Funnily enough, I first intended to to write up two separate posts on two separate subjects. One would have been on the rules, and the other (you’ve guessed it) on what this blog is not going to be.
But when drawing up the two posts, it turned out to be one. Laying down the rules proved to be nothing else but stating explicitly what this blog is not going to be and what is it that I am not willing to do (ie. the rules). So, here they are now.
This is a hobby. First of all, it means that I will only work on this blog (or on the projects mentioned in this blog) outside office hours. At least as long as I have a proper job (which I plan to have in the timespan that I’m able to foresee).
It means that I will not, in any means work or think about things mentioned here in the office, but on the other hand I will reduce my office-time spent with Facebooking and stuff, and try to cut out the longest time possible to do these projects with spending shortest time possible staring at a computer screen altogether. Secondly this site’s being a hobby also means that I will have to take it way more seriously than people take things related to their jobs. I mean normal people here, not the obsessed ones.
My life will not be changed by this. There are a couple of bloggers out there, who say that, back when they started blogging, they had no idea that it would change their lives. I’m not talking about change of this sort. If, say, two years from now, I will be a full-time blogger, sitting on my terrace writing posts and earning a six figure income, then so be it. When I say this hobby won’t change my life, I mean that I’m not willing to spend less time with my loved ones (family, friends, dogs etc.) because of my “virtual playground”. For now, I want to cut back on the time I spend on useless activities (watching TV, browsing the Internet pointlessly) and spend it on my internet projects.
I will be transparent, straightforward, and I’ll stick to the truth. If I’m not successful, you will know it, if I am, you’ll exactly know how successful I am.
I will never deny or hide any figure or data, be it income, spending, ROI, traffic, whatever. Amongst the few exceptions will be my AdSense revenue, as publishing details on your AdSense revenue is explicitly against the program’s TOS. But I will go as close to the exact figures as I can without braking the law.
If I find the key for success, I won’t keep it to myself so that you can’t copy my success. In fact, you are welcome to copy my success once I’m successful. But drop a backlink if you don’t mind…
I and all my projects will remain entirely white hat. No obscure schemes, no AdSense sites, no plagiarism. My sites will offer own content and own services. Period.
I will not want to sell anybody anything he or she doesn’t want to buy. It’s not that I have any problem with ClickBank-style stuffs or lengthy sales-letters, it’s just I’m not planning to be involved in that. I will use certain techniques, and, obviously, SEO. I will even buy PPC-traffic, but I will steer clear of anything reminiscent of a make-money-fast scheme. I will not review sites for you and lure you to buy lifetime access “for only $199″ or anything like that. I’ve been there before, I’ve seen it all, and it’s very remote from what I want from the Internet.
Internet, to me, means an infinite source of creativity, and I’m planning to keep it that way. I’m not sure that every site and service on the way will be creative and unique on its own, but I want to think that every idea of building a new site or offering a new service will be exactly like that.
Now I think I’m done with the mandatory part (maybe another post on what this blog will be after all would make sense), so let’s get down to business.