It been a while since I wrote notes to PB but this one is a little overdue for another reason, I was recently saved by The Piss Biscuit. It got me thinking about how great the majority of bloggers out there are, that they would actually take time out of their weekend to help a fellow blogger get back online. I have friends that I see on a daily basis that would not be as helpful as that, and here is a guy I know only through another website that would do that for me.  I want you to know Mr Piss….for what you did I am truly grateful!

I had some trouble with my previous hosting company who, quite frankly, were appalling. I find enough trouble blogging sometimes without the additional troubles of hosting and such like. I want to expand my network, I want to write more, I want to do more money making projects online and I want to free myself from that 9-5 job which I truly despise. I don’t need my hosting company to suck like iPower! Which reminds me, I have one of their banners on an old site of mine I must take down, you know I don’t like to push things I don’t use myself.

So anyway, I got really stuck when my server went down and I made the decision to switch it over to my perfectly good hostgator account. Well, to be honest I had not the faintest clue…all I knew was that I’d been lucky enough to have decided to back it up the night before, something I don’t ordinarily do I must add. (Everyone Back Up Your Blog.! No really, you should!) Trying to move my site back onto my upgraded wordpress and new server proved to be a much tougher problem - it would have taken me days no doubt to get my site back up on my own. Then, by the power of skype along comes Mr Piss who, in no time at all, got things upgraded and in full working order again.

It always amuses me the little circles of bloggers I see on my commenting rounds and I see it as good to have a network of people who you can go to for addtional advice, or maybe to collaborate on a project. I like to read fun blogs, people who don’t take themselves too seriously, but who know how to give good advice. Other than traffic, which I am sure is now being directed to blogfluff, I also lost my blogroll so I will be starting a new one quite soon (now is a really good time to subscribe/stumble this site btw). I am sure Mr Piss has cleverly inserted some code that is snapping up all my traffic! I have recently started using the ‘Sociable’ plugin which, along with many great wordpress plugins can be found over at yoast. I also highly recommend adding Joost De Valk to your reader if he is not there already; I have learnt a huge amount from reading his blog.

My point is this…don’t be afraid to ask if you need help with something. Not everyone online is one of those negative, gotta be faster, richer and ruder than everyone else type bloggers that we all know exist. I am also here to help in anyway I can so don’t be shy, drop me an email or comment (as long as its not server related). I will of course be reciprocating all stumbles for the rest of this month, which should get everyone some good traffic, as I sign of my appreciation.

Leaving server stress behind I can now get on with bringing you some great posts and maybe I can also figure out how I am going to catch up in this competition.

Thanks Everyone.

Blogfluff.com

Inbound Links: 398
Alexa: 1,763,399
Estimated Value: $60

After days of hitting up a blank page on this one, I notice that there is something happening. As expected, the site is looking really good and from what I can make out, there is a great idea brewing. This site is really beginning to take shape and, as with the tortoise and the hare, I see a really strong finish coming. Watch this space for something special.

Acthighbrow.com

Inbound Links: 503
Alexa: 3,750,814
Estimated Value: $90

Initial kudos for including all competitors in the blogroll! A great job on link building so far and that is reflected in the estimate value. The site is fairly straightforward but I did struggle to subscribe as the subscription box is not displayed prominently on the homepage. I feel that more content is needed and perhaps better use of space above the fold.

Traveltipsdigest.com

Inbound Links: 78
Alexa: 3,700,640
Estimated Value: $20

Another one that I found a little tricky to subscribe to – that being said, this site has some awesome content and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. My advice is simply to keep doing what you are doing, get some more anchored text links and make it easier to subscribe to! You could backdate a few posts to fill the gap between 3^rd and 9^th July.

Gogreenlifestyle.net

Inbound Links: 106
Alexa: 3,166,805
Estimated Value: $50

It is hard to find fault with this site as far as I am concerned. A superb job so far! It’s not just the use of a good premium theme either - everything is so easy and clean, the content is fantastic and the site looks great. Get yourself some more links and keep up the good work.

