Mike

Now Open!

Here's the rundown for those of you that aren't familiar with the first "No Excuses" thread.

• Anybody can participate.
• If you don't have a domain or hosting, we can probably help you.
• If you get a loaner domain and hosting, you HAVE to provide updates on your progress every few days. Even if it's just researching your niche.
• People that get loaner domains will have the option to purchase them from the owner for only $10 USD and that includes at least a full year before it expires. Except for the .info's I just purchased for this, those are free to people that can prove at least $5 in revenue.
• This project is only 30 days from tomorrow.
• If you have any questions, ideas, whatever, they should be posted in this thread. Please don't PM me questions. Otherwise, I end up answering the same question multiple times and that get's annoying (for me)
• Members that want to help out and donate hosting or domains need to contact me. Currently, I think the hosting is covered, but domains are always helpful.

Here are the available domains for this round, they are all new, none of the old ones are being recycled:

ALTERNATIVESTOGASOLINE.INFO
AUTO-INSIDER.INFO
AUTOMOTIVEINSIDER.INFO - JamesH
CELEBRITYREPORT.INFO - jdubsf
CELLULARPHONEACCESSORIES.INFO
CORNPOWER.INFO
CREDITCARDREPORT.INFO
CURRENT-EVENTS.INFO
DESKANDDRAWERS.INFO - IndomitableD
DESKSHIT.INFO
DONTBESTUPID.INFO
FINANCIALSTUFF.INFO - Lingo
FUTBOLREPORT.INFO
GAMEZ-N-SHIZZLE.INFO
GAMEZCHEATS.INFO
GETACREDITREPORT.INFO
GETAHOBBY.INFO
HOMEFINANCIALS.INFO
LAYOUTSONLINE.INFO
MAKEITHURT.INFO
NOMORECOAL.INFO
PLAYSTATIONGAMER.INFO
POPCORNPLACE.INFO
PRINTABLESHEETMUSIC.INFO
PUTERPLACE.INFO
SOLARENERGYCONSORTIUM.INFO
SPANKINTONEZ.INFO
SPORTSCOMMENTARY.INFO
WORKSPACESTATION.INFO

If you want to use one of these domains, just claim it. Also, if you need hosting, post that as well.

Good Luck! And let's go make some money!

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puroz

First :P

I got my projects lined up and got some hosting. I'm trying to figure out which site to build.

I want to learn more about RSS automated blogging. I have a site where i would like to compile RSS feeds from different blogs and I'm not sure how i would do that. I don't want to get in trouble over copyrights or what not.

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janwonders

OK, I'm going to take part this time round. I've had this domain for a while now and I'd like to do something with it: J Lo iPod

I originally got it because last summer I won a ltd edition JLo Glow iPod 80Gig Video with a sparkly shimmer effect. Mine is number 21 out of 35 made.
At first I planned to keep it, but once it arrived I thought I'd be better just putting it on ebay and seeing if a genuine fan would buy it for a decent price. I then did some research and saw that two of them had sold for over £500 each on ebay. I tried putting it on at offers over £250 but never got anywhere (First I tried the UK eBay & then the US eBay). I copied the link into the JLo Forum and didn't get any bids either.
So, what do you think, should I develop the site to in some way flog the iPod for a decent amount of cash, should I put it back on ebay with a low minimum bid or should I just keep it and use it?
I did think the fact it's number 21 may be a unique selling point for a huge JLo fan turning 21. However, that's seriously narrowing down the target market...

In any case, whether I include the iPod or not, I'm going to take part in this 30 day challenge. If I use this domain J Lo iPod - would I risk trademark problems with JLo or iPod?

tweak50

I have my own domain and hosting so I should be set to go. I'm pretty excited to finally get my ass in gear.

In the previous thread someone posted that they would give a free LP to the first person who asked, so I'm asking! Sorry, it looks like that thread is deleted and I can't remember who made the offer.

The domain I'm going to be using is theexploitsoffood.com, I do want to keep the main part of the site an actual food blog, so I'll be running all of my LPs from sub domains. Is that going to hurt me at all?

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jdubsf

so this is my very first post.

i've been looking forward to round 2 of this to start, as i read and learned alot from the first thread.

i would like to use CELEBRITYREPORT.INFO

i will be creating a wordpress site. im very interested in RSS automated blogging, as mentioned earlier.

thank you seomike for putting this together.

