January 31, 2005

Life: A battle with Cancer!

I have been following Ivans Struggle with cancer over Here for quite some time now. It saddens me that he has written his Final Post

He made me reflect once again (as he always does) on my life and my worrys. I conclude that if you have your health then you are 90% there in life! If you have people around you that love and care for you then that's the other 10%

That's 100%! Which means there should be no room left for worrying about money, debt and all the myriad other stupid things we worry about when we havent got anything better to do!

I shall miss your musings Ivan and will think of you often.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 9:27 AM | Comments (0) | Life | TrackBack

January 28, 2005

World Events: Her Indoors!

I should explain (as I was asked) who Her Indoors is :)

Her indoors is affectionate London Cockney slang for my partner, or actually my Fiancee in this case :)

Her indoors i.e A womans place is in the kitchen and not out with a career ha ha ha. I am of course joking here! The reason I placed this in world events is because if her indoors happens to read my Blog today it will be a World Event when she blows her top at me :( Not to mention I will have the feminists wanting to string me up too!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 2:45 AM | Comments (1) | World Events | TrackBack

January 27, 2005

Internet marketing: Make your Words Sell

As much as I LOVE good design I am the first to admit that it's the words that sell - not the software. Not the cool graphics. And not your expensive Flash presentation. A zillion visitors a week won't generate sales unless those visitors are persuaded to buy from you. And only words, you know these little characters unfolding before your very eyes! - powerful, persuasive, and professionally crafted words - will do it!

Now dont get me wrong here :) Design is VERY important! Because as sure as eggs is eggs if you have great copy and BAD design then that's just about as bad as having BAD copy and great design. Users will still click away and NOT purchase from you! Or read your Blog for that matter :)

When we see a woman, man, car, or a panorama that we like. The decision that we like what we see takes a split second. If we like what we see, we investigate further by looking some more (This is the part that gets me in trouble with her indoors)! The looking more part! In the case of a Blog or website we investigate further by reading! So your design should be instantly pleasing and your words should do the rest.

So Decide NOW Which You would prefer

1. Web Design Awards?
2. A Cool Web Site with all the bells and whistles?
3. Dramatically Improved Sales Figures Using Powerful Copywriting?
4. A mixture of great design and great copywriting?
5. Angelina Jolie or Brad Pit ha ha :)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 8:51 AM | Comments (5) | Internet Marketing | TrackBack

January 26, 2005

Internet tech: Google Blows RSS Away!

News Just in is that Google is Dropping RSS in favour of Atom.

For me it makes no difference to be honest because my feeds are piped through FeedBurner and FeedBurner suports ALL the formats. But I can understand that the RSS community would be miffed at that descision!

Essentialy its all about control :) Google is just flexing its muscles. But it does go to show just how fast internet technology moves!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 9:35 AM | Comments (3) | Internet Tech | TrackBack

Web Design: A Certain Otherness!

I have a friend who is an Artist. We were out and about one day when he happened to say that the sculpture we were looking at had "A Certain Otherness" "Say what"? I said. But now I know what he means. It is the indescribable. It's the reason we Love Apple.com. It's function and Form. It pleases you but your not quite sure why.

You know when Janet (my head designer) and I came up with the creative for the new 15dn html site I loved it. My brief was that I wanted it to be Directional, warm, different and easy to navigate. Slightly off centre, a bit like me and to have otherness (Oh how she laughed). Yet design just like my life is an ever evolving and changing animal. Hell when I was a kid I hated pickled walnuts and now I love them ROFL!!

I am also patently aware that you can't please all the folks all the time and as such for the most part this design is for me, and then I hope most people will like it.

So I have moved from loving 15dn, to pulling it to pieces and starting the whole creative over again! As such and also in light of my New Years Competition (Great comments) We are already in the process of a major re-design here at 15dn. So watch this space because it will be changing some time soon :)

Mark...

PS
I will be announcing the winners of the competition in the first week of Feb and also emailing them.

Posted by Mark at 9:07 AM | Comments (0) | Web Design | TrackBack

January 25, 2005

Web design: Six days

There are just six days to go in our new years re-design competition.

