LOTS of really smart people are giving the OP advice and has he really changed anything? My mom, off the boat from Ireland, use to have some of the greatest sayings. Telling us that we had the privlage of riding Shanks Mare, was her favorite way of saying we were walking to school, work, etc. For the OP my mom would say.... a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still, would be appropriate. He does not have the will to actually suceed or change his lazy habits for ones that will drive him down the road to success. Us trying to convince him of doing something different then what he is doing is a waste of time and energy, as he does not want to change or accept advice or direction.
Running a Real Holiday: Journaling 135 Days of Joyful Vacation
- Thread starter Staccs
- Start date
November 7th 2014 - Day 23
1.5 posts done again. Was going to be 1 single big post but decided against it. Too cluttered.
112 days left.
Absolutely. This week was much better than the first week I started this journal. I've been waking up hours earlier than I was, everyday I'm publishing content worth sharing and getting closer to the point where I can transition to spending 1-2 days a week on content instead of 6-7. I'm no Brian Tracy or David Allen, but my pace has absolutely made some steps since I started this thread. My goal is to be able to make this same comment next week (in hindsight), and the week after as well.
The vocal majority don't seem to agree with the amount of time I allocate to creating content, and that's fine. I created this thread with my mind open to receive criticism from another perspective and that's what I'm getting. It would be silly to get emotional about that.
The reality is that I'm not simply typing out a regurgitated version of the first page in the SERPs to create these articles. I'm spending the time to research the topic, understand the topic, then find out how I can provide more value than anybody else is on the topic. This is the first site I've created where I would actually recommend the content to a friend who was interested in the niche. I couldn't responsibly do that with a 503 word blogpost littered with filler words every two sentences. Honestly believing you have the best content on any given topic is an awesome feeling.
I feel zero pressure to shift my focus away from the content. The value visitors derive from this website will be (almost) entirely based on the content. The content is what will lure visitors to opt-in to my newsletter. The content is what will make the visitor decide to buy a product I link to in a blog post. The content is what will drive the reader to share the link with his friends and relieve me from some of the monotonous time spent doing manual SEO. This content IS my product, and it HAS to earn me links if I want to make this a mostly white hat adventure.
Anyway, I felt the need to better lay out my thought process behind my actions up until this point. I don't expect any critic's opinion to change but it's important to me that I clearly express my decisions.
:2twocents:
This thread has been an asset to me so far. My updates will start to vary from "x posts completed" to something potentially more interesting a week or so from now.
1.5 posts done again. Was going to be 1 single big post but decided against it. Too cluttered.
112 days left.
Absolutely. This week was much better than the first week I started this journal. I've been waking up hours earlier than I was, everyday I'm publishing content worth sharing and getting closer to the point where I can transition to spending 1-2 days a week on content instead of 6-7. I'm no Brian Tracy or David Allen, but my pace has absolutely made some steps since I started this thread. My goal is to be able to make this same comment next week (in hindsight), and the week after as well.
The vocal majority don't seem to agree with the amount of time I allocate to creating content, and that's fine. I created this thread with my mind open to receive criticism from another perspective and that's what I'm getting. It would be silly to get emotional about that.
The reality is that I'm not simply typing out a regurgitated version of the first page in the SERPs to create these articles. I'm spending the time to research the topic, understand the topic, then find out how I can provide more value than anybody else is on the topic. This is the first site I've created where I would actually recommend the content to a friend who was interested in the niche. I couldn't responsibly do that with a 503 word blogpost littered with filler words every two sentences. Honestly believing you have the best content on any given topic is an awesome feeling.
I feel zero pressure to shift my focus away from the content. The value visitors derive from this website will be (almost) entirely based on the content. The content is what will lure visitors to opt-in to my newsletter. The content is what will make the visitor decide to buy a product I link to in a blog post. The content is what will drive the reader to share the link with his friends and relieve me from some of the monotonous time spent doing manual SEO. This content IS my product, and it HAS to earn me links if I want to make this a mostly white hat adventure.
Anyway, I felt the need to better lay out my thought process behind my actions up until this point. I don't expect any critic's opinion to change but it's important to me that I clearly express my decisions.
