Blogosis

So I just got www.justindupre.com online. Yeah, its another blog authored by me. This one is about freelancing, and more specifically, freelance writing because that is the only type of freelance work I do. Check it out if you are thinking about getting into the business of freelancing.

Anyways, it wasn’t easy setting up this blog, and any newbs out there to blogging should know that it isn’t all sugar and candy. There are blog themes to discuss,  content you should prepare beforehand, marketing tactics, and hours and hours of time will be needed to do all this. Setting up Justin Dupre.com took me about 8 hours from searhing through themes to getting the couple posts and pages up with plug-ins and all the other blogging necessities.

Having a blog is a time user. You need to update it regularly, care for its aesthetics, write posts, configure it for more traffic, reply to comments and emails and all sorts of other tasks. So before you start a blog, just make sure you are prepared for this amount of time you will need to work on it.

Even if you aren’t the most free person in the world, logged down by work, school or other activities, there are several ways you can still maintain a blog. Some of the most popular blogs on the net only update once or twice a week. Try setting aside 1 hour on the weekend just to blog. Blog durig your work break, or during a boring class that you won’t gain extra knowledge from (listen to your math lessons though. Working on my websites has made that grade bad. Really, really bad. Heh). Write posts down when you don’t have access to a computer and type them later.

Eventually, you’ll get into the groove of things and be blogging faster than a pro. Or, you might decide this isn’t the path for you. Either way, it is still time well spent as it can help you learn more about yourself as well as time management

I know the secret to running a successful blog. Do you!?

It really should be no secret, and anyone who considers themselves professional bloggers knows exactly what it is. They did not become professional bloggers because they were the best bloggers in that niche at that time (although they usually become the resource for that specific blog niche). Was it a bit of luck? Perhaps. Did it take a bit of skill? Maybe. Did they enjoy it? Indefinitely, they loved it!

You need to love what you are blogging about! No one wants to see crap you wrote on a niche you are blogging about just because it is something you know will make money. I don’t run a blog bout blogging because I don’t want to and it will make me good money. I run it because it is fun. This blog entertains me when I start throwing together new ideas and mixing up what other bloggers are doing. I also love to write, which should be a passion of any bloggers actually. Combining these two forces, I am “Super…err Blogger Man!” Alright, it’s a bit cheesy. I can tell. If I didn’t enjoy blogging, would this blog be where it is at now. Most likely not even close to a blog like this.

Just keep that in mind when you are choosing what to write a blog about. Who cares if it is a crowded niche? Who cares if barely anyone reads about it? A blog is something you invest time into, so invest time doing something you would love. Inform others of things you like to do and read about. Entertain yourself while blogging. Blogging can get boring no matter what niche, no matter how passionate you are for that niche. The chances it will happen often is much more decreased if you blog about something you absolutely love.

So stop blogging about tampons and goat cheese, and jump into your favorite niches. However, maybe you enjoy writing about tampons and goat cheese. By all means, Captain, don’t let your 1st seaman steer you off course..

Alright, I’m tired of these Clickbooth posts just as much as you, but I am pretty empty on ideas right now and clogged up with client work and school. So, one of their reps contacted me on MSN to support their (allegedly) disintegrating image. There is good news from it though. That email was not a C&D letter, so I don’t have to worry about getting sued just yet. Yay! Anyways, here is what they had to say:

Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Whos this?
Ziare says:
Hi Justin this is Ziare with clickbooth
Ziare says:
how are you
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Fine.
Ziare says:
I wanted to reach out to you about some of your blogs regarding clickbooth
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
I figured so.
Ziare says:
We just wanted to have a chance to discuss the situation
Ziare says:
and clear up any misconceptions
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Ok.
Ziare says:
do you have a few moments?
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Yup.
Ziare says:
the email you received from us was not a C&D, just wanted to clear that up
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Okay.
Ziare says:
C&D’s only come from our lawyers
Ziare says:
but we still wanted to reach out and defend our reputation
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
I think it might be a tad to late for that.
Ziare says:
why is that?
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
It is ruined amongst the community. Not just an individual.
Ziare says:
thats not true
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Alright.
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
So what is true? I am assuming most of the Wicked Fire members, as well as Jon, aren’t? Correct?
Ziare says:
well the allegations that we dont pay our publishers are false
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Of course.
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
So they are lying?
Ziare says:
they are definitely mistaken
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Alright.
Ziare says:
how is thailand btw, I had a chance to visit bangkok a couple years ago
Justin - Freelance Content Publisher for Hire says:
Fine.

