I’ve decided to quit blogging
After a month of serious thinking, I have decided to retire casthompson.com/blog
Twitter has become an easier tool for me to interact with an audience, network with new associates, vent, share pics-music-ideas and keep up with people that interest me.
Casthompson.com was never intended to make money, and it truthfully hasn't (directly). I am currently working on 7 other web projects and mentally, I need to lay my personal journal to rest. I will not archive it or totally block it out. I just need the mental freedom of saying that I no longer blog here. Ahhhh, a weight off of my shoulders.
Coming up with new blog posts can be mentally draining and I truly find more enjoyment running "for income" websites. In the next fee weeks, I will be moving all of my Affiliate Tips, Big Checks and Free money resources to www.ImWealthy.com. If I take a vacation, the pics will still be loaded here but other than that, I'm through - It's been fun.
As of today, Twitter is the only way to see what I'm currently doing...
My favorite Twitter Tools
I never thought that I would say this, but I'm feeling Twitter. In the past two years I've signed up for at least a dozen social networking sites. I test them out, I study, I network and then I leave them alone. The truth of the matter is, if it doesn't make me any money or makes my life easier, then it's a waste of time.
As simple as it is, Twitter makes my life easier and makes me money (indirectly). With so much other stuff to manage, I hardly blog on my own personal site anymore but everyone still want's to know what I'm up to. Twitter is very public but in an intimate way.
Here are five Twitter Tools that help me throughout the day.
Twitterberry - is a mobile app designed for the blackberry. It's free and very easy to use. It's also a great way to save on sms charges if you don't subscribe to a texting plan. You will need data services active on your blackberry but then again, why would you have a blackberry with no data services? The program handles replies and direct messaging flawlessly as well. Many of my Iphone pals are using ThinCloud
Twhirl - is a desktop AIR client for your PC. When I am online this is the only client I'll use. Very intuitive and responsive. Twhirl will also handle multiple Twitter accounts at once. Great for site owners who pull multiple followers to different accounts. Honestly Twhirling is easier than using Twitter's own homepage.
Twitterfeed - feeds your blog to twitter. Simply put - blog something and it's gets pushed automatically to your twitter account. It's a great way to feed traffic back to your blog but can come off spammy if you publish a blog not in tune with your current twitter following. I currently feed this site as well as my couscous site. <--- shameless plug
TwitPic - keeps your audience awake with an occasional picture. Twitpic uses pictures taken with your mobile phone and sends it along as a Tweet. Tweets are only 140 characters but a picture can be worth a thousand... well, you know the rest. Their homepage also has an interesting mash-up of google maps, similar to Twittervision.
Summize - is a Twitter Conversation Search engine. I use Summize for research only. It's a great way to getter Twitter user's opinions on products, places, movies, media, websites and just about anything. Every now and again, i'll toss out a question to my followers but having the opportunity to search the world of Tweets can be powerful.
Twitter is simple and it works. If you're not on it yet, sign up. If you're already on, what are some of your favorite Twitter Tools? Tell me on twitter... www.twitter.com/casthompson
From Nothing To Something: A Case Study
Even though I really try to save this blog from falling in the category of a "make money online" site, making money online topics are what I get emailed about the most.
I'm not an expert and mostly everything I know about earning online income came from trial and error.
I recently got an email asking for an example of starting with nothing and turning it into something. I will track all expenses and income from one website that I've just created over the next six months.
The website is http://www.flipminos.com
Date purchased: 5/23/2008
Cost: $5.99 from 1and1
Why did I purchase it? The Flip is a very popular, low end, usb camcorder that has been used by many bloggers, tweens, teens, early adopters and video journalist over the past year. Two days ago, using twitter, I overheard that a slim version of the flip should be entering the market place early in June. The new cameras are rumored to be called Flip Minos. My chance of failure is 50/50 but that's what domaining is all about. You see, this is just a rumor and what if the camera is called something else? ... FlipMinos.com will become dead space.
