Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

I recently embarked on some PHP and MySQL programming this past week to create part of my site SprintRants.com. I am using Wordpress’s comments template to allow people to leave rants on a single page set up to do just that. The only trouble was that I wanted to enable my users of the page to title their posts to allow visitors to the site an easier time navigating what each rant was about.

To do this I need to figure out a way to add a field to my comments form (easy) and also to my MySQL database (hard). I have no experience up to this point with MySQL and very little with php so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I searched around the Wordpress forums as well as Googled the heck out of it. After searching and searching I found a thread over at the Wordpress Support page that pointed me in the right direction to add a field to MySQl and my comments template. Coldforged over there had a great post which started me going. It wasn’t super detailed but let me know which php files to mess with. From there I spent a few long hours reading through the existing code in the files and trying to determine what I needed to add.

After about 5 hours I finally figured it out and was able to add a title to not only my add comments template but also to the plugin that I am using provided by Raoul called Simple Recent Comments.

Within this post I tried to detail what I did within each PHP file as best I could. I hope it helps you out and I hope this is really easy for someone who hasn’t had any php or MySQL programming in their past.

WARNING: Just remember to save backups to all the files you have been messing with.

Adding your field to MySQL database

This is probably going to be different for everyone’s hosting company. I personally use NetFirms and when I go to my database manager in site tools, choose the correct database (the number of which can be found in the wp-config.php file in the root folder (by root folder I mean the first folder of your blog that has other files and folders, like wp-admin in it) of the wordpress blog folder you are adjusting the comments for), I have an option called phpMy Admin. Clicking on this takes me to the MySQL administration page where I can make adjustments to the database. I get to the administration portion for wp_comments and find where it will allow me to add a new field. Add your field and add the correct labels and data type, just remember that you need to write down the name with the capitalization correct to use in the php files we are going to adjust.

I added the field comment_title to the database and that will be used as an example for the rest of this tutorial.

Add code to wp-comments-post.php

wp-comments-post.php is in the root folder of your Wordpress blog folder. I believe this is the file that is called to post comments on your blog retrieving the info from your MySQL database. What you need to do is add some code to the following lines where I have added the code in italics. I also noted what the line was but it might be different for you.

Starts on line 19:

$comment_author = trim($_POST['author']);
$comment_author_email = trim($_POST['email']);
$comment_author_url = trim($_POST['url']);
$comment_content = trim($_POST['comment']);
$comment_title = trim($_POST['title']);

Starts on line 48:

$commentdata = compact(’comment_post_ID’, ‘comment_author’, ‘comment_author_email’, ‘comment_author_url’, ‘comment_title’, ‘comment_content’, ‘comment_type’, ‘user_ID’);

Next add code to functions-post.php

I next, following coldforged suggestion path added some code to functions-post.php which was in the wp-includes folder. Again I’m not too sure what this function does but I’m guessing it posts things to the MySQL database? Whatever it does, additions are noted the same as above.

Starts on line 455:

function wp_new_comment( $commentdata, $spam = false ) {
global $wpdb;

$commentdata = apply_filters(’preprocess_comment’, $commentdata);
extract($commentdata);

$comment_post_ID = (int) $comment_post_ID;

$user_id = apply_filters(’pre_user_id’, $user_ID);
$author = apply_filters(’pre_comment_author_name’, $comment_author);
$email = apply_filters(’pre_comment_author_email’, $comment_author_email);
$url = apply_filters(’pre_comment_author_url’, $comment_author_url);
$comment = apply_filters(’pre_comment_content’, $comment_content);
$comment = apply_filters(’post_comment_text’, $comment); // Deprecated
$comment = apply_filters(’comment_content_presave’, $comment); // Deprecated
$title = apply_filters(’pre_comment_title’, $comment_title);

Starts on line 514:
Note that the location of these two additions must be the same in the two lists. I put mine second. The value has to match the place holder in the database or else you’ll have some jumpled information. Notice it inserts the value from $title into the MySQL database spot your created at comment_title in the first step.

$result = $wpdb->query(”INSERT INTO $wpdb->comments
(comment_post_ID, comment_title, comment_author, comment_author_email, comment_author_url, comment_author_IP, comment_date, comment_date_gmt, comment_content, comment_approved, comment_agent, comment_type, user_id)
VALUES
(’$comment_post_ID’, ‘$title’, ‘$author’, ‘$email’, ‘$url’, ‘$user_ip’, ‘$now’, ‘$now_gmt’, ‘$comment’, ‘$approved’, ‘$user_agent’, ‘$comment_type’, ‘$user_id’) “);

Now mess with comment-functions.php

This was the one that took me the most time to figure our where to add the code. I finally had a gadunken and figured out that I needed to add a function. Cool:) The comment-functions.php is in the wp-includes file as well. This file I believe is where you draw the comments from when you post the comments?