:2twocents:
This thread has been an asset to me so far. My updates will start to vary from "x posts completed" to something potentially more interesting a week or so from now.
OP, I have much respect for the way you are handling the content aspect.
The laziness you displayed early on was astounding. You had a lot of shit to do with your family, trip to butt fuck Egypt, all shit that doesn't make money. There was a lot of "shit" getting in the way of you running a "real business". That's the one thing that irked me the most cause you seem to have the drive to create content properly - and I salute that. But everything else man... holy shit...
In Robert Greene and 50 cent's Book "The 50th Law", they talk about "extreme realism". When you sit back and look at your life, and judge it, you have to stop and remove all the fantasy of what you want to be, and look at what you actually are - not pretending to be. Hopefully this journal has shown you what the vast majority of people see you as, lazy - no offense meant, but your worth ethics sucks. And if you in fact are still living at home with your parents - you need to come to the realization that it is socially unacceptable, which you've admitted when you stated the part of being a burden on your parents.
So now, thinking about this in an extremely realistic sense - do you have the time to be taking these trips, and wasting time on this endless parade of nonsense that only seems to delay your eventual "growing up"?
Imagine you meet that perfect girl and want to instantly marry her - if that's a goal of yours, ask yourself if where you are at now, is it socially acceptable to still be living with your parents? (In some cultures it is, and if you are in a part of the world where that is acceptable, fine) But will this marriage material chick stay with you or take you seriously? At what age are you going to "grow up"?
The problem isn't that you are wasting time on nonsense, but you are letting other people's distractions stop you from reaching your goal - I dunno what the out of town trip was for, but unless someone died, it could probably have waited until you are in a "grown up" financial situation. When you want to succeed BADLY enough, nothing should stand in your way. Tell these fucking people "No", and continue grinding on and on until you make it to your goal. The way you are staying focused on the content creation is perfect execution of discipline. The problem is that same discipline is not being applied to the rest of your life, which you seem to have the power to, but are lacking.
You seem to respect your content more then your own time and social standing. You need to tell everyone to fuck the fuck off until you reach your goal. Even if they hate you, they'll respect you, and you'll respect yourself since you will finally start respecting your time - and more importantly mine - for updating me about your fucking chores (I'm not going to let that slide) - I have already made the commitment to reading this nonsense, now I have to see this through whether you fail or succeed.
And if you do fail, this thread will be a forever reminder to you and the audience of what happens when you don't really want something badly enough, but just pretend to want something and go through the motions of circle-jerking yourself and playing fantasy that you are getting some serious work done, when in fact you are just washing dishes and walking the dog.
I'm out.
In Robert Greene and 50 cent's Book "The 50th Law", they talk about "extreme realism". When you sit back and look at your life, and judge it, you have to stop and remove all the fantasy of what you want to be, and look at what you actually are - not pretending to be. Hopefully this journal has shown you what the vast majority of people see you as, lazy - no offense meant, but your worth ethics sucks. And if you in fact are still living at home with your parents - you need to come to the realization that it is socially unacceptable, which you've admitted when you stated the part of being a burden on your parents.
I might not live with my parents or even want a wife, but damn... that shit hit home with me.
Fuck me.
I heard a quote once that went something like this:
"Don't think about yourself in terms of 'who' you are, but 'what' you are."
In other words, the "who" is comprised of all sorts of dreams, aspirations, ego-centric bulllshit, and mental illusions. The "what" is coming an objective perspective that transcends the constrains of superficial self-involvement.
And objectively, I'm a fucking mediocre loser. If a successful entrepreneur was describing me to someone of equal standing, it would go like this:
/Wickedfire, fuck me.
I mis-quoted, It's called "Intense Realism".
At least this kid is using intense realism.
Here is a great excerpt about "Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They Are": Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They Are | Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
It comes down to this - There is no problem with "faking it till you make it", but you can't fake it to YOURSELF. The outside shell can be faked if the position you are in requires you act or appear a certain way. But you can't pretend to be that fantasy person to yourself.
Notice around the time Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was walking around with those two different CEO business cards - one stating "I'm CEO bitch", and the other stating whatever, then Damon Dash's show "Ultimate Hustler" and his clothing line "CEO" was out - that's when the fantasy of pop culture turned everyone in their mom's basement into a "CEO".
