This week was a rough week for me personally. If you follow my twitter, you know my mother passed away from a long battle with lung cancer.

I took a week off from everything just to clear my head. There were many points where I wanted to rush to my computer to crank out a meaningless blog or two to make sure my web stats on various sites were up where I wanted them to be. I thought better of that as I feel the quality of my work would suffer if my mindset wasn’t clear.

So I have opted to take a few more days off. Blog readers are a kind and caring bunch, I am sure everyone understands.

Cheers until next time, and thank you everyone for the heartwarming comments on my facebook, myspace and twitter accounts.

I have heard there are two guarantees in life. I feel there are three.

1. Death.
2. Taxes.
3. You will write a bad and pointless blog post.

When I start out every blog post, I try to make it as witty, informative and interesting as I can. I spend a bit of time crafting it, proof reading it, and then I hit that little publish button. Later that day, I’ll come back hoping to see comments from fellow bloggers and readers about what they felt about my opinion. Sometimes, I will come back to the website and see a big fat zero in the comment section. Immediately, I think ‘Wow, everyone must be stupid except me!’

Then reality sets in.

The post I made just plain sucked. I can picture it now. Joe or Josephine Average opens up their RSS reader and clicks on the newest brilliant article from Man vs Blog. They read it, utter a quick ‘meh’, and wish they could get that 5 minutes back.

Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Trust me it will. I have pulled up articles from great bloggers such as Darren Rowse and thought ‘Ok, that was entirely a waste of time.’  Even the best writers can start with a great idea and have it go south. The key is to not get discouraged when this happens.

Readers will forgive the occasional bad post. Readers will not forgive a string of uninspired and worthless posts. If you look back at your most recent post and feel it isn’t your best work, don’t fret.

Just make sure the next post you have is up to your usual high standard.

I am addicted to creating websites. Most of them have failed worse than the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs. (Did I just go there? Yes, I did!)

However, I think I am starting to get a little more wise to this interweb game. I have been giving myself a much better chance at succeeding by thinking out my website ideas and planning them a little more effectively. This is completely opposite to how my approach used to be. Every time I saw someone with a great idea, I purchased a domain and pondered a site that could rival it. A prime example of this was a website to to rival Whateverlife.com. Whateverlife was created by a 17 year old from the Detroit area that specializes in free Myspace layouts. There were plenty of stories making the rounds on the web about her making $40,000 a month from AdSense ads. Hey! I want to make $40,000 a month in AdSense!

I began by creating a pretty simple website. I designed a few of my own free layouts (being in a band taught me a thing or two about Myspace layouts) and downloaded a solid 100 more. I had a few of my friends talk up the website on Myspace, and away I went to watch the money roll in. That is how Myspace works right? Everything is supposed to go viral.

That website grossed me approximately $0.00. That was before taxes however. So the net was more like $0.00.

After a month of promotion and no real traffic to the website, I shelved the idea and moved on to the next one. What I needed to evaluate, however, was what went wrong and how I could avoid it in the future. How did this website fail?

The concept for this website is tied to the success of another site, in this case, Myspace. The site came about a year too late. I don’t believe in the theory that you have to be the first person with a great idea to profit from it, just look at how many bloggers there are making money in the make money online genre. Although there were plenty of Myspace layout websites around, it didn’t seem like it would be a lot of work getting near the top of the search word rankings. The problem itself was that Myspace was failing in general. I am aware that it is still a hugely popular website, but it lost all its buzz. Facebook took over as being the hip and cool place to go to social network. If you weren’t established before this changeover, your website is basically dead in the water.

How did Whateverlife succeed where my website failed?

Whateverlife was started in 2005 at the height of the first Myspace traffic wave. The creator, Ashely Qualls, basically dove headfirst in to a ‘perfect storm’ for web traffic. Myspace had just started advertising that you can customize your profiles with a little code, and she was on the forefront of making that code available to people her own age. The reason Ms. Qualls is a millionaire now is because she was smart enough to put advertisements on her website when most people her age wouldn’t have even thought of that. She also established her brand long before putting the advertisements on the website. As soon as she started her ad campaign, she was instantly seeing an influx of dollars on AdSense because most of her target market wasn’t tech savvy and could easily click on an AdSense ad thinking it was a link to someplace else on her website.