Bloggerssearch.com

Inbound Links: 114
Alexa: 2,081,879
Estimated Value: $50

There is a lot of potential with this site and I cannot knock the theme as it is the same that I use here. There are a few functionality issues which I have pointed out already on the site; namely feedburner subscriptions not being set up. I would look at making better use of the sidebar with this theme and, with all the bloggers out there to profile, I would expect a lot more content to come. We are looking to sell these sites so they must work and they must have plenty of content, so consider backdating a few posts also just to fill the site out.

Professorprosperity.com

Inbound Links: 179
Alexa: 4,462,464
Estimated Value: $50

You got a couple of day’s head start on everyone I notice but we will let that slide. I’m actually starting to like this site more everyday and the sole reason for that is the content! The ‘101 steps’ alone is just brilliant. The site is laid out well but one thing I would say is that it’s almost too busy. Look at the headers and you will see it is hard to differentiate between a post title and a header. I really don’t like the google ads at the bottom but other than that…..Good Job! Thanks also for the blogroll links!

Frugalzeitgeist.com

Inbound Links: 210
Alexa: 2,363,385
Estimated Value: $120

For those of you who have seen this site, I think you will agree that I don’t need to say too much about it; another really impressive site. It works well, looks great, has had outstanding traffic and is making money. I thought that with you being on top of everything else you might have more links too, but that will come I’m sure. My only qualm is that the categories at the top are slightly reminiscent of google ads and my eyes stray away almost immediately. I am keen to see how much this sells for…..if at all!

Reggae-artists.com

Inbound Links: 162
Alexa: 2,819,397
Estimated Value: $50

Ticking away nicely is my own site and I wanted to share feedback that I have received from others, along with a little of what I am thinking. According to PB I am doing reasonably well in the seo stakes and that is reflected by the organic traffic I am getting. This is particularly pleasing as I am actually picking up hits for my main keywords. I have been fairly slack on getting links too and so thanks to everyone who has helped on that front. The site itself is too heavily monetised, as pointed out by Bryan, but I do have one paid ad up there which has paid for this experiment and put me in profit already. I am not sure if I will keep the theme because, as much as I like it, there are more suitable ones out there; it could be much simpler for the end user. Also, for a reggae site……it lacks in COLOUR!

I must admit to finding this an awful lot harder than I had imagined. Trying to keep up with this along with all my other sites has tested me…especially with the 9-5 in between. It has also taught me a great deal though and I am glad that I made the effort – I have learnt new techniques, got some great ideas for a little further down the line and most importantly expanded my network of bloggers which is invaluable.

I mentioned a couple of times above about backdating posts which is something I have found myself doing a lot in keeping up with my site. The reason I advise this is because you should not lose sight of the fact that we are building these sites for sale. It will help if you have a lot of content which has been posted at regular intervals, add to that good looks and functionality and you have something worth buying. At this stage in the competition you should all be looking towards the end goal and so my final thoughts would be this, go away and look at your site from a buyers perspective. Step away from it and really take a look at what are going to be your unique selling points when crunch time comes. Why would someone buy your site? Drop me some comments if it helps!

Let’s hope Bryan gets well soon and we can have some more info from the master himself!

So on my walk to work I was thinking…screw them, this always happens. Why don’t you just change your account over to that wonderful reseller account you have with Hostgator? As my internet restrictions at work only stop me gambling and gmailing, on my arrival to work I set about making some changes. I got my account set up ready with my hostgator reseller package and, as I wanted to free myself from all things iPower, I paid to transfer the domain name to my GoDaddy account too.

