My humble abode…

Okay so this is my desk. Loaded up with an ACER 10 gig machine, two 24 inch HP Hi-Def  180 degree rotational monitors, a Wacom tablet, assorted mice and digital pens, Mr. Potato Head, some Hydroxycut Hardcore, scented oils and candles, as well as my cup of coffee sporting a John Wayne motif.

Oh… I’m sure that you’ll also notice those fancy clubs hanging out back there too. I’m a freak for golf even though I don’t have much time to play these days… none the less, my lady went ahead and bought me a brand new set of graphite clubs to hack around with… but if you look close, you might see that hers are still in a little bit of bubble wrap… gotta get her out there soon.

One place I should visit more…

I’ve put on a little bit of weight in the last 6 months… to the tune of about 40 pounds. That’s a lot of fat my friends and that little bottle of Hydroxycut on my desk just doesn’t seem to be working as planned. Then again, maybe I’m not using it right. Oh well… I’ve got a little workout room here at the office and I keep promising myself to get on at least the freakin’ treadmill. Yeh right.

What you can’t see is how massive the dumbbell set really is. Oh we’ve got a few other goodies in here as well. Medecine balls, 50 pound punching bag, set of free weights and a few other exercise related toys… nope, never used one thing from this room. Not one.

The Conference Room!

This is the place that I close 99% of my deals… unlike other basement hacker firms, I’m proud to present clients with a warm place to write checks and view project progress. Though you can’t see the entire room from this little photo, the table seats 10 people and is accompanied by a 72 inch screen. Pretty impressive stuff.

Some things you won’t see…

The office is equipped with a fingerprint secure server room air-conditioned from the floor up holding about 30 terabytes of free space. Not the largest bank on the planet, but big enough to host the websites and databases of municipalities, banks, airline manufacturers, shipyards and a slew of mom and pop sized companies.

Adding to the servers, secretaries, office space, and modern equipment is the brand new DS3 internet line. Yeh… it’s fiber optic, cost little more than 25,000 bucks and makes T1 connections look like their sleeping.

It’s the end of the tour…

All in all, I think I’ve got a pretty awesome setup here and it shows in the work I put out. My office is something I’m proud to show, so maybe you guys and gals would like to do the same. Take a few snap shots, put em up, and let me know where I can find em… it’s always interesting to see how and where other bloggers work.

Well today was the dawn of a new day for me guys and gals… it’s the day that I’ve dreaded having for the last three weeks now and it’s finally reared its ugly little head. If you’ve been blogging for any amount of time you’ve likely experienced such dread but how do you combat it? Combat what? C’mon, it’s depression people and it really bites the big one.

I need a Xanex on the fly!

I’m not sure what spurs it on. Is it the fact that I cannot dedicate all of my time to blogging when that’s what I’d love to do? Is it the fact that it’s that nature of the business we’re in… to find ourselves amidst frequent bouts of depression due to issues beyond our complete control? The questions and emotions are running high and I’m in search of an answer… and quick. I’ve felt this before in plenty of other ventures but for Piss Biscuit, this is a royal first. Usually, this is the feeling that I get within hours of starting something new. Buyers regret of sorts. But why the hell am I getting it now? I don’t like it at all… In fact I really hate it if I’m being honest.

Trying to uncover the mystery that is me, I’ve broken it down to a few issues that have shot ot the top of my list. You ready for this?

Bye-Bye Commentators

Commentators feed me. They motivate me. It’s you guys that inspire me to do things like write fun, inspiring, argumentative posts… it’s not that I’m bored… I promise. I live on the idea that my visitors are here to participate, to communicate, to be a part of good old fashion organic blogging once again. You know, the roots of it all. But is that what readers are looking for? At this point I’ve got my doubts because my comments have been dropping like an anchor.

My comments have gone down substantially in the last week and I fear that it’s for one of two reasons. Neither are good enough for me to accept, but none-the-less it’s happening and it’s really kind of crappy. I need to fix it and fix it fast. So what do I think is my problem?

• I don’t have focus here, which is what people really are looking for. You want a reason to be here, not just a pit stop. I’ve got a fast food joint when you all want to sit down and enjoy your dinner. I’ve read a number of comments as of late asking about my focus, where it is, and why haven’t I gotten any. Maybe it’s been such a turn off that you’ve moved on?
• I’m being overly anticipatory about what I think Piss Biscuit should be doing. We had a great start. I’ve been thrilled with the comments up until that pas few days. I’ve even been happy with the traffic, in fact, it’s pretty much stayed balanced. But maybe, just maybe, the great start was just a quirk. Maybe, it was a fad. Don’t know, but it’s bothering the hell out of me the more I think about it.

