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Blogote vs TechTreak, Clash of Two Tech Blogs

by Melvin · Jul 12, 2008

So today it is going to be the technology blogs turn to face each other in this week’s featured ‘Blogger Head to Head”. Technology blogs are blogs that blog about technology. Well, that was before. Now, technology blogs tend to expand their reach. As the technology expands it’s channels, so as the blogs. Just take a good look at techcrunch.

For this week, it’s going to be Blogote and TechTreak. Honestly I have a difficult time remembering (pronouncing) their names but hopefully I can get over this hump. Blogote is a blog that I have visiitng since months ago while Techtreak has also a great one which I am reading lately. Here are the questions I fired to their faces. 😉

	TechTreak	Blogote
Describe yourself in less than 5 words?	crazy, Contest(too many to say) freak, helper, smart, geek	Indifferent,Simply and Smart! 😉
What is your favorite breakfast?	Almost all indian foods	Bread butter Jam 🙂
Any story behind choosing that domain name?	Me and my brother just wanted to have a tech blog so we just searched through godaddy but all the good ones are booked then my brother came up with TechTreak(we still dont know what treak is ) and we took it, at first it is a bit tough to remember but after some weeks we just getting good response and we made it so far!	yes, Blog + promote = Blogote
Why did you choose the technology niche?	Coz am a big tech freak and just wanna try the lastest gadgets so it will be fun to blog about them!	Tech is a part of life,So experiencing the Tech and writing about it is not a tough task.
How many hours per day do you spend blogging?	Almost 3 to 4 hours but in busy day i cant blog for even 4 days	Not even 1 hour 🙁
How many uniques are you getting monthly?	14000 before 3 months stats but now due to some personal(father expired) problems i just stopped everything and now started to get on the track back(its really hard)!	First month I received 16k+ http://blogote.com/2008/site-news/blogote-june-2008-monthly-wrap-up.html
What is your average blog income?	around $800 before 3 months but now just $250 due to bad days!	This is the beginning.. I will post about them in the coming months!
Do you read other blogs feeds? How many do you track?	Yeah i love to read others! i have more than 50+	No I dont read blog feeds.I do visit some of my friends blog to pass my time.
What keeps a blogger from making money from his blog?	Content + Traffic + Good Circle and with good management!	Motivation and discouragement..These two things make a blogger reach any of his goals.
When does a blogger have to consider monetizing	While having a great content, traffic and decent link love	After writing first 10-20 posts,he has to find out his niche and then Quality seo readable posts will do the job.Also submission to social sites is recommended for every blogger.
What makes your blog unique from others?	Style in posts, good design(some self made ), covers almost all interesting stuff like mixed juice!	I have No answer,I cant say if my blog is really unique bcoz Blogote is yet to be discovered and nourished.
What’s the biggest goal for this blog?	ha…biggest!? almost every month is a sucessfull month for TechTreak coz as a contest freak i try to get on as much as possible and try to make most of my content with a better traffic each month so it just going to increasing! But to the most hardest part i ever faced is face off with johnchows blog review, i dont know about johnchow that much untill then, when i seen him in a RuffPC(worth $3000) contest, that is the month i tried to make most of my blog to get nore votes and win but with both our votes euqual the whole contest rules and schedules are changed because of us but sadly i lost it and it still hurts(i even cant says that tons of xxxxxx comments i got from a month from JC fans) me the most! but the only hope is one day i’ll be there to break the chains!!!	For now it is to break the traffic shackles obviously to be the best blog with quality content.
Give me a blog you admire and why?	Problogger.net since in the beginning i learnt a lot from darren	I don’t admire any blogs,why to admire a blog when you have the capability to blog better than others..

How To Get That Advertising

by Melvin · Jul 10, 2008

Disclaimer: This is an article based on my experiences and wouldn’t guarantee anything on your part. People do things differently and I can say this is what worked best for me all throughout.

So I was being asked by my friends on schools on how did I get that many ads on my site while my site is new and unpopular? I told them “I just flaunt with advertisers”. That statement though, is just 1/4 behind the real thing about selling ads on your site. Many blogs have struggled immensely on finding advertisers on their blogs. The truth is you would really struggle! I know most people doing selling are new and unestablished blogs. Selling the spot is really hard especially when you’re content is a little out of place. So I have written here some thoughts on how to get advertisers for your blog (preferably for new blogs):