All of a sudden you got tons of business cards stating "CEO", "CMO", CTO", and on and on, from people you meet in daily life. Where did all these CEOs all of a suddenly come from? Fantasy worlds they created in their minds. In their minds their mom's basement is a mega corporation like Facebook - at least they hope it will one day be. However they do nothing to go for that goal.
Once they get to a certain income level - usually around $6K - $10K a month they get stagnate - if they ever even get to that level - let's focus on the affiliate marketer mindset. So now these affiliates are running around with half-ass websites, calling themselves CEO cause they hired 2 VAs in some 3rd world country, thinking they really are at Zuckerberg's level of running an operation.
Problem is if you look at things with a realist eye - to the world they can be partying it up and going to all the conferences, but in reality they're probably in their mom's basement, or some rinky-dink office with 3 or 4 employees at most, bringing in a nice liveable income. Nothing wrong with that, but to be a CEO, the first letter stands for Chief - it's hard to call yourself a Chief with no Indians. 2 VAs, or 3 - 4 employees means you've a small business owner - not CEO of anything - I'm talking about serious big operation CEO - let's stop pretending.
People live in fantasies they've made for themselves probably at first just messing around or trying to impress others. But at the end of the day, if you go home to your parent's house, or are in some remote part of the world playing big money baller cause in that 3rd world the USD dollar is valued more - there is no point of pretending to yourself at least what the reality of your situation is. Spending 8+ hours on a forum isn't going to get anyone anywhere - cause most likely you've learned all that you can by now, and you are using it as an escape to waste more time pretending this is work.
Again, you can pretend to the world about who you are, if you get called out, that's on you, but at the very least, respect yourself to not pretend and fall for your own delusion. Use that "Intense Realism" to assess your life, ask if you are at the level you want to be at - if so, fine.
But if you are NOT at the level you want to be at, stop fucking around, stop going out and partying with the 99%. Stop Facebooking, Tweeting, posting on forums, stop wasting your time, STOP PRETENDING TO YOURSELF, and spend 100% of your energy for the next 6 to 12 months achieving your top 3 goals. Here is the reality of the internet - if you are getting money easily right now, most likely in 5 years that income stream is going to dry up or the competition is going to take notice and that area is going to get crowded. So if you are taking it easy now - just look at all the SEO CEOs that keep dreaming of the "good old days" - when you just bought a River social package or SGW and were ranking and banking with Re-bills all day and night without a care in the world.
Do you want to be like them in 5 years, talking about the good old days OR do you want to be one of the constant innovators that are able to stay sharp to the reality of the environment and play the game with today's rules? And spam does work, even after this nonsense Penguin, but the people that know what's working and most importantly WHY it's working are still banking - cause they've known the landscape is constantly changing and they know what to do to keep their eyes on the real goal - making money in today's environment.
I've got to get ready for my job at Burger King, I'm working the drive-thru today so it's going to be one of those days...
Carry on...
At least this kid is using intense realism.
Here is a great excerpt about "Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They Are": Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They Are | Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
It comes down to this - There is no problem with "faking it till you make it", but you can't fake it to YOURSELF. The outside shell can be faked if the position you are in requires you act or appear a certain way. But you can't pretend to be that fantasy person to yourself.
Notice around the time Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was walking around with those two different CEO business cards - one stating "I'm CEO bitch", and the other stating whatever, then Damon Dash's show "Ultimate Hustler" and his clothing line "CEO" was out - that's when the fantasy of pop culture turned everyone in their mom's basement into a "CEO".
All of a sudden you got tons of business cards stating "CEO", "CMO", CTO", and on and on, from people you meet in daily life. Where did all these CEOs all of a suddenly come from? Fantasy worlds they created in their minds. In their minds their mom's basement is a mega corporation like Facebook - at least they hope it will one day be. However they do nothing to go for that goal.
Once they get to a certain income level - usually around $6K - $10K a month they get stagnate - if they ever even get to that level - let's focus on the affiliate marketer mindset. So now these affiliates are running around with half-ass websites, calling themselves CEO cause they hired 2 VAs in some 3rd world country, thinking they really are at Zuckerberg's level of running an operation.
