For a quick and entertaining read about online world domination, check out 279 Days to Overnight Success. This is Chris Guillebeau’s free ebook for “bloggers, writers, online artists, and anyone otherwise interested in creating a new career or expanding their influence using social media.”

It’s about how he became a full time writer in 279 days, a very short period of time for overnight success, which generally takes years.

As his blog is called “The Art of Nonconformity,” you’ll find that his ebook has a different style from most ebooks about blogging. You might even enjoy reading it if you’re not interested in blogging.

I’ve just recently come across his site, but he seems like an interesting guy. One interesting thing about him: his personal quest to visit every country in the world before he turns 35 in 2012 (he’s been to 111 out of 197 so far).

Here are the winners of the “How To Be Miserable” Contest, sponsored by life coach Tim Brownson:

1st place: Hayden Tompkins at Persistent Illusion wins an hour of life coaching from Tim, for her post How To Be Miserable.

2nd place: Amanda at Becoming A Fiction Writer wins a signed copy of Tim’s book “Don’t Ask Stupid Questions – There Are No Stupid Questions,” for her post How to be miserable: Try to become a fiction writer!

Need a traffic boost? Michael Martine is offering a chance for people to get more blog subscribers and Twitter followers. Everyone leaves a link, and then checks out the other participants. I’m not sure what impact it’s had on my traffic, but I got about 25 new Twitter followers yesterday.

Have a personal development blog? Glen Allsopp at PluginID has created a personal development blog list, where an automated script ranks blogs based on Technorati and Alexa rankings, with Google PageRank serving as a tiebreaker. If you have a personal development blog, you can ask Glen to add it to the list. I’m currently #32.

Someone informed me that my “Email this article to a friend” links were broken. Apparently this broke when I upgraded WordPress, and I just needed to regenerate the permalinks. Thanks for the heads up, and it’s working now.

Image from Family Guy

There’s a famous juggler, well known for his dazzling performances, who once said “Your first 100 shows don’t count.” Meaning that while 100 shows sounds like a lot, it really takes that many just to warm up and start to find your way.

I think that’s how I feel, reflecting on my blog as I write this 100th post. A lot has certainly happened, but in many ways I feel like I’m just getting started.

First, let’s look at some things that have happened along the way.

It didn’t feel like I was off to such a great start when I had only 3 subscribers after my first month, and only 13 subscribers after my second. Now I’m up to about 300 subscribers (Feedburner admits that it’s not perfect at counting subscribers, but it showed a peak of 303 recently). It’s not very many in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a lot more than the 0 we all have to start with!

Likewise, I’m not making much money from this blog, but it’s moving in the right direction. It costs a few dollars a month to pay for the domain and hosting, and I also paid for a custom banner. I also paid for (e)books that I’ve reviewed here, if you want to count those. And if you include the cost of my time (even assuming minimum wage), this is a ridiculously expensive endeavor. But some money is trickling in now, mainly from AdSense ads, and I’ve also started making some affiliate sales recently.

I’ve written two ebooks so far: The Zen of Blogging and Memoirs of a Gaijin. The first was an absolute breeze to write once the idea struck me, while the second took way, way too long. And both were free, which was kind of nice for getting started, but it doesn’t exactly pay the bills either. I do think ebooks will be an important thing for me to focus on going forward, and I’m currently doing research in preparation for my next one. It’s gonna be good!

As for publicity, I received links from the following blogs with thousands of subscribers:

• Anywired: I wrote the guest post 14 Defenses Against The Anti-Entrepreneurial for Skellie.
• ProBlogger: Darren Rowse linked to my ebook The Zen of Blogging.
• Remarkablogger: Michael Martine wrote a post to respond to my question about Jedi and Sith blogging.
• Skelliewag: Skellie linked to my trump card post (My Final Post: Top 9 Lessons In Awesomeness).
• Steve Pavlina . com: Erin Pavlina picked my post How to Be a Woman as her #3 favorite of 52 submissions (and her #1 favorite by a guy).