Starts on line, well I think you can add this anywhere past line 133, just add them in the middle of the already there “get_comment” functions. I am not sure if this function format will work for every field you want to add to the comments section as some of the “get” functions are different. Play around with the format until you get one that works for you if this format doesn’t.

function get_comment_title() {
global $comment;
$title= $comment->comment_title;
return apply_filters(’get_comment_title’, $title);
}

function comment_title() {
$title = apply_filters(’comment_title’, get_comment_title() );
echo $title;
}

Now add the appropriate code to your Comments.php file in your themes templates

Now I can get to my templates through my regular wordpress login and not have to deal with an ftp client. I assume you can as well. The final things you have to add are this.

If you want the new field to post within the comments display after the comment has been written and within wherever you post comments, be it a page or post you have to add code to the foreach comments loop. I added it as the title but just through in the code wherever to get the effect you want.

< ?php foreach ($comments as $comment) : ?>
<li id=”comment-< ?php comment_ID() ?>“>
<h3>< ?php comment_title() ?></h3>
< ?php comment_text() ?>
<cite>< ?php comment_type(__(’Comment’), __(’Trackback’), __(’Pingback’)); ?> < ?php _e(’by’); ?> < ?php comment_author_link() ?> — < ?php comment_date() ?> @ <a href=”#comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>”>< ?php comment_time() ?></a> < ?php edit_comment_link(__(”Edit This”), ‘ |’); ?></cite>
</li>

You need to get the input from the user which is done in the form section like this. You’ll see code that looks just like this at the bottom of the comments.php option, it’s the code to display the form for comments on all of your pages.

<p><input type=”text” name=”title” id=”title” value=”<?php echo $comment_title; ?/>” size=”22″ tabindex=”3″ />
<label for=”title”><small>Title or Subject for your Rant (appreciated)</small></label></p>

You’re DONE!

There you have it. You’re done with adding a field to your comments section for later display. Just remember that you are taking the variable (example) $title and placing it in comment_title in the MySQL database. You should be able to apply this to many other things and use it as a primer to get you started really messing with your wordpress files.

WARNING: Just remember to save backups to all the files you have been messing with.

As I pursue my goal of becoming a 4.5 tennis player I am beginning to see just how tough hitting that little yellow ball can be. Serving, overheads, and most difficult, the backhand. In particular the one-handed backhand. After a short thought process my girlfriend and I decided on a one hander because it would give me more reach meaning more shots to make me a more complete player. The fact that I haven’t learned how to even hit a two-handed may be helpful, and that stud Roger Federer uses a one-hander so it must be cool.

While learning the one-handed backhand I have found it very difficult to just hit to rally and switch from forehand to backhand. My footwork is all off and my body is usually not in the right place at the right time. There is also the swing, the racket position and the follow-through once I have gotten somewhat close to where I need to be, those can be problematic as well. To help me think through the one-handed backhand I have devised a few simple sayings that seem to work as long as I concentrate on them every time.

These stem from what both my girlfriend and her father have said so they should be able to help you also. As I have mentioned before, she played Big Ten Tennis and her father is a teaching pro as well as a lifelong player.

1. Move around the ball

The number one thing besides moving your feet is how you move them to the ball. For me my backhand is to the left, therefore as I shuffle my feet to get to the ball I must remember not to make a straight line towards the ball. Instead move towards the ball in a counter-clockwise circle meeting the ball between 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock.

What I say specifically while hitting balls being repetitively fed to me is “shuffle left, shuffle left” then when the ball begins to clear the net I shuffle slightly right and forward on an angle saying “circle, circle.” Your teacher should be able to demonstrate this for you but if you are without teacher watch some of the pros. They are constantly circling towards the ball.

2. Pull back as you circle

Right when you begin moving to your backhand side you should be pulling the racket back. Even if you are using a one-handed backhand you may be able, depending on the incoming shot, to use both hands. Always remember this, and you can add it to the first tip by saying, “shuffle, racket back, shuffle.” This will help you get the racket back before you begin your circle towards the ball.

3. Don’t drop your racket

One thing that I have a lot of trouble with is dropping the racket. What I mean by this is that my wrist points the racket towards the ground limply rather than keeping it firm, wrist cocked, and racket handle parallel to the ground. Dropping my racket helps the ball gain air but most of the time too much air sending it sailing over the back stop. To remember this tip as you take your racket back say to yourself racket up thus adding, “shuffle, racket back, racket cocked, shuffle.” Now you must remember to keep your wrist cocked and racket up at all times.

4. Bend your knees

If you want to get some spin on the ball you are going to have to bend you knees. As you shuffle your feet in the circle towards the ball just think about exploding up through the ball. To do that you are going to have to bend your knees and gain power from your legs. If you are a tall player this step is essential as you will not be able to keep your racket cocked as well as hitting from down to up. There will be no power.

Just add, “shuffle, racket back, racket cocked, shuffle, circle, bend.”

Almost there.

5. Racket tip up and through

In order to get spin on the ball and not launch the ball over the back stop you are going to need to accelerate your racket through the ball towards the net while brushing up against the side of the ball. To do this, remember your bent knees and cocked racket, begin your swing towards the ball, right when you make contact with the ball start the extension of your legs from the bent position. Now pretend there is a string at the end of your racket on the top side pulling up and across your body. Make your arm follow this same path creating spin on the tennis ball and hopefully landing it in play on your opponents side of the court.