You are now chatting with ‘Richard’
Neal: Hi Richard
Richard: Hi Neal, my name is Richard, how are you today?
Neal: I am trying to transfer my domain to godaddy but I am not getting the email which contains the details I need.
Neal: what is the best way to resolve this?
Richard: Can you please hold while I review your account and get back within 2 to 3 minutes?
Neal: of course
Richard: To protect your account from unauthorized changes, can you please verify for me the answer to the Security Question:
Richard: What is your mother’s maiden name?
Neal: ************
Richard: Thank you for the authentication.
Richard: Can you please provide me with your first and the last name for our records?
Neal: Neal ************

Ok, so we are going fairly well so far, though I did raise question as to the order in which he asked me the security question but I let that slide. After waiting a while we got to this…

Neal: *echo*
Neal: Are you there?
Richard: Yes, I am here.
Neal: oh good
Richard: To change the Administrative contact information for your domain, please refer to the steps:
Richard: 1. Log into https://manage.opensrs.net with domain name, domain username and domain password.
Richard: 2. Click on ‘Admin Contact’ link.
Richard: 3. Enter new contact information. If you wish to apply the changes to Organization, Billing and Technical contact information too, check on ‘Yes’ radio button available under ‘Also Apply these changes to’ option.
Richard: 4. Click on ‘Save Configuration’ button.

So finally we get some slightly helpful information and then he hits me with the killer question!

Richard: Is there a specific reason why you need your domain to be transferred? Perhaps, if I knew why you want to transfer your domain we could work something out so that we could better suit your needs. This information helps us to improve our services.
Neal: Tell the truth I am not best pleased with iPower at all and I am REALLY delighted with both godaddy and my reseller account at hostgator. Enough said without being rude!
Richard: Okay.
Neal: Okay?
Neal: That is a little defeatist don’t you think?
Richard: We need to disable Domain Privacy for your domain name.
Neal: Okay.

I know damn well that there are thousands before me who have testified as to the shortcomings of iPower and it seems that you did not listen already. Lets be honest here, if iPower had listened before then I would probably not be wanting to escape so much would I now? When people complained about your slow servers, your excessive downtime and your piss poor customer service and technical support, what did you say? ‘OKAY.’??? Pleeeease spare me!

Richard: Please provide me domain name login details so that I can disable Domain Privacy for your account.
Neal: *************
Richard: Sorry for typo* domain login details
Neal: what else do you need?
Richard: I need domain password.
Neal: *************
Richard: Thank you for the authentication.
Neal: no worries
Richard: I have disabled Domain Privacy tool for your domain name.
Richard: It may take 2 to 3 hours to update the changes.
Neal: Please don’t steal my domain Richard. I rather like it
Neal: so in two hours I will be set free from iPower, am I right?
Richard: Yes.
Neal: perfect
Neal: Thanks Richard
Richard: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Neal: not now, not ever I don’t think… but thanks for asking!
Richard: Thank you for chatting with us. Please feel free to contact us at any time. We are available 24×7.

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

And so ends my relationship with iPower.

I’m working on rebuilding his lost databases and fetching all the original content prior to the move to a new server. That said, keep rooting for us and show some support for our man AP!

Peace out!

I have recently been through a lot of changes with my blog and have the feeling that I am moving ever closer to that dream we all have of working from home in pj’s as full on professional bloggers. Since my change of theme I have been asking you all for some feedback and thank you all for such wonderful comments and emails! Whilst many of you feel like I have what it takes, there was one recurring point that you all chose to make!

Q: So I got my nice new theme and I’m building some quality content up here, but what is the one thing thats missing? Anyone? Bueller…..Bueller?

A: Branding thats what…. a distinctive logo! Something that identifies me from all the other bloggers out there and shouts out…hey, thats The Affiliate Post!

You will find that as a blogger you use logos more and more, be it on your own site, your entrecards, your gravatars and more importantly your advertising. You should not underestimate the power of a good logo. Now, being poor at this sort of thing myself I have set about to find a trustworthy designer for my readers and boy have I got something for you.

With over 10 years experience working for clients which include non other than Polo Ralph Lauren, American Express, EMI Records and HMV to name but a few, may I present to you TheRandomForest. Wow AP, but with all that experience, dont you have something a little more in our price range? Well fear not faithful readers…..as part of a new introductory offer you can get a professionally designed logo for as little as $9 and I’ll tell you it’s worth every last cent.

