The cool thing about this site, however, is that you earn points for playing games and social networky things which you can use to redeem some seriously cool prizes.  What kind of prizes?  Umm, you know, the usual.. PLAYSTATION 3’s and XBOX360’s!!!  No joke, check them out yourself.

Really though, I spent a decent amount of time on this site and I’d appreciate it if you guys checked it out!

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: development, entrepreneurship, games, pikagame

Best of luck to our new President and the country as a whole.

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hope, obama, president

The change should be taking place within the next couple of days but just be sure to update your bookmarks to mdolon.com instead of this site if you’re looking for the blog.

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Post tags: updates

For some reason, I seem to have a problem with coming up with ideas for new entrepreneurial projects.  I just come up with too many good ones.  Of course, that’s a very bold claim and there’s no way I can back it up, but just hear me out.  I keep a little black book of startup ideas and so far, at least 5 out of the dozen or so ideas have been materialized by someone else almost exactly.  Now, I find myself unintentionally coming up with ideas, kind of like seeing things in a different light (minus the cheesiness).

On top of that, I try to get advice on each of these ideas from a panel of critics, who try to bash my idea into the ground.  The ones that make it are the ones that have the honor of residing in my little black book.  My panel includes (among others) several grad school friends, fellow web developers and my mom.  Surprisingly enough, she provides some of the most balanced, unbiased feedback I’ve received so far on my work.

I know you’re saying, “Sure, my uncle Vinny had the idea for Google 15 years ago!!  Doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t (or can’t) act on it!”  You’re right, it doesn’t at all.  The problem is, I actually have the ability to make some of these ideas (at least one?) happen.  I have some experience with the industry, can design and program as a last resort.  Unfortunately, I think I fit the bill for the saying ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’  Thankfully I have a team (more like friends) who are excellent in their respective fields and willing to work with me.

So back to my problem - I can’t seem to figure out how to properly prioritize my work.  I have these friends with solid backgrounds ready to work with me but I’m not sure how to decide which project is the most lucrative or that I am most compelled to work with.  I just finished school a couple of months ago and have completed one project that is steadily growing (new version finished, should be up soon).  I’ll be ready to move on to a new project soon but I have no idea what that should be.

Have any of you guys had similar feelings or experiences?  How do you prioritize your work?

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: clone, development, entrepreneurship, ideas, startup

Soon after launch, however, I realized I had made it a bit too feature-heavy and comlpex for most users to adopt.  As the days went by, the initial traffic spike passed as well and the site stagnated.  It was a flop.  I was disappointed not because my script failed to be adopted by the community, but rather because I was unable to produce a useful resource for my fellow web developers and entrepreneurs.  A personal goal of mine has always been to make something that can be useful to my fellow peers, one of the main reasons why this blog even exists.

Today, I’d like to introduce the rebirth of DevGrow.com - a community weblog about the design, development and growth of websites.  I’ve tried to retain some of the social aspects of the old DevGrow by making the blog open to the community, so anyone can contribute an article they feel is worth sharing.  Our goal with DevGrow is to make a vaulable and rich resource that the community can utilize and be proud of.  Please check out the site and submit an article if you’re in a good mood.

I was in charge of the overall development of DevGrow and have tried to keep it as simple and effective as possible.  The site is powered by WordPress and a host of plugins.  If there’s enough interest, I may go over exactly how I made the site and what plugins I used in the near future.

Please, please leave some feedback as to what you think of DevGrow and how we can make it better for you!

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: community, design, development, devgrow, growth, Launch, new site, product launch, rebirth, web2.0

So, what are trackbacks and why should I care?

Wikipedia defines a trackback (yes, it has it’s own page) as a “method for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents.” You’ve probably seen a section on most blog posts labeled ‘trackbacks’, usually stashed under the post itself or under the comments section. Within this trackbacks section is a list of links, each pointing to another blog post that links back to the current post you are reading. It is essentially a log of referrers for that particular blog post, notifying both the site owner and the readers of when someone mentions their post somewhere else.

So, to break it down, what basically happens is:

1. You post something on your blog
2. Someone wants to refer to your post, so they use your trackback link
3. A new link is automatically added to your post that points to their blog post

Almost all major blogging platforms support trackbacks, just make sure that your blog settings and theme are correctly setup to accomodate them. For your theme, make sure that you provide readers with a trackback URL (or for WordPress users, your permalink will suffice) and have a section of your post page dedicated to trackbacks.

By default, WordPress publishes trackbacks in the comments section if a separate trackbacks area does not exist. Personally, I prefer to keep my comments and trackbacks separated, as this prevents readers from seeing confusing comments that are in reality links to another post. In WordPress, you can separate comments by modifying your comment.php file by doing the following:

1. Add the following two lines:

   1 2	<?php $comment_type = get_comment_type(); ?> <?php if ($comment_type == 'comment') { ?>

   After this line:

   <?php foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>

2. Add the following line:

   <? } ?>

   Right before this line:

   <?php endforeach; /* end for each comment */ ?>

3. Add the following section right after the </ol> that follows that line:

   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

   <h3>Trackbacks</h3> <ol> <?php foreach ($comments as $comment) : $comment_type = get_comment_type(); if($comment_type != 'comment') { ?> <li><?php comment_author_link() ?></li> <?php } endforeach; ?> </ol>

It might look a little intimidating if you’re not familiar with programming, but trust me it’s really not that bad. Just be sure to add the strings in the correct locations.

