The Blog To End All Blogs

The PVR Adsense Test - Update

2006-01-11T17:51:00.000-05:00

Last week I made this post explaining the idea behind the PVR Source Blog.

For anyone not in the know, the idea was to test the potential success of creating link dump blogs centering around high yield keywords.

Well, the results are in:

In second place, performing relatively well but still unremarkably: The Blog To End All Blogs!

And in first place, the reigning champion: PVR Source!

Ok, so PVR Source won, like I expected it too. While I can't get too specific with the stats because of the Adsense terms of service, I can tell you that this blog received significantly more page views and clicks but that the PVR Source Blog earned significantly more Adsense revenue because of the high value of PVR and DVR related keywords.

The even odder aspect, to me, is how well PVR Source performed with the true dearth of content it experienced. I made a grand total of two - that's right, TWO - one sentence posts. One was an introduction and the other a link. In other words, it really doesn't deserve to be called a blog so much as a link portal.

At this point we face the most difficult part of the experiment - evaluating what the results mean. Although I expected this to occur, I am still not happy about it. The message that the success of this and other blogs like it is that you do not need quality content to be a quality blogger. A debate can be had about whether being a "quality blogger" and a "profitable blogger" are the same thing.

I'll leave that for you to think about for now.

Chris Pirillo Update - Part Deux

2006-01-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Chris Pirillo commented on the previous post.

I said I would do it:

"The Chris Pirillo effect is a proven law of science".

Chris Pirillo Update

2006-01-07T23:41:00.000-05:00

Two Days, Five Comments, No Chris Pirillo.

You had better show up soon, Chris Pirillo, or else the myth will be busted.

I'm even giving you one more chance by using the name "Chris Pirillo" three times in this post as well.

We can once and for all put an end to the "Chris Pirillo Effect" talk.

The Greatest Myth In Blogging - The Chris Pirillo Effect

2006-01-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

We've all heard of absurd myths, the sort of accounts that are used to scare children into going to sleep.

Today I have discovered the greatest myth in blogging. It's an idea so outrageous, so crazy, that just uttering it might qualify you for the asylum.

As with many myths, this one does have some basis in truth. Apparently a few people mentioned Chris Pirillo in their blogs and he happened to notice them and comment. Then, Mike Flynn wrote this article, terming the phenomenon "The Pirillo Effect". All well and good, of course. Now, after noticing this Pirillo linked to the article from his own blog. The story now is that if you say "Chris Pirillo" three times within your post, he will soon appear and comment on your blog.

My question here is the same as Mike noted, although I am more skeptical: Is this Chris Pirillo or Beetlejuice?

Now, I could be wrong. Maybe Chris Pirillo has an army of Pirillo spiderbots, crawling the web looking for any mention of his name. Narcissistic? Yes. Impossible? No.

Anyway, I have now mentioned "Chris Pirillo", counting that last one, five times. That should be plenty to get the man here if the rumors are true.

I give it 1 week. If Chris Pirillo has commented on this post, on this blog, then I will personally hail the Pirillo effect as a proven law of science.

I seriously doubt that I will have to do that though.

Darren Rowse - 7 Ways to Get to the Top of the Del.icio.us Popular Page

2006-01-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

Del.icio.us is one of the foremost social bookmarking sites on the internet, along with others such as Digg and SlashDot. Social Bookmarking sites are notorious for providing an amazing level of traffic to any blog or site lucky enough to end up on their frontpage. Darren Rowse recently released an article titled 7 Ways To Get To The Top Of The Del.icio.us Popular Page.

The foremost point that he makes is the value of lists and numbers in reaching the front of social bookmarking sites. When he analyzed Del.icio.us he found that approximately 40% of the posts on the main page contained a list in some shape or form. They also typically contained a number referring to the amount of points the list would make i.e. "7 Ways to Get to the Top of the Del.icio.us Popular Page" rather than "Several Ways to Get to the Top of the Del.icio.us Popular Page". Overall this is another great article at ProBlogger which it might benefit any aspiring blog czar to read.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Blogmad - The New Link Exchange

2006-01-04T13:17:00.000-05:00

BlogMad has set a tentative launch date of March 1, 2006. "What is BlogMad?" you ask?

