What you do with a website failure is entirely up to you, but when do you decide that a website is a failure? There are a few strong indicators, which I'll share with you in a moment or two, but sometimes it takes a while for certain indicators to appear. You can see success with a failed website if you know what to do with it.
Before you get your hair tied up in knots, this isn't a blog review. I wouldn't even know where to start on a review for blog like "Dosh Dosh". No, these are just some of my thoughts on some articles that Maki published.
Brand Associations
Maki's latest article on how brand associations help to promote your website and business is right on the money. When I made my thoughts on blog hosting, self-hosted and otherwise known, Todd Morris of "Success with Todd" made a comment that was also right on the money. He said, "With domain names being so inexpensive, I can't really see the sense in using sub-domains for new blogs … unless it's a branding thing."
In a nutshell, branding which has already taken place with one domain or subdomain (and yes, www is a subdomain) can carry over to other subdomains. In some cases, it's the next best thing to sliced bread. Couple it with the fact that a new subdomain will probably get indexed faster than a new domain, it's a win-win situation for some people (like me). I was hem-hawing over getting new domains, using free subdomains at other places, or using my own subdomains when I wrote that I was planning on opening up Pandora's box and moving a couple of categories from this blog to dedicated blogs. After much thought, I'll definitely be using subdomains and I plan to start in April.
If you don't think untwistedvortex.com is branded-associated with my name yet, why don't you ask prominent bloggers like Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) who RT Cunningham is? If he knows me by my name and my blog (which he does), I'm pretty sure a lot of other people do as well. I'm not bragging. My domain name isn't a household name like yahoo.com and its many subdomains, but it could be. My first and last name already are, but for the wrong reasons (and don't call me Richie, or I'll hunt you down). It all depends on how long and how hard I want to work at it.
Power Stumbling
Back in March of 2007, Maki wrote a comprehensive guide to StumbleUpon and how to use it to bring massive traffic to your website. He followed it up later with two other articles which amended some of the tactics he originally endorsed. There's a lot of good information on how to use StumbleUpon to your advantage, but I have my own condensed version:
It doesn't matter if you're a top stumbler or not. It doesn't matter if you use StumbleUpon every day or not. What matters is that you rate and review as many websites as possible, and try not to do it for your own. Do you want to be a power stumbler? It's simple. Every time you see a pingback or a Google Alert (and I hope you use both), visit that website and stumble the page that links to you, but don't stop there. Stumble as many pages as you like on that website. In essence, stumbling more than you're stumbled by other people and stumbling people that link to you makes you a power stumbler.
Brand Associations and Power Stumbling
StumbleUpon uses avatars to represent the people that stumble you. Even if a member name is different than the name they use on their blog, for example, do you recognize that person? On StumbleUpon, Maki is Autorave. I didn't have to know that, or read it anywhere, to recognize it as his avatar. I knew it was him the first time he stumbled one of my posts. The anime-style images he uses on his blog brand-associated his avatar with his blog. In fact, I would have been surprised if I'd made the association without it being the correct association, that's how powerfully he's associated anime-style images with his blog.
If I was a smart guy (and I make no claims to that), I'd be using the vortex image in my header as an avatar everywhere, or possibly a variation of it that I've been toying with. Hindsight is 20/20, as people like to say, and it would probably take a while for that association to form this late in the game. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to start, though, would it?
Maki is a power stumbler, even if he never admits it. Am I a power stumbler? People like Jonathan C. Phillips of Freelance Folder and AgentSully of Life Learning Today seem to think so, but I'm not too sure about it.
I'm not exactly sure when I'll be starting, but I'll soon be opening up Pandora's Box (or a can of worms, depending on how you look at it) and releasing a few more blogs (instead of evil entities) into the wild.
I've made it known, through various mumblings, that I post too many articles per day/week/month on this blog. Every day, I look and I count. Even though there may be a topic that I want to write about, I end up shuffling it away for use on another day. There's just too much to do and not enough space to do it in. I already split off the video content to another blog and now I need to split some more.
How can I continue to do things like my infamous Blog Drive-Bys and keep up with Blog Reviews and still write compelling content in between? The short answer is that I can't. Certain things keep getting shuffled to the rear to keep me from posting 5, 6, or 7 times per day. The answer, then, is to move content like that to other blogs.
I want to be able to write things like "Kill Them With Kindness" (a guest post by Mike from Saphrym.com) or expand on my responses to articles like "Trackbacks: Still Useful?". I can't do it easily while continuing in the manner I've become accustomed to.