The moral of the story is your website might be failing, and there is nothing you can really do about it. This is especially the case if your entire business model is tied to another website. All the SEO in the world cannot replicate that ‘perfect storm’ that someone like Ms. Qualls walked in to. What you can do is adjust your thinking process in an attempt to predict that next ‘perfect storm’. You have be on the cutting edge and be creative. If you aren’t on the front line, you at least have to be on one of the first 10 lines. If you create a website because you heard on 60 Minutes that someone made 40 million dollars with a website, you are probably years too late. Another question you need to ask yourself if ‘Can my website compete?’. You do not have to be the industry leader in any field to make good money, you just have to be able to compete with the industry leaders.

With a little proactive thinking, you can avoid wasting a month on a website that was destined to fail from the start.

Every so often, I don’t feel like typing out a blog post. I know what you are thinking, but it is true! Between my several websites and blogs I can easily suffer from keyboard mileage. I feel that way right now actually. If I don’t blog regularly, however, all the work I have put in to ‘professional’ blogs will quickly fade and my traffic will decrease. As it has been widely reported on over ten thousand blogs, traffic is the key to profiting on the web. I don’t plan on boring you by talking about that.
In addition to my professional blogs and websites, I maintain a personal blog. I post less frequently now because of my ‘web’ endeavors but it is still my preferred release of emotion.

In the case of keyboard mileage I usually ask myself a simple question. Why do I blog?

For me, there are a few variables. First and foremost I want to be an author. It has been a dream of mine for a long time. Blogging basically turns me in to a self publisher. I am opinionated and I seek a limelight. This probably stems from being able to command an audience from a stage. There is a certain thrill to knowing that I have a captive audience to basically say whatever I want to. I always try to make sure I have something relevant to say, but honestly, the attention is something I have always craved.

I like to blog because it lets me display my talent in writing. I know there are a million better writers than me out there, but I like to feel I can articulate better than some and usually have a straightforward and to the point way of discussing a topic. Some writers get intimidated because they will come across a writer who flat out blows their mind. Rather than be intimidated I tend to be inspired by them.

Another key reason I blog is because I feel I have something to share that may help people. That is the main reason I write songs as well. Obviously, people by nature seek attention and they seek emotional release. I would not spend time promoting my websites and blogs if I wasn’t looking for personal gain from them. It doesn’t mean I do not respect the art and medium however. Although I am looking to gain, I am also looking to share the knowledge. It was the same way in music. I would spend hours working on music that I had very personal attachment to. Once the song was written, however, it was all business. Just because I was working hard to make music a career didn’t mean I didn’t care when someone came up to me and said a song moved them. I cherish those moments.

Lastly, I can blog from anywhere. Before I started blogging, my main outlet was music. I would write song after song but it would take a long time to be able to publicly display those songs. On the web, it is almost instant gratification. I will post and within hours I will get feedback from various sources. That, in turn, helps me become a better blogger.

When people come up to me and say that I only blog for personal gain, all I can really say is “yes I do.” I hope that my writing will eventually lead me away from my current job. At times like that I am reminded of a something a great musician once told me.

If you are in it strictly for the music, then write and sing songs for your dog in your basement. If you are in it for the music and the ability to try to earn a living, take it public. -Matt Wydra

After going through the reasons in my head why I blog to begin with, I usually feel inspired to write and try to make my next post relevant and important.

Why do you blog?

After a show, when someone hands me a flier, it’s like they are saying ‘Here, you throw this away!’ - Mitch Hedberg

Two weeks in to my Twitter experiment I have made a lot of new friends, and have practically doubled the amount of people who have subscribed to my feed and my email list. But there is a lot of negativity around the approach I use. Without rehashing my last post, basically, what I do is add as many people as I can to my Twitter profile. They will possibly check out the website, and decide if they want to follow me back, add my RSS feed, or think I am worthless and move on.

Some people have called this fishing for traffic. Fair enough. I call it promotion in its most basic form.

One reason I like Twitter is because of the simplistic way in which you can quickly put yourself out there for people to see. I don’t hide anything, I explain who I am in detail in my About section. It is the closest thing to a flier as there is on the web. When using services like MySpace, you can really streamline your search for potential readers and fans. Twitter is just like handing someone a piece of paper with a name on it.