Yeah, I admit I was a bit cold with them. What do you expect, though.

Who likes the new theme? I’m trying to clean it up a little here and there, so expect a lot of changes.

If you are afraid of getting a little (bad) attention, stop blogging.

This whole C&D thing with me (as well as a few others) and Clickbooth has gotten ridiculous. I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping because of the email they’ve sent me. Can this be taken as the real deal? Will I get my butt sued off? Does it matter?

I don’t really know.

Is it worth it to go through what could be possible trouble for me? I could be facing a case against a company with millions of dollars to it’s name. What have I got? 200 in my pocket, and that’s for rent. Obviously, it would be mindless to keep the post up if these guys at Clickbooth are serious. Do I think they are serious? Yes, I do.  So why is the post still up?

I don’t really know.

I guess it is a pride thing. The freedom of speech, the freedom of communication, and the freedom of press (no matter what form it is in) are all things an American is born with. I’ve never been an outspoken person. I’ve kept quiet about a lot of crap in my life. I’ve backed down from a lot of that crap. Now isn’t the time to do it. I haven’t been sued, yet.

I’m sure if the threats increase, I will have to take them down. If I get a “real” C&D note from a lawyer, it will be removed. Getting an email from relations just isn’t going to cut it. Relations has absolutely no power in the law besides telling me to stop blogging falsities. Alright, sure. You got it Clickbooth. But I never told one lie in that post. I just informed what I allegedly knew about the alleged situation, and what everyone is allegedly saying you are allegedly up to… allegedly they say.

If you are going to bully someone around, bring in the big dogs the first time. This is absolutely ridiculous, Clickbooth. I don’t want to be sued, and you putting your money into suing me or any other little time blogger probably isn’t worth the lawyer fees you would undergo doing so.

Instead of suing us, why don’t you ask us what would make us take the posts down? How can you get on our good sides? How can you befriend Jon and the other Wickedfire members? How can you gain back the trust of a whole lot of affiliate marketers? How can you get your ads back in that marketing magazine?  Attacking us (allegedly) hasn’t seemed to have been of much help. And allegedly, it could mean the end of Clickbooth… allegedly. Thats my opinion at least, given to me by the 1st Amendment, thank you very much.

So, yeah, I should take the post down, just to save myself what allegedly…….. might be a lot of trouble. I don’t think I will though. Maybe I am just lazy, which I really am. Or maybe I just want to let others know what is going on with me and Blogosis. Because this domain is my property. What goes on my domain stays mine. It doesn’t all have to be valid fact, but I don’t go around pushing lies that can get me sued.

John Lemp, please, if you are still emotionally distressed from my posts, let me know. I know it must be tough for you. All that money in your pockets must not be enough (opinion/guess of mine… I’m not saying that could be false. Perhaps it isn’t enough. I don’t know). You don’t have to sue me to get emotionally stable. Write me personally, hell… call me!! (country exit code (I think it is 001 for the USA)) - 66 - 08 - 5617 - 0895. I will take all these posts down in an instant if you can prove to me it is hurting you. That’s no problem. Ask for Justin, and be aware I might answer in Thai (Hul - lo = Hello (Haha)). Alrighty?

I want to be cool with you Clickbooth. I want it honestly. I need to join some affiliate programs now that I got some shiny new credit cards. Its time for some extra revenue, you know? There is so much that could happen here, but I think you are just taking it all in the wrong direction. Maybe I am wrong though.

I really don’t know.

If you missed the first post in this series, make sure you check it out here.