If you want to enter you can do it Here

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) | Web Design | TrackBack

January 24, 2005

Funny: Getting inspiration!

For all of you that want to know why Im considered off centre for an internet marketer? The secret is out!

Seth was sent this little clip of me! I'm not sure where Seth got this from but I will be killing all my friends shortly :)

This is what a Blogger looks like when he is stuck for ideas!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 9:25 AM | Comments (6) | Funny | TrackBack

January 21, 2005

Internet marketing: The Stepford Wives!

Can you remember those Tv ads from the 50's (of course you can't) Even I can't, but I have seen them on occasion. You know the ones? Mrs Perfect Stepford drooling over all the latest gadgets! They heralded a new age. An age where technology would FREE us from the slavery of time! Yeh right one :( The more technology we get the LESS time we seem to have to do anything at all!

How much time do you think you have with an email message before the reader clicks away?

A. 2 minutes

B. 1.30 seconds

C. 1 minute

D. 45 seconds

E. 15 seconds

The answer alarmingly is E! Yes folks you have 15 seconds to grab your readers attention with your marketing blurb before they click away.

The clever chaps over at Marketing Sherpa have produced some wonderfull metrics on all this and it's well worth a read.

Mark wonders what the metrics are for Blog posts! I know what my clickthrough rate is for my feed headlines, but I dont know how long a reader stays once they arrive at the Blog. Hmmm wheres my developer, let's see if we cant get a script for this!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 8:41 AM | Comments (0) | Internet Marketing | TrackBack

January 20, 2005

Spam: Google on Comment Spam

It seems that the big guns over at Google are getting fed up with comment spam on Their Blog :)

Cant say I blame them for it is a right pain, well it was until I installed Jay Allens MT Blacklist that is! Still Google making moves in this direction is welcomed. We all hate spam and comment spam is no different.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 3:19 PM | Comments (0) | Spam | TrackBack

January 19, 2005

Life: Careers and FREE time

So my friend is on the phone to me again last night bemoaning the state of his life and career. He is a stockbroker I am an entrepreneur. He gets paid a lot to gamble with other peoples money but has no time to spend it. I have lots of FREE time to enjoy mine. 'Your so FREE' he says! 'What can I do to boost my career so I can get more freedom? Do I need to change careers? Tell me what to do Mark'?

"You don’t have a career" I tell him 'you have a JOB and your JOB is your life and this is why you have no FREE time'! "Whattt" he says! 'Of course I have a career. I went to university'! As if this somehow qualifies him :) I reply that I went to a comprehensive school and left with No qualifications at all. He spent years studying and I spent years exploring life.

'No you have a job' I tell him, 'you think you have a career but really you have a job. Now if you were a surgeon say, then I would say you had a career. Career is a term you have been brainwashed with all your life that makes your job more palatable. Some people have careers but most have jobs that they think are careers! You have a job. Whilst you think it's a career and is somehow central and progressive as it's own entity, your more likely to stay put. Once it just becomes a job you wont put up with your bosses BS anymore :) You wont work for FREE after 5 o clock :) In fact horror of horrors you might reach out and do something radical like leave'!

He regularly works FREE time you see. It's a disease in the UK this office FREE time work thing BS. It's insidious! "What Mark leaving at 5 o clock again tut tut. We have to get that report out you know". "Taking Lunch again Mark tut tut do you really have to eat? Cant you eat at your desk"? So not only does he not have a career he actually works for FREE because of the hidden office pressure that makes millions stay at their desks when in reality their days hours are done!

We have these conversations often my friend and I. These are my suggestions.

1. Dont mistake a job for a career! Some folks have great careers, some folks actually carve a career out of their job, most folks just have the job part!

2. Never work FREE time. Your life is short and your time is valuable. If your boss wants your time, charge it out at a fair rate. Be assured he wont work for FREE when it comes to billing his customers :) FREE time! That's what you give when your retired isnt it? Tea and buscuits anyone! My Mum gives FREE time in the WRVS and townswomens guild!

