Previously DoshTalk, MyBlogNet is the new “Forum for Bloggers”.

It sports the same design but has changed to a more appropriate Domain name and also switched over to a better forum platform.

Not only do forums such as MyBlogNet provide a valuable resource, they can also be utilized as a powerful marketing tool.  Just a simple link to your blog in your forum signature could mean some new readers.

MyBlogNet also features a marketplace where you can buy sell domains, blogs, designs etc. as well as my favorite - advertising.

I have seen many blogging specific forums fall down after a couple of months - so hopefully this one will stick around.

Of course registration is free!

I thought I would give you guys the heads up on one of my more recent projects - PicSpeed!

My aim was to create a really simple, hassle free image hosting service, and I think I did a pretty good job of it.  The site is based off a free script which in the end I modified quite heavily.

The service has no bandwidth limits and you are free to upload as many images as you want.  And no registration is required.

In the future I plan on adding more features including a “send to a friend” option.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Well its been a little while since Wordpress 2.3 was released and now is the time to seriously consider upgrading.  I usually hold back a few weeks before doing a major upgrade to make sure that any initial bugs and security wholes have been worked out.

So what are the main reasons for upgrading?

New SEO Features

Wordpress has done some work on cleaning up the URLs and it looks as though this will offer major SEO benefits for your blog.

Plugin Update Notification

Most established Wordpress Blogs use multiple plugins.  The trouble is, new versions of these plugins are constantly being released and it can be a real hassle constantly checking for updates.  Thanks to the the new update notification feature in 2.3, you will be notified of new updates automatically.  It will also let you know, when a new version of Wordpress is available.

Pending Review

I write for a number of multi-author blogs which require the editors approval before the post goes live.  Currently, the editor has to look the “recent posts” page and find posts marked as “draft”.  However, with 2.3 the author can now mark posts as “pending review” and these are displayed separately to the editor.

Tags

2.3 also includes support for tags.  Im not a huge fan of Tags, and find them to be useless on the majority of websites, but it will be interesting to see how this works out.

Well I think its about time I moved up to Wordpress 2.3

I’m gearing up for a big month in blogging and general webmastering, and to kick things off, I have decided to launch the Big Dosh Contest!  I have spent the last week putting together a nice swag of prizes.  So here are the goodies:

The Prizes

• Professional Logo Design (Done by the same people who did the BloggerTalk Logo)
• 1 Years Free Hosting from Duito including a free domain - worth over $60!
• $25 Cash via PayPal
• 1 month Banner on BloggingDosh.com - Worth $25
• Free Turnkey Proxy Website Package
• 1 month Banner advertising on DoshTalk.com - the bloggers forum
• Pro Advertising package on DoshClicks.com worth $49

How to Enter

To keep things flexible I have opened up a variety of ways you can this competition.

1. Post a Comment on this Blog. 1 Entry (excluding this post)
2. Write about this blog 6 Entries (comment on this post with a link back to the article)
3. Write about this competition 6 Entries (comment on this post with a link back to the article)
4. Post a Comment on DoshPro. 1 Entry

The Details

• The competition will end on the 31st of October 2007.
• There are seven different prizes - therefore 7 different winners
• When posting comments use the same email address so I can track entries.
• Winners will be chosen using a random number generator.
• I will keep you updated with the latest entries with weekly updates

I decided to take a few days off over the past week.  Leading up to my little break I was extremely busy launching Duito.com and I really needed a break.

Although I wasn’t blogging during this time, I was still working on a few different sites (mainly for fun) and it turns out these sites will pull a profit.  The two sites I built were proxies.  The websites are targeted towards students as they allow you to access websites such as MySpace and Facebook that are often blocked on School networks.

The proxy niche is extremely crowded with literally thousands of other proxy sites and usually I wouldn’t bother entering into such a popular market.

But it turns out, with School going back in the U.S, that there is still plenty of money to be made with Proxy websites.  Im guessing that success will come with strong marketing tactics.

To date, I haven’t yet invested a great deal of money in marketing these websites but the viral nature of the concept has delivered reasonable traffic and Google Adsense stats are starting to look promising.  But even if these two websites don’t make huge amounts through Adsense, im still confident I will be able to sell these fully developed and monetized websites on for a very nice profit!

Take a look at EndBlocking and TopUnlock 

BTW I’m planning on actually keeping a public record of the profits made from these two sites (something I have never done before), so stay tuned!

If you’re a reader of JohnChow.com or other similar blogs, then chances are you’ve probably heard of the MillionDollarWiki. Yet, most of you probably haven’t heard, of what I believe, is a much better site - Word Hugger!

Word Hugger is a similar concept to MDW, where you can invest in internet real estate. ie. purchase a word of your choosing which includes a page that can contain pretty much anything you like.

So what would you do with a Word Hugger page? Well, the sky’s your limit; You could direct visitors back to your website or blog, sell affiliate products, put up Adsense ads, sell text links, the list goes on. Let me know you have any creative ideas for a Word Hugger page!

So what are the benefits of this site over other similar concepts such as MDW? Well for starters - the design rocks! One thing that put me off MDW was its amateur and somewhat spammy design. In contrast, Word Hugger boasts a beautiful look complete with a slick web 2.0 feel. What I also really liked about Word Hugger was the fact that you can resell your word without restrictions and they won’t take any commission or cut!But there is also a really good moral reason for purchasing a word on Word Hugger - That is 50% of profits are donated to Kiva.org, a great micro-investment organization for third world countries. So not only are you making a smart investment for yourself, you will also be helping developing nations.