With Twitter, I am not invading anyone’s space. They will not receive a single note from me, nor will they receive a single tweet from me. I am adding their public page in hope they will check my website out. At the most, they will get an email saying Scott Sweeney is now following you on Twitter.

Example: If I go and follow everyone who is on ProBlogger’s Twitter profile (which I have), I might get a small percentage of people who think my information is worthwhile. Why does this sound familiar to me?

I remember now. I used to stand outside a sold out Jimmy Eat World show with a piece of paper and try to do the EXACT same thing to music fans. I would see 98 percent of the fliers I handed out in the trash, on the street, or folded up in to paper airplanes. I would do this 4 times a week, for years, in hope that I could convert just a few fans to listen to my music.

I do recall people making fun of me in passing, or in the distance. Maybe they would say under their breath that my band sucks. That would be the end of it. It is funny how the disguise of a computer icon makes people a little more trashy in the way they approach you when you are handed out a ‘virtual’ flier.

What seems to be upsetting certain members of the Twitter community is my Follower to Following ratio is skewed. This is, obviously, because I am adding every one I can. They feel this is an instant case of spam and decide that I should be added to Twitter spam lists and block lists. Which I take a little exception to because once again, I have not spammed anyone. I have never sent an unwanted email or message to someone. If someone decided to follow me and does not like what I talk about on Twitter, they can simply block me and move on. Why is the F:F ratio so important in that case?

I’ve had probably 20 new “friends” follow me in the last two weeks alone. Sure I’ll click on your friend link to see if I personally know you. If your followers/following ratio is hugely skewed as yours is, Scott, I immediately ignore you. You got lucky because I have insomnia (it’s 2am on the west coast) and wanted to see who does this sort of thing. - Dave on a comment from my original Twitter post.

If this was a concert, someone like Dave just refuses the flier, or takes it and trashes it. That part I didn’t mind. But because everyone (including myself to a degree) is hidden behind a computer, he felt compelled to come on to my website and speak his mind.After being slightly upset for a few minutes, I remembered the first rule of promotion. Don’t take promotion personal. I will gladly take 100 bad direct messages on Twitter for every one new person that says hello, or says ‘Hey Scott! I like what you are doing.’ I have found over 100 blogs and websites which are amazing, and I go to frequently through this approach on Twitter.

Am I missing something? Isn’t this what Twitter and blogging in general is about, sharing information? It shouldn’t matter how many people someone is following. What should matter is if that person who added you is worth YOU following back. That is not spam. That is promotion.

When I am in the mood for a laugh, I look back at my music career and listen to my old songs. I can hear the very obvious changes in my voice, but many people cannot. Here are links to three songs I have written at three different points in my career. Can you hear the difference?

Thank You For Dancing - 2001 [LINK]

Alone in A Corridor - 2005 [LINK]

On and On - 2008 [LINK]

Naturally, I feel that the last song is my strongest. 7 years of vocal progression have given my voice a more soulful delivery. Singing a song like On and On would have been impossible in 2001. How does this relate to what I am doing now in blogging?

Often times, people will jump right in to blogging before clearly identifying their voice. I know I did. The first mistake I made was not knowing exactly what I wanted to talk about. Initially, I started writing a column based blog. Then, like a lot of people, I became obsessed with the notion that I could easily make six figures blogging about how to make money blogging. The latter was extremely boring and tedious. My final progression has been to focus more on my experience, which is songwriting and music business, and how it can relate to blogging in general. This topic seems to be the easiest and most enjoyable for me to write about.

Although the progression only took about 8 months, I have landed at a place in which I feel happy and comfortable blogging on a regular basis. I also feel that what I contribute now is meaningful and worthwhile to someone, although obviously not everyone. I anticipate my blogging voice will continue to develop over time. Just as with singing, maybe in 5 years I will have a more soulful delivery.

If you are struggling with your voice, there are things you can try to help you figure out what is needed. Something I always did while writing a song was to ask myself what the song was about as a whole. Not specific lyrics or direct subject matter, but the broad overview of the song. When you figure out the broad subject matter, it becomes much easier to identify how to deliver the direct subject matter. Suppose you decide you want to create a make money blog. You can take the overall subject matter and strip it down to a way you feel comfortable delivering it. For example, maybe you want to focus specifically on affiliate programs. Once you streamline the overwhelming part of starting a blog, it is much easier to identify where you fit in and how to use your voice.