Problem is if you look at things with a realist eye - to the world they can be partying it up and going to all the conferences, but in reality they're probably in their mom's basement, or some rinky-dink office with 3 or 4 employees at most, bringing in a nice liveable income. Nothing wrong with that, but to be a CEO, the first letter stands for Chief - it's hard to call yourself a Chief with no Indians. 2 VAs, or 3 - 4 employees means you've a small business owner - not CEO of anything - I'm talking about serious big operation CEO - let's stop pretending.
People live in fantasies they've made for themselves probably at first just messing around or trying to impress others. But at the end of the day, if you go home to your parent's house, or are in some remote part of the world playing big money baller cause in that 3rd world the USD dollar is valued more - there is no point of pretending to yourself at least what the reality of your situation is. Spending 8+ hours on a forum isn't going to get anyone anywhere - cause most likely you've learned all that you can by now, and you are using it as an escape to waste more time pretending this is work.
Again, you can pretend to the world about who you are, if you get called out, that's on you, but at the very least, respect yourself to not pretend and fall for your own delusion. Use that "Intense Realism" to assess your life, ask if you are at the level you want to be at - if so, fine.
But if you are NOT at the level you want to be at, stop fucking around, stop going out and partying with the 99%. Stop Facebooking, Tweeting, posting on forums, stop wasting your time, STOP PRETENDING TO YOURSELF, and spend 100% of your energy for the next 6 to 12 months achieving your top 3 goals. Here is the reality of the internet - if you are getting money easily right now, most likely in 5 years that income stream is going to dry up or the competition is going to take notice and that area is going to get crowded. So if you are taking it easy now - just look at all the SEO CEOs that keep dreaming of the "good old days" - when you just bought a River social package or SGW and were ranking and banking with Re-bills all day and night without a care in the world.
Do you want to be like them in 5 years, talking about the good old days OR do you want to be one of the constant innovators that are able to stay sharp to the reality of the environment and play the game with today's rules? And spam does work, even after this nonsense Penguin, but the people that know what's working and most importantly WHY it's working are still banking - cause they've known the landscape is constantly changing and they know what to do to keep their eyes on the real goal - making money in today's environment.
I've got to get ready for my job at Burger King, I'm working the drive-thru today so it's going to be one of those days...
Carry on...
I mis-quoted, It's called "Intense Realism".
At least this kid is using intense realism.
Here is a great excerpt about "Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They Are": Intense Realism: Seeing Things for What They AreGAY|GAYCurtis "50 Cent" Jackson
It comes down to this - There is no problem with "faking it till you make it", but you can't fake it to YOURSELF. The outside shell can be faked if the position you are in requires you act or appear a certain way. But you can't pretend to be that fantasy person to yourself.
Notice around the time Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was walking around with those two different CEO business cards - one stating "I'm CEO bitch", and the other stating whatever, then Damon Dash's show "Ultimate Hustler" and his clothing line "CEO" was out - that's when the fantasy of pop culture turned everyone in their mom's basement into a "CEO".
All of a sudden you got tons of business cards stating "CEO", "CMO", CTO", and on and on, from people you meet in daily life. Where did all these CEOs all of a suddenly come from? Fantasy worlds they created in their minds. In their minds their mom's basement is a mega corporation like Facebook - at least they hope it will one day be. However they do nothing to go for that goal.
Once they get to a certain income level - usually around $6K - $10K a month they get stagnate - if they ever even get to that level - let's focus on the affiliate marketer mindset. So now these affiliates are running around with half-ass websites, calling themselves CEO cause they hired 2 VAs in some 3rd world country, thinking they really are at Zuckerberg's level of running an operation.
Problem is if you look at things with a realist eye - to the world they can be partying it up and going to all the conferences, but in reality they're probably in their mom's basement, or some rinky-dink office with 3 or 4 employees at most, bringing in a nice liveable income. Nothing wrong with that, but to be a CEO, the first letter stands for Chief - it's hard to call yourself a Chief with no Indians. 2 VAs, or 3 - 4 employees means you've a small business owner - not CEO of anything - I'm talking about serious big operation CEO - let's stop pretending.