2. Dont be a stockbroker :) In fact dont go anywhere near the city if you want anything remotely resembling a life and some FREE time!

3. When you struggle with this concept call me :)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 2:34 PM | Comments (2) | Life | TrackBack

Blogging: It Appears

That Blogspotting has either died or gone to that great "You can buy this domain name" in the sky graveyard!

Mark wonders if it was hacked or cracked! Anyone know?

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 10:53 AM | Comments (0) | Blogging | TrackBack

January 18, 2005

Boys and Their Toys: Mental Illness

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." So I'm told.

Her indoors thinks I have too many hobbies, and that I border on the obsessive! To date they include:

Golf (The only game I play and never get any better at) :(

Motor Racing (She thinks that she will be able to beat the lads in our Kart, Mark smirks)

Yacht Racing (She gets seasick)

Racing cars across Europe and America whilst being chased by the police! Ahem (To dangerous)

Robot Wars (This did get obsessive)

Computer Games (Men never grow up) Or as my missus puts it! When am I going too :)

Horse Riding and showing (This one is ok because it's also what the missus does)

Snowboarding (Im trying to get her into this one and then that will be ok too)

Thats not to many is it?

I shall leave you with this thought...

Men are like a fine wine... They start out as humble grapes, and then women stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 9:10 AM | Comments (3) | Boy's and their Toys | TrackBack

January 17, 2005

Internet Marketing: Information Overload

We all suffer from it in the modern age. Makes you wonder what were all looking for or indeed where we are all going? Of course most of us are looking to improve our lot and as a vehicle to achieve this we have money as a focus. Money Money Money... Yep it does indeed make the world of humans go around.

I read a great post over at Warriors forum this morning and thought (as we Bloggers do) Gotta Blog about that! :)

This is part of it

"I think I can speak for a lot of the people on the other side of the coin. That is those of us who just haven't been able to make it work yet. I have probably purchased something from just about every one of you Warriors out there. Don't get me wrong...I have learned something valuable from everything I have purchased but I have become a "professional purchaser." I AM SUFFERING FROM INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

I consider myself very inteligent. I know internet marketing. I know search engine optimazation. I consider myself a pretty good copy writer. I create my own web pages. What I can't seem do is put it all together.

I am the pie-in-the-sky kind of guy. I go from one venture to another. I start one great idea and then I leave it to go somehwere else. The Great Procrastinator! Every idea I come up with seems better than the first so I leave the first and go to the second. AAAGGGHHH!"

Oh how I can relate to that! You see the BIG problem with all this information and indeed the internet itself is that we were all

SOLD A DREAM OF INSTANT MASSIVE WEALTH

I was sold that dream to. Work 1 hour a day Mark using your laptop whilst on a beach with the waves gently lapping on the shore.

The trouble is the internet is a very speedy place indeed. It seems to suck you in and leave you feeling breathless. From a marketing perspective you also get a feeling of "I must get this done quickly otherwise it will be to late and I'll miss the boat"!

Slow down and focus on one thing at a time, unless you can juggle like a master that is. Pick a project and STICK to it until it's either running automatically or is complete, and by complete I mean when your satisfied. Only then move onto the next project.

Dont buy every E-book out there either! A salesman (internet marketer) is the easiest guy in the world to sell to! We are suckers for a good sales letter :) Only buy the E-books that directly relate to the project your currently working on otherwise you will get sidestepped and lose focus. A Neurosurgeon does not try and become a cardio thorasic surgeon at the same time does he? No!

Be focused in whatever you do and then success in what your doing will find you.

Ill leave you with this thought. Gary player once chipped in from a very difficult greenside bunker. A jouranlist went over and told him how lucky he was to make the shot. Gary replied. "Yes and it's amazing that the more I practice my bunker shots the luckier I get"

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 10:06 AM | Comments (1) | Internet Marketing | TrackBack

January 16, 2005

A very tired looking Chris

I found this pic hiding on my HDD. This is what you look like after a 1 hour 35 min stint in a racing kart in 35 degree heat :) Two karts had come together and one had flipped (the driver was ok albeit bruised) They had stopped the race to clear the track and so we got an inpromtu pit stop and driver change.