When I was struggling with a song, I would often shelve it for a fresh idea. If your current blog isn’t working the way you want it, try something new. If the original idea was good enough, you will find your way back to it with a fresh approach and attitude. I just finished a song that I wrote music to way back in 2004! Sometimes, an idea just needs to simmer for a while.

Writing a blog should be fun, but don’t be discouraged if at times it feels like work. This is part of the process of identifying what makes you tick as a blogger. When a blog feels like 100 percent work and 0 percent fun, that may be the time for you to look for a different part of your voice.

What challenges have you come across when establishing your voice?

Almost every day (occasionally I’ll take a break), I will spend a good solid hour or so at my RSS reader looking at posts from fellow bloggers. A post by David Kam at the MarketingDeviant caught my eye, and got me thinking about the importance of storytelling in marketing. Here is a bit of that post.

“Marketing is like storytelling where you are the storyteller. The story you tell gradually builds up throughout the years. The story becomes stronger as people talk about it as many people will grow fond of it. The better the storyline, the better it will be remembered by the people. If the people remember your story they will remember your business.” -David Kam

  Some of the best advice I received early on in music was make sure the song you write tells a story. It really didn’t matter what the story is, but people have to be able to relate to it.

After reading David’s post, I started thinking about how important that is in blogging. How important your storytelling is to building your brand and establishing your voice in an overcrowded marketplace.

Maki at Dosh Dosh is my favorite example of excellent storytelling in a niche blog. Early on, he set himself apart with excellent writing, a creative thought process, and a little bit of flair. People remember him and his business, because his posts and advice have a little something extra that you do not find in many blogs. It is easy to forget he has only been at this a little over a year! Amazing. Another writer I truly love is Ben Cook, the former author of the Blogging Experiment. Once again, he is another author in the make money online genre of websites. It would be easy for him to get lost in the crowd. He built a loyal readership with intelligent and a sometimes unorthodox writing style that kept the reader well informed and entertained. Unless you are John Chow or you come up with some clever gimmick, the only way to succeed in blogging is to make sure your storytelling is on point, no matter what your genre is.

The blogging world has exploded in the past couple of years, and so have the amount of people trying to capitalize financially from their blog. One of the best things about Wordpress is that you can make it artistic, but still flexible enough for proper advertisement placement if that is what you are into. I run a few ad friendly websites and before I got a firm grasp on how to use Wordpress, it was essential that I found an already setup ad friendly theme.

Before reaching that point you should make sure if monetizing is right for you.

Below are some of my favorites. These are all free unless otherwise noted.

Prosense by Dosh Dosh and The Wrong Advices:

Prosense is a theme with decent ad blending while allowing the maximum amount of space to be dedicated to the ads. Judging by the name, you could guess that it is specifically geared toward Google AdSense ads, which as you know, may or may not be your preferable choice of monetizing. It has nice steamlined look, and a slick RSS feed icon in the top right to encourage subscribtion. It comes in simple gray and blue color schemes, but if you have a little knowledge of coding, you could easy change the scheme to your personal preference. Prosense is free, and can be downloaded directly from Dosh Dosh or the Wrong Advices.

Acosmin Monetized Theme:

Right out of the box, this three column theme has in place the code for advertisements. They do a good job within the code of explaining which box is set up for which type of ad. Along the left sidebar column there is placement for up to four 125 x 125px ads. This is excellent for selling those spaces because it is very high profile. On the right side bar is a perfectly placed 300 x 250px space for Google Adsense. It is excellent for CTR and, if you content is crawled correctly, will display excellent ads for your site. In the header, there is a spot dedicated for a 468×60 ad banner. If your website is generating decent traffic, this will be a highly lucrative spot.

The color scheme is very professional, it is a smooth grey and very earth tones. The layout features a lot of nice icons and rounded corners. The blog is highly monetized but it really doesn’t feel like it. When you click on individual blog posts, it keeps the same format without adding any additional Adsense ads. This is a good feel for those who want to have a nice website without looking too Adsense dependent.

Green Money Theme:

The Green Money theme was created by the folks over at EzMoneyOn.Net. I do like this layout a lot, it has a nice Pro Blogger feel without trying too hard to be overly monetized. It is easily customizable and a new blogger could configure this quickly and efficiently.