As part of my plan, I'm going to do something that isn't recommended by SEO experts. I'm going to be putting them on subdomains of untwistedvortex.com (by the way, "www" is a subdomain) for branding purposes. [That part of the plan may change.] With apologies to the people behind Yoda, this I will do, agree with me you need not. I'll be using my favorite blogging platform at this time, WordPress, and some of Courtney Tuttle's SEO WordPress Themes.
The split will allow me to investigate more monetization options as well. Miva MC (for which I've already been approved), BidVertiser and Project Wonderful (which I spotted on Clicky the blog) are some options I'll be investigating.
May the force be with me and Zeus have mercy on my soul.
(Image Source: Pandora's Box at greek gods and goddesses)
I really hate squishing bugs, both of the kinds I had to deal with today.
I spent most of the day trying to track down an elusive bug, either in my WordPress installation or at the web host's server. I was interrupted for a period when I had to chase down and destroy another kind of bug, a humongous cockroach. The dude was cruising down the upstairs hallway when I spotted him (or her or whatever). Roaches must sense when they're discovered because this one took off like a bat out of hell when he saw me. I finally got him with a walis (a Filipino broom).
If you've ever wondered what the best route to take when setting up a new blog, and you don't have much experience with the different options available for hosting the blog, it can be quite confusing. Let me see if I can help. While I'm no "guru" by any stretch of the imagination, I've worked with this stuff both inside and outside of the information technology field.
Hosted by Blogspot.com (Blogger), WordPress.com and Others
This is an option that a lot of people choose for blog hosting when they the first start blogging because everything except personal choices are handled by the hosting service. There's no need to know anything about the backend or how it all works. This is also the perfect choice if your goal is nothing more than to be socially popular or even just to use it as an online diary.
There are few monetization options, but the options do exist and if you know how to do it, you can still make a lot of money while using one of these services. Grizzly at How to Make Money Online for Beginners is the "go to" guy if you're looking to monetize a Blogger blog.
Self-Hosted (Using your own domain name with a hosting service)
While both blogspot.com and wordpress.com allow you to point your own domain name at blogs you've set up on their services, you're still limited by their backend in the things you're allowed to do. This is not the definition of self-hosted. Self-hosted means you control the whole ball of wax. You're the person that keeps the software up-to-date, changes and edits themes, adds code blocks, etc. It can be a daunting task for a beginner.
Being self-hosted gives you the greatest flexibility in monetization options. You're not restricted by any hosting service and you're limited only by your own imagination and the options available.
Domains, Subdomains and Add-On Domains
Knowing the difference between domains, subdomains and add-on domains is an important facet that many people overlook. It's actually quite simple when you understand how it works.
You start with a top-level domain (TLD) like ".com" and then anything to the left of it (other than a period) is considered the domain name, like "untwistedvortex.com". Add another section in front (separated by a period) and you have a subdomain, like "www.untwistedvortex.com". Go even further with it and you have a sub-subdomain (for lack of a better term). It always irks me when someone uses "www.something.blogspot.com" instead of "something.blogspot.com" because the "www" part is a sub-subdomain and if anything starts acting funky in the DNS, the sub-subdomains are the first to quit working. Since it merely points to the subdomain without the "www", I don't think it's a good idea to use it and I won't use it when linking to someone.
Some hosting services, like HostNine, allow you to add additional domains to your hosting plan, hence the term "add-on domain". What it really is, is a subdomain that has a domain name, as well as the subdomain name, pointing to it. If you do something like this, it's a good idea to use a redirect to make sure it's only accessed with the domain name. That's a topic in itself, so I won't go into it right now.
Top Level Domains
It's arguable that the ".com" TLD is the one to go after. It is, however, becoming increasingly difficult to get a good domain name established due to the proliferation of domain names over time. I believe you can do just as well with most TLDs that have 3 letters or more. There was a time when, if you just entered the domain name into a browser address bar without the TLD, that it would automatically start looking for ".com" as the first choice. I think that's no longer true. At least, I can't make it work that way with Internet Explorer or Firefox anymore.
Many familiar websites use TLDs other than ".com". Examples: php.net, last.fm, del.icio.us
What Do I Recommend?
Ah, that's the clincher. I can't recommend anything over anything else, because I'm no expert on the subject. I've used all of them at one time or another. Since "www.untwistedvortex.com" is a subdomain that points to the domain of "untwistedvortex.com", it's obvious that using a subdomain won't hurt your blog in anyway. In this case, it was a matter of preference. There's nothing to stop me from creating a "sillyname.untwistedvortex.com" or something and have it completely separate, or even pointing to the same domain. The choices are not limited in any way.
The question boils down to the image you want to present and how professional you want or need to be. It's quite obvious that strict domain names appear to be more professional. Speaking of domain names, check out the Godaddy Promo Code list for 2009.
