Why I bought a review from Cash Quests
A few of you may have noticed that I ordered a review from Cash Quests recently. I paid $70 for the review and it was my first real investment into this site. Although this blog is a little more than one month old, I thought it was the perfect time to snap up a review on Cash Quests. Here’s why:
- I don’t foresee reviews on Cash Quests staying at $70 forever, particularly once the next Page Rank update is complete.
- There are almost 700 RSS subscribers to Cash Quests, and although the site generates less traffic than somewhere like John Cow.com, it’s as good a place to get some exposure as any.
- Kumiko (if she is a real person or not) is knowledgeable enough and honest enough to write real reviews.
The primary reason I wanted a review on Cash Quests was to find out where I’ve been going wrong. I wasn’t expecting a sudden spike in traffic or RSS subscribers because my blog is still fairly new, but I’ve been going this long on my merry way and haven’t come across nearly enough negative criticism.
All friends together
One of the problems with starting a new blog is that a lot of the time you draw traffic from other people starting new blogs, and as such, everyone is very nice to each other. Nobody will step up and tell you you’re doing one thing wrong and another thing you’re doing totally sucks. If I were to carry on like this then I’d never get anywhere.
The review on Cash Quests was enough to kick my ass into gear and simplify my header, making it much smaller and less distracting. I added Adsense blocks in again, although was a bit reluctant to do so at this early stage. But, if this blog is about making money, then I need to be showing that I am taking steps to actually make some.
While my coding skills are limited, I was able, through a process of logically working things out (and a bit of trial and error) to make my two sidebars into one and widen the width of my post content. By doing so I eliminated some of the white space Kumiko said was unnecessary. My sidebars were a bit pathetic, so I got rid of everything in them I didn’t think was necessary and added a few affiliate ad blocks.
I also took off the Advertlets ad I had at the bottom of this blog. To be honest, I’d forgotten that it was there, but as Advertlets is not a big money spinner, it was wasting space.
Kumiko said that I don’t use Feedburner, which isn’t true. I was using a redirect, but I changed my links to show the Feedburner URL in case my own URL might put people off.
I am certainly not a dot com mogul, as Kumiko said, but if the option of making money online and making money with a blog is open to everybody, I’m going to go for my share.
Overall, the review was worth the money because without it my outlook and approach to this blog wouldn’t have changed. There’s no way in hell I will be splashing out on a review from John Chow or anyone on that level next, but if I am going to learn then I need to make some sacrifice. It was $70 well spent because it inspired me in the right way. I’d advise anybody to do the same.
But does my name really make you think you are coming to a porn site?
Like this post? Subscribe to the feedShare:
Digg it for goodness sake! Stumble your heart out!
9 Responses to “Why I bought a review from Cash Quests”
Cash Quests is a good site and I think you invested your money wisely.
To answer your question: yes, unfortunately there are so many “angels” out there, promising heavenly pleasures, that your blog’s name could lead to such associations. However, I don’t think this is a bad thing. A name is what you do with it, after all.
Good luck with your blog!
Or you could just become rivals and then she writes about your blog anyway! Thats what happened with BloggingDosh.com. Personally, I don’t think its worth the $80. Sure it will send a boost in traffic but this is short lived.
And seeing as its PR0 I can’t really see many benefits.
I ordered a review from her a while back and although it sent quite a bit of traffic, I could have spent my money more wisely!
I see you took Cash Quests words seriously and made changes they suggested. Well, now is even better than before, but I’ll be missing that angel in top left corner
Concerning to feed and FeedBurner: in my (humble) opinion all should use FB to syndicate not because to show others they use it, but because FB has many features, which own hosted feed hasn’t. So it’s good idea to use FB but showing as feed is from own domain. FeedBurner offers MyBrand, but for WordPress there is a great plugin: http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/help/wordpress_quickstart
Good luck, I am rooting for you in your way to become pro blogger
Excellent choice in buying a review from Kumiko, she’s the man in the job (seriously, some says that she really is a man!!), and about the porn stuff, I didn’t relate your blog site to that until cashquest did, but it is great that you make the changes that Kumiko suggests, keep up the good work
Just a small suggestion, perhaps you might want to consider having a logo for your site. Since Cash Quest did mentioned that Angel might sound like a porn site, you might be able to tackle that by replacing the top banner with your own personal logo. After all, the first thing that people will notice when visiting your site is the top banner so I think it will be a good investment. If you are unable to come up with a good design, feel free to contact me. I’ll guide on some way where you can get your own design for couple of bucks. And dont worry, I’m not promoting my own service here. I just want to share some info that might help you to improve your website.
Cheers!
Sha of eMenang.com
A porn site? Haha- no. The name is fine. I like the new header, but I’m just starting to follow you, so I hadn’t seen the old header for very long. I’ve got to agree with the Feedburner comments.
@Anthony: I wasn’t so much interested in the traffic, but rather a combination of things. I wanted someone to really critique what I was doing, while also generating some buzz for my competition and giving my link backs and rss subscribers a quick boost. PR will update soon anyway. If it was a waste of money then so be it, but it’s all part of the learning curve.
I like the name, Angel, and actually, according to the Bible, angels are sort of masculin
Something else, though, that Kumiko not mentions is that I find your tone of voice somewhat too negative in general. You write in negative terms about John Chow, Joel Comm and his show etc. You might be right - that’s not the point - but my impression was that this is too negative.
I love the last question and you have to admit thinking about it, it could so easily be porn site ;)))