JamesH

I'll take AutomotiveInsider.info if you don't mind. I'll be sure to make a profit this time around. If thats cool, you can point the nameservers to: ns1.thiswebhost.com and ns2.thiswebhost.com

radio

I'm pretty dense today... so bear with me, but...

"This project is only 30 days from tomorrow."

Does that mean the challenge runs for the next 30 days or starts in 30 days? If the latter, how long does it run?

Regardless, I'm in. I have a few projects that I'm working on and will write a comprehensive post here shortly. Have several questions and look forward to the feedback. Thanks, WF.

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Mike

Oops, by bad (grammar), it's a 30 day long project.

JamesH - updated nameservers for you.

jdubsf - do you have hosting? If so, I need your nameservers

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Anarkist

Finally we are at it! Good luck guys... I'll be pooling a few domains tomorrow...!

Cheers

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moomycow

Heya, n00b first post after lurking here for a while, and I'd like to add my name to this.

My background: Typical 9-5 IT job as a programmer, now thinking about affiliate schemes to make some extra cash. As luck would have it, I registered and set up the following site a couple of days ago: Cowsic · CowSic. Crap name (Moosic varients already taken and, dammit, I like cows!).

I spend a hell of a lot of time each day listening to up-and-coming bands on the radio (or bands that haven't released anything in ages, but one month from now...) and don't find it too hard to knock out 100-odd crappy words about the first single they're going to release.

I'd be looking to drive teenagers to my site, who would then buy ringtones, mp3s from iTunes and so forth.

If this all sounds a bit too specific for your plans, I won't be offended if you tell me to go forth and multiply. However, I'm in for giving things a proper try here, so all help appreciated!

Randstrom

hi everyone

im going to head out to Neverblue and go thru the offers they got .
im thinking on finding an offer that will be "ok" to promote.
i might go mini sight or landing page we will se.
ill get a domain after i find the offer .
If any one has knowlege of a good offer that might actually convert and ppc is not in the buck and higher range, i would love sugestions.

and a big thank you to mike for putting this together.

Mike

moomycow - That's great to hear. The more specific the better we can help you plan your attack. Quick suggestion: make your title tag more descriptive. "Cowsic - Reviews of up and coming bands" or something. Also, if you're the type of person to go gung-ho writing one day, then skip it for a few days, then set your posts to publish over the course of a few days.

Randstrom - Unless you are just offer testing, it's not a good idea to build a site around an offer, rather build the offers around your site. So, the brainstorming should go like this:

1. Come up with a list of potential niches
2. Research said niches
   1. keyword research
   2. competitive analysis
   3. SWOT analysis
3. Determine how you plan to promote / market your site
   1. PPC
   2. Banners
   3. Links
   4. SEO
   5. and so on
4. Get your domain / hosting
5. Build your site
6. Promote it
7. Track it
   1. web analytics
   2. affiliate statistics
8. Test and Tweak
9. etc...

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jryan54

Hey Mike!

So what software or service do you recommend for the keyword research aspects...I know it can be done by hand but we all wanna save some time right?

Cheers mate

jryan54

okay, i'm a douchebag that needs to learn to read the fucking thread!

AdExhibitJason

I like this idea a lot, Please post links once the sites are up and let everyone know your game plans. I have some domains that I am not going to use that I could place up in the next one.

IndomitableD

Scared 'cause I'm an old bag. But I'd like DeskandDrawers.info, please. Plan a standard boring affiliate product site. Have a WYSIWYG editor, Popshops account, hosting, and a lot of desire never to wear pantyhose again. How banal and/or pathetic is that? Don't bother... without brilliant heavy-duty contraceptives, I coulda been you'all's mama. Bring it on.

whathell

Hi im joining now, i have my own domain and hosting
i hope wickedfire can make me better Internet Marketer LOL

Thanks, this thread is fucking awesome

count me in

now, where i need to starts ?

Ady2k

Allright, got my site up: Ultra Green Tea Review

Got it up a few days ago, but have been slacking for some time. Im doing this site on SEO only, so no PPC. Im gonna keep churning out articles and put them up on the site and use some in article directorys.

whathell

ok im starting to explain my project, please give any advice for me

my website is My Products Review - Web Hosting Reviews, Information

right now im trying to review the web hosting, as you can see here My Products Review - My Hosting Reviews - Best Web Hosting Reviews

my first mistake is, pay expensive content writers for the reviews and make the website first before signup the affiliate. now im stuck and just wait for the affiliate approve my site ( already 5 days )

next my target is making a blog for this site

until now, im not try any (getting traffic) method.

