No Bull Webmastering

Let’s be honest. No one is really going to start an online venture, with a staff, let alone a large compliment of workers. In reality, it is going to be you, and maybe your partner or spouse.

So, why try to set goals, that require a ton of people to make work, when there is just you or maybe one other? I know it is easy to fall into that trap, and I have done it, still do actually, but the bottom line. IT DOESN’T PAY OFF.

Our goals, or objectives have to be reasonable, and no, we aren’t all going ot have huge mansions, or make thousands of dollars each month, as some commercials on television tell you. Truth is, that the Internet is not a simple way to earn millions from your home, with just a few hours of work per week.

You need to set realistic goals, and perhaps one of the first objectives to set, is to determine how much time, you can afford to put into your online venture. NO sense in saying you will work it for eight, ten, twelve, or more hours, if you don’t have that time available to you.

There are many hats, that we, as webmaster’s have to wear. The key on succeeding, is how well we can juggle those different tasks, jobs, in our daily schedule of chores. And YES IT IS A CHORE. Granted, it can be a lot of fun, but it is still a business, and we need to accept that, and not think of it as a game.

You need to insure you have time, to create and manage your content.

You have to have time to seek sources of traffic, such as link trades, advertising on other sites, or just simply networking with other webmasters.

There is the need to keep track of your stats, to figure out your seach engine strategy, because as the ALGO’s change, your strategy has to change too.

Tweaking your SEO plan, as well as monitoring what is working, what isn’t.

Managing your marketing of your site, which can be making free sites, submitting to TGP / MGP or Link Lists.

All of these things, need attention, and at times, may feel like they need that TLC immediately. So the first step really, is to allocate your time. To determine how many hours per day, or which days, will be for which task.

If you plan on an eight hour day, divide it up or make it exclusive for one task. However you work best, but don’t plan on an eight hour day, if all you can devote is six hours.

All that does, is make the work go unfinished, puts you behind, and worse, takes away the fun of being your own boss. It also leads to an incomplete site, or empire, which leads to low revenues.

Things happen, but commit only what you can afford to, in time, as that is the most precious resource you have, and there is only one of you.

Mar 16th by Malcontent

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Inbound Links refers to links from other sites, to your site. These are the important links, that help gain you rankings in the Search Engine Indices.

There are several kinds of incoming links to take into consideration.

WARNING :  LENGTHY ARTICLE AHEAD, GRAB SOME COFFEE!

Not all inbound links are equal, in terms of Link Juice.

One of the more standard form of linking, is the reciprocal link.

This is where Site A will provide a link to your site, but in return, you also provide a link back to them. Now that is generally the most widely used linking strategy, however the big search engines aren’t stupid folks.

They understand that these kind of links are more than likely an agreement, between the two sites, and are not based on the relevancy of the two sites. In other words, they don’t buy that my fiction site is linking to your big boob site based on similar content, but on ways for us to get noticed in their indices.

This strategy has become rather depreciated in giving benefit to either site involved, but is still helpful, in a modest way.

A more beneficial strategy is the One Way Link Strategy, that in all honesty, really isn’t one way, as the name implies. It is a way that many, savvy webmasters, try to manipulate the linking benefits.

One Way Linking implies that Site A is linking to your site, out of your site being a form of authority. Basically the Search Engines don’t see a return link to Site A, so they assume that there isn’t any other reason for the site to link to yours, other than it having something of relevance, and importance to Site A.

WARNING: There is always a high risk of being caught in phony linking strategies, that can lead to a penalty or ban from the major search engines, for both ( all ) parties involved.

One Way links, can be achieved, if you have more than one site, ideally on separate IP addresses, and yes, ideally, on different Hosts. However than can be expensive. In the past, it was important to show that your link back was definately not associated. However, as the number of IP addresses dwindle, it seems to be of less importance.

Now, in a perfect world, links will be natural. They won’t need any manipulation, but given how the world is really profit driven, Capitalistic, people look for ways to get ahead. Linking strategies are a major tool, and even though the search engines protest, and claim it shouldn’t be that way, truth is, IT IS.

