KhalidsLife.com

As written in my video, I am now persuing long term investments. I’ve been searching the net for my next project when I stumbled across a few good domains names. The names are generic, easily read, brandable and are no more than 5 characters long. Oh, and they’re all .com’s.

So, my question to you is, would you invest in domains like this? If so, how much would you pay per domain and what’s the best way to sell it on?

Monday turned out to be a good day afterall! Work went quickly, I got a few sales (bonus money!) and I logged on to check my website stats/earnings.

Things are looking brighter and the clouds beginning to fade. I can see a positive future online but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you…I’ll be posting my earnings at the end of the month along with a number of quality posts explaining how I did it. Afterall, sharing is caring!

In the mean time, I’ll leave you with a few links to keep you occupied…

>> Al at Self Made Minds made his first $1,000 Adsense day! - Link

>> Ashley Qualls: Teenage MySpace Millionaire! - Link

>> Have you heard of the Rubicon Project? - Link

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

I’m writing this post just as we roll into Monday. It is 00.02am and I should really be asleep considering I’m up in less than 8hrs. By planning ahead and setting wordpress posts to automatically roll out on Friday, Saturday and Monday, I’ve managed to spend some time away from OffBeatInk.com and relax a little.

Now normally on a Monday I’d wake up slightly early and sit in bed with a coffee, checking my e-mails and stats before getting up to join the Mon-Fri rate race and living with the “Monday Blues” for the day. However, I’m hoping this Monday - today - will be slighly more cheery. You see, I managed to hit the front page of eBaumsWorld.com and a few other sites with my Extreme DIY Tattoo Removal article on OffBeatInk.com. This flooded my site with traffic and increased my earnings a little so I’m really happy with the results.

I decided that I’ll be writing an article with some pointers on getting on the front page of big sites as I’ve had some success so far. I really do need your help in monetizing my site a bit more…anyone have any suggestions?

Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and was the CEO of Pixar until its acquisition by Disney. He is currently the largest Disney shareholder and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors. He is considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.

The following video is a very moving speech that provides a lot of inspiration to entrepreneurs alike…

This article highlights five simple yet effective ways to generate real traffic that should convert well on any website.

1. Socialise

Social Media is the new MySpace marketing. Sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and You Tube and more generate thousands of unique visitors for webmasters every day. Your job is to ensure maximum exposure on these sites and maintain a good position in ranks too.

> StumbleUpon - Check out the freebies section of Digital Point Forums. There are hundreds of threads dedicated to Stumble exchanges. Search the forum for Stumbling services, such as 50 stumbles for $xx.

> Digg - Again, check out the freebies section of Digital Point Forums, there are threads dedicated to Digg exchanges too. Ensure your site has a BIG FAT Digg button on it too, the best wordpress plugin I can recommend was created by Paul Cheek and is called DiggIt.

> You Tube - A tip by Jon Warass - You Tube can send you 500 unique visitors overnight by simply uploading a video relating to your site’s niche with added credits at the end that display your site’s url. I have started doing this with the videos posted at OffBeatInk.com.

To edit You Tube videos you firstly need to download them and them and then convert them from FLV to AVI. After completing this, you’ll need to edit them. I download them using this site, convert them using Freez (freeware) and edit them in Windows Movie Maker.

Whilst I don’t encourage illegitimate Diggs or Stumbles, sometimes it is necessary to exchange these services with other webmasters to get yourself on the traffic ladder. I would strongly recommend you don’t overdo it because it may get you permanently banned.

2. Spread the word

> Social Bookmarking - Social bookmarking is a web based service allowing users to share internet bookmarks, usually their favourite sites. If a person, whom has 100 friends, bookmarks your site, then that link is automatically exposed to those 100 people. If 10% add that bookmark to their profile, and they each have 100 friends, your link is then exposed to a further 1,000 people! A very lucrative marketing method indeed.

> Tell a Friend - If you want to share a good site with a friend, writing a short e-mail, copying the url and then sending it off is usually more time consuming than it’s worth. By having a tell-a-friend script on your site, users can quickly enter their friends e-mail address and it’ll automatically send them a short message stating e.g. “Adam thought you would like this http://…”. Quick and easy for the user…more visitors for the webmasters.

> Link Exchange - Link exchanges are common for site’s of similar relevance and are an easy way for webmasters to share traffic. A program I’d definately recommend is BlogRush. By adding the BlogRush Widget to a blog, a blogger can get instant distribution for their latest blog post titles across a network of related blogs. In simple terms, a link to your latest blog post is shown on other sites in return for your displaying the widget on your site.

3. Stop spamming

Spamming people and/or other websites may help you generate traffic in short run, but will be sure to fail you long term. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was any popular site’s user base. If you want to generate real traffic, that will remain constant - providing you update your site with fresh content daily - then spread the word professionally. Don’t send junk e-mails, don’t spam other sites, don’t leave stupid forum posts…take your time.

4. Sponsor it

Sponsoring a popular site is a great way to get exposure to their 100% of their user database. If a user thinks they are going to win something, they will be more inclined to participate, perhaps checking out your site too. Further to this, it portrays your site in a positive manner and the user will probably remember it in the future.

Sponsorship needn’t be extravagant either. A simple free t-shirt, perhaps a dvd or even something cooler - but relating to your audience and niche - is probably money well spent in comparison to banner advertising.

