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Progress Update : 2009 Week 2 January 12th-18th

Posted on 20. Jan, 2009 by Derrick.

Ok, So a couple of days late. . but I have legitate excuses (Difficultly uploading video to Youtube - for some reason, it wouldn’t accept my HD version, and attempted nearly 10 times - the file was huge - over 700MB :). .Anyways, here’s my progress report for 12th to 18th of January. (times are approximate, as there were a few times when I was in deep concentration on making the video, I forgot to start the timer

My Achievements:

1. Brainstormed Ideas for Video Contest & Produced and Uploaded first Video (~16 hours+)
2. Researched Wordpress themes and revamped my blog ~ 15 hours
3. Initiated my first Joint Venture Project - I’ll reveal more of this later ~ 4 hours
4. Writing 2 Key articles - one on article writing, the other on directory submission ~ 9 hours
5. Spending a very small amount of time on Traffic Generation ~ 2 hours  (I think this is a little inaccurate - probably more closer to 4-5 hours and this was mostly oil rig hopping - visiting and commenting on other peoples blogs)

Below is a nice coloured graph showing you the breakdown:

Now that I have showed you what I have done - Lets check what the RESULTS are

My Key Performance Indicators from the goals I set in January were based on the following : Income, Visitors, and my list building.  As I have been focusing on producing content and updating my site (and subsequently very little on traffic generation) my results this week, have not suprisingly been bad :)  Firstly here are my google Analytics stats:

As you can see I nearly dipped to ZERO on the 16th, but I was luckily able to resurrect my traffic after I finally uploaded my Video to YouTube.  I have to say its very discouraging when you aren’t getting traffic, but its an adrenalin ride when you do:)

Ok. big question : have I made any money?  And the answer is NO. . in fact I’ve spent some money (spent $70 buying the WooTheme to update the look and feel of my site).  But I know I will very soon. . How about my list?  No subscribers yet either, but again I do have a plan. . so this will change very soon

One other bit of good news is that I have climbed in the Alexa Rankings - I’m now proud to say I’m at 580,385 Check it out below:

Oh, and one other thing. . I just passed 1000 friends on twitter :). . so all in all despite not being good to my bank account, it has been a good week :). . .

Well that’s it for week 2.

My plan this week is to continue working on my blog usability and functionality, adding lots of quality content, and spend more time in traffic generation activities

Would love to hear any questions you may have or your thoughts on how I could be more productive, or where you feel I need to focus my energies for the coming weeks - post your comments in the box below

Derrick

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Blogging Progress Report Thursday 8th January 2008

Posted on 08. Jan, 2009 by Derrick.

Hi All,

Had a busy day today.

Here are the goals I Kicked today:

TRAFFIC GENERATION

• Sketched out my 2 ideas to generate traffic. . to be implemented in the next two weeks - I’ll reveal these when they are ready to be launched
• Left comments on about 10 blogs - One thing I have to improve is to devise a better way to keep track of these other than ticking them off on two different sheets. . I’m finding its taking me about 10 - 20minutes per blog visit and comment, so end up spending about 1-2 hours doing this.
• Submitted my site to Alexa - by the way, I checked out my Alexa Ranking a couple a days ago, and was blown away by my ranking - I’m in the top 1 Million Sites Baby!
  

CREATING CONTENT

• Wrote my Jan Goals Blog Entry
• Wrote this Entry
• Wrote My Preview for 3 Software Programs
• Getting my New Blog Design Ideas together

RESEARCH & STUDY

One the major frustrations of building the blog, is that there are SOOO many things I want to get done - I have so many ideas, but at the moment am limited by time and assistants (ie I have none at the moment - so I need to look into how I can get some help
- Anyway one of the things I’ve spent 2-3 hours doing today is evaluating the value of some software that should save time, improve my blog standing and make money -  I’ve found three that look very useful:

• Directory Submitter - Free & Paid Version - Just submitted to 10 directories tonight
• Article Submitter - Free & Paid Version
• Ninja Affiliate - Paid Version Only - wordpress plugin to make affiliate management much easier

In my next post I’ll give a quick preview

Oh.  .yeah.  .and still no Moolah :). . (but that’s all according to plan - see my earlier post

Derrick

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Traffic Secret 1: Part 1 - Be A Gold Digger!

Posted on 28. Dec, 2008 by Derrick.

I’m excited today, as today marks my official start of Driving Traffic to my blog.  From today I’ll be taking consistent, deliberate action to drive targeted traffic to my online home : my blog.  One of the key ways of getting traffic according to Alex Jeffreys‘, is writing on other people’s blogs and leaving a link back to yours.  But its more than just leaving a comment like :

“Hi, like your blog, please visit mine here - <link here> “

If you’re like most people. .you’ll probably thinking what a waste of a comment, as it really adds very little value to the blog, and worse, it is obviously just a blatant promotional tool, to have a link back to your site!  So, there is a wrong way of making backlinks to yours site, and thankfully there is also a right way . . and that is what I plan to start to reveal to you today. .

So, I know what you’re thinking - What exactly am I going to do?  Well I’m going to be a Gold Digger!

BE A GOLD DIGGER!

No Not Like Kanye West!

So What do I mean?  Well. . put simply I’m going out to the web on a Gold Digging Expedition!  I’m going out into the world wide web and seeking out blogs, reading posts and comments, and rather than just say Hi, and ask the blog owner to visit my site, I’m going to look at what I like and love about other people’s blogs and give genuine compliments.