The problem is, it generates a conflict between the webmaster, and the search engine Guru’s. See, the SE ( search engines ) want to make their indices relevant, to their customers. We, on the other hand, want to attract those customers, to buy our goods.

What happens is, that many webmasters go way too far in their methods, to get ranked on the Indices. At the same time, the SE’s go way too far to try and limit the manipulations, so that in reality, we both wind up losing. It has become a giant game, where we take one step forward, they counter, and on it goes.

Originally the rules made sense, until many started to push the boundaries, so the response was to tighten the rules. Part of the problem, is that being a webmaster is a simple matter of putting up a site, adding some banners, and trying to sell stuff. There is NO group that sets standards for how a site can operate, no official means of containing the practices a site operates under.

Linking is one of those areas, that has become a giant minefield. You want to take into account, just what is, the goal of your link trades.

Is it to gain traffic?

Now, by that I mean are you trading links to get incoming traffic. Not search engine traffic, which is a different kind of traffic. Many Link Lists, Directories, are what are called ” Traffic Trades ” which is usually dependent on you sending them traffic, and the more you send, the higher up in their site you become, which in turn ( theoretically ) means you get more of their traffic.

The main problem with this, is that it isn’t necessarily targetted traffic, nor buying traffic, but lookers. You need a whole lot of that kind of traffic to make sales, while the other form of traffic, from Search Engines, is in theory, more apt to buy. This is because they are already searching for what you are selling, least that is the theory.

When making a decision on whether to enter into a link trade, you need to decide, what is your goal. Is it to simply get more traffic to your site, or is it to improve your ranking on the Search Engine Indices? 

Search Engine Traffic

Now, both type of links, generate Traffic. In all honesty, Search Engine traffic has lower numbers than the other kind, but the difference, is that SE traffic is more refined, more targetted.

Think of it as the shopping mall. People go shopping, they walk around and peer into the various shops, but they have nothing specific in mind to buy. They are simply out for the day, maybe buying, maybe not. If something strikes their fancy, perhaps, but basically they are just having a day out of the house. Those are the types of people, Link Lists, TGP’s, etc. deliver to your site. The Looker. 

Search Engine traffic are the one’s going to the mall, but head directly for the florist shop, the drugstore, or the electronic store. They already know that they want to buy something, and just what they want to buy.

The major benefit here, is you don’t have to convince them that they should be buying, you just need to convince them that you have what they are already looking to buy.

In my opinion, the reason that reciprocal linking has been depreciated, is because of the Link Lists, the Traffic Trades. People forgot, the goal is to get the customer, not just have a lot of people walking through your site.

to be continued…

Mar 31st by Malcontent

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The whole idea of link trades, is in a sense, a bit of gamble. I mean, to begin with, many sites agree to link with you, but then later, they drop your link, or they add a ‘no follow’ tag to your link, so you get absolutely NO BENEFIT.

WARNING: Have a potty break, this is another lengthy one.

Now, keep in mind, your staff is limited, in most cases. Some of the more bigger sites actually employ people, whose job is to check on links, to make trades. There are also some who are technically advanced enought, to run a script of some kind, that goes to your site, to verify that their link is in place, and is coded correctly.

CHEATING MAY PAY OFF IN THE SHORT TERM, BUT FOR LONG TERM GROWTH, IT NEVER PAYS OFF.

The most basic link trade, is Site A links to Site B, that in turns links back to Site A.  It is the most common, is generally a blogroll approach.

Another common approach is where Site A links to your Site B, and YOUR Site C then links to their Site A.   Most commonly referred to as ABC Linking.

Obviously, for this type of linking strategy to work, YOU need to have more than one site, or the one you are linking to, does. It isn’t complicated, however, you also need to keep track of these links. I mean you may trade a link with my short story site, in return I provide a link to you, from my book site.

If you don’t keep track, you may check and see I don’t have your link up at the story site. That can lead to some bad feelings, so keeping yourself organized, in regards to links, is essential. Most use Excel, as the standard way to keep track of their link trades.

Basically you should record the names of the sites you are linking to, that are linking to you, and a notation of what type of trade you are engaged in. Having the date, contact info of the webmaster you are dealing with, is also a help.

