What I blog for

You all know everybody is getting a lot of junk emails everyday.

On September 11th, I got this message from betwilliams02@yahoo.com

Hello please,
I know this may sound strange to you , receiving a mail from an unknown person, but condition forced me to do that.
I sent to you this email  proposing to you my intentions to transfer my heritage of FIVE MILLION EURO  to your country for investments to enable me continue my studies.
                                                    
I therefore  wish to hear from you for an urgent response, .
Thank you for your comprehension.
BEATRICE WILLIAMS.

Normal people would delete this mail at once, maybe some greedy moron would think about stealing those five millions… but… how many of you really know what happens if you reply?

That’s it: I simply replied:

Let me know further information.
 
Regards,
Kirenia

And the game begun!

Next day, on Septeber 12th, I got this email

Dear  sir.

 This means ”they” did not even read my email, or ”they” would have written “Dear Kirenia”… anyway… 

Really am very appreciative of your rapid response to my mail requesting for your assistance to securing the release and transfer of my inherited funds into your nominated account and to have me come over to your country to continue and complete my education. I may not express how happy I am at your acceptance to assisting me with this transaction.Meanwhile willing to offer you 20% out of the total while more 5% for all the expensive that might arise during the cause of the fund transfer inluding telephone calls and mails etc.

 This means  25% of five millions euro… 1.25 millions euro…  about 1.73 million dollars… but the most evil part is you will want to keep all 5 millions once in your account

Quite frankly, I know it may have sounded pretty strange for you on why I chose to contact you who is a complete stranger to me and I must tell you this, I contacted you for the simple reason that we do not know each other. It would be very difficult for me to contact anybody here who knows me for this purpose as I may stand the risk and chance of being cheated of my money because the person would have known my weaknesses. I may even lose my life on the long run but this is an exact opposite on contacting a complete stranger.

 No, you aren’t in the last Martin Scorsese movie… this is REAL! 

I have always known that it would be very difficult if not totally impossible for someone who does not know me to try to hurt me over my inheritance hence, I contacted you. I believed in my heart that you will not fail me nor try to do anything funny and your mail to me now has reconfirmed what I had believed earlier. This is in addition to the fact that my father advised me in his dying bed to ensure that I had a foreigner assist me with this venture instead of having any of our local people do it for me. I guess he knows pretty well the ways of life of our people and didn’t want me to go through the agonies he faced while having our local people as his business partners.

 Omg… her father was a racist…

You see the fact remains that the amount in question is my inheritance from my late father. Like I did explain in my earlier email to you; my Dad deposited the fund with a bank here in Cote d’Ivoire where I am still staying and writing you from now; with the utmost intentions of having it transferred overseas for investment but was killed by his associates primarily because of jealousy. They felt he was going to use his wealth to monopolise their business hence got him poisoned.

 Rich chicks… poisoned fathers… pure gangsta rap video style… wear hip hop sunglasses and read on, bro

 Cote d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producers and exporters of cocoa and coffee and it’s a very lucrative business here. However, during the time of the fund’s deposit, my father had a documented agreement with the bank that in the event of an uncertainty(death) I should not be allowed to have a direct access to the fund,in the same agreement, it stated that in the event that I want to have access to the funds, I must have a guardian/partner who must be of a foreign origin. This is why I have decided to have you assist me with the purpose of securing the release and transfer of the fund into your nominated account and to have me come over to your country to continue with my studies which is of importance to me at this time while the funds are being properly and legitimately invested.

I want to assure and reassure you that my request is legitimate and 100% legal and hitch-free. I would not want to have anything to do with illegality hence, I would want us to follow the process of getting the fund transferred legally as may be stipulated by the bank. What I would do after I have sent out this letter to you is to contact the bank here and do let them know about you and introduce you as my appointed guardian/partner who would be receiving my inherited funds on my behalf. This will ultimately enable the bank to give you adequate attention when you contact them.