The other day someone mentioned to me that they were feeling REALLY burned out with blogging and they needed to take a break. Is this the same feeling I’ve got? Am I just burnt or do you guys really just mean that much to me?

No Focus = No Posts?

The math is simple really. Without focus, it’s really hard to maintain something interesting enough to dictate a daily read… I know this and I’ve tried really hard to combat the issue. I’ve offered to give away goodies like preium themes… I’ve tried to give away web hosting, I’ve even tried to pawn off a conference ticket worth $1000.00! As of yesterday, I even offered to let you guys spend my money trying to do a little advertising experiment! To me it’s such a cool idea… let someone else spend their money, on your recommendation. It’s a bloggers dream to know where to advertise and where not to… then I’ll share the results! What more could you ask for? New comers and seasoned pros all should find some sort of value there right?

What do you do?

So I’m well aware that this “depression” is the root of most blogging failures, but to those of you all still out there pluging away at it, what do you do when this happens. I mean, what do you do when it happens this early on. Some people take vacations, others might pop pills or binge drink. How do you all handle the blogger blues?

Alright guys, I was going to post the second article in my blog design series series titled “Making Your Blog Sexy”. But low and behold at 2:00 this morning I felt the need to post a little information on the progress of this blog. We’ve talked about a lot over this past week and I think it would be good to share the lessons learned and get some feedback on what has been happening here. You all know, that I like sharing information that betters our blogging community, so here is my first public contribution to building a btter blog.

The Piss Biscuit was launched officially on May 28th making us one week old. So what better time than now to show you guys the fruits of OUR labors.

Traffic Stats

Traffic is an interesting thing and many people have different views on what is and isn’t important. So instead of trying to figure out what number you’d like to see, I’ll just start with a list of stats that I feel is important to MY motivation… If I miss something that you’d like to know more about, just hollar and I’ll be more than happy to go dig it up for ya.

May 28, 2008 – June 05, 2008

• Unique Visitors: 1,045
• Hits: 42,616
• Pages: 10,625

Best day for traffic: June 03, 2008 at 407 unique visitors

Social / Networking

• Feedburner Subscriptions: 9 confirmed, 1 un-confirmed
• Technorati: Favorites 1 | Authority 3
• Stumble: 1 Stumble
• Trackbacks: 4 (four)

Best response from a social tool: Stumble Upon with 370 queries on June 04, 2008

Freebies and Giveaways

• A Premium WordPress Theme for subscribers (Expires June 28, 2008)
• A Premium WordPress Theme for posts! (Expires June 28, 2008

Comments

• 173 New Comments (Does include my own)
• 11 Comment Subscribers (I’m not included)

Well there you go, just a quick content oriented look at some of Piss Biscuit’s stats after one week in business. Did I miss anything? And for those of you who have had blogs longer than a week, what do you think? What were your experiences? I know mine are not all that great… but I think it’s progress. What do you think? What are some goals I should set for this blog? Thanks again ladies and gents, for everything!

Well this ought to be more fun than a barrel of drunk monkeys… Over the past few days, I’ve had a number of people, both at the office and here on PB, open up discussion on “About Me” pages. Now I know there are like 10 zillion posts out there talking about how important these small, sometimes obscure pages really are so lets forgo the same old stuff an try something new.

Let the fun begin…

We already know that PB just isn’t your normal hot spot right? We’re different, we’re fun, we’re a little off the wall sometimes… and we really wanna see pictures of your loved ones. Yep, you read it right, not you… your loved ones. I know some of you won’t ever admit this, but you know you’re curious to see what some of our significant others look like and so do millions of other bloggers! So in the spirit of traffic building and shamless self promotion, I propose that we offer up our special someone as… well… bait!

The making of a movie star…

You all all know what my ugly mug looks like, and I can see most of you all too… either on your about pages or on your gravatars… but what about the ladies and gents that hold our attention outside the wonderful world of blogs? Why have we forgotten about them? I think it’s time we change that and get some attention for it too.

I know that the first blog Cassey ever setup, she felt like a movie star… and in some way, it actually helped her understand what it is that I do for a living. As of late she’s growing to understand how blogging can become so addictive. She’s not a blogger, but she’s always asking me to put a picture up so the world knows that I’m taken… I know cute, but a little to sappy right. So, in respect of her wishes, a picture it is!

You show me yours… I’ll show you mine.

I’m going to get a gallery going that shows gives a spot for your loved one, a little description on the blog of your choosing, and a little link love to boot. The purpose is simple… we’re going to so something no one else is really doing and nab droves (good word) of traffic at the same time. It’s my plan, I guess I’ll be the first… but I expect you all to follow suit… don’t leave me hangin’ out here!