Beyond getting in contact with your interviewee, you need to be asking the proper questions to him or her. If I were to pick anyone to interview, they would obviously be in my niche and someone successful at it (Darren Rowse for instance). Now, these top guys get 100s of other emails and inquiries every day, so I need to make my subject title stick out. These guys are immediately deleting the emails that ask “How can I make 10,000 dollars in my first month of blogging?”

Make the Subject Interesting

I won’t be asking “Can I interview you?” in the subject. Generally, these get turned down because they are just so busy and can’t take enough time out of their day to do a little networking with you. Instead, say something interesting in the topic. “Hey, did you know this about your blog?” or “I’ve got something interesting to share with you about blogging.” Anything, be creative, use your imagination, but you need to stay friendly. I sure as hell wouldn’t reply to an email saying “I want to know why your blog sucks so much.” Then again, that could work.

Introduce Yourself

So we are past the subject. Now, you will want to say Hey, (Blogger’s Name), or whatever formality that you feel appropriate. I discussed this in the first post of this series. Then, put in a small introduction. When I mean small, I mean short and sweet and small. Your name, your blog, and a few other short details about yourself are enough. You aren’t interviewing yourself here, you are interviewing them.

Why did I decide to interview you?

Leave a short message about the interview next. Why you chose them, and what you plan to do with any answers. Let this, again, be simple. You can’t bore the blogger into closing your email. A few sentences about the details of the questions is enough.

Get on with it

Now what? Just get into the questions. Don’t wait to see if they agree to arranging an interview. It just creates hassle and once again, the blogger won’t want to separate time from daily activities to answer your questions.

Make it Easy

Write your questions out and make them clear and noticeable. Maybe bold them, bullet them, make them bigger. Do anything to draw attention to this point. This is the most important part of the email, and you won’t want to skimp.

Say Goodbye

After your questions have been asked, conclude it. Say thanks and I hope to hear from you; all that goodness and candy to make them feel appreciated. Don’t threaten them by saying you won’t read them anymore if they don’t reply. That’s pretty ridiculous to think anyways. I don’t need pissy readers. Just realize they were probably too busy to answer.

Ask the Right Questions

Or, perhaps, you just asked the wrong questions. I will be covering that in the next series post.

Ah, another awesome weekend in Bangkok. Unfortunately, like all weekends they come to an end. It’s approximately 6:40 am and I have been in a van from Bangkok heading to Hua Hin for a little over an hour and half. It’s not my own van with my own chauffeur (I’m working on this one though), but rather a community of people in the van. What I mean is that it is public transportation where tickets are sold until the seats are filled up. We are sat 3 wide in 4 – 5 rows depending on the customization of the van. I’m a little too shy to make eye contact with anyone behind me, so I will just guess this is one of the four row vans.

Anyways, I’m not too concerned with the people a couple rows back. The most influential people, as we all know, are the people “nearest us.” Usually this is an endearing term, but for my case, a rather suffocating one. You see, the 20 – 30 some male character sitting to my right seems to have special privileges as the saliva dripping corner of his mouth seems to be looming closer and closer to my right shoulder. He seems to need to make use of my shoulder as a pillow. He also is doing the “Mighty Ducks Flying V” (Go Minnesota!) maneuver with his legs. Basically, my legs are sandwiched in a small area, feet locked together, and I will be left with some cramps as I attempt to get off this vehicle. My notebook is using his right leg to stay flat as I can’t support it with half my body turned sideways trying to give this jerk some room. I sure hope he can’t read English.

What I am getting at is you should respect your blogging neighbors. This is my seat. Get the hell off of it. This is my blog. If I want you to say something I leave the comments open for you, and I will take your guest posts. I have no reason to stop you from saying what you want to say, but I can certainly prevent you or lessen your chances of getting your words seen. Tough life, right?

I don’t want to do that. I quite enjoy any criticism I get, and love the discussions formed from them. But there are times you need to realize when a comment is no longer helpful and goes from turning someone else’s blog into your own. Here’s what I expect and what I do to not take over your blog:

Grammar and Spelling

I used to be a huge stickler about this. I still am. I cringe when I see it wrong. I cry when I realize I did it on my own posts. However, you don’t need to tell me. I don’t care if I left an apostrophe out of don’t. I don’t care that you have hawk like eyes. I don’t care if I said worser instead of more worse. They comments are so annoying, especially when they are the whole comment. Leave me something useful and then if you want to point out the I spelled “Pens” with an extra “I”, that might be a good idea. I’ve since stopped doing this because I’d block your IP if you did it to me. Haha!