Obviously, if it isn’t a simple reciprocal link, you need to have those details as well. Keeping track of other essential details, such as the keywords, the anchor text, description text, should also be kept on the same sheet, in line with the sites.

AND YOU THOUGHT BEING A WEBMASTER WAS A BREEZE?

Now don’t go getting your knickers in a knot. It may sound difficult, and yes, it is indeed time consuming, but over the long term, it can save you a lot of grief. Seriously, you need to know who you link to, who links to you, so that you can insure those links are always valid. Why would you want to have links going to someone else, without any benefit to you?

Things happen too, such as site redesigns, that can suddenly find your links gone. With a good Excel Sheet, you can easily re-establish those missing links, or cut them. Hell, even when you redesign your own site, it’s a way to insure YOU don’t mess up.

And believe me, I wish I had done that myself, as my record keeping sucks big time. It has cost me incoming links, because when I redid my site layouts, I missed some of those links. It happens, but if I had followed this advice back then, well, the problem would have been less stressful. It also would have meant LESS WORK.

TIP: Having a good spreadsheet program, like Microsoft’s Excel, is essential to operating a good business, either online, or in the real world.

On Theme Links is another good one, that I think many confuse. Now there are some who figure, well my site is Adult, and the site linking to me is Adult, so they are On Theme.   I DON’T THINK SO!

To me, being on theme, is a lot more refined than that. It is about being more specific, so that while it appears the incoming link is from a competitor, who else is going to be similar to you?  I mean, the idea that we can’t all get along, and benefit each other, is just, well, silly.

The goal is to get rankings, so yes, on theme links can seem like they are helping the other guy, but again, keep in mind the ABC Strategy. For example, I have a book site, a short story site. Now they are related, as they both deal with fiction, with the written work. So an incoming link to one, is going to add a benefit to me, so what if I give back an equally good one?

The idea is, you have to determine which is the main site you want to promote, while the other site, becomes a sort of by product, or accessory. It is an appendage, that can be more useful to provide outgoing links, so you can get better incoming links to the other site.

I know, it is confusing, in a sense. However, think about it. If you run several similar sites, it makes sense that not all of them are going to do great. Some will, simply make a few sales, while others can be block busters. SO WHY NOT MAXIMIZE THAT ONE SITE WITH ON THEME INCOMING LINKS?

Keep in mind, we are talking about using these links, not for clicking by our customers, but for the Search Engines to crawl, to record. That means that essentially, they are NOT PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED ON YOUR PAGE.  Unlike a blogroll, they can be smaller in font size, or located basically anywhere on the page. It is a crawler, that reads it, which is all that is important.

TIP: Don’t make the mistake of trying to be cute and making the link tiny in size, so it can’t be read by a human. Also don’t try to hide it by making the font color close to the background color either. The Crawler’s are pretty sophisiticated , and they will then recognize that type of link, as being one for them, not for people, and it can get you into deep doo doo.

In many ways, an ” On Theme Link ” is desired, versus the other kinds, because it can also appear as a natural link. In other words, if it is listed in your actual page text, as part of a larger commentary, it can be very significant, in helping your rankings.

You have to understand, that the Search Engines make their money from advertising. To get better rates to charge their customers, they need lots of people using their services. The best way to have that happen, is to give them what they want, which in this case, means listings of sites, that fit their search criteria.

Obviously, if they deliver shit results, people will go elsewhere to look for the sites they want, and that means lower revenues. So you can bet, they are particular about the tactics webmaster’s use to get listings. Who wants to search for big boobs and get a ton of sites showing big cocks? 

Keep that in mind, next time you want to fudge your linking strategies. After all, if you sell memberships to a big cock site, how many do you think you’ll sell if the people coming to your site, are looking for big boobed women?  You may be number one for the term, but it isn’t going to help your profit margin.

to be continued…

Apr 01st by Malcontent

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There are a lot of things, that complicate one’s life as a webmaster. From various Government regulations, to how some sponsors just seem incapable of customer service, to arranging proper billing and getting that comma in the right place for the code to work right.

Yet, despite all that, I think the biggest problem that confronts us, as webmasters, is the almost insane desire to see our project go live.

