zerotomed.com

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.

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.

Yesterday, I didn’t get around to making a blog post and I do hate when that happens. However, I was out with my girlfriend and we were having a lot of fun, so I wasn’t about to stop having fun with her because I had to get home and blog. Maybe that’s the wrong thinking, but I was taught one thing: my personal life comes before anything. I should never ruin my personal life for work. And I think that’s why I would never be able to become a real businessman…Then again, I intend on becoming a doctor and they are always on call. And although I want to ensure that I get my work done, I need to keep in mind I am a boyfriend and friend too. Jobs, huh? :p. Ah well…Missing a day, though, did bring me to a good point.

Is it all that bad to miss a day every once in a while? Will you suddenly lose readers and the such? Are they that fickle? Will a reader say “Fuck you Jacob” and not come back because I missed one day? And then I realized something…No, they won’t. They’re not going to get pissed at you or stop coming to your blog. They’re not going to give up on you because you missed one blog post. They’re not going to get angry at you. And the reason for that is because they are a reader because they love what you are writing about. People go to Dorm Earning because they like the information I provide them. And I realized…Missing a day is not bad.

Now, don’t get the wrong picture. It’s not good either. You should try and update every single day. But, I go to blogs everyday and even when they are not updated every single day, I still go back…And sometimes, I am dying for a post that when it does come, I read it so fast, I have to read it a second time. And isn’t that a good thing? Doesn’t that keep the reader on for a bit longer and they might see an ad that catches their attention then? While I think updating every single day is the best you can possibly do, don’t get mad at yourself for it. Just make sure the next day you update, it’s even better than you could make it. Don’t beat yourself up, just make it better!

One of the big things that I’ve found about blogs is that people give up because they are not earning money or they are not getting a lot of comments or something along these lines. I’ve even had thoughts of giving up because it just seems like it’d be easier to give up instead of continuing on posting on a blog that no one comments on and no one clicks the ads. That’s what I was thinking about two months ago. It just seemed that no one was interested in what I was saying and after a while, it became extremely demoralizing. It really beat me down. Then one of my most loyal readers started to comment on a regular basis and well…It really was a morale raiser.

Find something that motivates you. As I mentioned in my post about what gives you motivation, I gain my morale knowing that there are others who I call friends that are making money. It really can help you to keep writing when you see someone else is doing good because you know that they are just like you. My friend David is getting married soon. He’s a recent graduate from college and he works a normal job. He, like me, hopes to make money online. Whenever I see that he is making a lot of money, it motivates me to work harder to work.

The moral that I am trying to teach you here is NOT to give up. No matter how hard it gets and no matter how tiring it becomes and above all, no matter how stupid you think it is writing about stuff that you feel no one cares about, don’t give up. Sooner or later, your blog will get known if you continue to work hard on it. Zerotomed.com was nothing when I started it. Hell, even when 2007 started, it was nothing. Only recently has it become something that people know more about. Overall, what I recommend for everyone is to not give up. You’ll realize soon enough that all of your work is definitely worth it. Just don’t give up.

What do you think makes a good blogger? I was thinking about it today as I was updating Dorm Earning. It dawned on me that I update the site (with the help from my friend Rose) everyday and I write content with the hopes of giving people the knowledge they need to make money, but I wonder often if I am a good blogger because of it. Do I give them what they need or am I writing purely for profit? That is the biggest thing I fear when ever I write content for a blog. It then dawned on me, why not ask my fellow readers what makes a good blogger.

In my personal opinion, what makes a good blogger is someone that puts his readers before his profit. The person that is willing to answer questions for an hour even though it doesn’t make him money, in my opinion, is a good blogger. The good blogger is the person that does not think about profits when he or she writes the blog post. And a good blogger, in my opinion, is the blogger that is worried about making the content for the writer, not for the search engines. I used to write in the hopes of getting content for search engines approval. Now I just write. I ramble really. But, I do think that I may be a good blogger. What do you think makes a good blogger?

You know, a lot of the things that I find interesting about blogging is that the rewards from it take a long time to come. It is hard to continue to post on a blog because the money is not there right away. I’ve been writing on this site for a few months now and I’ve made at most, three hundred dollars. Is that much? No, it’s not. However, I love to write on the blog and I know that it will get somewhere. Yet, here is the problem…Writing can become demoralizing. At the beginning, I had a great burst of energy…And then it began to deteriorate because I wasn’t making any money or anything…And then suddenly, this month, it’s exploded! It really has worked amazingly.

I update every single day now because I know that the real way to make money is to keep posting. Here’s the thing that works…A blog can always make money if you update continuously. However, the great thing about a blog is that it can make money on posts that are five months old because of search engines. Yet, the clicks are sometimes not there. And that is what demoralizes a lot of bloggers. But, I am going to tell you right now that if you keep at it, you will see a reward. I am not making much money, but every click is worth ten posts from me because I find that I am earning. And as time goes on, more money will be made. Don’t give up blogging because you’re not getting money. This is not a get rich scheme, but blogging can make you money if you try. Good luck!