BlogMad is similar to Blog Explosion in that it is a blog link exchange site. It operates under the same premise as its compatriot - you take the time to look at other member's blogs, and other BlogMad users will take the time to look at yours.

Why are we talking about this in January?

The answer here is simple - timing. If you sign up to Blog Explosion right now, you become one member in about 15000. That's not exactly good for your ego, and definitely not good for your blog. Having spent a few hours surfing other members' blogs, I think that only MonkeyBoy has gotten anything out of mine. Alternatively, if you sign up for BlogMad right now, you become one of the founding members. Not only do you receive 25 immediate credits (which means 25 unique visitors to your site), but you will also be one of the first listed in the BlogMad directories. Additionally you have the chance to become a referrer, allowing you to earn even more initial credits. Referrer banners might look a little something like this:

I'm not one to recommend something unless I think it will be useful. From what I have seen, BlogMad looks like it will be a quality link exchange and blog directory site. If my opinion changes, I will be certain to note it. So for now, head over there, sign up, and get ready for a world of new readers come March.

Nobody Reading? Hanging In There Through A Blog's Deadzone

2006-01-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

I have been writing The Blog To End All Blogs for five days now. I have written sixteen quality posts on a multitude of topics, although they are almost all focused on business and blogging in some way, shape, or form. I have signed up for every free program, service, and directory I can find in the hopes of getting somebody, anybody, to read my blog regularly. Yes, quite a few times in the last day or two I have thought about how long it is going to take to build an established readership at this rate.

But I have not despaired or given up. And, if you are in the same situation as me, neither should you.

The following are the techniques that I use to keep myself enthused and encouraged about my blog:

- I remind myself that almost no blog is successful in five days.

It is a cliche to say that Rome was not built in a day or that anything worth having is worth working for. However, it's also true. Darren and Yaro did not have 1000 readers in five days. Yet now, they are two of the most respected figures in the world of blogging. You knew coming in that readers would not be beating down your door in a week. So why stop what you're doing because your results are what you expected them to be?

- I reason that when I begin to accrue regular readers, they will appreciate all of the posts I made in the beginning.

I, for one, am new to the blogging game. When I found Problogger, Entrepreneur's Journey, and Performancing I didn't just read the articles that they posted from then on out. I went back through their archives and read every snippet of useful information I could find. I know that when I have devoted readers they will be interested in going back and seeing my earlier articles. I don't want to disappoint them, and you will not want to disappoint your readers either.

- I realize that my posts have an intrinsic value as an expression of myself; they aren't just "bait" to lure in readers.

The first three or four days that I was posting I posted in the hopes that someone would see the post and link it or blog about it. Yesterday and today, though, I've realized that no one will want to read my posts if they do not obviously have some meaning to me and some originality. The entire reason that I (and you) began blogging was to express myself, and to share my ideas, opinions, and expertise with interested readers. There is no purpose in having a forum to offer my mind to other people if I am not giving them content that is actually representative of my mind and personality. If you don't write in a way that has meaning to yourself you'll put up the keyboard within a few days.

- I take solace in the small victories that occur, rather than dwelling on the negatives.

Optimism is often overused, but so is pessimism. Today after looking at my blog I could have dwelled on the fact that I only had seventy page views, most of which did not result in anyone reading my articles. Instead, I rejoiced at receiving my first ever comment. Obviously my content had interested someone enough to get them to take the time to tell me. Believe me, if you look at your blog's successes you'll be sporting a smile, and if you focus on your blog's shortcomings you'll be wearing a frown.

Optimism, individualism, perseverance, and patience will combine to nurse you through your blog's infancy. When you've got a few hundred people reading your blog everyday, you'll be shocked that you ever even considered quitting. The difference between the successful bloggers and the poor bloggers isn't apparent in times of prosperity. The way you react to the slow times will determine your success in blogging.