When it comes to logo’s, like Ferris, I believe that you should put your feet up and let someone else do the work! So go and check out The Random Forest and get yourself on the path to a professional looking blog!

You will have seen my Pepperjam Network Banners on this site before and I, like most, am a big fan of this affiliate network. Actually, I happen to think it is THE best affiliate network out there right now! So imagine how pleased I was when I read last week what they are doing for thier affiliates for the month of July. Remember that $10 I am going to give you?? Well here’s how it breaks down.

If you click through one of my special offer links below and become an approved PJN Publisher then you will get a $10 sign on bonus…. Simple! In addition to this you can pick up additional bonuses to get your account kick started when you join!

What are you waiting for? Get your $10 below!

I just wanted to a quick post and give all these guys and girls some credit for such a great effort so far. There have been some really creative blog ideas and designs so, especially if you are thinking of setting up a new blog, go have a look at all of these sites and don’t forget to help the cause by leaving some comments, stumbling and whatever else you can do to help us all.

http://blogfluff.com

http://acthighbrow.com

http://traveltipsdigest.com

http://gogreenlifestyle.net/

http://bloggerssearch.com

http://professorprosperity.com

http://frugalzeitgeist.com/

That’s the confirmed ones, but rumour has it that there may be a few late comers! If you have had a look at all of these then….WHAT DO YOU THINK? Which is your favourite thus far? I recommend you keep watching as, thanks to the good folks above, you will learn how sites go from nothing, through to a sale! You will learn all the little hints, tips, niches and useful ideas from our collective effort to make money online……If we can do it then I am sure you can too!

On that note…I have work to do. Keep watching!

*Edit* FYI……I wrote this post to give kudos to my fellow competitors, however after a few comments…….my site is http://reggae-artists.com

‘How To Get Rich’ is a book I recently read by the author, and self made multi millionaire (in pounds sterling) entrepreneur, Felix Dennis. No idea who Felix Dennis is…then allow me to explain.

First and foremost, Felix is the Chairman(CEO) of Dennis Publishing - a multinational publishing company responsible for such great titles as Maxim, Stuff, The Week, Computer Shopper, Auto Express and many many more. He is a rather eccentric poet who has amassed a personal fortune of £750 MILLION along with properties in London, Connecticut, New York and the Caribbean Island of Mustique to name but a few.

Anyway, his personal story alone is quite a tale but, ‘How To Get Rich’ is focussed on his business dealings and how he made himself rich beyond most peoples dreams! IMPORTANT POINT - before you all switch off and start with your ‘oh, no…not another how to get rich quick book’ attitudes - this book is like no other.

You are probably wondering why the shameless plug here? Well I want you all to think about something and this is one of the reasons I bought the book to start.

You all want to make money online right? and you all want to get rich (as quickly as possible no doubt)? If you are someone who has read every make money online book/ebook and it’s still not working then here is the twist…try something else! This is not another ‘how to get rich quick’ book, but an open and rather frank look at how Felix Dennis did it. It’s a business manual, it’s an eye opener, it’s a motivator and it’s even a very good read! If you want to get rich on or offline then you need to have the focus and the mindset to start. If you can expand your horizons to seek out valuable information from those who have proven themselves (regardless of the sector in which they did) then you can take that knowledge, combined with your enthusiasm,work ethic and personality to any given situation…including making money online.

As much as I hate the phrase I think you will all understand what it means to ‘think outside the box’. So don’t waste your time following those ten page ebooks on ‘how to make money online’, get out there and learn something! Absorb as much of that information as you can, add your own personal touches and then apply yourself.

I had underlined so very many snippets I wanted to share with you but I then realised that I found so much value in it that I would have re-typed the entire book so all that needs to be said is…..I have not read a more perfect book on ‘how to get rich’.

On that note, I am going to go and apply myself.

If you are new to The Affiliate Post then you could not have timed things more perfectly. I have just installed a new theme which I received via email from the guys at Unique Blog Designs. I have always loved the work that these guys do and if any of you have not seen it then I recommend you go check out their portfolio. Better still this theme is free and can be downloaded from UBD Website. I’m just getting my head around it so you might notice the odd change here and there for a few days but I have to say I am very impressed. It has certainly made a difference!