The problem and the plan…

I don’t have any idea what to call this page so your ideas are needed and needed quick! Something tied into biscuits or piss or piss biscuits… LMAO… just doesn’t sound right does it? But who better to ask than you guys and gals. It’s got to be a slick title so it’s easy for all of our new traffic to find. It’s also got to be tasteful because they are… after all, our loved ones. So moving forward, if you all think it’ll be fun to make your loved one famous piss biscuit style… let me know, and I’ll get a little uploader ready, I’ll make a fun page and we can start playing around with it. Can’t you see it… hundreds of people a day visiting your blog just because you’ve offered up your loved one as bait… gotta love it and can’t wait for your thoughts!

Note to the pervs: Nothing sexual in nature… or overly personal please. Sexy is fine… we all like sexy, but make sure it’s something you’d want your momma to see. Okay? Good.

Well this morning was interesting to say the least. I awoke to a whole new round of visitors, a butt load of traffic from who knows where, and numerous things that need my attention both planned and un-planned. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed if I’m being honest here so read through this and tell me what you think I should do. Bloggers block sucks, and it’s not writing that I’ve got trouble with. It’s all the little extras. Anyway, in the spirit of sharing what I learn about blogging, I wanted to do a reversal Q&A session.

Since your collective minds, are much brighter than mine alone, it makes sense to ask… What would you do?

The origin of PB… just so you know.

I started this blog sort of on accident. Cassey bought me this domain as a joke, and one day by accident wrote a comment on another blog using “Piss Biscuit”… I got nailed with compliments on what a cool and off the wall name it was. So like anyone would have done a light bulb went off and blog was born. The day, was May 28, 2008 that I decided to actually get my theme tweaks finished, and start posting. Yep, just the other day.

I had for months been trying to build a blog that was fitting of my personality… and after a number of attempts, nothing. I guess you could say nothing was gained except the knowledge of what not to do. I’m giving you a history because I want all of you to know that this was never meant to be some sort of “make Money Online” blog. It was never meant to be a website that teaches folks how to become rich. It simply was a blog about my thoughts and in some cases, my professional opinion. Of course I hope people find what I say interesting and useful, but in know way do I want to be the next ProBlogger or John “Chizzle” (that’s his gangsta name… LOL!).

What should I optimize this blog for?

AP, Justin, Bryan, Grizz, Zania, and a handful of others have made it quite clear that some great discussion is going on around here. I agree 110%. Justin directly pointed out that Google was probably loving all the chatter around these parts and giving the blog some “googly-points” which naturally got me excited.

Great right? but then it hit me. I don’t have the all in one SEO pack plugged in, I haven’t optimized anything at all besides the permalinks! I haven’t used anchored keywords, direction indexing or any of that other SEO stuff to help increase PB’s popularity. So my first question to you is.

What should I be telling Google PB is all about? My title says “The Piss Biscuit | A Little About Alot” and I just don’t think it’s fitting to make best use of such an important part of the blog.

So there is my very first dilemma. I know one thing that dissapoints me about OMG is wathcing the rise and or fall… Since we can’t manage to get that… I guess we can just do it here… Minus the focus on making money part of course. If it happens it happens, but I’m not chasing financial freedom at this point.

Advertise or not to advertise?

As you all have already noticed, I’ve got some advertising here. Three of them work, and one goes nowhere. The ads up there are all websites of people I know, and none of them are paid… I like sharing my traffic with friends. That said, I had two e-mails this morning from some folks who want to pay top advertise on… and I quote… “such a really cool place”… and the crowd roars!!! LOL… Okay so there is no roaring crowd, but there are two fellas who wanna advertise… question is, do I do it?

I know most of you are going to say why the hell not… you must be drunk! The fact is like I’ve already said this isn’t a make money online blog and that wasn’t my intent. I wanted it to be a daily stop for bloggers to vent a little steam, get a laugh or just cry themselves to sleep after a good argument. I want to try and keep if fun and interesting and avoid dragging my attention away from hanging out with all of you.

Top commenter plugin?

As suggested by “Blogs for Beginners” on my “What’s ahead on the biscuit” post I’ve thought about the “Top Commenter” plugin… what do you think? Is it something you guys would appreciate. I hate those blog community widgets that look like iphones so please don’t suggest that one. But do you think having a top commenter area would inspire even more participation?

How to attract more readers?

I’m not talking about SEO or, advertising… I’m talking about organic and linkback visitors. Magnus and Adii have for example have added this blog to their “showcase”. It’s been one of the most active links I’ve got out there and I’m so very appreciative… however, the conversion rates are a bit off according to what I think they should be. I know that people coming from a link like that are really only coming to check out the theme, but heck, they are theme shopping… that means they either already blog, or want to blog… both are the perfect visitor for PB. So my final question is, how do you think I should attract more visitors to sticking around. If they click on the “Piss Biscuit” link, I want them to stick around a while… not just hightail it out a here. How would you do this?

