Michael Janzen

This past week I finished an update to Basic Simplicity. I also launched a new blog dedicated to the theme to help focus on theme content. I’ll also be writing about my adventures in problogging with an emphasis on avoiding all the deep bullshit you’ll read about making money.

Don’t get me wrong, you can make money blogging, but it seems most of the probloggers are so focused on selling the idea of blogging to schemers that they often sound like schemers themselves with all their ebooks, mentorships, and classes. I have no plans to ‘make money’ writing about blogging; I’ll stick to selling something of real value, tiny house plans. So in other words… what I’ll have to say about blogging will be free.

So if you want a slightly different tone I hope you’ll follow me at BasicSimplicity.com. I also setup a Twitter account specifically for Basic Simplicity theme and blogging tweets @basicsimplicity.

I just finished submitting two of my busiest blogs to be published on the Amazon Kindle. It was really easy to do but there is no guarantee they will approve it. I’ll post here again and report back later on whether my blogs were approved or rejected. But in the mean time let me explain why and how to publish your blog(s) on Kindle.

Overview

What’s a Kindle? Amazon has developed a electronic tablet for reading electronic books.

A blog on Kindle? Amazon has opened Kindle up for reading blogs just like you would read an electronic book. Subscribers pay a monthly subscription fee to Amazon.

Why is there a subscription fee? There is no option to deliver the blog free on Kindle at this time. I guess Amazon is thinking that a small subscription fee is worth the convenience of reading blogs on Kindle.

Do I get paid? Blog publishers get 30% of the monthly subscription fee. The subscription rate pricing is determined by Amazon.

How To

Step 1. Create an Account: (Create your Kindle Publishing Account) You’ll need to provide your tax identification number (like Social Security Number), address, and answers to security questions like your mother’s maiden name, and other information just like you would for any affiliate account. This is not the same as your Amazon Associates account.

Step 2. Add a Blog: You’ll need to prepare the following graphic images and information before you’ll be able to complete their submission form:

Screenshot: This image must be 800×600 pixels or smaller and less than 1.0 MB. You must use GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP.

Masthead: This image must be 430×50 pixels or smaller and less than 1.0 MB. You must use GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP.

Blog Description: Write a concise description of your blog that surfaces the most popular features of your blog. I always refer to my Google Analytics account when trying to understand the most popular content on my blogs.

Keywords/Tags: They allow 128 characters worth of keywords/tags. Be sure to choose wisely because these are used when people search for Kindle content.

RSS Feed URL: I submitted my original WordPress generated RSS URL. I didn’t want my Kindle account to rely on my Feedburner RSS URL. If you don’t know what your RSS URL is just view source and look for a line of code that looks like this:

<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title=”Tiny House Design RSS Feed” href=”http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/feed/” />

The RSS URL in this example is: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/feed/

Submission Form: Here is a screenshot of their submission form. Just click the thumbnail to see the full size image.

Step 3. Wait for Approval: It takes up to 72 hours for Amazon to approve or reject your submission.

Conclusion

This seems like a really interesting way to monetize and promote a blog. I think it’s still too early to know if Kindle will be a big hit like the iPhone but it does make sense to jump in early and get your blog on Kindle. It takes little time and costs no money and has great potential.

The newest Kindle seems like a really nifty device. I like it mostly because it would make it easy to downsize the bulk of a library and reduce the number of possessions we own. As a simple living advocate and anti-consumerist it’s a little ironic that I’d actually see value in any consumer product but this one would actually reduce the books your have to store.

Create your Kindle Publishing Account

Update! Both blogs I submitted were approved and are now available on Amazon Kindle. Take a look:

• Tiny House Design
• Tiny House Living
  

A couple of weeks ago I began re-testing a popular WordPress plugin called WP Super Cache. I had tried it before but had installed it incorrectly and crashed my biggest blog. This time I installed it right and it works great. It works by making flat HTML files of your blog’s web pages and moves the traffic load to Apache (the web server software) and off MySQL (the database software).

The benefit of this is that Apache can take the load and MySQL burns up the servers processor, relatively speaking. My host, Media Temple, charges more money when you use more than your fair share of your shared server’s processor. This seems fair and I like Media Temple because their system can auto scale-up to take huge traffic days, and I’ve had several on Tiny House Design.

My testing has shown that WP Super Cache does reduce my cost because it lightens the load on MySQL. It also speeds up my page loads because Apache is incredibly efficient at serving up flat HTML pages and images.

So I highly recommend WP Super Cache but will also warn you to be sure to read all the installation documentation and learn how to back it out if you experience a crash.

Here are screenshots from my GPU usage (processor use) at Media Temple and Google Analytics during the same time period. As you can see traffic was flat and GPU usage remained low.

Above: Control panel on Media Temple that shows low GPU usage.
Below: Report on Google Analytics.

I submitted my minimalist WordPress theme to the Free Theme Directory the other day and got a note back from them with a few suggestions. It didn’t take long to implement their recommended improvements and now Basic Simplicity 1.3 is available.

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Over the last few nights I whipped up a simple administration screen for my free WordPress Theme. Now you can make very quick style changes right in the WordPress user interface; there’s no need to edit the stylesheet. You can also add your Google Analytics code, Google site verification code, and custom CSS.

