Making Fast Money

Earlier this year, Formspring, a San Francisco-based social Q&A startup, got tongues wagging when it raised $2.5 million in its Series A funding mostly from top angel investors. The round, led by Freestyle Capital, turned out to be a coming-out party for angel investors who have become a big factor in Silicon Valley’s ecosystem.

Seven months later, Formspring is making news again. We’ve learned the company has raised $10 million in fresh funding in a round led by Redpoint Ventures. Geoff Yang, a well-known digital media investor, is leading the investment on behalf of Redpoint. The new round values Formspring somewhere around $45 million. The company declined to comment on the funding.

Formspring’s is relatively simple offering; you sign-up and create a page and then anyone can ask you anything, even anonymously. In many ways, it’s like blog comments, minus the blog post. Apparently, this is something folks like to do; the company says it has about 40 million unique visitors who show up every month. That growth is costing the company a pretty penny and has been a focus of its recent hirings.

The new investment is part of a growing trend. Fast-growing startups with momentum are able to raise big rounds of money, as Sand Hill Road investors try to cherry pick from a vast number of consumer web and mobile companies.  Formspring fits the bill; the company claims more than a billion questions have been answered on its platform.

Formspring.me is also part of a group of startups (and large companies) trying to capture a piece of what is a massive and ever-evolving web trend: personal expression. It started with blogs; it spread with micro blogging (Twitter and Facebook) and, more recently, self-expression through remixing (Tumblr.) Answering questions as an expert is only an extension of that trend, which is why you’re seeing services like Formspring get momentum, and hence the money.

From the Video Archives Chat with Formspring.me CEO Ade Olonoh:

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Pedro Sorrentino is the first international student to attend Boulder Digital Works, a graduate school based in Boulder, Colorado that exists to build the next generation of digital professionals. Prior to moving to the States, he was the head of marketing and PR for Mediamind (Nasdaq: MDMD) in São Paulo, Brazil, his homeland.

Although startups and Madison Avenue agencies are perceived to have little in common, coffee shop-hopping entrepreneurs and modern “Don Drapers” actually share more characteristics than you might think, and they can learn a lot from one another.

The most valuable assets for startups are time and team. When working on a big idea with little money and a short time to make it real, Mark Zuckerberg’s corporate mantra “move fast and break things” is particularly a propos. Getting user feedback and making (and then fixing) mistakes as quickly as possible can help startups avoid bigger problems and bring home the bacon in the long run.

It seems that now, more than ever, it’s time for “Mad Men” everywhere to heed the advice of the entrepreneurs setting up shop in basements and coffee shops around the world.

Here are five lessons Madison Avenue can learn from startups. Add your own thoughts in the comments below.

1. Be T-Shaped

Big multinational advertising behemoths that hit their stride before the rise of the web often struggle to deliver high-quality digital and interactive work. In many cases, a hesitance to move forward or a lack of technical knowledge within a company’s talent base are at the root of this.

“Startups are most likely to have a small team. Consider eight people and a situation where four or five of them are programmers. They are not just going to do technical stuff. There’s a demand to have a broader line of thought, since there’s no one else around to do the work,” says John Keehler, principal at ClickHere, the digital division for The Richards Group.

Marketers should strive to be T-shaped professionals. This concept was born inside the creative agency Ideo and is about professionals with versatility and the ability to think like a designer or a programmer, even if you work with marketing.

T-shaped professionals have a broad view of things. In startups, this is a reality, but when it comes to big agencies, people tend to be divided in silos.

Advice for Madison Avenue: It’s important to have a wide vision and understanding of everyone who’s involved with the campaign that you’re working on. This versatility saves time and brings more ideas to the table.

2. Test, Fail and Learn

Brent Daily is the COO and co-founder of RoundPegg, a Boulder-based TechStars startup that provides online HR solutions for discovering professional personalities. He thinks that a good startup culture is one that believes “it’s OK to make mistakes and be a spectacular failure.” On the other hand, he agrees that agencies can’t easily bring this acceptance of failure into their ecosystems — after all, if they fail, their clients also fail and that can represent a huge loss of money.

Agencies should consider testing marketing campaigns and products on the web as “beta tests.” Getting feedback from users via the web is a low cost way to get a feel for how the community will take to ideas. After optimizing based on user feedback, campaigns would then be better prepared to launch on other mediums, such as TV or print. When it comes to digital, users tend to enjoy sharing their opinions and giving solid feedback. “There are so many places to go and test advertising rather than doing expensive focus groups, that the result is usually a pretty low-cost test bid for them,” says Daily.

One good example of open innovation is the startup UserVoice. The service positions itself as “customer feedback 2.0″ and allows companies to ask for feedback on an organized web platform. Perhaps some day more companies will substitute the traditional focus groups for this lower cost web alternative.

Advice for Madison Avenue: Before starting a huge ad campaign and spending millions of dollars on media, use the web as your test arena and get quick feedback from your customers.

3. Leverage PR 2.0

PR 2.0 is the art of using social tools to reach and communicate with key stakeholders. There used to be a time when public relations was all about relationships with journalists and sending out press releases. Taking clients to lunch, picking up the check and smiling was the way to go. This method still exists, but is on its way out.

Public relations is now about the art of dealing with, well, the public. Journalists are still very important, but nothing beats the credibility of your customers, and they are probably already talking about your product. The question is: Are you listening?

Fortunately, there’s less and less space for companies with bad products to succeed by deploying exceptional marketing. We as consumers just don’t accept that anymore. Product quality is the true advantage — attaching that strength to a sound PR strategy enables companies to listen to what consumers are saying, engage them and build brand awareness.

Startups take advantage out of this. When a startup offers a great solution with its product, normally there’s an engaged early adopter community ready to give free feedback. Agencies should take advantage of it, too. What better way to improve your business and its product than getting direct feedback from your core users? Initiatives like Starbucks’s customer feedback and idea generation site mystarbucksidea.com are the right way to go.

Advice for Madison Avenue: Remember that having a great product is key. But listen and allow your early adopters to influence the next meeting with your client’s R&D department.

4. Bootstrap It

If a startup can run for months (or years) without without getting funded, Mad Men can dabble in testing and running campaigns without buying media. Agencies could learn a lot by testing out the old startup method of bootstrapping; that is, getting by without external help and being cautious with expenses.

