zerotomed.com

I have to say from working this first week with school, really getting things in control when it comes to time management can be extremely difficult. I’m not saying that I cannot do it, but I have to say that it is extremely difficult. Between the classes, the attempted social life, and the websites, it really can be difficult. But, there is a cure for this and I am beginning to come to the conclusion on what that cure is. Before I mention that, though, let me just say that things are beginning to look up despite the overload of work, so I am getting excited.

But, if I look at it, I realize two things: the first is that I fool around a lot on the internet and the second is that I get distracted in my dorm room. When I say that I fool around a lot, what I mean is that I go to DigitalPoint, read all these different blogs, check my earnings, go back to DigitalPoint, and the truth is, it gets really hectic and I tend to neglect my blog posts which is the majority of my work. Now, in the dorm room as I write this post, there is South Park playing. It is giving me a headache trying to focus on this rather than watch. The point is this: if I were to find a better place to work, I may be able to get more work done.

Time management is extremely difficult. It can be difficult to get things going if there are distractions. But, on top of that, it can be even more difficult getting so much done if there are distractions, books that need reading, tests that need preparing for, and then your websites. There are a few ways to help this out. The first is to really use time stamps. If you have the time to do extra blog posts, try and do tomorrows. Use each available minute. Furthermore, if you can get your work done before fooling around, you’ll find more productivity. And finally, if you set up a schedule, you can really get things done. Running a web network, studying, and having a social life is difficult; however, it is possible if done right. It just requires discipline and that’s what I am learning.

Over at Dorm Earning, I wrote a four part series all about creating a forum. One of those posts had to do with picking the right forum software. Now, I was able to give a general opinion about two out of three simply because I have them both. I’ve used vBulletin and I have used phpBB and both of them are spectacular. That didn’t use to be the case. The paid software is vBulletin and it’s a great software. The free software is phpBB and that, as well, is a great software now that it is in version three. I’m going to go over the cost benefits as well as which one I would recommend.

First and foremost, when you are creating a forum, I’d recommend really determining what you want to do. With my science forum, I bought a vBulletin license because it was considered the best. Now, would I still do this if I had known about phpBB3? The answer to that is no. Had I known that phpBB3 was coming out, I would have stuck with that simply because it would have saved me close to $200.00 that I could have used for promotion. Now, why do I say this? Because, phpBB3 is good enough that it rivals that of vBulletin. My friend over at Jackuul Empire absolutely LOVES phpBB. He considers version 3 to be the vBulletin killer.

As for aesthetics…I still think that phpBB is about the same as vB. The one thing that I will say about vB is that it has the ability to have a sidebar, at least, that’s what I’ve seen in a lot of their themes. Go take a look at Science Chats. As you can see, there is that “Affiliates and Sponsors” section. If you look at Debateful, we don’t have that. I like that, so when it comes to, at least in this case, the aesthetics of the forum, I’d have to go with vB. But, don’t get me wrong, some of the themes on phpBB that I have seen are spectacular.

Now…The final thing that I want to touch on is the Admin Panel. Which one is better, which one is nicer, and which one just makes me grin? The answer: phpBB. It’s more organized, it looks nicer, and just looking at, it makes me grin. On the top, it provides a series of buttons to take you to different other buttons that are in that section. On vBulletin, it’s all one long side panel. That’s cool, but when you’re in a hurry like I am sometimes, I don’t have to really look at the side bar. I just want to click click click and be done with it. The free software offers that. However, vBulletin is STILL good.

Now, if I were to make another forum, which software would I use? I’d go with phpBB. They’re free, so it saves me the necessary money I can use for marketing. They have a great admin panel and finally, they are open source, so they are quick to get new updates, new themes, new mods, everything, because they are open source. Firefox is open source and people love it. Linux is open source and people love it. phpBB is open source and I’m beginning to really choose that over vBulletin. So, if you’re looking to make a forum and you don’t have all that much cash, devote that money to growth of the site and don’t bother spending over $150 on vBulletin.

