April 2009 Site Update

Last month I posted the first monthly Wealth Itself progress update. Today I am posting the second update. I intend to continue to report the key site stats as I think that there are a few people who will be interested and it forces me to review the goals and objectives of the site.

Expenses = $0

• No new expenses incurred.

Income = $47.75

• I have sold a six month ad for $50.00, yielding $47.75 after PayPal fees.

Blogging

• I participated in another blogging carnival at Ask Mr Credit Card.
• My post on saving money through selecting alternative energy suppliers was linked to by two blogs, including an MSM Money blog which sent 32 visitors in April.
• Google has ranked my posts on eyeglasses highly and has sent many visitors to the site.
• Visitors:
  • 244 first time visitors, up from 174 for March
    • 18 visitors on the peak day
  • 25 returning visitors, a significant increase from the 4 returning visitors recorded in March
  • 371 pageloads, up from 234 pageloads in March
• Comments – none
• RSS subscribers (Feedburner) = 5, an increase from 4 in March

Search Engine Rankings

• Google PageRank = 1, no change
• Alexa rank = 523,102 up from March’s ranking of 1,101,771

General impressions

• Last month I mentioned that I had not fully settled on the focus for the site. I am still sorting this out, but I do recognize that I will have to post more regularly.
• I still have not actively promoted the site by participating in forums or posting comments on other blogs. I am still not sure about how much I will do this.

March 2009 Site Update

I have always been drawn to blogger’s posts when they review the relative success of their site.  If you have a similar interest, please continue reading.  As a monthly feature, I will be providing a brief overview of visitors, post activity, income, expenses and key insights I have gained in developing Wealth Itself.

Expenses = $380.29

• I purchased the site during March for $299.00 on Sitepoint via an auction.  I purchased a site rather than starting a new site for the following reasons:
  • I thought that it would minimize the WordPress learning curve.  With a limited technical background, I couldn’t quite imagine starting from scratch.  I think that I made the right decision, although I have spent hours understanding how the site works and making changes.  The prior owner was very cooperative during and after the transfer.
  • I wanted a site with some presence in the search engines.   The site continues to get visitors because of articles and activities of the prior owner.  After changing the domain name, the site was indexed by google within days.  On April 1st, the PageRank of 1 of the prior site was assigned to Wealth Itself.  Sometimes, it can take months to get a PageRank value assigned for a new site.
• Domain registration fees = $33.86.  This is for two names, one abandoned, both with privacy registration.
• Host fees = $47.43 for one partial month and one year paid in advance.

Income = None

• I have included ads and links from Google Adsense, Commission Junction and Amazon.
• One link remains on the site that was sold by the prior owner; I agreed to keep this link as a condition of the sale of the site.

Blogging

• In addition to the two posts announcing changes to the site, in March I posted three original articles.
• I participated in one blogging carnival at MoneyNing.
• Visitors (tracking began on March 18th):
  • 174 first time visitors
    • 40 on peak day (due to my post on the the blogging carnival)
  • 4 returning visitors
  • 234 pageloads

  
  Comments – none that specifically addressed the content of one my posts

• RSS subscribers (Feedburner) = 4

General impressions

• I have not fully settled on the focus for the site.  This is evolving and I think that it is worth letting this happen over time.
• I am still trying to settle into a routine so that I post more frequently.  I underestimated the amount of time it takes to prepare a 1000 word post.  The two most substantive posts were probably too narrowly focused to have broad appeal.
• I have not actively promoted the site by participating in forums or posting comments on other blogs.  I have decided that it is more important to post content and settle on a strategy than spending time promoting the site.
• Alexa rank = 1,101,771

photo credit: philectric

The ongoing economic turmoil and uncertainty has dominated the news.  There is a fear that this recession could be the next depression, that nobody is quite sure of the way out of it and that government actions will have consequences long after the recession is over.  Or maybe you or a family member, friend or neighbor has lost his or her job or is worrying about losing their job.  The objective of this post, though, is to highlight opportunities amongst the bad news.

There is positive news. Some businesses are doing well.  For example, discount stores are doing well as people want to save money on their everyday shopping items.   Liquidation auctioneers are busy, homes are becoming more affordable, bringing in speculators and bicycle sales are likely doing well.

Let’s take a look at some other changes that are underway and see if there are opportunities.

Adversity necessitates creativity. Entrepreneurship and innovation increase during tough times.  Now, the internet allows anyone to start a website and turn a hobby or passion, an interest or even their drive to succeed into a potential source of income, an outlet from the bad news or a source for other people’s benefit.  And, you can now work virtually, for someone across the globe – you are no longer limited to a job that requires commuting.  If you don’t have a website, think about starting one.  Out of work, learn about social networking to help you find a job.  Examples of social networks include LinkedIn, Facebook and forums or community dependent websites that drawer visitors in to discuss topics that interest you.  Have special expertise, writing or graphic design skills, think about becoming a freelancer.  There are many sites on the web that help freelancers find work.