Finally add, “shuffle, racket back, racket cocked, shuffle, circle, bend, through-up-across.”

There are five steps that should help you on your way to a better more controlled backhand. If you are having trouble with just one step you can always just say that portion of it. I find it best to repeat these sayings while hitting against a backstop board or while getting tennis balls fed to me. Just remember to circle your feet and keep your racket on that same cocked back through and across motion and you’ll be hitting better shots in no time.

What’s the difference between a Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA, and a 401K. ? This is a common question I have heard from friends and co-workers looking to start saving for their retirement. All through school we were pounded with the talks of start early and you’ll make more in the long run. Well I must say a lot of people have taken that to heart and want to know what the difference is.

I have outlined several questions that I have asked or heard people ask. I’ll start with a short description and will get into the questions soon after.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

401K - This is an employee sponsored retirement program. People can invest in several options, chosen by their employer to grow tax free. The initial contributions are not taxed while the money you take out after the age of 59 and 1/2 is. One great thing about 401K’s are they allow your company to match your contributions and invest money for you. Some match 10% and some match 100%, it just depends. A lot, (almost all) companies match with a vesting period meaning that they’ll set the money aside for you but you have to work for them for a certain period and you’ll get more of what they set aside the longer you work for them. Where I work the vesting period is 5 years meaning every year I get 20% of what they set aside. If I work for 4 years I’ll get 80% of everything set aside even that which was set aside by my company during year 1.

Roth IRA - A Roth individual retirement account allows you to contribute money that is already taxed and take it out tax free at the age of 59 and 1/2. The money you put in is also unable to be tax deferred. These usually can be set up through most banks or investment institutions.

Traditional IRA - A Traditional IRA lets you have the option of putting money that is already taxed in or money that can be tax deferred into the account. Like a Roth IRA a Traditional IRA can be set up through most banks or investment institutions.

TAXES - WHEN AM I TAXED

401K - You are taxed on a 401K when you take the money out. This means that on your paycheck the money you have deferred to your 401K plan is not taxed by the federal government. The money goes into the 401K plan prior to Uncle Sam grabbing his piece. While in the plan your money grows tax free as non-taxable interest. Yippeee! Once you reach, currently, the age of 59 and 1/2 years of age and you begin to take the money out you will be taxed at your then current income tax bracket rate, whatever it may be.

Roth IRA - With a Roth IRA you put money in that has already been taxed and is not tax deductible. The money then grows tax free, so long as you don’t touch it. At the age of 59 and 1/2 you can then take the money out contributions and earnings (meaning all interest made, dividends, or other earnings) tax free. Super, Super!

Traditional IRA - A Traditional IRA has different tax standings from a Roth in that the money you put into the account can be tax deductible during the year that you put it in depending on your status. The money then grows, again tax free as long as you don’t touch it until maturity. Upon maturing at the age of 70 and 1/2 the money can be withdraw but both initial contributions and the earnings are subject to federal income tax. Depending on your status if you made non tax deferred contributions you may not be subject to income tax on withdrawal, maybe. The biggest difference is the deferring at the contribution stage.

HOW MUCH CAN I PUT IN

401K - For a 401K an employee in the year 2006 can contribute up to $15,000. This amount can increase on a year to year basis as the government sees fit following inflation. If your employer matches to some degree to your contribution there is also a limit of $44,000 total between your contributions and the employers. (If they match 200% like that though tell me, cause I want into your plan.)

Roth IRA - For a Roth IRA the contribution limits (how much you can put in) are $4,000 for 2006 and 2007 and $5,000 for 2008. Now if you are over the age of 50 the government allows you to play catch-up and add a little more. For 2006 and 2007 you may put in $5,000 and for 2008 it’s $6,000.

Traditional IRA - For a Traditional IRA the contribution limits are the same as those listed above for the Roth IRA.

WHAT CAN I INVEST IN

401K - 401K plans are sponsored by your employer and most of the time setup and run by an outside company. Your employer, with or without your suggestions, picks several investment options usually mutual funds, money market funds, and/or bond funds. You are then allowed to designate a dollar amount or percentage of your deferment to this funds. You can choose to have all your money go in one fund or have your money split up among several.

Roth IRA - A Roth IRA us just like it says, an individual retirement account where you can direct the money wherever you see fit. You usually have to set it up through a financial institution of some sort like a bank, fund manager, or stock broker. Also with the plethora of online brokers available an easy way to go is through one of them allowing you to invest easily in stocks for you retirement. The beauty of the Roth IRA is that you have a lot more options with what you want to invest in. You can put it in a simple investment account like a savings or CD through your bank, or you can get complex and setup an online trading account through a company like ShareBuilder and control the money essentially daily. With an IRA you are in control of that money on a daily basis, you can’t take it out without penalty but you can try and maximize your profits (although there is a lot more risk with this).

Traditional IRA - Like a Roth IRA you are in control of the account on a more day to day basis and you can invest in a wider variety of places. See above for more description on your options.

WHERE CAN I MOVE MY MONEY

401k - 401K’s are sponsored by your company and usually only have 5-10 funds you can choose from. You can probably change between the funds regularly but will have to suggest a fund to your HR department if they don’t have it. They can then evaluate it and see if it’s a good add to the program (works better for smaller companies.)

