Let's get Started

I can only begin to imagine how many millions of blog pages are out there. Over the last several weeks I've been observing and researching the blog industry. Yes, I would classify blogging in an industry all its own. I've been paying close attention to design and overall site functionality. You see, I'm not a techie nor am I a programmer of any sort. Given that this is my first month blogging, I want to make sure that I have the technical know how to create, maintain, and update a fully functioning blog. I have a relatively decent amount of HTML knowledge. Nothing spectacular. I wasn't sure if my skill set was good enough to compete with the big boys. Submerging myself in various forums and reading dozens of blogs, I eventually came to the conclusion that whatever HTML I know is more than enough. But more importantly, there are so many forums and programs that make it easy to overcome any obstacle that might come your way.

We all want to make the best use of our time. Well, maybe not all of us, but most of us. I had to ask myself, "what is my opportunity cost? What is the next best thing I could do with my time and energy if I didn't blog?" Is the time I spend blogging the best use of my time? My answer was yes, yes and yes. I've always been a firm believer in the notion of building wealth vs. earning a wage. In a nutshell, that's the real recipe to financial success. Put your energy into building the infrastructure of a project, watch it grow, and reap the benefits of it in the future in the form of a steady cash flow and personal gratification. I will expand on this topic in a future post with plenty of references I've collected over time. Anyone who knows me is well aware of how I like to promote the idea of independence and believe it full heartedly.

So if any of you are reading this and have been contemplating starting a blog for personal or monetary reasons, I encourage you to take the first step and go for it.

How to Blog

A while back ago I decided I wanted to start a blog. I began to read a bunch of articles that had anything and everything to do with blogging. I bookmarked blogging related sites religiously. Eventually I had tons of links that I had to sort through, delete the ones I didn’t want and keep the ones I liked.

So, I thought I would publish an edited list of some of the sites that helped me better understand, why I should start blogging and how I can get started.

Let's start with an inspirational article that will get you motivated and give us some perspective on the world of blogging.



Why you should start a blog today:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/09/01/8384325/index.htm?postversion=2006090812
This is an interesting article that puts into perspective the power of blogging and the potential benefits one stands to inherit. This article is a good motivator.


http://www.johnchow.com/index.php/the-internets-biggest-google-whores/
Proof is in the pudding. How does one profit from blogging, Google ADsense and other similar programs that are out there. Now don’t get me wrong, the guys in the article above clearly were ahead of the curve. But with a good sound idea and full execution you could be the next guy on this list.


http://www.johnchow.com/part-time-blogging-full-time-income/
In this article you get to monitor the growth of a blog on a weekly basis as it is documented here on this site. I really enjoy this website. It always has practical advice and it’s a great motivator.


http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8173520&fsrc=RSS Going Pro More people are quitting their day jobs to blog for a living


How can you get started:


http://www.squidoo.com/blogstarter
Here you have a great blog starter checklist. You are also given some direction on where to take your blog ideas and how to best get the word out.


http://www.avivadirectory.com/successful-blog-launch/
This is a really informative essay that will give you some insight on how to get started. It’s very informative and the blogger gives you plenty of ideas on how to market and promote your blog. Some of the suggestions are linking your blog to RSS & Subscriptions feeds, using social book marking and link building.


http://www.problogger.net/
This site is a great overall resource for blogging how to’s. There are some good points on why to blog as well as how to design your Adsense ads to start making money through your blog.


http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10881_11-6120257.html#
This article really summarizes well the fundamentals of a good blog. Title of the article is “10 Ways to become a better blogger”.

http://www.copyblogger.com/
Copyblogger has some great advice on what to and what not to do on your blog. There are plenty of articles on the site that will help you better understand how to create a cohesive blog from top to bottom.


http://scribez.wordpress.com/2006/09/06/dummies-guide-to-profitable-blogs-and-blogging/
Dimmies Guide to Profitable blogs and blogging

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/25-steps-to-a-wildly-successful-personal-finance-blog.html Excellent blog. One of my favorites 25 Steps To A Wildly Successful Personal Finance Blog

http://www.pronetadvertising.com/articles/the-first-7-days-of-blogging.html
The first 7 days of blogging


Tools That will help you build your blog:

http://scribez.wordpress.com/2006/09/16/new-ten-best-free-wordpress-templates/
New Ten Best Free Wordpress Templates


http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/02/word-press-plugins-for-probloggers/
Word Press Plugins for Pro Bloggers

http://wordpress.org/
WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.


