Comments

1. 

   cuzzy April 1st, 2008

   great lesson Max. I like how it seems everything you do has a purpose and you just don’t post because you have to or to get something up.

   congrats to Green Lantern as well.

   I for one will be checking back daily.

2. 

   Samuraigunslinger April 1st, 2008

   Ok, im officially impressed.

   I was very close to removing this from my feed when I heard about the sale, but decided to give you a week to see if this feed still has value to me.

   I have to say that at the moment I am looking forward to this new “experiment” even more than I loved the origional concept.

   So far not a single empty post, and everything has had some very interesting ideas that I have not seen a million places elsewhere.

   You win, Im staying.

   Thanks!

3. 

   JasonZalesky April 1st, 2008

   Well you got bookmarked and I signed up for the RSS feed. Out of the hundreds of blogs I have read about making money online this is by far the most interesting.

   Keep it up!

   Jason

4. 

   Manuel April 1st, 2008

   Thanks for your lesson on “how to improve mind reading capabilities by using surveys”

   In fact, the paragraph describing what you think your readers want from this site is 95% what I´m looking for… change website for blog and you´ll hit the 100% in my case.

   An for Green Lantern, he will win 25$… and at least my new visit!!

5. 

   Tim April 1st, 2008

   I can sum up in one paragraph exactly who my readers are and what they want to know. Here goes…

   You would like me to start a brand new website from scratch, use search engine optimization (mostly) and pay per click advertising (some) to generate traffic. I should use that traffic to make money from affiliate programs, email marketing as well as test different monetization ideas to get the site making as much as possible (with some video training lessons along the way). I should show you all the mistakes I make along the journey so you can learn from them. Then I should sell this website.

   What do you think? Pretty accurate

   It’s 100% accurate, it’s also… I’d say 90% of what Ben was already working on. Look, I’m not here to rain on anyone’s parade, but seriously folks. That’s what the whole concept of this blog was from day one. Why act like it’s a whole new idea?

   There are things that Max will do better than Ben was doing. He’s bringing fresh ideas and passion to what’s going on here. That’s a good thing. He’s getting rid of Word Press Wednesday’s, fine, it was a relatively newer concept that Ben had been working on and if in time he wasn’t seeing the “fruit” from it, I’m sure it would have been shelved as well. This whole thing is about trial and error, what works what doesn’t. But at it’s root, the very foundation, what Max is saying that people want, is what Ben was trying to do.

   AND before you say Ben was “trying” but he had not been “doing” I would suggest that until I’ve seen results from Max, he is merely “trying” as well.

   No offense to anyone (especially Max). Just how it looks from over here.

   I’ve wandered with my words here, but I’m at work and don’t feel like cleaning it up, you get the point.

6. 

   Kevin April 1st, 2008

   good work!
   Thats why I am here everyday now

7. 

   Max April 1st, 2008

   @ Tim – Good point, maybe I shouldn’t start over since everyone’s already seen Ben go from zero to where we are now. Do you think I should instead “try” to take this current blog to the next level rather than start a brand new website from scratch?

   Is it safe to say everyone here has a website making $1500 per month and is ready to take their sites to the next level?

   It would be easier/faster to transform this blog from $1500/month to $15k/month than to start a brand new website and get that up to $15k/month.

   The real purpose of this lesson was to show YOU GUYS how to learn what your market wants. Wasn’t trying to unveil a whole new idea as you stated.

   It’s just easier to demonstrate lessons by example rather than just talk about them. I could have just as easily written an article on “how to figure out what your market wants”, but I thought the PROOF element would make it more real.

   No offense taken. I don’t know what I’m doing. Nobody should listen to me, that’s for sure

8. 

   Tim April 1st, 2008

   @ Max,
   I think you are doing the right thing. I think that you have appropriately defined what it is that’s wanted. My point really is that from this perspective as I read the comments people are reading what you are doing and saying “Wow!, Finally, this is what we’ve been looking for” when in fact, that’s what has been her in place.