If you were to change jobs for any reason you are usually able to transfer funds from the previous companies 401K funds to your new companies investment options, so long as they stay in the 401K “shelter.” You also may be able to keep the money in the previous employers 4o1K funds but I haven’t heard of plans allowing you to invest from your new company’s paycheck into that old companies plan. Let me know if you can with yours.

Roth IRA - Roth IRAs are setup as individual accounts allowing you the freedom to open the account with the financial institution of your choice. This means you can invest in a savings account with your bank, a mutual fund with someone like Janus Funds, or stocks with a stock broker (like online brokerage firms.) You can do all this so long as you keep the funds under the Roth IRA tax shelter. You can also transfer accounts from one institution to another. changing what you invest in. An example of this is if you invest in stocks with an online trading company and then change your mind wanting a safer investment in something like a low risk mutual fund. There may be fees associated with this but you’ll have to check the specific company for details.

Also something you may want to check into that I am not sure if you can do is taking some of your funds from say your banks saving account Roth IRA to say your online brokerage Roth IRA. Not sure if you can transfer part of your account but it’s worth the research.

Traditional IRA - Traditional IRAs allow you the same investment options as a Roth IRA. Just read more about the differences below.

CAN I TAKE THE MONEY OUT EARLY

401K - With a 401K, like all other accounts you incur a penalty if you take money out prior to turning 59 1/2. If you do there is penalty. With a 401K the penalty is 10% tax on top of the income tax that you would pay depending on your income tax bracket. There are exceptions to this rule where you would only be assessed income tax like death, permanent disability, and other such extenuating circumstances.

There is however one option you may have if your employer allows it. If allowed you can take out a loan that has to be repaid with after tax income and at an interest rate defined by the people who run your 401K plan. The principle you took out as well as the interest you pay in become part of the 401K balance.

Roth IRA - A Roth IRA has several options to withdraw money from it. You can of course with draw money at the age of 59 and 1/2 tax free. If you want to withdraw earlier you can withdraw up to the total of contributions (the taxed money you put in) tax free. If you withdraw any earned income from the Roth IRA you will be assessed a 10% penalty tax plus income tax which you normally wouldn’t have been taxed from. Ouch!

You may also be eligible to withdraw the money, contributions and earned income, if you are making a first home purchase or a qualified educational expense. Check with the IRS for more details.

Traditional IRA - Penalties are similar to the Roth IRA but you should check in with the IRS for more details. Tax deferments on contributions can get tricky. Also the age you are forced to take money out is 70 and 1/2.

This is of course just a primer on retirement accounts. You should always check with your banker, employer, or an investment specialist when considering where to put your money. The options can be daunting and you should research your particular situation as much as possible. Read books, Google it, or whatever it takes. Some resources I found helpful are the Wikipedia and the IRS. Check these places out, they have more links to more pages as well.

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I recently became in contact with the writer/editor, Mike, for TravelingGolfer.com a website all about golf by a frequent traveler playing at different courses. My original intent was to simply exchange links with this site to gain greater exposure in the golf world for my goal of becoming a scratch golfer. I then came to find out, on a mention for Mike, that he is involved with a blog network called Hightide Blog Publishing. I have come to find blog networks quite fascinating and was very excited to be in contact with someone at the top of there’s.

Being new to the blogging scene and really just new to the world of online content generation I am always looking for people to learn from and find it fascinating to read about how others are doing it. When Mike had mentioned he had a blog network I had to beging asking him questions, picking his brain about how he started it and how he was doing with it. We sort of evolved that into an interview format question and answer session via email.

Mike was really open about his blogging and how he and actually his family are doing in the world of blogging. He works as a Sales, Marketing, and advertising consultant (thus all the traveling and traveling golfer as well as his website on common sense marketing and sales Simplenomics.com) and doesn’t have all the time in the world to maintain the 13 blogs within the network. That is where his family has taken a role and through both he and his wife guiding their three daughters they have built quite a network of blogs and managed to make a decent income stream out of it.

My original plan was to ask questions and weave them in and out of an article on blog networks I was planning to write but his answers seemed so helpful that I want to just copy and paste the responses from our emails. I hope you enjoy!

1. What made you get started on blogging and when did you start? (Such
as was it you or the family)

I found a few blogs in early ‘05 and started to do some research. I
thought that they’d be fun and productive, so I asked my wife ( Joi ) to
start one, as an add-on to her site at www.TheMentalFitnessCenter.com.

She’s the writer, whereas I’m more of a marketer. I figured I could
market what she writes and turn that into $$$. It was around 5-5-05 that
she started the blog off that site. Soon after, the other 12 followed. I
was forced to do one or two myself, or get ran over !

2. Who all writes for your blog network?

My wife ( Joi ) writes on 11. I write on 2 full time & 2 part time.

We have 3 daughters that code, write and work on the graphics for every one.

3. How much time do you spend, and you’re other writers, on blogging per
day? What other things do you and your bloggers do, full time jobs,
other sites, enjoy life etc? And does blogging give you or them the
freedom to be self sufficient monetarily?

