Buff Toast

Thanks Kim and Dan for joining and critiquing! If you have a room that you want me to join, feel free to ask :) And everyone else too. And any suggestions, feel free to share, so I can make a good site, that can share good recipes with everyone. :) - Art Y.

I went to your website, and I loved it! The colors were perfect. Great job! - Michelle Trent

Thank you Michelle. I'm glad. :) - Art Y.

Art, many of the links that go outside your site open in the same tab. I'd have them all open in another tab if you can, so that visitors stay on your site. The Tiramisu links are the first ones that open in another tab. I'm not so keen on the colors as Michelle - I find the dark grey sides make the recipe pictures quite unappetising, and re the red top - red's the color that fast food outlets use when they want people to finish their food quickly http://www.google.com/search?q... - Marysia

Great blog Art. I would suggest grabbing the video camera and putting yourself up on Youtube. Video on how to practical things are always great. - gerry

Oic... Actually about the links thing, I couldn't decide whether people would like it to open in a new window or same window better, so I experimented with both. But I think I'll use opening in a new tab or window then. Thanks Marysia. About the colours, I agree with you about the grey streaks in the background :( But unfortunately, I'm not too sure about how to change it. Will look into it soon though when I have time. - Art Y.

About the red colour, you're very right about the psychology of the colour making the site look more appetizing :) Which is why I used red and orange. Both are colours that make people feel hungrier. But actually it's more about making you hungrier rather than eating faster. Interior designer frequently use these two colours when designing kitchens, Which is why a lot of food places use them too. - Art Y.

Thanks for the compliment gerry :) Well, I'll probably be making a video sometime in the future,but I think it's still to early for me, as I'm still learning about writing articles right now on Day 16 of the TDC. ;) - Art Y.

You might find some other red/orange themes eg http://demo6.theme4wordpress.c... and http://demo7.theme4wordpress.c... - Marysia

The first one looks really nice. Thank you! Was it one of the WPD themes? I'm not sure if it's working if it is... But I can try it. I'm pretty sure I tried all the red and orange themes, and some of them had alignment problems when you put your ad in. - Art Y.

Yes, I just put red into the WPD gallery, and it came up. I think they're adding themes all the time but am not sure. Perhaps try it with a tryout add-on or subdomain. I have a subdomain just named after the theme, where I try out some of my posts before putting them on the real site - I clear the ping-list tho, so that I'm not pinging duplicate content lol - Marysia

Ok :) If I choose to change a theme, will it affect my page links later on? - Art Y.

No, the theme has nothing to do with your url or links - you can change the theme any time - Marysia

Ok. Thanks - Art Y.

Art, I like the theme layout. Simple 2 column and nice font/font size. Wonder why the "easy dessert recipes" in the tag cloud exits the width of your blog. Your blog also don't look like a typical 30DC blog. There is no sticky post of your first blog post in your home page. This sticky post is supposed to be keyword optimized for SEO. I also see many keywords under category. 30DC ask us to start with 1 primary keyword, and then have 2-3 category keywords. For each keyword, we do the cycle of blog post .. - Buff Toast

squidoo, hub and web2 content. But work on your primary keyword first. Also preferably bold, underline or italic your primary keyword. Keep up the good work. - Buff Toast

I am curious why your blog have both technorati tags and tags. My blog only shows technorati tags. Does the 2 sets of tags have different function or SEO implication? - Buff Toast

Another concern Art, as we keep clicking through your blog, the stats for visitors and affiliate track will be distorted. The stats data is needed on decision day later in the challenge. I better stay off your blog until you've completed your 30DC =) - Buff Toast

Not sure about the "easy dessert recipes". It's probably the theme. Is there supposed to be a sticky post? I didn't know about that... There may be a problem with my theme then... Oic... I wasn't aware of the need to have only 2-3 category keywords. Thanks for telling me. I must have not been listening carefully enough to the videos... - Art Y.