It is called IMPATIENCE in the real world, but we call it SOFT LAUNCH of our site. Go figure, but you know, sometimes I think webmasters coin new phrases, simply so we don’t look stupid.  Doesn’t really work, but hey, that’s my story & I am sticking to it.

Seriously, don’t you get a bit giddy, when you think of how neat your site is going to be, or the latest addition to an existing one? Especially when it is a new layout, or worse, a new feature that you are adding.

Doesn’t it just get you a little excited and tingly?  Almost like having an orgasm at times, but truth is, that is also our major downfall.

Just as letting your pecker make your decisions for you, letting your desire to see it now, to have it live now, can really screw you up later on.

And I have to be one of the worst offenders.

I know better, but every time I start a new project, I get this insane urge to put off the boring details, that I should figure out first, get settled, before launching a new project. I constantly ignore my need to set up Excel for the various details I need to keep track of.

For example, running a site that shows video clips, or one that simply has galleries of naked pictures. Now you would think that after over a decade of doing this, I’d know exactly what info to keep track of, to record, but do I set up my excel worksheet first, or after the site has gone live?

Why after of course, & THAT IS WRONG !

Keeping track of what is up, what isn’t, is rather important. I mean without knowing it, you could write a review, or upload a gallery of a star, that you already have up, duplicating your efforts. So what, you say, but hey, what if it is a real dog in making sales? 

If you are using video clips, hosted on your own site, and duplicate them, well there goes some extra bandwidth, that could be used to push a different clip, that might, make you more sales. So yes, it is rather important to help keep you on track, by keeping tabs on what you have uploaded.

At first, well, it doesn’t seem all that bad, because you can easily glance at your admin section ( in Wordpress ) to see what is up, and not. Which is fine, when you only have a half dozen or so posts, but what happens when you have 1300?

Excel ( or any other comparable spreadsheet program ) will allow for duplicates, or not. And that can save you from adding duplicate content to your site. Let me be totally honest too, it is boring as hell, and a royal pain in the ass to do, which is probably why I keep on ‘forgetting‘ to do it, at first.

Yet, I wind up cursing at myself, having to spend more time going back to try and add what I have already uploaded, to get back on track. That is extra time I could be using to start a new project, or to polish an existing one. IN SHORT, it is time I have lost, NEEDLESSLY.

GRANTED, this industry does not make it easy to do. I mean so many Porn Stars flip flop between studios, between sponsors, and with different names, it can be a logistical nightmare to keep track of them. However, it is doable, by sticking to the basics.

SO WHAT ARE THE BASICS?

Good question, because really it depends on what you are promoting. And again, it partially depends on what it is you think, you should be keeping track of.

For my own use, where possible, I try to have these details included in my Excel workbook.

1. Star Name or episode name
2. Sponsor name
3. Site posted on
4. URL or Post ID ( when in a blog )
5. Associated Category

Options #4 & #5 are rarely used, because, well too much detail can bog a guy down, and you know, I just wanna see the stuff LIVE.

A couple of other options, worth keeping mind is the type of use one is making of that particular star/clip.

For example, is it a single picture reference, a gallery of 10, 20, 40, pictures, or a video clip, or several clips? Is it a collage or a group of clips? Does it include a front or back view of the box cover if it is a video clip, review?

With Excel, you can easily add those criteria, so that your time spent isn’t overburdened with details. Simple conditional formatting, where you just add a number like [1] or [0] can make your sheet not only accurate, but easy to follow.

Now myself, I rather think it is important to know what use I am making of the star or graphics. So, I do need to know if I am using a single pic, if a collage, or if a gallery of photos.  I don’t bother with the number of photo’s in the gallery, though perhaps I should.

I don’t usually bother recording whether I have used the box cover of a video, but I do record if I use a clip, and frankly, I should include the clip info, as some sponsors really do mix things up.

Now you may THINK  that you want a ton of information, and at first it sounds like a really good idea. I get carried away that way, until it comes down to having to add the information.  TOO MANY DETAILS MEANS TOO MUCH WORK .

Problem, is, when you have more than one site, the more details you try to keep track of, the more time you spend adding that info, instead of adding the tools to your sites. In short, it is better to have the basics, that satisfy your objective, than to overload yourself with way too much details.