Startups, for example, use free social tools like Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter, Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook and YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube all the time to save money and still reach large, influential, highly-targeted audiences. Increasingly, agencies and large advertisers are beginning to catch on and test them out; the Old Spice guy campaign is a very good example of this.

As that campaign proved, a Twitter account and some YouTube videos can go a long way. What’s better is that using these tools is cost effective, even if you count time invested. We know that the Old Spice guy videos were not a simple production, but this campaign was comparatively inexpensive because starting with social media is much cheaper (and oftentimes more powerful) than a TV commercial.

Advice for Madison Avenue: Remember that you can do more with less when you have a good idea and a strong plan for execution.

5. Open Up to Feedback

Good startups spend a lot of time crowdsourcing opinions and getting feedback from their communities and mentors in order to improve their products. Agencies, on the other hand, usually won’t share copy or ideas with one another or their communities until a campaign is ready to launch.

Some agencies though, are finding that it doesn’t hurt to ask others for creative or production input — that’s what Victor & Spoils is all about. Based in Boulder, Colorado, the ad agency calls itself “the world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowdsourcing principles.”

John Windsor, Victor & Spoils CEO and former VP of strategy and innovation at CP+B, understands how disruptive new technologies can be, especially when they relate to the ad world. “We’re moving from a world of scarcity to a world of abundance. The rise of the curator class has a new generator of social creative/digital directors,” says Windsor.

This is a company that has tapped into the startup principles and made its business faster, global (it has people from all around the world giving input) and without the legacy issues that you see on Madison Avenue. As time passes, we can draw a line between businesses that embrace change and the ones that fear new ways of doing things.

Advice for Madison Avenue: Embrace change and don’t fear the unknown. Others can help your cause if you give them the right opportunity.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- What’s the Value in a Brand Name?/> - HOW TO: Run Location-Based Google Ads/> - HOW TO: Get the Most From a Small Business Social Media Presence/> - Top 5 Qualities to Look for in Startup Job Candidates/> - Why the Best Online Marketing May Be Headed Offline

Images courtesy of MadMenYourself & class='blippr-nobr'>Flickrclass="blippr-nobr">Flickr, jolien_vallins

For more Startups coverage:

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Making Money on Ebay

Several factors have contributed to this year’s gusher, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that now allows unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions. In August, a low-profile Federal Election Commission decision opened the door for donors to pool their money and give anonymously, which produced a bumper crop of ads from nonprofit political groups and committees trying to influence voters.

“The biggest factor driving the spending is the competitive landscape,” said Evan Tracey, president of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. “Incumbents across the country are worried about losing, and they are not holding on to their money. And many of these statewide races are in states with expensive media markets like New York, Texas and California.”

Political spending this year should reach record levels, Tracey predicted.

Wells Fargo's Ryvicker estimates that TV stations will collect $2 billion in political money this year.  Cable television systems will generate at least $150 million; radio stations will garner $250 million; direct mail efforts should consume $650 million; and billboards will receive $55 million. Ryvicker estimated that newspapers would take in $95 million in political money. 

Coming in last, according to Ryvicker and Tracey, will be Internet sites. Their collective haul should be about $50 million -- less than 2% of the total.

Companies that own TV stations in the LA market include CBS Corp., NBC Universal, Univision Communications, News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Tribune Co., which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 and the Los Angeles Times.

For the full story in the Los Angeles Times, click here. 

-- Meg James

As Om shared earlier this month, New York’s tech scene is getting a flood of venture capital for Internet deals, rivaling San Francisco. It’s validation for a city that has built a formidable base of companies and is now becoming a hotbed of start-ups, particularly web-based and software-driven companies.

I sat down with Fred Wilson, venture capitalist with Union Square Ventures to discuss the New York renaissance, how it came about and where it’s headed. Wilson said New York’s tech scene, which grew out of the mid-90s, is in the equivalent of its late teens: just growing into itself as a major player. He said he doesn’t expect to see any slow-up, just as Silicon Valley took off after two decades in the late 1970s. “New York is not only sustainable, but it will grow an order of magnitude from here,” he said.

Wilson obviously has a stake in New York’s stature as a tech center. More than half the companies in his New York-based fund hail from New York, though he wrote recently that’s he’s open to branching out. However, the local growth is real, including start-ups like portfolio companies Etsy, Foursquare and Tumblr, as well as companies like Gilt GroupE and the Ladders.

The growth in the New York scene is largely built on the Internet, which as it’s developed and become more mature, increasingly taps into the expertise of New York, he said. As web start-ups incorporate more data and business logic and work to refine user experiences through design, he said, they’re able to draw on  talent from the local finance, media, fashion and design industries. Companies like Banksimple and My City Way were built by former Wall Street employees, while Gilt Groupe was formed by a trio including Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, a former executive at Bulgari and Louis Vuitton. Several New York entrepreneurs have said something similar to me, saying the city provides an interesting intersection between technology and various industries that both benefit from technology and also influence it.

New York’s place in the tech start-up world often gets short shrift, Wilson said, because the start-ups are of the largely capital-efficient variety. When the figures of VC deals are compiled, they often don’t reflect fully how many smaller companies are starting in New York, making do with less money. In essence, he said there are two VC industries.  “New York doesn’t participate in capital-intensive business. There’s no biotech or hardware here. But if you look at New York’s place in the software business, New York is a huge player.”

What New York lacks at this point is a standout performer on the order of a Google, Apple or eBay, said Wilson. Having a large tech success story would feed the pipeline of entrepreneurs, give some start-ups a chance at getting acquired, and serve as a role model.

“We haven’t had that,” said Wilson. “People look at Wall Street and figure they can sell, so they sell.”

Plus, Wall Street is still an issue for start-ups, trying to convince talented employees to leave better paying jobs in finance, media or advertising to try out the start-up life. But as some of those industries contract, it’s providing more incentive for talent to sign on with start-ups.

“Media, Wall Street, fashion, they’re not growing very much,” he said. “Tech can pick up the slack.”

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Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: “MEAGER” IMPACT: Military tension between North and South Korea may have only a “meager” impact on trade between ...