I'm not sure about the technorati tags and tags either... I thought everyone's blog was the same. I think it's ok for all of you to click through. I can deduct off the traffic by referring to the people coming into my blog from FriendFeed. :) But thank you anyways for the concern. - Art Y.

Ok... So I just calmed myself and thought a little about it... And I think I got too carried away with the fun.. that I completely forgot that my objective now is to be testing the market! :( So I probably shot random keywords everywhere without thinking. Oh no!!! Ok. So let me get this straight, I should be writing articles about my main and sub keywords, and only mymain and sub keywords until I reach #1 in Google for all of them. Is that right? No room for variation or other interesting posts? - Art Y.

The problem is, when doing the lessons, I can see how they fit in in their individual perspectives, but I'm unable to look at everything as a whole since I don't really know what's coming up in the coming days... But I will probably understand it more once I go through everything once. And then try it again. - Art Y.

Yes.Create content for your primary keyword first. Then do the same for 1-3 secondary keywords(if any). Day25 you will look at your stats and decide your next move. Day27 - if u decide to expand, then all the other keywords u have will come in useful. - Buff Toast

I check the training for the Sticky Post instruction ... but can't find it. Ed's VEG blog is not showing the 1st post as sticky now too. Perhaps they made some changes after the Aug challenge. That's why u don't have a sticky post. No worries. - Buff Toast

As for the tags, I found my answer in Day6 PDF Pg6. A plugin called WP tags to Technorati converts and gives the 2 sets of tags. Your blog is OK. But I only have the technorati tags in mine. All the best as u continue your challenge. - Buff Toast

Oic. Ok. Thanks Buff! I'll remember to focus more on my main keyword now. Maybe that's why I'm ranking for 100 keywords, but not my main keyword.. :( - Art Y.

My name is everywhere. Google me :) -- I think privacy is an illusion, so I just post stuff as me. I'm my own brand online or something. - Rahsheen ™

Get over it, you're on the internet as a marketer, you need to be marketing You Inc. I am in online network marketing and it's all about marketing you. People don't buy products, they buy you. - Greg Martin

I agree with Greg. You want people to find you, don't you? Most professionals use their names. Most spammers hide behind a handle. How do you want to be viewed? - Amy Boyack

Well, there are hundreds of successful people who use pen names (such as Dr. Seuss, Agatha Christie, and more) and are still able to keep themselves professional while getting people to know them... Hmm... What does everyone else think? - Art Y.

I personally would use your own name. - Jenny

A name is simply a brand - don't let the ego get involved in business. If you ever want to sell that brand down the track or change into a different market, then a pen name is not a bad idea. For example, if you became an expert on photography as John Smith and then you wanted to become an expert on macrame, then from a branding perspective, you would not really want John Smith associated with that new market. It would water down the power of the original branding. You can branch down vertically into the niche area (ie camera lenses, camera books), but not accross into a new market. If people hear your name and google you but see 3 or 4 areas, they may see you as a jack of all trades and move on to a specialist. - gerry

I am with jenny, use your real name.... You're No DR Seuss :-) ...The names you mentioned are offline... People are skeptical already online (as they should be) Give them a reason to trust you... start with honesty on who you are... This also includes not blocking your information on your domain information.. If I am unsure if something is on the up and up I check the who is on the domain.. I would not buy from your site... information is blocked - Mark South

If your name is really unique then it will be easier for people to track you. I don't think Mark S has a lot to worry about ;-)> You may want to consider a unique pen name for articles so you can track them in the search engines. Putting "quotes" around a unique name with a middle initial is easy. I would personally use my real name on a product - be proud...unless you don't want your mother to see it! - MJ Billadeau

Hmm... Another tough decision in life... Anyone in here who uses a pen name mind sharing his or her experiences? Mmm... And those using your real names, anyone been mobbed by the paparazzi before? - Art Y.

Does my name show as Mark S on here or Mark South? - Mark South

Mark South, not Mark S, to Art, I use my maiden name but also have two pen names as well, as long as it's you, doesn't really matter. You still get the paycheck :) - Kath

Oic... But if you're using a pen name, how would you get paid your paycheck? A paycheck has to be in your real name, does it not? Also, I've never used Paypal before, but when people pay you money, can they see your name? - Art Y.