Anyway i have some experience on photoshop, so i can make some logo and banner like my website. If you want a logo, how about pm me ? maybe i can help you ( im trying to make some money too huhuhuhu )

What do you think so far?

Thanks

cheapestman

I've been waiting for this for a while now. Thanks for putting this together.

My site is a ringtones site (go figure). But, I think I found a niche.

Home : MMA Ringtones and MMA Entrance Songs - MMARingtones.com

I'm gonna be adding all the UFC Fighters entrance songs as well as all their bios (from Wikipedia). No PPC quite yet.

So, when is the official start date for this?
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Mike

LOL!!! I like you IndomitableD! Don't worry, at 34 I'm an old man around here. And you are not pathetic. No worries, we'll do what we can to help you make some money.

Anyhow, shoot me a PM with your hosting's nameservers and I'll get the DNS changed.

@Andy2k - it's green alright ;D Anyhow, just keep blogging at least one post every 3 days. Use the posts like mini-landing pages and work on your sale copy each time.

@whathell - English is obviously not your first language. I'm not saying this to be mean, but it does affect your site's ability to convert sales. You mentioned that you are good with photoshop, why not do a site of photoshop tutorials? Grammar would be less of an issue there if you did videos.

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Mike

Not bad. Might want to find some images that don't have "SherDog" emblazoned across them.
Ummm...did you read the OP? See my signature. Samuel L. will explain.

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cheapestman

The reason I use Sherdog's pics is 1) I don't own any of my own images of UFC fighters and 2) Sherdog let's you post their pics on your site (as long as you don't manipulate them)

And sorry about the official start date, was a bit confused. Contest runs July 6th - August 6th...on board now!

puroz

So Mike. How do i go about posting RSS feeds from other blogs without getting into trouble ? Is there a wordpress plugin for that ?

I decided that i will build my linux help blog. And i want to compile RSS feeds from other blogs to have a bigger selection of problems and answers.

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Mike

Anytime you rip someone else's feeds you take the chance they will get pissed and report you to Google. If you're using Adsense, this can result in the ban of your Adsense account in addition to being banned from the SERPs. Not a desirable situation. I've always advocated that n00bies shouldn't mess with autoblogs. There's too many things that can get you in trouble. If you really want to, just keep in mind the risks and don't run them for more than a month or so. Also, don't use them as a means to make money, they can do that but not in the direct way that so many people want. My autoblogs rarely made more than $3 per day per blog. But I was using them to gain massive backlinks, which they do quite well. One blog I had up for about a month, topped out around 18,000 backlinks (according to Yahoo!), and still has over 5,000 today (I believe. Haven't checked in months).

But you were'nt asking about autoblogging, were you?

If you're going to use RSS to bolster your blog, that's great, put them on their own page as "News" or use a RSS scroller

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cheapestman

Man, I had no idea you could get penalized for having RSS feeds on your site. Good to know.

KatieRay

I sure hope this gets my ass in gear. Thanks to all the people who are participating in it! It seems like I have this creative fucking block and I can’t get past it for some reason.

I have a couple of ideas. I have one WP blog up (no content – no design): KatieBella, I wanted to make it a new age self help kind of site…

The other ideas I have (don’t have hosting/domain name yet, but will get) are:

I want to do an affiliate hosting site, I am already a reseller so all I need to do is get the domain name and build the site, I wanted to market it region specific so I could market to my local counties…I want to do a forum or blog for .edu webmasters as I am a .edu webmaster and we have no really good sites that pertain to our niche, or at least I cannot find one… I wouldn’t mind doing an affiliate tobacco site because I love all things that you can roll or stuff in a pipe to smoke. I know this is an already dominated area, but I was thinking maybe I could tweak it to focus on women…

puroz

yeah thats why i double checked. I thought it would be a good idea to combine lots of RSS feeds from different blogs into 1 where every one can find what they are looking for. But id rather not get banned from adsense and serps.

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moomycow

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your suggestions, I've now updated my site's title, and queued up some future content, currently dribbling out at the rate of around two posts per day. I've also signed up to a couple of UK affiliate programmes (anyone heard of Trade Doubler). iTunes have accepted me, and I'm waiting for the ringtones provider to hopefully do the same.

In the meantime, I have knocked up a quick Wordpress plugin that inserts ringtone links at the end of each post for me. After doing ten minutes reading, it turns out that plugins like this are a piece of piss of write - if anyone'd like any help, let me know.