People live in fantasies they've made for themselves probably at first just messing around or trying to impress others. But at the end of the day, if you go home to your parent's house, or are in some remote part of the world playing big money baller cause in that 3rd world the USD dollar is valued more - there is no point of pretending to yourself at least what the reality of your situation is. Spending 8+ hours on a forum isn't going to get anyone anywhere - cause most likely you've learned all that you can by now, and you are using it as an escape to waste more time pretending this is work.
Again, you can pretend to the world about who you are, if you get called out, that's on you, but at the very least, respect yourself to not pretend and fall for your own delusion. Use that "Intense Realism" to assess your life, ask if you are at the level you want to be at - if so, fine.
But if you are NOT at the level you want to be at, stop fucking around, stop going out and partying with the 99%. Stop Facebooking, Tweeting, posting on forums, stop wasting your time, STOP PRETENDING TO YOURSELF, and spend 100% of your energy for the next 6 to 12 months achieving your top 3 goals. Here is the reality of the internet - if you are getting money easily right now, most likely in 5 years that income stream is going to dry up or the competition is going to take notice and that area is going to get crowded. So if you are taking it easy now - just look at all the SEO CEOs that keep dreaming of the "good old days" - when you just bought a River social package or SGW and were ranking and banking with Re-bills all day and night without a care in the world.
Do you want to be like them in 5 years, talking about the good old days OR do you want to be one of the constant innovators that are able to stay sharp to the reality of the environment and play the game with today's rules? And spam does work, even after this nonsense Penguin, but the people that know what's working and most importantly WHY it's working are still banking - cause they've known the landscape is constantly changing and they know what to do to keep their eyes on the real goal - making money in today's environment.
I've got to get ready for my job at Burger King, I'm working the drive-thru today so it's going to be one of those days...
Carry on...
Holy moly CCarter going in hard as a mother fucker
November 7th 2014 - Day 24
More content work. I ended up most of the .5 I started yesterday. It wasn't fitting in. I'll be coming back to this article tomorrow (or later tonight) to add a few details I need to lookup to answers to first. Sharing some of these articles with friends who are interested has given me some new topics to write about. I've got 4/7 of the next articles planned so far.
I spent a bunch of time today dealing with some Wordpress issues. Uploading images takes minutes regardless of the size and the first couple uploads often fails. 90% sure it's on my host. I'm going to open up a ticket and get that resolved. As soon as this site is making money (hopefully 2-3 weeks from now) I'll look into upgrading to a VPS.
111 days left
More content work. I ended up most of the .5 I started yesterday. It wasn't fitting in. I'll be coming back to this article tomorrow (or later tonight) to add a few details I need to lookup to answers to first. Sharing some of these articles with friends who are interested has given me some new topics to write about. I've got 4/7 of the next articles planned so far.
I spent a bunch of time today dealing with some Wordpress issues. Uploading images takes minutes regardless of the size and the first couple uploads often fails. 90% sure it's on my host. I'm going to open up a ticket and get that resolved. As soon as this site is making money (hopefully 2-3 weeks from now) I'll look into upgrading to a VPS.
111 days left
November 8th 2014 - Day 25
I use Sundays to reorganize and plan out the week. I've got my goals set for the week, tomorrow's to-do list, and reviewed the next steps necessary to hit my monthly goals. Back to a full day and early morning tomorrow.
110 days left
I use Sundays to reorganize and plan out the week. I've got my goals set for the week, tomorrow's to-do list, and reviewed the next steps necessary to hit my monthly goals. Back to a full day and early morning tomorrow.
110 days left
November 9th 2014 - Day 26
Today sucked. I got up late, and even when I did get to work I felt super sluggish and only completed the post I started the other day. I feel terrible. I can only fail to meet my expectations a handful of times more until it will be impossible to accomplish what I want to in the remaining days of this challenge. I won't let this happen again this week.
There is a slight improvement to be found here, which is that I did SOMETHING instead of writing the day off from the beginning which was a habit of mine. Regardless, if this was a real holi-... business... I would be fired for showing up late.
I think it's important that I make a list of 'success conditions' that dictate the rules I need to follow in order to increase the likelihood of a successful day. Things like getting up before X, taking breaks on Y interval, etc. I'm going to work on that before bed tonight. List or no list, I know the result comes down to my actions. I need a big week to redeem myself for today.