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bench_craft_company


Several factors have contributed to this year’s gusher, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that now allows unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions. In August, a low-profile Federal Election Commission decision opened the door for donors to pool their money and give anonymously, which produced a bumper crop of ads from nonprofit political groups and committees trying to influence voters.

“The biggest factor driving the spending is the competitive landscape,” said Evan Tracey, president of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. “Incumbents across the country are worried about losing, and they are not holding on to their money. And many of these statewide races are in states with expensive media markets like New York, Texas and California.”

Political spending this year should reach record levels, Tracey predicted.

Wells Fargo's Ryvicker estimates that TV stations will collect $2 billion in political money this year.  Cable television systems will generate at least $150 million; radio stations will garner $250 million; direct mail efforts should consume $650 million; and billboards will receive $55 million. Ryvicker estimated that newspapers would take in $95 million in political money. 

Coming in last, according to Ryvicker and Tracey, will be Internet sites. Their collective haul should be about $50 million -- less than 2% of the total.

Companies that own TV stations in the LA market include CBS Corp., NBC Universal, Univision Communications, News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Tribune Co., which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 and the Los Angeles Times.

For the full story in the Los Angeles Times, click here. 

-- Meg James

As Om shared earlier this month, New York’s tech scene is getting a flood of venture capital for Internet deals, rivaling San Francisco. It’s validation for a city that has built a formidable base of companies and is now becoming a hotbed of start-ups, particularly web-based and software-driven companies.

I sat down with Fred Wilson, venture capitalist with Union Square Ventures to discuss the New York renaissance, how it came about and where it’s headed. Wilson said New York’s tech scene, which grew out of the mid-90s, is in the equivalent of its late teens: just growing into itself as a major player. He said he doesn’t expect to see any slow-up, just as Silicon Valley took off after two decades in the late 1970s. “New York is not only sustainable, but it will grow an order of magnitude from here,” he said.

Wilson obviously has a stake in New York’s stature as a tech center. More than half the companies in his New York-based fund hail from New York, though he wrote recently that’s he’s open to branching out. However, the local growth is real, including start-ups like portfolio companies Etsy, Foursquare and Tumblr, as well as companies like Gilt GroupE and the Ladders.

The growth in the New York scene is largely built on the Internet, which as it’s developed and become more mature, increasingly taps into the expertise of New York, he said. As web start-ups incorporate more data and business logic and work to refine user experiences through design, he said, they’re able to draw on  talent from the local finance, media, fashion and design industries. Companies like Banksimple and My City Way were built by former Wall Street employees, while Gilt Groupe was formed by a trio including Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, a former executive at Bulgari and Louis Vuitton. Several New York entrepreneurs have said something similar to me, saying the city provides an interesting intersection between technology and various industries that both benefit from technology and also influence it.

New York’s place in the tech start-up world often gets short shrift, Wilson said, because the start-ups are of the largely capital-efficient variety. When the figures of VC deals are compiled, they often don’t reflect fully how many smaller companies are starting in New York, making do with less money. In essence, he said there are two VC industries.  “New York doesn’t participate in capital-intensive business. There’s no biotech or hardware here. But if you look at New York’s place in the software business, New York is a huge player.”

What New York lacks at this point is a standout performer on the order of a Google, Apple or eBay, said Wilson. Having a large tech success story would feed the pipeline of entrepreneurs, give some start-ups a chance at getting acquired, and serve as a role model.

“We haven’t had that,” said Wilson. “People look at Wall Street and figure they can sell, so they sell.”

Plus, Wall Street is still an issue for start-ups, trying to convince talented employees to leave better paying jobs in finance, media or advertising to try out the start-up life. But as some of those industries contract, it’s providing more incentive for talent to sign on with start-ups.

“Media, Wall Street, fashion, they’re not growing very much,” he said. “Tech can pick up the slack.”

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

• Did We Really Learn Anything From the Dotcom Crash?


• Lessons From Twitter: How to Play Nice With Ecosystem Partners


• Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

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This is also exciting news, as TrueType fonts are superior to SVG fonts in two very important ways: the files sizes are dramatically smaller (an especially important factor on mobile devices), and the rendering quality is much higher. ...

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The Buffalo News updated every day with news from Buffalo, New York. Links to national and business news, entertainment listings, recipes, sports teams, classified ads, death notices.

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Good news: James Bond and Indiana Jones hooking up to fight aliens.

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Making Money Off Youtube

eric seiger

eric seiger

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Fox <b>News</b> Commentators Caught On Camera Mocking Sarah Palin&#39;s Show <b>...</b>

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eric seiger

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The Fox News Watch crew better learn to watch when the camera is rolling from now on, because they might soon feel the wrath of the Mama Grizzly. Nevermind that Sarah Palin is their Fox News co-worker and a likely contender for the ...

Fox <b>News</b> Commentators Caught On Camera Mocking Sarah Palin&#39;s Show <b>...</b>

WASHINGTON -- The Fox News channel has been something of a safe haven for Sarah Palin, the type of outlet that provided the former Alaska Governor not only with a friendly audience but similarly kind questions.

eric seiger

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The Fox News Watch crew better learn to watch when the camera is rolling from now on, because they might soon feel the wrath of the Mama Grizzly. Nevermind that Sarah Palin is their Fox News co-worker and a likely contender for the ...

Fox <b>News</b> Commentators Caught On Camera Mocking Sarah Palin&#39;s Show <b>...</b>

WASHINGTON -- The Fox News channel has been something of a safe haven for Sarah Palin, the type of outlet that provided the former Alaska Governor not only with a friendly audience but similarly kind questions.

eric seiger

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Casting, 3D &#39;Hovercars&#39; and <b>...</b>

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Sarah Palin on Fox <b>News</b> Watch | Palin Attacked On Fox <b>News</b> | Video <b>...</b>

The Fox News Watch crew better learn to watch when the camera is rolling from now on, because they might soon feel the wrath of the Mama Grizzly. Nevermind that Sarah Palin is their Fox News co-worker and a likely contender for the ...