Did you read? I must write the bank saying I am the guardian/partner of that girl.

You will have to contact the bank, informing them that you are my guardian/partner and by virtue of your position, you would request that my inherited fund be released and transferred into your nominated account so that you would have me come over to your country to continue with my education.
BANK CONTACT INFORMATION
 
BANK NAME: Bicici Bank International Abidjan Cote d’ivoire
NAME OF Director /Mr. Michael Lafont.( DirectorGeneral)
TELE/FAX: +2252-156-4879
DIRECTOR TELE: +2250-956-7703
EMAIL: info@biciciweb.com
DIRECTOR PRIVATE EMAIL: director@biciciweb.com
BANK WEBSITE : www.biciciweb.com

(Director of international remittance unit)
I am very hopeful that as soon as you establish contacts with the bank, they shall let you know the requirements to completing this transaction. please FWD to me your telfax number your home office address and tell me more about your self and your family.

The bit** is trying to gather information about me… 

I shall be expecting to hearing from you quickly that you have started finalising with my bank on how to release and transfer my fund into your acount and to have me come and join you to continue with my life and studies.
God bless you
With her loving arms
ANITA BOGA.

Anita what? Anita Boga? I thought I was speaking with Beatrice Williams…

Let’s spend a couple of words about biciciweb.com… it’s just a frameset with a link to http://www.bicicinet.net/fr/, the REAL Bicici bank web site. This is the whois of biciciweb.com:

Albert Konan (UTSCCI_COM@YAHOO.COM)
+225.22305448788
Fax: +225.22305448788
na
abidjan, n/a 00000
CI

The domain was created on May 10th 2007… not that old being a bank…

But I kept on playing, and wrote to the “bank”:

Hi,
my name is Kirenia and I am the guardian/partner of one of your customers. I would like to know how to make transfer from your bank to mine.
 
Regards,
Kirenia

On September 13th, I got this email (all in uppercase, like a bank should write…)

BICICI BANK INTERNATIONAL               
ABIDJAN ,COTE D’ IVOIRE
WEST AFRICA.
                                                                                          DATE:13/09/2007

SIR. 
THE MANAGEMENT OF BICICI BANK COTE D’IVOIRE HAS FOUND IT OBVIOUS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF YOUR LETTER REGARDING OUR LATE CUSTOMER MR.TIMOTHY A. BOGA AND HIS DEPOSITED FUNDS IN OUR BANK HERE WHICH YOU INTRODUCE TO ME THAT YOU WHERE CONTACTED BY HER ONLY DAUGHTER MISS. ANITA BOGA.

 Please notice I never said anything about the Boga’s

MOREOVER I HAVE ALSO RECEIVED YOUR LETTER AND AFTER GOING THROUGH YOUR LETTER I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE WRITE TO ACQUIRE SOME INFORMATION WITH THE METHODS OF OUR BANK TRANSFER PROCEDURES WHICH WILL ENABLE OUR BANK AUTHORITY TO EFFECT THE TRANSFER OF THIS SAID FUND OF 5,000,000.EURO INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.
 
I HAVE NOTED DOWN THE CONTENTS OF YOUR INTRODUCTION WITH INTEREST, THIS IS BECAUSE THE APPLICANTS HAVE FORMALLY REQUESTED FOR THE RELEASE OF HER LATE FATHER’S DEPOSITED FUND IN OUR BANK HERE,WHICH AMOUNTS IS 5 MILLION EURO,THE APPLICANTS HAVE ALSO MENTIONED YOU TO US AS THE POSSIBLE RECEIPIENT OF THIS FUND.
 
MEANWHILE IF THIS IS THE CASE,YOU ARE HEREBY REQUESTED TO PROVIDE YOUR VALID BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS FOR PROCESSING THE FUNDS TRANSFER.