   That being said, this is not a critical analysis of you per se or what you are doing, it’s just odd to me to watch everyone act like all this is new stuff, when in fact it’s not. Maybe, what I’m reading/focusing on is commentary by newbies that were not familiar with the ongoing “experiment”.

   Tim

9. 

   Tim April 1st, 2008

   and maybe in your first word press tutorial you could add a comment edit feature so I can fix my spelling and grammar that I never catch on time…..

10. 

    Max April 1st, 2008

    Ha, no worries. I’ll try to get a new plugin installed to allow comment editing…

    btw – I just saw Ben’s first post come in:

    “3 Things I Learned by Selling My Blog”…good stuff.

    I’ll add it to the blog tomorrow morning…

11. 

    HMTKSteve April 1st, 2008

    You can just as easily cheat with a video of a drawing. How many times did you film the video? Did you get a ‘bad’ result and start over again?

12. 

    Max April 1st, 2008

    @ HMTKSteve – I’m assuming this was meant to be a joke, no? I suppose I need to make a video showing me sending the money to the winners via paypal too?

    Didn’t realize it would be so complicated to give away money. Maybe I need to re-think the contest idea…

13. 

    Ben Cook April 1st, 2008

    Max, you said

    I guess it’s easier to cheat and give away prizes to your buddies if you pick the winners without anyone watching…

    and I think Steve was just pointing out that a video of the prize drawing can just as easily be rigged. I don’t think he was suggesting you rigged this one.

    I think many bloggers just don’t think to use video in their posts yet. I know I didn’t even though I have a Mac with a built in camera etc. That’s definitely an area where bloggers can stand out from the crowd, IMO.

14. 

    Max April 1st, 2008

    Makes sense. I was trying to go above and beyond by doing the video, but Steve makes a good point. No sense in me spending the 30 minutes trying to make a video, get it uploaded, etc if people are still skeptical anyway. That was a waste of time I guess…

15. 

    Tim April 1st, 2008

    don’t be down on yourself Max, you had no way of knowing just what a bunch of cynical a$$holes we are….

    

16. 

    Valery April 1st, 2008

    @Tim–

    I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know I’m not particularly interested in seeing a site in the “make money online” niche become a viable source of income. So, when I voted for “start a website from scratch”, I specifically meant a niche market (not the “make money online”).

    So, for me, what Ben was doing doesn’t at all seem to be the same as what Max is proposing. So, that’s the perspective I read all the “great! this is what i need!” comments from — the perspective of someone who was observing this blogging experiment with interest, but really wanted to see someone grow a site in a “traditional” niche market.

    Hope that makes sense and gives you a different idea of what people may have meant by their comments.

    Val

17. 

    HMTKSteve April 1st, 2008

    Max, I’m not trying to imply that your video is fake or your drawing rigged. I’m merely pointing out that showing a video of a prize drawing does not make it 100% legit. Unless it is live it can be rigged.

    I’m also not saying you wasted your time creating the video.

    If you want to do a live drawing for a prize use one of the many video streaming services out there and do it live. As long as you do it live and allow those in the drawing to watch you do the drawing no one can say you rigged it without providing proof that you rigged it.

    I was using the word “You” in the all-encompassing manner, not targeting you (Max) specifically. I’m sorry if that was not clear before.

18. 

    Ryan April 1st, 2008

    @Max – congrats on the purchase and great work thus far.

    Personally I don’t think it is necessary to start a site from scratch (another option would be to help a reader start from scratch and document progress – need a volunteer?? ; ) )

    I would be interested in learning more about the changes you are making to this site and the reasons behind them as well as the process to taking it to the next level. Similar to your previous article.

    Showing us the process of “how to figure out what your market wants” was done well and look forward to more of those proofs, instead of just the typical, ‘here is what you should do’ articles.

    Keep up the great work!

    Ryan

19. 

    Patrick April 1st, 2008

    In relation to your comment:

    “I think it would be pretty funny if this blog gets more traffic than all those other “guru” make money online sites combined. How about I focus on writing world class content, and you help spread the word?”