My wife writes around 10-12 hours most days. That includes setup and
graphics, email, etc.

She loves to cook, home-schooled our daughters and writes and writes and
writes.

I’m a masonry consultant/salesman by day. On days when I get home late,
I still put in 3-6 hours, between reading, research, email and posting.

I’ll play golf 2-3 times per week, hence TravellingGolfer. I play with
customers, suppliers and friends.

Our 2 college age daughters also work outside the family business, so
they can become better at dealing with people, both customers and
supervisors, as well as coworkers. Dealing with people, successfully, is
the key to success in any business or profession. You won’t get that in
front of a computer, at home, so I want them to work with people besides
me. I’m sure they like other supervisors more than me, anyway !

Between their part-time jobs, Google AdSense and other forms of
advertising on their sites, they are debt free, in regards to college,
as well as other walks of life.

4. Roughly how much do you make per month on your network?

We make four figures every month. That’s over $1000, but less than
$9,999. Last month was around $2500.

My wife does web design and has a hosting business, so some months are
really good, if she’s just gotten paid for a site design.

5. How much traffic do you receive per month on your blog network and
what is your most active site?

We did a little over 51,000 Uniques last month, with over 90,000 total
visits and over 415,000 pages viewed.

That was a quick run thru our server logs. That doesn’t count the sites
that my wife and daughters do for some soap opera stars and celebs. They
do several official sites and host a slew of fan sites.

The most active is different every month.

6. Do you plan on expanding your network of blogs?

Maybe 1 or 2 here or there, but only if I saw a niche that was
uncovered, and that’s a real slim possibility.

7. Do you advertise/market your sites and if so where (adwords, buy ads on sites, forums, cold contacting people) or do you rely on search engines?

We’ve not paid for any advertising. We relied on the tips we’ve gotten
from other blogs, like ProBlogger.net, to teach us how to get traffic.

Most traffic comes from Technorati, Search Engines and people clicking
thru on comments we leave on other blogs, which is the most effective
means of getting a first time visitor that I’ve found.

Ezine advertising and PPC ads are scheduled, but not for another 2-3
months.

Most paid means to gather traffic will be used when there’s a digital
product to sell off a blog.

For example, I have a book about Common Sense being edited for
Simplenomics. I have some ebooks about the golf swing that are in the
research stage for TravellingGolfer and my wife already has several
ebooks that she promotes on her blogs. Most are along the self-help lines.

8. Would you ever consider selling your blog network if the right price
was offered? If so, what is a ball park for a “right price” ?

Sure, I’d be easy to convince. I’d sell individual blogs or the whole
network.

As for the price, as of today, BlogNetworkList.com says we’re worth over
$140,000. It’s all a matter of perspective to say whether that’s fair or
not.

I’d say more, a buyer might not.

That puts each blog at over $10,000 each, which is fair for some and not
for others.

Make me an offer !

In closing Mike would like to say this to potential bloggers.

Potential bloggers need to know that it takes a helluva commitment to do
what needs to be done on one blog, let alone 13.

Here’s a test for potential bloggers. Have a friend pick a subject and
than write a post about that subject in 15 minutes or less.

If you can’t, you may not want to do this.

I gave this test to a potential blogger and he could not do it.

He’s tried to write for 3 other networks, since then and I’ve seen him
start and leave at least 3 blogs.

It’s hard work, there are issues that have to be dealt with EVERY day
and the amount of time you spend on comments and spam is obscene.

My closing

I want to say thank you very much to Mike for taking the time out of a busy schedule to answer some questions. I hope you all found them as helpful as I did. Hop over to Hightide Publishing, I’m sure there’s a blog there that will interest you.

Erik

I have been busy working behind the scenes on my newest site SprintRants.com and neglecting several posts that I have wanted to publish here. However, through my new site I learned a little php, a little MySql, and a lot of Wordpress. To give you a little background on Sprint Rants, I am a customer of SprintPCS cell phone service and not as satisfied as I could be, to say the least. I have been going through a battle for the last 2 months dealing with a phone that doesn’t work, customer service that can’t understand me, and local stores “Sprint Stores,” that have no clue what the main company is doing.

As I sat in a few of the stores, both here in Hawaii and on the mainland in Wisconsin I noticed that almost every person sitting in the store or walking out was disgruntled. Cursing the company or the service these people would walk out and let it out, let it all out. It got me to thinking that if these people were like me they needed somewhere to get it out. Friends just get sick of hearing how junky your service is and they begin to tell you to get another phone provider. But you know that isn’t an option because almost every service has something wrong with them.

That was when I came up with the idea for a sounding board of sorts. People could come to get updates on sprint offerings to see if there is a loop hole somewhere that they didn’t know about to make up for all the extra charges they see on their bills. It’s also place where I would give my week to week dealings with sprint and their customer service, or lack there of, just to keep you amused. Most importantly the site is for people to just come and leave their rants about how poorly they have been treated or not treated and read others rants and not so raves about Sprint.

In the process I was able to learn a few things about Wordpress, php, and mysql. I figured out how to use some plugins for a static front page and how the page hierarchy works making each page unique based on a specific template. The most important thing I started into was php and how it works with MySql. I was able to create a new field on the comment form, a new field on the wp-comments mysql database, and how to write a few functions to deal with the new field, a comment title.

