It has been over a year since I blogged last.  Why restart now?  Why deal with the headaches of comment spam?  What am I going to get out of a blog?  Blogs aint free.

Excuse me, did you think a wordpress blog is free?  Besides paying the obvious cost of registering a domain and monthly hosting there are big costs associated with any blog.  You need to spend considerable time working and writing on the blog.  Time is money especially for a internet consultants that charge by the hour and for affiliate marketers that need as much time as possible to  build out their network of sites. 

A blog also goes along way to defining your brand and reputation.  A crappy blog will scare away potential business.  So smart people will invest $$$ into an impressive design full of cool website tricks.  Having an impressive design makes you look more impressive and attract more buisiness.  Yes, I know its stupid that when people see someone else’s good design work they think you are smart.  You should never underestimate public stupidity how else can you explain the countless so called SEO experts with flash only websites.

Since blogs cost so much time and money lets look at some possible reasons why I am blogging again:

Make Money Selling Blog Advertising - I like  money, ALOT.  I would love if I could make money with a blog.  This sounds like a great idea until you remember that we are in a recession and that it is easier to find a nymphomaniac swedish bikini model than it is to find someone willing to spend  money advertising.

I’m an Attention Whore – Look at me, look at me, puh-lease look at me.  I would love to be a famous celebrity with people buying me drinks wherever I go.  I learned along time ago I was not born with the celebrity gene.  My mother cringes when she looks at me.  When my wife needs help falling asleep she asks me to tell an interesting story and guaranteed she will zonk out in seconds.  So much for having any chance of gaining a cult following.

Combating Boredom -  This sounds like a possible contender.  I have been working very hard to successfully increase traffic on my sites only to still see the profits fall (granted they are falling alot less than if I did nothing).  I hate this recession.  Companies aint advertising and consumers aint buying like they used to.

I guess I will use boredom as my excuse to why I am starting to blog again.  Since I am bored what will inspire me to blog?  Should I start highlighting the bargains and scams in internet marketing?  Maybe I’ll interview my friends and share the details of what is in their tool boxes that allows them to be so succesful? I could go with a cliche mud slinging fight.  We’ll see what inspires real soon…

ps since i have not maintained my blog for a very long time there are many things not optimized or even working properly.  hopefully i’ll find time to addess those issues over the next few weeks.

Here are some “bad” ways to quickly raise money for a good cause. These methods are not very politically correct and might even be illegal in your area. That being said these fundraising ideas just might help be able to raise a lot of money for charity from people that like drinking, gambling and the occasional threat of blackmail.

#1 – Open Bar Most twenty somethings love an open bar. Talk with your local pub and see if they will be willing to support your charity fundraising. Many bars will charge around $20 depending on what is included and for how many hours. If you sell tickets at $40, you are raising about $20 per person. To make sure you get as many people as possible ask your 5 closest friends to each bring 3 other people. That will give you at least 15 and at least $300. You will get the best deal from the bar if your open bar is during a slow time for them. Don’t be lazy and just ask 5 people to come. Tell 20 people to each bring several friends and to broadcast email it and remind everyone its for charity. I have been able to over 100 people at my open bar parties.
#2 – Raffles

Selling raffle tickets can pull in a good bit o’ money. I reccomend either a 50/50 cash raffle or going to Best Buy on 23rd & 6th Ave and buying Wii for $280 (they often have a wii hidden in the back). Go to Party City buy a roll of raffle tickets and sell tickets at $5. Make sure to let everyone know when the drawing will be and if possible get them to write down a phone number or email so you can easily contact the winner. My experience is that a Nintendo Wii makes people go crazy. If you ask your friends, coworkers, even bartenders they all seem eager to pay $5 for a chance to win a Wii. Getting 30 people to each buy $20 of Wii raffle tickets will raise $600 ($320 after Wii cost). If you get 50 people to each buy $20 you will raise $1000.

#3 – Betting – Race Time

You will be running several races as part of your training. Before each race go around and ask your friendly degenerate gamblers if they would like to bet on your race time. You probably will know a 30 minute window in which you will finish. Let them bet on which minute you will finish for a $1 or if you have rich friends $5 per 15 second window. The winner gets half the money, the charity gets the other half. You can do this for each of your races.

#4 – Betting – Poker

Alot of people like poker. Very few people like dealing the cards for poker. Invite your friends over for a poker party and volunteer to be the poker dealer for the entire night. Ask them to each donate $20 in exchange for you dealing the cards. It is best to keep these poker parties to 10 or less. You can turn this into a monthly event and each month raise $200 for charity.

#5 – Wine Tasting Party

Head over to Trader Joe’s or any other good wine shop and buy 4 or 5 different wines of the same type (for example 5 merlot or 5 chardonnay etc.). Each bottle should cost between $5 and $20. When you get home wrap them each up in brown paper so no one can see the labels. Then print up a “wine tasting sheet” so each of your guests can rate each bottle and write a few notes. At the end of the night add up the votes and see which wine was preferred. It is always entertaining to see what people enjoy the most when they don’t have a bottle to look at. It is fun, entertaining and let’s not forget to charge each guest $20 for their night of wine tasting.

#6 – Leverage Matching Gifts Program (ok maybe even take advantage)

After you have raised money from raffles, open bars or whatever else it is ideal if your company has a matching gift program. This will instantly double your money. If you don’t have a matching program or you work for yourself, ask your trustworthy friends if they have one. If they do, you might be able to give them the cash and then have them go through their company’s matching program to double your money.

#7 – BE LOUD

Don’t be quiet about raising money for helping charity. Let everyone know. Keep telling them every chance you get. Send out broadcast emails. Add it to your email signature. Matter of fact, feel free to blackmail your friends. Demand $20/month or they will get emailed your training updates along with pictures of the blisters on your feet. Make sure these are good friends who can take a joke, otherwise expect to lose alot of friends. Add it to facebook, myspace, twitter and every where else people are following you. If you have casual Fridays wear your training jersey to work (assuming you have very casual Fridays). Keep your charity fundraising in front of everyone you know. You’ll have more luck asking for $5 from coworkers every paycheck then asking for $100 at once.

More un-politically correct and probably illegal fundraising methods to come…

Joost formerly known as the Venice Project is a fun thing I have been beta testing. They are trying to build a television platform on your computer with streaming video clips. Conceptually it is very interesting, especially the social aspects of it. As with all “cool” beta projects it is by invite only. I have a few invites that I can giveaway if anyone is interested in checking it out. Getting get back to watching more tv using Joost.

Follow-Up I’ve given out all the Joost invites I currently have and will let you know when I have more.