While I am on that note, there are some other changes I have had to make recently, so if you are a regular reader I do apologise but I have changed my feedburner rss feed. If you dont mind can you all go and sign up again and any new readers…now is the time to subscribe too!! Go on….don’t be shy!

So AP, apart from a brand spanking new them, what else is new?

Well I had a rough weekend and a couple of things troubled me. First off I was witness to a smash and grab robbery just round the corner from my house. It involved 4 kids on mopeds, designer handbags and shoes, lots of glass, a screaming baby, 3 shellshocked shop assistants, lots of people watching and my ‘too many malboro lights’ ass chasing them down the street in vain. I won’t dwell on that too much though but it’s not like I live in a skanky part of London or anything. Anyway, the crime rate here is out of control but that’s another story. The second thing that troubled me was I spent hours working on a ‘niche store mashup script‘ trying to get the damn thing to work and it very nearly beat me. I hate being beaten and I generally do not like to stop working until I have got something right. For some reason I was having issues pulling the ebay and amazon feeds and tell the truth I had to sleep on it. I did eventually decide to cheat a little the next day and manually coded the feeds in. I actually think it looks much better and I will make it live on Reggae Artists shortly for all to see.

What is Reggae Artists? Well again, if you are a new reader you may well not know that there is a great competition going over at site flipping unversity and that is my site! It’s going to be fun doing something outside of mmo for a change and I urge you all to either enter the competiton (IT IS NOT TOO LATE) or at least go comment on Reggae Artists and let me know your thoughts.

My Bans sites are ticking over nicely and I am leaving them on the back burner for the next 30 days. I have had a good run of ACRU’S (new ebay signups paid at $25 each) recently so I am pleased with progress on that front. All in all this promises to be a really good month; other than the fact that my fiancee went back to the US today that is! Damn you and your 4th July celebrations.

Need a recap?? Well go try the mashup script, it is fairly straight forward I promise. I always say that you should have multiple streams of income and this is another string to add to my bow. Get involved in site flipping and try out the competition. Bryan will walk you through everything so there is never a better time to try something - You can follow my own efforts at Reggae Artists! And finally, new or regular readers alike……sign up for my new feedburner rss feed.

Please let me know your thoughts on my new theme, comments are always welcome.

I’ll be back with more shortly.

AP

I don’t think I can be clearer on the subject here but I WANT comments! This may be a little rant here but I don’t quite understand why only a select few loyal readers take the time to leave a comment on this blog. Recently on other blogs I have seen a few posts about why people delete comments, the commenting etiquette and the understanding that a lot of comments are left in order to get a quick and easy link, so in response to that I ask you this………why no comments here? Want me to sell myself? OK!

Three reasons you SHOULD comment here.

1) Other than the total spam comments, I will NOT delete any comment left - good, bad or downright rude!

2) This is a DO FOLLOW blog and so you will get your quick and dirty links. Leave your anchored text if you want!

3) I have an predicted PR 3/4 on the next update so just because it says zero now…you are not wasting your time!

I have never understood people who delete comments because someone leaves anchored text, or (I know who you are) people who regularly read blogs and NEVER leave a comment at all. You are missing the point - a comment is a comment is a comment right? No! Ok, so if you want to leave a cheap ass ‘nice blog’ type comment then so be it, but it does not take more than a minute to write a little something and get involved. I regularly find new blogs because of a good comment that I have read and have built a lot of my traffic by way of my own comments elsewhere.

N.B All you Entrecard droppers who come here for a quick drop are also missing out on some good quality long term traffic and a links. So what you get a quick drop and have to go quickly because you have another 299 to do for the day?!? Take a minute to leave a comment and build your links (which are way more important anyway) as you will get more out of it in the long run.

RANT OVER! Just tell me what makes you leave a comment? Do you censor your own comments? Does your own lack of comments frustrate you?

P.S If you want to check for your predicted PR then use this handy tool below!

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