5. Spend time keeping your visitors coming back

One of the best ways to generate traffic is through word-of-mouth. People who like your site are likely to talk about it amongst their friends, so spend time ensuring they are kept occupied. That means fresh content every 24 hours, the latest news and information, the coolest videos and images, etc etc. Read - Five Tips To Keep Your Visitors Coming Back.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

This short article describes 5 easy ways to keep your visitors coming back for more! The next post will describe how to generate the traffic, but first it is imperative you must be aware of how to keep your visitors addicted to your site…

1. Keep it Unique

How unimaginative is copied content? How would you feel if you spent time writing an article or creating unique content someone stole and passed on as their own? More to the point, how boring is reading the same content over and over?

> My Tip - Do your homework, complete your research and keep it unique. People will respect your site and come back for more.

2. Keep it Updated

How annoying is it when you visit your favourite blog or site and see the same content you did a day or two ago? My traffic drops, on average, approximately 25% everytime I miss posting something fresh within a 48 hour time period.

> My Tip - Updated your site regularly, that way visitors will come back to read your fresh content.

3. Keep it Clean

Don’t you just hate sites that have poor navigation and are overloaded with adverts? If the answer is yes, which I’m guessing it is, then your visitors will feel exactly the same!

It can be easy to plant multiple ads on your site in an attempt to increase your earnings, but believe me this will affect your site’s performance in the long run. Work towards long term benefits, not short term gains.

> My Tip - Have an easy-to-use navigation menu on your site that is clear of misleading ads. Allow your visitors the ability to roam freely around without getting lost or clicking on an ad they didn’t mean to and be taken to another site. If they begin to get annoyed they’ll just leave…and probably never return.

4. Keep it Creative

Reading text becomes boring after a while, unless you are reading something like this post where you are learning (I hope!). With such easy access to media such as YouTube.com or Google Images, spending a little time giving your content some creative flare won’t cost you anything! Even better, something you have created yourself.

> My Tip - Break up your text content with images and videos to provide your visitors with something visual rather than just text.

5. Keep it Current

The latest news is today, not yesterday, or the day before, especially not any time before that! I a newspaper sold yesterday’s news today, do you think it would be popular?

> My Tip - If you plan on having your visitors coming back for fresh, up-to-date content, then be sure your content contains the latest information available.

Watch out for the next post on generating traffic, stay tuned!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

I’ve decided not to take on any other projects until I have secured a consistant revenue stream for my current ventures. If I have an idea, I’ll make a note of it and may have a quick look at the possibility of it as an investment, but no further action will be taken at present.

My progress seems to be slow. Although I am continually working on my projects, I have never seemed to have achieved any major milestones recently. My earnings are still extremely low, my sites are still receiving the same amount of traffic and my patience is wearing thin.

It may seem like I am moaning, but I’m just being honest. I am not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and the days just seem to be passing by. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could increase my earnings, particularly on OffBeatInk.com?

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

In short - to live off my website earnings.

With a little more detail - To earn a around £100 a day from my websites and live in an apartment overlooking the sea in Greece, a country I have fallen in love with.

Why £100 per day? - That figure is a substantial amount but is also achievable. In addition to being able to live comfortably on that amount, I would also have the finances available to invest outside of the internet, such as in property, a generally sound investment. There’s no point “putting all your eggs in one basket“, spread your risks evenly over multiple platforms to ensure financial security.

Why Greece? - After visiting Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Corfu and other surrounding islands, Greece is a place I have fallen in love with. The lifestyle, culture, food, weather and views are simply outstanding. I would love to spend my days on the beach with my laptop and a wireless connection (I’d need to think that one through…wireless on a beach???)

Since I’ve been staying awake past 12am and getting around 7.5hrs sleep each night, I thought I’d give you an insight into my daily routine…

> 7.35am - Wake up

> 8.00am - Get out of bed after checking e-mails, earnings, stats and blogs.

> 8.30am - Travel to work.

> 9.00am - Arrive at work, eat cereal with a large latte.

> 9.30am - Start work.

*Break during work time*

> 1.30pm - Lunch hour, check e-mails if a communal computer is available.

> 6.30pm - Finish work.

> 7.00pm - Arrive at gym, work out for an hour then head home. If no gym then straight home.

> 7.30pm / 8.30pm - Dinner time, usually back in front of the laptop.

> 11.00pm - Start thinking of heading to bed.

> 11.30pm - Make lunch for next day, get uniform ready.

> 12.00am - Usually in bed, switching off the laptop.

…There just isn’t enough hours eh? Believe me after a few days you are nakard!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Checking my earnings daily are becoming depressing. Although I can see I am pulling in a few dollars, it is nothing special. I will never sneeze at any incoming revenue, I am just slightly disheartened as I was expecting more.

I am still waiting, with a glimour of hope, that Tribal Fusion will accept my publisher application for OffBeatInk.com and my earnings will increase. I heard they pay anything from $1.50 upwards CPM which would possibly double my earnings.

My goal, which still stands, is to achieve $150 profit per month over my entire network. I’ll be doing some calculations shortly and will post the results up. Based on my incomings and outgoings, I am definately losing money. However, I am still persistant and determined to become a successful webmaster.

A quote I absolutely adore states, “With love and patience anything is possible“. I’m living by that rule despite spending countless hours with seemingly little progression.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.