Chris Brandrick

Apologies for the lack of updates in the past week, it’s been a busy one!

Goal number eight in my goals for 2008 is to launch gaming site Gamebrit, I briefly mentioned it in the linked blog entry, but today I am going to go into more details as to what to expect.

Development on the site began just before Christmas, with the basic design being completed (see blog image for a sneak peak). The site is currently functioning and running on a good content management system, currently I am just adding content, and of course games into the database, which is taking far more time than I would like. I could outsource this menial work, but trying to keep costs down is key.

The site, as you may have guessed is going to focus on gaming, specifically within the UK. I hope to eventually be able to interview, and run features on UK game development houses and studios. I have successfully gained a foot in the UK gaming industry before (although a small one) so I see no reason why I cannot do it again with a more focused site.

In addition to the aforementioned CMS, which I will touch upon in more detail in a later post, I will also be implementing a forum to hopefully gain some community around the site; a collection of UK gamers, interested in the development of the UK in the gaming industry, oh and bloody good writing.

I initially wanted the site to be ready this month, but due to lengthy input processes I can see this being knocked back. Either way I will keep you updated on it’s progress, this post was really just to let you know, and because I am excited about the opportunities the site will bring. Any questions or comments, just leave your thoughts in the comment section.

This review is part of my free blog review offer.

Bloggin-Ads impressively aims to review a new blog every single day. The owner claims that his inspiration for creating the site was to enable smaller sites to get some exposure along with helpful advice, and I admire that goal.

This site has a really impressive backlog of blog entries, and as although it may not be an actual review every day, it appears Mike and his wife sure have been posting consistently since the blog started in October of last year (see archives). The daily posts made are informative, detailed, and in some instances can offer solid advice and ‘food for thought’ for any blogger. All posts offer up social link options, like bookmarking and adding to digg for example, a good move which will help bring in new and returning visitors. Other positive social aspects of the blog include MyBlogLog and Blogosphere widgets among others.

Additionally to Mike and Michelle posting on Bloggin-Ads the site also employs an interesting user-content style approach which allows registered users the opportunity to have their own review(s) posted. These reviews can be about a blog of the users choosing, and of course their own. This is a unique way of gaining additional content, and a nice way for start up bloggers to get some external exposure and link-backs. It’s like guest blogging for all, an open way for the blog owners to get more blog posts, and more importantly they can pick and choose.

The site has an About page which actually informs the reader what the site is about, it’s inspirations, and it’s overall goals, if only the same could be said for mine! More blogs, mine included, need to work on there about pages. Here is a good post from Skelliewag about writing a good about page. Other pages include the advertising page, which offers up various reasonably priced options, and a basic contact page, with links to social networking sites along with the expected email form.

One thing Bloggin-Ads does have which surprised me is a forum. This surprise was only down to seeing very very few blogs with forums, and as expected the forum was quiet with only 4 members posting in a measly 5 topics (at time of writing). Now a forum may well be a worthwhile addition once the blog grows and has users wanting to discuss and request reviews, but right now it seems like a worthless addition to an otherwise good site.

The site is using a good colourful free theme, and although it is a suitable theme, when the blog grows I suggest going custom.

If the blog keeps up it’s healthy rate of posting and continues to offer free reviews I can’t see why the site will not succeed in growing. Remove the forum for now, and keep on blogging.

Bloggin-Ads is a blog about blogs.
http://bloggin-ads.com/

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great 2008 and achieve all that you aim to. (Also to bring in the new year, a congratulations from Scott at mythermos.com for winning my small holiday entrecard contest.)

Now as for my plans for 2008, these include goals for my blog, my sites and personal aims:

1. Get a custom blog design:

Mainly a goal I hope to achieve far before 2008 is even close to finished, I want to give ChrisBrandrick.com it’s own look and feel. It’s commonly known that using a public free theme (despite their merits) is frowned upon. Having a design unique to me gives my blog an identity, a brand, and recognition. John Cow has various cow theming, John Chow has that big car, TylerCruz has that nice custom avatar, all memorable stuff. Being unique is a big positive. So hopefully I can achieve this goal fairly soon. If you know of any good Wordpress design folks, let me know.

2. Increase my blog earnings:

Now from the offset this shouldn’t be to difficult, especially considering my blog is currently earning me £0. That’s right, I am currently making no money from this site, but this isn’t because I can’t, it’s because so far I just haven’t. The goal for 2008 is not only to make money but to make a specific amount per month. For those big internet entrepreneurs out there this may not seem like much, but it’s a goal I am realistically aiming for. By the end of the year I hope to be making a consistent £100 per month ($200 for you reading stateside) from ChrisBrandrick.com. This will be handled carefully, as for a start this blog will never be plastered with adverts, if and when I do implement ads it will be subtle and well placed. I hope to make the majority of this earning via reviews. Watch this space, as once I do start earning from this blog I will no doubt keep you guys in the loop.

