Ramblings
Does Don Imus Matter To Us?
The situation with talk show host Don Imus has been getting quite a bit of attention the last few days. The story is very simple, and here it is in summary:
- Talk show host says stupid thing. Targets of the comment happened to be black
- He gets “called” on it.
- Black “leaders” like Al Sharpton act all hot and bothered and work hard to make sure everybody else is hot and bothered, too.
- All other public figures play it safe and act outraged, denounce Imus, and start dropping contact with him.
- Every else jumps on the bandwagon.
- Imus gets fired from MSNBC and is on 2-week leave from radio.
- Sharpton says “It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves“. Obama calls for him to be fired.
And therein lies the problem. We are turning into Communist Russia, where the Hollywood blacklist is on its way back. All somebody has to do today is act hot and bothered and everybody gets worried and goes on trying to prove they are not in agreement with the “offensive” comment of the day. This is indeed a problem for the airwaves because TV and radio both are subject to heavy governmental regulation. But, is it only a matter of time before this stuff ends up affecting the internet?
I think Rosie O’Donnell is possibly one of the most annoying human beings on the planet, but even SHE said of this situation that the thought police are coming. I actually agree with Rosie! [feels forehead]
What Don Imus said was idiotic, but I can find you thousands, probably millions of WAY more offensive comments on the internet. Where do the cries for censorship end?
Lazy Linkage – Issue Two
OK, today I am going to post the second “issue” of the lazy linkage. You might wonder why I call it that. Well, its just a lame dork attempt at humor because rather than creating content of my own for you, I’m just linking to other people’s content. But, I try to be fair and balanced here at WebbyOnline. So, here we go…
- The Sales Funnel Explained
This is a great article which explains exactly what a sales funnel is. You hear that term in ecommerce circles all the time. If you’re trying to do business online and have not thought about this concept with your online store, you could be throwing dollars away big time. Worth the read. - Touchgraph – Google Browser
A cool little tool worth checking out. This thing will search Google and generate a graphical diagram which illustrates on the relationships between a website and other websites, according to Google. When you run the search, you get a cool little java browser which does the work. - TaskFreak
I have been talking on and off here and in the newsletter about the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. Well, I ran across Taskfreak, a PHP/MySQL free web-based task manager which is GTD compliant. - 10 Tips for Writing the Ultimate Landing Page
Another great piece by CopyBlogger where Roberta outlines 10 important guidelines for copywriting a landing page. - Gliffy
Check this thing out. It’s a Web 2.0 style web application for drawing diagrams on the web. And the stuff you can design with it looks frickin’ nice. Amazing. - Expanded Search with Yahoo! Alpha
Profy.com discusses Yahoo! Alpha, the new enhanced search being tested by the #2 search engine. This is classic Web 2.0 as it brings in content from many different sources. Very cool, Yahoo. - Crazy Egg
This is an analytics service with a twist, allowing you to overlay link stats, even a heat map, over top your site. You can use it for free, with traffic limitations. - Top 100 April Fool’s Hoaxes of All Time
This is one of those links that make you laugh a little. A, for a more web-focuses one, check out this fake story about Techcrunch buying Fuckedcompany.com. - Wordpress 2.1.3 and 2.0.10 Released
It’s a security release. Wordpress’ers – you’ve been warned.
- Chitika Blog Bash
Chitika is the comparison shopping service many bloggers make a dime with. This month, they are doing something unique with their blog – recruiting famous bloggers to come and post for 30 days. Its funny…I caught wind of this from an ad on BloggingPro which says “Chris Pirillo on BlogBash”. And it was an ad running in Google Adsense. Funny how they use Chris’s name in an ad and it works.
Well, there’s your lazy links. Now I’m going to go sit and have a Heinekin like a lazy ass while other bloggers supply content for the next “issue”.
Leveraging Your Site
I saw a blog post by Andrew over at Web Publishing Blog which talks about leveraging what you have. I find it amazing how Andrew ends up echoing what I’m doing in my own business over on his blog. This week, leveraging what I have has been big on my mind. And, the end result is that I am getting more done this week than I have in some time.
The situation here has been that, if you extend my revenue stats out for the past year, the graph is pretty flat-lined. If you look back 4 months, it’s a very noticeable downtrend. There is usually a spike in revenue around the holidays so that fact that I’m not generating what I was during that time is not surprising. However, my constant goal here is to always be increasing, even if slightly. So, a year-long flat-line trend is not that great. I’m not bitching. I am earning an easy 6 figures yearly working online full-time.
