Like always today is the last day of July, and I am done with Nick’s site. Well I have been done for a while, it is now ready for public exposure. Nick’s email got chosen on the June Drawing and therefore he recieved the new design.

Pimp My Blog is growing big every day. I get more and more inquiries about this topic. Also the email subscriber has gone to a higher level. I am trying to do more of web 2.0 faster loading blog templates.

Well check out Nick’s Site at Nickthrolson.com

Watch the Video of his site getting pimped:

Youtube here because Revver is too slow in approving

I will be doing the drawing for July winner in a few days. This time I will not reveal the date because some people are cheating the system by subscribing in the drawing days and than unsubscribing. But it will be done in the first week of August 2008.

Entry method is simple.

Subscribe to Balkhis via email. Make sure you comment alot. Top commentators get more entry than others.

After I got interviewd in a local newspaper. I get alot of questions like what is the tip to be successful online. Or like What is your Top 9 pointers. I think below are the things that is necessary to be successful in the web industry.

Clean - Clean what the hell is that? Ofcourse it is your design. Design is the first thing that a user sees when they visit a site. If your design is not attracting enough they will not bother staying there. So get a good design. Did I mention, I am a designer too Check out my Portfolio.

Creativity - You always need something to attract your targetted visitor. Now users are tired of seeing the same boring stuff over and over. You have to come up with creative ways to have them engage in your website.

Content - Content is KING. Ever heard that. I am sure you have heard it in many places, and I will tell you it is true to an extent. Content is the first thing that will bring your user in from a search engine. Quality content gets indexed quickly and usually is ranked higher among the Keywords.

Marketing - While content is king, content alone cannot accomplish much. You need to advertise your website to others and spread the word around. I have shared alot of Advertising/Marketing tips on this blog which you can read. Remember without good marketing, your brand cannot get anywhere.

Networking - Some people say it is a waste of time. I think making good connections can get you alot of things that you will never get. Like half of my clients. I try to join most of the social networks. Why? Because I like to meet new people. Who knows maybe I might meet my future business client, business partner or just about anyone. Just think of it this way. It is another form of marketing. Mouth to Mouth Advertising.

I recommend you to join: Plurk, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon

Be a Leader - Well you know alot of people are afraid to try out new things. For instance Scour (My Review). Alot of people wait till they see others having success before they try it. Well you know what. You could be the first one there and get the most benefit. Just imagine, if you are first at Plurk, and then you recommend everyone else. You will be famous. This is how it works on most industries. First one gets the most benefit most of the times.

Don’t Wait - If you have an Idea, go with it. Because if you wait, some one else will do it. I mean there are 6,602,224,175 people on this earth, and It is pretty ridiculous to think that no one else will think of it. So don’t wait, Start Something. This one goes along with Being the Leader in the industry because you will benefit the most.

Be Nice - Some people get a bit snobby once they know a little bit. I usually get around 100+ emails that I read daily from various different people. Not just from Balkhis. I try to reply to all of them. Even some of the link exchanges one that I get from other people. I kindly say, I am flattered by the offer, I am just not pursuing that path. Which gives those people another respect for me because I was not one of those who ignored them and thought to highly of myself. By the way that reminds me, I need to thank my friend Ian for writing about my ebook. I wrote to Ian and he didn’t reply to my email because as he stated in his post that he ignores most of them, but he picked mine to write about. And that gives me another level of respect for the guy.

No Quick Bucks in this Bucket - This is exactly how it sounds. Do not expect to get rich Quick in this industry. Try to fill up your bucket, and with time it might even become an ocean. But remember you will start with a drop. Always think big, but in business you will have to pass through all the hurdles to get big.

Following these tips will get you some where reputable in the industry, and you will be running a successful website. If you like this article feel free to digg Don’t forget to Check out My recommended Money Makers.

Did you ever wonder how do local business survive? I mean we the online businessman and woman have a wide variety of websites that we can advertise on, but local stores and businesses does not. They have to rely on News Papers, Brochures, Businesscards, Pamphlets, advertising via mail and more.

In this post, I will share something that I did as a part of an experiment. I ran various local campaigns. I mentioned it a while ago in my post that I have contracts with stores that agreed to keep my brochures. Well this one is a bit different.

I was writing mails quiet alot recently, therefore I thought it would be interesting if I can get my own stamp. So I took a visit to Stamps.com as Bruce did a while back.