I think Chris was pleased as I was going to keep him out for another 25 mins he he!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | Karting Pictures 2004 Season | TrackBack

January 14, 2005

This is so true!

A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is NOT a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 11:23 AM | Comments (13) | Quotes | TrackBack

Software: I dont like Monday's

But I Lurrvvv Fridays!

I think I have a case of tribbles. You remember? The little fluffy things that plauged Kirk and his buddys way back in? When was it now? 1970 ish, God showing my age :( The cable at the office decided to die :( Worse still they can't get a techy out untill Tuesday! Gods teeth do these people not realize I actually do live on the net! I have no friends or indeed life outside of this space and am permanently strapped to my chair! Only joking here of course.

Why software? Well it's at times like this when I am on the move between cable connections and houses's, that I come to realize how much I love and rely on RoboForm Pro. You see I have at last count, over 200 different logins and passwords to 200 different websites ranging from this blog interface to my online banking to Hotmail and not forgetting my Web host's, The list is endless and growing steadily.

Before I discovered RoboForm I kept all my passwords rather unsecurely on an excel doc ha ha. Since starting to use it I honestly can say that I do not know what I would do without it. Singularly the best and most used utility I have ever had the pleasure of owning.

Best of all it's FREE :) get yourself a FREE Copy Here

Have a great weekend and I'll catch you all on Monday..

PS
It stores usernames and passwords for you and also fills in forms :) Sits on your browser toolbar and automatically suggests the correct password when you land on the page that needs it:)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 8:27 AM | Comments (0) | Software | TrackBack

January 13, 2005

Google Drops a bomb on Affiliates

or does it?

Well the news I was expecting finally came through. Google AdWords have announced a new policy that on first glance appears to have devastating consequences for people playing the 'lets make a million with affiliate sales' game.

To be honest though I don't see it that way. The Adwords system is very clever, having literally become the world's fastest and easiest INSTANT business. Its just so simple. You find a product that you can re-sell as an affiliate and then hop over to Google and advertise it using their PPC adwords system. Et Voila you have an almost instant business without I might add all the headaches (I have ahem)!

The problem with this has always been that for some products, half the damned ads in Adwords for a particular keyword or search term were from affiliates just like you. these affiliates were all advertising the same product/service. This sadly made Google look bad.

So the wise men at Google sat down around their big shiney table and made a new rule. "I know" one said. We will only display two Adwords ad's for the same website at the same time. Only the ad's with the best click through rate will show up. We will also make it so that affiliates dont have to put the 'Aff' In their ad at all.

What this means is that for ANY given keyword or search term, only one
or two affiliates can play the game now. On first glance most affiliates are not very happy about this at all! But Wait! This is NOT as bad as it first sounds.

Why?

Well for starters with the old system if there were more than two affiliates promoting the same product, in Most cases they were just bidding up the Cost per Click to such a point where it was difficult to make any money at all! Not only that but as far as Google was concerned, multiple numbers of affiliates promoting the same web page did not add any value. Google wants more diversity and relevance in their search results.

So what to do then?

Become a better affiliate :) And you do this by adding more content, more value, and more information to the sale process itself. The days of just brokering traffic are over! Google's new policy effectivly shuts the door on the lazy marketers who didnt make much money anyway) but did push up the bid prices!

If you are advertsing your own product then the new rule makes no difference to you, apart from that you will have to have the destination URL the same as the display URL in your ad.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 7:52 AM | Comments (2) | Internet Marketing | TrackBack

January 12, 2005

Hitler and Ryan Air

Now I'll bet that title got you huh :) I shall attempt to explain the connection :)

Just the other day I watched the new movie about Hitler, very good I thought, although not much I didnt know already being a student of history like I am. Yes the man was a complete Psycho.