109 days left
Today sucked. I got up late, and even when I did get to work I felt super sluggish and only completed the post I started the other day. I feel terrible. I can only fail to meet my expectations a handful of times more until it will be impossible to accomplish what I want to in the remaining days of this challenge. I won't let this happen again this week.
There is a slight improvement to be found here, which is that I did SOMETHING instead of writing the day off from the beginning which was a habit of mine. Regardless, if this was a real holi-... business... I would be fired for showing up late.
I think it's important that I make a list of 'success conditions' that dictate the rules I need to follow in order to increase the likelihood of a successful day. Things like getting up before X, taking breaks on Y interval, etc. I'm going to work on that before bed tonight. List or no list, I know the result comes down to my actions. I need a big week to redeem myself for today.
109 days left
Great post. Tough love. Reminds me of the Steinbeck quote
“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
oh yeah, right right
November 10th 2014 - Day 27
Back on track today. Up early, worked in Pomodoro cycles all day, and started to shift away from the 100% content focus.
I had planned to work on my two next post topics but after following my process they turned out pretty thin. Not something I can create value out of. I spent some time making some edits to the most important guide on the site. I've learned a lot since that post was written, it needed an update.
I also started to work on the design of the site and theme settings. This theme is relatively advanced compared to the dozens of others I've used. It has pages and pages of options that I went through today and got a rough version that I approve of. Tomorrow I'll make some refinements, but it should be 'good enough' after that.
I'm also going to try and scour around to see if I can't come up with 2-3 more essential topics that anybody interested in this niche should know. The remaining handful on my list are seemingly pretty shallow, and not essential at this point. Ideally I come up with a list of 10 topics I can add value on and create a schedule that allows me to publish 2 new posts per week, freeing up the remaining 4 days for non-content tasks.
I also need to start participating in relevant communities. I have a spreadsheet of a handful of targeted forums with logins that I need to dust off. I have big plans for (mostly) user generated content that I am really excited about. As soon as I get those accounts semi-active and get the site looking half-respectable, then I can move forward with those plans.
To get to that point I need to become content with the theme settings, open up a support ticket with the theme creator to work out a couple visual bugs, and add a little spice to the sidebar. I'm going to try and tackle this tomorrow, but I'd expect the bugs to be a day-to-day problem. These things are almost never solved on first response based on my experience.
108 days left
Back on track today. Up early, worked in Pomodoro cycles all day, and started to shift away from the 100% content focus.
I had planned to work on my two next post topics but after following my process they turned out pretty thin. Not something I can create value out of. I spent some time making some edits to the most important guide on the site. I've learned a lot since that post was written, it needed an update.
I also started to work on the design of the site and theme settings. This theme is relatively advanced compared to the dozens of others I've used. It has pages and pages of options that I went through today and got a rough version that I approve of. Tomorrow I'll make some refinements, but it should be 'good enough' after that.
I'm also going to try and scour around to see if I can't come up with 2-3 more essential topics that anybody interested in this niche should know. The remaining handful on my list are seemingly pretty shallow, and not essential at this point. Ideally I come up with a list of 10 topics I can add value on and create a schedule that allows me to publish 2 new posts per week, freeing up the remaining 4 days for non-content tasks.
I also need to start participating in relevant communities. I have a spreadsheet of a handful of targeted forums with logins that I need to dust off. I have big plans for (mostly) user generated content that I am really excited about. As soon as I get those accounts semi-active and get the site looking half-respectable, then I can move forward with those plans.
To get to that point I need to become content with the theme settings, open up a support ticket with the theme creator to work out a couple visual bugs, and add a little spice to the sidebar. I'm going to try and tackle this tomorrow, but I'd expect the bugs to be a day-to-day problem. These things are almost never solved on first response based on my experience.
108 days left
November 12th 2014 - Day 28
^ was copying the wrong date for a couple days this week. Fixed now.
I just lost my first try at this post due to an expired vBulletin cookie...
Some notes from today:
Lots of small design tweaks made. Still not loving the appearance but it's good enough to serve as an MVP. I'll be able to get closer to how I want it the more the site fills out. I couldn't solve the theme bugs I mentioned earlier. Opened a ticket.