As a result of appearing in “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch, I’ve been getting searches on different variations of my tagline:

how to stop sucking and live a life of abundance
live a life of abundance
live sucking
show me live free sucking
stop scuking and live a life of abundance
stop suckin and live a life of abundance
stop sucking & abundance
stop sucking & live a life of abundance
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stop sucking and enjoy abundance
stop sucking and enjoy abundance randy
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stop sucking live life of abundance
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stop sucking up and live a life of abundance
stop sucking, randy pausch
stop suking and live a life of abundance
sucking abundance life

Apparently, a lot of people aren’t so good at typing what they read into a search engine. I’m sure there’s an SEO lesson in that.

Other amusing search terms that people used to find me:

10 reasons why indians should visit united states of america

I really think we’re open to people of all nationalities.

7 unique reasons why indians should visit japan

Hmmm, same guy, different country? And make sure the reasons are unique. No fair using any of them twice!

is japan a good place to live or is new york better

Or maybe Kansas, or Iceland, or North Korea? You know, these are very different places! Are you really that flexible about where to live?

i need a gaijin

I think you’ll get kicked out of Japan for saying that!

making money with hunter

Let’s do it!

how i won the lottery

Well, I did win $3, but I can’t really tell you how I did it.

what does amazon affiliate link look like

Are you on a scavenger hunt or something?

you can not make a living on adsense 2008

Yes, please give me the latest and greatest information on how to not make money with AdSense!

create residual income little effort

Well, I have an email from this guy in Saudi Arabia who wants to wire me $25 million and just needs $3,000 for a transfer processing fee…

reasons how people gain overnight success

#1: Work on having gooder grammar.

how to be a confident woman

Um, you’ve come to the wrong blog.

how to be the other woman

Do you really want to be the other woman?

a woman now

Yeah, I think you’re looking for a different kind of site.

pretending to be a woman for phone sex

Are you looking for a how-to guide?

men don’t like a woman to be wrong

Thank you for telling me that; I didn’t know.

how long does it take for a man to realize he wants to marry a woman

Stop googling and just ask him!

how to be a good housewife

Vered, do you want to have a talk with her?

how to be a gurl that guys like

Let’s start by working on your spelling.

how to refrain from being sexist

Is it really that difficult for you?

i’d prefer to be a woman

I really don’t think I’m the one you should be talking to.

borders backgrounds whips chains

What exactly are you looking for?

acceptable reasons for leaving a job

You really don’t need anyone’s permission.

got sick at work and need to go home

Please, be my guest.

automatic blog posts

Sad but true. There’s actually demand for my automatic blog post rehasher.

can hunter be dodged

Never!

can we really dodge bullets

Of course you can dodge bullets.

i dont dodge bullets

That’s OK too. Do you wear a bulletproof vest, or do you just not have people shooting at you?

can’t stop the awesomeness

No doubt!

dc26e349e19c21aec3bb896e0cc7d56d03b551b8415546e6

Wow, my efforts to dominate the Google rankings for “dc26e349e19c21aec3bb896e0cc7d56d03b551b8415546e6″ have finally paid off, thanks to SEO School!

definition of people skills

Well, if you have to ask, you probably don’t have them.

difference between dream world & real world

I’m not sure there is a difference between the dream world and the real world.

do other people shape us or do we shape ourselves?

I think it’s a little of both.

ebook hunter share

Well, my first two ebooks are freely available!

2008 critical comments about steve pavlina

What kind of person searches for hot off the press critical comments about someone?

erin pavlina psychic fraud

Awww…poor Erin!

how to be a mail order psychic

Gee, that sounds reputable!

juggling to improve martial arts

Why don’t you work on martial arts to improve your martial arts?

favourite interview question and answer

I guess that would be “Why?” and “Why not?”

why introversion

Why not?

introverts and claims examiners

They go together like a horse and carriage, don’t they?

are introverts disturbing?

No.

people think introverts are dumb

They do?

why are they trying to label introversion as a disease?

Because they’re dumb (the labelers).

poor introverts how are we suppose to live yahoo answers

Oh, come on! It’s great to be an introvert!

personal life sucking

That’s a pretty broad problem. Why don’t we take it one step at a time?

what is you dream for the world

That’s a nice thing to be searching on. I guess world peace would be a good start.

finding enjoyable blogs to read

You can start with this one!

