Rapid Prototyping - Why Wordpress isn't required.

Ok, So this blog is all about my path following other peoples advice. The one thing I have to disagree with, and thats wordpress.

<Gasp!>

Yes i know, I spoke ill of the Almighty Wordpress. so let me clear this up. WordPress is F*&^*%ing awsome. is so bendy and flexible, and themeable with plugings and stuff. it makes complex tasks simple - but its alot of power for a simple site.

To do wordpress properly, you need a Domain, webhosting, theme, set it all up, Make it pretty, and then plug in your content. there are a couple hours of setup to start from scratch.

with Blogger on the otherhand; buy your domain, signup for blogger, Point our domain to blogger Voila. Dont want the blogger look, Customize the appearance and turn off the blogger header bar.

Adsence is integrated, as is a form of Analytics. For a beginner, you can be off the ground running in a few minutes.

So how is this rapid prototyping? well if you can build a production ready site in a few hours, you can devote more time to content. your only cost is a domain name ($10/year) if the site doesn't work, your out 10$ if it does; great, move to wordpress if you want, or stay put. 

What I Have Learned - March Ed.

So what did I learn in March? alot.

1. ads above the fold work so much better then ads below the fold. moving one ad, led to a 200% revenue increase in 1 month.

2.affiliate programs are great. The problem is finding affiliates relevant to my topics that don't pay peanuts. Its one thing to link an amazon product in a post, but if i start running banner ads where I only get paid on a sale, the return better be higher then what I can get with Adsence in that space.

Sofar, I Have signed up with Boaterexam.com for Halifaxshippingnews.ca its a good fit. Lets see how it does over the moth of april.

3. Reddit is a great traffic generator - but the content has to be top notch for it to generate traffic. I Tend to make alot of small posts on a regular basis. - these probably wouldn't do well because they add little to the general interest, though ae of great interest to my regular readership.

4. Why do I do Facebook? sure i have have 275 followers on my page, and the number keeps growing, but now Facebook wants every post to be promoted, so no one sees the content, plus Facebook hasen't let you link to rss feeds as they want original content. that I then have to pay facebook so that people who liked me get to see it. No thanks..

Where I'm Learning

So there several sites I found when I was figuring out how to do this. the first was sent to me by my wife. I was arrogant, I "knew" how to monazite a blog.. she sent me to

http://dollarsandroses.com/ - I was wrong. I didnt know it all, and that led me down a path to enlightenment. If a maried couple could pull in 17k a month blogging they must be doing something right.

that then led me on a path to find more.

Next I found the Advice of  http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/. The advice and Howtos on the site are amazing in their depth and completness, And hey, the idea of making money while you sleep sounds amazing. I also need to get my paws on Tim Ferris "The 4-Hour Workweek".

Other things I have found helpful:

http://www.seanogle.com/ also had useful smatterings of advice.

moz.com has a great SEO Tutorial

Welcome.

Allright. I have a few blogs. I have read a bunch of sites from people saying how they make tens of thousands of dollars blogging. Im at least as smart as them, so this blog will document my attempt at replicate their sucess.

Im Not a Complete Newbie, Here are my Properties, and the basics of what each is about. All info is current to March 01/2014, and ill post in april with updates about each.

halifaxshippingnews.ca - A blog About the Comings and Goings in Halifax Harbour. Currenlty gets ~1000 Page views per day. Started in Aug 2008.  Up to March 2014, I made ~$550.00 (A $300/year ad, and $250 in adsence)

powershellr.com - This is a general IT blog, I'm an It person by trade. This started in Dec 2013. 502 all time Page views - no revenue.

builthalifax.ca - Local Architectural History Blog. This is intended to have longer form, more researched posts with less frequency. Founded July 2013, it gets about 1000 pageviews a month.

Fillingthehole.tumblr.com these are tumble logs of photos of 2 construction projects near my office. Filling the hole, has been in existence for just over a year. (No idea viewership, no revenue.)

Buildingtheroy.tumblr.com this really started in march 2014, when the project began. Again, no idea viewership, and no revenue.

Why blog9933.blogspot.com? Its a work in progress. and all the clever names were taken, so for now this.

My Goal. $1000/month by December 31