Blix Krieg Monetized Theme:

Although the Blix theme (a popular theme a few year back) was abandoned, it has been brought back as a monetized theme. The author even lists the reasons why you should use the theme. He makes several great points about not trying to make millions using AdSense but using a theme that can at least cover costs. The layout is nice, familiar and not overly complicated. This is an excellent choice for a monetized theme.

Monetizing the Web theme:

This theme is offered from the website, Monetizing The Web. Pretty simple and straight forward. It is a little more advanced for those who will be selling 125 box style ads as well. One of the great things about this theme is they offer it in 17 different color schemes. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is definitely nice to be able to change colors without having to know much HTML, especially if you are new to the web and blog world.

Bluesense AdSense Ready Theme:

Maki at Dosh Dosh, who helped bring the world ProSense, also has another theme called BlueSense. I do not like this one as much as ProSense, but it will definitely get you excellent click through rates. Decent color scheme and great ad blending.

AdSense Ready Theme:

Jason Golod created his own AdSense ready theme. It is simple and straight forward, with one 250 pixel tower slot built in. With additional customization, you could make this even more AdSense ready.

Slick Blue Theme:

This theme comes from the folks over at HackWordPress. It is a very slick theme, no pun intended. The authors have placed a nice arrangement of 125 x 125 banners, it is SEO friendly, and it is Adsense (BidVertiser ect) ready. Another great function is it already has the social networking buttons in place so you do not need to fuss with any code.

Connections With Adsense Theme:

Connections with AdSense is a theme created by the folks at MoreEarnings.Com. A nice layout which maximizes your blog with 3 AdSense blocks on the main page, and 3 blocks on the single post page. This layout is also very SEO friendly.

Simple AdSense Theme from Themey:

The dull gray color scheme is designed so that eyes are automatically drawn towards the adverts (in this case Google’s AdSense, although it is pretty straightforward to change them for Yahoo! ads or others as they are industry standard sizes). 3 ad units and 1 link unit are shown on each page, which is Google’s maximum allowable. In addition, AdSense for search has been used to replace Wordpress’ inbuilt search function. The theme is intentionally basic with no images used. This makes it quick and easy to apply to any blog or site that is using Wordpress as a CMS.

CSS Gallery Theme:

This is a popular theme, as you can tell by the amount of times it was commented and complimented. A CSS Gallery Wordpress theme for webmasters who want to build CSS showcase or web gallery. Packed with built in Tagging, Google ads and a sidebar block with 125 x 125 banner ads. Theme is valid XHTML 1.0 transitional and valid CSS! This is sort of a niche theme but it works well and has great ad placements.

WP Premium Theme:

This is an elegant theme, not to heavy on monetization. Works great and looks ever better!

In this post, I used suggestions and links from other prominent blogs and posts. I will link those here as well, so you can see their posts. Some of them are extremely comprehensive.

http://hackwordpress.com/125×125-button-ready-wordpress-themes-gallery/ - Excellent post showcasing graphical based Ad ready themes.

http://www.doshdosh.com/16-adsense-optimized-wordpress-themes-to-maximize-your-contextual-ad-earnings - Maki over at Dosh Dosh always has great posts. This one is no exception. In fact, it was the first one I stumbled upon when I was searching for monetized themes last year.

http://mashable.com/2008/04/29/monetizing-wordpress-11-sources-for-ad-ready-wordpress-themes/ - Mashable is a great resource for a lot of blog related information. This post is excellent as well.

Today I will be starting a weekly series which I call Applied to Blogging. Each week, I will be profiling a superstar and how their work ethic and skills can be translated to blogging and generating profit off of your blog. Today I will be focusing on one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, Michael Jordan, and how he overcame adversity to become the one of the most famous and decorated athletes.

Everyone comes from a meager background.

Michael Jordan grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and by no means was a standout. He was basically just another kid. His family wasn’t poor but of a modest background, and Michael was a middle child. No one could have predicated such greatness. Every professional blogger comes from a similar background. The stories might be different, but no one is born a professional blogger. Don’t be discouraged if your blog doesn’t attract traffic right off the bat. Every single blog and blogger has been in that position.

You still need the natural talent and tools to succeed.