Money, Money, Money

Obviously if you are going to invest in a word then you are probably going to look at making back the investment and also making a little profit. And thanks to a killer guarantee, you really don’t have anything to lose - Word Hugger, will give you a 100% refund if you do not make back what you spent on investing in a word.

The Investment

Good news, A word (page) on Word Hugger will only set you back $60 - a lot less then MBW’s $100! Payments are done through PayPal. I’m probably going to be purchasing a page, as soon as I get some more time, so as I can put some real effort into it.

I Would Like to See…

There really isn’t a lot that I’d like added to the site. But, a search feature would be handy, so as to search through the entire site. As time goes on, it would also be cool to see some success stories and maybe a discussion forum where word owners can discuss tactics.

Wrapping Up

This is a really neat site and one which I was genuinely impressed with. With the right promotional and SEO work, this site could become huge. My tip is to get in early! Once I get around to getting my word, I will post some updates on my results. And don’t forget to let me know what you think of the site!

Ok its been a few days now since BlogRush hit the internet head on, creating a massive splash with a great deal of coverage.   But has this over hyped service delivered results?  Here are my latest updates on how BlogRush is progressing.

The Cheaters

It appears that some users have been “cheating the system” and this has resulted in pathetic click-through rates.   There are a number of easy ways to game BlogRush and JohnChow has come up with a simple yet effective solution.  BlogRush has resorted to manually approving new blogs.  Will the click-through rates pick up?  Only time will tell.

Too Many Credits

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that there are more credits than impressions.  Therefore if you have a relatively large downline (like me) you will end up having too many credits!  And this situation is unlikely to change - something is seriously wrong here.

The Good

So is there any good?  Well from the looks of it, only the top bloggers are getting any decent results.  And by top,  I mean maybe 10 or so bloggers and thats it.  For the rest of us, we’re going to have to put up with lowsy click-through rates and a ton of useless credits.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry about domain registration, marketing, setup fees, contracts etc.  Honestly, hosting has never been that simple!  All I wanted was a host that I could just pay a single monthly fee and have them do all the work for me.  And furthermore, I didn’t want to be locked in to paying for months worth of hosting in advance and then finding out that the hosting was horrible.

A number of other pro bloggers and internet marketers felt the same way, so we decided to create the ultimate hosting company for fellow bloggers.

Introducing Duito!  All you pay with Duito is a set $4.95 per month fee.  Domain registration is included (free!) and so are a ton of other features - in fact, Duito offers some of the most feature rich hosting on the planet!  And yes, you just pay monthly so you can cancel at anytime.  (Clever folks have probably noticed that $4.95 for a domain is pretty amazing).

But probably the best thing about Duito is our GeekZone!  Our geeks are able to install scripts, register domains, manage mail and more - and its all free!  So why not let one of our geeks transfer your blog over to Duito.   We also install wordpress free of charge.

But wait, theres more!  Every account comes with cPanel and Fantastico (an auto script installer) and sitebuilder.  And for all you aspiring pro bloggers out there, we also offer a pretty cool marketing package which includes a whole bunch of ad credits for various networks and sites.  Designers, we also have you covered with over 2000+ Royalty Free Web 2.0 Graphics.

As you can see Duito isn’t much like other hosting companies as we handle everything from the hosting and domain registration, right through to marketing and promotion.

But the most important question you should be asking - will my site always be up?  We obviously guarantee a 100% uptime, but we can guarantee that if your site does go down, your money will be instantly refunded.  However, the liklyhood of that happening will be rare as we use the blazingly fast and very secure AtlantaNAP datacentre.  And no we don’t oversell!  (if youre wondering why your site keeps going down on services like Dreamhost, it is probably becuase they oversell.)

So there is my spill on a company that I really believe will revolutionize the way hosting happens.

Well its coming to the time of the week where we broadcast another episode of BloggerTalk.  BT is a live podcast covering all the latest blogging news, plugin reviews and blogger interviews.

Becuase the podcast is done live, you are able to call in live every 8pm Tuesday Eastern Time.  Just call (724) 444 7444 and follow the prompts.  You can also listen to the live stream on TalkShoe

This week I will be joined by David Peralty from BloggingPro and  maybe Jeff from Jeffro2pt0, and we will be discussing the latest Buzzword to hit the blogosphere - Bacn!

I will also be announcing the launch of a startup that I have been working on for the past few months.

I came across a new way to gain more traffic, BlogRush

BlogRush is apparently a “Cooperative Syndication Network” that kind of works like a banner exchange.  I.e you display links to another users blog and in return your links will be displayed elsewhere.

To earn credits (to have your blog displayed throughout the network), you must display the BlogRush widget.   Sidebar space on this blog is at a premium and so I can’t see myself placing this relatively large widget anytime soon.   The widget display 5 posts from different blogs that “could” be related to your blog.   So the widget could add some value for your blogs readers but as I havn’t tested out the service, I can’t be sure.

But probably the best bit about this service is its referral program.  So not only do you earn impressions by displaying the widget, you will also earn by referring people.

Check out the video on the BlogRush site for a much better explanation.