• Go Get Basic Simplicity

These will be the last few edits for a while; I think I have it working well enough to start using basic simplicity on all my blogs. I have a few more features I’d like to add but I’ll hold off and give this version a careful test drive. If you give it a try too and run across any bugs please let me know. If you have any suggestions for future versions I’m all ears as well.

I just uploaded the next version of basic simplicity, the WordPress theme I created. The biggest changes are the addition of four more widget areas (for a total of 10) to make it easy to add advertising to the top right and bottom of posts and pages.

I also added a mini-stylesheet to the bottom of the main stylesheet. This is bound to cause a little confusion so in the next iteration I’ll create a theme admin screen to allow quick color and style edits right in the WordPress interface.

• Visit My Theme Page
  

It’s midnight and I think I’m done reworking the UI of tiny house design. My main concern wasn’t the look & feel but the navigation. One of the biggest problems with a blog, by nature, is it’s ability to hide away old content. But the beauty of the WordPress CMS (and I think it deserves to be called that) is it’s flexibility. Anyway take a look.

A few months ago I started a blog on my growing obsession with tiny houses called Tiny House Design which has quickly become my busiest website. I think I’ve stumbled on some little little discussed secrets to successful blog marketing. But first let me show you the traffic evidence because it will help explain how I’m driving traffic up.

The Evidence

This chart from my Google Analytics account shows the traffic spikes over the last two months. As you can see there are three distinct traffic spikes that resulted in a slightly higher base traffic after each spike. The first little spike was the day an article was published about me in the New York Times. The next spike was a short national television spot on the tiny house movement. The third, tallest spike, was a CNN television story on two leaders in the tiny house community, Jay Shafer and Bill Kastrinos.

This next chart is from Google Trends and shows how my top keywords have been performing for the last twelve months. As you can see there is a direct correlation since most traffic comes from search engines.

This next chart shows my bounce rate dropping off significantly which means that something has either changed on my blog or the people searching for this content are really getting interested in it and are sticking around on the blog much longer.

This last chart shows average page views by visitor. It’s not surprising that it looks like the inverse of the bounce rate. But still interesting so see the correlation.

Little Known Secrets

First I am not doing all the normal marketing tricks pro-bloggers tell you to do. I’ve simply optimized my blogs and done a little bit of networking. I have however stumbled on some simple things that are driving my traffic higher and higher everyday. Here they are:

• Do something that really matters, then blog on it. Make blogging secondary and the quality of your content will actually improve because you will be making the story not just reporting on it.
• Choose a topic you’re passionate about and that’s growing in interest. The collapse of the housing market is actually fueling more interest in downsizing. It’s exactly what drove me to tiny houses in the first place. People from all around America are re-thinking how they live and the true value of a home.
• Real stories want to be told. The main stream media wants to tell your story if its real and timely. Reporters are combing the web for stories to tell. News agencies and television shows make their money by telling compelling stories.
• Use your real name. I’m also working on writing a couple books and figured it would pay in the long run to have my real name out there. Real people, with real stories, have real names. Use yours.
• Make real friends and connections. Get to know the people in your online and offline community. You are stronger together.

Warnings

• Avoid publicity stunts. The main stream media wants to report real stories. Be honest and real or everyone will see right through you.
• Don’t waste time with tricks. No real traffic comes from search engine optimization tricks. Spend less time commenting on other people’s blogs and more time doing something people value and writing about it. If you can video tape and photograph it even better.

Conclusion

As you can see this is just the beginning of something good. Ironically as the economy worsens the interest in downsizing increases. So I suspect my blogs on tiny houses will get the biggest boost in traffic during the upcoming lean years. In any event I think my strategy is sound and proving to be successful. I hope you fiud it useful.

Here’s a recap:

• Be real
• Do something real
• Do something your passionate about
• Write about it
• Video tape it
• Photograph it
• …and ideally pick something more people are moving toward.

Now take a look at my tiny house blogs/forum:

• TinyHouseDesign.com
• TinyFreeHouse.com
• TinyPalletHouse.com
• TinyHouseForum.com

I recently decided to try an experiment for publishing my first book, Do It Yourself Freedom. Instead of seeking a publishe, I’m going to post the book as a blog one section per post. It’s broken into almost 100 different small pieces so it’s perfect for publishing in a blog format. Once the entire book is complete, edited and online I’ll publish a print version and offer it for sale on Lulu.com.

From a business perspective I’m giving up some book sales by making the full text available online. But I’ll also monetize the blog with ads. I suspect that some people will like the content enough to buy the paper version which I’ll make at least $2 from each sale. Other readers will be happy to read the book online and might also find the relevant ads valuable too, generating another income stream.

The experiment will test is the ad revenue will generate as the sale of printed books? If I were a popular author I’d guess that I’d make less money doing it this way. But since this is my first book I figure it’s a good way to get my name out there faster while still providing myself a potential ad revenue stream.

The other benefit is I’ll get it done. I back burnered it a few months ago. It needs a final edit and by posting it one piece at a time as a blog it’s taken the pressure off me to get it perfect for print. I’ll also get some feedback from readers which should help fuel my creativity. I hope you enjoy reading Do It Yourself Freedom.

I just downloaded the WordPress iPhone application. If you have a WordPress blog and an iPhone you can now blog very easily right from your iPhone just like I am right now. This I’d actually a test and I’ll wrap it up by adding a photo I’m about to take right from my iPhone.