Day 3 - The Blog To End All Blogs

2006-01-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

Today's attempts to improve the blog:

- Spent a lot of time at Blog Explosion
working to get credits so that this blog could be advertised. In sum I probably spent a couple of hours thumbing through other members' blogs and earned about 70 credits. Each credit is worth 1 unique visitor to the site, so presumably 70 people have at least gotten to see the heading of my previous post about PVR and the PVR - AdSense test.

- Continued the commenting / networking on other blogs and forums.

- Did plenty of reading over at Performancing on blog promotion and improvement.

-Kept on writing posts.

Happy to report that my first comment was received today. A bit cryptic, but still appreciated.

I am considering putting up other ads on this blog. Whether I choose to will depend on how unobtrusive I can make them.

The PVR Adsense Test - Part 1

2006-01-02T23:11:00.000-05:00

After writing my last post I have decided to perform a test to see how easily one can profit from high yield keywords.

I have begun "The PVR Source" at http://pvrsource.blogspot.com. It will focus on Personal Video Recorders (PVR), which Top Paying Keywords lists as one of its most improved Google search phrases based on adsense revenue per click.

Here are my rules for this experiment:

1. I can only post links to other PVR articles; I can not develop and post entirely original articles.

2. I can promote PVR Source in any way that I want, provided that I do not spend an excessive amount of time promoting the blog.

3. The only revenue that I can consider relevant is revenue that originates from Google Adsense.

4. The experiment will last one week, to begin with. After the week I will compare the Adsense revenue from PVR Source to any revenue I earn from The Blog To End All Blogs.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the blog given more time, with a higher amount of interesting, customized content, would be more profitable. I fully expect, however, that within a week PVR Source will have outperformed this blog by at least a two to one ratio.

If you have thoughts on this experiment or suggestions to improve it, please let me know by leaving a comment.

PVR, DNA, Florida Lawyer: The Madness Of Adsense Keywords

2006-01-02T22:02:00.000-05:00

For the first few days of running The Blog To End All Blogs, the adsense ads at the top of the page have primarily been about blogs. I find that the majority of my adsense ads turn out to be links right back to Blogger.com; needless to say a click on one of these ads, though appreciated, is only worth a few cents.

If I wanted a blog that was purely centered around profit, then I would see how many of the keywords from www.toppayingkeywords.com I could fit into my post. For your email address they provide a list of the 20 "most improved" keywords in terms of amount of money generated per click, on a percentage basis.

Included on the list were such terms as "PVR" (Personal Video Recorder, akin to a Tivo I believe), "DNA" (Deoxyribonucleic Acid for any of you who might be curious), and "Florida Lawyer". If someone clicks on a "Florida Lawyer" based Adsense ad on your blog, you instantly earn over 10 dollars.

So what am I to do? Go out and register PVR.blogspot.com, DNA.blogspot.com, and FloridaLawyer.blogspot.com, slap a few news links up on each one and hope for the best? I don't plan to, but this is the sort of get rich quick scheme that reminds me of the Million Dollar Homepage, although it lacks the ingenuity.

No, I'll keep blogging about my blog and whatever else might interest me, nursing my 75 page impressions - 4 clickthroughs - $0.61 earned stats until someone has to pry the keyboard away from my cold dead fingers.

Day 2 - The Blog To End All Blogs

2006-01-02T18:43:00.000-05:00

What did I accomplish with the blog today, you ask?

The following:

-Joined www.entrepreneurs-journey.com forums and posted an introduction about myself, this blog, and some of my other ventures. Began to interact with the other users there. A specific shoutout goes to Sammy from www.trepnetwork.com for offering an insightful and quick response to my post.

-Continued commenting and interacting on other blogs. Having been working with this for only a week I think I can say that one of the most crucial factors in terms of generating blog success is developing genuine networking skills and getting to know other bloggers.

-Worked with promotions on www.cross-x.com and other websites, although the threads I made are slowly sinking to the back. Which makes me curious as to whether there are any forums purely dedicated to trading blog information. If any reader is knowledgeable here please send me in the right direction.