Fox <b>News</b> Commentators Caught On Camera Mocking Sarah Palin&#39;s Show <b>...</b>

WASHINGTON -- The Fox News channel has been something of a safe haven for Sarah Palin, the type of outlet that provided the former Alaska Governor not only with a friendly audience but similarly kind questions.

eric seiger
eric seiger

eric seiger
eric seiger

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Casting, 3D &#39;Hovercars&#39; and <b>...</b>

Forget watching 'Dawn of the Dead' for tips on how to survive the inevitable zombiepocalypse, it's all about LEGO zombie-killing vehicles. - Less.

Sarah Palin on Fox <b>News</b> Watch | Palin Attacked On Fox <b>News</b> | Video <b>...</b>

The Fox News Watch crew better learn to watch when the camera is rolling from now on, because they might soon feel the wrath of the Mama Grizzly. Nevermind that Sarah Palin is their Fox News co-worker and a likely contender for the ...

Fox <b>News</b> Commentators Caught On Camera Mocking Sarah Palin&#39;s Show <b>...</b>

WASHINGTON -- The Fox News channel has been something of a safe haven for Sarah Palin, the type of outlet that provided the former Alaska Governor not only with a friendly audience but similarly kind questions.

manage personal finances

This guest post is by Kiesha of WeBlogBetter.

Have you ever wondered how some bloggers never seem to run out of post ideas? They always manage to escape the dreaded writer’s block unscathed; they’re always full of inspiration. Ideas overflow and pour onto the page as they type feverishly. They’ve tapped into a mystical stream of never-ending stories.

What if I told you that you could tap into the same power?

Everything you’ve already learned and experienced can be used to create infinite and original ideas for your blog. If you can turn on the analytical and creative juices in your brain, you’ll never run out of ideas.

Almost anything you’ve learned in school, on the job—even life’s lessons in general—can be turned into useful analogies or comparisons. Music, television shows, movies, or videos can also be used as fuel for unique and engaging blog posts.

There are almost no limits to this technique. In fact, the more unlikely and unusual the comparisons you make, the better.

Using my personal experience to blog better

Whenever something evokes an “Aha!” moment for me, I immediately think about how I can use that principle for blogging.

For example, late one night, I was watching The Karate Kid. At the point when young Dre finally realizes that all those days and weeks spent picking up his jacket had really been preparing and strengthening him, my mind immediately connected that experience to blogging.

When Mr. Han said, “Kung Fu lives in everything we do … Everything is Kung Fu”, I jumped up like a hot coal had landed in my lap. I grabbed a pen and wrote:

“Blogging lives in everything we do … Everything is blogging! Every experience is potential blogging material!”

My husband thought I was going mad as I frantically scribbled this on an already over-filled piece of paper. It was a major “Aha!” moment!

Yes, everything in my life — even those experiences that I thought were useless wastes of time — had been preparing me for blogging.

You might not be able to see the similarities between blogging and manicuring nails, but what I learned years ago as a nail technician helps me blog better today. I was known for my creative airbrush designs and 3D nail art. I had more customers than I had time. It sounds like I should be rich by now, right?

Here’s the problem: I loved the design/art part of the process, but I hated the chemical aspects of the job. I also hate feet, which wasn’t the best of news for customers who wanted their toes to match their fingers. I suffer from the exact opposite of a “foot fetish.” Would that be a foot phobia? What I learned is that no amount of money justifies doing (or smelling) things you hate.

How does that translate to blogging?

Nothing, not even money, should be the reason for blogging about something you’re not passionate about.

I can see many parallels between applying acrylic nails and blogging.

They both require preparation

When applying acrylic nails, the surface must be adequately prepared. Skimping on this step creates the prime condition for the growth of fungus or other harmful pathogens that, if left untreated, could create medical problems for the customer.

With blogging, if you don’t take adequate time to prepare with research and fact checking, you could potentially steer a reader in the wrong direction. They may not be physically harmed, but advice you offer on your blog could harm a person’s business or their blogging efforts—and maybe even adversely impact their finances.

They Both Require Good Design

If I tried to put a beautiful design on a malformed nail, it only made the malformation more apparent. On the other hand, a well-formed nail with an ugly or bland design would be a waste of sculpting efforts. In other words, the nail had to be both well formed and display a beautiful design.

The same is true for a blog. You can have the most beautiful blog design, but if your site lacks valuable content, no one’s going to want to return. You need both good design and great content.

So you see, yes there is much to learn about blogging from doing nails. There is much to learn about blogging from everything—from all of your experiences.

Over to you

Have you ever thought about how your own abundance of personal experiences relates to your own niche? And how you can use that to create a blog unlike any other?

1. Start by listing some of the most vivid experiences you’ve had, or lessons you’ve learned over the years.


2. Then instead of thinking about how different they are from blogging, think about how similar they are.


3. Use those points of intersection to highlight those similarities.


4. Then mesh those ideas together to create something new.

What you’ll get is something totally unpredictable and extremely insightful.

Which pieces of your personal experience and life lessons could you use to create an interesting analogy or comparison in a blog post? Which could you use to help you improve your blogging in general?

Kiesha blogs at WeBlogBetter, offering blogging tips and tricks. She’s a technical writer, writing instructor, and blog consultant for small business owners. Connect with her on Twitter @weblogbetter.

A survey released today by Javelin Strategy & Research, which serves financial institutions, found in August that nearly one in five Americans doesn't monitor or manage their personal finances. That rate is double what it was just a year ago. Despite the fact the recession has made it more important than ever to carefully track our money, when it comes to personal finances, 19% of Americans stuck their head in the sand. A year before, another survey had the figure at just 8%.



More anxiety-induced news: The percentage of Americans who say they sometimes log onto their checking account balances with their banks' websites dropped to 46%, down 13 points from 59% a year ago. Even those who track their money by pen and paper dropped, from 50% to 46%.




"It's a natural human reaction to stress: 'Maybe if I don't look at it, it will go away.'" explains the study's co-author, senior analyst Mark Schwanhausser. "I think you have fewer people checking their finances online because they don't like what they're seeing. 'I'm going to be a financial sleepwalker. I'm not going to look.'"



Schwanhausser's prescription for the problem involves convincing America's major financial institutions that they're doing a lousy job helping make it easier and less stressful for their customers to track their money. "It's not enough to tell you how to fix the toilet," he says. "You've got to have the wrench."