Of course, I am supposed to give ”them” my bank account details…

NEVERTHELESS,BE ADVISED TO CONTACT OUR INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT MANAGER MR.VINCENT DUNCAN, WE CONDUCTED A MEETING THIS MORNING REGARDING YOUR REQUEST AND WE HAVE HAND OVER YOUR CASE TO MR VINCENT DUNCAN WHO IS THE INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT MANAGER,WE ARE HERE TO ADVICE YOU TO CONTACT HIM FOR THE TRANSFER BECAUSE HE IS THE MANAGER INCHARGE OF REMITTING FUNDS OVERSEAS.
 
ELLOW IS HIS CONTACT:
NAME:MR.VINCENT DUNCAN
TEL:  +22504539922
FAX;+22504539921
Email: remitdpt@biciciweb.com
WEBSITE: www.biciciweb.com
 
FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE SUBMITED YOUR REQUEST TO HIS OFFICE HOPING THAT HIS OFFICE WILL BE CONTACTING YOU WITH THE PROCEDURE WHICH WILL CARRY OUT THE TRANFER SOONEST.
 
CONGRATULATION!!!!!!!!!!
YOURS FAITHFULLY
MR.MICHEAL LAFONT
DIRECTOR.
TEL + 22509-567-703
WEBSITE: www.biciciweb.com

The game is not over yet… look at my email:

Hi,
please tell me the information you need in order to make the transfer
 
Regards,
Kirenia

And, more interesting, their reply: the funny part is they sent me this email twice, once without any attachment and once with an attachment… probably they was so excited about being about to trick me that they forgot to attach the file the first time

OFFICE OF THE INTTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPERTMENT.
                                   26 AV. DALAFOSSE,01 BP 1455 ABIDJAN 01.
                                      TEL:+22504539922 /  FAX;+22504539921
                                        Email: remitdpt@biciciweb.com 
                                         WEBSITE: www.biciciweb.com   

ATTN:SIR.
 
THE BOARD OF THE INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE AUTHORITIES OF BICICI BANK ARE HEREBY CONTACTING YOU OVER A FILL THAT WAS BROUGHT TO OUR DEPERTMENT THIS MORNING REGARDING THE TRANSFER OF 5,000,000 MILLIONS EURO INTO YOUR ACCOUNT,
 
NEVERTHELESS,BE INFORM TO SUPPLY THIS TWO IMPORTANTS DOCUMENTS BELLOW TO THIS BANK TO ENABLE US TO PROCEED WITH THE TRANSFER PROTOCOL WHICH IS TO PROGRAM THE TRANSFER OF THE SAID FUND IN OUR TRANSFER SYSTEM THROUGH TELEGRAPHIC WIRE TRANSFER T/T .
 
1)COURT CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE,
2)AFFIDEVIT OF FUND CLAIM CERTIFICATE.
 
NOTE THAT THESE TWO IMPORTANTS CERTIFICATES SHALL OBTAINED FROM THE COTE D’IVOIRE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE HERE AND SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THIS BANK FOR US TO PROCEED WITH THE TRANSACTION BECAUSE THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE THE LEGAL PAPERS THAT WILL EMPOWER US TO CARRY OUT OUR DUTY LEGITIMATELY.
 
WHY WE REQUESTED THOSE CERTIFICATES IS BECAUSE OUR LATE CUSTOMER MR.TIMOTHY A.WILLIAMS MADE THIS DEPOSIT UNDER A SUSPENCE ACCOUNT FOR ONWORD TRANSFER AND MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT THIS FUND WILL BE TRANSFERRED INTO AN ACCOUNT OF HIS BUSINESS PARTNER OVERSEAS BUT HE DID NOT FORWARD THE ACCOUNT INFORMATION OF THIS HIS PARTNER BEFORE HIS DEATH,SOTHEREFORE SINCE HIS DAUGHTER HAS MADE UP HER MIND TO TRANSFER HER LATE FATHER’S DEPOSITED FUNDS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT YOU MUST OBTAIN THIS TWO VITAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE COTE D’IVOIRE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TO ENABLE YOU BECOME THE RIGHTFUL BENNEFICIARY OF THE SAID DEPOSITED FUND BEFORE WE WILL EFFECT THE TRANSFER OF THE SAID FUND INTO YOUR ACCOUNT IN YOUR COUNTRY.
 