I was particularly struck though by the end sequences where Hitler stands up and explains why the people need to lose all of their freedoms so the state can protect them against the nasty terrorist types that had just burned down the reichstag :) Trust us we know best! Quite poignent that it was Hitlers cronies who burnt it down but there you go! This made my thoughts drift back to when I caught my flight the week before from Linz to the UK. There was a small notice at check-in that said

"All passengers flying to the USA must SUBMIT to having their fingerprints taken and a photgraph on entry. If you do not want to SUBMIT to this then do not board the plane."

I then thought about the Patriot act (nice term that) And how much it mirrors the so called protections that Hitler put in place in his day, all for the sake of protecting the masses from the nasty terrorist types! Not to mention the UK act that allows foriegn nationals to be imprisoned without trial if they are suspected of being or having terrorist associations!

Personally I have absolutly nothing against Americans God bless em all :) Hell I even have relatives in Vermount (nice pretty place) And I thoroughly enjoyed my vist to SF when I was in battlebots and really did like the peoples outward friendliness towards me.

But I would not now travel to the land of the FREE! Simply on principle that I do not want to be treated like a potential criminal and I also do not trust governments with my data, yes the data that is sent to the US concerning all the passengers on the plane flying in. I dont like Spam myself and this data will build a massive database of ALL the people traveling to the US and then be used to market with among other possibly more sinister things!

You do NOT protect people by limiting their FREEDOMS and monitoring their every move. You achieve exactly what Hitler achieved in his day. Fear and more Fear, less and less Freedom.

To my American readers.

Your constitution was won through the blood sweat and tears of very brave men (and women) by fighting us Brits and kicking us out :) I would not be so hasty in letting it be so watered down!

Mark...

PS
On pain of death I have been forced to ammend my post! Her indoors is a keen horse lover and wants to visit Monty Roberts at his ranch for a Horse Whispering holiday. So I can stamp me feet all I like. I can postulate and formulate and come up with the best philosophical arguments I can imagine to cement my position!

But guys my post post was in error it's the women who hold all the power! Yes dear just packing what time is the flight!

Mark..

Humbled by his missus...

Posted by Mark at 1:16 PM | Comments (5) | Privacy Issues | TrackBack

January 11, 2005

Business Blog Awards 2005

Well the nominations are now live over at BOB

So head over there and get nominating away for your favorite business Blog. We will be sponsoring the BOB awards for 2005 with some very cool prizes :)

Which reminds me. If you have not seen it or indeed have not entered, we are giving away a full Movable Type install with Skin in this post here...

Good luck and happy commenting.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 1:10 PM | Comments (0) | Blogging | TrackBack

Performance

Over the weekend whilst I was back in the UK some friends and I decided to have a lan party, I know I know I'm a child at heart :)

Anyway my brother and also a good friend Martin were both complaining about their computers performance. 'When was the last time you defragged it' I asked "What's that" they both said.

Now these machines are over 2 years old! So I dreaded what I might find. I quickly installed Diskeeper And whilst it was running on both machines I nipped on the net and downloaded Webroots Spysweeper for them both.

To my horror Martins machine was 79% fragged and my brother's not far behind at 68%. I set Diskeeper to clean them up and also to defrag their MFT's too. Diskeeper actually had to run 4 times on each machine to clean them up and then I set about them with Webroot.

Over 3 hours and 1700 traces of adware later they were both very happy with their performace increases :)

The moral is that just like a car you get the best from your PC by Keeping on top of its maintenance.

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 11:05 AM | Comments (1) | Computers | TrackBack

January 10, 2005

The 2005 UK endurance champs

We are now getting ready for the 2005 British endurance champs, and it looks like there are a few changes this year which will affect us all...

Fixed gearing at all circuits
Super pro champs, Pro Champs and Clubman categories
2 New circuits, Rye house and a round at Buckmore park too!

The team is staying the same as last year with Chris as number 1 driver. I will be driver number 2 and head mechanic :) After speaking to Paul Bowler I have been reliably informed that we will be in Clubman. We have a chance of winning this and to be honest we just dont have the experience of keeping up with the top Pro teams (you try) So I will be more than happy if we are in Clubman.