-Went back to Digg.com (see my other post about that episode) and checked my spam (article). Oddly enough I had got one other digg, but there were no more comments after my apology so I guess we won't know if I was forgiven until I post a legitimate article there.

-Registered with www.blogexplosion.com.

-Continued to write and plan content. Look for this blog to roll out many unique and interesting articles in the coming weeks.

We'll have to see how the blog networking and the other strategies improve my readership. For now I'd be surprised if two people read this blog everyday. That is to be expected, though, and it is my job to generate quality content to draw people here and keep them coming back.

Becoming An Overnight Spammer

2006-01-01T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well now I've done it. I really have. This evening, I committed the mortal sin of spamming in the course of trying to promote my blog.

After reading an article by Darren over at Problogger about social bookmarking, I decided that sending my post detailing what I had done to improve the blog into one of these bookmarking networks would be useful and successful.

Boy was I wrong.

Within 30 minutes of posting the article on Digg.com, I had only one digg (my own) but two negative comments labeling my submission as spam. At first I was taken aback; I'm the sort who leads the charge against booting spammers from forums because I find them extremely annoying.

Then, I got real. Just read the description I posted with the article: "This post is the first in a series chronicling Gentry Sherrill's attempts to improve his blog on both a technical and aesthetic level. Included are descriptions of SEO, specific applications which Sherrill has added to his blog, and a general chronicle of the creative improvements to the blog."

Any way you slice it, that's spam. Why did I refer to myself in the third person? I have no idea.

After seeing the immediate damage this did to my reputation I posted the following apology:

"Allow me to apologize (sincerely) for what you consider to be spamming. Just started this blog a few days ago and I am perhaps a little too overzealous to see traffic head to it.

This is my first attempt to do a real, profitable blog. I read about social bookmarking sites (like Digg, Del.icio.us, etc.) and thought that they would be a good avenue to get some readers there.

I can tell now from the description I gave my post that it looks spammish (Referring to myself in the 3rd person was, admittedly, stupid). I do think the posts I am making / am going to make have some value to anyone who might be in the same stages as me, where you're sort of working on the blog and are trying to head in a lot of different directions to make it successful. I don't know of many other bloggers that chronicle exactly what they do with their site to improve it, at least not daily (if you're out there I would love to hear from you).

So overall I would like to apologize for any perceived misuse of Digg and to encourage anyone who is interested in following my progress to see my blog. To the first two commenters here (stylerm and AnteChronos) I would specifically like to beg forgiveness.

Thank you for (hopefully) taking the time to read this."

Even if the members of Digg take my apology seriously (which is doubtful) I've still made a first impression which can not easily be replaced. If this happens again (and I can promise that it won't) the damage will be even more severe.

In 10 minutes I damaged my blog more than I had improved it working with it for 5 to 6 hours the day before.

Hopefully anyone reading this post will think twice before submitting articles, otherwise you might become an overnight spammer - just like me.

The Blog To End All Blogs - A Success Story In Action - Day 1

2006-01-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

I've decided to let you, the readers, follow my every move as I attempt to build traffic, interest, and adsense revenue using The Blog To End All Blogs.

Everyday (relatively) I will post a list or synopsis of what I have done to improve this blog, be it only writing entries or actually taking an active step to promote it.

Today's improvements:

Went into the template code and made the post titles permalinks because permalink titles tend to perform better within the context of search engine optimization.

Changed the archive frequency from monthly to daily for SEO purposes.

Signed up with http://www.bloglet.com in order to allow any interested readers to receive emails with each new blog post.

Activated my blog such that it informs www.weblogs.com each time a post is made.

Registered with Technorati.

Promoted the blog on www.cross-x.com and www.elderscrolls.com, with the latter being significantly more successful than the former in this regard.

Contacted Ben at www.foundblogging.com about a link exchange.

Began to post comments / network on others' blogs.

Made 4 new posts (counting this one).

Stay tuned to see how these and other improvements and promotions affect the blog to end all blogs' success.