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Perhaps most importantly, I’ve met a lot of wonderful people online that I never would have met if I hadn’t become a blogger. Blogging in a vacuum isn’t much fun, so it’s great to have kindred spirits to share your thoughts with. Here are my top 10 commenters over the past 30 days, ranked by number of comments:

#1 (tie): Barbara Swafford, Blogging Without A Blog

Where, oh where, would I be without Barbara? True to her blog’s name, she was encouraging me even before I started blogging. A wonderfully loyal commenter, she would have held the #1 spot outright if she weren’t taking a break from blogging to attend her neighborhood garage sale (the great risks of garage sales are overlooked by bloggers all too often). In the time I’ve known her, her comments section has exploded, and yet she still takes the time to respond to every single one.

#1 (tie): Catherine Lawson, Bold Advice for Business Success

Catherine started following me early on, and I started following her at the same time. She uses her years of business experience and her uncommon sense to help people avoid costly mistakes. She recently said she’s moving away from bold advice for business success in favor of a better work/life balance, so we’ll have to see what happens. But whatever she blogs about, I don’t think Catherine knows how to not be bold, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

#3: Marelisa, Abundance Blog at Marelisa-Online

I came across Marelisa pretty recently, and became hooked on her eclectic mix of topics related to abundance. She backs up her ideas by stuffing her posts full of research data that comes from all the books she reads. I guess reading a lot is typical for an ex-lawyer (yes, she was a lawyer, but a nice one).

#4: Vered, MomGrind – a Mommyblogger Wannabe

Another nice former lawyer (yup, there are at least two of them in the world), the very thin but NOT medically underweight Vered runs a mommy blog that is not really a mommy blog. She also writes about finance, feminism, happiness, and blogging, among other things. She always has interesting ideas, and I always look forward to her Wordless Wednesdays.

#5: Evelyn Lim, Attraction Mind Map

Evelyn has all kinds of training and certifications in things I barely understand. She combines knowledge with inspiration to help people tune in to greater abundance in all areas of life. Very honest and sincere, she shares both her successes and her struggles in walking the path to peace and prosperity. (Hmmm, don’t there seem to be a lot of women in this list? Nothing wrong with that, I’m just saying…)

#6: Akemi, Yes to Me

Akemi has shown plenty of courage in leaving her native Japan for the U.S., getting married and divorced, moving across the country, and starting a coaching and Akashic record reading business. Through her business and her blog, she helps people live their life purpose and achieve spiritual growth.

#7: rld, Taekwondo Happiness

This tiny woman can throw a man three times her size and keep him on the floor indefinitely. Cool, huh? She writes about martial arts, exercise, nutrition, meditation, and so forth, and she has a knack for having insight into lessons learned from cool cheesy movies. (Where are all these women coming from? As soon as I can, I’m writing a post about Scarface to restore a little balance.)

#8 (tie): Al – 7P Productions – Dedicated to Achieving Goals and Dreams

Al’s humble site is about making dreams come true. He has a bunch of interesting, creative, and entertaining stuff on his blog, and he leaves very thoughtful comments. I won’t give it away, but you can visit his about page to find out what the 7 Ps are. (Finally, we have a guy on the list!)

#8 (tie): Shilpan – Success Soul – Abundance and Simplicity for Mind, Body, and Soul

An ambitious, purpose-driven guy, Shilpan believes that success is the result of positive thinking followed by action. He also believes that every one of us can achieve abundance through belief and hard work. Although his blog is fairly new, it’s done incredibly well on Digg, with his latest post currently showing 1,887 diggs.

And now we get to the point where I would normally list #10 and be on my merry way, but as it turns out, we have a 7-way tie for the 10th spot. Seven? Anyway, I’ve got to run soon, so I’ll just list the seven bloggers, and you can feel free to write your own bio in the comments.

#10 (tie): Avani Mehta, Food For Mind
#10 (tie): Dave Navarro, Rock Your Day
#10 (tie): Hayden Tompkins, Persistent Illusion
#10 (tie): Jamie Harrop, Young Entrepreneur
#10 (tie): Mary Jaksch, Goodlife Zen
#10 (tie): Matt H., The Freewheeler
#10 (tie): XiongShui, Teehaus – Stammtisch

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What does the future hold?

