In my previous posts I’ve already suggested that I’m about to start a whole new adventure with this blog. I have also suggested that I’m starting from scratch, although I haven’t yet stated explicitly: my current Internet revenue is zero.
So when I say I’m starting and building up things from nothing, I mean it. But while I’m starting from zero in terms of revenue, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t have any blogging or internet-background. In fact, I do. Let’s see what base can I build this future revenue on.
Technical background.
I’m not a programmer or coder, but I do have knowledge of basic internet techniques. And despite the tools and techniques being basic, I think it’s also fair to say that the level of my skills on this field is far from basic. This is what I know:
I do have a pretty solid knowledge of html. I’ve been making/editing/writing/designing websites since 1999. The fact that it was basically 10 years ago is a big eye-opener even for me.
I also know a lot about CSS. In the late 1990s we were designing pages using tables, and there are times, when I still prefer this technique to CSS. On the other hand, CSS is a must have in 2008.
I know php. Bear in mind that I wouldn’t dare to show my php code to an official programmer, as it’s probably bad-bad code. Anyway, it’s working fine, and while I can do it myself, it’s free.
I know MySql. SQL is a great thing and MySQL is probably the most user-friendly implementation of any sort of database management system. In fact I not only know some MySQL, but I actually enjoy writing queries, the more complex the better. Frightening, huh?
I know a few basic Apache techniques. Although I’m far from being an expert in running web servers, but I know how to create search engine friendly URLs with .htaccess and stuff like that. It comes in handy sometimes.
JavaScript and Ajax. Since Facebook appeared a couple of years ago, I was keen to learn JavaScript and Ajax. Frankly I’m not a great fan of either of these techniques, but I can solve basic problems using these two. For more complex problems, I usually look for ready-made solutions, that I only have to implement on my site.
After carefully tallying all these languages and techniques, it may seem a lot. I tell you, it is a lot. I’ve been actively messing around with codes of websites for at least eight or ten years now. I’ve been learning, and although I refused to study programming at an official course or a university, I continuously try to keep up with the latest techniques.
Domains
Apart from the technical background mentioned above, I also have a couple of domain names (I’m unable to count it right now, how many of them, but my closest guess would be six or seven). I will reveal all of these domains (some of which are Hungarians, but most of them are English), as we proceed with the projects that are ahead of us.
Some of these domains have basic websites (like blogs) up on them, but since I never really tried to make money off them, they receive no traffic at all. Also, the websites will also need to be changed if I want them to make money in the long run.
The newest of these domains is http://zsoltballa.com, that I registered only a couple of days ago. Since it’s running under my name, I’ll pay extra attention to this one, and I hope that this extra attention will result in great content and also great page ranking.
Tools
I have an internet-connected laptop and a sofa to sit on.
Ideas
I do have a lots of them. Although it’s been a while since I’m online, but I still find Internet amazing, furthermore, mindboggling. I’m constantly thinking of new ideas, new services, new sites. At the moment I have approximately 20 website ideas ready.
If only I could set up five of them in the upcoming year, and make, say, three of them successful, I’d be glad (and wealthy). And I’m sure that I will have another 20 ideas in queue by the end of next year.
What did you have as a background when you started blogging? Was that enough or you would have needed something else/something completely different? I’m looking forward to your answers in the comments section.
My technical background is going to be very similar to yours! This should be fun.
Unlike you, I am a coder, but we know a lot of the same stuff.
I first used HTML in 1999 and hand-coded my websites for several years. I know CSS and I agree that tables work better than divs in some cases. I’d love to use divs for layout in every possible situation, but it gets horribly complex.
I learned PHP in 2005 and built my open-source CMS (originally called Majestic, now called Injader) as I learned. The first PHP I wrote was not that great but it’s improved over the years. I’d say my code is now very clean and logical.
I know SQL and I quite like writing it. I also know a few Apache techniques. (See what I mean about similarities?)
I know some Javascript and a little AJAX, but I’m not a fan of this kind of stuff. Maybe I would be if I could do it! But I think that some sites are way too heavy on the AJAX, and when something goes wrong it can be really difficult to recover from it (both for the developer and the user). Maybe you should check out Injader, it has some Javascript and used to have some AJAX, but I phased it out as it made things overly complex.
I’ll definitely continue to read your blog, it’s interesting to see how similar we are.