While it can work for having a single site, the fact is, you need to plan for the future. What you use now, you also have to use later on, when hopefully you are operating more than just one site. Truth is, the more sites you operate, the more time you want to spend, need to spend, uploading new material, not spending added time keeping track of the details.

Best advice I can offer, is to set up your spreadsheet, do some test entries, to see how quickly you can input the details. This will give you an idea of how easy, or complicated, it is. That should then make you consider what details to either drop, or add.

Try to imagine also, the sheet filled with information. It has to be easy to check, so that you can avoid adding stuff you alaready have, and at the same time, tell you what features or stuff you need to add, because it isn’t up yet.

For example, single pic for a star, might indicate, the need to add a gallery, or a video clip, which would re-inforce the single pic post. So being able to quickly glance across a line for a particular star, should be able to let you know what has been done, what is open to do, and just where it is ( as in what site of yours, you have it on ).

TIP: The way you order your columns, in the spreadsheet, can help make it visually capable of answering your various questions. Having the star name or episode name first, followed by the sponsor, is how I do it, so I can easily reference the name, then glance along the line, to see what is done.

Apr 03rd by Malcontent

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Let me preface this ‘rant‘ with some hard truths.

I would say that 80% or more, of those who make claims as to what they earn from affiliate marketing, is pure BULLSHIT.

I would also say that about 90%, or more,  of those claiming to be ‘experts‘ in the field are also full of BULLSHIT.

I AM NOT AN EXPERT.

Yes, I have over a dozen years of doing this stuff, and while that gives me experience, it does not make me an expert on it, nor does it imply that my observation are pearls of wisdom. I don’t live in a million dollar home, don’t drive a fancy new Porsche every year. Does that make my opinion worthless? That’s for you all to decide, but these are my views, based on a few years of experience.

TIME is a very precious commodity, for everyone. Sponsors & Affiliates have to stay on top of how much time is spent on any given project. Excel can help, but the truth is, as Affiliates, we have to have certain things provided for us. If not, we wind up spending a whole lot of time for minimal pay.

Consider this simply math.

If you make 10 sales a day (which is considered pretty good) that means you make about 300 sales per month, at an average of $20 per sale, that is a nice yearly income of $60,000.00   SOUND GOOD?

Now consider you work 10 hours a day at your job, every day, to make all those sales. That works out to about 300 hours per month or about roughly $20 an hour. Now that sounds really nice, doesn’t it?

Problem is, very few actually make 10 sales per day, each and every day, of each and every month. The VAST majority may make 30 or less per month, not 300. Yet they too, spend those 10 hours per day at the job, as they struggle to reach the plateau of just 10 sales per day.

If you are fortunate enough to make a 100 sales a month, working 10 hours a day, you are earning $3 an hour.  Now, how does that sound?

Yet sponsors do everything possible, to make it necessary for us to spend those 10 hours every day, to make those sales. Not like they can’t do more, to help their sales force deliver more sales, they simply aren’t about that. Oh they want the money we make for them, but ask them to spend a few bucks, in being organized, and well, you’d think you were trying to steal their wallets.

I am not a big affiliate seller, and part of that is because of ME, but another part is because SPONSORS make it too time consuming. I am not looking to search through hundreds of videos, to find which is the latest release. Have them listed in Chronological Order for God’s sake. Don’t put up dump lists, where you have half the bloody stuff in the wrong field, or use different delimiters so no one can import them properly into Excel or some other spreadsheet.

Make it simple, to get the content release for the stuff, that includes the bio, includes the description, and any video clips. Why send me to three different areas, to search each one, to find the corresponding item? That is WASTING MY TIME.

So no, I don’t do a lot of pushing of sponsor stuff, because frankly, it isn’t worth it at $3 an hour.

May 29th by Malcontent

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The world certainly has changed since I first entered the business world. I started at the ripe old age of eleven years old, helping Mom & Dad in their stores up in the Alberta North.  At fourteen I had my first ‘outside’ job and I have to tell you, getting that first paycheck was quite thrilling.