Your Thoughts?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject. Since I'm no expert, I could be completely wrong about everything and I love a good argument. Please, give it your best shot.
Here are some more of my thoughts that have just been begging to be released from my skull.
The Bible
I have had many trusted friends in the past. Unfortunately, most of them have died of old age, diabetic problems, and other assorted anomalies. One of them told me (back in the 90s), "Never talk about religion, atheism or anything of the sort in a public forum unless your public forum is designed for it." Of course, he's talking about controversy that can cause flame wars of the most hideous kind.
Well, I happened to accidentally surf to Capella's Guide to Atheism, a blog where the author is spending all of his time debunking and refuting biblical history and claims. I don't get it. Why go to all that trouble? Either a person believes or a person doesn't. It's pretty simple. Debunking and refuting something that's more than 2,000 years old, in my opinion, is an exercise in futility. The words written in the various books of the "Holy Bible" were obviously not written in a way people of the modern era would understand (at least not all of it), but I'm sure the people of the day understood it perfectly. And this, my friends, is probably the last time you'll see me write anything about religion.
Commonality
It's amazing when you discover you have something in common with someone else, especially when it's something obscure. I recently found out that Vic at Blogger Unleashed has more in common with me than just blogging. He cut his teeth on the Commodore 64 computer, just like I did, back in the 80s.
I wonder if Vic remembers reading the things I used to read, like articles by Jim Butterfield. Another fellow blogger, Andy Beard, may have actually met Jim in person, although he doesn't remember clearly whether he did or not.
My Web Host Breaks Things
I really like the service of HostNine. It's probably not the cheapest web host and it's probably not the best, but they're working on it. The only thing that annoys me is that they do upgrades all the time and some of those upgrades break things.
Back in December, I installed Mint to use as a stats package alongside FireStats. I never mentioned it, of course, and perhaps it's a good thing that I didn't. HostNine recently did an upgrade and Mint stopped collecting hits. I now have it on the back burner until I can figure out what's wrong. I don't think it has anything to do with the upgrade from PHP4 to PHP5, because I reverted to PHP4 and it still didn't work. So I put it back to PHP5 and I guess I'll just have to find out what's wrong.
In the meantime, and I really don't like using an external service, I'll be using Clicky again. It collects the same data as Mint, but goes into more detail.
Feelings of Obligation
One of the reasons putting a PayPal donation button up was the hardest thing I've ever done is because of the feelings of obligation I knew I'd experience. I don't think it's just me. I think everyone feels obligated to repay those who help them in a time of need, even if they won't admit it to anyone or even to themselves.
I fell on some hard times during the early years of my marriage, and sometimes had very little for me and my family to eat (the military didn't pay well enough to support a family, especially at the pay grade I held at the time), but we managed to survive without asking for help. We kept getting ourselves in and out of debt. My wife once asked me why I just didn't ask for help. Call it pride, or call it stupidity, but asking for help seems so wrong when I know there are others in worse shape.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I realized it's okay to ask for help and receive it as long as I remember to help others in a similar fashion. I think, if everyone else developed this attitude, some of the societal problems that exist today wouldn't exist at all.
English Language Books
I like to read novels in specific genres. It's an undeniable fact, however, that getting new English language novels locally is difficult. New novels are virtually impossible to get. I can find the second in a series, or later, but never the first.
There's an old book that's been out of print for a long time that I want to get my hands on. It's "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart. I read it more than 20 years ago and I want to reread it. I think, because I'm going to be back in the US for about a month, that I'll order it from Amazon. I spotted some copies for sale for less than $5.00 in US dollars.
There are other old series of novels I'd like to read. Some I've read one or two books in the series and some I haven't read at all. Aren't there any eBook novels which can be downloaded as PDFs or something and read without some kind of proprietary eBook reader? I'm talking about stuff that isn't 50+ years old.
At least that's what my statistics and my number of feedreader subscribers are telling me. Sometimes it's my fault when things like this happen. It wasn't my fault this time.
Sometime around 7:30 pm on the 24th (US Eastern Time), my web hosting provider's "Server 2" main hard drive failed. It took until about 1:30 am on the 26th (US Eastern Time) to restore all the websites, including both of my blogs. Of course, I didn't know my blogs were available until a couple of hours later due to my crappy DSL connection being down again.
I really can't pick on my hosting provider. It's not ALL their fault. They offer a good deal for new subscribers and are getting new customers faster than they can hire support staff and add additional equipment. Most good hosting providers fall into this trap sooner or later. In this case, they had no way of knowing their primary hard drive would just stop working without any warning signals.
The ironic part of all this is that I had just finished watching Darren Rowse's video on being prepared for a worst case blogging scenario. Luckily, my primary source of income has nothing to do with my blogs or I'd be freaking out by now.
