2006 April · Dominic Foster

ProBlogger enables full RSS Feeds

April 20, 2006 on 7:28 am | In Blogging | No Comments

Well Darren Rowse at ProBlogger is back from holiday and it looks like he must be in good spirits from a well deserved break as he has enabled full RSS feeds for his blog.

This is great news for me as I have posted before what I think about truncated RSS feeds and ProBlogger is one of the few sites where the content has so much value that I have to click through to the full post.

Well done Darren. I hope this will continue and I believe you have done the right thing.

3.28767 is the first Google AdSense Magic Number

April 12, 2006 on 1:16 pm | In AdSense | 1 Comment

There are probably as many AdSense Magic Numbers as there are AdSense publishers. For me, my AdSense Magic Number is 3.28767 and it probably was for everyone else as they began their AdSense adventure whether they knew it or not.

So Why 3.28767?

Because that is the average amount you must make each day to receive an AdSense cheque each month - Based upon:

(100 x 12) / 365 = 3.28767

Other AdSense Magic Numbers

For Darren Rowse it may have been 15,849.60 - When he receive his cheque for $15,849.60 in August 2005.

For Jason Calcanis it was 2739 - When weblogs.inc was on target for generating $1,000,000 in AdSense revenue per year by hitting $2,739 a day for the first time.

Drew documents some smaller and perhaps more easily achievable goas with AdSense Magic Numbers of 2 then 5 then 10 then 20.

Do you have an AdSense Magic Number?

Technorati Tags: adsense, google, darren+rowse, jason+calcanis, work+online, envy

10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed

April 11, 2006 on 12:47 pm | In Entrepreneur | No Comments

Steve Pavlina has just posted 10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed that should be read by anyone who is thinking of starting a buisness or who already owns and runs a business.

Here is my take on the mistakes he lists:

1. Selling to the wrong people.

This is something I’ve been learning a lot about in the last few months. Rather than firing your message at everyone, it is more beneficial to fire it at people who have a higher motivation to buy your product. I think it is called targeting and from what I read, a lot of people make this (expensive) mistake when they start a Google AdWords campaign.

2. Spending too much money.

Ouch, don’t remind me! Think Bootstrapping when it comes to spending money. Don’t make you bank account bleed to death. Think when you are about to spend money and do some research on whether you actually need what you are thinking about buying and whether there is a cheaper (or free) version on the internet. For example, I recently saved myself a couple of hundred dollars when I bought my new laptop by not opting to get MS Office and instead going with OpenOffice.

3. Spending too little money.

I did however upgrade the RAM, Hard-drive and Screen Resolution of my new laptop :). It cost more, but my laptop is pretty much my livelyhood. I also develop software with VS 2005 which is pretty greedy when it comes to computer resources. Something else that costs money are accountants and lawyers. Many of us perceive them as a bunch money-sucking mongrels, but it certainly pays to get your business structure and contracts sorted out properly to help avoid heartache and irritation further down the track.

4. Putting on a fake front.

This is something I have started to come to grips with. I was of the impression that I must use ‘We’, ‘Us’, etc.. on my websites and correspondence. The truth is though, that the people I have come to respect and deal with don’t use this method, so then why should I.

5. Assuming a signed contract will be honored.

Not had this problem yet. At least I’m now aware that it happens to us ordinary folk.

6. Going against your intuition.

It never ceases to amaze me that most of the mistakes I have made in my life went against my initial intuition. Everything from buying used cars to trusting scoundrels (usually insurance salesmen) that have ended up costing me money, time and sleep originally gave me an uneasy feeling in my underbelly.

7. Being too formal.

Woo-hoo, I hate formality. Since becoming a Full Time Entrepreneur i have only worn long trousers and socks once (actually it is one-and-a-half because I recently went to a wedding but forgot to take my socks so ended up in suit, shoes, but no socks). I think any relationship works best when there is human-to-human connection behind them.

8. Sacrificing your personality quirks.

This is good news. I personally find that if I do this, then I end up being someone (or something) that I am not. Besides, loads of weird people are successful in business so why not me (or you, not that I’m suggesting you are weird :twisted:).

9. Failing to focus on value creation.

This is possibly parramount in setting up a business and another one of those things that I am slowly learning. I recently read that you should concentrate on providing ‘Solutions and not Features’ in your products and services. People who supply your income are interested in having their ‘pain’ resolved not being provided with some useful and cool feature that you like.

10. Failing to optimize.

Test, test, test. If something is not working, tweak it until it does. If something is working, tweak it until it works better. This can not be achieved if you don’t have systems in place to test what you are doing. Something that does not work, yet you continue to do, will cost you money.

However, it is important to remember that making mistakes is not always the end of the world - as long as you learn from your mistakes.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” - Alert Einstein.

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” - Mahatma Gandhi.

However,

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

Technorati Tags: steve+pavlina, entrepreneur, business, start+up, mistakes

Performancing Metrics

April 5, 2006 on 10:42 am | In Free Tools, Geek, Tools | No Comments

I’m now using Performancing Metrics for this blogs stats.

When I first read about Performancing Metrics, I was not convinced that it would be of any value to me. However, I managed to brush aside this initial assumption and actually had a look at what it offered.

The first thing that I liked was it’s no-fuss interface. A very pleasant Web2.0 style look to it, with simple navigation and easy to read graphs.

Next, it is really simple to install. Using the easy interface, you add your blog and then copy and paste the code it spits out into the the selected blogs footer. A logo is optional and you can copy and paste this code too.

Now I can check all my blogs stats from one central location using a simple tool.

And finaly, you get all this for free!

From now on I’m going to make the effort to look into the recommendations that are made on websites that I regularly read and respect. I wouldn’t want to miss something like this again.

Technorati Tags: performancing, performancing+metrics, stats