The thing is that I have a very big asset known as PC Mechanic. The site has 10,000+ people daily looking at it. Eyeballs is the name of the game in this business. I have those. But, am I really taking full advantage of the site? I mean, if I had a store on the street with 10,000 people strolling through every single day…one word. DAMN! But, am I making the kind of money from PCMech that I would expect from a 10,000+ customer store? No.
The big missing ingredient has been marketing. Its about getting the word out. Delivering what people want. Staying on the edge. New products. And, in summary, leveraging what I have. For example, just today I launched a new ad format on PCMech and am currently testing it on the homepage to get more subscribers to the weekly newsletter. The signup stats have SUCKED and now that I’m paying attention to it properly, I realized that. So, instead of using popups, I am using a Catfish-style ad I found from Sitepoint. I am expecting a much increased subscription rate from the same traffic. Leverage.
On a related note, we also just today launched our first DVD over at PCMech for building your own PC. New products. Always good.
New Blog for Pilots
I would like to briefly announce a new blog site to you: Passion Aviator. This is a new site focused on general aviation and pilots. This site is an unofficial part of my blog network. I say “unofficial” because the site was my idea and it sits on my server, however it is completely the project of my brother, Bryan. Bryan is a flight instructor at a school in central Florida. Perhaps a couple months ago or so, Bryan quit a relatively well-paying job at an accounting firm in order to go into flying. He was already a hobbyist pilot, but had a real passion for it (hence the name). And he HATED his job. So, he bit the bullet and took the pay cut and went and got a job as a flight instructor. It is all part of a series of steps to ultimately get into the airlines as a professional airline pilot.
When I got into blogging toward the end of 2006, I had the idea of creating a blog site targeting a known narrow niche market. The problem with a niche market, though, is that to do well in it you either need to know that market well or you need to know people who do. Well, my family has a lot of pilots. My father lives with his wife in a pilot community up near Ocala. My mother and her partner have just bought a house in Hidden Lake, another pilot community in Central Florida. Both of my parents are pilots and so is my younger brother. On top of that, I knew that Bryan could use all the networking he can get to get into the field. So, Bryan was the perfect choice to run a blog for pilots.
He’s doing a great job with it, too. I have helped him set the site up, but he is totally running with it on his own and I have pretty much nothing to do with it now. Go check it out. If you’re a pilot or know a pilot, spread the word.
Time to Light the Fire Under my Ass
Well, I am back in the States now, fresh off the honeymoon. Italy was fantastic, but as with any longer trip, I’m always ready to get back to work when its over. With the wedding and honeymoon, I haven’t really had uninterrupted worktime for a few weeks now and there is so much to do. I returned to several thousand emails in my inbox, unfulfilled orders, etc etc. So, there is always that obligatory “putting out fires” mode when I get back from vacation. More importantly, though, I feel this is a good time for me to take a bit of pause, reorganize some things, then really move forward full blast with my projects.
The web is moving all the time. I have been working online since before the bubble burst of the late 90’s. I survived the burst (almost by the hair of my chin) and came out the other end still with a profitable business. Since then, we’ve seen many new companies come into the picture and the rise of Web 2.0. I’ve seen a lot of start-ups come up from the mud to turn into huge web empires. I’ve witnessed the rise of blogging, web video and social networking. Things are changing and they are changing quickly. I was a late adopter into the world of blogging and I hope not to get lost in the mix here. I have also gotten into web video. So, strategically, I think I’m making some good moves. But, its time to stick this boat into hyperdrive, man. Even though, compared to the mix of people who try to make a business online, I am probably above average (I actually eek out a good living doing this), I still feel I am not accomplishing enough.
You ever have that feeling? As hard as I work, sometimes I get the feeling I’m doing a lot of wheel spinning and not making enough forward progress with my business. Its a bit of a professional rut, really. And I’m not the kind of guy who can sit here, doing well, and just be content with it. I can do better.
So, I am going to use the event of getting married as a little bit of a life divider. Its time to regroup, to set some targets, and work aggressively to get there. And, more importantly, its time to change the operating basis.
I hope you will follow WebbyOnline (this site) as I will, of course, be posting here along the way. This site is dedicated to those trying to make a successful business on the internet. I hope my views on this subject will be welcome.