Now, why would you want to use trackbacks?

Using trackbacks can get you extra traffic by leeching off of already popular sites. This is how the Blogger Profile posts I write work - they link heavily to already popular blogs, and in exchange for my writeup I get lots of traffic from these blogs. Sometimes blogs will also pick up that you’re writing about them. For example, my first profile on TimothySykes.com was picked up by Tim, and in return for my time he mentioned this site on his very popular blog.

Using trackbacks allows you to piggyback off of other sites and share some traffic - it’s a mutually beneficial way of building readership for your blog. With that said, try to remain respectful and courteous when dealing with other bloggers, as a link to your post with the post title will be displayed on their site. Give it a shot - try linking to this post or another one at your favorite blog and watch your traffic spike!

This post is part of a mini-series that features money-making tips and includes the following articles:

• Making Money Online - Tip #1: Content & Consistency
• Making Money Online - Tip #2: Schedule Posts
• Making Money Online - Tip #3: Commenting & Feedback
• Making Money Online - Tip #4: Time Posts Accordingly
• Making Money Online - Tip #5: Trackbacks

Be sure to check them out and subscribe to the feed for more great tips on how to make money online!

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Building Traffic, customize, linkbacks, linking back, making money, themes, trackbacks, WordPress

So what is Skribit?

Skribit is a tool that lets you guys, the readers, of any content producing website to make suggestions on what to write about.  It then allows other readers to vote on these suggestions so the writer can have a list of ideas organized by demand.  You can also visit the main Skribit homepage to a see the most popular suggestions people have made on different blogs and rate them yourself, or find out if authors are actually publishing what their readers suggest.

It’s a genius little tool/widget and I’m a bit sad that I didn’t look into it earlier in my blogging career.  I’m also disappointed that bigger blogs haven’t taken advantage of it, as I know I’ve had some great ideas for articles on my favorite blogs but have been too lazy to fill out the contact form.  I also automatically assume that my little voice will be drowned out by the masses on most popular blogs.  This widget effectively eliminates that problem with the voting system - if your idea is good enough, it will most likely be written about.

I’ve embedded the widget into the main homepage and the article sidebars.  If you want to see me write about something, feel free to make a suggestion.  Right now traffic on this site is still minimal, so there’s a 90% chance that I’ll write about it.  If you have a new site you’d like reviewed, feel free to post that as well and I can write a post about it.

Don’t forget to give Skribit a shot!

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, Blogging Tips, Building Traffic, sidebar, skribit, widgets

Anyways, back to the profile! This week we take a look at UpstartBlogger.com - a popular blog that claims to be a “quickstart guide to creating, launching, maintaining, promoting, and profiting from a successful blog.” So, how does it stand up to the test? Let’s take a look at what this site has to offer:

What is UpstartBlogger?

It’s a blog that tells you how to make and maintain a successful blog, much like this site. The site provides information on a variety of topics related to blogging, including hosting, monetizing, networking and marketing. It’s a fairly popular blog with good traffic and a Technorati rank in the top thousand.

Here are a list of articles to get you started on UpstartBlogger:

• 25 Steps to Launching Your Blog and Making $100+ A Month in 30 Days
• A sure fire way to bring fresh readers to your blog
• Mixing business and personal blogging (something I’m guilty of)
• How to Find a Web Host That Doesn’t Suck

UpstartBlogger is currently run by Ashley Morgan, a professional trumpet player and independent record label owner. It was previously owned and operated by Robert Ellis, who now maintains a blog called Futurosity. I’ll go into the details of this deal in the next section.

Profitability: How much is UpstartBlogger making?

Interestingly enough, the blog was purchased by Morgan for a reported $14,500. It’s a good thing that he’s making almost $3,800 a month now, making that initial cost for UpstartBlogger a bargain. If he keeps adding fresh, useful content that is relevant to his readers, I can only see this value increasing in the months to come. He is working on an interesting idea called Thirty Days, which aims to make 30 profitable blogs (by 30 different authors) in the span of 30 days. Ultimately Morgan plans to release his strategy on the main UpstartBlogger website, assuming his endeavor will be successful.

Overall, I found UpstartBlogger to be a very interesting blog that had both an interesting story behind it and a lot of content to offer. Check it out if you have some time and let me know what you think!

UPDATE: UpstartBlogger has a new design that went live earlier today! Check it out!

If you’d like to have your profitable blog profiled, please contact me and I will try to get to it as soon as possible. It’s completely free to have your blog profiled, the only requirement is that it is currently profitable.

