Thursday, November 24, 2011
Niche Sites
Those are apparently the key to making money from internet ventures.
Especially the niche sites that generate a lot of traffic or pay well- things like high-profile law would probably net a lot of cash. Mesothelioma ads that you see on TV, insurance salesmen who pressure you to pay the small fee that over time will probably add up to more than you'll pay in repairs (but will save your hide when you need it), and other high-income businesses that rely on a large base of clientele- that's where the money's at, I think.
Maybe part of the CCWK Content Network needs to involve insurance, law, and other expensive niches.
What say you?
Especially the niche sites that generate a lot of traffic or pay well- things like high-profile law would probably net a lot of cash. Mesothelioma ads that you see on TV, insurance salesmen who pressure you to pay the small fee that over time will probably add up to more than you'll pay in repairs (but will save your hide when you need it), and other high-income businesses that rely on a large base of clientele- that's where the money's at, I think.
Maybe part of the CCWK Content Network needs to involve insurance, law, and other expensive niches.
What say you?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Or as some of the more cynical and self-loathing citizens of the US call it, harass-a-Native-American-and-then-eat-too-much day.
I'm having candied yams and garlic oranges and turkey and decadent gravy and good company with the family.
Happy Thanksgiving from the States!
I'm having candied yams and garlic oranges and turkey and decadent gravy and good company with the family.
Happy Thanksgiving from the States!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Promote your site: Raffles.
Raffles, giveaways, contests.
In essence, the idea is to invest a little money and accrue a huge amount of traffic- burst or long-term, depending on what you intend to offer. If you're looking for exposure, you can use a contest to crowdsource a massive amount of back-linking and site-sharing. If you're looking to generate leads for sales, a similar effect can arise from slightly modified tactics.
[ http://www.homebizwomen.com/contest.html ] is a guide you might look at.
In short, you need a few things:
A site for the traffic you'll be creating
A "prize" (prizes, plural, work better) for individuals to compete for
A task that involves a tiny amount of work, but includes the necessity for them to create a link (or more) to your site (whether it be the contest page or the site itself) and encourages them to share the contest with their friends, family, or others who might also enter.
If you make the contest's victory condition(s) merit-based, you need a clear rubric and an objective, third-party evaluator. Easier: make it a raffle. Use something like [ http://random.org ] to pick a winner.
The idea behind this is that (assuming you've already made your website search-engine-friendly) you'll have a large number of people creating an equally large number of links to your site (boosting your search engine ranking), and that same group of people is likely to continue checking back (especially if you have mechanics that reward return traffic and more than one legitimate entry).
An excellent example is SnapSort's community feedback competition. I entered, but didn't win the D3100 or a swagtastic camera-lens-mug. [ contest | winners ]
Important to know: don't skimp on the prize. The more people want it, the more effort they'll put in and the larger a competition you'll create. You get what you pay for (and sometimes much more).
I like free stuff and enter similar competitions on occasion, too- when the prize is right and the competition is easy to enter, it's a no-brainer.
Are you in it to win it?
In essence, the idea is to invest a little money and accrue a huge amount of traffic- burst or long-term, depending on what you intend to offer. If you're looking for exposure, you can use a contest to crowdsource a massive amount of back-linking and site-sharing. If you're looking to generate leads for sales, a similar effect can arise from slightly modified tactics.
[ http://www.homebizwomen.com/contest.html ] is a guide you might look at.
In short, you need a few things:
A site for the traffic you'll be creating
A "prize" (prizes, plural, work better) for individuals to compete for
A task that involves a tiny amount of work, but includes the necessity for them to create a link (or more) to your site (whether it be the contest page or the site itself) and encourages them to share the contest with their friends, family, or others who might also enter.
If you make the contest's victory condition(s) merit-based, you need a clear rubric and an objective, third-party evaluator. Easier: make it a raffle. Use something like [ http://random.org ] to pick a winner.
The idea behind this is that (assuming you've already made your website search-engine-friendly) you'll have a large number of people creating an equally large number of links to your site (boosting your search engine ranking), and that same group of people is likely to continue checking back (especially if you have mechanics that reward return traffic and more than one legitimate entry).
An excellent example is SnapSort's community feedback competition. I entered, but didn't win the D3100 or a swagtastic camera-lens-mug. [ contest | winners ]
Important to know: don't skimp on the prize. The more people want it, the more effort they'll put in and the larger a competition you'll create. You get what you pay for (and sometimes much more).
I like free stuff and enter similar competitions on occasion, too- when the prize is right and the competition is easy to enter, it's a no-brainer.
Are you in it to win it?
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Hosting! Servers! Decisions!
I seem to keep posting things like this.
I'm still looking to get a dedicated server for goofing around with, but prices are expensive for something comparable to Hetzner's EX4. 16 Gigabytes of DDR3, a better processor than what's in my computer or desktop, and a whopping 6 Terabytes of storage. 100Mbps output, and "unlimited traffic" - 10 terabytes followed by a throttled 10Mbps connection. Pretty sweet.
I've been asking around, and I was shocked at prices for domestic machines. The baseline seems to be at least 4 times what Hetzner offers, which is absolutely unacceptable if I am using it as a game server in addition to a web server.
Codero, Hivelocity, and a few others - all of which I think are recognized names - wouldn't touch that price with a thousand-dollar stick. I enjoy the free service provided by Heliohost and x10hosting, though - both providers have excellent service for an ad-free environment, and are consequently excellent for my budget.
I plan on continuing to develop in PHP, whenever I've got the spare time.
This is definitely going somewhere... Where it goes is something else entirely.