The first time I ever came across a guest blogger was when I was reading John Chow’s blog. I was looking at it and I came across something rather interesting…It wasn’t just Chow that was writing. Although it was his personal blog, he had a few other people that came on and posted. That was a new idea to me, especially because it was a PERSONAL blog. I could understand having some guest bloggers forSciFreak or for any other forum that is more information based, but a personal blog? And then it dawned on me…It was just another way to get more links. Let me explain…

You go to a forum like digitalpoint and you say, “I will buy a link on your blog for $10.00 for a month!” They say, “FINE!” Now you have a link for a month. And every single month, you need to buy that link again and again. At the end of the year, you just spent $120.00 for a link from one site. That’s cool, you got a homepage link, a link going to your site and hopefully a little page rank boost. That’s very cool, I concur that it’s a good idea. But, what if you could have gotten a link that was permanent for free? What if you could have gotten a link without having to spend $120.00 a year? That’s when I realized that what Chow was doing was not a bad thing, but a good thing.

Now, you may be wondering what the benefit of a guest blogger is. You get another person’s perspective. As this blog continues to grow, I realize more and more that I am only one opinion. I am not someone that believes in owning hundreds of websites. There are others who will own hundreds of websites. If I am going to offer information to people, I need to get multiple opinions. Another benefit of having a guest blogger is that the blogger gets a link back to his or her site. If I wrote a blog post on someone’s forum, I could give myself a few plugs where I wanted. Maybe tell people to go check out an interesting article, etc etc. That’s alright in a guest blogger’s post. Because both people will do it.

Not only are you getting different perspectives, but you’re also getting new, fresh content. Add to the fact you’re getting these links from these other blogs that could potentially lead to more traffic and now your blog is growing. You’re getting link backs from other blogs, you’ve got fresh content for when the traffic from that other blog comes and you can potentially get some readers to stay. Isn’t that the reason people try and plug links in their posts anyways? To do it to someone else in the hopes that they will do the same right back? I’ve attempted to do it before, but I’ve failed. Maybe I’ll try again. Anyways.

You may be wondering why I wrote this rather long piece. I am interested in seeing if the benefits of having a guest blogger or two are worth the work I’d put in to another blog post on someone else’s blog. It’d be interesting to see if both of us could get an increase in traffic and maybe a PR jump because of the link backs. If you are interested in trying out a guest blogging situation, please feel free to leave a comment. I’ll have your e-mail and I’ll send you one as soon as possible. Maybe we’ll all get some more traffic and some more links in the process. And for the record, I am willing to guest blog with anyone so long as your content is genuine and you take the time to really write a good post. Thanks!

Here is another one of those wonderful posts that I am sure you have ready everywhere else about not putting all of your eggs into Google. And before anyone says it, I know, I am guilty of doing the exact same thing. However, as I write this post, I am trying to get my computer to actually do something and load a page on Kontera so that I can sign up thanks to John Chow’s great deal. Anyways. The point is very simple. Don’t put all your eggs into Google. You may be asking why and this wouldn’t be a good blog post if I didn’t answer why.

Here is a scenario that I just made up:

You and some guy you met online partner up and make a website together. Things go great, but you two get into a fight over how things should be run. He knows about the other websites you own. You tell him that you are taking control of the site, give him his cut of the profits and then change all the information. He gets angry and goes to your site and click bombs you like crazy. Adsense says, “FRAUD CLICKS! BANNED!” And now you’ve lost your income.

As you can see here, it is very easy for some pricks to fuck around with your site. And I use those obscene words because I find people that do that to be cowards and the such. You should never click bomb someone…It sucks. Anyways…So, now you’re without a way to make money because you were click bombed. That’s just one really awful scenario of what could happen. I could have made a better one, but, I wanted something very extreme. How do you prevent losing your livelihood if you are banned from Adsense?

Don’t put all your eyes in Google. Sign up for different ad companies so that you can get more ads on your sites, more methods of earning and other income to fall back on. Sign up for Kontera because it is a different looking ad, sign up for adbrite because it is a different ad, do some affiliate ads and all of that. Have other ways to make money. Do something that will make sure you don’t lose out. Google is a great program, but there are other ways to make money. There are tons of money makers on the internet. I just recommend not putting all your eggs into one basket.

Now, excuse me while I go wrestle with my computer and sign up for Kontera. If all goes according to plan, in the next couple of days, I should have Kontera running on this blog. I hope that is the case, at least…One can only hope. Thanks a lot and let’s hope for success for everyone!