Yet despite the fact that most Americans' money resides at a bank, few banks are interested in furnishing financial planning tools. Right now, Schwanhausser argues, most people are required to log into a wide variety of websites to track their money. For example, 75% of Americans who have a credit card get it from somewhere other than their primary bank, meaning their finances are scattered across many websites, unreconciled.



When people do turn to their bank's websites, he argues, the financial planning tools are nearly non-existent despite the fact our society increasingly demands greater personal control through technology. "Today's online banking is like having avocado green appliances from the 1970s. It just doesn't cut it," says Schwanhausser.



Schwanhausser is using the survey to convince banks that it will actually endear customers to them if they put personal finance tools front and center on their sites, helping customers paint a clear picture of their own financial habits. He's pressing them to develop systems, both on the Web and through mobile apps, that can draw in customers' information from other sites, such as credit cards and mortgage lenders, so financial care-taking can be a one-stop process.



So far, banks and lenders have been slow to use existing technology to make money management a less daunting chore. Part of the issue is that many banks don't want to acknowledge competitors by drawing in account balances from elsewhere. Banks also stand to make money off poor financial planning through penalties and fees. Like a doctor who makes money off treating disease, promoting financial good health does not on the surface appear to be in a bank's best interest.



"You can't manage what you don't measure," says Schwanhausser. "And if the bank's not going to provide it for you, you have to go get it in other places."



He recommends existing aggregators such as Mint.com, which pulls your data from multiple sources and lays it out in spreadsheets and in spending plans, as a model for what all the banks should be doing for their customers.



He also notes that Bank of America's "My Portfolio" and Wells Fargo's "My Savings Plan" are two fledgling, if little-known, bank-created features that are slowly reaching toward the sort of comprehensive personal finance planning features he advocates.



As long as it remains difficult or scary, though, when it comes to their finances, Americans will remain more likely to use the Ostrich Method.
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Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 18 <b>...</b>

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Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

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Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 18 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: Shanghai's main stock index fell 1.9% yesterday amid concerns about the impact of government efforts to slow down ...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

<b>News</b> - Tixdaq

Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.

alpine payment systems scam

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Nov. 18 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: Shanghai's main stock index fell 1.9% yesterday amid concerns about the impact of government efforts to slow down ...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

<b>News</b> - Tixdaq

Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.

Making Money Online Forum

First up, let me clarify that I'm a HUGE Shane Carwin fan. The guy is a terrifying force in the Octagon. He's got his weak spots and limitations like any fighter, but I honestly believe he's the most potent offensive force in MMA today.

I am also a fan of the way he engages his fans online with his web site and twitter account. The guy has done a great job of marketing himself in many ways.

But let's cut the crap. Carwin is not doing himself any favors by pulling out of his UFC 125 fight against Roy Nelson. Unless his back is so severely injured that he has no choice but get the surgery he would be better off sucking it up, fighting hurt and getting the surgery after this fight if he still believes it to be necessary.

Why do I say this? Let me count the ways in the full entry.

UPDATE: From Shane-Carwin.com:

Update for my BE.com friends. I have been fighting injured for three years. I have done all of the things that "possibly could reduce the pain", in the end the problem continues to come back. I have spent a week getting treatments and the pain has been increasing. I really do not have a choice in the matter. Most managers need to milk all they can from fighters but mine is putting my interest ahead of what is best for him. That is actually a good thing.

I am getting a second opinion tonight but if he suggest surgery then I will be going that route. I have made up my mind that this is the likely outcome. With or without surgery I would face a 8-12 week recovery (no contact) time and not be ready for 125. My "options" are do surgery and repair it or spend 12 weeks recovering and apply a band aid and march on. I plan of fighting for a long time and while I may not be getting any younger I have certainly taken way less damage then anyone else in the UFC with as many fights as I have. Aside from Gonzaga breaking my nose I have not been hurt in any of my fights. So repairing my self so I can be at my best for the best part of my career is actually a really good idea.

To anyone questioning my ability to pass any test, I say bring it. I have and will always pass my test.

 

1. Carwin himself says the surgery is optional.
   That's not the kind of message to put out in a public forum. Dana White doesn't want to hear that. If Carwin needs to have the surgery, the thing to say is, "My fans know I wouldn't miss this fight if there were any other alternative, but I have to listen to the doctors and do what's best for my health."
   
   


2. Dana White and the UFC NEED Shane Carwin on this card.
   UFC 125 is headlined by Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard. As talented as those two fighters are, they are not major PPV draws. It's a sad fact that lightweight fights don't sell as well as heavyweight fights and Frankie Edgar is not a star like B.J. Penn who can overcome that. Not to mention that many fans consider both Edgar and Maynard to be boring fighters to watch. Then there's the utter lack of personality or smack talk from either Edgar or Maynard. Not a recipe for a big New Year's card. Shane Carwin vs Roy Nelson was the perfect co-main. Heavyweight contenders with awesome KO highlight reels. Carwin fought in one of the biggest PPVs in UFC history at UFC 116 and Nelson was featured on the highest rated season of TUF ever. Plus both guys are willing to talk smack and promote themselves. 
   
   


3. Shane is already likely on thin ice with the UFC.
   Carwin got linked to a federal steroids prosecution after his UFC 116 fight. While Dana White didn't publicly pile on, that's not the kind of news he wants his fighters making. Not to mention the whole pre-UFC 116 controversy when Carwin and his manager Jason Genet told Bloody Elbow that they were limiting the amount of fight promotion Carwin would do for his title shot against Brock Lesnar to the bare minimum because they were not getting a % of the PPV money. They quickly retracted and attempted to burn our reporter when the UFC objected. Carwin's tweets last week about the UFC banning one of his sponsors couldn't have helped anything either. Things like that linger in the mind of Dana White. Ask Todd Duffee. 
   
   


4. Shane Carwin is older and near the peak of his athletic years.
   Does Carwin really have the time to take off for a risky back surgery? Back surgeries are high risk and low reward propositions for athletes. They often don't work at all. Ask Tito Ortiz. Carwin needs to be striking while the iron is hot and keeping himself in the good graces of the UFC and in the forefront of fans' minds. The UFC heavyweight division has seemingly passed him by in the blink of an eye. Young studs like Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are going to be out ruling the world while Carwin is sitting on the side lines.
   
