The reason for the title of this post is only because I really really want to continue the blog but I fear that the following has somewhat disappeared. I haven’t been to involved in the MMO field and now that I have the time I can really do just that but I am not sure if its a good idea to stop the blog and create a new one or continue with the current blog.

I really enjoyed talking about new possibilities, blog concepts, WordPress plug-ins and so forth and I’d like to continue doing that but I also want to be sure that the blog can sustain itself with a following that I had at a point. Let me know your thoughts and I will definitely think about this myself. It may be better to make the url more memorable but who knows, maybe it is fine the way it is! Let me know and I’ll be putting out more posts in the time being! Thanks guys!

There are many things that people are “addicted” to and although I say “addicted”, I’m not really talking about coffee or anything. I’m talking about things that interest you. For example, I love electronics (therefore the iPad picture above) and I will experiment with different kinds of electronics. I built two desktops last year, I have the 1st generation ipod touch and I recently got the Archos 101 tablet. I just enjoy seeing technology evolve and its just interesting to me.

People, just like myself, are always intrigued by something or the other whether its clothes, cars, whatever it may be. Today, I want to talk about things that interest me and maybe sooner or later, I’ll be able to provide more of an insight into such things. I want to know, whats your addiction? What is something that you just enjoy or love?

Another one of my hobbies is this “vehicle” you see above. Its the Traxxas Rustler VXL which is a remote control car and although most of you probably think that R/C cars are for kids, you’ll be mistaken. This particular car goes past 65 mph. As such speeds, its almost dangerous to hand over the control to an inexperienced user or young kids for that matter. I just enjoy going out there on the street and watching my Rustler run up and down the street at extremely high speeds.

Its also great because I get to make modifications to it, and fix it up when things go wrong – and things do go wrong or break but if you’re looking for a R/C car and you don’t mind spending a couple hundred bucks, then the Traxxas brand is definitely one that you should consider. I think quite a few guys have a need for speed and if you can’t get it on the streets in an actual car then you should invest in a R/C car. I should also note that a Traxxas even if its $300 brand new, even with 5 years of use, its still worth a $100 or $150 so it retains value and still works really really well.

Watches….Thats all that I need to say! Watches.. I love my watches. I think jewelry for women is overrated and its time for men to indulge in a little something for themselves. I always have a watch on my wrist no matter if its worth like $10 or if its priceless and although people don’t see the point of spending more than $50 for a watch, watches are like an investment. They are like owning property.

You’d be surprised to know that quite a lot of watches actually not only retain their value but also increase in value. Yes, agreed, those types of watches are expensive but still great nonetheless.

Let me know what you guys think is your “addiction”. It doesn’t really have to be something that you can’t live without but basically things that interest you, and things that you enjoy. Lets hear it!

What are your resolutions for the new year? I think for me, I want 2011 to be a huge year. I want to increase my investments, I want to spend more time focusing on expanding the blog and my other ventures and I definitely want to dedicate more time to experimenting with CPA and CPC offers at Market Leverage and Clickbooth.

I actually really want to get back into the CPA and CPC thing mostly because I have seen a lot of people do quite well in the past year and I think that with a little learning, some investment and time commitment, I can get a piece of the pie – however small it may be. If you guys have any guides or tutorials that helped you, I would love to take a look at it.

Either way, hope you guys have a fantastic new year and keep me posted about what you are working on! I will have a post in a few days requesting you guys to email me or write to me about some new blogs that have come around that I should visit. I look forward to becoming more active and I know my readers will be able to help me! Have a GREAT New Year!

The only way to really be successful is if you view the world and what it brings to you, in a positive light. My first post is going to focus on factors that lead to people becoming “Losers” more so than “Winners”. There are a few things that can lead to your downfall when it comes to being a winner and I’m going to list a few of them here:

1) Worrying too much – People tend to think way too much about things. Before submitting a project, they’ll worry whether they did it right or wrong. After taking an exam, they’ll worry about going through their textbooks and looking at what they got correct. Sometimes, theres not enough time to worry OR its too late to worry about something. You can’t really go back and change your answers, you know?

2) Trust / Delegation – Sometimes we are so used to doing things ourselves that when we have to hand off something to a stranger to complete, we feel the need to take over and show them how its done. We hate when people micro-manage us but we feel compelled to do it ourselves. We can’t be like that, we need to trust the work that others perform for us and obviously, it won’t be exactly how you like it, but it still will save you a lot of time and effort.

3) Negative Outcome Perception – This is what I call NOP – Negative Outcome Perception. The only reason I say perception is to remind you that you cannot be negative about something or believe that something will have a negative result until it is complete or has actually happened. You never know what may happen or if something might happen along the way that may change the outcome. You can’t be negative!