NOTE THAT THOSE REQUIRED CERTIFICATES WILL BE ISSUED TO YOU THROUGH THE CONTROLLER GENERAL/CHIEF EXCUTIVE OFFICER OF LEGAL DEPARTMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND ALSO NUTRALISE IN THE HIGH COURT OF COTE D’IVOIRE BEFORE WE WILL CARRY OUT THE PROCESS, MEANWHILE YOU ARE DIRECTED TO INFORM YOUR LOCAL PARTNER MISS BEATRICE WILLIAMS TO APPLY FOR THE TWO REQUESTED CERTIFICATES FROM THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ON YOUR BEHALF SINCE YOU CAN NOT AFFORT TO TRAVEL DOWN HERE SO THAT SHE WILL OBTAIN THOSE CERTIFICATES ON YOUR BEHALF AND SUBMIT THEM TO THIS DEPARTMENT SO TO THE BICICI FOREIGN REMITTANCE AUTHORITY WILL EFFECT THE TRANSFER INTO YOUR NORMINATED ACCOUNT WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY.
 
YOU ARE ADVICED TO FILL AND SIGN THIS AUTHORITY TO RELEASE FORM WHICH YOU WILL SEE IN ATTACHMENT WITH ALL REQUIRED INFORMATION AND ALSO RETURN IT BACK TO THIS OFFICE FOR US TO OBTAIN A LETTER OF RELEASE APPROVAL ORDER FROM COTE D IVOIRE MINISTRY OF FINANCE WHICH WILL BACK THE TRANSFER SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR BANK WILL NOT CONFISCATE THIS FUNDS AS SOON AS THE FUNDS ARRIVES IN YOUR ACCOUNT.
 
I AM A MAN WHOSE REPUTATION MATTER A LOT AND THAT IS WHY I APPROACH THINGS WITH DUE CACULATION TO AVOIDE MISTAKES.BESIDE,THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% RISK FREE,SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR ABOUT IT AND I PROMISE TO GUIDE YOU ACCORDINGLY AS FAR AS YOU FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTION.
 
THANKS FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
YOURS AT SERVICE.
MR.VINCENT DUNCAN
BICICI INTERNATIOINAL REMITTANCE MANAGER

And this is the attachment:

At the same time, I received this email from Beatrice/Anita

Dear  sir .
compliments of the day .
hope all is well with you and your family , thank you once again for your effort so far  sir pls send to me your tellphone number for us to have oral talk and all so i will like you to send to me your picture  to enable me know whom am dealing with .
 
pls sir update me your aut come from the bank , i will be going to see them tomorow .
 
GOD bless you as i hear from you .
yours sincerely .
beatrice williams .

With “her” photo:

At this time, I wrote Anita for a date (!!) and the bank for information about the data to fill in the form, but I never got any reply. It’s a damn pity, because I really wanted those 5 millions!

Please help me!

I am back with a new question for top money making bloggers. This time I’ll bother bloggers from 11th to 20th.

As for the previous experiment, only 8 of 10 have a contact form: blog.affiliatetip.com and 45n5.com itself do not have a contact form.

 This time the question is:

Hi,
I am Kirenia form www.whatiblogfor.com

I saw you are one of the top 20 moneymaking bloggers according to 45n5, and I
would ask you what are your plans (if any) to break into top 10.

Your answer (again, if any) will be published in my blog.

Regards,
Kirenia

Let’s wait for the answers.

About 36 hours ago I sent a message to the top 10 moneymaking bloggers, just to make you know if they are replying to anybody.

Now it’s time to tell you how many of them replied, and what they said. I was able to contact only 8 of the top 10 bloggers, because two of them have a contact method that disencourage people to contact them.