I'm now looking into ways of growing my traffic organically... although not quite sure where I'll go with that, hopefully it'll grow my traffic from the current 30 visitors a day.

Anarkist

I am just loving how this is going, but amazed at the lack of contribution! Where are the n00bs when you need them ?

moomycow - I like your contribution, so I'll skip your 30 post limit.

Take a look at the other thread a few hours from now and you should have your reply that you asked for!

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radio

Here's the site: EPN Store

It's Wordpress MU where I've swapped out the default theme and have a modified theme limauorange as the default.

The idea is that I offer free hosting for EPN Stores. I have a couple of my own links to eBay w/in the theme, but there's no swapping of Campaign IDs. I'll probably put up some adsense as well.

Things to do:

• Add additional themes - probably add a few limauorange themes w/ different colors to start.
• Custom home page
• I want to get phpBay Lite (or another similar plugin) to be automatically installed in the mu-plugins directory
• I want to remove all indications of Wordpress (will help with another project I'm working on).
• I want to send out a newsletter to subscribers w/ EPN Store tips and encourage them to build content into their stores.

I'm working on a couple other sites - a phpBay Pro site, a blog for n00bs, and a b2b site. We'll see where I'm at in 30 days!

---

What does this mean? Did I miss some more shit (i.e. post limit)?

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JamesH

Just checking in. Got the hosting all setup, and I have a few ideas I'm testing under the domain (and a few others) in order to determine which direction I want to take it. Nothings working how its suppose to so far, however if I can get one to work it will involve massive amounts of content. Hopefully...

Mike

No, not having RSS feeds on your site, but using them in a nefarious manner. In other words, if your entire site is built around those RSS feed, then there could be problems. If you are using RSS feeds as an additional resource for your readers and giving proper attribution to the original authors, you're unlikely to ever have a problem.

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janwonders

OK, there was no reply to my post earlier so either it wasn't worth a response or everyone reading this is taking part and also requesting help.

I think I may have trademark problems with JLo and iPod so I thought (now this may be a totally dumb idea) I could attempt a dating site: Jackie Logan is pursuing Online Dating.

This would be a blog/affiliate dating review site based on a fictional woman called 'Jackie Logan'. I've read that dating/ringtones/diet products etc are saturated markets really hard to break into, but it seems that doesn't put people off and I guess because of that I'll probably learn a lot from trying it out. At this stage, I just want to learn as much as possible.

I've set the wordpress up with plugins and themes and am about to look through affiliate offers. I thought I'd also do a Squidoo Lens, Facebook/Bebo/MySpace page for Jackie and take it from there.

moomycow - I think Affiliate Future is pretty good for UK offers. I've joined and put them on a few sites, but yet to make any money though!

Glad to see this thread is getting a bit more active.

radio

Well, the first idea was kind of a one shot - once sold, you're done. Not much to that - sell it on eBay and be done with it.

I like this idea - first thing that comes to me is a Sex in the City (not that I've ever watched it) type site where people follow the blogging/dating adventures of your main character. Reviewing dating programs along the way. Throw in a couple that suck to write the "don't use this site - but your mileage may vary" type posts.

Get a sexy image to be your "character" who will make guys interested, but not too slutty to put off women (you main audience in my opinion).

Good idea - build it!

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janwonders

Thanks Radio, I'll get building. Any suggestions of where to find a good 'character' image? For pics I've been using Stock.Xchng which is fine for actual things but I always feel that any images of people found there, are likely to lose the site credibility very quickly if anyone was digging for further info. Then again, it maybe would'nt matter too much.

Mike

I use iStockPhoto for most of the stock images, and have a designer spice them up. There are so many on there, it's not likely that a reader will recognize it.

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radio

Avoid stock images (for your site in particular if you're doing the first person blogging perspective) - they're stuffy and fake. Before you pick your character, get a stockpile of images. Go to flickr or something, find someone with lots of pictures - the more date type pictures the better - target someone in their late 20's to early 30s - these people have money, but limited time. Your doing the test run of dating sites for them. Sexy and exciting pics should be the ticket. Use flickr advanced search to search on the creative commons license.

Once you get into the blogging of dates, pictures of where you went on your date, your plate of food, etc. would be good. The more amatuerish (but still good - make sense?) the better.

Once you get some content and a few "dates" submit it to Digg et al. with a catchy hook - 50 first dates, married b4 40, whatever.

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whathell

yeah, you got it right

photoshop tutorials ? im gonna try that too :P thanks for the idea

anyway do you think myproductsreview still can going forward ? maybe just put cheap content writer ( yeah i know my english suck )

Thanks

moomycow

Wow, thanks, that rocks! I'll keep an eye out!