I plan on writing a nice little outline about how I did that so people who don’t really know php or mysql could add the same field as me or to learn how easy it is to work on the files associated with Wordpress.

My 12 sites in 12 months is on it’s way and I continue to work on this site as well as Aloha Update in order to reach my 500,000 visitors a month goal. Hope you all are working towards your goals, and sorry if I kept some of you wondering what I’ve been up to.

A new year usually brings new resolutions. People trying to loose weight, stop smoking, get out of debt, you name it. Every year the world vows to better themselves on January 1st and then, unless the people around me are unique, by February it turns to comments of “Next year is when I’m gonna start.” Why does it have to wait a whole year? Why not start your year February 5th, or March 10th? People count their ages any one of the 365 days, or likewise with anniversaries. There shouldn’t be only one day a year that we allow ourselves to begin resolutions.

Most resolutions are made to improve some part of your life. In starting this blog I made several resolutions dealing with health, financial, and personal improvement. My first step to reaching the goals set by these resolutions was to become accountable. I planned on doing this by publishing this blog and building a “fan” base of people who would support me. I have begun to recieve comments and emails from strangers encouraging me along the way as well as sharing their stories of success and failure.

I want to point out here three little things you can do to make accomplishing your goals rise higher on your list of priorities.

Making Time

Probably most important is making time to better yourself. You need to consciously think about setting aside time each day to become better at what you do. Be it 20 minutes or 1 hour each day that spend focusing on a goal it will bring you that much closer to realizing it. At the beginning of each week I suggest sitting down and determining a block of time each day that you could put towards your goals. This way when you come to scheduling other activities such as going shopping or going out with friends it will be as though you already scheduled your goals ahead of time. Doing this can be a tricky little way to realign your priorities.

Another thing you may need to consider is re-evaluating what your goals are. If you make time for something you don’t enjoy you may not be doing it much longer after you start. Right now, as you can see with this blog, I am working on goals that I enjoy which makes the time I spend on them feel like time well spent, rather than time wasted. Of course I have frustrating times, such as when I can’t break a 100 in golf or running begins to hurt my shins, or when I can’t get Wordpress to cooperate. These are undoubtedly going to happen no matter what you are striving towards. Having goals you enjoy will make it easier to get beyond those difficult moments and accomplish what you set out to do.

Read and Listen

The next part of my improvement has come from seeking out new ways to better myself within the specific areas. I look all over for new methods and one of the best ways I have found is reading books. Do you read enough about what you are trying to get done? Some people jump into a stop smoking program knowing that they should stop smoking because it’s bad for them. This alone usually isn’t enough to keep at it. What those people need, and what you need to do is educate yourself on what you are doing. If it’s a sports goal find inspiration through reading and watching others play, then really focus on how you are going to achieve that perfect backhand. If it’s financial pick up some books on investing for retirement, subscribe to the Wallstreet Journal, begin watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer. Educating yourself can be the best thing to achieving your goal.

Another method which I wrote about earlier filling your down time with audio books. Audio books can easily be downloaded to your MP3 player. Then while driving your car, walking to the store, or waiting in line to get tickets to a great show, you can be educating yourself. They have tons of business and self help books to get you started. Some that I’ve already listened to are Jack Welsch’s Winning and Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow. They also have science books, learning language books, and biographies that sometimes can give you the most inspiration to get things done.

Surround Yourself

I have written about it before but can’t seem to mention it enough. Success breeds success and if you surround yourself with similar minded people with similar goals you are much more likely to keep up with what you are doing. I read and comment and many blogs that are similar to what I am trying to accomplish. In turn these people have contacted me with words of encouragement, advice, and even to correct me when I have misspoken. All of which is helpful along the path I have before me.

Sooner or later you’ll make one tiny breakthrough and that will be enough to lead to the next, then the next, then the next, and before you know it your goal will be in sight. Just keep trying to better yourself in the areas related to your goal and you will have more luck accomplishing everything you want to accomplish.

January 2006 was a hectic month. I didn’t add any goals to my list last month but I progressed on the ones I had. I have been trying to learn some time management skills before I go insane but the process has been slow going. Thanks for all those that have been regularly returning to my pages. I hope to increase the quality and helpfulness of my content through more in-depth posts. I have been spending a lot of time searching blogs and sites for ways to increase exposure of a blog and feel as though I need to stick to a few really good blogs and leave it at that. With a full time job it’s hard to keep up on too many blogs.

The month overall I would say was a success but I need to stay focused on my goals. I will talk more about this in a later post but I need to eliminate wasteful tasks that make productivity halt. There are things that I know we can all eliminate and hopefully I will have some words of wisdom in February that can keep you on the right track to accomplishing your goals.

Now on to how the last month went…

JANUARY RECAP

WebStats
erikvossman.com

1518 Unique Visitors
4091 pageviews
19 people have syndicated through feedburner stats

I average about 24 hits from search engines and my page was selected as honorable mention from success begins today as new blog interface. I decided to take off monetization of this site until I build more traffic. My goal is to get 5,000 Unique Visitors a month before I think about monetizing again. I am working towards some articles more directed at becoming better at what you do but as I have stated in the past I am working towards that myself.