Before I do anything with a site, I site down and open up notepad and then I take project notes. I need to determine what I want out of the site. Do I want to make it a fan site for enthusiasts? Should I cover tips and tricks? Do I want a forum or a blog? How much time do I really have to devote on this one site?
These are all serious questions that shouldn't be taken lightly. If this is your first site, I suggest going all in. The next set of questions I put out is, how will I monetize? For electronics I usually run with Google Adsense, Amazon Affiliates and Buy.com.
The next step is building up the site. I know that it's old school but for a one page site (what I plan on using) I still use frontpage.
I aim for a lot of key words and clean crisp images.
After I publish, then I start marketing. My short term goal is to get to the first page of google using desired keywords.
I'll be back in a bit to let you know how I'm doing.
How to Upgrade WordPress
1. Download the newest version
2. Extract it
3. Back up your wp-config.php to a safe location (it's the most important file)
4. Upload your newly extracted files to your current WordPress location
*Note - I personally only overwrite the root folder, the wp-admin folder and the wp-includes folder. I don't upload anything to my wp-content folder. That folder has your themes and plugins.
5. After you have copied everything, then point your browser here
http://www.yoursite.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php
6. The rest is magic
casthompson.com takes no responsibility if you screw up your blog! but seriously, it's so easy a 5th grader can do it.
Official Upgrade Guide
Trimming The Fat
After breakfast, I took a little time to trim the fat and do a little spring cleaning on the ole site.
The new theme is cleaner and I readjusted some codes to improve loading speeds.
MySpacers are going to be a little upset since I also disabled image linking. Sorry guys, but you were chewing up my bandwidth.
Enjoy the new look. It's going to be around for a while.
I finally upgraded
Since moving the casthompson.com blog over from greymatter around three years ago, I've never upgraded WordPress.
Honestly, other than security holes, I never really saw a need. I don't consider myself a top tier blogger and I don't blog for money so it really didn't phase me.
For my readers... you will not even notice a change on the outside of the building. (not yet anyway)
Enough chatter, my wordpress is updated.
Right Back at It
I've taken a super long hiatus this time out.
I took a break from blogging to focus on a few offline projects and other online projects as well.
It will be an interesting year for me and unlike last years resolution post, I won't put out too many hints.
You can count on more trips, new domain developments and fun times... I'm sure.
Short Hiatus
I haven't dropped a post since Mexico but I'm still kicking.
I've been working on a few side projects that have required a lot of energy and I will tell you about them shortly but for now, check out this post on Leo's blog about maximizing your concentration.
Keep your head in the game.
Don’t Buy Blog Comments
It just ain't right. Jon Waraas has gotten a lot of heat today with his site, www.buyblogcomments.com. For only $19, you too can be a blog spammer. Although, I'm all about the hustle, I have to agree with Liz and Darren on this one.
I personally think that comment linkage should be earned and not sold and I am personally combating his new site with Don't Buy Blog Comments.com
Feel free to comment, for free! Don't buy blog comments. As you comment and give your opinion on buying comments, you will earn a follow tag in this post. I have personally followed Jon along the way and he must be getting some heavy traffic today but this post will prove that people will prefer not to pay for follow tags by leaving quality comments.
You can support the "Follow Tag" movement here.
www.dontbuyblogcomments.com
[tags]dont buy blog comments[/tags]
Is it time for YBF to upgrade?
Celebrity blogs are big business. Male or female, young or old, we are all intrigued with entertainment gossip. One of my favorite celebrity blogs is YBF. Natasha Eubanks has done a great job of getting her site to an Alexa rank of 41,000 but is YBF at full potential?
As of yesterday, Natasha has an average of 49,000 daily visitors which is up 10,000 over the past three months. By her own admittance, Natasha does everything herself and brags about having zero overhead. My prediction is that her growth will eventually come to a halt if she doesn't leave blogger.
