Hey all, I recently started the blog The University Kid; basically it's a way of keeping track of my earnings, however I'll also (try to) post up informative content that will help others looking to learn about making money online. Anyways, the site is being redesigned at the moment; the design has been completed, and is getting coded for WordPress... it's similar to John Cow's design with a different logo at the top. Now, I want to make this BIG; really, really BIG- I'm getting t-shirts created for it which should serve as a good way of promoting it offline; anyways, I'm also thinking of having a major contest running for a month (from November 15-December 15) to drive traffic to the website. This is not really for the money, although obviously I'd appreciate it if I didn't make a loss; I'm doing this to get my name out in the world. For the contest, I'm toying with the prizes- a custom created eBook cashcow package, which normally goes for $300 will be the first prize, while other prizes include an image ad in the sidebar, my DP avatar, a year free hosting and a few domains. I'd like to have more, but can't afford it as of now; anyone know how I'd get about securing 'sponsored' prizes? Also looking for other means of promotion; I'll be buying a Digg front page boost for an article that will be written in a couple days for the relaunch, and will also market heavily in other ways. The website is The University Kid, thanks for reading this
I would try forum posting, spread your site around in 'Show off' sections, get a digg front page when your site if complete, it will get you a lot of traffic, also when you do get a frontpage, make a big RSS button for your feedburner, people will subscribe Try pinkzap.com for the rss button. Hope it helped.
I've posted about the site in various forums; will be buying Digg front page when the template is ready. I'm getting a customized RSS button, that will be displayed on the new template Any ideas on how to get sponsors for prizes? I have around $500 worth of prizes, but the more the better obviously
Backlinks are important. Joining forums related to your site's content will bring in visitors. Getting blogged will bring in visitors...
Cheers mate, constructive critisism is always good. Design is being changed, as for the content... I'll be trying to 'soup it up' soon
I wouldn't waste money printing shirts, because noone (assuming only a little amount) knows about your site yet. Printing shirts at this stage would be just wasting money. You do that when your site is known. I would suggest writing an interesting article, and paying one of those people on DP $50-$65 to get you on the front page. Alot of people on Digg would most likely be interested in a site like yours. Other than that, a PR would help. Social bookmarking maybe?
If you have a spare $400 then I do recommend a JohnCHow.com review... we had one done and are very pleased with the results. You can read about it at http://blog.adtoll.com/2007/11/13/the-john-chow-effect-on-adtoll/
I don't see how you can say the design is like John Cow. You have a much smaller sidebar, a much smaller icon, no nav links... It looks just like a standard Wordpress blog.
@ Skribblez, I was thinking of doing that for the contest article actually, but would that not work? Still looking for a possible DPer that can do it though, we'll see how it goes. I've done social bookmarking, submitted to the 40~ sites. @ airraid and ruby, yep thanks it's being redesigned. I'm pretty happy with it, should be up today or early tomorrow
I'd be interested in donating SEO packages/services from my internet marketing company Freezing Hot. If you could PM me a little information on your traffic and how you'll be linking/promoting my site in return that would be great. Thanks.
Looks like an informative site and seems like you've got lots of reads, I suggest you keep up with the contests the seem like a good way to get people coming back, good luck.