   

In sum, despite his public attacks on me and this site, I wish Shane Carwin the best and strongly urge him to get new management that has his best interests at heart. 

UPDATE: Let me clarify, the decision to not fight is totally up to Shane and his doctors, family, coaches and management. I hope he made the decision that is best for his health. It's his dumbass decision to tweet that it was his OPTION to sit out the fight or not that I'm objecting to. If you have to drop out of a fight for health reasons, save the agonizing and second guessing for your private conversations with friends and family. Toe the company line on Twitter.

Few people are more highly regarded in the blogging-for-business world than Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net. He has essentially set the blueprint for how to turn a blog into a business, and is one of the go-to sources for tips on how to do as much. He had a chat with WebProNews at BlogWorld last week, after speaking in one of the more popular keynotes at the event. 



Rowse discussed with us how people can get started blogging, and eventually turn their blogs into moneymakers. "You need a blog to start with, then really my first priority would be getting some useful content on there - some content that's actually going to solve some problems for people," he said. "So if you're blog's a how-to type blog, you want to start thinking 'what's a beginner in this topic need to know?' and start writing that type of content that you can be referring back to later, so that when you start promoting it, you've got content there that they'll find, that is engaging for them. So that is probably the first step, and then, it's about putting yourself out there, and trying to find some readers."



Have you been able to turn your blog into a business? Let us know. 



If the how-to path is the one you're interested in traveling, I'd reccommend reading this article, discussing ways to create effective how-to articles, with tips provided by John Hewitt, who has written technical manuals for companies like IBM, Intuit, and Motorola. 



Either way, "First you want to know who you want to attract, because it's kind of easy to get noticed on the Internet, but if you do it in the wrong way, you could actually 1. take yourself further away from your goals, but 2. find the wrong readers," noted Rowse. "You could get..readers from a place like Digg or StumbleUpon...some of these social bookmarking sites, but they may not actually be the type of person that you want to journey with for the whole long term. So define who you want to reach, and ask the question, 'where can I find them online?'" 



"Answering that question, for me, on my photography site led me to Flickr. Flickr's a place where people have cameras, and not everyone takes great photos, so it was a place for me to develop a presence. For other blogs, it may lead you to Twitter or Facebook or another blog or a forum that is related to your particular niche."



Forums can actually be great for your brand (in some cases, maybe even more so than Facebook or Twitter). Forums are a good source of relevant discussion to your niche, provided you engage in the right places. They can help you establish yourself as an expert (not unlike Q&A sites), and they can be particularly good for building a search presence. Forum threads do really well in Google for certain queries, particularly when someone is looking for help with something. 



"I think a lot of bloggers treat their blog as a hobby, and I mean, that certainly is the way I started out," Rowse told us. "I didn't realize you could make money from blogging when I started. But my wife kind of gave me an ultimatum after a while. I'd began to dream about my blog becoming a business, and certainly was moving in that direction...one day, she kind of said, 'you need to do it'. Then she gave me six months to get it done."



"Once I had that ultimatum, and that deadline in mind, it just switched in my mind and started making me thinking of it as a business now, and really that was the turning point for me, because I began to think more strategically about who was reading my blog, what they needed, and products that I could launch to them," he continued. "But also, I got on the phone for the fist time and started ringing advertisers to create a direct relationship with them."



Rowse recently discussed using temporary blogs as stepping stones for your broader goals:

benchcraft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

benchcraft company scam

First up, let me clarify that I'm a HUGE Shane Carwin fan. The guy is a terrifying force in the Octagon. He's got his weak spots and limitations like any fighter, but I honestly believe he's the most potent offensive force in MMA today.

I am also a fan of the way he engages his fans online with his web site and twitter account. The guy has done a great job of marketing himself in many ways.

But let's cut the crap. Carwin is not doing himself any favors by pulling out of his UFC 125 fight against Roy Nelson. Unless his back is so severely injured that he has no choice but get the surgery he would be better off sucking it up, fighting hurt and getting the surgery after this fight if he still believes it to be necessary.

Why do I say this? Let me count the ways in the full entry.

UPDATE: From Shane-Carwin.com:

Update for my BE.com friends. I have been fighting injured for three years. I have done all of the things that "possibly could reduce the pain", in the end the problem continues to come back. I have spent a week getting treatments and the pain has been increasing. I really do not have a choice in the matter. Most managers need to milk all they can from fighters but mine is putting my interest ahead of what is best for him. That is actually a good thing.

I am getting a second opinion tonight but if he suggest surgery then I will be going that route. I have made up my mind that this is the likely outcome. With or without surgery I would face a 8-12 week recovery (no contact) time and not be ready for 125. My "options" are do surgery and repair it or spend 12 weeks recovering and apply a band aid and march on. I plan of fighting for a long time and while I may not be getting any younger I have certainly taken way less damage then anyone else in the UFC with as many fights as I have. Aside from Gonzaga breaking my nose I have not been hurt in any of my fights. So repairing my self so I can be at my best for the best part of my career is actually a really good idea.

To anyone questioning my ability to pass any test, I say bring it. I have and will always pass my test.

 

1. Carwin himself says the surgery is optional.
   That's not the kind of message to put out in a public forum. Dana White doesn't want to hear that. If Carwin needs to have the surgery, the thing to say is, "My fans know I wouldn't miss this fight if there were any other alternative, but I have to listen to the doctors and do what's best for my health."
   
   


2. Dana White and the UFC NEED Shane Carwin on this card.
   UFC 125 is headlined by Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard. As talented as those two fighters are, they are not major PPV draws. It's a sad fact that lightweight fights don't sell as well as heavyweight fights and Frankie Edgar is not a star like B.J. Penn who can overcome that. Not to mention that many fans consider both Edgar and Maynard to be boring fighters to watch. Then there's the utter lack of personality or smack talk from either Edgar or Maynard. Not a recipe for a big New Year's card. Shane Carwin vs Roy Nelson was the perfect co-main. Heavyweight contenders with awesome KO highlight reels. Carwin fought in one of the biggest PPVs in UFC history at UFC 116 and Nelson was featured on the highest rated season of TUF ever. Plus both guys are willing to talk smack and promote themselves. 
   