I've just about done all I can do in terms of appearance. I'd like to do something to the sidebar, but I don't have any ideas for that yet. I need to shift my focus to conversions now. Not just $$$, but social conversions (followers) and opt-ins. It's been a while since I had to work on this stuff. I'll start shaking off the rest this week.
I'm going to create a schedule to better structure what needs to be done. I'll dedicated 2 days a week for content (2-3 posts). Social media will require daily updates (though I can schedule them). Then there's the traffic generation which I expect to be mostly content based. The structure will help. I only have crumbs left to pick up before the site is no longer given the status of being 'under construction'.
107 days left
^ was copying the wrong date for a couple days this week. Fixed now.
I just lost my first try at this post due to an expired vBulletin cookie...
Some notes from today:
Lots of small design tweaks made. Still not loving the appearance but it's good enough to serve as an MVP. I'll be able to get closer to how I want it the more the site fills out. I couldn't solve the theme bugs I mentioned earlier. Opened a ticket.
I've just about done all I can do in terms of appearance. I'd like to do something to the sidebar, but I don't have any ideas for that yet. I need to shift my focus to conversions now. Not just $$$, but social conversions (followers) and opt-ins. It's been a while since I had to work on this stuff. I'll start shaking off the rest this week.
I'm going to create a schedule to better structure what needs to be done. I'll dedicated 2 days a week for content (2-3 posts). Social media will require daily updates (though I can schedule them). Then there's the traffic generation which I expect to be mostly content based. The structure will help. I only have crumbs left to pick up before the site is no longer given the status of being 'under construction'.
107 days left
I never ever write long and even middle-length posts right in a forum interface. Only in a text editor first. Those bitter life lessons...
.
November 13th 2014 - Day 29
Notes:
Fixed all of the graphic bugs today. It's a nice improvement. I gave the sidebar some love too. It's still not great. There remains 2 things that stand out to me as incomplete in the design.
1. I need a background image/pattern. If I don't see one I like tonight I'll just choose an acceptable one at random and settle for it to avoid wasting too much time. Any good resources for background images? I've found a bunch of sites, but none with any clear winners.
2. Opt-in form in the sidebar. It's really ugly. I'll try to borrow somebody else's CSS
I worked out a schedule that I can begin to follow on Saturday or Monday after I completely clean up all the loose ends that need to be worked out. New content will be published twice a week, daily social media updates (unique to each site) + attempt some Gary V style outreach, the rest allocated to working on branding/traffic. I'll be clearer on what exactly I mean by those vague buzzwords over the weekend, for myself and anybody reading.
Also came up with a short list of topics I can add value to. Questions that nobody is answering in-depth with a focus on making it easy for beginners to understand.
I'll be applying to a couple relevant affiliate programs soon. I'd like for the site to stay 'cool' by being Adsense free for a while. I think it will help my outreach become more successful.
Couple more days of working on the details then I'll start inviting people to the party.
106 days left
Notes:
Fixed all of the graphic bugs today. It's a nice improvement. I gave the sidebar some love too. It's still not great. There remains 2 things that stand out to me as incomplete in the design.
1. I need a background image/pattern. If I don't see one I like tonight I'll just choose an acceptable one at random and settle for it to avoid wasting too much time. Any good resources for background images? I've found a bunch of sites, but none with any clear winners.
2. Opt-in form in the sidebar. It's really ugly. I'll try to borrow somebody else's CSS
I worked out a schedule that I can begin to follow on Saturday or Monday after I completely clean up all the loose ends that need to be worked out. New content will be published twice a week, daily social media updates (unique to each site) + attempt some Gary V style outreach, the rest allocated to working on branding/traffic. I'll be clearer on what exactly I mean by those vague buzzwords over the weekend, for myself and anybody reading.
Also came up with a short list of topics I can add value to. Questions that nobody is answering in-depth with a focus on making it easy for beginners to understand.
I'll be applying to a couple relevant affiliate programs soon. I'd like for the site to stay 'cool' by being Adsense free for a while. I think it will help my outreach become more successful.
Couple more days of working on the details then I'll start inviting people to the party.
106 days left