You Shouldn’t Have Written it Like This

Hohoho! What? I shouldn’t have written it like this? Well then step right up big shot and take a swing at. A blog is a form of expression (an art actually), which allows its author/s to express their opinion in their own way with their own style. Unless you are debating me on an opposite view, or adding to what I already said, don’t tell me how I “should write.” My writing style is unique to myself, and my ideas and opinions are formed by me. Not you, and unless you somehow write me some amazing email telling me why I am factually wrong about what I just wrote, I will never change what I write for you. I will write for my audience, but use my style and my voice, not yours.

I Just Wrote a Blog Entry Like This…

This one gets on my nerves, too. “I just wrote a blog post all about this. Look Here! (adds link to own blog).” Hey, I don’t care if you tell me why I should go look at your blog post that is similar to mine. Did you add some new points to what I said? Did I repeat some of what you said and build off that? Do we have opposite views!? Great! Leave a long comment post, rephrasing what you said in that blog post, maybe even copying and pasting from it. Then add your link. I guarantee, you will get so many more views with an intellectual comment. Make me want it, otherwise I will just mark it as spam.

How can a blogger deal with these kinds of random comments? My sadistic answer to that question would be… “DELETED” (Who else loves Strongbad?) Is that the best way to handle things though? Of course not. Address these problems on your blog. If someone is leaving short one line comments and links to all their posts, keep marking them as spam until they catch the drift. If they are persistent, write a blog post about how annoying they are (once again, a very sadistic but effective method). This is sure to get them fired up enough to write up an awesome comment or maybe even a back link as they argue you on their blog. Incentivizing your comments is an excellent way to get quality critique from your blogging peers as well. I am doing this on my blog now, and in fact, I would like to congratulate Michael from DollarStackin’ for winning a 125 x 125 ad spot on Blogosis for a month. Your comment really made a fueled debate on this post.

What are some of the ways everyone else deals with this crap? Do you just ignore it, or take a stand?

I just got the February Newsletter from Yahoo! announcing their new commission changes, and I was particularily excited by one package change they had within.

Meet the New Yahoo! Web Hosting

Change to Program Term!

We are excited to announce that Yahoo! Web Hosting has launched a new service offering that gives small businesses unlimited room to grow online for one low price. It’s the first “unlimited” offer of its kind in the shared hosting space, and it creates a simple, easy path for small business owners to launch and grow their businesses online.

Yahoo! will no longer offer three web hosting plans, and instead will offer one plan, called Yahoo! Web Hosting, to all new customers. The new plan includes:

• Unlimited disk space, which allows users to build as many web pages as they want
• Unlimited data transfer, which allows users to support as many visitors as they want
• Unlimited email storage
• 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee, which allows customers to cancel their service within 30 days of sign-up.
• 1,000 email addresses

Yahoo! Web Hosting is priced at $11.95 per month, and requires a minimum 3-month term, which is paid in full upfront and which is automatically renewed each period.   We will be discontinuing the 35% offer for Web Hosting as conversion for the product should increase with the new unlimited features.

We have added new creative and landing pages to the Yahoo! Link Library within Commission Junction featuring the new unlimited service. 

What!!! Unlimited storage!? Unlimited Bandwidth!? Yahoo! seems to be going bold with Microsoft’s offer chasing them down. This, I think, is an amazing move for Yahoo! to make, and one choice that will make them very wealthy. Unfortunatly, the commission from this program seems to have been stopped, which would have made me rich (if I had 25,000 more subscribers). I am going to look into this package, and maybe make the switch, even though I don’t even use 5% of the space for my web hosting package. Could be very interesting to see what comes out of this though! Any thoughts on this move?