    I totally agree, I have lost interest in John Chow’s Blog (although I am subscribed) and I find myself just skimming Shoemoney’s(Yes still subscribed….). I will say that in the past, expecially when John first began blogging, he had some cutting edge-informative post. Since the release of the e-book, quality has gone down…..

    In addition, most of their recent post have nothing that would benefit a small time blogger or website on a fixed budget. My total internet income is around $300/month, sure I want to grow it but the tactics, affiliate programs, and network of people they belong to greatly surpass the common man’s reach.

    By focusing on obtainable ways to make money for the common person will bring more traffic to this blog and hopefully much more! I will do my part in passing along the word.

    Thanks,
    Patrick

20. 

    Jason Yormark April 1st, 2008

    It never ceases to amaze me that no matter what you do to try and do a good thing for your audience (in this case the contest), someone brings up how it is a scam or “rigged”. Regardless of whether the intent was just to bring up the fact that a video doesn’t “legitimize” the winner selection, the fact it was even posted does just that. Geez, give the guy a break, he goes out of his way to post a video of the winner selection (which he didn’t have to do anyway). It’s not like we’re talking about a huge amount either.

    Regardless, love where this is headed and hope that you take the build a site from scratch approach as well. I agree with Valery in that it should be a niche site and not necessarily a “make money online” type of site. Either way, look forward to seeing how it all pans out.

21. 

    HMTKSteve April 1st, 2008

    @Jason – I’m not calling this video or contest a scam. I am pointing out that just because “someone” posts a video of the drawing taking place does not mean there was not a scam involved.

    You can very easily keep on reshooting the video over and over again until you get the result you want and THEN publish the video.

    This is a “Devil’s Advocate” rebuttal to Max’s statement of

    “I wonder why more people don’t do live drawings for contests? I guess it’s easier to cheat and give away prizes to your buddies if you pick the winners without anyone watching…”

    Was anyone watching Max when he made the video of his “live” drawing? Did he film it multiple times until he got the result he wanted? We do not know and that is my point. ANYONE on the Internet can post a video of a drawing but if it is not being streamed live we have no way of knowing if the video is legit or not.

    I don’t have a dog in this race. I did not leave a comment on that post. I just find it ironic that Max would use a recorded video after pointing out that people can scam their readers by doing their drawing while no one is looking.

    I have no reason to believe Max was not 100% honest about the video drawing and I am not implying that he did anything wrong. I’m just pointing out that “live” is the most trustworthy of drawings. Just like when they pull the Powerball numbers, live.

22. 

    Terry Tay April 1st, 2008

    Steve, there was even a lottery scam where two people that were involved in running the Live Draw rigged the balls and ultimately “won” the lottery. It was quite awhile back so I can’t recall where or when it happened, but some here might remember. So, even things that we think are safe can be rigged without our knowledge.

    In the end all we can do is trust the people we are dealing with and our instincts.
    ~Terry

23. 

    Mark Krusen April 2nd, 2008

    I like what you are doing with the site. $300.00 a month income isn’t chump change. If you can make $300.00 once you can just do more of the same plus some more. Or am I oversimplifying it?

24. 

    beer man April 6th, 2008

    The more i get into this business the more i realise how much i need to learn.

25. 

    Ana April 7th, 2008

    Max,

    Every article you have written so far has been very valuable. If this were a hotel, you are getting a 7 star, no, let’s make that a 5 star rating from me. Don’t want to go overboard with my praise, not just yet anyway.

    I was getting bored already with the making money blogs. Meaning, I’ve done my 4 months worth research and I thought I had all the tools and knowledge to start my own website. And here you come along with very novel, interesting and mind stimulating take on the whole business and marketing side of blogs and websites.

    As I create my first website I will be checking on your blog on a daily basis – well maybe except on weekends – to see what interesting stuff you come with.

    From me a big THANK YOU.

    Ana