Closing arguments…

I built this blog on my personality. I write how I feel. I teach what I know. I’ve met some really cool people, made a few friends… and even earned a few beers in this amazingly short time.

The big guys out there are so busy with their poop flinging and money making antics that they really are no fun and every secret they reveal is only a secret if it mans more affiliate click through dollars. Tainted information in my book.

To me, there is nothing to learn and nothing to teach when I read “Shoemoney’s Q &A Rounds” and see answers like… I will not disclose… I will not answer that… I’ve got another project earning me $140,000 a month, but I ain’t telling you anything more about it… I mean get fricken real dudes!!! The big guys are hiding things from the very people that made them who and what they are today… I am not that guy and never will be. Yes, Some things will have to remain private… but in genreal I want this to be a fun place. A different place. So can you guys give me a hand and let me know what you would do.

In the beginning…

I got started in the web world after taking a job with some friends as a design consultant. I’ve always been artistic in some way, but the computer added a whole new dimension to my skills and I really needed a job. I had no real experience but I had the desire to learn and I could work from home… what more could I ask for?

I was being paid 500.00 a month salary and I was working 90+ hours a week. Yep, that was less than $2.00 an hour! I designed T-Shirts, CD Cases, DVD boxes, websites, advertisements and billboards during the day; and taught myself the required design skills and lingo I needed to play the part at night. I would work for three or four days without leaving my desk – aside from bathroom breaks and coffee refills. See, I took the job with some friends who had just started a business. A media company. There were five of us in all with each having a different skill and we happen to live under one roof.

Getting fired sucks.

After four months I had it. I was tired. I was sick. I was stressed and not eating or sleeping. I was a total nightmare and I decided to move into Cassey’s apartment to get some breathing room.

The result… I got fired! The fellas decided that it was all or nothing for me. No raises, no extra cash, nothing under the table, no girlfriend, and no moving out of hell! I was FIRED! Aside from Cassey, life was pretty crappy at this point. I continued staying up hunting for “freelance work” during the day and teaching myself how to design at night only this time with the bigger picture in mind.

Landing my first gig!

I landed my first major job for a local organization who promptly hired me for 3 months of solid work. I was paid $1,200.00 out of $8,500.00 and told to beat it. Yep, I got nailed again. First by my brotherhood then by my client. Needless to say depression was a serious issue for me and I didn’t think I’d ever fully recover.

To make an already long story short, Cassey was busting her rump as a waitress to keep us alive as I sat around learning this new found career. I picked up a few smaller gigs here and there and got burned on most of them. I got into gear, picked up a real paying job and kept on learning.

The casualties of war…

Through my startup, I was in one major car accident (flew 60 feet out of a car’s side window), been evicted three times form three different places, lost one car to repossession, a motorcycle to theft, lived in a motel for months and still managed to keep the dream alive. Cassey supported me through it all and for that I’m ever grateful. Her help and effort, allowed me to come full circle…

The turnaround.

Coming around full circle years later is somewhat of a blur and exactly how I got here is an even bigger one, I’m now the guy in charge, making a six figure income, and blogging about the journey! What an amazing ride it’s been, and what an amazing woman I’ve got. Man, to stick with me and my bullshit takes one hell of a woman. Well that should be enough about me for one day so on that note, I’ll paste this into my About Me page and call it a day. If you’ve ever got questions or just wanna chat… let me know… I’m all ears

- Thanks for reading! PB

“I’ve been an avid reader of many blogs for a long time now. I’ve seen plenty of them come and go. But please don’t be mistaken… many were my own.”

After months of mental debate, I decided to use my “Piss & Vinegar” attitude in a way that would help regular people create and maintain their business dreams. I know it sounds all a bit hokey, but it’s the truth. If you thought America was the land of opportunity, the internet is her playground.

Let me disclose that I’m not a money making guru. I’m likely not going to show you anything that you haven’t heard or seen before. I won’t teach you how to get rich, and I won’t tell you to fire your boss tomorrow… I will however, show you with complete conviction, what it is to run your online business in the very best way that I can… through my own personal and professional experiences.

I ask only a few things of my future readers. Participate, congregate, and always leave comments! Happy customers are the fuel of any business owner and it’s no different with blogs. We need a little motivation too you know and commenting regularly is a great way to feed the fire. I’m sure that all of you will enjoy learning from this blog, as much as I have enjoyed planning it. Thanks for visiting!

-PB