There is a famous story that has been told countless times about Michael. As a sophomore in high school, he was cut from the basketball team during tryouts. He then worked twice as hard during the summer to enhance his skill and made the team the following year. Television networks always tried to make this story about Michael’s hard work and sheer will to make it. They said it predicted his future greatness. While part of that is true, they usually omit the main reason he was cut from the team. Michael was a 5 foot 11 inch sophomore. He wasn’t tall enough to make an impact at the varsity level. Over the next 12 months, Michael shot up an additional 4 inches and was now tall enough to compete. If you are attempting to complete in the blogging world, you must have the natural talent to succeed. Everyone can improve, but if you do not have natural talent for writing and promoting yourself, you might want to look for another way express yourself.

Ask for help when needed.

When Michael came out of college as the number 3 pick in the NBA draft, they expected him to be good. They didn’t know he would be great right off the bat. But he was shunned as a rookie all-star by those who felt he was being praised too heavily. He continued to put up gaudy stats but his teams toiled in mediocrity. It wasn’t until he received help that he was able to raise his team to a championship level. There is no harm in asking for help. If you need assistance with a post, or an idea, ask you fellow bloggers for help. They will be more than happy to oblige!

Don’t stop at one goal and be determined.

When the Bulls won their first title in 1991, they said it redeemed Michael’s career and placed him among the best ever. So what does Michael set out to do? He wins 5 more. He cemented his place in history by staying fiercely determined. Even if you reach your first goal, make new ones and strive to make your own place in history!

One thing I think every blog reader likes is comfort. They want to open up their RSS reader and feel at ease with their normal daily reads. What happens when a blog they love is sold?

One of my daily reads for the past 9 months has been the Blogging Experiment. The website was started with the simple premise that a newbie will turn his blog into a professional blog within 12 months. In the process author Ben Cook detailed his journey showcasing his triumphs and pitfalls. I enjoyed going to my RSS reader to find out how he succeeded one month, failed the next, and gave us all well thought out pieces of writing. He would detail all his earnings on his quest to turning his blog into a full time income generator. It gave me a feeling I could use the web to profit as well. It was hardly a novel concept but it worked very well for Ben.

It worked too well in my opinion.

Ben was able to sell his website to a new author who has taken the reigns over at the Blogging Experiment. In the process, they have lost a dedicated reader. I am sure I am not the only one. Their stats remain high, and I am sure the new author is getting his money’s worth (although he did recently remove his RSS stats from displaying. At first I thought maybe the subscribers were dropping them, but it is possible he wanted the real estate for the ad he has in its place now)

The new author is Max Davis. He is now offering an e-book on how he sold 3 websites for $725,000. That is a bold claim. I have no idea where one would back up that claim, nor does he have to prove anything to me. I wasn’t interested in his e-book because I had never heard of him before. He did come out right off the bat and say he hasn’t been in the blogosphere so that would explain that part. He seems knowledgeable. His posts border on tedious with the amount of detail in them. I have no doubt he will help someone make money online. That someone just won’t be me. The main reason isn’t because I couldn’t learn to trust Max of feel he is leading me down the wrong path. I just like Ben’s writing much better. Ben was engaging and entertaining.

I will give you two examples of what I am talking about.

http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/new-experiment-business-makes-nice-money.php

Max right off the bat comes out with a claim that this product (which he is an affiliate to) made him $222 an hour. It is a very boastful claim to make. He then spends a lot of time explaining how it worked. The product did work in his case study, so he proved himself credible to a degree. But the post was a difficult read in my opinion. Anytime someone boats so loudly about a product that will earn them money as well, I am always skeptical. There are many comments abound that feel the same way as I do. He responds to all comments, which is always the sign of a good author, but his claims are just words. There were no screen shots. Usually, on a money making post like this, the author would show some statistical screen shots to back up the claim. Max offered none.

I have used one of Max’s techniques and it works well. So he does know what he is talking about, I just don’t like the content of the blog or the writing nearly as much as Ben’s.

Fortunately for me, Ben is still contributing thoughtful articles to the blog, such as this one about style of blogging.

Max made a pledge at the beginning. It was going to be different but he hoped people gave him a chance. I did for a month like he asked, and I am moving on from being a dedicated reader to his site. I am going to keep the link up, however, as I feel people will get good advice on how to make money online from his website.

It just goes to show how quickly you can become attached to a blog author and their style, and how fast you could lose interest in someone, even if the intent of the blog is the same.