http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/
A complete guide to designing web sites that work


http://www.weebly.com/
Weebly is the easiest way to create a great looking website


http://www.tubetorial.com/how-to-build-a-profitable-home-on-the-web/
How to Build a Profitable Home on the Web


http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/tracking-your-buzz/
TRACKING YOUR BUZZ

http://www.chatcreator.com/
Add Chat to Your Site!


http://pingomatic.com/
Ping your site


http://www.lifegoggles.com/?p=150
Easy steps to getting your videos online


http://www.famfamfam.com/
Free Icons


http://web2logo.com/
Web Logos


http://www.ifeedreaders.com/
iFeedReaders : Where I feed your feed to feed readers.


Marketing your site:


http://www.seopedia.org/
The Internet Marketing and Search Industry Blog

http://webadsblog.com/
Web Advertising Blog How to Promote Your Adsense Niche Site

http://www.baekdal.com/
7 tricks to Viral Web Marketing

http://www.seomoz.org/
assess a site/page's relative importance and visibility.



How you can make money with your blog:


https://www.google.com/adsense/
Take the tour to get a better understanding about how Google Adsense works.

http://www.linkbucks.com/
LinkBucks allows you to make cash from the links your users post, from the links you place on your website, or from the posts you make in a forum.


http://payperpost.com/
Get Paid To Blog


http://www.text-link-ads.com/blog_juice/
http://www.text-link-ads.com/
Buy and Publish Links Also see where your blog falls in the Blog juice calculator


https://chitika.com/
Merchandising Network with over 10,000+ participating blogs and websites
Custom Shopping Portals Expert Guided Shopping for your Visitors. CPC Revenue For YOU!



Tools to help you manage and fine tune your blog:



http://webadsblog.com/2006/10/16/how-to-promote-your-adsense-niche-site/
This blog teaches you a bit about Web advertising, hence the name Web advertising blog. There are some good detailed ideas on this site about overall advertising to fine tuning your niche blog.


http://www.makemoneyathome-idea.com/block_low_paying_ads.php
Learn how you can block low paying ads and increase your income streamGreat Blogging Articles and Insight on Blogging


http://profaq.blogspot.com/
Unofficial Blogger Pro FAQ


http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2006/11/09/online-generators/
we smash you with the information which will make your life easier. really. Great overll blogging resource, i.e. online generators

Stop watching and make money now

So you want to start a blog. Well if you’re like me then you want to do your due diligence first and educate yourself about the process and the resources that are available to you. Hopefully, I’ve done the necessary research for you and will try to keep an updated list of useful websites that help educate and provide all the necessary resources to put up and maintain your blog. Here you will learn everything from why you should have a blog to how you can start profiting from it. Keep in mind that, ideally, I will update and add to this blog several times a week, if time permits. So check back often.

Contrary to popular belief you will not get rich overnight through you blog. However you can start the ground work for investing in a project that if done right could pay off dividends on a regular basis.

What I’ve tried to do below is create an outline of links that compliment the learning process and the necessary steps to putting up and maintaining your blog. The method to the links below is as follows; first you see the topics highlighted, then you will see a link. Underneath the link I will give a brief description of what the link has to offer.

Why start a blog

1. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/09/01/8384325/index.htm?postversion=2006090812

This is an interesting article that puts into perspective the power of blogging and the potential benefits one stands to inherit. This article is a good motivator.

2. http://www.johnchow.com/index.php/the-internets-biggest-google-whores/

Proof is in the pudding. How does one profit from blogging, Google ADsense and other similar programs that are out there. Now don’t get me wrong, the guys in the article above clearly were ahead of the curve. But with a good sound idea and full execution you could be the next guy on this list.

What should I know before I start a blog

1. http://www.avivadirectory.com/successful-blog-launch/

This is a really informative essay that will give you some insight on how to get started. It’s very informative and the blogger gives you plenty of ideas on how to market and promote your blog. Some of the suggestions are linking your blog to RSS & Subscriptions feeds, using social book marking and link building.

2. http://www.squidoo.com/blogstarter

Here you have a great blog starter checklist. You are also given some direction on where to take your blog ideas and how to best get the word out.

3. http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10881_11-6120257.html#

This article really summarizes well the fundamentals of a good blog. Title of the article is “10 Ways to become a better blogger”.