Scott Allen's Advice On Networking With Your Blog

2006-01-01T13:57:00.000-05:00

It's almost two years old now but still a wonderful article, full of ideas and practices that this blog will be implementing over the next few weeks.

Do yourself a favor and go read the article over at The Virtual Handshake: http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/blog/2004/02/25/how-to-network-with-your-blog-part-2

The Idea Of The Day: A Blog Newspaper

2006-01-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

Posted this over at YGG too, but might as well place it on the blog. Please note that the idea of the day likely will not be a recurring feature because, unfortunately, I generally have mediocre ideas daily, average ideas weekly, and good ideas only a few times per month. With no further ado:

I was reading a post from Yaro Starak recently about the potential of blog networks - large numbers of blogs grouped under one umbrella network for promotion and linking purposes. The idea is that bloggers are paid for their writing and that the owner/manager of the network gains most of the advertising revenue.

Why not take that a step further with an online, daily syndicated newspaper (covering current business, sports, news, etc.) made up entirely of articles written by bloggers? You could include the same sort of advertising features (adwords, etc.) in the newspaper, as well as possibly selling cheap subscriptions to it assuming it became a quality product.

This could hit home with all of the people who feel like cable and network news is too dry nowadays, or that print media is biased one way or the other. The younger tech generation might like having the newspaper show up in their inbox instead of their driveway.

You could even use different "slants" of news to appeeal to different groups; ie at signup a prospect can ask for the conservative news (news coverage from conservative blogs) or liberal news (liberal blogs), or obviously retain an "unbiased" news. You could localize sports coverage also.

Thoughts?

Welcome To 2006

2006-01-01T01:04:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to anyone and everyone who might happen to read this blog. I intend to work significantly on it both as a means of expression and a means of income through the year, and I won't be able to do that very successfully without the support of readers.

If you have an article you would like to submit, please send it to gentrysherrill [at] comcast [dot] net; if one of my posts interests you, please feel free to comment on it.

I wish everyone happiness and prosperity in 2006!

Handling A Harvard Rejection

2005-12-31T22:54:00.000-05:00

Very few people can say that they have been accepted to Harvard University. A few more can say that they have been rejected. The greatest majority of the world can look at the eggheads in the other two groups and laugh heartily at such concentrated social ineptitude.

I can not say that I am a member of any of the 3 defined "classes".

I am part of a transient breed - a breed that exists for a few months each year, only to perish on April 1. My breed is always replaced by others, each December, who don't know if being deferred is just another intermediate step before joining the rejected group or, perhaps, a lesson in patience after which the proverbial ticket to success will be punched.

Yes, I got deferred by Harvard. But that's alright. What is the worst possible outcome of my college application binge? At this point it is that I go to Georgia Tech, likely with a partial scholarship, to study computer science and business like I would at Harvard for 20% of the cost.

You never know. I might still get in. Stanford could admit me too, or I could choose to go to NYU where I will likely also be accepted and could become part of the vaunted Greenwich Village community 30 years after Greenwich Village was in vogue.

The lesson here though is what my response will be if, come April Fool's Day, I receive an exceedingly slim envelope in the mail. I won't be happy, of course. But I won't be drowning in my tears lamenting some "lost dream" either. If Harvard doesn't admit me, that's their mistake, and it is my job to prove to them through what I do with my life that they should have let me walk through Harvard Yard on the cobblestone paths.

If you are rejected by a college, employer, date, etc. never take it as an end in itself. Look at it as a challenge. Sure, you can't change the past. But you can act in the present and you can shape your own future.

Yaro Starak's Blog

2005-12-31T14:39:00.000-05:00

Yaro Starak, an internet entrepreneur from Australia, has what is in my opinion one of the best business blogs on the internet. His blog, "Entrepreneur's Journey", tends to mainly deal with making success out of, of all things, blogs, as well as general tips on running businesses and entrepreneurship. He even has great podcasts that you can take with you and listen to.

So check out www.entrepreneurs-journey.com and read up on making your internet ventures more successful; you can access it from my "links" tab as well on the right side of the page.

And once again, anyone interested in entrepreneurship and business owes it to themself to check out YGG.