Hopefully you’ve taken a few great points away from this post. I’d like to hear your feedback regarding these and don’t worry, everyone has dealt with one or more of these issues throughout their life so its not like things cannot be changed, they can be, its just up to you to do so!

The email is as follows – ” Figured I’d share my experiences with 1&1. I am glad you are having good luck with them, but honestly, I have no good words for them. The domain was stolen a few days before the last PocketPC Magazine hit the stands, in which my software won a major award, and I was receiving a lot of exposure with DVD Catalyst Free due to a LifeHacker article. They took over the domain at the time the domain was the most popular, and nearly killed my whole business in the process. Because of their thievery, I’ve been struggling ever since. Finally last November I got a lucky break, but take it from me, change your registrar company before you end up like me.”

The thing is that I have heard of PocketDVD and I think that this story does have a lot of truth to it and I strongly feel for this individual. I also understand what is going on. I even looked up what this person was talking about and its very true – this has happened to a lot of people. Now, I figured that I am a loyal customer so why shouldn’t my hosting company be loyal to me? right? well, I want to ask these questions directly to 1and1 so I hope that someone is willing to answer these questions for me.

So, if anyone 1and1.com representative comes across this or anyone has had experience with this issue or has heard others that have had this issue please write in the comment box below as I would love to hear from you. So lets see the comments! Also, do let me know if you’ve experienced such problems or even similar problems with other hosting companies.

The reason its different is because if you have a really old version of WordPress, you can’t automatically upgrade it. You have to upgrade WordPress manually. This is what made me really nervous about upgrading it. Also, the fact that I’d have to deal with a new design and new interface, kind of scared me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not technology prone, but I’m not used to change that I have a feeling I won’t like. To get things cleared up though, the new interface is AWESOME! So much more informative and well laid out.

Also, the idea that something will happen to the blog is scary but not too scary because I create weekly backups of my SQL database and I have a current backup of my WordPress blog on my hard drive as well. So all the files and everything are always secure and up-to-date. The part that scares me is having an error occur and being offline for a day. I don’t want that to happen but either way, the upgrade process was easy. WordPress has a great guide out there but maybe I can help with a more separated step process which makes my upgrade process, 7 steps. Here it is:

Step 1 : Create a backup of files on your FTP server – This includes all files in the main root that pertain to WordPress as well as the wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes folder

Step 2 : Create a backup of your MySQL database just in case something goes wrong. This is needed because you might need to update your database once you complete upgrading WordPress. Dont worry, this won’t erase any of your posts, just needs to update table structure. Here is WordPress specific tutorial as to how to backup your database. Depending on your webhosting company, you may or may not have PhpMyAdmin but the process will still be quite similar.

Step 3 : Download the latest version of WordPress by clicking here and unpack it onto your desktop.

Step 4 : Delete your existing wp-admin and wp-includes folder. Copy over the new wp-admin and wp-includes folder as well as any files that would be in the root folder. Do not copy over the wo-content folder otherwise you risk losing essential data such as uploaded images, themes, etc.

Step 5 : Compare your old wp-config.php file to the wp-config-sample.php that is in the new WordPress install. I recommend checking to see if theres any change in structure. If there is, copy over data from your existing wp-config file into the sample file provided and then rename the sample file and upload it to your root folder.

Step 6 : Browse over to www.yourblog.com/wp-admin and login. You might be ask to update your database which usually takes 2 seconds and then you will be logged in to the new upgraded version of WordPress.

Step 7 : Sit back, relax and enjoy!

So, I hope you liked my post. I’m sorry if I might have named something wrong because I based the entire installation purely off of memory but I will re-check it again to make sure I got it right. I wonder how many of you have still not updated from the old version — a show of hands…or comments? Have a great rest of the week!

1) Easy Way To Get The Word Out – Promotional items such as pens and t-shirts are a very convenient way of getting the word out. They are usually items that most individuals would use on a daily basis such as pens, notepads, usb drives or they are things that can be worn such as an hat, watch, t-shirt. When people use these items, they don’t even realize that they are advertising for someone else because to them, its probably just a comfortable shirt or they like wearing it. The idea of getting something for free, is very appealing to everyone and that plays a big role for the promotional goodies as well.

2) Cost Effective – Most of the goodies that are sent our way probably don’t cost a whole lot. Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot of things that I have received have been on the more expensive side such as the Nike Bag and Polo shirt sent over by the good folks over at Market Leverage but for the most part, they are pretty cheap when compared to paying for advertising. All that means is that instead of spending $15 or $20 a month for a small 125×125 ad, the companies rather divert their money into putting together a swag bag of goodies that their customers can wear and show off!

