As I promised, this edition of Ask David is being posted posted today rather than it’s usual Monday. I was on vacation yesterday and didn’t hardly touch the computer. I realize I could have just timestamped this post to launch on Monday, but I didn’t have time to pre-write it. So let’s get started…

Question 1 was asked by Nomar from Webmaster Forums. You said you were planning to make this blog into a revenue machine. I see you changed some things and I see more banners and ad space, nice job. But how are you going to continue?? just posting everyday? and also in weekends? or do you have some real smooth plans to get the revenue you want?

Very good question. Honestly, I’m going to test as I go along. There’s really only so much you can do to increase earnings. Add more content and sell more ad space. I plan to do both. I know I originally said I’m going to post more, and on weekends. I failed at that the past few days. I also want to try writing a handful of paid reviews each month. I think that will help my revenue increase tremendously.

Question 2 was asked by Jamie from Invention Reaction. When you make a new website, what are the individual steps you take to make the site a success? In what order do you set about these steps (plus more steps obviously) and what targets do you set for a brand new site?

When I make a new website, it’s generally because I have an interest in the subject. I don’t own many, if any at all, websites that involved topics I don’t enjoy. I may do some keyword analysis to see how a new site I create will rank, but I don’t always go into as much depth as others. I generally first start out with adding content to the new site. I don’t always monetize it from the get go. It depends on what my purposes are for the site. After adding content, I’ll head over to DP and get 5-10 fresh link exchanges. I’ll also interlink my old websites with the new one. That’s pretty much all the promotion I do.

The most important target I set for a new website is generally to turn a profit. Once that goal is reached, I can evaluate the site to determine more realistic goals.

Question 3 was asked by Joel from World of Joel. What would you consider the five
essential wordpress plugins to have for any blog?

Adsense Deluxe

Adsense Deluxe allows you to very easily integrate adsense or ypn into your blog. You can create several different channels, so adding any size ad unit it as simple as typing < ! --adsense-->

Related Posts

The Related Posts mod will show several related posts at the end of a single post. A great way to get readers to read more of your articles. I think I need to activate this one.

Optimal Title

You’ve got to install the optimal title plugin. This puts the title emphasis on your post title instead of the blog title.

Spam Karma 2

Spam Karma 2 gets rid of all those nasty spam blog comments. I use it here and have never had any spam comments.

Wordpress Database Backup

This plugin comes with Wordpress. You really should activate it and backup your blog often. The plugin makes it as easy as a single click to backup your blog.

Question 4 was asked by Richard from Blogger For Life. I was wondering if you know where I can get my hands on a good list of keywords?

Try using the Google Adwords Tool.

This was a very nice edition of Ask David. Remember, if you want free link love, then simply Ask me a question.