Thanks for the heads-up there, I've now registered with them and am taking a look through their programmes.

My site's homepage now appears in Google, so I'm hoping that its content pages will start to show up tomorrow. I'm now mulling over options to drive traffic. I'm struggling to find relevant blogs to comment on and so forth, although I'm blaming that more on being shattered at 1am than anything else

JerseyGirl

I'm in.

I have a fresh domain I'm building a wordpress-based site on, though I am hoping to minimize it's wordpress-i-ness.

The theme I've uploaded, though, I am having a bear trying to customize. My knowledge of pHp is admittedly limited... I need to change the color scheme throughout, add a new header, add in my own sponsor buttons and get this thing traffic ASAP.

What I have going for me:
A. I have, as of this writing, 15 original articles written and 17 more article topics to write on, each of which are over 100 words.
B. I also managed to score a .com two-word domain that has some moderate search volume according to Google's Keyword Tool- but almost no competition.
C. I am actually interested in this topic (possibly an understatement) and can continue to work on site development, content development, niche research etc. at a relentless pace.
D. It will probably have it's peak traffic of the year soon because of current events (the WSOP).
E. I've gotten pretty good at navigating the ins and outs of wordpress, plugins, etc.

What I have going against me:
1. It's a terribly saturated market (poker).
2. Limited command of php/ html.
3. Not a lot of money to throw at PPC, but I do have a bunch of coupons for Yahoo and MSN... and one for adwords to throw in there.
4. Right in the middle of this contest I'm going to be moving. Granted... not very far... but my place will be a wreck and I'll be devoting most of my non 9-5 hours towards packing, moving, or unpacking.

I'll keep you posted on further developments.

cheapestman

Here is where I'm at on my No More Excuses Part 2 Project

Domain Home : MMA Ringtones and MMA Entrance Songs - MMARingtones.com
Currently #3 and #4 for mma ringtones in google search
Adding all UFC fighter songs to site
Adding MMA News to site every day or at least every other day
Adding MP3 box from Amazon.com for preview/buy the fighter's song

Been submitting answers to questions on ask.com and yahoo questions when people ask 'what song did ______ come out to at UFC ____'

Installed Google Analytics and so far have had 52 unique vistors (and 15 have come from WF)

Is this a type a site that is worth getting put in directories?

Also, conversions so far.....None

puroz

no adsense ?

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cheapestman

Eh, I added Adsense to the homepage. I replaced the 'Ringtones by Carrier' links and put the adsense ads.

abhorrent

Okay, I'm gonna get in on this and then maybe I can finally get my ass moving on
one of my sites.

The site: DogsRule.us (haven't heard from M&M Mars yet ).
The Niche: Pet Supplies (Dogs specifically).
The Products: Data feed from PetFood Direct.

This is a wordpress based site using a theme I created based on an oscommerce theme I liked.
As you can see from the fromt page, This thing has been sitting un-finnished since February.
I fell into the "Getting too many projects going at once" issue so for now, I'm gonna drop everything else and get this thing finished.

I have an upload script that I've been tweaking to get the data feed in there. The problem I'm runnning into is that the
categories that come over in the feed are a disaster.
Once I get that straightened out I can start the uplaods.

If all goes as planned, by next week I should be done and have 5K+ pages of products.
Good luck all!

JerseyGirl,
if you need help with your theme let me know or just post in the design & development forum.
I'm by no means a wordpress/php guru but I manage to muddle my way through.

JamesH

Still here, still working. I'm trying to get some code to work, and I'm making some progress. Nothing to add as of yet.

Lingo

Cheers for doing this Mike.

Hope im not too late to reserve FINANCIALSTUFF.INFO.

I have nearly sorted out my hosting, so i should be able to provide name servers soon. Although i might need a hand with it.

Cheers again.

JamesH

Oh yea, wanted to bring up this post by Fuzzo that caught my eye and I think it would benefit everybody in NE2:

SEO Vs PPC what works for you?

Ady2k

Damnit, I cant seem to fix this problem with my wordpress. The posts dont seem to wanna break. Ive tried using <br> and <p>, but none of these work. Anyone care to point me to a solution to this?

Ultra Green Tea Review

cheapestman

Copy the article to Notepad, repaste it, and try putting in the breaks again. My guess is that you have some messy HTML code that needs to be cleaned up.

Site looks good though. Really matches the landing page well.