This is quite an achievement for a young blogger to have within a short time only 4 months.  How did he do it?  I would say that he has all the right things of a blogging beginners.  Looking at his posts and communication with the world from his blog, I deduce the following factors that characterize a succesful blogger:

1. He is determine, ambitious and intelligent.
2. He is willing to learn from the internet gurus.  He wrote in his post that he sought for advices from a few well known internet gurus who are making money by blogging.
3. He has written his plan, detailing what he wants month by month, how much traffic to drive to his blog, how much money from google adsense, how much to earn from affiliate programs. 
4. He reads widely, learn fast and willing to spend gruelling hours to put up many interesting and informative posts.
5. He is creative and able to use different methods to get people to back link to him and come visit his blog.
6. He interacts well with his readers, appreciative of people who come and help him.
7. He has a master plan, and he knows what he wants.

Bryan, way to go. Keep us posted!

Write on something that you are passionate about, expert in and valuable to your readers. Remember to write on something interesting for them and not something that interest you.

Interesting blog post should have pictures and video if they are related to your blog. Remember, the old adage “a picture speaks a thousand word”.

Content should written in colourful and descriptive language, witty and entertaining and be creative.

VISITORS ARE IMPORTANT

If there is no visitor to your site, it is as if you open a store in the mall and nobody even walk into your shop!

Visitors come and go, the reasons why they stay or come back later is your contents, which have to be constantly updated with quality input!

Visitors are human being, treat them with respect and always respond to their comments with sincerity.

(How would like to have traffic jam into your blog? I would love it!)

METHODS IN GETTING TRAFFIC

It is imperative to drive traffic to your site by getting listed in blog listing directories: one such directory is TopRank Online Marketing.

Submit articles is a great way of getting your blog known to lots of readers who are subscribers to articles web sites.

It will be good to join forums and chat groups to promote your blog. Leaving comments on other bloggers blogs will in the long run create lots of reciprocal links, good for traffic generating.

Congratulations to you Justin and James for contributing to the content in this blog. There are a lot of useful things on making money in your blog. That is what most blogs are doing. But we want to make our blog different right? Justin, your concept of CTPM formula is the right one. Content is king and unique content is the Bigger king of all. I can see that the content is building up in this blog. Up to a certain point, driving traffic to this blog is important. Once the content is sufficient to be of interest, this blog can be announced to the whole world through articles. Writing is the key skill here. I try that with my site Sabah Scuba Diving and submitted some articles to ezinearticles and a few others. It does generate in traffic.

Another suggestion is pictures. Blogs need pictures and if there are lots of pictures, you get traffic. People just loves pictures. So some investment in pictures taking skills is a must. I have just invested in my Canon system. Of course, an SLR Camera system is better than the pocket size although there are some trade offs in these two. The SLR is more expensive, very much more expense than the pocket type. The other disadvantages are that it is more bulky, especially for travelling but they take great pictures, as good as the professional. Check out the pics at this site (an interesting site on guides to Kuching in Malaysia) to see what I mean.

The smaller one such as the Canon Ixus is compact, very convenient to use and to handle. I always have it in my pocket, just in case, there are some great shots to be taken. You never know. But then of course, your mobile phone with its in-built camera can do just that, although the pixs are not that great as your pocket camera but will do.

Until next time, this is Prof. signing off.

1. Choose and register a good domain name

Your domain name is your business’s “address” on the Internet, so it’s crucial you choose the right one. Try to find a domain that gives browsers a hint of what they’ll find at your site.

Tools to help you find a domain include…

• Nameboy’s “Gen” (http://www.Nameboy.com/gen.php) – to get ideas for domain names
• Wordtracker (http://imc.Wordtracker.com/) – to locate possible domain names with popular keywords
• Domain tools (http://www.Domaintools.com/) – to see if a domain name is available
• For registering domains: http://www.GoDaddy.com

2. Host your website

Your web host is responsible for ensuring your web site is always up and running at top speed. If your site is always down… or if it takes ages to load… you can be sure you’re losing money! Here’s one favorite hosting solution:

http://www.1and1.com/

3. Learn basic HTML

While there’s plenty of software you can use to build a site without knowing any code at all, it’s actually helpful if you at least understand the basics of HTML. For some good free HTML tutorials, check out these sites:

• http://www.Davesite.com/webstation/html
• http://www.HTMLgoodies.com
• http://www.PageTutor.com
• http://www.WebReference.com/html/tutorial

4. Building your site yourself

For some great tools and information on simple, effective design, check out these sites:

• SitePoint: http://www.Sitepoint.com/
• Builder.com: http://Builder.com/
• Useit.com: http://www.Useit.com/

5. Software for building your site

“HTML editors” are software programs that allow you to design a webpage with little knowledge of HTML — and they’re as easy to use as any basic word processor.

• Nvu (http://www.Nvu.com/): Anyone can use this free tool to create and manage a website — even if they have no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML
• Dreamweaver (www.Dreamweaver.com): This is the tool used at IMC. It’s good if you’re willing to spend some money to get additional features not available on the free versions

6. Using an “all-in-one” solution

If you’re a bit intimidated by technology, you may want to consider an all-in-one website builder, where a company provides you with all the tools you need to quickly piece together a site.Go here to find one favourite:

http://www.marketingtips.com/allinone

7. Resources for designing your web site

For good articles and resources on developing effective navigation and designing a simple site that works, check out these sites:

• Webmonkey: http://www.Webmonkey.com
• AnyBrowser.com: http://www.Anybrowser.com/
• WebDeveloper.com: http://www.Webdeveloper.com/
• Web Page Analyzer: http://www.Websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze
• NetMechanic: http://www.Netmechanic.com/

8. Adding “extras” to your site

You may want your site to go beyond basic HTML, especially when it comes to automating chores and making it more interactive for visitors. You can find “extras” — like forums, content management systems, and shopping carts — at these websites:

• www.HotScripts.com
• www.cgi.ResourceIndex.com
• www.ScriptSearch.com

9. Hiring a designer

If you can afford it, it’s a good idea to hire a web designer to build the initial “template” for your website. Typically, this should include a logo, navigation menu, and the overall “look” for your homepage.

For a good, affordable designer, try: www.eLance.com

Good luck with your site,

Thank you Guru Derek Gehl,