I'm still looking to get a dedicated server for goofing around with, but prices are expensive for something comparable to Hetzner's EX4. 16 Gigabytes of DDR3, a better processor than what's in my computer or desktop, and a whopping 6 Terabytes of storage. 100Mbps output, and "unlimited traffic" - 10 terabytes followed by a throttled 10Mbps connection. Pretty sweet.
I've been asking around, and I was shocked at prices for domestic machines. The baseline seems to be at least 4 times what Hetzner offers, which is absolutely unacceptable if I am using it as a game server in addition to a web server.
Codero, Hivelocity, and a few others - all of which I think are recognized names - wouldn't touch that price with a thousand-dollar stick. I enjoy the free service provided by Heliohost and x10hosting, though - both providers have excellent service for an ad-free environment, and are consequently excellent for my budget.
I plan on continuing to develop in PHP, whenever I've got the spare time.
This is definitely going somewhere... Where it goes is something else entirely.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Stuff I Like: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for the series. I get some flak for liking it- something usually to the effect of "It's just a rehashed MW2, doofus. Enjoy playing in 2009."
I like the entire modern warfare series- all three titles have the "first person cinema" going on (I will admit: that snippet is from a review I read). Something like the Half Life series, but without so much sci-fi and with more run-and-gun-and-flashbang action.
I actually preordered on Steam, so I got the original Modern Warfare (why did they remove lean from the later titles? It was so useful.) as a bonus- the way I see it.
It is sixty dollars, which is quite the commitment, I'll admit. If anyone else has MW3 for the PC, I need some help. I am terrible at pretty much everything FPS. I'm learning, but the curve is steep. I'm lucky to get a 1:1 Kill:Death ratio.
I personally favor a few weapons- the Dragunov, and the SCAR. Silenced weapons are useful, and the red dot is more potent then I previously thought. I'm told I should consider the M82/Barrett, but I am not yet sure.
I've crippled myself in terms of perks, though- I like the Sleight/Quickdraw/Stalker combination- reload, aim, and strafe quickly? When you go pro with all those perks, you become a very nimble, efficient warrior. If you add the possibility of Kicker or Impact proficiencies, you end up with what I feel is pretty much a point-and-click class.
If you think you can lend me a hand, drop me a comment!
I like the entire modern warfare series- all three titles have the "first person cinema" going on (I will admit: that snippet is from a review I read). Something like the Half Life series, but without so much sci-fi and with more run-and-gun-and-flashbang action.
I actually preordered on Steam, so I got the original Modern Warfare (why did they remove lean from the later titles? It was so useful.) as a bonus- the way I see it.
It is sixty dollars, which is quite the commitment, I'll admit. If anyone else has MW3 for the PC, I need some help. I am terrible at pretty much everything FPS. I'm learning, but the curve is steep. I'm lucky to get a 1:1 Kill:Death ratio.
I personally favor a few weapons- the Dragunov, and the SCAR. Silenced weapons are useful, and the red dot is more potent then I previously thought. I'm told I should consider the M82/Barrett, but I am not yet sure.
I've crippled myself in terms of perks, though- I like the Sleight/Quickdraw/Stalker combination- reload, aim, and strafe quickly? When you go pro with all those perks, you become a very nimble, efficient warrior. If you add the possibility of Kicker or Impact proficiencies, you end up with what I feel is pretty much a point-and-click class.
If you think you can lend me a hand, drop me a comment!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Blogs I like: Empty-Pocket EDH
I've been getting into Magic: the Gathering again (I mentioned this earlier).
A friend of mine, Brad, writes this neat blog about a specific format called EDH - short for Elder Dragon Highlander (and sometimes referred to as "Commander"). He, another friend, and I all play a few games of EDH- 100-card decks, three-player matches powered by Cockatrice. He's an excellent tutor, quite the deckbuilder, and a fine example of a gentleman.
I recommend Empty-Pocket EDH for folks looking to construct such decks for less than sixty dollars to a deck. As far as decks go, it's a bit limiting in terms of the higher-end cards you can purchase. As far as blogs I like go, it's an excellent and insightful read- updated at least once a week, it's a great way to get inside of EDH and tune up your game.
(FD: Brad and the Empty-Pocket EDH blog are part of the CCWK Content Network.)
A friend of mine, Brad, writes this neat blog about a specific format called EDH - short for Elder Dragon Highlander (and sometimes referred to as "Commander"). He, another friend, and I all play a few games of EDH- 100-card decks, three-player matches powered by Cockatrice. He's an excellent tutor, quite the deckbuilder, and a fine example of a gentleman.
I recommend Empty-Pocket EDH for folks looking to construct such decks for less than sixty dollars to a deck. As far as decks go, it's a bit limiting in terms of the higher-end cards you can purchase. As far as blogs I like go, it's an excellent and insightful read- updated at least once a week, it's a great way to get inside of EDH and tune up your game.
(FD: Brad and the Empty-Pocket EDH blog are part of the CCWK Content Network.)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Long time no post, guys.
Classes these days- schoolwork, homework, and extracurriculars are quite time-consuming. Posts to resume as things become relevant. For now, I'd like to share something like the classifieds:
Airsoft AEGs - I can tune and upgrade them. You pay for shipping here, I'll pay for shipping back. Rates are negotiable and depend on the nature of work.
Digital Eminence - I can help you set up a website, manage content, and create an online presence for you and your brand. I will help you find the solution for your situation, and can even help you manage content, promotion, and the myriad avenues of publicity via social media.
Feel free to leave contact information in a comment- I respect privacy and don't sell, license, trade, publish, or otherwise distribute or disburse client information.
This is an "I'm still here" post- expect content to come in the future.
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