That’s me! ;)

Hey everyone. It’s been a while. I hope you’re doing great, and that your blog is doing just as well :)

A while ago I was asked to write a book about blogging. My editor ended up leaving the publishing house, and the project was never completed, so for some time I’ve had about 130 pages - approximately half - of a book on creating a popular blog, sitting on my hard drive. I had always wanted to use the content in some other way, and today I’m making it available for the first time. It’s a little nerve wracking, but I know the content is high quality, and extremely thorough. It’s an outpouring of everything I know about blogging.

At my company, Envato, we’ve just launched a new Tuts+ Marketplace - a site where you can buy and sell screencasts, tutorials and courses. It’s now possible to make a passive income from teaching what you know. There’s a category for Business and blogging, so I urge you to create something and get involved!

My Tutorials

I decided to split the three hefty book chapters I had written into three hefty tutorials, each coming in at over 40 typed pages worth of content. The series is called ‘Blogging: From Zero to Hero’. I teach everything I know on each topic, and it’s written so that both beginning and advanced bloggers can learn something from the strategies inside.

The first tutorial is ‘Blogging: From Zero to Hero - Getting Started‘. It details the perfect planning and setup process for your blog, from choosing a niche, to defining your target audience, to selecting the content types that will work best on your blog. If you already have a blog, this chapter can help you refocus your blog to become more successful.

The second tutorial is ‘Blogging: From Zero to Hero - Blog Design and Usability‘. This tutorial goes into detail on how to make your blog design as simple and effective as possible, making it much easier for your blog visitors to do exactly what you want them to do - from sharing your posts on social media, to leaving comments. You’ll also learn how to unclutter your blog, helping it to look clean and professional.

The third tutorial is ‘Blogging: From Zero to Hero - Awesome Blog Content‘. This tutorial is full of all my best advice on creating great content, from viral post ideas, to writing great titles, to making all your content unique.

Remember that if you use deposits to purchase the tutorials, each tutorial will be $5 rather than $7. You can save $6 across the series by using deposits, and can use any remaining credit on any other marketplace, such as ThemeForest, which sells WordPress themes.

If you already have an account on the Envato Marketplaces, let’s ‘Follow’ each other :)

Thanks everyone! I’ll have something else for you soon :)

(In other news, the blog network I manage - Tuts+ - was just nominated for ‘Blog of the Year‘ by .net Magazine. Woot!)

In light of some of the concerned emails I’ve been receiving, I thought it worth stating that all is very well with me. I’m not sick, or disenchanted, or uninspired — just a full-time final year university student with three big papers due in as many weeks.

I’m almost over the hill and will do my best to make it up to you with some extra goodies when I can sit down and blog again — probably over the next few days, after I finish my last paper. Wish me luck :).

(Trust me, I’d rather be blogging!)

Skelliewag.org is among the five finalists for the Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog at the 2008 Bloggies. It’s the second category from the top, so there’s not too much scrolling required to take a look. The other nominees have about a billion raving fans, so a vote from you will really help me out :-).

I don’t ask for things often, but the Bloggies are kinda special.

In this post I’ll be announcing the most valuable commenter from last week’s discussion thread. I’ll also be announcing the overall winner of the Ask the Readers competition.

Lastly, I’d like your input on what to do now the discussions have finished. Read More…

Photo by jonrawlinson

A lot of new readers have joined the Skelliewag community in the last few months. I thought the general trend of ‘Best of 2007′ lists would be a nice way to remind both recent and long-time readers of this year’s highlights. Unfortunately, this list can’t be a true ‘Best of 2007′ round-up because Skelliewag is only five months old — but I’ll do my best! Read More…

Two days ago I resigned from my part-time job. Starting towards the end of January my income will be completely online based. I’ll be living pretty frugally for a while as I re-invest my time in writing an eBook. Once the eBook is done, I’ll re-invest my time in writing more content for Skelliewag (something I’m really looking forward to).

I’m not sure how the eBook will fare but I want to make it as value-packed and affordable as possible. If things don’t work out I know I have freelance writing to keep me afloat until I can re-take another part-time job. While I’m taking a risk on this, I won’t be betting the house on my success.

My commitment to keeping Skelliewag ad and affiliate free is something I don’t see ending. To wrap up my answer, I do make an income online but in a relatively unorthodox way.

This week’s Ask the Readers question (the last one!) could be very simple or very complicated. It’s this:

What’s your attitude to making money online? Read More…

This week I wanted to encourage a fun exercise with some pretty concrete benefits. I’d like you to answer the question:

What would you do if you had unlimited time to blog/run your website? How would you reach your goals as quickly as possible?

The purpose of this exercise is to get us thinking about what we’d do if time wasn’t an issue. Throughout the answers to last week’s question — where are the holes in your leaky bucket? — there was a pervasive sense of readers feeling that they never had enough time to do what they wanted to do.

By taking away the issue of time constraints, it will interesting to see what actions people would focus on and what route to success they’d take. You might also start to think about extra projects you’d like to start, if you had more time. Read More…

Here are some new posts from me, published at other blogs this week.

The better each post does, the more likely I am to be kept on as a freelancer. In a roundabout way, your comments and votes help me pay the bills :-).

Guest Posting Secrets: How to Get Published on an A-List Blog
This one was written for BlogPerfume. It outlines and explains how you can use the same methods I’ve used to have guest-posts published on a number of top blogs.

How to Get More Comments on Every Post You Write
This one was written for Ades Blog. The comment count is one of the primary ways new visitors will judge the worth of your blog. This post helps you maximize it on every post.

15 Remarkable Ways to Thank Your Readers This Festive Season
This one was written for NorthxEast — my first post as a staff writer. Every blogger and webmaster owes a lot to their readers, and the Festive Season provides the perfect opportunity to say thanks. (Yes, I’ve got something in the works!)

The Essential Website Usability Checklist
This one was written for Daily Bits. It’s a simple, 13-point usability checklist webmasters can use to evaluate their site.

How to Develop the Habit of Writing Posts in Advance
This one was written for ProBlogger. The habit of writing in advance will make content creation easier and less stressful. Here I share the strategies I used to develop the habit.

As bloggers, webmasters and web workers, none of us are perfect at what we do. From the A-listers to the Z-listers, there are things we all need to work on.

For the sake of illustration, try to think of yourself as a leaky bucket (hopefully something you don’t do too often). The little holes in the bucket are flaws, mistakes, areas in need of improvement.

The water represents lost opportunities — whether those opportunities are new feed subscribers, more traffic, more links, better networking relationships, and so on. Close up more of those holes, and you retain more opportunities to move towards your goals. Read More…

This week, I want to challenge Skelliewag readers to set out a concrete definition of success for their blog or website. A point where you can say you’ve achieved everything you wanted.

My personal definition of success is focused around two goals: to be able to quit my part-time job and make my income online doing something I love, and secondly, to release a book or eBook through the blog. I haven’t achieved either of these yet, but I’m on track to do so.

What are the goals you’re working towards? Read More…