If we knew that, then life wouldn’t be much fun, would it? But I can say that plenty of new posts are on the way, including a new series that I should be starting soon. I’m also going to be having some contests, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on your chance to win a prize!

You may have noticed that I’ve been posting more often than usual lately. It’s mainly because I’ve had a lot of book/ebook/product reviews to write. And while I don’t want to hijack my blog with reviews, I still have six more to do (and I don’t review everything I read). I also have one ebook I bought almost a month ago that I haven’t even read yet. Ironically, it’s Dave Navarro’s “What’s Holding You Back?” Hmmm, time management, methinks?

I’m going to try to slow down a bit with my posting, because I don’t want subscribing to my blog to be too big a time commitment for you guys. I’ve also found it a bit too hard to keep up with my favorite blogs, gather fresh material for my posts, work on my ebook, and enjoy this supposed life that exists outside of work. It’s just hard to slow down because so much is happening, you know?

That’s all for now. Thanks to everyone for making it a fun journey. Now, on to the next 100 posts…

I’m back from Japan, and continuing with live posts (no more “portions of this broadcast were pre-recorded”). I just wanted to quickly reflect on some recent events, and let you know what’s in the pipeline.

Blogging Developments

I’ve recently had some success on the blogging front, for several reasons but most notably because The Zen of Blogging was highlighted by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. Before this happened, I was happy that my subscriber count had broken 40 after more than four months of blogging. Shortly after Darren’s post, it shot up to 64. Right before I left for vacation, it was at 84! But my shock was premature. When I came back from vacation, I had 205 subscribers!

I also achieved positive cash flow with Google AdSense for the first time (making enough money to pay for my domain and hosting costs). It’s not much money, but at least now it’s flowing in the right direction.

The Zen of Blogging has now been translated into Russian by Олег Сатов, and into German by Jan Tißler. Having just returned from a situation where I desperately needed a translator on many occasions, I greatly appreciate their efforts to make my ebook easily accessible to people in their countries.

Along with all the traffic came a bunch of comments and emails. I’ve responded to most of them, but not all. If I haven’t gotten back to you yet, I will soon.

For people who might think that AdSense always gives relevant ads, I just noticed that The Zen of Blogging is now showing this ad:

Meet Gay Men
No Credit Card Req’d Online Dating.
Create Profile & Send Emails Free!

Methinks their algorithm might need some tweaking.

Upcoming Posts

My 15 minutes of fame on ProBlogger has given me some things to write about, both on how I got linked and what the effects were. For those of you who are new here, while I cite specific examples in my posts, I also try to make the lessons generic. So you should find these posts useful whether or not you happen to be a fellow blogger.

I’ve been getting inquiries about what Japan was like, and I’m sure many more people are silently wondering. Since this isn’t a personal blog, I can’t just write a post about “What I Did On Vacation.” It would be too off-topic. I do have some ideas for a couple of Japan-related posts I can write, but I have so much I want to say that I decided to write an ebook about it. That way, people who aren’t interested can just ignore it, while people who are interested can get plenty of details. Since the ebook will just be a story instead of a solution to a problem, it will be free. (Note to self: stop writing free ebooks! That’s why you’re not making much money!)

One of my upcoming posts will probably include a link to all my Japan pictures, but I don’t have the pictures yet. Not being much of a photographer, I don’t even own a camera. Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a digital camera that I’ll never use, I bought three disposable cameras. When I finish up the last few shots on the last camera, I’ll get them developed. My friends are also going to mail me a CD of the pictures they took.

It will take some time to get this all done, especially since I don’t believe in posting too frequently (I don’t think it’s a good deal for either you or me). So I’ll appreciate your patience as I slowly answer the questions you might have about these recent events.

A Question For You

By the way, does anyone know where I can convert my last ¥10,000 ($100 U.S.)? The currency exchange station at the airport was closed, and my bank can convert the money but they don’t recommend it because of the delay and the fees. Alternatively, what do people think about the dollar’s short term prospects against the yen?