I got into a conversation with my friend over at online marketing and we started talking about an individual we knew who lied about his stats to his advertisers in the hopes of increasing his profits. And that got me thinking…How many people are genuinely honest when they start to sell their advertising? How many people tell you where they are going to place your link? How many people tell you just how many unique visitors that they get? So, it got me thinking just how low people will go to make a buck. Here are a few things that I recommend you do when you are going to start selling advertisings.

• Be honest with the number of people you get to your site. To do this, I recommend signing up with Google Analytics. I have yet to do it myself, but after much irritation (friendly of course) from Nomar, I think I will get to work on that.
• Let the advertiser know where exactly their link is going to be. If you intend on selling FOOTER links, let them know that. Don’t tell them that it’s going to be in a ‘great place’ and then put in the footer. Let them know that the location will be there. Or, if you do it like I do, put it in a good place like the upper sidebar.
• If you guarantee that their link is one of five, ensure that you keep true to that guarantee. Don’t start changing things around after you’ve sold all five and then sell another five. This is being dishonest to the advertiser. One of the things that attracts an advertiser is few outgoing links. The fewer links that are outgoing from your site, the stronger each link is worth.
• If you agree to keep the link on for a total of two months, keep it up for two months. I have seen a lot of people take the link down after believing the advertiser would forget. Be honest to the advertiser and don’t rob of their money. Advertisers are the way that we are able to continue doing what we do. If we’re dishonest, they won’t come back.

It’s very important that you are honest to those that you work with. If you want to make money on the internet, you can attempt to be a swindler and a cheater. But, the thing with the internet is that word can spread very easily. And especially on blogs, if you cheat a blogger, they’ll let everybody know. That’s our business. We tell stories and we let people know what’s going on. That’s why I let you know about digg changing ad companies. We let information get circulated and if you cheat a blogger, they’ll let people know. So, be honest with the people you are selling advertising to. It’ll give you a better name on the net.

One of the things that I learned from working at the Deli is that people are two-faced, fickle, and they are annoying as all hell. I made two friends while working there, but at the same time, I also grew to really hate some people. Now, one of my friends was dating one of the people I could not stand at the deli. I don’t mind relationships where you work, but I have a very firm belief that you should never mix your business and your personal life. Business and pleasure should be completely separate.

Say you are dating someone and you two decide you want to make a website together. That’s cute, that’s cool, perhaps you’ll make some money together and be able to afford to go on a nice vacation and spend some quality time with each other. Then the dreaded honeymoon syndrome goes away and voila, you are fighting all the time and bam, your relationship ends. What do you do now? You have mixed business and pleasure together and you’re stuck with a predicament. How do you continue to work on your site when the two of you are so hostile towards each other?

If I ever make a website with someone, it’s because we’re friends at most. I won’t make a website with someone I am dating because if something happens (which is prone), the business is effected. It is very important that you don’t mix the two because that results in lost profits. And on a final note…Don’t USE business money for your personal life. If your websites are earning $500.00 a week, ensure that you aren’t spending it all on your personal life rather than expanding your business. Business and pleasure should never be mixed, at least not in my opinion.

One of the big things that I see a lot of companies doing these days is diversifying. Dell used to only make computers and now there are televisions. Apple now has a cell phone as well as the iPod. Google started out as a search engine and now has a map program, an online payment program, their advertising program, and tons of other things. They diversify because they realize that is where the max profits are. If you stay very limited, you’re not going to make as much money.

So, that leads me to my next point…Online diversification. That’s a big word with a very simple meaning. Try new things. I was reading somewhere that the reason some people make it big on the internet is that they try new things. They experiment. Don’t be afraid to experiment. If you are making a good chunk of change from your network of arcades, try something else. Sure, continue working on those arcades, but rather than making ANOTHER one, why not try and make a content site? Or…Why not try making a blog? By diversifying, you ensure that there are no risks.