I have to say that this is not a blogspot basher post. I personally publish quite a few blogspot blogs and it's a great free service that I use as a primer before I go all the way with a project or just to park a domain name. For the serious blogger who has hopes of going large, 50,000 visits per day is long overdue. Much respect, Paula!
YBF is way over it's cut off point. The biggest problem is a domain name. She should have snagged up a domain name once she hit 5,000 visitors per day. The YBF brand is so strong that domainers have taken all great potential names... like this, this, this and even this. If you are a blogger who after has built up a nice following then the time is now.
Another opportunity that YBF has is SEO. Yes, I know, blogspot gets crawled and indexed like every 60 seconds but trying to find anything on YBF is pretty much like pulling teeth. Even if Natasha never leaves blogspot, she should examine here navigational structure. She is missing out on major search money.
And then we can't forget about plugin's and categories. Even though blogger has introduced labels, it is not as resourceful as going to your favorite category. Maybe separating athletes, musicians and actors, etc, etc, etc would make it easier for her readers who happen to openly and lovingly cry out for her to improve.
My suggestion for a blog of ybf's size would be to switch to a three column self hosted wordpress site. As far as domain names, it's not totally too late. Make the switch before blogspot turns into geocities and we lose you forever ybf chick.
[tags]ybf, blogspot, wordpress[/tags]
Making The Most of Your Online Time
After not posting for a fews days because of other things on my palette, I figured that a fitting comeback post would relate to online time management. Between the nine to five, online businesses, family life and finding time for entertainment sometimes there is little time for personal development. Here is a short list of things that I have done to cut my online time in half but remain productive.
- Use an RSS reader - This is the single most important time management tool. Since using Google Reader over Sage I have been flying through niche news in no time. Thanks Cheynne for putting me on to the blackberry technique. Now I can keep up with news even when I'm not online.
- Don't check earnings as often - I know that it's hard but there is little that you can do at 1:00 p.m. to change your affiliate earnings. Unless you are experimenting, checking once per day is just as effective. I check adsense daily and my other programs weekly.
- Automation - Whatever you can create an automated system for, don't wait... Just Do It. Aweber is currently my favorite tool for newsletters and automated messaging. It's pretty cut and dry.
- Planning - Schedule your days. I try not to random surf as much as I use to. If something intriguing crosses my screen I hit CRTL D and save it for later. I tend to work best between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. so I save projects for nights when I don't have to get up early the next day.
What techniques have you guys been using not to get burned out?
[tags]time management[/tags]
Win a PS3 for $1
Dillsmack has given us an opportunity to win a PS3 for only $1. This is an extra one that he had left over from all the crazy madness. I figure the most I'll lose is $1 if I don't win. You can enter the sweepstakes yourself here. Hopefully you will make it in time.
[tags]dillsmack, ps3[/tags]
Blog Profits Blueprint
Yaro over at Entrepreneurs Journey has just released the Blog Profits Blueprint. It's a free resource for bloggers that are trying to monetize their website.
The 50+ page book offers tons of insight into monetization, driving traffic to your blog, getting content and the new video blogging craze.
Yaro is giving out this resource as part of his Blog Mastermind Mentoring Program which he will get more into next week.
For now, the Blog Profits Blueprint is a great download even if you're not interested in the Mentoring Program.
It's free, so spread the word.
[tags]blog profits blueprint, yaro[/tags]
Comments On My Blog Broken and Now Fixed
I just got word that my comments link was broken on my blog. Everything is up and running again. Thanks for the heads up!
@casthompson
- ... Eight Things You Can Do with Your Underused Personal Domain Name http://t.co/F8LCgx8w 2 hours ago
- ... i wish that I was laying here, right now! http://t.co/GUlt3CrM 5 hours ago
- ... I've been staying productive @SkillaFashion how's biz and family? 11 hours ago
- ... def not a bad spot at all @nicholasstewart 13 hours ago
- ... the old spice marketing team stays winning @nicholasstewart @un_lished @atlboricua http://t.co/Enl6TSDr 22 hours ago
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