Putting affiliate links – It’s a rule of thumb that when your blog is new, then just try placing affiliate links there! It’s good and bad on some point, let me explain what I think. When affiliate ads are placed on your site, advertisers will come to think that spots are full and/or it would give them an ugly impression and will ask themselves “What am I getting here being the first one to advertise?” Obviously that’s a great point. When there’s only one advertiser on your part, make sure he’ll feel special because he’s the only ONE! It’s ok to put affiliate links as long as in moderation. For example in my blog, the only affiliate banner there is sponsored reviews and revresponse at the links part.
Sell yourself cheap! – This is always an issue on whether you are going to sell your blog’s space for cheap or not. Actually I pretty much believe starting out low is good, why? Because people love cheap prices? There are tons of people in digital point looking for super cheap advertising. If you are selling $20 on a banner and only getting 1 advertiser per 2 month, then why not sell it for $5 and get 4 in a month?
Show your booty hole what you’ve got. – This is one of the biggest misconceptions of people/bloggers. They tend to create an advertising page, then feel lazy and then just rush it. BIG mistake! Just saying you’re getting 1000 uniques a day is not enough. People look for proofs, they look for informations, they look for pictures. Showing it, makes people expect what they can get for a very cheap advertising. It also builds a good reputation around the blogosphere. Tell them your uniques, alexa, technorati, serp, countries where visitors originated, such those things. Maybe like this advertising page 😉
Contact them – This is common nowadays because it’s very effective. Most bloggers look for other blogs advertisers and contact them directly offering advertising. What I have learned here is that you have to be keen and logical. You cannot look at Shoemoney’s blog and then contact Clickbooth and asking them to advertise. Just look on how the advertisers are targeting channels. Some target niche blogs, some do target blogging tips blogs and so. Example here in my blog is the Blogriffic advertisement. I have seen that advertisement on some small blogs around the blogosphere. From that point, you can see that this is an advertiser willing to take advertising on small blogs and not on risky and costly ones. After that I contact Salwa and offered him her my advertising page and she said she would. That easy!
Get a great theme – This one is a no brainer. You don’t expect to handle ads with a Kubrick Theme. Heck this one is so easy as there are so many many many themes compatible with block ads and others.

Again this is what I have used for the past few years and have found it effective for me. You may not agree with me at some point but I am sure some of this are self-explanatory. If we are different in thoughts here, then how do you do advertising on you’re part?

I’m Making Money Online

by Melvin · Jul 7, 2008

Update: I am still accepting sponsors, so if you are godly then you can contact me

Back to the days when I was starting out my venture on making money online, friends usually ask me “What the heck are you doing bro?” I normally respond and say “Im trying to make money online. They didn’t mind and never asked a follow up questions anymore.

So some time early this year and recently I was showing them some checks and moneys from affiliate programs and my records on paypal and that’s the only time they have got interested into what I am doing. Problem is, they ask me now seriously. How did you do it? How are you doing it? How can I do it also? Can I also get rich doing that? I respond by saying “I do affiliate marketing, I promote other people’s product and get paid by commissions”. Then they respond with so many many more follow up questions. Because for them it’s hard to understand technical terms such as CPA, CPL, Adwords, Squeeze page and so. Now I want to ask you guys, how would you explain this to someone who knows literally nothing about internet marketing. I mean when they ask you “How do you make money online and how can I too?” How can you answer them (meaningful answer that would enlighten them and not confuse them) in less than 5 sentences?

Ok, actually this one is a little contest. Everyone is running big contest just to boost their feeds and I don’t want to be the same with them. This one is just a small contest with very small prices (can’t even see them). And here are the prices first:

2 copies of how a newbie could make “$500 a month in affiliate marketing sponsored by Simple Cash Blog.
1 copy of the “Atomic blogging ebook” which I have won in the contest
Mega PLR package hosted by Me… 😉
Update 3 links for 1month free from Zigtur
Adsense Profit Unleashed by Zigtur Again
2 125X125 ads at the sidebar
5 text-links at the sidebar

As you can see I did not even include the price for the prizes. Let the quality do the talking. 😉 You see, just a very little contest that benefits other people and great value of prices. What do you have to do to get points?

Answer the question – Obviously this is what the contest is all about, right? This would not benefit me, but others who have very little knowledge of this one. Only 1 answer please. 5 points + 5 to the best answer.
Stumble this post – Obviously I was getting very little traffic from social media except reddit so maybe you can help me. 3 points
Linkback from this one – 2 points

As you can see I didn’t even include you subscribing to my feed because I know you guys are subscribed. But if you aren’t the best way to give back is to subscribe to my feed. Another way of gaining points also is by signing here (available only to United States and Canada)

Partner With paul – 5 points

That’s it. Everything would be randomized and the higher the points the better the chances of winning. 10 winners will be taken and I will post the result here next week since my exams are pretty close. Goodluck to everyone and happy blogging… 😉

Your Face In Your Blog!

by Melvin · Jul 4, 2008

So today I was reading doshdosh and again I have noticed Maki still not putting his face in his blog. Actually I know so much that Maki loves anime and have nothing against it. However I always feel that having your picture in your blog helps. Well I think I have said last time that blogs represent yourself and most of the times, the content, picture reflects to ourselves. Having your own picture in your blog specifically in the about page helps the readers value your blog more. I think one of the first pages that a visitor would read in your blog is your about page and what would you think he will think upon seeing a cartoon or no picture? Hmm..