   


3. Shane is already likely on thin ice with the UFC.
   Carwin got linked to a federal steroids prosecution after his UFC 116 fight. While Dana White didn't publicly pile on, that's not the kind of news he wants his fighters making. Not to mention the whole pre-UFC 116 controversy when Carwin and his manager Jason Genet told Bloody Elbow that they were limiting the amount of fight promotion Carwin would do for his title shot against Brock Lesnar to the bare minimum because they were not getting a % of the PPV money. They quickly retracted and attempted to burn our reporter when the UFC objected. Carwin's tweets last week about the UFC banning one of his sponsors couldn't have helped anything either. Things like that linger in the mind of Dana White. Ask Todd Duffee. 
   
   


4. Shane Carwin is older and near the peak of his athletic years.
   Does Carwin really have the time to take off for a risky back surgery? Back surgeries are high risk and low reward propositions for athletes. They often don't work at all. Ask Tito Ortiz. Carwin needs to be striking while the iron is hot and keeping himself in the good graces of the UFC and in the forefront of fans' minds. The UFC heavyweight division has seemingly passed him by in the blink of an eye. Young studs like Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are going to be out ruling the world while Carwin is sitting on the side lines.
   
   

In sum, despite his public attacks on me and this site, I wish Shane Carwin the best and strongly urge him to get new management that has his best interests at heart. 

UPDATE: Let me clarify, the decision to not fight is totally up to Shane and his doctors, family, coaches and management. I hope he made the decision that is best for his health. It's his dumbass decision to tweet that it was his OPTION to sit out the fight or not that I'm objecting to. If you have to drop out of a fight for health reasons, save the agonizing and second guessing for your private conversations with friends and family. Toe the company line on Twitter.

Few people are more highly regarded in the blogging-for-business world than Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net. He has essentially set the blueprint for how to turn a blog into a business, and is one of the go-to sources for tips on how to do as much. He had a chat with WebProNews at BlogWorld last week, after speaking in one of the more popular keynotes at the event. 



Rowse discussed with us how people can get started blogging, and eventually turn their blogs into moneymakers. "You need a blog to start with, then really my first priority would be getting some useful content on there - some content that's actually going to solve some problems for people," he said. "So if you're blog's a how-to type blog, you want to start thinking 'what's a beginner in this topic need to know?' and start writing that type of content that you can be referring back to later, so that when you start promoting it, you've got content there that they'll find, that is engaging for them. So that is probably the first step, and then, it's about putting yourself out there, and trying to find some readers."



Have you been able to turn your blog into a business? Let us know. 



If the how-to path is the one you're interested in traveling, I'd reccommend reading this article, discussing ways to create effective how-to articles, with tips provided by John Hewitt, who has written technical manuals for companies like IBM, Intuit, and Motorola. 



Either way, "First you want to know who you want to attract, because it's kind of easy to get noticed on the Internet, but if you do it in the wrong way, you could actually 1. take yourself further away from your goals, but 2. find the wrong readers," noted Rowse. "You could get..readers from a place like Digg or StumbleUpon...some of these social bookmarking sites, but they may not actually be the type of person that you want to journey with for the whole long term. So define who you want to reach, and ask the question, 'where can I find them online?'" 



"Answering that question, for me, on my photography site led me to Flickr. Flickr's a place where people have cameras, and not everyone takes great photos, so it was a place for me to develop a presence. For other blogs, it may lead you to Twitter or Facebook or another blog or a forum that is related to your particular niche."



Forums can actually be great for your brand (in some cases, maybe even more so than Facebook or Twitter). Forums are a good source of relevant discussion to your niche, provided you engage in the right places. They can help you establish yourself as an expert (not unlike Q&A sites), and they can be particularly good for building a search presence. Forum threads do really well in Google for certain queries, particularly when someone is looking for help with something. 



"I think a lot of bloggers treat their blog as a hobby, and I mean, that certainly is the way I started out," Rowse told us. "I didn't realize you could make money from blogging when I started. But my wife kind of gave me an ultimatum after a while. I'd began to dream about my blog becoming a business, and certainly was moving in that direction...one day, she kind of said, 'you need to do it'. Then she gave me six months to get it done."



"Once I had that ultimatum, and that deadline in mind, it just switched in my mind and started making me thinking of it as a business now, and really that was the turning point for me, because I began to think more strategically about who was reading my blog, what they needed, and products that I could launch to them," he continued. "But also, I got on the phone for the fist time and started ringing advertisers to create a direct relationship with them."



Rowse recently discussed using temporary blogs as stepping stones for your broader goals:

bench craft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

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benchcraft company scam

benchcraft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

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First up, let me clarify that I'm a HUGE Shane Carwin fan. The guy is a terrifying force in the Octagon. He's got his weak spots and limitations like any fighter, but I honestly believe he's the most potent offensive force in MMA today.

I am also a fan of the way he engages his fans online with his web site and twitter account. The guy has done a great job of marketing himself in many ways.

But let's cut the crap. Carwin is not doing himself any favors by pulling out of his UFC 125 fight against Roy Nelson. Unless his back is so severely injured that he has no choice but get the surgery he would be better off sucking it up, fighting hurt and getting the surgery after this fight if he still believes it to be necessary.

Why do I say this? Let me count the ways in the full entry.

UPDATE: From Shane-Carwin.com:

Update for my BE.com friends. I have been fighting injured for three years. I have done all of the things that "possibly could reduce the pain", in the end the problem continues to come back. I have spent a week getting treatments and the pain has been increasing. I really do not have a choice in the matter. Most managers need to milk all they can from fighters but mine is putting my interest ahead of what is best for him. That is actually a good thing.

I am getting a second opinion tonight but if he suggest surgery then I will be going that route. I have made up my mind that this is the likely outcome. With or without surgery I would face a 8-12 week recovery (no contact) time and not be ready for 125. My "options" are do surgery and repair it or spend 12 weeks recovering and apply a band aid and march on. I plan of fighting for a long time and while I may not be getting any younger I have certainly taken way less damage then anyone else in the UFC with as many fights as I have. Aside from Gonzaga breaking my nose I have not been hurt in any of my fights. So repairing my self so I can be at my best for the best part of my career is actually a really good idea.

To anyone questioning my ability to pass any test, I say bring it. I have and will always pass my test.