4. http://www.copyblogger.com/

Copyblogger has some great advice on what to and what not to do on your blog. There are plenty of articles on the site that will help you better understand how to create a cohesive blog from top to bottom.

How you can make money with your blog

1. http://www.problogger.net/

This site is a great overall resource for blogging how to’s. There are some good points on why to blog as well as how to design your Adsense ads to start making money through your blog.

2. https://www.google.com/adsense/?sourceid=aso&subid=ww-en-et- asblog&medium=et

Take the tour to get a better understanding about how Google Adsense works.

3. http://www.johnchow.com/making-money-from-a-blog-week-4/

In this article you get to monitor the growth of a blog on a weekly basis as it is documented here on this site. I really enjoy this website. It always has practical advice and it’s a great motivator.

4. http://webadsblog.com/2006/10/16/how-to-promote-your-adsense-niche-site/

This blog teaches you a bit about Web advertising, hence the name Web advertising blog. There are some good detailed ideas on this site about overall advertising to fine tuning your niche blog.

5 htp://dumblittleman.blogspot.com/2006/10/40-ways-to-make-money-on internet.html

If you sort through the links you can find some useful tools for your blog

6. http://www.makemoneyathome-idea.com/block_low_paying_ads.php

Learn how you can block low paying ads and increase your income stream

So you think I can't see you

For some time now I've been thinking of starting a blog. The idea at first seemed somewhat silly, however I soon came to realize I was wrong. The blog culture has evolved exponentially. The idea caught on so fast, people all around me starting putting up their own personal blogs. I mean everyone, people of all ages, grandma's and grandpa's, their 10 and 15 year old grandchildren, college students, hobbyists, collectors politicians, athletes, you get the jist, anyone with an opinion now has a platform to voice it on.

I remember when I first watched the video short, Epic 2014. It was an interesting take on the power and evolution of Google, the blog, the internet, and our privacy. If you haven't seen it, I definitely suggest finding it online somewhere, just do a Google search.

We get so caught up with technology that we don't get to appreciate how far we've come as a technological society. We seem to be advancing technologically faster than we can keep up as a society. I'm sure there have been many, many essays and books written about this subject. I have a feeling it's one topic that will soon be on more peoples minds.

Privacy will soon become an obsolete word. We're advancing so fast that there is limited time to ascertain what if any ramifications new technologies will have on our civil liberties and privacy rights. If you take a step back and take a broader look at whats going on I think you would be shocked, appalled or maybe even disgusted.

Let's look at Spyware programs. What's this all about? A third party that plants software on your computer to track your every move, everything from keystrokes, to personal and private account numbers to the web pages you visit. Ummm, what? Google is keeping a folder of every person that has ever done a search on google, ever. It's a nice little folder with your name on it. I bet they bank on making some money off that information sometime in the future. As soon as the right politicians get bought and pass legislation that allows private companies to keep diaries of our lives without us even having a choice in the matter. Boy am I excited.

You mean this is legal? Yep, so far it is. Lets get this straight, a third party without my permission or knowledge for that matter, has planted software on my computer. Which coincidentally, also happens to infringe on the performance of my computer. Isn't this breaking and entering but worse. Now a company has personal information about me stored somewhere that it plans on selling to some other company to market their products more efficiently to me, dandy. Oh, the government can also subpoena anything they want from any of these companies in the name of security. But who even needs a subpoena these days.

Even my computer is trying to spy on me and secretly record me and what goes on in the background when I use or view their product. Scandalous, how can one not be cynical or skeptical when this kind of technology is allowed to be used in this country.

Companies are already out there that have legally implanted their employees with a chip. That's right a chip. I haven't fully mastered blogging yet and there are people out there getting chips inserted into their bodies. Wow, things are developing fast, maybe to fast. But who am I to question the speed of technological advancement, I'm just another blogger with some thoughts on my mind that I would like to voice. And because of this amazing and wonderful technological phenomenon, I have a blog in which I can communicate to the whole world with and send them my message. Technological growth is great, it's wonderful to see what brilliant minds come up. I'm somewhat of a gadget connoisseur and am always on the lookout for some new toys. I think I'll pass on anything that wants to stick a chip in me.

A Glimpse Inside

Long over due, I've finally decided to put up my own blog. I haven't decided what the theme will be, that will come over time. I thought it would be best to put something up and mold it as it develops.

Those of you who know me, know that I like to share whatever resources I have. So maybe this forum can be a place for you to turn to when you have a brain itch.