I’m just messing with you, Wogan, but I never thought I’d get involved in one of these cheesy blog chain letter. Oh well, here my first, and hopefully last ever “meme” post:

The rules - According to Wogan May’s Post:

1. The person tagged must copy the word (”Blego”) and paste the definitions of the word contributed previously by the people who did the meme. Link backs would be nice, but not necessary.
2. The person tagged must then add her own definition in this format ‘yourname.com’s definition’ and place your link. Being creative with the acronym is encouraged.
3. Answer the following questions.
4. Tag 5 other people to do the meme.

So - the word is “Blego”, and here are all the definitions thus far:

Blego (evilwoobie.com’s definition) - n. an acronym of “blog ego”, which pertains to a blogger’s sense of self in the blogosphere.

Blego (Darkside-Dreamland.com’s definition) - n. a protologism combining blog and ego. Used to define the ego of a blog or blogger. Like personal ego, blego may be good or bad.

Blego (benbarden.com’s definition) - n. a toy for children to build with but with a B in front.

BLEGO (WoganMay.com’s definition) - abbr. Breaking Little Enterprises - Godzilla Organisations.

Blego (Blogosis.com’s definition) - n. An Eggo waffle and a blog mixed together. I don’t know what this would look like, but maybe I can come up with a prototype.

5 questions - and their answers:

1. Do you know what your blog is really about, and you can write a one-sentence promotional material for it in a flash? If yes, write it here.

Blogosis: The Process of a Blog

2. Do you join social networks to promote your blog? If yes, do you hope to find friends in these social networks and in the process get regular readers of your blog?

I don’t actively participate in social media, but I put RSS feed updates on my Facebook profile. I keep links for my websites on my Myspace and Hi-5 profiles. I don’t think anyone I’ve ‘met’ using these networks has become a subscriber, but some of my closer friends don’t know I have websites until they see the links. They get astounded when they hear the money I can make doing it.

3. Do you or do you plan to join ranking sites that put your blog in competition with others for popularity? If yes, do you or do you plan to monitor your stats regularly?

I don’t think I would mind if it were fairly based off the content and not the popularity. Unfortunately, we know that wouldn’t be the case anytime. I will if someone challenges me, though. I probably won’t bring it up myself unless I can take a swing at Chow or something.

4. Do you tweak your blog often in accordance with the tips you get from blogging guides and gurus? If yes, list the bloggers you visit often to obtain these tips.

I’ll take it as I get it. I use most advice from my subscribers because my blog is for them, not me. I’ll listen to ProBlogger, but others like Chow and Shoe are junk when it comes to blogging. The variety of the guest posts and Darren’s own words makes for a nice spice.

5. Do you think of your next post even if you have just written a new one? If yes, list your inspirations for posting, and/or some routines that you go through before posting.

Of course. If you aren’t planning future posts, you will never succeed as a blogger. People who read my blog know I get inspiration from my posts from everything. There is Cloverfield, the Olympics, Bunnies, and my stupidities that I experience throughout my life that get me to write.

Who I want to see follow this meme:

1. Andrew Messer
   
2. Blogger Noob
   
3. Rudy
4. Bruce Cat
   
5. Read Scott
   

However, do I expect any of you to waste your time on this crap? No, but it is a good way to introduce yourself if you are a new blogger. I don’t know. I had to give the post I was going to post to a friend I promised a guest post to (Bruce Cat. Excellent blog and the guy has got some excellent ideas for affiliate marketing. He’s Asian which gives him +10 rep points from me. Haha) Anyways, get on this meme. (If you want to.)

Bloggers can get under a lot of stress. I get stressed when something I try to put in my blog doesn’t transform like it should. I get stressed when I just can’t find the right word. I get stressed when I lose 5 subscribers in one day. Bloggers get stressed when they can’t meet a goal. Bloggers are people, so we get stressed from the daily occurrences that happen in life. This stress gets in the way of our writing, and may interfere with our subscriber numbers.

Why am I writing about stress? Today, I went through a lot of it. I went to go eat pizza, and as I was sitting down looking at my empty plate a couple of girls snuck in and sat behind me. They started saying what sounded like “Bun!.. Bun, Bun! Bun Bun Bun Bun!” I thought at first they were calling for me because my nickname is Bud (Justin comes out sounding like Jut-din because Thais can’t end words with an “s” sound so I just use Bud to make it easy), and sometimes ending consonants sounds come out short in Thai (n and d can sound the same). I figured they weren’t calling me so I went back to my focused stare to the blank plate at my table.