Just be yourself... then no worries :-) Your following Ed's teachings right? WWED what would Ed do? Fortunately we don't have to ask... Provided his real name is Ed Dale :-) - Mark South

Ed says that he always asks what Dan Raine would do, and that the answer is always that he would dance naked in the garden... - Marysia

LOL. Ed real name is Edward. He is Ed Dale in IM Market. But I don't know his name when he is marketing in a niche or micro niche. - Buff Toast

Err... I think he did mention that he also calls himself Ted Legend? - Art Y.

Ok. Thanks everyone for all your advice... I guess I should use my real name then... I won't have to think so much about things. I guess it shouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as I stay clear of the paparazzi radar ;) But I'll do it for my next niche. I've already used my pen name everywhere for my current niche now, and it's too late to change. - Art Y.

Well, just for a short moment I'll try how it feels to be the mysterious Internet Marketer whose true identity is unknown. He owes allegiance to no one, and comes and goes like the wind... How exciting! :) - Art Y.

Art, this is turning into a very intersting thread! Used your real name in credit on my site btw! - Inspired Writing Research

I certainly will be using different personas for different sites. You honestly think Ed Dale and the other v successful internet marketers used their own names on all their niche sites - come on!? And do you really want everyone to be able to put your name into google and discover your keywords? For your affiliate programs you give your own name, so no probs with the checks. This is discussed in the 30dc forum in several places. Scole (Shannon) puts it well when he says: "I create my characters with the market in mind. For example, if I'm targeting the knitting market. I don't want to be a 30 year old guy from Newfoundland giving knitting tips to 60 year old women in Alabama. So I'll create a character that the market would expect to see (in my opinion) giving out these sort of tips (ie a 50-60 year old woman from the US)" Look at his and Caro's posts in this thread: http://www.thirtydaychallenge.... - Marysia

I'm using a pen name.. For me it's the same as a company name. Brand the name grow it and sell it. It's just an asset, it's part of the business. Unless you name has already value in the market, I would suggest that you find a pen name that gives you zero results in google. And use it as you pen name. This way you can set a google aler on your pen name and folow it. - Juan Pablo

Great tip. Thanks Juan - Marysia

I use pen names on niche sites for three reasons 1. Dan Raines most awesome google trick 2. If I used my name they would be ripped off faster than father Christmas delivers presents 3. Much easier to sell web the time comes!! - Ed Dale

I think using pen names is the way to go as Ed says although I'm sure there is a right and a wrong way of doing it. Maybe someone that is already doing it might share with us some quick tips about using a pen name in a niche market, from a marketing perspective - Hector Sanchez

Heh heh didn't Ed just do that? Also look at that 30dc forum thread I posted above, and others on the same subject. - Marysia

That's ok Inspired Writing Research! :) - Art Y.

THANK YOU Marysia, Pablo, Ed, Hector, and everyone for all your advice! After reading the last few comments as well as that forum thread, the lights went on inside my head! I've never thought of my pen name as being a separate name for my business before. I've always thought of it as another name for myself, which made me very uncomfortable. That is great! - Art Y.

Heh, I'm dancin & boogin here in my lil ole London flat - you got the lights! - Marysia

In real life, a business is always considered a separate person from it's owner to avoid problems. Now I know exactly what to do and how to do it! Thanks a lot! I think I will create separate profiles on my Flock or Windows for different niches and pen names, to make password handling and bookmarking easier. Come to think of it, even in the music scene, nowadays people are making their own albums, and putting crazy animated Frogs on it as the composer. It works well, and people love it too! - Art Y.

Finally, my problem is solved, and I can continue on my quest for awesomeness (for which there is no charge)! Thank you again everyone.I really appreciate all of your comments. Just a simple change of perspective, changed my look at the whole situation. - Art Y.