The fixed gearing will mean so much less testing for everyone so Im not arguing against that either. As usual I will be writing race reports in the Blog like last year so you can see our ups and downs as the year progresses :) lets hope we have more ups than downs!

The main championship site is over here

UK Endurance karting Champs

I have one small problem :(

This round

Round 7 Milton Keynes International 07/08/2005

is the weekend of my fast approaching wedding! Now I am known for my blagging skills, but even I doubt I can pull that one off! I think her indoors would be not best pleased If I tried to fit motor racing in on the same weekend as my wedding ha ha Still we will see. "Vicar do you have any other dates than August 6th"?

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 3:17 PM | Comments (0) | The 2005 Season | TrackBack

Now here's and interesting tale!

I'm a great one for conspiracy theory's! And I certainly always believe there's "No smoke without fire" :) As such I did find this article very interesting with regards to the recent devastating events on the world stage..

Earthquake: Coincidence or a Corporate Oil Tragedy?

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 1:45 PM | Comments (0) | World Events | TrackBack

January 7, 2005

American Dream

I had a thought today (I have them on occasion) Where the hell are all the English internet marketers?

I mean are there any? Apart from me that is and I`m not famous :) I can list reams of cool sounding American ones like Corey Rudl (did he have a name change) Joe Vitale, John Reese, Marlon Sanders etc These names go round and round and yet I never hear of an English marketer? Oh yes sorry Yanik forgot you :) Perhaps it`s because we English have names like John Smith, Dave Brown and Mr Bean! which is not quite in the same league as Joe (Mr Fire) Vitale is it :)

Or is it because as a rule Americans are so much more into the whole hype thing than us Brits are! Certainly as an industry the Guru and Expert status gets bandied about an awfull lot where internet marketing is concerned. Although I never hear Richard Branson being called a Guru and he`s probably got more money than all of them put together! Anyway I digress, what are your thoughts here?

Is the whole internet dominated by the Americans when it comes to internet marketing and related products and services? Or are there some famous Brit and or European ones that I have missed (sacrilage)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 4:50 PM | Comments (0) | Internet Marketing | TrackBack

January 6, 2005

Dial up Hell

Only a small post today :( My cable has gone down although the analogue line to my building is still up so Im on a dial up 56k :( Oh my God how I had forgotten those days and also taken my 3 meg line for granted!

Click a link and bang full site in .5 second is the norm. Dial up hell is like er ok I`ll just nip to the shop and get some milk while the kettle is boiling and hopfully the page will be loaded by the time I get back home! And to think I used to play Ultima online with one, how did I cope?

I am assured all will be well tomorrow let`s see ehh.

Mark...

PS
Dont forget to comment on my new years competition post to win some FREE goodies this Month..

Posted by Mark at 10:00 PM | Comments (1) | Internet Tech | TrackBack

January 5, 2005

Business Blog Awards

The guys over at Business Blog Awards are as you can imagine from the title running awards for 2005. Check them out and enter your Blog if its business related.

We will possibly be sponsering them, Well I offered anyway :)

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 9:45 AM | Comments (1) | Blogging | TrackBack

January 4, 2005

Time Stand Still!

Im not looking back but I want to look around me now! Time stand still, some more of the people and the places that surround me now.

Well the new year speeds away already and I am drawn to one of my favorite tracks (again)

Time Stand Still by Rush (dont yah just love Canadians)

How's it go. Freeze this moment a little bit longer, make each sensation a little bit stronger. Experience slips away, Experience slips away! Yeh freeze this moment a little bit longer. Ah Peart your such a poet :)

Dont you ever feel that our lives are speeding by? Each year my life gets faster, or seems to. This feeling has become ever more apparent to me with the advent of the communication boom and the internet. All that information and knowledge I'm missing! I will be late if I dont grab it now! My friends and my missus have a joke about me that they are going to buy me a Sherlock Holmes smoking jacket. Have you seen the one Jeremy Brett wears in the series? The red quilted one, floor length ha ha.