The food came to my table, and then came a tap on my back. ‘Oh, it must be one of my Windows Live friends,’ I thought. I was in for a surprise though. It was one of my ex-girlfriends and her friend. Oh man, that is stress right there. They came and sat at my table where I went into a lot of staring into the spaghetti and pizza in front of me. Then her friend decides to ask a bomb of a question:

“Why did you break up with her?”

Oh my god! I wanted to throw up. That is an extremely stressful question. I couldn’t take it. I wanted to throw up. They sensed I was really uneasy (I’m really shy and not too confident for some unknown reason), so they moved back to their table. I got some boxes to go and got out of there. That was a smart decision, because I instantly felt relieved of a lot of “baggage” hanging on my shoulders. That’s my first tip of this post. If you are in a stressful situation or place, do whatever the hell you can do to get out of it.

I got home, but still being phased I almost missed today’s blog post. I couldn’t think of what to blog about. I was just empty.

Stress is a big cause of “Blogger’s Block,” so I made an attempt to get over that stress. I practice several forms of stress relief that help me ignore things happening and let me focus on my blog writing.

Do anything you can to get your head to push out the stress

I basically tried to get all those thoughts out of my head. I went in some chat rooms, called some friends, read some blogs, and did research for my work. I overloaded my brain until I just couldn’t think about anything else. That overload pushed unnecessary things out of my mind, and negative stress is unnecessary.

Do something you love

If you are dedicated to something, or you find something that you can really focus on, do it! I love writing, so I decided to start a story I need to do for one of my classes. I started writing a research paper for another. I thought about those other things so I wouldn’t think about my ex.

Get that stress out in alternative forms

Talk about what is stressing you out. I told friends what happened. I am so grateful to have some of the most amazing friends in Thailand (You will never find people more willing to be your friend anywhere in the world. Meet a new person and they will literally be asking to be your friend and want to take you everywhere in 5 minutes). They were extremely supportive. Now I am getting my stress out again. I am writing about it for you.

Do something that will calm you

I don’t meditate much, but for those that like to experiment with the idea, I hear it is one of the most mind-freeing things you can do. For me, I might take a nap. I wake up unaware of my surroundings, and sometimes groggy, but that grogginess keeps me from remembering things that stress me out.

Take your stress out with violence

Call your neighbor over and punch him in the gut. Kick his dog. Steal his car and crash it into a concrete barrier. Okay, just kidding. Don’t do that. (I hope PETA doesn’t read this) Get a pillow, get a hated stuffed doll, or get your sister (just kidding again. Love you sis) and beat the stuffing out of it. This is a great release for those times when you just can’t take it anymore.

Give a good cry

Ah, crying. I’m not going to lie, for a guy, I’m a girl when it comes to crying. I can cry a lot if I want to, but who cares. It’s a good stress reliever. Any guy claiming that he never cries is a liar. If he insists he has never cried though, there’s a spot in between his legs that will test if that’s true or not. I don’t condone this kind of action though, ladies.

Eat some food

The number one stress reliever in my book. I took that pizza home and got some bites in before it got cold. A tub of ice cream is great for this. Any other fatty foods are highly recommended. Remember, you will need to adjust the rest of your daily diets if this happens though.

Exercise

If you do eat that ice cream, you probably need this anyways. Run some laps around a track (or your house if you have no other options. Who cares what the neighbors think. The crazier you come off the less likely you will have to ever talk to them. I never liked my neighbors anyways.) Lift some weights or do some pull-ups. The intensity of it will get your heart pumping and sweat flowing, leaving other things for you to focus on.

Swear a lot

I love to swear when things don’t go the way I want. I say it loud and proud like I don’t care, and I really don’t. Screaming “FIRETRUCK” helps me have a certain kind of power, like if I say it, it will go my way. And it does! Haha. Try it. If you don’t swear, say JEEBUS or something like that. A nice “AHHHHHH!” will probably be in order as well.