Libraries are busier. People are spending more time taking advantage of free and inexpensive services.  In addition to the increase in library usage, I suspect that community education programs and local not for profit service organizations will see increased utilization.  Now is the time to volunteer or teach a class to serve your community, enhance your skills and meet people and network.

Value and quality mean more. While people are now being more frugal, they are also more likely to ensure that they purchase items and services that will last and provide longer lasting value.  If you make high quality products or offer exceptional service, now is the time to promote this – but make sure that your prices are competitive and fair.

Savings rate is increasing. People are saving more now because they don’t know what the future holds.  Sure, it is easy to put this money in the bank and earn 1% maybe, but now is the time to educate people on alternative options that will still meet their desire for safety.  Many people don’t know the difference between a money market account and a certificate of deposit or how to find the best rates or the benefits of a credit union over a bank.  Websites and financial professionals should be offering this basic information.

Customer service will be emphasized. Competition for fewer dollars will result in businesses enhancing their customer service.  This should benefit all of us, especially if you are intolerant of poor customer service.  I have often thought of starting a consulting business that would advise local stores on ways to improve the experience of their customers.  If you have expertise in this area, such as having run a successful business in the past, volunteer to participate in community business organizations.  If you own a business, start implementing ways to enhance the experiences of your customers.

Skilled workers and professionals are available. This recession has not left any socio-economic group untouched.  It is an especially good time to hire qualified workers, to look for expert advisers or, if you are a member of a volunteer organization, to reach out to the unemployed and get them involved in your non-profit or advise you on your business.

People will be spending more time close to home. People are more likely to stay near home for vacations, find less expensive forms of entertainment (movie theaters are busy now) and stay at home with their families.  Start offering products and services that will appeal to these stay-at-homers.  For example, create a niche blog about things to do in your area or write on home improvement or gadgets for the home.

Online dating sites are very busy. Nightline ran a short feature on online dating sites last night.  During tough times people are less likely to want to be alone and more likely to try out online dating sites.  Even the requirements that participants include in their ideal date has changed – people are less likely to specify that they are looking for someone with a good job.  If you have ever thought about trying one of these sites out, now is the time.

My goal with this post was not to create an exhaustive list but to encourage you to think differently during this time of adversity – look for opportunities in the ways that people are changing their behavior and spending habits.

In Part 1 of this post, I explained why residual income is a worthy goal, and presented one of my favorite books, The 4-Hour Workweek, which goes to great lengths to explain different ways in which you can create a sustainable flow of residual income for yourself. In this post, I’ll begin the process of showing you how to create a blog for one of these channels of residual income. Please keep in mind that blogs offer only one possibility for residual income in your life, and that to be most effective, you should strive to create other channels of residual income for yourself. When you do this, even if each stream of income is only bringing in small amounts of money, when you add them all up, the results can be overwhelming!

For my blogs, I tend to use either Blogger or WordPress, so my experience with other platforms is limited. For this series of articles, I’ll be focusing mostly on WordPress, but may mention Blogger in passing if I feel I can contribute something important. Now, without further ado, here’s a rundown of some of the things I’m planning to discuss in this series of articles:

• Finding a host for your blog
• Installing and setting up WordPress
• Choosing a WordPress Theme
• Integrating Adsense
• Signing up to be an Amazon Associate
• Setting up FeedBurner and MyBrand
• Utilizing the Buy Me a Beer WordPress Plugin
• Google Analytics
• Maybe more…

Finding a Host for your Blog

First things first… if you are going to start a blog, you are going to need to host it somewhere. If you want something quick and easy, I’d recommend Google’s Blogger. While Blogger is a great solution and can certainly make you money, you may wish to consider other options if you really want to have full control over your blog. For this reason, I recommend WordPress.

WordPress hosting is available from many different sources, including some free ones. The only way to achieve maximum flexibility in optimizing your earnings, however, is to pay for it. I use Site 5 for my WordPress hosting, and I highly recommend them. Signing up is easy. Just click on this link and follow the instructions to set up your own account. Their available plans vary from day to day, but they always offer a variety of inexpensive, yet very professional and feature-packed, hosting options.

Once they’ve got your account set up, login to SiteAdmin with your new credentials. Under CGI & PHP Scripts, you’ll want to click on Fantastico. This will take you to the management console for installable apps on your new website. Under Blogs, select WordPress, then select New Installation. Follow the steps to install the WordPress platform on your new site. You may choose to install it in any directory of your choosing, but it’s easiest to install it at the root. Once installed, you can navigate to http:///wp-login.php (assuming you installed WordPress at the root of your site) and login to check things out! Take this opportunity to play around with some settings and get yourself familiar with the platform. There’s only one way to get comfortable using a new blogging platform and that’s just to dive right in and figure things out. If you’re confused, don’t worry. In Part 3 of this series, I’ll give you some tips on configuring WordPress to not only host your blog content, but to maximize your earnings from that content. Thanks for reading!

Check out Part 3 of this series.

Check out Part 2 of this series.