Thanks Marysia for giving the link to the 30DC forum discussion on this topic, very interesting. I just have a question, if I want to use a pen name, what about the face picture if for any reason I have to use one and not an avatar? What do you guys recommend? - Hector Sanchez

Umm... Well, I'm thinking about maybe using a hand drawn picture of a cartoonish like character for my face picture. Wonder if that would be good? - Art Y.

Great question Hector. Scole (Shannon) I think uses a friend, who also does his appearances for him. If you search hard enough on the forum you'll find where he writes about that - it might be in the same thread. On my hubpage I use a photo of me where I'm just not recognisable as the same person. Maybe time to get out those old photos, or borrow a friend. Or perhaps digitally adjust a photo? - Marysia

I guess the branding is the most important. I chose my ishabluebell username on the ole internet to represent the real me because my nickname (Isha) was usually unavailable, and I was just tossing anything onto the end of it in desperation. I flung bluebell on there because I like bluebells, & conveniently a friend had taken a recent photo of me in bluebells. Now I can use a load of bluebells instead of my face for branding if I want. I aim to do it for the background of my twitter page v soon. - Marysia

Oic... That's a great idea too Marysia. :) I can start planning about branding my niche about my name... - Art Y.

By the way.... what is Dan Raines most awesome google trick? - Art Y.

I was wondering about that too Art... - Marysia

I think that Dan Raines most awesome google trick is in the preseason of 30DC (2008 version). If I'm not mistaken, it is mentioned either on the Google Reader or Google Alerts lessons - Hector Sanchez

Oh. Ok. I'll check later. Thanks Hector! - Art Y.

I've been thinking a lot about this thread. If we are going to eventually become leaders in our niche market, (i.e "lead a tribe") then I think it is inevitable that our face becomes visible at some point in time. For example, If I start doing YouTube videos for my niche, my face would be visible, unless I do only Camtasia tutorials, so maybe the whole point is to use a different name (pen name), but with our real face, at least a face picture that is a little bit different to the one we use in other niches, what you guys think? - Hector Sanchez

I think you should try to establish different images or even identities for different niches. You should consider your reputation and credibility. If you establish a good reputation in one area, do you want to dilute or diminish it by claiming to be an expert in many unrelated areas. Think about Bob Villa, by sticking to home improvements and tools he has become a household name. If he suddenly started selling in an unrelated market like computer software, I think he would lose credibility. - Peter Johnson

Well... you probably don't have to show your real face.One solution I thought of was maybe to get a custom made mask of another person's face and wear it everytime you do a video. Or sit in an arm chair with the back of the chair facing the camera while you're talking, like those unseen characters in movies. Such as Charlie in Charlie's Angels? - Art Y.

Me too Buff Toast - Marysia

Looks like it might not work properly in Flock? http://forums.binaryturf.com/v... - Marysia

Yep. That's what I discovered too. I wonder how Mark got his pretty colour tabs for Flock2. - Buff Toast

He's Marrcus in the 30dc forum - I've just PMd him. - Marysia

Thanks Marysia. - Buff Toast

Unfortunately, you are right. It's not working properly in that respect. It's just the background that you can change (the deep blue) in mine. You can get rid of the edges round the white tabs by changing the preferences to 'Generate colours by Domain Hostname' and going to presets and enabling 'Enable Preset Domain Colours' and changing the colour picker to your background colour, but unless you add all your favourite domains and set the same, you still end up with - Mark McGimpsey

a random coloured edge to your tabs when you type in a domain outside of these choices. I guess we'll have to wait for a new version. - Mark McGimpsey

Thanks, all that hard work and getting up at 5am is starting to pay off;)) - Elliot Webb

Awesome Elliot!!! - Peter Gibson

Wow. Excellent! Congrats. - Buff Toast

Way to go Elliot. Celebrate the singles! More to come.... - Gregg

Well done. Thanks for sharing. - Rosie Peters

Proud of you bud! No one can say you haven't worked hard for it! I am glad you are being rewarded! - Michael Roberts

Though I didn't have a day like yours...I am proud to say, one of my sites made $16 in one day! Thank you Dan, Ed and Frank Kurn! - Michael Roberts

Congratulations Elliot and Michael! :) - Art Y.