Photo by adpowers

In the time I’ve been running this blog, I’ve received a number of emails from readers. Some have been supportive, and some have offered constructive criticism. Lately I’ve been getting a lot of emails concerning my choice of topics. I thought I’d share some of those emails here so you have an idea of what I get in my inbox every day.

Betty in New Orleans writes:

“Hi, Hunter. I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and it’s pretty nice. However, ‘nice’ doesn’t really do it for me. While I like reading about things like achieving your goals and having a positive attitude, what I’d really like to read about is hardcore S&M. If you could write more about that topic, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!”

Jeff in San Francisco writes:

“Dude this blog is way too G-rated. If I wanted all this goody two-shoes crap I’d go to Disneyland. Get with the times man! When I go online, I want something that will shock and titillate. If you don’t start adding some whips, chains, handcuffs, and leather, I’m outta here!”

While some people have said they liked my blog the way it was, the emails I’ve gotten lately have overwhelmingly been like the ones above. I want to pay attention to my readers’ needs, so effective immediately, this blog will be focused on sadomasochism.

I realize this will be an adjustment for some people, but change is what the Web 2.0 world is all about. I’m renaming the blog “Whips & Chains,” and using the tagline “Makin’ it hurt so good since 2006.” I have a temporary banner for now, but I’ll be getting one professionally made soon.

This blog is for the benefit of my readers, and I thank you for the opportunity to deliver what you’re looking for. Of course, you do realize what day this is, right?

You may have heard of Men with Pens and their highly acclaimed freelance writing. But do you know what else they do?

When I started this blog, I used the default theme, also known as Kubrick. I made some customizations, and I was happy with everything except the banner. By default, Kubrick displays your blog name and tagline in white text on a blue background. You can easily change the background color, and in fact you can have it fade from one color into another. I had mine fade from a light red to a dark red.

(Click the image for a bigger version. I made it 2 megs smaller by converting the bitmap to a jpeg, though it’s a bit distorted.)

My banner was fine for starting out, but it wasn’t very flashy. I knew that at some point I’d want something that would look more professional and catch people’s attention. Furthermore, I was annoyed that my banner was about 50% taller than it should have been. WordPress really should shorten their Kubrick header image. I would have done it myself, except that I couldn’t easily modify the PHP code that handled the fading effect.

I decided to spring for a professional banner when I saw Catherine Lawson’s new theme. While she had her entire theme redone, it was the shiny metal in her banner that really caught my eye. I had to have something that cool.

Catherine had hired Men with Pens to design her new theme. I didn’t realize they did professional web design. In fact, they offer all these services:

• Articles and Blog Posts
• Ebooks and eGuides
• Website and Blog Content
• Newsworthy Press Releases
• Sales Letters and Copy
• Product Descriptions
• French-English Translation
• Consultation and Critique
• Web Design and Graphics

Their website described some of their web design packages, but it also said to contact them if you have a project you don’t see listed. So I asked if they could design a banner for me, just a banner without any extra bells and whistles. Despite the fact that my Automatic Blog Post Rehasher had nearly killed James and Harry via heart attack and choking on coffee, respectively, they cheerfully agreed.

I wanted to be able to drop the new banner in without changing the theme, so I said I’d need them to keep the width at 760 pixels, but they could reduce the height. They also had to preserve the gray and white borders I had in my original banner, which were actually part of the image.

I said that the banner should contain my name and my tagline, and should be some kind of red. I wanted to give them room to be creative instead of telling them exactly what the image should look like. I figured it was best to get a rockin’ banner with relatively few constraints, and then if necessary make some minor presentation changes to make it fit.

They responded with a flat rate price quote, and also gave me the option of paying by the hour. They also asked several questions about the focus of my blog and the image I wanted to convey, so they could find the right look and feel.

They came back with the astonishingly gorgeous banner you see here:

They let me pick from two different banner sizes, and I went with the larger one, which was actually the same height as my original banner. Even though I had first suggested that the height should be reduced, it was a perfect fit when they made the text bigger.

But I wasn’t quite done yet. It’s hard to see in the image above, but the bright red links clashed slightly with the dark red banner. And while the dark red banner went well with the black background, the combination was a bit too dark overall.