Why would I want to do this?  Well the key to be successful in ANY Endeavour in this world is BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS.  Business is done through people.  Great Endeavours are executed and realised through people.  Everything man has achieved is through people, and one of the best ways to build relationships is through encouragement and taking a genuine and keen interest in the other person.  (I learnt this many years ago reading a classic in the field of personal development: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie).   Great chance for me to revisit the gems in this book, and start reapplying!

Alex Jeffreys‘ emphasis in Module 4 : Social Media Money was all about this - Building Relationships, and more specifically - Relationship Marketing.  It was really about how to interact online - what not to do, and what to do to build those relationships that forms the foundation of any great endeavour

OUTCOMES:

Before we get to the specifics of this key traffic tip, lets firstly define what is the outcome one wants as an owner of a blog/website:

1. We want targeted relevant traffic. (there generally is no point getting people who have no interest whatsoever in the topic of our blog to come and visit - I mean, think of the times, you’re searching for some information on a specific topic, and somehow land on a page that has nothing to do with what you’re looking for - what do we do? -  most of us just click and close the window!. . so we want people that are searching for the information we have. people who will be happy to find our blog because it provides the information they are looking for
2. We want the targeted traffic to come back, again and a again, or in web terms we want our blog to be ‘STICKY‘.  Why?  Well firstly in the offline business world, it is always much easier to sell to a past customer, as compared to finding new customers to sell to. . so Its the same with getting visitors to your site.  its less work keeping your visitors coming back, compared to keep going out and finding more people to come and visit.  (As long as you’ve got something of value to offer of course)
3. We want to get to a point eventually where the blog / website autogenerates visitors.  Just like in an offline business, one of the best ways to grow a business is through referrals, through ‘raving fans’ of your product / service.  So it is with your blog, by providing consistently good value, eventually the site will attract the visitors you seek, through word of mouth.  So this is the end point in terms of generating traffic for your blog.  Keep this in mind as you work out what strategies you want to deploy to achieve this outcome!

DO’s AND DON’T’s OF LEAVING COMMENTS

Ok, lets get back to the original intent of this blog post : when visiting other blogs and websites - Be A Gold Digger - find good things and compliment - as this is the beginning of building relationships, which forms the foundation of building a business.

To expand on this basic premise of being a Gold Digger, here is a quick summary of do’s and don’ts Alex Jeffreys‘ shared with us, when you go out and gold dig on other sites:

Do:

1. Be REAL - don’t be a fake, people can sniff you out, just like dogs!
2. Post on related blogs to help drive TARGETED TRAFFIC - find blogs that have the same topic and subject matter as you.
3. Tell your story if appropriate to the blog post

Don’t:

1. PIMP Yourself- ie don’t leave comments on other people blog sites with the sole purpose of advertising your site. . They don’t like it, and neither do you when others leave such comments for you!
2. Try and sell or promote your products.

Stick to these guidelines and know that the 3 outcomes outlined before happen, when we have the right long term intent.

This is very important. . because as you surf the web and look for information, you will find advertising for many ‘tactics’ and ‘techniques’ that people are selling that can drive tons of traffic to your site, but it may be non-targeted traffic, utilise a loophole in the search engines, or take advantage of how the search engines work, and from what i have seen, many of these are only transient solutions that will not work long term. My feeling is that it is much better to focus on providing a good value service, develop your reputation, and word of mouth referrals, to be around for the long term, rather than the quick buck. .

So the right intent in my mind is so, so important.  I have been defrauded, cheated and taken for a ride too many times to mention in this post - both online and offline (although when i’m looking for some sympathy I may divulge :). and if there is anything I hate, it is seeing people taken advantage of.  I diverge. . ..

So back to what I was saying . I believe part of getting on the right path in building a business, heck, just being a good human being is to be A Gold Digger!. . I’ll be going out and visiting a bunch of blogs and posting what I like about their blogs, or messages.

And really this will reinforce that old theme of giving of yourself, and in return, you’ll receive much more in return, of course, while this is true, it is every important that when we give of ourselves, we do not expect anything in return, that we do not entertaining the idea of obligation which is forced and unpleasant.  I intend to go out and give without expectation and not at all worry about what I want(Traffic). .

I am feeling a sense of freedom just thinking about giving without expectations! . . .

The Experiment begins!. . .

Derrick

PS: Love to hear your thoughts, comments!

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Brainstorming Session 2 : Blog Critiques

Posted on 23. Dec, 2008 by Derrick.

Woah!  still buzzing, ok, not quite, but still quite awake, after waking up close to 5am for this mornings brainstorming session that went for a marathon 7 hours!!!!    I think Alex got thought about 40 of students, answering questions and giving us comments about how our blogs are looking. .Lots of great ideas were gleaned from the session - I’ll review these later, once I’ve got all the ideas organised into an easy to read format

Once again I’ve been told to change my header!!! Arghh!. . nothing personal, just a sigh of frustration :). - Appreciate all the honest feedback and comments I received via the call - afterall without them the last time, It woudn’t have evolved to how it is now - which personally I’m very happy with.

I’ve already spent quite some time the header, so rather than spend another 3-4 hours working on a header right now, I’m just going to leave it for the moment, and see what other ideas come to me .  Would love to hear your comments and your thoughts about it and if you think i should change it - For those of you who were on the call I have modified it slightly as I know it was mentioned it looked a bit busy, so I’ve opted for a colour gradient - below is how it looked before:

Thanks in advance for your comments!

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