Several days ago a friend of mine emailed me a very disturbing article. It's about a government spying program that will use your computer mic to listen in on your activities. Very disturbing, I would like to share this article with as many people that I can. Unfortunately there's no warning messages that come with using the internet. Enjoy!!

Im interested in hearing your thoughts about the article.


Government, Industry To Use Computer Microphones To Spy On 150 Million Americans
Invasive surveillance and advertising obliterates even Minority Report style technology

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com | September 6 2006

Private industry and eventually government is planning to use microphones in the computers of an estimated 150 million-plus Internet active Americans to spy on their lifestyle choices and build psychological profiles which will be used for surveillance and minority report style invasive advertising and data mining.

Digital cable TV boxes, such as Scientific Atlanta, have had secret in-built microphones inside them since their inception in the late 1990's and these originally dormant devices were planned to be activated when the invasive advertising revolution arrived - 2006 marks that date.

The advent of digital video recording devices such as TiVo (Sky Plus in the UK) introduced the creation of psychological algorithm profiles - databases on what programs you watched, how long you watched them for, which adverts you liked or didn't like. This information was retained by TiVo and sold to the highest bidders - an example being Janet JacksonÂ’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2003 Super Bowl half-time show - TiVo were able to compile lists of how many people had rewound the clip and how many times they had replayed it.

Two way communications systems like OnStar also have the ability to tap into private conversations as Americans become increasingly conditioned, by means of the private sector, to having their every movement, web session and conversation tracked and catalogued by big brother.

Each time a new flash application requests permission to run on newer computers, you will notice that a privacy setting box pops up asking if the particular website you are surfing can access your microphone and webcam. Though the webcam is external, the microphone is internal and is a standard feature of all new models.

Now Google have gone a step further by announcing that they will use in-built microphones to listen in on user's background noise, be it television, music or radio - and then direct advertising at them based on their preferences.

"The idea is to use the existing PC microphone to listen to whatever is heard in the background, be it music, your phone going off or the TV turned down. The PC then identifies it, using fingerprinting, and then shows you relevant content, whether that's adverts or search results, or a chat room on the subject," reports the Register.

Since at least 150 million Americans are Internet-active they will all be potential targets for secret surveillance and the subsequent sell-off of all their information to unscrupulous data mining corporations and government agencies.

The report cites the inevitability that the use and abuse of this technology will eventually be taken over by the state.

"Pretty soon the security industry is going to find a way to hijack the Google feed and use it for full on espionage."

The American public has already been brainwashed into thinking that having snooping software record their private phone conversations on behalf of the government is to protect them from terrorists and the Google program is just an entree to the expansion of these 1984 style technologies.

The Bush administration has sold its warrantless NSA spying agenda as the "terrorist surveillance program," and has used its Neo-Con mouthpiece media organs to argue the insanity of "not listening in to Osama bin Laden when he calls the US," despite the fact that Al-Qaeda stopped using phones years before 9/11 when it was publicized that all bin Laden's calls were routinely intercepted anyway.

NSA spying on Americans was spun as a necessary reaction to 9/11 and yet it had been taking place for at least a decade before.

Firstly, the Echelon program has collected information in violation of the 4th Amendment from American citizen's phone calls since the early 90's at least. In addition, a 2001 European Parliament report stated that "within Europe all e-mail, telephone and fax communications are routinely intercepted" by the NSA.

The fact that Echelon barely even merited a mention during the recent furore created by the original USA Today NSA spying piece goes to show how utterly useless our media are in recalling what has already been admitted and proven.

In 1999 the Australian government admitted that they were part of an NSA led global intercept and surveillance grid in alliance with the US and Britain that could listen to "every international telephone call, fax, e-mail, or radio transmission."

"As you would expect there are a large amount of radio communications floating around in the atmosphere, and agencies such as DSD collect those communications in the interests of their national security," said Bill Blick, Inspector General of Intelligence and Security and the man who oversaw the Australian government's intelligence apparatus.

A large sector of Echelon is dedicated to industrial espionage. For example, in November 1999 the BBC reported that the NSA snooped on phone calls from a French firm bidding for a contract in Brazil. They passed the information on to an American competitor, which won the contract.

Google's ceaseless drive to dominate Microsoft and reap untold profits has come at the expense of privacy as the company jettison's its "don't be evil" mandate and merges itself into a proxy NSA outfit, creating all the tools necessary for the state to suffocate its subjects under an inescapable high-tech panopticon control grid.