3. Learn to drive:

I’m 21 in two days, here in the UK you can drive from the young age of 17. It’s about time I got a driving license and learned to drive, it’s a life skill I want. Sure traveling by train has served me well, but having your own set of wheels is an independence which I eventually want. This year, despite it’s pricey nature I hope to learn and pass my driving test, thats the goal. Buying a car is not.

4. Blog more:

All you have to do is look back over my archives for the past year to see that postings here at my blog have been lacking, sure it may well have picked up in the past month to a rate I am happy with but I intend to improve more, mainly to keep myself motivated and working. I intend to post at least (at a minimum) of five times a week. Hopefully you the reader will appreciate this to! More posts on my web developments, reviews and personal musings coming your way.

5. Launch WebmasterPlay:

You may remember all the way back in June of 2007 I posted about a webmaster forum I was creating, since then little work has took place on it for several reasons. Initially things were going well, with the front page created and the sites feature set building impressively. Unfortunately I hired an individual who wasn’t quite what I was looking for when it came to skinning the vBulletin forum. Due to this misfortune I took a break from developing the site, and this break lasted far longer than expected. I still really want to WebmasterPlay finished, and hopefully 2008 will be it’s year. Videogaming webmasters keep an eye out.

6. Increase RSS Subscriptions:

Only yesterday I made a posting detailing how I had installed Feedburner tools to my RSS feed. With this freshly installed I figured it would be worthwhile to make a goal relating to my readership. So with any luck by the end of the year my RSS subscription will hopefully be at 500, I have no idea how hard this goal will be to reach, but why not start me on the right path by subscribing now.

7. Get into my final year of University:

An academic goal which relies on me working hard(er) and getting the required grades, from now until May. Although without sounding to cocky, I am fairly confident that I will get into the 3rd and final year of University, this goal will act as a reminder as to why I am doing the course I am (Web Technology) and why I want to do it. The 3rd year starts in September so be sure to check back for the results then!

8. Launch and make a success of GameBrit:

This is the first time I have mentioned GameBrit on my blog, but here we go. GameBrit simply put is a british gaming website I have been working on for a short while, I hope to launch it within the next month or two. But more details on GameBrit coming in a separate post. I want to make sure I get it launched with the desired features, and getting at least 15,000 uniques per month before the year is out.

9. Purchase an iMac:

This goal really does depend on my online earnings, as I intend to fund this expensive purchase almost entirely from my money earned online. A new 20″ inch iMac, will it be mine this year?

10. Increase overall earnings:

What with me launching a small number of new sites this year (more details soon) I hope to start earning a healthy income from my online endeavors. As detailed above I would like to earn £100 a month from my blog, so on a whole £1000 a month from all my sites seems like a logical target. This will require a lot of personal effort and hopefully I will see the results. £1000 ($2000) per month from my portfolio of websites.

Those are my goals for the year, and hopefully when I come back to review this post in a years time, it will have been a successful year. (The above aims are in no particular order.)

I wish you all a productive new year; be sure to share your goals with me!

Vista Talk UK is a UK based forum for discussion on Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows Vista.

I first opened Vista Talk UK back in November of last year but never really gave it much attention, over time the forum has grown, and with a little promotion now has over 200 hundred members. Unfortunately I suspect half of said members are not genuine and are merely bots. The forum has little content, but I believe the domain and the few genuine members may be of worth, especially if sold to the right buyer.

Due to other projects such as Webmaster Play, Halo Three UK, and more I have decided it is time to sell on the forum. If you are interested in owning a Vista forum with a premium UK discussion based domain then feel free to contact me for more details.

Having been working in the online space for a few years now I have always been interested in visiting webmaster forums, learning new things, seeing whats new and so on. I first started online covering one of my main passions; videogames.

So late last year I decided to try my hand at creating a webmaster forum exclusively for gaming webmasters, sure the idea isn’t fresh, but the current offering are clearly lacking. Unfortunately due to several reasons, mainly due to other projects and a lack of time I never started work on the idea despite having plans, and designs in place. Recently work has began on the project and is currently being worked on, I have obtained the .net and .com extension but I have nothing to show at the minute bar a boring frontpage!

Keep an eye on WebmasterPlay as hopefully upon completion it will be far more than just another webmaster forum. Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.