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogger Profile, make money online, making money, profile, upstartblogger

Currently I’m still in the developmental stage for 2 of the 3 sites, however one of them is nearly ready.  I have collected 16 or so of the 21 needed articles for the inaugural issue.  Hopefully I can get this thing up by the end of October, although it’s going to take some serious work.

The first publication, entitled EverydayDesi, is an online magazine targeted towards South Asians in the United States and UK.  Like I mentioned, we’re still in need of a few articles for the first issue, so if you are interested in contributing, please contact contribute [at] everydaydesi [dot] com.  I’ve had tremendous fun so far creating a magazine-style layout and readying the backend, however getting contributors has been a little more tedious.

If you have any experience at all with creating an online publication using content from multiple authors, I’d love to hear your input on the subject.

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: content, desi, desi magazine, everydaydesi, General, online magazine, publications, publishing, south asia, south asian magazine, updates

This is a list of plugins that will help you speed up your blog, protect it from spammers and make content easily findable for your readers. So without further adieu, I give you…

The Top 10 WordPress Plugins that will save your blog from a spike in traffic:

1. WP Super Cache

This is perhaps the most important WordPress plugin to have for any blog that gets a decent amount of traffic. Instead of dynamically loading every single page in WP, this plugin will allow you to cache (or store) pages until they are changed or updated. This will effectively reduce the processing power required to produce pages, load times and overall bandwidth consumption for your blog. Highly recommended!

2. Akismet

Ahh, the infamous spam plugin. Akismet will block all of those pesky spammers who junk up your blog’s comments section with links to random products, services and pornography. It’s pretty easy to install, however you do need a WordPress.com login to generate an API key used to setup the plugin itself. Install it and watch as it catches comment after comment full of spammy goodness.

3. Enforce www. Preference

This one is to help make your URLs more SEO-friendly. If your blog is going to get popular, make sure the URLs are legible, friendly and most of all, useful. If your site can be accessed with or without the www portion, this plugin will redirect links to one or the other (your choice) and increase the overall number of backlinks.

4. Subscribe Remind

This plugin will place a link at the end of each post asking readers to subscribe to your RSS feed. If you’re going to get a surge of traffic, you may as well solicit your RSS feed and hope that a percentage of these (probably) new readers may sign up for your RSS feed. If you haven’t already, install a FeedBurner chicklet and let readers know that they can get fresh content delivered to their mailboxes every time you post.

5. Sociable

This plugin allows you to add links to many popular sharing and saving sites on each of your posts, including Del.icio.us, Digg and Facebook. Repeated exposure can only help you gain more traffic, so give your readers easy access to sharing your content!

6. Full Text Feed

While I think this option was taken care of in WordPress 2.6.1, this may be of use to those using older versions (2.1+). By default, WordPress will include a more link on posts displayed in your RSS feed. Avoid this at all costs! You do not want your readers, who take the time to subscribe to your feed and actually read it, to have to click on any type of ‘Read More’ link in your feed. This is a pain when you’re going through many blogs in an RSS reader.

7. Redirection

If you have ever changed your permalink structures, you will need this plugin. It will allow you to redirect users who may refer to the old link directly to the new post. You have to set each redirect manually, however the time spent is well worth it as users will find content instead of 404 pages.

8. WP Google Analytics

If you don’t already have Google Analytics installed in your theme files, use this plugin to automatically add it to your footer. Having a surge of traffic can be useless if you overlook it - Analytics will help you closely monitor your traffic and understand what users are looking at, what they’re looking for and how long they look at it.

9. qTranslate

This is a very useful plugin if your site makes it big - especially in other countries! It will help you post translated versions of each of your entries, making your content available to a broad range of readers. This is very useful for those bloggers who are located outside of the US yet still post in English, who have the occasional readers from their native land. Use this plugin to provide them with alternative content in their native tongue, serving as added incentive to continually return to your site.

10. WP Security Scan

This plugin allows you to scan your site for security flaws, useful when you are getting tons of traffic from multiple sources. I found this plugin helpful last year when my site was hacked by some Russian hax0r group named “byaspava”.

There are a few other plugins that I’d recommend every WordPress user install and use, however they’re not made specifically to help you overcome high traffic surges (yes, I know some of the ones I listed aren’t either). They can help your readers navigate their way around and easily find content, however:

• Plugin Central - Update all plugins at once
• Daily Top 10 Posts - Allows your users to see the top 10 visited posts from that day
• Similar Posts - Allows you to post a list of similar posts at the end of each post
• WP-Email, WP-Print, and WP-Syntax - Makes available (in order) email forms to send posts to friends, printable formats for your posts and highlights any programming syntax

All of these plugins can help your site when you get that huge traffic spike. Use them to not only make sure your site stays up, but also to help your readers find and share content fast and effectively. What plugins are you using to make your blog run smoothly?

© Monji for Money, Business and Life - MONFX.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Building Traffic, plugins, SEO, top 10, traffic, WordPress