 

1. Carwin himself says the surgery is optional.
   That's not the kind of message to put out in a public forum. Dana White doesn't want to hear that. If Carwin needs to have the surgery, the thing to say is, "My fans know I wouldn't miss this fight if there were any other alternative, but I have to listen to the doctors and do what's best for my health."
   
   


2. Dana White and the UFC NEED Shane Carwin on this card.
   UFC 125 is headlined by Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard. As talented as those two fighters are, they are not major PPV draws. It's a sad fact that lightweight fights don't sell as well as heavyweight fights and Frankie Edgar is not a star like B.J. Penn who can overcome that. Not to mention that many fans consider both Edgar and Maynard to be boring fighters to watch. Then there's the utter lack of personality or smack talk from either Edgar or Maynard. Not a recipe for a big New Year's card. Shane Carwin vs Roy Nelson was the perfect co-main. Heavyweight contenders with awesome KO highlight reels. Carwin fought in one of the biggest PPVs in UFC history at UFC 116 and Nelson was featured on the highest rated season of TUF ever. Plus both guys are willing to talk smack and promote themselves. 
   
   


3. Shane is already likely on thin ice with the UFC.
   Carwin got linked to a federal steroids prosecution after his UFC 116 fight. While Dana White didn't publicly pile on, that's not the kind of news he wants his fighters making. Not to mention the whole pre-UFC 116 controversy when Carwin and his manager Jason Genet told Bloody Elbow that they were limiting the amount of fight promotion Carwin would do for his title shot against Brock Lesnar to the bare minimum because they were not getting a % of the PPV money. They quickly retracted and attempted to burn our reporter when the UFC objected. Carwin's tweets last week about the UFC banning one of his sponsors couldn't have helped anything either. Things like that linger in the mind of Dana White. Ask Todd Duffee. 
   
   


4. Shane Carwin is older and near the peak of his athletic years.
   Does Carwin really have the time to take off for a risky back surgery? Back surgeries are high risk and low reward propositions for athletes. They often don't work at all. Ask Tito Ortiz. Carwin needs to be striking while the iron is hot and keeping himself in the good graces of the UFC and in the forefront of fans' minds. The UFC heavyweight division has seemingly passed him by in the blink of an eye. Young studs like Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are going to be out ruling the world while Carwin is sitting on the side lines.
   
   

In sum, despite his public attacks on me and this site, I wish Shane Carwin the best and strongly urge him to get new management that has his best interests at heart. 

UPDATE: Let me clarify, the decision to not fight is totally up to Shane and his doctors, family, coaches and management. I hope he made the decision that is best for his health. It's his dumbass decision to tweet that it was his OPTION to sit out the fight or not that I'm objecting to. If you have to drop out of a fight for health reasons, save the agonizing and second guessing for your private conversations with friends and family. Toe the company line on Twitter.

Few people are more highly regarded in the blogging-for-business world than Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net. He has essentially set the blueprint for how to turn a blog into a business, and is one of the go-to sources for tips on how to do as much. He had a chat with WebProNews at BlogWorld last week, after speaking in one of the more popular keynotes at the event. 



Rowse discussed with us how people can get started blogging, and eventually turn their blogs into moneymakers. "You need a blog to start with, then really my first priority would be getting some useful content on there - some content that's actually going to solve some problems for people," he said. "So if you're blog's a how-to type blog, you want to start thinking 'what's a beginner in this topic need to know?' and start writing that type of content that you can be referring back to later, so that when you start promoting it, you've got content there that they'll find, that is engaging for them. So that is probably the first step, and then, it's about putting yourself out there, and trying to find some readers."



Have you been able to turn your blog into a business? Let us know. 



If the how-to path is the one you're interested in traveling, I'd reccommend reading this article, discussing ways to create effective how-to articles, with tips provided by John Hewitt, who has written technical manuals for companies like IBM, Intuit, and Motorola. 



Either way, "First you want to know who you want to attract, because it's kind of easy to get noticed on the Internet, but if you do it in the wrong way, you could actually 1. take yourself further away from your goals, but 2. find the wrong readers," noted Rowse. "You could get..readers from a place like Digg or StumbleUpon...some of these social bookmarking sites, but they may not actually be the type of person that you want to journey with for the whole long term. So define who you want to reach, and ask the question, 'where can I find them online?'" 



"Answering that question, for me, on my photography site led me to Flickr. Flickr's a place where people have cameras, and not everyone takes great photos, so it was a place for me to develop a presence. For other blogs, it may lead you to Twitter or Facebook or another blog or a forum that is related to your particular niche."



Forums can actually be great for your brand (in some cases, maybe even more so than Facebook or Twitter). Forums are a good source of relevant discussion to your niche, provided you engage in the right places. They can help you establish yourself as an expert (not unlike Q&A sites), and they can be particularly good for building a search presence. Forum threads do really well in Google for certain queries, particularly when someone is looking for help with something. 



"I think a lot of bloggers treat their blog as a hobby, and I mean, that certainly is the way I started out," Rowse told us. "I didn't realize you could make money from blogging when I started. But my wife kind of gave me an ultimatum after a while. I'd began to dream about my blog becoming a business, and certainly was moving in that direction...one day, she kind of said, 'you need to do it'. Then she gave me six months to get it done."



"Once I had that ultimatum, and that deadline in mind, it just switched in my mind and started making me thinking of it as a business now, and really that was the turning point for me, because I began to think more strategically about who was reading my blog, what they needed, and products that I could launch to them," he continued. "But also, I got on the phone for the fist time and started ringing advertisers to create a direct relationship with them."



Rowse recently discussed using temporary blogs as stepping stones for your broader goals:

bench craft company scam

bench craft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

benchcraft company scam

benchcraft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

bench craft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

bench craft company scam

Bullpen <b>News</b>: Benoit, Choate, and Friedman - DRaysBay

The more news that comes out like this, the more likely it is that he won't be a Ray next season. I am surprised that Randy Choate is garnering such strong interest, but he was one of the more effective, proven left-handed relievers on ...

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Under The Weather

Hey, Kotaku. You want to engage in a little off-topic conversation to close out the night? Sadly, I won't be joining you. I'm calling in sick.

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benchcraft company scam

bench craft company scam