Aloha Update my blog and site about Hawaii had a few issues early on in the month after it was launched in late December. I took advertising off of it after a trial period in hopes to attract more repeat visitors. However, I seem to be having some trouble getting the site indexed with Google so I will continue to work on that. I also added a blog to front page which I think helps it out as a legitimate regularly updated travel site.

In an effort to get 12 sites in 12 months I have been developing another user interactive site that is nearing completion. This means that I will need to put out two sites in February to stay on track but feel as though it should be possible considering the current one is almost done. I will keep you posted when it is launched and my guess is at least one of you who regularly read this with have something to say on that site.

Athletic Endeavors

Running - After taking time off around the holidays I have kept up over the past 4 weeks with running at least 3 times a week for more than 3 miles. It has been going OK with some tiring of my legs. I plan to keep this level of mileage for the next month so as to not burn myself out so early on in my battle to reach the four minute mile.

Golfing - In my quest to become a scratch golfer I have been making in my humble opinion, some decent progress. The last 4 times I have been out I shot 90, 90, 94, and 88. These scores are again taking no mulligans. What I am most excited about is that I have begin to realize that even if you duff a shot the hole usually allows you to save bogey and sometimes reach par. This was a big part of my golf game that was missing, seeing that even the bad shots can set you up nicely. This month I was able to get out 3 times on a course and 1-2 times on the driving range. I want to continue this routine if my budget will allow it. Golf is a pricey sport. Maybe more times in the park chipping would serve me well.

Tennis - I have to thank my girlfriend for the patience to help my tennis game. She is the only person I play with and she got a full ride to college playing tennis at Michigan so you could imagine that I might bore her. I am working towards a 1 handed back hand and found a lot of frustration with it last month. I tend to get out about once a week but hope to improve that to 2 times a week in the month of February.

Become a Millionaire

In January I erased my credit card debt which was a huge relief. I hope to keep it that way but I have fallen a little behind on my bills. I am going to spend the evening playing catch up and hopefully will make a big dent in my backlog.

Work

As stated I have a fulltime job that keeps me very busy. I could be spending more time at work which I think is going to happen over the coming months. I am learning a lot about time managment and peopel managment in general. Being a startup with very few employees we are all busting our humps to keep at it. Which reminds me, lunch is almost over I should wrap this up.

OUTLOOK FOR FEBRUARY

My hopes for February are to mainly increase traffic to Aloha Update and erikvossman.com. Mainly the first because I would like to monetize that site. I also want to launch 2 more sites and really work on quality content that my readers here at erikvossman.com want to read.

In terms of athletic goals I am thinking of adding another one to the mix that would be more of a week to week goal that I would have to keep up on regularly. I have been playing with it as of late and think it is do-able. As mentioned I want to keep running the same distance and times as well as playing tennis 1-2 times a week. With my golf swing I have gotten back with my form and am focused on bringing consistency to my back swing.

Another big part I have learned is to be well organized. Both at work and at home I am not that organized at all. I am searching for a system that will work for me because I feel my productivity levels will rise while lowering how much I am stressed out. We are coming into a busy time at work and I need to be fully capable of keep track of everything we are trying to accomplish as we move the company forward. This I see as the biggest priority as well as the biggest challenge. As I find things that help me I will be sure to relay them here.

Thanks for tuning in
Erik

Are you looking for a list of ways to monetize your blog, website, feed, email, or niche site. Well look no further. I think I have covered darn near every program that is out there. I did a bit of research and found the if you are looking for an alternative to Google’s Adsense you are going to have a hard time finding a similar payout. YPN is rumored to pay more and if you have the right impulse buying traffic chitika can make you some good money. In my findings I also found a few sites that let you monetize your email so for instance all those email lists you might keep to make people return to your site can make you money.

I have listed 40 programs below and a brief description. Please feel free to comment and ad if you wish. In searching through all the ads posts and ads search results I found that a lot of the ad services previously mentioned have been bought out by companies such as marketbanker by adbrite. Wonder if Google will buy out Chitika. I know there’s rumor of it. Anyway, I hope this list helps you out.

Google AdSense - the mother of all advertising, if you get in, tread carefully and try your hardest not to upset them. Through all my research I haven’t found anyone who said any other ad program was better than this.

YPN - Yahoo Publisher Network is Yahoo’s alternative to AdSense. I have seen mixed reviews on payout. Darren at problogger.net switched back to AdSense on his blog but kept it on other sites. This tells me it seems to be site specific, try it out and leave your feedback.

Chitika - their e-minimalls advertising is also another competitor for Google AdSense. The claim here is that they work on impulse buying. My feeling is that since it is such a large ad and only one product you need to have your content well suited for the ad type.

MSN Adcenter - a Beta version of MSN’s answer to AdSense has been launched. I’ve only heard of very few people being offered a spot in the beta test but I’ll keep you posted if I hear of earnings reports from fellow bloggers

BlogAds - this advertising company is for those that have a lot of traffic. Steve Pavlina recently joined up with blog ads and is offering a pretty top spot on his site, and MSN bought out a ton of ads last year from blog ads making a pretty big splash in the blog world.