I just used my own 125×125 banner as the stamp, and got some stamps. I sticked them on the envelope, and put one of my brochures inside. And I put one spare one in the envelope, so the people can use it. Now I am waiting for it to convert fully. I did this experiment in the beginning of July. Now towards the end, I saw some people who came to my website and wrote me an email saying it is a very cool way of advertising.

Some wondered where did I get my stamps like that. It is surprising how alot of people don’t really know about it. Now to tell you the truth, my initial investment in this is not alot because I got the envelopes on sale and I have boxes of those. I got free business cards, free brochures, and other free business supplies from Vista Print. I got a good deal from Stamps.com and I am set.

While I am trying this technique in my area, you can try it in your area and see how it works. I think advertising via mail is effective atleast for me. I have gained alot of loyal local readers who contact me via phone and often get me to consult with them.

If you get your stamps, don’t forget you can get free advertisement at Balkhis as well. Just send me some copies to use You will get even more advertisement. It is like a chain eh.

Now if you dont believe it, I work at my local job which is a grocery store, 1 day a month just to stay in the system and hold my shares. I love my dot com life style.

Oo if you guys didn’t know, I went to Island of Adventures in Universal Orlando. It was a family trip. We left on Friday and came back on Saturday night. It was heck of a day. We stayed at a motel for the night.

Since we were on a trip that I will be blogging, I thought of wearing my cool shirt that says: “I am Blogging This” which was sent to me by Market Leverage. I wore it all day at the park. Believe it or not, everyone asked me whats my blog and if they will be in the picture lol. One time the guy at the Jurrasic Park Ride who was checking the belt said if you want to read the review of this ride, he will be blogging this so check out his blog. So I will add a review for that ride All to all Market Leverage got good promotion out of it. (Thanks ML for the cool shirt, if you dont mind send me a few more because I wear this one alot hehe )

Alright, well I got my tickets online for $52 at Ticketmaster using a cool coupon which was through a membership so I can’t give that away I went on the following rides: Hulk, Dueling Dragons, Jurrasic Park, Spiderman, Popeye and thats all ….

Yeah do you know why? I was dumb enough to not buy the $45 express pass in the morning. Later on the day, I thought its a waste if I buy it now. Each line had a wait of about 45+ minutes. It was fun though because all guys with me made a big noise in the line.

Lets review all the rides:

Hulk - was had a pretty cool start, but after a while it got boring.

Dueling Dragons - Is a good one. Fire and Ice two dragons. Ice is a bit rougher so I liked that one. Tip: sit on flip flops if you are wearing those otherwise they will drop.

Spiderman - Much better than Back to the Future. Very Very cool ride.

Popeye - Prepare to be Soaked. Hope that you get a good side, so you are only wet not soaked.

Jurrasic Park - Its full of surprises. I loved the ride. First time it didn’t work well, so I complained and got to ride again without standing in a line. Which was cool. I rode all together 3 times on this ride. The surprises didn’t get old.

As for the meals, I got a $22 unlimited one adult meal plan. It worked at 4 fast food places in 4 different Islands, so you have food wherever you go. I paid $9 for unlimted refills. The best thing I did for myself. You walk so much that you get thirsty. Get your drink for free. Otherwise the price for water was $2.75 for one bottle, or 2 for $5 which is insane. If you didn’t buy a meal plan than you have to get the other glass with discounted refills. The glass is $7 plus $0.69 cents per refill.

O O did I mention. I got a Picture with Spidey

It is a well recommended place to go. Don’t go there on the weekend because it is more crowded than usual. If you do end up going don’t be stupid like me..BUY the Express Pass and avoid the lines. Get there early. Go on all the rides I went on because they were all fun. Take an extra pair of clothes with you incase you are wet which you will be. Let me know if you ever go. And believe it or not I do wear all the shirts that I get one time or another. So if you want me to advertise your brand send me a shirt.

Well, just right now I got back from Orlando as I am writing this post it is 3 a.m EST. I saw there have been a Pagerank Update.

Yup Balkhis got a PR 4.

Uzzz Productions also got a PR 4.

Wordscrawl.com has maintained its PR 4.

Ekey managed to get a PR 2. (with no promotion)

Some people were happy, while some were upset. In my opinion, PR is nothing more than a number and thats all. I would recommend those who are unhappy to just ignore PR and it will come to you. There are alot of websites that didn’t recieve any PR but still have alot of value such as Enkay Blog.

My Friend Jim over at TheNetFool has made a very good list. Eventhough I am not in the list, but I read that blog often and am subscribed to the feeds, so I saw that.

I am too tired to write now, but will update you with pictures from the trip and all later.

Update me with what you got in your Green Bar.