They see me as an English gent with my pipe, slippers and smoking jacket moaning about how things were much better (and slower) in my day! LOL

Just the other day my friend asked me 'Hey Mark what did we do when we did'nt have mobiles or the internet'? I lived a much more relaxed life I said ha ha. We were playing Golf at the time and I religiously leave my Mobile in my car and have 4 hours of FREE time on the course and 1 hour drinking a pint in the clubhouse afterwards! My friend who is a stockbroker in the city has to take his with him (orders from his boss) So in light of this I thought I would reveal some marketing secrets to you my faithfull :)

1. There are fortunes being made on this internet of ours each day
2. Its not easy
3. Its not automatic
4. Anyone who tells you its easy and or automatic is spinning you :)
5. It takes a damned amount of hard work
6. Your work is never done
7. Your thoughts never stop, theres always a new idea to pursue
8. For as many new sites that are created each day offering you the latest secret, just as many go under that were started last year!
9. Customer service is your most important job

Can you really do it? Can you make a decent sizable living from all this cash floating around on the net? Yes you can, but please bear in mind the above 9 points before you start out on your journey :)

PS
Dont forget to comment on my FREE competition in the post below to win yourself some goodies for the new year. We have had some awesome comments already but considering my readership size I think you must all be asleep, or indeed not back from your Xmas break yet, lucky you :) Still I guess even Blogs slow down over the holiday period ha ha. Now where's that Pipe!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at 8:47 AM | Comments (0) | Life | TrackBack

January 1, 2005

15dn Competition and Happy New year

A very Happy new year to all of my readers :) I hope 2005 is a prosperous year for you all.

As a way of showing gratitude to all my readers I have decided this year to run a small competition, a way of giving something back to you. Let`s face it a Blog without readers is a bit like a shop in a desert! It may look good but if no one comes through the door it will soon go out of business :( This competition is to show I appreciate you all.

We at FifteenDegrees-North are always looking to improve upon our services and design`s and as a general rule I know most of the Blogging community to be a fair minded lot :)

So this is how the competion will work.

I want you to critique my website, you can do this by commenting to this post. I will keep this post`s comments open for the whole of January and then close them off. At that time I will go through all the comments with my design team and between us we will pick the comments we feel we can get the most value from.

Your comments need to be in these areas.

1. Overall look, feel and content of the Blog?
2. Overall look, feel and content of the website?
3. Ease of use and navigation elements of the website?
4. Is it readily understandable what we do?
5. Any changes you would make or like to see.

That`s it. Nothing nasty please its meant to be fun :) Let`s be constructive! I will moderate the comments of course, but I am very fair and will not edit them in anyway unless it`s offensive. No copying of previous comments is allowed, you must be unique in your critique (I should be a poet ha ha)

The winner will get...

1. A Movable Type personal or commercial Blog (5 users, your choice of license) installed to a location of your choice and then skinned by my top desinger. You will be allowed 3 iterations of skin. Once your Blog is installed we will install Jay`s Great anti spam tool MT Blacklist for you (if you wish). This whole package is a $600 value :) Not bad for giving me some valuable feedback ehh! Well it is the new year and I`m a happy soul :)

2. A FREE copy of my Adwords Masterclass course. Value $50

3. A FREE copy of my RSS-Masterclass course (the new unreleased version). Value $97

4. 5,000 visitors to your Blog from Blog Explosion paid by us. You open the account we will fund your account for the visitors.

Second place will get...

1. A top logo design. Value $150

2. A FREE copy of my Adwords Masterclass course. Value $50

3. A FREE copy of my RSS-Masterclass course (the new unreleased version). Value $97

4. 2,500 visitors to your Blog from Blog Explosion paid by us. You open the account we will fund your account for the visitors.

So there you go, critique away, good luck to you all and may you have a great new year wherever you are...

Mark...

PS
Fortune favours the brave as the saying goes. So to deter you all sitting there thinking I will wait and comment last (as if you were)! The first person to comment will get a favicon created for their Blog or website. Favicons would charge $100 to create one for you.

Posted by Mark at 12:00 AM | Comments (9) | Blogging | TrackBack