3) Word Of Mouth Travels Fast – I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked about my ShoeMoney shirt or my Market Leverage branded Flip Mino or the orange Clickbooth clock. When people see something interesting, unique or different, they tend to inquire about it. This usually leads in me telling them which company sent it over to me. People find it interesting and their curiosity leads to them asking others how they can get the same goodies. This person usually converts into a customer for the company that sent out the merchandise in the first place and the cycle continues on. Its a pretty good method of advertising, isnt it?

Sorry guys, I think I did the time stamping wrong so this post didn’t get posted in time but I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts and feedback regarding the post. How is your long weekend so far? Any big plans?

1) Ads – Okay, so I’m not going to knock on JohnChow or anything just because when you’re an established blogger, you can do whatever you want, and your readers will still be supportive. Your readers still have a lot to gain so they’re not going anywhere. What I’m talking about is people who have no business having ads on their blog anyway. These are people who believe in ad space SUPERmaximization. When theres not enough room and LOTS of ads. You can’t do that. You have to have a little white space to appear a bit more organized and clean.

2) Slow Website – Sometimes your website runs slow because of hosting issues and sometimes your blog is just graphic heavy. There are ways that you can help your blog perform better. You can optimize the graphics on your blog to load faster or even switch to a hosting provider that has better, faster servers. Sometimes there are widgets and javascripts running on your blog that also help slow it down. An example of a widget is the Entrecard widget. Tomorrow I will have a post that tests the speed of some of the most popular blogs in the blogosphere.

3) No Design/Customization – It takes a little effort but its good to have a blog that is customized. It helps the visitor know that you’ve spent some time on it and aside from that, even if youre a fairly new blog, it makes you look professional – as though you’ve been around longer. Having a default theme is so 2004. Readers now look for customized themes and eye-catching designs. As a marketing expert for product packaging would say, its not really what you sell, but how you sell it and thats what counts.

I have listed a few things that come to my mind when I wonder what would be the most obvious reasons why readers are turned away from your blog. These go hand in hand with how fast/slow your blog loads. In a few days, I will have a post about what you do in terms of the content you put out that turns away your readers. Hope you guys have a good weekend! Stay tuned for tomorrows post!

Im not a newbie in the blogging industry and this gives me the advantage because last summer, I experienced a similar situation and I had to pretty much start back from scratch. In case, you don’t remember, Last year, I decided to finally purchase enkayblog.com and this meant starting back with no Alexa Rating, no Page Rank and no Technorati. I was able to build everything back up within 2 months.

This time, things will be harder. Why you ask? Well, things are a bit different. It seems as though the blogging industry has slowed down. A lot of old friends are now gone and so that support is missing. Furthermore, the economy has affected some of the bloggers and aside from that, some bloggers have decided to move away from blogging and onto other things. All this makes this time around a bit harder.

What Am I Getting At?
Well, basically what I am saying is what I have preached for several months now – you have to have goals. Setting this goal for myself means that I need to, and will, try harder and harder in order to be where I was, if not better, than I was when I decided to step away from blogging a few months ago.

Why are Goals Important?
Well, in simple terms, goals help motivate you to do better things. They help you to keep at it till you are able to be where you want to be. By having this goal of wanting to reach my previous status as a blog, I will do everything in my power of achieve it. It helps motivate me and remind me of what I want and then it is up to me to do all that I can to achieve that goal.

Can I Do It?
I hope that I am able to do it and this will be a process that I will document slowly as time goes on. I really think that if I am able to put out great content and get the link backs and audience support that I can achieve this goal. How long do you think it will take me? and if you’ve gone through such a hiatus before, how long did it take you?

One such company that provides great training is known as Countrywide Training. Their onsite training provides its students to learn from a live instructor and ask questions that they may have as if they were actually in the class itself. Countrywide training also sets up training programs for companies in the event that you need to train more than one individual at a time. They send over a certified instructor to a company’s location to train its staff on a variety of topics.

One of their several different training programs includes Microsoft Office. This training helps employees become proficient in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. Being proficient in these programs is a crucial goal for any staff at any level in their career. Their training programs include other IT specific training courses and even several different types of certification programs to help elevate your staff to a higher level of technical knowledge. So, if you’re looking for some training programs then you should probably look into something like Countrywide onsite training.

As far as my training, I am finally back in Houston and ready to begin work on Monday. This will mean that I won’t have as much time to devote to my theme design, but I’m sure Ill have time on the weekends to do so. Training in Atlanta was tedious but it helped me become proficient with the software and corporate culture of my company. I will have a post this week that will talk about some of the things I learned about work ethic, that we, as bloggers, can apply to our blogs in the blogosphere.