I will list replies ordered by time of reply, from the first to the last.

Nate (9th) from natewhitehill.com said:

Hi Kirenia,

Thanks for the email. It is pretty cool to be the 9th moneymaker 
blog. I am honored. That being said, I have expressed in the past 
that I think the Technorati ranking system is way too easy to 
manipulate, so in my opinion, that skews the overall rankings of a 
lot of blogs, including mine. The reason for this is because link 
trains use to be super crazy and tons of people participated in them 
which boosted all of their Technorati rankings super quick. It was 
pretty crazy stuff. Anyway, I am almost in the top 1000 ranked blogs 
on Technorati, but in no way do I take pride for that as I know the 
ranking are significantly skewed. Alexa ranking and Google ranking 
are not as skewed as Technorati, but even those are flawed ranking 
systems. I guess if someone needed a way to rank blogs, it does make 
sense to rank by 45n5’s systems, but in no way to me does it seem 
truly accurate. Anyway, I hope that made sense and let me know if you 
have any questions.

Thanks,
Nate Whitehill

Daniel (5th) from dailyblogtips.com said:

Hi, my name is Daniel.

You want to know what I think about being the 5th moneymaker blog on the 45n5 list?

I am flattered by that :).

If you specify more what you looking for I will answer.

Best wishes,
Daniel

John (2nd) from johnchow.com said:

I think it’s great.

Maki (4th) from doshdosh.com said:

Thanks for your email.

Well, the Top 100 list is a good way for bloggers to network among peers in the same niche and as Mark has mentioned, a great place for advertisers to look for relevant sites to buy ads for. I personally would have made the list more niche as it currently involves too many blogging-oriented sites which don’t entirely focus on monetization, marketing or online businesses.

Blogs about blogging should really be given their own list, although I understand that some of them do write about monetization occasionally. All in all, good effort and thinking by Mark and hopefully this list will bring traffic and exposure for everyone involved.

Hope this answers your query.

Cheers’
Maki

Adrian (10th) from netbusinessblog.com said:

Hi Kirenia,

I don’t think much, as it is highly inaccurate. Having said that I welcome the FREE PR it has brought me. There is not much more to say really, thank you for contacting me.

Good luck with your Blogging!

–
Kind Regards

Adrian

That’s all. 5 top bloggers out of 8 replied to a unknown newbie blogger… and 3 of them shared their thoughts about the ranking system. I found their replies very interesting.

Now imagine I had a little car factory and I mailed something similar to the presidents of the biggest car companies in the world… and guess how many replies I would get…

That’s why bloggers are GREAT people. This is not the only experiment I will run about bloggers, stay tuned and see what I am able to.

** UPDATE ** : see the answers here

Surely you know the top 100 make money online blog chart by 45n5.com.

I wonder: do top ten moneymaking bloggers reply to anybody?

 So I sent them this message throught their contact forms:

Hi <name>,
my name is Kirenia from www.whatiblogfor.com
 
You are the <x-th> moneymaker blogger according to 45n5
I would like to post in my blog what do you think about it.

Thank you!
Kirenia

I wonder how many of them will reply… meanwhile I discovered ShoeMoney does not have a proper contact form and Yaro Starak at entrepreneurs-journey.com as en entire site only to contact him through an helpdesk, and says:

If you email me directly without using the helpdesk first you will not get a reply

Maybe he thinks he is George W. Bush… anyway… how many bloggers out of 8 will reply in your opinion?

Since I am a newbie blogger, I have to experiment everything. In those 10 days of “silence” I looked at my stats daily, and that’s what I discovered

My direct visitors dramatically decreased after the 4th day

Probably visitors that liked your blog return after a day or two to check what’s going on your blog. If they don’t see any post, maybe they will come back after another couple of days. After 4 days, visitors simply forget about your blog.
I am talking about a newbie blog of course,  probably a well known blog needs more than four days to be forgotten

Some loyal visitors sent me an email after a week

Believe or not, more than 3 (that means 4) people asked me what happened and why I stopped posting. They did not know about the experiment and they were wondering if the blog would ever come back alive.