Since then, I have noticed that business has changed. Customer Service is something spoken about, touted even, but rarely given. The Internet has made things even less personal, and more subject to scams and rip offs, than you can count, even with a calculator. And yet, is it because people scam, or they offer no service that is the culprit, or do we simply blame our bad luck on, well, luck?

Things have gotten a bit hectic in my household. To begin with, Mom is 92 years old, and both David & Myself take care of her, together. Well, basically I do, but he helps me, so that counts.  Secondly, David worked for ten years as his own boss, more or less, in the import gift business, and his last employer, well, was a buffoon, and has taken a thriving business and thrown into the ‘once was’ bin of history. In short, he’s out of a job there, but did find another, for less pay.

So financial downturn has certainly come to our household, but unlike many, we aren’t blaming the economy. It was a person who made bad choices, that cost David his job, and then too, I start to look at my own contributions. It isn’t easy being a writer, and so the affiliate route takes hold.  After all, a guy has to make a buck, right?

Bottom line is, I decided to re-organize my stuff, to keep track of things, of which time spent on projects is now something worth monitoring. And it is a shocker, at how UNPRODUCTIVE I CAN BE. 

Now many THINK they are doing a bang up job, but can’t figure out why the money isn’t rolling in. In some respects, maybe I am that way too, though I have always maintained, that when things aren’t going well, my first obligation is to look inwards, at what I am doing. That is to determine whether the fault lies in how I do things, or promote things, before going off and blaming the economy or some sponsor for crappy sales tools.

Bottom line is, that despite the endless hours online, the actual work time has taken a huge dip. AND THAT IS WHY THE MONEY ISN’T ROLLING IN.

So, a quick tip, that took a few hundred words to say, is that first off, keep track of your hours or minutes, spent on individual projects. Excel ( I do like the program, don’t I? ) is a great way to simply list your sites (projects) and then put how long you spend working on each one.

The total might shock you.

Jun 02nd by Malcontent

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Everyone knows about the economic recession, everyone cries the blues, but what steps do you take, to recession proof your online porn empire?

To begin with, if you are a paysite, then you need to look at your pricing, at what you are offering, and how you can spur your affiliates to push your product, over other sponsors.

However, being an affiliate is what I do, and I think that many who promote sponsors, need to step back a bit, and consider their approach. After all, bad times brings some shady business practices, as well as other normal challenges. There is the need to examine who you promote, and whether or not they are cutting corners.

Is the site updating as often as it did in the past?

Does the tour have added traffic leaks?

Are there trial options now, and if so, are they limited access trials, or full access trials?

How about cross sells on the join page? Is your sponsor now pre checking boxes to cross sell to another site(s) ?

Are recurring members increasing, or decreasing as more and more people reach the max on their credit cards?

As an affiliate one needs to look at these issues, regularly, but more so during tough times. Also are you promoting revshare or pay per join?  If the former, maybe you need to adjust your marketing for pay per sign up now, as people are a bit tighter with their money, than before. They may not go for that recurring option, or their cards maybe maxed out, removing them from the membership roles. Pay Per Sign Up offers you a flat rate, and avoids the sudden drop in income too, because it is now money.

If sites are adding pre checked boxes, how many customers are they turning away, from such a scam? Something to consider if you are heavy into marketing their stuff.

Then too, if they aren’t updating as often, or are providing less than before, it may also be a sign that the current economic crisis is impacting them, and you might want to consider looking to add other sponsors.

Also one needs to accentuate the benefits a bit more. The features that are cost conscience, or added, that make the purchase a bargain. Use of marketing tools by the sponsor should increase, so you can effectively market the site, using the benefits to negate the cost of such membership.

Video sites, that offer larger title selections is one way, but then too, smaller sites will cater to niches better, so again, accentuate the positives more, in order to make it more appealing to the customer.

As money gets tighter, the marketing becomes more important. The use of the right images, will also help push the customer over the edge, to spend that money. Using a strategy of selling non recurring versus revshare is another way for you, to keep the income flowing in, instead of out.

Swapping banners more often is another, but you have to also deviate from the old, to experiment with new. Sure a sponsor may have been a good money maker, but add another sponsor or two to your mixes, to help reach a wider audience, or to at least improve the chances. I mean if they keep coming, see the same old advertising, well, why would they click, if they haven’t yet?