I only lost my most recent post and comments and that's only because I didn't have a backup that occurred after I posted it. I restored the post from Google Reader and the comments from my email archives.
It appears that some of my readers, upon seeing that my blog's URL wouldn't resolve, decided to bail on me like so many rats fleeing a sinking ship. Oh well, life goes on.
I learned some valuable lessons in the last couple of months and even as recent as within the last five hours. Lesson #1 — Never trust the testimonials that web hosting companies have posted on their websites. They're nothing but a pack of lies that may have been true at one time. Lesson #2 — Never trust a registrar to do what their service claims to do, even if you get an automated receipt for it.
I moved my hosting from dotster.com (while still leaving them in charge of the domain name) when I moved my blog to philhosting.net (trying to support the local economy in the Philippines). Philhosting.net had "email only" customer service and support. That would have been fine if they actually answered their email. I finally received a response when I accused them of not being able to read English. The support person then accused me of deleting their responses or not checking my spam folders. Ahem. I'm very observant and never received anything, even as spam, or I wouldn't have been complaining. There was nothing but praise in the testimonials on their website. Who did they pay to write them? That was my first lesson. I have since moved the hosting to hostnine.com and have had zero incidents since starting with them. They answer online chat quickly and support emails fast — even on this holiday weekend.
Yesterday, I oh so smugly laughed at dotster.com's email notification that my domain had expired. I had several domains on their system expire at the same time. I should have paid more attention and the warning flags should have gone up. I didn't and they didn't. Prior to setting up hosting with hostnine.com, and because I knew I wanted to transfer the domain as well, I logged into my account at dotster.com. I turned off the transfer lock service and even received an automated confirmation of it a few minutes later by email. When I started the hosting account on the 3rd of May, I also set up to transfer the service. Hostnine's registrar is register.com — I had to approve the transfer through them on the 4th. Here I was all dumb and happy that everything had gone well.
Just before 10:00 pm local time last night, a parking page popped up when I tried to access my blog. My guess is that's how long it took for dotster.com's name server changes to propagate to their internal ones. Of course I was distraught. Something I thought had taken place hadn't taken place at all. After informing some other online blog authors and checking at my account on dotster.com, I found that the transfer lock was never taken off. That was why the transfer never went through. It would have been nice if I had been informed of this back then. I could have taken care of it one way or another.
I don't have any money in my old PayPal account, an account that no longer has a bank linked to it. It's still active, for whatever reason, and Matthew of eJabs was kind enough to transfer a small loan in order for me to renew the domain at dotster.com long before it would become publicly available for purchase. Before I did this, I sent a scathing email to dotster.com's support address thanking them for not informing me about the transfer failure. I finally got the domain back online, at least in the US and everywhere but here in the Asian pacific region, within 4 hours. I don't know how long it will be before I see it normally here. I can only post this because I put the IP address in my hosts file to make it resolve for me.
This was my second lesson. Never trust an automated reply. Go back and check anyway. Note: I just now received a support response from dotster.com (Bryan) that says it looks like I renewed my domain and I can now transfer it out. Nice guy, isn't he?
Before I say anything else, I have to give a big thanks to all the people who offered suggestions and support, both on the blog and through email. I spent several hours stressing about how I was going to keep the blog going and whether it was worth it or not.
Through a good friend and some money manipulation, I'm going to be moving the blog to another US-based host. I'm not going to mention which one because everyone has a favorite and this one probably isn't it. I do know that they host hundreds of websites without any of the problems or incidents like I've been dealing with lately.
This time, I plan to have everything backed up and moved to the new server before the DNS propagation goes into full swing. I'm looking to be moved by Monday, possibly sooner.
I just sent a scathing message to every department of my hosting provider here in the Philippines. After the initial email message from me that they did answer, they have ignored every subsequent message. I sent messages to sales, billing and support. Other than an autoresponder from support, I have received no replies whatsoever. I even checked all my spam filters to be sure that I wasn't wrong.
This is the third host that I've ever had a dealing with. The previous two sucked to no end. It appears this one is in the same category. Now I'm searching for a new web host. I think I found one, but I have a dilemma. I have no way to pay for it. I have no credit cards and my shiny new PayPal account has no money in it yet. I have approximately two weeks to arrange something with that one, or possibly another, before bandwidth on this host runs out for the month.
I'm almost never angry enough to do something like this, but I'm considering pulling the plug on the whole shebang. I went to a lot of trouble to get the hosting I have now and they turned out to be crap. What's the next one going to be like?
I'm sorry, but I won't be writing anything for the next few hours. Possibly days. I'm in no mood for it.
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