Final considerations: You should blog at least every 4 days if you have a little blog and at least once a week if you have a big one. Blogging everyday is the best thing to do, of course. And what to do when you can’t blog for a while? What to write when you decide to come back? Well… just lie, like you was running an experiment…

Experimenting… that’s what I blog for!

Time to publish my income report and some other stats about the blog during the month of August 2007… its first month.

I am proud to tell you the blog scored a $0.87 income!

Other stats:

Visits: 211
Pageviews: 427
Top traffic sources: johnchow.com, digg.com and google
Top keyword: blog surveyclub

Even if those numbers are almost hilarious, notice how I drove some visitors just commenting on John Chow’s blog or submitting some posts to Digg.

Now the question is: how can I increase the income in September?

Well, I have some ideas related to digg and commenting, stay tuned…

 Raising my incomes, that’w what I blog for!

John Chow is the owner of the famous site John Chow dot Com with his miscellaneous ramblings of a dot com mogul.

JC makes a living with his blog (he has other web services, but anyway his blog only will be enough for a living) and the blog is part of an experiment about making money online.

Almost every post is about money making, he explains how to make money with a blog in detail.

He also runs an entire category about “fine dining“, showing you how he increases his cholesterol as much as his finances.

The most important feature in his site is a free e-book where he explains how to make money online, in my opinion the only ebook about making money online that isn’t a scam.

I am blogging for fun.

That’s what JC replied when I asked what he was blogging for. You may think this is an ironic reply, but I have to admit blogging is funny… and a “fine dining” eater that claims to be an Ultimate Fighting Championship contestant has to be a funny man.

Moreover, if you read his first posts, you’ll find how he was blogging for fun, writing about his living-room without furniture and other ramblings like this one.

Maybe he started blogging for fun and then the business exploded in his hands, maybe all this was part of an evil plan.

Anyway, John Chow’s blog is a must-read… when he isn’t writing about his meaning of fine dining, of course.

Having fun, that’s what John blogs for!

I am a newbie. Totally. But I have a blog, I read blogs and most likely I try to contact bloggers to ask them what they are blogging for. Some of your blogs are really hard for a newbie to browse, and you should consider making your blog “newbie friendly” for a lot of reasons… want one? Newbies are NOT ad blind. Want another? There are thousands of new newbies everyday.

These are ten rules to make a newbie come back to your blog

1) Have a “contact” page

In most blog I visited, there isn’t any “contact” page. I had to click on the “about” page (if there was any) and hope I find an email address somewhere. After some useless searches, I dediced to close the blogs without a “contact” page.
Probably a newbie doesn’t need to contact you, or maybe he wants to contact you just to ask you “where can I download WordPress?”, but try to imagine this: you are a pro blogger and blog about motors. I am a newbie but I have a huge motor related business. I want to contact you to propose some kind of partnership but I can’t find a way do contact you. I’ll probably contact the 2nd pro blogger, less popular than you but with a contact page.

2) If you decide to leave you email, please leave it plain and clickable

I come across some blogs where I found: “To contact me, write at info [at] *this_domain_name*”.
What the hell is this? I am a newbie, and I expect an email address to be clickable, and when I click I expect my email client to open with your address ready to go. I know you’ll receive a lot of spam, but if you are leaving your email address, leave it clickable. Otherwise, ask the visitor to fill a form.

3) Don’t write one post in a month

If I come to your blog, and see your last post was a month ago, I won’t return to your blog and I won’t contact you because I think you don’t blog anymore. If you think you can’t blog next month, hire someone that will do it for you or write at least 4 posts before your critical period and post them once a week.

4) Don’t write 5 posts in a day

If I return to your blog after a day and I see five new posts, probabily I’ll get overhelmed and I won’t read all. Maybe I’ll read only two posts that does not interest me and I’ll never return to your blog. If you can write five or more interesting post every day, what about opening another blog?