PeakClick - this ad program is another text and banner type ad service based in Austria offering payment in EURO’s. I found one blogger using peakclick on her niche sites, check out her post about PeakClick and for updates on earnings

DoubleClick - this is another advertising company that is used by the heavy hitters like MTV.com, myspace.com, friendster.com, and SI.com. DoubleClick is used for higher traffic sites as you can see but something to shoot for!

Intellitext - this ad service is a very interesting alternative to AdSense. They offer advertisement that is hidden within your content, when a user scrolls over your text an link to an appropriate ad pops up

TextAds Dot Biz - ads look like Google AdSense ads and YPN but I don’t believe you can customize the colors. If I get more sites I may try this one out, I like the way they look.

Kanoodle - their claim to fame is BrightAds that are used to grab the users attention, which are very similar to AdSense, even down to the Ads by Kanoodle in the bottom right. They also have pop-ups that land the user on a new page when they click, definitely something AdSense should do to allow your site to still be loaded. Again their payout isn’t quite what Google can provide.

AdBrite - text based ads that pay via check, you can also advertise on some pretty big sites like friendster.com, and ebaumsworld.com which a 1 week spot will cost you $2,360.00 for a text link

AdGenta - another text link ad service focused on blogs, they allow you advertise on your RSS feed as well. I believe this service is powered by Miva

AVNads - this alternative allows you to set the price for ads on your site and they give you 75% of the sale price. You control the look of the ads that are on your site and you have the right to reject ads as well.

CrispAds - has both text and graphical banner ads, with three methods to make money. 1. you can submit your site so crispads shops you around to find specific advertisers, 2. earn $0.20 per click from your choice of keywords based on ads 3. earn 70% of revenue per click using your choice of keywords

IndustryBrains - allows you to charge a premium to advertisers and offer ads through searches, text, or graphical banner ads

OneMonkey - sell text based ads on your sites, tracking conversion rates and they claim you have control over your ad revenue unlike AdSense

Pheedo - provides payment every 30 days via paypal and allows users to show text ads earning them 65% of revenue generated per click

Text Link Ads - this program uses humans to review your site and sells space on your site for a flat monthly rate that you see 50% of.

TargetPoint - has 4 ways to earn money, adpoint - exitpoint - imagepoint - underpoint, these are kind of self explanatory but offer you interesting alternatives. They also offer better conversion rates for higher traffic sites

ValueClick - has several programs for publishers (that’s you) and advertisers. Commission Junction is one that I believe is used by EBay for their affiliate program. CJ has lots of affiliate programs that you can sign up for like EBay and could really keep you busy trying to monetize your site.

Clicksor - content based text ads, banners, popups, XML feed, and a search box. They also offer a 10% commission on referrals with a $5.00 sign-up bonus per referral. Payments are bi-weekly by paypal or check and payout is 70% using their ads with the option to earn 85% if you provide your own ad programs.

BidVertiser - claim to target the highest bidders to your site for your content, $10 payout through paypal, block unwanted ads, customize ad layout, make money from clicks.

AdKnowledge - graphical ads for your website, as well as for your email list. This is a great way to monetize that email list you use to bring visitors back to your site!

RevenuePilot - earn 60% of clickthrough revenue, and a 10% referral bonus for life! Text based ads with search results

SearchFeed - a search based site ad-on, earn money when people search and click through, or on referrals of advertisers or publishers

FastClick - similar banner and text ads with the option of pop-ups and the potential to earn up to 65% of click revenue, you need at least 3,000 page views per month, and your site has to be legitimate, claim no more than 2 previous banner ads should be on your page

YesAdvertising - accept and pay advertising from all over the world, guaranteed payout, bi-weekly payment via check or paypal, 5 level referral and text and banner ads

BidClix - they say you can use this with Google AdSense and allow you to choose your price for you ads spots and your advertisers after they choose you

AdHearUs - pay per click, 18 ad formats, content driven, multiple ads per site

AllFeeds - text ads, banners, pop-aways, that use your content and underline the words related to their ads that users can click on

AffiliateSensor - use clickbanks ads and get keyword based text ads

CBprosense - like affiliate sensor

Quigo AdSonar - basic text ads, let you specify defaults, unsure about payouts

Nixxie - they partner with Kanoodle, Miva, and Overture so I would imagine their payment isn’t that high because there are more people that the money has to go through before it reaches you.

Mirago - offering search and contextual based ads for your site

Miva - neat thing about them is that they allow you to put contextual and search ads on your 404 error page. This would be good for those of you who know how you can customize your 404 page, they also offer suggestions on how to do this.

BannerBoxes - 70% payout, you approve ads, and become a member of all the affiliate programs they have access to

contextWeb - customize ads, they claim a higher revenue stream but that seems par for the course with all these alternatives to Google AdSense

ExpoActive - choose the ads you like based on your content and change the ads so they match your layout

CoverClicks - yet another website offering an ad program, check out their site though it has a futuristic terminator feel and sound, gotta turn on the sound