New Year's Eve

2005-12-31T01:02:00.000-05:00

Well, it's now officially New Year's Eve 2005. What am I doing you ask?

I don't usually do much for New Year's; the highlight is typically shooting mortar fireworks in the street with my father until the cops come. This year, though, I actually have tickets to a concert by one of the relatively few singer-songwriter artists I like. Shawn Mullins (www.shawnmullins.com) is playing at Eddie's Attic here in Atlanta, and I'll be one of the proud audience members in attendance.

Of course, since they're doing an early show (why you do an early show on New Year's Eve I'll never understand) we'll be home by 11-ish. Just in time to send flames, sparks, and colors into the sky.

Jimi Hendrix / Forums

2005-12-30T19:37:00.000-05:00

A great picture here of Jimi Hendrix, one of my favorite musicians. I use the name "JimiHendrix" as my identity on numerous forums in order to pay homage to the musical great. Which forums you ask?

Check these:

www.younggogetter.com (Great, close-knit business forum)

www.elderscrolls.com (For the Elder Scrolls series of videogames. Yeah thats kind of nerdy but what can I say, you can't beat disemboweling an enslaved creature that looks like Jar Jar from Star Wars)

www.cross-x.com (A debate forum. I'm not actually Jimi here, I'm "Cartesian Doubt". Don't post there that often anymore but its always interesting to look at the many unusual and random threads there.)

YGG is the one of those that should really command your attention.

An Epiphany

2005-12-30T19:22:00.000-05:00

I have amazing epiphanies from time to time, realizations of facts that most people grasp immediately yet seem to elude me, personally. It's not good when you can do math in your head as fast as a calculator or come up with amazing business ideas but do not realize, in this case, the meaning of Microsoft.

Microsoft: Micro / Soft
Micro
Software.

Microsoft stands for Micro software. There's a reason why they call it that.

Apparently millions of advertising and branding dollars are wasted on people like me...

Smoking Ordinances?

2005-12-30T17:41:00.000-05:00

An article in USA Today yesterday said that nearly 40% of Americans now live in communities that have some form of anti-smoking laws in effect. The laws usually prohibit smoking in businesses and restaurants which serve or employ people under 18, as well as in public / government buildings. Some of the stronger laws even outlaw smoking in parks.

Many people will tell you that the "cultural norm" has shifted away from smoking, i.e. that because a majority of people now do not smoke it is somehow alright to legislate against the practice. Personally, I don't smoke. I think that smoking is stupid - a waste of money and a waste of health. But these laws represent something broader than just curtailing smoking. In essence what these laws allow is for the government to illegalize a lawful practice in a private place.

In the government buildings, fine, the government owns them and they have the right to make any laws concerning them that they wish. A government, however, should not have the right to legislate lawful activities in private settings. Imagine if a city decided to outlaw smoking in not just private businesses but also private homes. Or, better yet, consider if an extremely liberal community determined that eating meat was inappropriate, and thus disallowed the sale of animal products in restaurants.

When we set a precedent of producing laws affecting private places on a majority's whim, we are misusing the government's power and authority, regardless of the agenda at hand.

Kinky Friedman

2005-12-30T01:13:00.000-05:00

Kinky Friedman is an independent candidate running for the Texas governor's office in the 2006 election. A year away from the election, Kinky is polling at 21%. This means that, theoretically, if the election were held today Kinky would receive 21% of the votes from those who voted in the previous gubernatorial election. An unnamed Democrat challenger would, by the poll, receive approximately 23% of the vote, while Republican incumbent Rick Perry would receive around 45%.

Why is this important you ask?

Take this into consideration: Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler turned independent Minnesota governor, did not poll in double digits until only a few months prior to the election. Yet, given an energetic and unique campaign, he came away with the Minnesota job. To that end, Kinky has actually hired Ventura's campaign manager to help with his own run.

Kinky is beginning to receive serious press, and he will be a force to be reckoned with in the 06 election. For more info on Kinky Friedman and his campaign, check out www.kinkyfriedman.com .