After playing with some different colors, I ended up keeping the links the same, and just changed the background. I used a color that bridged the gap between the bright red links and the dark red banner. It also creates a warmer tone while still complementing my rockin’ new banner.

If you don’t have much in the way of CSS skills, you would probably be better off having your entire theme designed by one team, instead of doing it peacemeal like I did. But I’m thrilled with what I ended up with!

Although I only used a limited subset of what the Men with Pens offer, my experience with them leads me to believe that they’d do an awesome job with any kind of web design work. And if you’ve read their blog, you don’t need me to convince you that they’ve got mad skillz in the writing department. I’m adding them to the Resources page so that others might learn about these men with more than just pens.

My Automatic Blog Post Rehasher is getting some attention on Digg. An active Digg user told me that it’s front page material. Are you kidding me?

Like any small blogger, I’ve always wanted a shot at hitting the Digg front page. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about doing it with a joke post, but I figure if it makes people laugh, then it’s doing some good.

So go Digg it if you’re a Digger. But keep in mind that by doing so, you’re encouraging more stuff from the dark side.

For example, an ebook titled “How To Sell Overpriced Ebooks,” selling for $1,000. It’s only one page, but its affiliate program pays 90%.

Yes, I’m giving mixed signals. Social media is a harsh mistress.

By the way, how do you know when one of your posts has been Dugg or Stumbled, other than someone telling you, or just randomly checking?

About a year ago I was talking to my friend about how I needed an email auto-responder, and he told me about a product he was using called AWeber. It sounded like just what I needed, so he sent me an email with a link to AWeber.

I checked out their website, but I wasn’t ready to sign up right then. Sometime later, I was ready to get started, so I typed aweber.com in my browser’s address bar, went to the site, and signed up.

I told my friend I was using AWeber, and he asked me if I signed up using the link he gave me. Of course not! If I knew the URL was aweber.com, why would I dig up his email to find the link instead of just typing it in?

And then I realized what I had done. This must have been one of those affiliate deals I had heard about. D’oh!

I didn’t know it at the time, but if I had signed up through the link he gave me, he would have earned a commission for referring me. He said “That’s why I gave you the link!” But I thought it was his fault for not explicitly telling me I had to sign up through the link, and why.

Now it’s a year later and I know a lot more about affiliate programs, but I figure there are still people out there who don’t. Here are the basics you need to know.

What is an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is a distribution method that some companies use to sell their products. People sign up to be affiliates, and they can then earn commissions for selling the company’s products. Affiliates are usually customers who have bought the products themselves, but not always. They usually promote the products by writing reviews of them and posting affiliate links on their blog.

What does an affiliate link look like?

A link normally looks like this:

http://www.company.com

But an affiliate link will look something like this:

http://www.company.com?ref=1234

or http://www.company.com?id=bobsmith

or http://bobsmith.company.com

The username bobsmith and the referrer id 1234 identify the affiliate so they can be credited. If you buy a product through this link, the affiliate receives a commission. If you buy a product through http://www.company.com, no affiliate receives a commission because there’s no way to know how you found out about the product.

An affiliate link can appear as a text link or an image link. With your mouse pointer over the link, look at the lower left corner of your browser to see the URL. Note that clicking on a link like http://www.company.com?ref=1234 may redirect you to http://www.company.com, with the referrer id of 1234 being stored behind the scenes.

How does this help the company?

If a product costs $20, and you buy the product through an affiliate, $4 of that $20 might go to the affiliate as a referral fee, with the company keeping the remaining $16. The exact amount can vary widely depending on the product, but the point is that part of the sale goes to the affiliate for their efforts in promoting the product. The company has to give up some of the revenue, but the advantage for them is that they make a sale to someone who otherwise might never have heard of the product.

How does this help the affiliate?

The affiliate gets a commission for each sale they make. They may promote a product passively, by putting up a banner ad for people to click on. Or they may promote a product more actively, by writing a review. They want their reviews to be persuasive so that people will buy the product, but good affiliates know that they will hurt their reputation by writing inaccurate or misleading reviews.

How does this help the customer?

A customer can buy a product through an affiliate, and if they like it, they may sign up to become an affiliate themselves. In this way they can make some money to pay for part of their purchase, or possibly earn a good profit in time.

