CSSnewbie

Become a Blogging Master

Everyone blogs for different reasons. Some simply do it for the joy of writing. Others blog to promote a product or service they’re hoping to sell. Some do it for the exposure to a mass audience, while others write for a close circle of family of friends. And still others are hoping that blogging will prove to be a means to an end, a chance at moving into a new career where they’re their own bosses.

Whichever one of those reasons you’d attribute to yourself, one thing is probably true: you’d love it if your blogging habit would pay for itself. And hey, if your blog made you some extra spending money on the side too… well, that’d be icing on a pretty darn cool cake, wouldn’t it?

But how do you start making money with your blog? The only people who can jump into income-producing blogging without a good deal of planning and understanding are those who are already famous in another genre (Drew Curtis of Fark.com wouldn’t need to work to create a popular blog; his blog would be popular by virtue of his being Drew Curtis). If you’re not already a pseudo-celeb, where do you go?

For the rest of us, there’s Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind online course. In this course, Yaro walks his students through the process of learning to blog the way he does. And trust me – you want to learn to blog like Yaro. He’s been making anywhere from $10,000 to $35,000 per month for the last couple of years by blogging.

And Mr. Starak didn’t come into the blogging scene as a celebrity superstar, either. He simply writes good content, promotes it well, varies his income sources (for security), and brings in visitors. And now, he’s willing to share how he does it with the rest of us.

If you’re a veteran blogger who has had trouble generating income in the past, there is probably no better place you could go to learn the secrets of the trade. There are a lot of so-called gurus out there, but Yaro has the knowledge – and the income – to back up his claim.

And if you’re new to blogging, the Blog Mastermind course is a fantastic way to enter the scene with all the knowledge necessary to start off on the right foot and build a successful blog as quickly as can be done.

Best of all, the Blog Mastermind course is surprisingly affordable: just $97 buys you a month’s worth of access to this 6-month course. If you like what you see after a month, you can stay on for the long haul and pay the same price ($97) for the remaining 5 months of the course. Or, if you’d like to save a little cash, you can pay for all 6 months up front and save $85.

If you’re new to blogging, $97 may sound like a large chunk of dough… but you have to think about this sort of thing as an investment. Even if the information you gain teaches you how to create a blog that generates just $100/month, you’ll have made back your money in under six months. And several of Yaro’s previous students are doing much better than a paltry Benjamin per month: check out this interview with one of his past students, who is now making well over six figures a year from his blog.

If you’d like to learn more about Yaro’s teaching style and techniques, check out this video he’s released on Conversion Blogging, one of the cornerstones of how he’s built such a successful blogging enterprise. It will give you a clue both into Yaro’s exceptional teaching ability, as well as give you a glimpse at the quality of content you’ll be getting in the course.

Or, if you’re already convinced, you can sign up for Blog Mastermind here. This course won’t stay open forever, so don’t miss your chance!

5 Web Design Books That Have Inspired Me

I learned web development the good old-fashioned way: through peering at the source code of those who came before me and testing out new ideas through trial and error. But that isn’t to say I haven’t ever picked up a book on web design in my decade-plus of web work (good gracious, has it been that long already?). In fact, I’ve read quite a few web-related books in my time, and many of them have inspired me to look at my job in entirely new ways. And in spirit of sharing, here are five of the books that have most inspired me (click the images to get your own copy!).

Designing With Web Standards – Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman’s webzine A List Apart was one of the first places where I ever began to grasp the fundamentals of (and the fundamental need for) web standards. Thus, when I heard that Zeldman was going to be coming out with a book on the subject, I could barely wait to get hold of a copy. In fact, I’m currently on my second copy of the book, as I wore out my first copy while working on my Master’s thesis. The book is a treasure trove of information on how to design websites the right way – with standards in mind. Designing With Web Standards is in its second edition now, and while I’ve only ever read the first edition, I’m more than willing to recommend you pick up a copy.

Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug

Web usability needn’t be a scary or complicated topic – just pick up a copy of Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think for all the evidence you’ll ever need. If you’re one of those designers who still thinks that usability is a great idea – for those companies that have seven-figure design budgets, that is – then this book can be a real eye-opener. Web usability doesn’t require a million-dollar lab or a fancy-dancy study. It just requires an understanding of how people really use the web. And Krug will set you down that path of understanding. My copy is riddled with bookmarks and notes in the margin – a sign that it has earned its place on my bookshelf.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web – Christina Wodtke

Before I picked up a copy of Christina Wodtke’s book, my web design process looked a little like this: Concept –> Development –> Redevelopment –> Re-redevelopment. Then I saw a copy of Information Architecture in my college’s new media lab, skimmed a few chapters, and liked it enough to pick up a copy of my own. Wodtke’s book was the first real look I got at the process of developing a website the right way – the idea of sitting down and planning out what the customer needed, what the users wanted, and how I would negotiate the path between the two. This is a great read if you’re just starting out on your own.

Bulletproof Web Design – Dan Cederholm

Dan Cederholm’s Bulletproof Web Design is a must-have for any modern web designer. In it Cederholm proves, chapter by chapter, that having a site built using web standards doesn’t mean you have to give up on your site behaving itself properly. His techniques allow you to develop websites that look just as good in IE as they do in Firefox – and in the cases where some functionality simply doesn’t translate from one to the other, how to ensure your website degrades nicely. I have no fewer than eighteen bookmarks stuck throughout this book, and turn to them often when I’m trying to remember precisely how to pull of certain techniques.

The Zen of CSS Design – Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag

Is there really any better resource on the web for learning to push the CSS envelope than the CSS Zen Garden? Well, the book version of the Garden takes those fantastic visual examples and breaks them down, discusses their various techniques, and explains how some of the fancier footwork was accomplished. This book has been a great resource for me over the last couple of years, seeing as how I’m much more of a developer than a designer. Sometimes it helps to be able to analyze the work of others to understand how I might apply such techniques to my own work.

Those of you with an astute eye might have noticed that all five of these books have something in common – they were all published by New Riders. As far as I’m concerned New Riders is the go-to publisher when I’m looking for a new web design book. Their topics are interesting, their writers entertaining, and their quality is always top-notch. And if anyone from New Riders happens to read this, keep me in mind, eh? :)