That is huge, well done - Kath

wow that is huge great work! - Mitja MG

wooohoooo - that IS a lot of money to me to. Congratulations - Elizabeth

To me that's huge too!! Many congrats Elliot! - Marysia

And congrats to you too Michael Roberts! - Marysia

Great stuff Elliot! It's so exciting when you see the fruits of your labour!! - Helen Palmer

congratulations, Elliot! - Amy Boyack

congratulations Elliott! - Wayne Brewin

Awesome job Elliot, this is positively brilliant! - Jenny

Good job Elliot - it would be huge for me too. And its a good start. - Janelle Cranston

Thanks for all your support you are all great!!:)), yep it was a great day, and one step closer to that apple imac;) - Elliot Webb

That is great!! Means your buying lunch, right? ;) - Sheryl Loch

Lunch!, forget lunch!, lets go right for the drinks;)) - Elliot Webb

Thanks LJF! - Marysia

Thanks Bluejeanslady! - Marysia

Very Cool! And, umm, there is never to much purple!! - Sheryl Loch

My feelings too, Sheryl! And I thank you! - Marysia

Prince and I are partying like it’s 1999, well done you and never forget that Purple = Passion and you can never have too much of that! - Groobers

Groobers - thanks! I agree - and we've missed you! Has your head been in that Samurai? - Marysia

Woops - did I say that?! - Marysia

Nice one Marysia - I've missed the laughs and all you good people, as long as my heads not up my ..... then I'm happy... - Groobers

I've been learning and browsing all evening but yours was the most interesting thing I read! Gripping! Congrats! - Inspired Writing Research

Wow - thank you muchly Inspired! - Marysia

Ah the power of purple! Such a thrill for all of us to share your delight and success since you have always been generous with advice and support in this room. Goodonyamate (not the Latin version!) - Kim Baillie

Thankyou Kim! I retire to my bed a happy bunny. The Latin version: Goodonyamate goodonyamate goodonyamatam goodonyamati goodonyamatai goodonyamato. No? - Marysia

THANK YOU ED!!!! - Marysia

I see there is still work for me to do - goodonyamato goodonyamatas goodonyamatat goodonyamatamus goodonyamatatus goodonyamatant :-)) - Kim Baillie

Oh gosh I've forgotten so much! - Marysia

Well done, a great way to end the year :-) - Wayne Brewin

Thanks Wayne! - Marysia

Thanks also to Dan Raine and Guru Bob and all the 30dc moderators and the whole 30dc team; and thanks also to the whole Noble Samurai team. Big kiss. 'nite - Marysia

Congratulations Marysia! You'll earn 10000x more this New Year! :) - Art Y.

Congrats! Feeling happy for you too. - Buff Toast

That's great Marysia. - Russ

congrats! - Mitja MG

Thanks Lisa, Art, Buff Toast, Russ, DaleK and Mitja! - Marysia

Just finished reading The Big Rattle. I start with the last tale in the book. Thank u Ron. - Buff Toast

Your welcome, Some great classic tales I hope you like them - Ron Harwood-micronet

Thank you Ron! - Marysia

Sticky means that post will stay on top, otherwise it will just get pushed down. It's probably for SEO reasons since that's your most optimized post. I feel the autopost feature coming up very soon :) - Umit Namli via twhirl

I choose the option "Make it sticky" for the 1st blog post. But it still slip down the page when I add the 2nd blog post( which is on "Unstick post" option). Any idea why? - Buff Toast

never mind looks like I found the answer in the knowledge base http://www.noblesamurai.com/su... - David

I have the same problem - Buff Toast

your samurai is tired, let him rest for a while.. should be fine - Jeremy

The work around solution http://twurl.nl/oxdg7h if problem persists. Watch "Overview of Market Samurai v0.53's New Features" - Buff Toast