Chris Brandrick

Don’t worry readers I am still here! My phone line at the new house was meant to be connected yesterday, therefore allowing me to get the broadband set up but alas, nothing is ever as simple, so who knows when normal blogging will resume, hopefully soon! Looking over my post history for April sure is disappointing.

But anyway, just like last month, and late again, I will post this list every month as a big thank you for those Entrecard users dropping on my blog, so if you want to see yourself in this list and gain a linkback, be sure to drop your entrecard on my blog often. Monthly love for those dedicated droppers!

For those of you unfamiliar with entrecard be sure to read my post about it here. Anyway without further a due here is the list of those that dropped the most cards on my blog in April:

• Lee Doyle
• Yimto
• INconstantIN’s Blog
• Life In The Internet
• Sexy Ads Blog
• Sizzling Popcorn
• Freelance Sprout
• Amy Lilley Designs
• Journey Down The Tracks Of Life
• My Wife And Twins

Some new top droppers last month, so well done to you guys, and thanks for dropping by. Be on the look out for new posts soon, including a look around my new place.

Yet again this post is a day late! Just like last month I will post this list every month as a thank you for those Entrecard users dropping on my blog, so if you want to see yourself in this list and gain a linkback, be sure to drop your entrecard on my blog often.

For those of you unfamiliar with entrecard be sure to read my post about it here. Anyway without further a due here is the list of those that dropped the most cards on my blog in March:

• Chalk is Cheap
• Yimto
• Technically Easy
• Toast & Egg & Me..
• Entrecard Store
• Timothy Adam Designs
• Lee Doyle
• Worldwide Travel Blog
• Mach2Designs
• Geek Mom Mashup

Some new top droppers this month. Many thanks again to all those dropping, and be sure to look out for this feature again in early May, get dropping!

I intended to post this yesterday, but here it is, I plan to post this every month as more of a thank you for those Entrecard users dropping on my blog, so if you want to see yourself in this list and gain a linkback, be sure to drop your entrecard on my blog often.

For those of you unfamiliar with entrecard be sure to read my post about it here. Anyway without further a due here is the list of those that dropped the most cards on my blog in February:

• Turnip Of Power
• Yimto
• Technically Easy
• Geek Mom Mashup
• CK Marketing
• Chalk is Cheap
• Xavier Media
• Black Tennis Pro
• Thoughts From Down Under
• Adsense Addict

Many thanks to all those dropping, and be sure to look out for this feature again next month, get dropping!

Yesterday here at ChrisBrandrick.com you had the opportunity to win 500 Entrecard Credits just by subscribing to my rss feed via email. Well now the results are in and the winner of this weeks competition is entrecard user:

www.jdonuts.com - Enjoy your entrecard credits, and spend them wisely!

If you didn’t win this weeks competition don’t forget that another contest will be held here next Wednesday with an all new prize up for grabs, so be sure to subscribe for your chance to win.

For the first winning wedensday here at ChrisBrandrick.com the prize is simply 500 entrecard credits. If you don’t know what entrecard is, or haven’t signed up for this blogging service yet, be sure to read about it here.

As detailed in my earlier post all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is subscribe to my rss feed via email, simple! Of course for this competition you also have to be an entrecard member so I can deliver your prize.

The winner will be announced early Thursday (tomorrow) morning, so be sure to keep a look out on your inboxes for any winning emails. Winners will also be revealed here on the blog. Oh and for those of you interested the winner will be picked at random via the services of Random.org.

You have 24 hours, so get subscribing! Good luck and don’t forget once you have subscribed you are automatically entered  in every other Winning Wednesday this month!

Affiliate Lounge is the blog of Phillip van Coller and he blogs about making money online via affiliate programs, and other web news. This useful blog is currently being super useful to Entrecard users as it is offering 500 entrecard credits to whoever makes a blog post like this, and links back to Affiliate Lounge.

Check the blog out now and be sure to enter the giveaway if you are a Entrecard user. (Only 40 spots available)

It’s been nearly a month since I installed the Entrecard widget here on my blog, and I am more than happy with the benefits gained from adding it.

Haven’t heard of Entrecard? Here is a brief description of what to expect from this social blogging tool:

Entrecard is the first and only free exchange network for 125×125 ads. Through this revolutionary platform, you can advertise your own 125×125 Entrecard on any blog in the network, for free, for a number of days.

Since installing the 125 by 125 widget here at ChrisBrandrick.com my visitors numbers have doubled, with a good majority of that new traffic coming directly from Entrecard. This increase in visitor numbers is also down to me blogging more, but still the incoming traffic sure is encouraging and proves that this advertising system works. For the traffic benefits alone Entrecard is worth looking into, but it offers so much more than that. In the month I have been a member I have found several new blogs which I now regularly read and enjoy checking.

I highly advise installing this hot widget, not only for traffic but to increase your RSS count, readership and earn new blogging friends.