What if one day Google decided that arcade sites were not good for business and just disallowed their ads to be placed there? Those that rely entirely on adsense income from their arcades would really be in a bind. However, if you had diversified and had other types of sites that were earning you money, you would still be able to survive and earn because of the fact that you had the money saved up and all of that. Basically, it is very important for you to have other things so that if anything happens, you’re alright. It’s diversifying and everyone should do it.

Alright, so perhaps this post is mostly for fun, but I have to say, whenever I am having a hard time focusing and I really need to get my work done, I go upstairs and get a snack. Now, I am not talking about having a five course meal with wine and a handy waiter come and take care of you with a very nice French accent. But, when I say have a snack, just go upstairs (or downstairs) or across the hall or whatever and just get something small to munch on.

For me, one thing that I love to have are the best college food in the world: Ramen. I don’t know why, but a hot bowl of this soup is just perfect. Granted, I totally messed them up tonight and they were all hard and stuff, but that’s besides the point. I didn’t let the water boil long enough before I put it on. However, another type of snack could be some pretzels or fruit or perhaps a few chips. What you want to avoid is eating TOO much. If you eat TOO much, your body gets lazy and then you don’t get any work done.

Snacks are a good way of giving your body a boost. Sugars are a quick boost, but you then have a drop. Carbs are good for the long hall, but they take time to start working. That’s why sprinters eat sugar and long distance runners eat carbs. I recommend some fruit for sure and perhaps a good old bowl of Ramen. It helps me when I have to think of things to write about for my blogs and I am sure it might help you too. One other thing to stay away from is alcohol. Beer slows your mind down (don’t we ALL know that) and alcohol in general won’t help you. So, that’s just my advice.

This post is going to be relatively short because I want to take my own advice and not get overloaded. But, one thing that I do want to say is that it is very important that you don’t get bogged down with work. Don’t overload yourself. Don’t push so much work out that you’re overloading yourself. In a future post, I’ll write about how it is important to really find something that relaxes you. But for now, let me just give you a few tips on avoiding overloading yourself.

First and foremost…Set up a schedule so that you’re not working at all the hours of the night. I like to work, so I don’t really feel overloaded. However, tonight, I am not going to work ALL night. By setting a schedule, you really give yourself a chance to get everything done in a very fast manner.

Secondly…Don’t try and do too much in one day. If you need to write twenty content articles and also do five blog posts, try and see if you can’t do that over a few days. If you try and do it all at once, all your writing abilities will be dead. Trust me, I have tried and I have failed.

Thirdly…Don’t set unattainable goals. It is good to aim high, but it is alright to not reach those goals. If you want to get forty articles done in a day and can only get twenty done, that’s alright. Don’t beat yourself up or force yourself to do it.

Those are just three little things that I recommend so that you don’t get overloaded. Schedules, practical goals, and it’s alright to fall back on something smaller. Try it out and you might be surprised to know that you’re getting more work done because you’re not stressed and you’re not overloaded. Good luck!

I was thinking about it today while I was cutting meat at the deli and I realized that I needed to find some other ways to get people to my science forum. I was thinking about different ways of growing the site and then I realized something. It is becoming easier and easier to SPAM to get people to your site and that is when I realized…I don’t want to be considered someone who spams. I came across a site that basically spams blogs. I won’t even give the link here because it irks me. I am not frustrated by it because I like the idea, because I don’t, but because I know that sooner or later, my sites will start to get these spammed comments.

Now…I want to basically say one thing. Don’t spam. It’s annoying. Now, I am all for posting on forums with your forum in your signature and all of that. However, don’t go to random blogs and post a comment saying “so cool lol” and that is that. Don’t do that looking to get a link to your site. If you want to use blog comments as a form of promotion, that is great. I don’t mind that. However, don’t spam your way to page one on google. Because chances are, you’ll waste your time making these spam posts and no one will approve it.

