on making much from it. I suppose my irritation comes in from my site about making money in college. Everyday I write for that site and it does become difficult thinking up things to write about, and yet there is no money. And that leads me to think about something…

Am I using the wrong ad companies? Now, I doubt adsense is the wrong ad company because, well, everyone loves adsense. But, is Auction Ads the wrong one for that particular type of site? Perhaps I need to try and focus on getting more traffic somehow; yet, how do I do that? Am I using the right companies or should I be doing something else? I know that I want to sign up for text-link-ads once that site gets to a PR4 and hopefully it’ll send some money my way, but I just wonder why I write all these articles when there is not a single penny to be made. Perhaps it’s just a bad night (I do have those from time to time), but it can be very discouraging when there is not a single penny made. Ah well…I am making money none the less and that is what matters. Sorry for the rant, but every once in a while, they’re good.

I said yesterday that my blog posts would get bigger again, so that is what I intend on doing. I decided that there was going to be some reorganization to how things were done for me. Every once in a while, it’s really important for us to decide what is working for us and what isn’t working for us. Now, what is working for me and what isn’t working for me will always be different than for other people. But, it is important to figure out what is working and what isn’t. So, that’s what I did today.

I came to the conclusion that I am not a directory man. So, I sold Bronze Links Web Directory. For the money that I invested, I made a decent profit, especially since the directory was earning nothing. I suppose it was the domain name that the buyer liked. Either way, I think we both made off good with the amount of money that I made and the site he got. According to the page rank predictions, the site was supposed to get a PR4, so that is good. I just hope it earns my friend some money.

Now, because of this reorganization, I have come to the conclusion that I need some order to things. I am everywhere. I spend too much time just reading and not enough time writing. Since my business is primarily writing, I have to get to work on that more. Granted, I have been doing some content writing for this site about making money blogging, so I am doing good. My ads are on the articles I write, so it really is a beneficial way to make money. But, my theory is that if I can try and get more articles up there, I will have another way to earn some money. But, I’ll need to focus on that.

Then, of course, I have spent a lot of time trying to learn dreamweaver. Things are sort of making sense, but at the same time, they are very difficult. I think what I need to do is draw out how I want my sites to look before hand and then start creating them. If I draw them out, my Mom might be able to give insight on how to successfully accomplish them. I don’t know…I’m still torn on whether I want to create a site centered around organized crime (I know so much about it, it isn’t funny) or if I want to create a site around medicine. I’ll figure it out. Anyways…Time to get back to other work, so take care!

And let me tell you, a return it is…It’s time like this that I wish I was Lithman. He lives in Florida as a lot of you most likely know and since he lives in a sunny state, I am sure that he has developed a permanent tan of sorts. If you don’t understand what I am talking about, let me explain. I AM SUN BURNT! And let me tell you, lobsters are lighter than I am. Now, I have a high pain tolerance, so it doesn’t really hurt, but it sucks because I get hot and cold like crazy because of it. I don’t know…It just sucks because I start my job Thursday and I don’t want to look like a lobster when at work…But, I should be better by then.

In other news, I was able to get some work done last night even though I was away. My Mom has a blackberry and I was able to write an article for this site I participate on (I get adsense coverage on articles that I wrote) and that should net me some money once traffic increases to the site. It was nice, though, to get away and once this sun burn mellows out a bit, I’ll have the mental capacity to focus again on what needs to get done and not on the fact that lobsters are lighter than me. Ah well…Like I said about my leaving, everyone should take a vacation. It really is great. Expect some real posts start tomorrow…Sorry they’ve been all short and stuff, but I have been so busy recently.

I don’t usually take days off or nights off, but every once in a while, you need one. I’m going to be going to the beach for the day tomorrow, but we’re leaving tonight, hence me writing my post so much earlier. I think that everyone needs a day off from time to time, you know? It gives people some time to just catch their breath and get things under control. So, that’s what I’ll be doing. I am bringing a book to read and my notebook to catch up on some planning for websites.

Although I am taking the night, today marks the completion (if all went according to plan) of my newest site. I will not mention it until I have marketed it a bit because it’ll be boring to look at until it is marketed. However, I think that a lot of people will like the idea. If you like sports and you love women, well, this will be the site for you. Until tomorrow, have a great night and take a breather if you need it!

If you remember my post two days prior to school ending, I said how I needed to get a job once school was over. I sort of slacked off and didn’t get a job right when I should have. I wanted to just relax, enjoy myself. Well, I won’t make that mistake again next year. I’ll be applying to places right when school is over, if not the week before it is over so I can get my interview the week after school is over and start working the week after that. Now, to much glee for my Mother, I actually did get a job. She asks if I am happy and I say I am, but I don’t know.

I’ll be working in the Deli at Shop Rite. It’s a grocery store in the Tri-State (New York, Connecticut, New Jersey) area. Now, I don’t really mind working in the Deli, it’s just that I worry that all of this working for the “man” will thus limit my ability to work for myself. Either way, it’s only a job for like a month and a half. Although they expect me to stay on for a long while, I know that I cannot, not when school starts. So, I will have to quit to go back to school. However, at eight bucks an hour, it really is a great thing and I can appreciate the many hours I do work. But, it won’t slow me down from working online. If anything, it might motivate me. But who knows? We’ll have to wait and see how it goes working at a job…I’ve never had a real one. *gulp*