It doesn’t mean you lessen your promotion of existing sponsors, but that you update it, which you should do anyways, bad economy or not. However, there also does come a time when you have to add new stuff. No business can exist and grow, with the same inventory, you need to expand your line, drop non productive lines, to keep the customers wanting to shop at your place. If they see nothing new, why would they want to come back?

THINK ABOUT IT.

Jun 20th by Malcontent

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I have to say, using Wordpress has made my life easier, and yet more complicated.

I mean, with Wordpress, you can do a whole lot, in regards to adding unique content. With static sites, there is a ton of coding needed to make a page look just right, while with Wordpress, you just add it the stuff, and it’s done for you… mostly.

Many assume that because they use a blogging platform, like Wordpress, they don’t have to bother with CSS or HTML.   Uh, NOPE!

Perhaps you can get away with knowing less, but I kind of think even that is wrong. I mean Wordpress is CSS driven, and there is nothing simple about that. It isn’t just about learning the basics, it is about knowing how to correct the issues, once you find them. AND that takes knowledge.

Sure, it is easy to add some images, even get them to align to the left or right, or centered. Even relatively simple to center them, but then comes the fun part, not having them run into your text.  NOT all wordpress themes are so simple to allow you to pad the space between the text and the image.

Other’s will still require a thumbnail size for the picture, otherwise you will get this huge full sized image loading, and that takes up space, and adds to the page load. Like that’s going to make you popular. It also ruins the structure of the layout, so you still NEED TO KNOW.

Take this theme, as an example. Let me tell you, without having a decent background in CSS & HTML, it wouldn’t be the theme we are using. Even now, it isn’t exactly as it should be, simply due to my lack of knowledge in PHP.

Did I mention, static sites can get by nicely with just CSS & HTML, while Wordpress needs both, PLUS PHP.

Then too, the use of plugins helps make life simpler, until they stop working, or start acting up. Then the headaches are a lot worse, when you know diddly about programming, or even where to look. Some basic knowledge can help you figure it out, if that is in CSS & PHP.

So, while many get by, if you want to run an online biz, then you should at least try, to get a basic understanding of the languages being used, to create your online presence. It doesn’t mean you have to become a code jockey, but if you know some key elements, it might make your online venture more profitable, or at least less frustrating.

That’s kind of worth something, don’t you think?

Jul 13th by Malcontent

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One of the things I like the best about using Wordpress for my online sites, is the ability to adapt to change.

For example, my time has become limited, due to the need to care for my mother, who is 92. That has become a full time job, in itself, so it makes working on sites, all that more difficult. And yet, without the work, the traffic does dry up, as does the sales, which means, lower income.

In these tough times, that’s not a happy result, now is it?

Yet, the choice is simple, for me. I have to deal with helping Mom, and that has to take precedence over anything else, including my time with the wife, the dog, and well, having a social life. Not that I had one before, but hey, I can still dream, right?

Wordpress gives me the opportunity to save drafts, come back to them later, as well as to be able to schedule multiple posts, over time. This feature alone, allows me to keep my blogs active, without the added work of tossing together a static page, with the need to code those pages, and to be available to upload them over time.

The ability to add feeds to a blog, also allows me to continue to have fresh content, for my surfers, and if I am lucky, actually make some sales. Now that helps, as frankly, taking care of someone who is 92, is not easy, nor cheap. It has added to our household expenses, and money only goes so far, unless you can boost that income.

When you automate a blog, using its schedule options, you get the best possible solution, other than making each post your own. I hate that inability, to write my own stuff, but it is the trade off one has to make, when circumstances prevent you from having all the time you need.

The other benefit, least for me, is that it has given me an opportunity to rethink my entire operation, to be able to look at the weak spots, and try to figure out, how to make them stronger. Automation is not a great solution, but when you don’t have the time, it is what you are left with. There isn’t much choice to that, but if you do it right, it can maintain your revenue stream, and even increase it.

After all, the content is fresh, new, and constant. And that does translate into increased traffic, which should, in theory, translate into more sales.

Sep 08th by Malcontent

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