5) Write in a language that seems English

I know, English is not the primary language in your province, but try at least to write in a language that seems English. I don’t have to be a master in decrypting to read your blog.

6) Always make a list of your most popular posts

When I first come to your blog, I have to know what you are blogging about. Maybe the current post is not your best post, so give me the opportunity to browse your most popular posts. I really need to read a good post in your blog to come back again, so please do it.

7) Avoid apologizing for what you did wrong

Don’t write posts like “I am sorry I cannot post but my granny lost her wooden leg and I have to find it”, or “I am sorry but the tutorial I wrote next week does not work”. I came to your blog right now and I did not know your last tutorial sucks, and I don’t care about any wooden leg. If I think “everytime Granma has a problem he won’t blog”, I am not going to return to your blog.

Don’t use the “Kubrick” default template

When I see the Kubrick default template, I think you have no time to update your blog. There are tons of templates out there, just download one and install it. For “Kubrick” default template I also mean the “Kubrick” default template with another color gradient in the header.

9) Don’t show your statistics if they don’t rock

When I see “Currently online: 1″ or “You are the visitor number 34 this year” and it’s August, I am going to close the blog. I don’t want to be the one to read your blog. Don’t tell me you have an Alexa rank 1,000,000… it’s not a Jackpot. I am a newbie, and I want to learn from experts.

10) Use something in the title I can remember and Google for

I am a newbie, I don’t know what is a feed, the only thing I feed is my pet. I’ll probably visit your blog, find it interesting and forget your URL. Then I will Google for some keyword I remember about your title. So make me easy to find you.

That’s all… follow these rules if you can, and some newbies will come back to your blog… if not… well, you followed 10 rules told by a newbie, what did you expect for?

Helping you blogging, that’s what I blog for!

In his blog, sometimes John Chow talks about his well-known John Chow effect.

(personal) Definition of John Chow effect: a large number of visits to your site due to a mention in JC blog. There are several ways to be mentioned in his blog… you can create something outstanding, or purchase a ReviewMe review, or dance naked under his window screaming “John don’t leave me, I’m pregnant!”… just be creative and John will notice you.

I experimented the JC effect yesterday, when I got 50 (fifty!) visits to my blog just for being the first to comment a post. In my new-born site, where I got 114 visits *at all*, it’s almost 50%.

I don’t think this is a “JC-only” effect, maybe you get some visits everytime you leave a smart comment on a blog where hundreds people read everyday. Maybe leaving smart comments on 3 or 4 major blogs will bring you 100 visits. Or maybe you have to be the first to comment.

I am going to study this phenomenon, meanwhile take a look at this:

and guess where is the JC effect.

Having more visit on my blog: that’s what I blog for

Nafurai is a Swiss blog written by Maurizio, a software engineer. Working in software development Maurizio should write scripts all day long. In his spare time he blogs about… programming… that’s what I call passion!

Hi, since you live in Italy, I am writing in italian.
You asked me (on blog.nafurai.com) why do I blog.
The main reason why I created the blog is improving my writing skills. I want to learn how to write as good as I can.

This is the main reason… it’s very important a good writing skill, and more in a foreign language.

Other reasons are not so important. I also blog to study new scripts and tools that can be useful in creating new web services. I am a software engineer so I improve my programming skills even without blogging.

He won’t improve his programming skills, but surely reading the blog will improve your ones. You can find posts like start programming with PHP (the language WP is written in) that will introduce you into programming, or Busy Day.. aka get info from your users in PHP where you learn how to track a visitor referer.

I like to help people so I write in a simple and easy way in order to help as much people as I can.

That’s true, now I am able to track my referer

Now you have to translate all this in english

No problem man, I currently speak and write three languages… spanglish, italianglish and itañol

Improving his writing skills: that’s why Maurizio blogs for!