But let’s consider the customer who doesn’t become an affiliate. They don’t receive any financial benefit from buying through an affiliate, although it doesn’t cost them anything either. The benefit to them is that they found out about a product they might not have heard of before, and they read a review that helped them make an informed decision as to whether they wanted to buy it.

Buying from an affiliate is a painless way to “share the love” with the person who told you about a product, instead of all the profits going to the company, who might not care about every last dollar if they’re making billions.

How does a customer know if they can trust an affiliate’s review?

If you visit a company’s website and read about their products, do you think they’re going to say their products are great or terrible? Obviously, they want to give glowing reviews to make their products sound as good as possible. It’s the only way they can make money.

If you read a product review written by an affiliate, it’s very different. An affiliate is a “real person,” not a company. They’ll share their experiences, letting you see the product from a different angle. They might highlight certain ways the product has helped them that you might not have thought of. And they’re much more likely to point out any downsides to the product. Although pointing out downsides might make people less likely to buy, it also makes the affiliate’s reviews more credible, which will help them in the future.

My reviews

I’m going to post a product review shortly, so you can see an example. The way to look at it is not to automatically think “Hunter says this is good, so I should buy it.” No one is going to agree with me about everything. If you read enough of my posts, you’ll get an idea for where our opinions are similar and where they differ, and this will help you interpret my reviews. I won’t just say that a product is good, but I’ll try to explain why it’s good, giving you enough detail to make a decision based on whether you’ve agreed with similar opinions I’ve had.

Some affiliates will disclose all their affiliate links by following every one with “(affiliate).” The idea is that they’re warning people that they’re biased because they stand to profit from your purchase. I don’t think that’s necessary. I think every blogger is putting their reputation on the line with everything they say, whether they’re making money or not. Being an affiliate is nothing to apologize for.

So far, I have disclosed all my affiliate links, though there haven’t been many. The reason is not to warn you that I’m biased, but to warn you not to do what I did in the story above and buy the product without using the affiliate link. However, I think it’s going to become very tedious to disclose every affiliate link. Since I seem to be mentioning a lot of books and movies anyway, I figure that I might as well become an Amazon affiliate so I can sell them. Wouldn’t it be annoying to see “(affiliate)” everywhere, including in photo credits? Yeah, I think so too. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but maybe I’ll disclose affiliate links on the Resources page, but not in posts.

Anyway, if you ever buy a product based on my recommendation, I ask that you use my affiliate link, if I have one. Then if you want to, become an affiliate yourself and repeat the process.

I’ve just put up a draft version of the boot camp. Its purpose is to serve as a basic training program for new visitors.

When I discover a blog, I often say to myself, “OK, what did I miss?” I know that the posts that happen to be on top are the most recent, but not necessarily the most important.

Many blogs have a “Popular Posts” section that showcases the posts that have received the most hits. But sometimes posts become popular because they’re interesting or funny, not necessarily because they’re helpful. I suppose I could add a popular posts section at some point, but I didn’t want popularity to be the main criterion for the boot camp.

Many blogs have a “Best Of” section consisting of the blog author’s personal favorites. But that wouldn’t really work here. I write about a pretty broad range of topics, and my favorite posts wouldn’t necessarily be diverse enough. Some of the boot camp posts are bound to be my best, but that’s not the only factor involved.

I wanted to go with a collection of hand-picked posts that were chosen for specific reasons. My goal is to make sure that a certain breadth of topics is covered in a logical order, sort of like a class in personal development.

This is just a draft version. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 5-10 not-yet-written posts that will need to be added, and I’ll continue to make changes moving forward. But for now, this will allow new visitors to catch up with some of the most important things.

If you’re new here, don’t worry, you won’t be left behind. Take a look at the boot camp, and be sure to read any posts you may have missed.

I’ve put up a new page titled “Resources.” This is going to be a handy repository for the products and services I recommend. There will be a mix of free and paid products, as well as affiliate and non-affiliate. Every time I add a resource, I’ll write a post reviewing it, and we can use that post to keep track of everyone’s comments. This way, everyone can read my opinion as well as everyone else’s before deciding to buy (if there’s a charge).