I can’t argue with DoshDosh. It’s an established site that has given everyone a great help. In fact it’s one of my favorite blogs (a blog I read every morning). With Maki, he already had set his own standard of putting anime girls (sexy & yummy) and anime pictures in his blog and you can see that the readers don’t bother about it. For smaller blogs, it’s really important to have your face there. In case you’re trying to imitate him or just wanting to be anonymous, I’m very sure you’ll not duplicate Maki’s success. I really really do not see reason/s why you should not put a picture of you on your blog. Just look around, Chow being evil is being punctuated by his picture, Shoemoney has his every friday and almost everyone is proud of their face. And i’m not even talking about being gorgeous or ugly 😉

If you do not have a face in your blog, then how can you interact face to face with them? Or could you tell me why you don’t have a picture of yours and maybe explain your side.

RevResponse Looks Good!

by Melvin · Jul 3, 2008

So last Monday I was contacted by a friend highly recommending RevResponse Program. Sure I know this one seeing on some established blogs. I have also seen some post about it. After signing I immediately play with it and have seen that they are giving everyone a lot of potential in making money with this program. Actually after some days of experimenting with it I’m not surprised to see that I already have incurred $30 for just 3 days.

Before everything else what is RevResponse? RevResponse is simply a site that supplies free white papers and catalogs and let publishers get compensated for giving them so. They are working on a CPA basis. It’s very attractive because it’s for free. You can get paid for giving your audience free resources. How much do they pay? They pay $1.50 per complete signup and usually some advertisers are paying more depending on your conversions. Revresponse offers a lot of free resources in different industry but most are business related.

Actually they require nothing for signup. No minimum traffic or whatsoever. In terms of placing banners they do the whole process for you. The banners are javascript so it surely would take a slight toll on your site. Another thing is that RevResponse gives you a unique site for promotion of all this catalogs. It is something like “http://publishername.tradepub.com. In my case it looks like this. So overall I can conclude that it’s a good program. The thing here is that most people love free resources and would surely and easily bite in this offer very easy. The only thing that I will do now is wait for my payment. They pay every 45 days in which for me is not good. 🙁 All in all I don’t see anything wrong the program. How about you? You read this blog everyday and maybe you can tell me something more about Revresponse!

I Forgot The Top Commenters!

by Melvin · Jul 2, 2008

Everyone in the blogosphere seems to be talking about the launch of Blogging Idol. Of course I know everyone is getting themselves ready to launch their attacks to gain rss subscribers. I’m not gonna talk about the competition. Today I am giving something away to the top commentators last month. As you may have remembered I told you that I’m giving something for those people who have commented even w/an almost unseen comment form. So I just feel they deserve to get credited for doing so. So here are the top commenters for last month

As you can see, the criteria of top commenters is based per month. BUT it isn’t just end there. I have an algorithm done by a friend that detects people who are just running up their comments. As I have said before I’m not strict in comments but of course I don’t tolerate trolls. Another thing to add is that I have the editorial decision to remove a commentator who is sporting a spammy keyword. That’s why I always believe that when you put a comment, then you might as well want your name to get credited for it. For winners to claim your prizes shoot me a mail or a comment stating you’re email address. Don’t forget to put [@] to avoid spam on your inbox.

And before I forgot of course, everyone is doing it so do I. I’m not forcing you but see I can say I have something to be proud of my content. You can say I’m great, I’m sloppy, I’m lazy, I’m not ugly, but the best thing you can do is say nothing and subscribe to my feed. 😉

What’s up Max Banner Ads!

by Melvin · Jul 1, 2008

So everyone seems to be intrigued with this new plugin from Maxpress. Max Banner Ads is a plugin that makes it very easy to add and rotate banners in your wordpress blog. The good thing is you don’t need to alter any codes in your theme. Sounds good right? That is just the prelude. Another thing that it does is that it automatically tracks the statistics of the specific banner. It shows the impression, CTR and so on. After reading Chow’s post about it I immediately take a look at the site, grab my copy of it and installed it.

As you can see, the plugin automatically lets you add banners from almost everywhere in your site. You can rotate as many as you want. And add the fact that it is free. Yes, it’s free. So you’re thinking now everything about it is positive? Well not quite. The plugin after activating it, actually is not still activated. You will be asked to subscribe to Maxpress newsletter, and it’s not optional. If you don’t want to, then you cannot use the plugin! For me I find very annoying. That simple subscription would probably have a huge impact on those who want to use the plugin. Another thing is that under the banner there is a link ala Project Wonderful. As of now I haven’t tried if you can remove the linkback to their site. Geez…

So all in all I find this plugin still useful. Though, OIO direct is still better by far, Max Banner Ads is free and would be very beneficial to those who do not have a $37. Yes, the subscription looks spammy and the linkback is annoying but sure the plugin worths a great look. If you have any other things to say about this plugin then say it…