Yesterday I posted about the various blogs I read, and within it I mentioned TylerCruz’s blog. Today I intend to touch upon further the competition I mentioned in that post, so here we go:

Tyler Cruz is currently holding a competition versus his good blogging friend Gyutae Park, the aim for the competition is to get blog readers (like myself) to write a blog post (like this) about the competition and nominate a winner. I am choosing Tyler of course, not only because I wouldn’t mind a chance at winning the $100 prize, but due to Tyler having a great blog!

I have been reading Tyler’s blog for well over a year now, and more of my thoughts can be found on my old review here, but if you have yet to check out his blog and are interested in making money online then his entrepreneur blog is highly recommended. I see his blog as something of an inspiration for me starting this blog, as one day I hope to be in a similar position to Tyler, making money through a series of successful websites and living off the earnings. Being your own boss sure does sound good.

If you have a blog it may also be worth getting in on the blogging action and voting for TylerCruz, as all entries will receive a link back in a future post, and considering Tyler’s high RSS and Technorati rankings you can only stand to benefit from being linked to via this well positioned blog. Tyler is also on Entrecard so if you are after a free way to advertise on his blog, entrecard it is!

I wish Tyler the best of luck in his competition and sure do hope he wins. No doubt I will update this blog with the results, regardless of who wins. Vote for TylerCruz.

I often on a whim add a blog I come across to my RSS reader, but more often than not I find myself ‘cutting the fat’ and getting rid of them soon afterwards. Blogs that stay have that something extra special and in today’s posting I will be writing about those blogs; the blogs I read.

To begin with here are the blogs I read that all have something in common, making websites and/or making money from them:

• Wake Up Later - I started reading this freelancers blog in the summer and have been impressed with the content ever since, always well written, and interesting it’s one I can’t recommend enough.
• 365 To Freedom - A site I found via Entrecard and have only recently started reading, this site blogs about various blogging topics, but has an overall goal of making a healthy income in 2008. Worth keeping an eye on, even if it’s just to see how much money can be made in 365 little days.
• I am Jack’s Design - Another site found via entrecard, and one I can see myself coming back to again and again to check the interesting content, be it for the plugin recommendations, freelancing discussion and so on. Check it out.
• TylerCruz - The story of an internet entrepreneur, and well worth following, I reviewed Tyler’s blog a while back, and since then it has gone from strength to strength. I think its fair to say I see him as my inspiration for this blog, and you can’t get a stronger recommendation than that. Subscribe now! (It’s down to this inspiration that I am choosing him in his current competition versus Gyutae. Vote for Tyler people!)
• DavidAirey - Whenever it comes to design, David always has some top tips, and his blog uses imagery very well so it’s always a pleasure to visit.
• DoshDosh - Plenty of ‘How To’ guides on internet marketing, useful, sound advice.
• Skelliewag - An odd name sure, but it’s down to earth guides and advice are superb, and yet again the blog uses imagery superbly to accompany posts.
• EatFruitPlease - Yet another entrecard find, and another young man from the UK like myself, toggling Uni life and online work can be a struggle at times so it’s nice to know your not alone!

The above are my regular online visits, check them all out as I recommend them all. Below is a list of other unrelated blogs I frequent, because you never know you may find something interesting!

• Joystiq - Up to date gaming news to satisfy my inner nerd.
• IdiotToys - A fun take at technology ‘news’.
• UK:Resistance - From the people who brought you Idiot Toys, this is there gaming blog. Again humorous.
• Icanhascheezburger - Because cat’s amuse me.

That’s it, apart from some blogs of personal friends. Please share your favorite blogs and let me know if you enjoyed discovering some of the blogs mentioned above.

I recently turned 21, and for those of you who are interested I had a great birthday. But the best thing about my day was receiving a superb Nikon D40 Digital SLR Camera from my parents.

I have always had a distinct interest in photography, from feeble attempts to be arty, to just taking pictures of friends (and annoying them in the progress); but in the past my cameras (in my opinion) have always been lackluster, from very early digital cameras to modern phone cameras it’s all been a bit grim. Now I am very much so the amateur when it comes to taking a good picture, so I am currently attempting to educate myself on photography terminology and reading up on techniques used by others; in addition to this today I have been browsing the photography section on entrecard, with some really great results.

For example, BenSpark has been uploading ‘every-day’ style shots to his blog now for over 1,000 days, some of his pictures are great, so check it out. Another blog I clicked through to via entrecard was ‘My Beginnings In Photography‘, not the most catchiest name admittedly but this blog has some excellent beautiful shots. Finally another interesting blog I found was one which touched upon making money online via taking pictures, the blog has some good advice so check it out if your interested in monetizing your picture taking.

Now no doubt over the coming months I will be getting to grips with my new camera and taking a load of pictures (mostly rubbish I’m sure), so I am considering installing one of the wordpress flickr plugins to my blog to share my photographs with the blogging world. So be on the look out for that.

Finally for those of you interested in just the camera itself, and not my random musings, check out it’s wikipedia page.