So…Don’t spam. Go ahead and comment and try and network all you want. However, don’t pay someone to spam someone else’s blog just so that you can attempt to get an increase in traffic and perhaps an increase in search engine ranking. I am all for promotion; however, don’t spam. I am against spamming and I guess that is what differentiates me from other people. Work hard with your site, though, and you won’t HAVE to spam to get your site ready. Good luck!

Back in the beginning of May, I expressed how important it was for me to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society. I didn’t really get all that much support, at least, I had anticipated a much larger turn around, especially considering it was for a good cause. The only person that actually donated to me was Andreas Bard. I began to wonder why no one had donated. I mean…It wasn’t as if I was asking for money to be given to me; the money was really going to that program. I tried to figure it out, but I was really unable to.

Are people afraid to do good deeds? Maybe not afraid, but…Consider this. If someone is picking on someone, are you going to defend that person alone? Probably not. But, if you had a whole bunch of people doing it with you, you might defend that person, right? Doing it in numbers, right? Well, I wonder…If more people were donating, would that just cause a spiral effect that got even MORE people donating? Or perhaps people need an incentive to donate. Perhaps they need to be given something in return. Now, I am not calling anyone here greedy, but what I am saying is that it’s alright to do good things. If we’re fortunate enough to have money, we should give some of that, in my opinion, to try and better the society that we live in.

Now…I figured since I wasn’t going to be getting any donations just because they wanted to, I would offer a little reward. First, go read my article that I posted above about the fight against leukemia. Once you have read it, give a donation. I don’t care how much you give. If you give a donation, please post a comment saying how much you donated so others can see. What I will then do is, at the end of each month, I will post in order of highest donation to lowest donation, who donated money. You will get a link with whatever anchor text you want. And…The link will be weighed based on how much you donated, so, the more you donate, the higher you will rest.

Now…Since I am unsure of how many people here actually have credit cards, if you do not, you are welcome to donate to my paypal. My paypal is mafiamaster922@gmail.com and if you donate to me via that, I will collect all the donations and once a month, I will make one lump donation and I will title it, “the readers of ZeroToMed.com.” However you donate, I will include your link based on how much you donated. So please, go read the article and please consider donating just five dollars. The more the better, but just five dollars is enough. Thanks.

My Mom’s girlfriend is getting into the business of corporate executive gifts. You know, where a company gives away different gifts with their company name on it? Well, she is getting into the business, but before she can get involved in certain companies to get products, it needs to appear as if she has clients. Well, because of this, she asked me if I wanted pens for one of my websites. At first, I was going to get pens made for Zero to Med. I was like, “Hey, this is pretty cool.” But then I got to thinking…

Offline promotion is a great way to get traffic to your site IF you run the type of site that could benefit from it. Now, because these are free for me, I figured I might as well try it out, you know? But then I got to thinking…Why would I want to get something for Zero to Med? I am not out to profit extensively on this site. Sure, I throw adsense up every once in a while and I run Kontera, but I am not really trying to make a huge dollar off it. What I am hoping to profit off of is Dorm Earning. I am hoping to get it across that Dorm Earning is the place to go to learn about making money online and offline. Perhaps they’ll get so excited that they’ll go there.

Now, you might be wondering how you can get these pens around. Do you just leave them anywhere or do you actually distribute them? I am not really sure. I think I might send twenty five or thirty to my friend who lives in Virginia so that she can distribute them around her school. The thing about pens is that they spread around pretty fast. Someone drops the pen and then someone else picks it up. I think what I will do is leave a few in random places. Perhaps in the middle of books or something. They are cool pens with hooks on them so you can hook it to your jeans.

So…What this will be in a sense is a test to see how offline promotion does for my blog. Maybe no one will come, maybe a hundred people will come, maybe more. What I do know is that this traffic might help me get the blog rolling. I am going to only get 150 pens, but that’s still one hundred and fifty ways to try and promote the blog. And since I am in college, it might just work. But remember…Offline promotion is just another way to try and get traffic. You should always try and use many different methods. But only use offline promotion if it’s a site that could benefit from it.