Australian webmaster forum

I had an idea one night to start a forum for Australian webmasters. I registered the domain Aussie Webmasters.com a little while back, and just got around to installing phpBB.

I know I have to put some time into promoting it, but I am hoping if there are Australian webmasters, webmaster wanna-bes or anyone who would like to contribute, to help out by registering and adding at least 1 topic.

Tax time

It’s getting close to tax time in the US. Best Buys are having a special on TurboTax.

See this week’s TurboTax software offers

Social Networks in Japan

I have just signed up to Mixi – Japan’s largest social network site. Something like myspace.

It is by invitation only, so if anyone wants to join, please send me an email.

Another site which looks interesting is: Blog-Kai

Problems with providing a free service

I have been thinking about a couple of sites recently, particularly my New Zealand property site.

There are many sites in New Zealand that offer Internet advertising for property sales. Most charge from around $50 to $100 for each property.

I thought that my site would become popular by offering the service free of charge. I have had a few people register and a couple of people upload properties.

One of them is actually my own property, and I occasionally receive emails from interested people. I thought that I could make money from advertising alone.

But with little income coming in, I am reluctant to spend more on advertising. Then I had an idea to charge for listings at say around $50 and join an Affiliate program as a Merchandiser.

People then can earn money from promoting my site. I plan to offer a generous income split of around 50-50 to encourage people to sign up and promote the site.

I have no idea if it will work or not, but it should only cost around $100 to get set up.

Blogging partnerships

Darren has a good post on blogging partnerships.

Sometimes I receive emails on people seeking a partnership. I am open all ears to new ideas, but there needs to be something beneficial for both parties to start something. Especially if you have never met the person and live on opposite ends of the earth.

My own advice is, if you are seeking a partnership with some try to get to know them first either by emailing them or leaving comments on their blog.

For many bloggers, the number of people who leave comments is sometimes how they determine the success of the post. Definitely, when I post how much I have made from Adsense for a given month draws the highest number of comments.

Motivating partners

Towards the end of last year, I wrote excitedly how I had made new partners for developing some new websites.

One is my sister, who is helping to work on Renovate my room, another are a couple who I have yet to meet and are helping with articles and promotion for NZ property. One more is from a friend who I have not heard back from in a long time, but I know he will send me an email out of the blue and announce he is in Tokyo.

Working on the internet has become part of my life and I get nervous just from the thought of not having an internet connection close by. It is a sad state of affairs, but when potentially it will be my full-time income what can you do?

Anyway the people who plan to be my partners are not so enthusiastic. Enthusiatic, yes, about making a new business/website, but following through and providing content is another matter.

I have another website which I am not so enthusiastic about, and recently asked for people to help write for the site. I have already had a few positive responses. Free content – yeah!

Anyway, I turned 33 today so I am having a bit of reflection on my life and business.

PR Update

I have been hanging back on this post because the latest Google update seems to have been taking some time. On this site I have been going from 0 to 5 and back to 0 since about January. I am hoping now it has settled on a 5.

My old blogger site is still on a 5, so I have removed all links, except for mine and charging anyone who wants a link $20 a month.

If you leave a link on it for at least a quarter you should be able to increase your site to at least a PR3 or 4, unless of course Google changes its algorithm.

Domain Rant

Sorry for my continual posts this evening (if anyone is reading?) but I thought I should say something.

Every good domain I consider buying is already taken. When I check the site in IE, I find the site is nothing but a bunch of links.

I am sure people know of these kinds of sites. I wish ICANN would make some kind of rule where people had to develop the site within one year of purchasing a domain – crappy sites not included.

Maybe a voting system is necessary? The worst thing about the internet at the moment is spammers, but they only do it for the money they are probably making…

Amazon Sales

I have been putting a lot of links into my posts recently for Amazon. Making a great deal of money from Amazon is not easy as they only pay about 5 per cent on each sale (which goes up with the more you sell) on products that are already fairly cheap.

It is interesting though, that recently with every link I put up I have been able to sell at least once copy.

Change of tactics part 2

I am taking a change of tactics again from today. I applied to many of the affiliate programs availabe and got rejected from not being in the US.

I am planning to move to Australia from next year, so I thought I should be trying to focus more on Australia. At least I have addresses that I can use for Australia, to receive mail, and more importantly cheques!

I always thought that Australia was not a good market to, with only a small population, but possibly that could work in my favor as I would have less competition.

From reading forums like Webmasterworld, I kind of get the impression that there are less people in Australia working in Internet marketing. Most of income currently comes from the US, but I at least hope to increase income from Australia and Japan.

Japan, I am just starting to explore. It is a lot harder having to do everything in Japanese, but still not impossible for me.

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