Using these methods, I can push out a blog post no matter how stressed I really am. So relax yourself and put yourself in a blogging mood. Ignore that stress and keep your blog posts in order and up to date. If all the above doesn’t work, it is probably time to take a rest. Your blog may actually be the cause of your stress. In these cases, announce on your blog that you are taking a personal break. You probably deserve it, and if your subscribers love your content they will probably stick around.

Wow, Wow, Wow and Wow! I bought myself some new blogging toys, and I gotta say, if you have been blogging on a notebook screen its time to check out and check up. I bought the Samsung 2232GW for about 350 dollars, using my birthday and Christmas money, and it is totally worth every penny. Not only can I see like… everything… I can see, well, everything! I can see you! I’m a bit giddy about it myself. The colors are perfect straight out of the box! The added desk space is magnificent! On top of all this, it is effing gorgeous (see above picture) . I am totally blown away Samsung. I can’t wait till I make enough money from this blog to buy a second one.

Alright, now that I’m over my Samsung-fandom rant, I want to update you all about the Blog Contest/Giveaway! I’ve had lots of entries, but I want more. I originally was going to cut off submissions to the contest in about 24 hours, but I’ve decided to extend the contest all the way until January 31st ends, central standard time. That will be this coming Friday for me, Thursday for those back in the states. Remember! 11 chances to win, people. Here they are:

• Subscribe via email. Its right under my giant subscription button on the right. If you can’t find it, ask your dog or something. He’ll help you. (1 credit) [Also, some of you may think you are subscribed by email, but you need to ACTIVATE IT by finding that link in your email to do so]
• Write a blog post linking to my Blog Contest Post (That can be found HERE), and comment there with the link. I had some joker try and convince me some forums were his blog, so don’t try that. Haha. This is worth 5 credits.
• Add me to your Blogroll and comment that you did so here. (Another 5 credits).

Let’s do the math. 1 + 5 + 5 = 11. 11 Chances to win a prize package over $50 dollars. Yay! I can math! I’m sorry. This monitor is freaking huge.

Another update on Blogosis here. You should be seeing Yahoo ads here (I think you should. I don’t, but I think that is Yahoo’s way of solving the invalid clicks problem. Way to go Yahoo!). Heck yes, they accepted me to the  program, so I am able to get some decent CPC money rolling in. I’m having a decent click-through rate of about 1% so I can see the cents starting to turn to dollars. On top of these ads, if you would like to see the opportunities I have for advertising on the blog, click that Advertise button on the top. I know, pricey right? Well, gotta make money somehow. Blogroll links are only 3 dollars though!

And a bit of a personal goal update for me. I have decided to get into the realm of Affiliate Marketing. What does this mean for the blog? It means more money for you in my blog contest. So expect to see updates on this here and there. No, I will not make this a make money online blog. That is a completely separate blog. I want to be the next Problogger, not John Chow. He has bad taste. Anyways,  I plan to let you know more about this soon.

Here are some funny stats for my Search Engine Rankings on Google.

• “Adbrite is a nice performer.” - 5 hits - This goes to my 40+ Adsense Alternatives post. Unfortunately, some blog scraper took the post and stole it from me, so he ranks first. Jerk.
• “Girlfriend” - 3 hits - I don’t know who the hell is going to my blog for this, or what is going on. I know this is because of a picture I linked to of my super model girlfriend a few days ago. (Yes, that is my girlfriend… Come to Thailand if you want one… haha)
• “Biology Blog” - 1 hit - Lol. I wonder if that nerd is one of my subscribers now.
• Cloverfield Big Post Restaurant Reviews - 1 hit - What? No, no, no. Cloverfield is here. There is great blog for restaurant reviews out in the make money blog niche. 5 cents to whoever guesses right!
• Opportunity Signs College He Games - 1 hit - Say what? How they found my blog from that, I haven’t a clue.

Alright, this wraps up this update I think. I don’t classify this as a real post, so I will be following up with another unique post. Think I will spit it out in an hour or two so keep track! Thanks!