Mystery Wordpress Theme Switch Continues…
For some reason, the theme of this site keeps switching back to default. For those who may come by here while this is the case, rest assured that this site looks a LOT better than the default Wordpress theme. I am over in Italy right now and can’t do too much about this now, but I certainly need to debug this as soon as I get back to Florida.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Dave is Hitched and Lovin’ It
This will be my last purely personal post and I promise I’ll get back to the internet-related material. However, Malika and I tied the knot on Saturday. It was an adventurous wedding! There was a risk of rain that day, and all day was cloudy, yet dry. Until about an hour before the wedding when it began to rain. So, we went into emergency plan B mode and began setting up to do the ceremony under cover (but in the same location). Then, the power went out in the neighborhood. Apparently, a transformer exploded nearby, and all this while the cater was trying to cook and we’re trying to get things set up. So, while Malika is upstairs stressing out (she wasn’t supposed to see me until showtime), I am running around in my tux with my family getting things set up. We begin to set up my grandfather’s generator to provide power to the DJ. We got the caterers set up in the RV to use the propane to cook. See what I mean by adventure?
The power came back on. The rain continued. But, you know? It ended up being a very nice wedding. People seemed to really enjoy it, and I doubt it’s a wedding they will forget. The caterers did a great job. People loved our ceremony as well as our choreographed dance that we managed to pull off outside after the rain stopped (finally). After the wedding, we got a luxurious ride home, where Malika and I packed my car (seen above, newly decorated by my brother) and headed over to a bed & breakfast on Anna Maria Island on the beach. Incredibly relaxing and we REALLY enjoyed that.
This week, we’re back in the chair going about our business, but on Friday we leave for Italy. We are going to Venice, Florence and Rome and will be gone a total of 10 days. After I get back, things will return to business as usual.
Risley Is Getting Married
Today I am going to take a quick break from the technology and internet material and make a little personal post. I haven’t made really any deal of this on any of my websites, but as I write this, I am only two days away from getting married. Tomorrow, I am taking the day almost completely off to attend to wedding things and then we have a rehearsal at 5PM. The wedding itself is at 5PM on Saturday. It’s being held at my grandfather’s big beach house on Apollo Beach. The only thing, so far, is that we’re watching the weather here. We’re going to have a cold front come through here that morning and we’re just hoping we won’t have any rain problems. But, seriously, weather can’t take away any meaning from the fact that I’m tying the knot with Malika.
Here is a small statement that I plan to say at our wedding and I would like to say here, as well, to Malika:
Over the last 3 years, you have blessed me with your love, advice and guidance. We have created a true partnership, a true loving union which will help guide us both through the rest of our lives. You are so much a part of me now that I can barely imagine my life without you. As stereotypical as it sounds, you really do complete me, honey. If not for you, I would be an overweight man who spent my whole life on the computer and watching Fox News. Instead, you brought me balance, love and life. I am sitting here about to take the hand of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and actually call her my wife. Before our family, friends and God, we will solidify our creation and step forward as man and wife. I make a promise to you now that I will never forget our original intention that brings us all together today. Together, we will create a life of happiness, prosperity, friendship, compassion and understanding. But, most of all, I will continue to love you and to help you and I create the lives we envision.
I am usually a pretty to-the-point guy, but when you get married, it is one of those life-changing events that really cause you to sit back and look at life as a whole. I am such a lucky man in so many ways. I got in on the internet industry back in 1997, totally as a hobby. It turned into a line of work and, when I graduated college, I was one of the few (if not the only) graduate not looking for a job. Why? Because I had one – working for myself with PC Media (my company). There is still a lot of growth ahead of me with my business, but I’ve still managed to do pretty well. I am currently 28 years old, am supporting two homes (mine which is being rented out and Maliks’s while she is getting a second degree at USF), we own 3 cars (yeah, I have a little Miata just for fun), have decent stuff, a great family, a job which I actually enjoy, and now, the most beautiful woman in the world as my wife. This is one of those times where I just have a hard time resisting having a big shit-eating grin come across my face.
The wedding should be fun, albiet a bit cold. Since Malika’s father is a trained dancer, he actually choreographed a little dance for us to do. Its actually pretty easy, but if you had told me a couple months ago that this computer nerd was going to be dancing choregraphy, I’d have smacked you across the face. I’m a Risley, not a dancer. Those two words RARELY go in the same sentence together. Trust me.
So, anyway, we’ll be enjoying a relaxing day at the beach after the wedding, then I’ll be back in the office next week. But, Friday, we are leaving on our honeymoon to Italy. I’ll let you know how the wedding goes next week.
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
