www.bloodtypeonline.com

This is basically why my wrestling watching has been lacking for a while.

Everyone else has been posting stuff about their blogs, articles, etc. so I figured I'd share what I've been working on.

I started this about a month and a half ago with some friends of mine and we've been making some decent progress. Let me know what you guys think.

Dig the "DK uses digital camera to shoot pic of self in bathroom"!


My only suggestion would be to lose the embedded frame. I really don't care for that "keyhole" type of design. But ya' may have a good reason for it. If you're concerned about losing the navigation options at the top, I'd suggest also including them at the bottom of each page.

Also, who's footing the bill for the site? You guys should do a small Google AdSense program. Really, we all need to link to each other's sites and have a "gentleman's agreement" about the AdSense thing.

Will everything on your website be written from the zombie's point of view?

Hey, E - That picture was an inside joke thing with one of my friends actually. Without getting into a whole goofy story, that's the gist of it.

As far as the keyhole design goes, it was just the one that me and my partners decided to go with. I would have rather came up with something else, but I'm no web designer and I don't have the know how to totally design it from scratch.

The thing about the ad thing is that we want to be totally free from that. The site was REALLY cheap and we get free monthly hosting. One thing I've gotten a lot of compliments on from people is the fact that they aren't bombarded with ad's on the site. I'd personally like to keep it that way.

Also E, since you seem pretty knowledgable about these things I do have a question for you. Do you know how to or the best program to use to put streaming audio on a site? I'm just wondering because we have an audio interview with a horror director that we want to put up, but I'm trying to find the easiest way.

Oh, and E keep the suggestions coming.....I'd appreciate it.

MD - Not a zombie's point of view, but I'm sure I'll be dead and still working on this project so don't hold me to that.

A limited use of ads would work and not affect your site's content at all. Throw 'em at the bottom. Not like the shitty wrestling news sites that feature pop-ups, flashing banners and crap like that. It'd be identical to the ads on THIS site (DWB). Or on my site... I don't think I beat people over the head with the ads and it's proved profittable for me. Really, AdSense is one of the Secret MoneyMakers of the Internet (the others being PORN and GAMBLING).

What might be a better fit, especially if you're reviewing products, is to sign up for Amazon's Associates program (it's free). All you do is include a text link (or image if you're a complete shill) to Amazon for the product. I think they only pay you in Amazon credit.. but that wouldn't be so bad. Just don't do shit like "please CLICK OUR ADS to support the site" and it won't annoy anyone. Also, don't put your ads in the middle of your content, like Yahoo does.

Anyone who thinks they're being noble by "fighting the power and not including ads, man..it's for the PEOPLE" is braindead. Pop-ups...yeah, those are fucking stupid. But text ads are the norm for the Internet. How do you think this Free Invision Board thing is making money? Those text ads. It covers their cost of hosting, development, software, everything. Really, do WE run around complaining about the ads on here?

For the audio file, it depends on the size. If it's less than 3MB, you should be able to simply post the ".WMA" file on your site and have folks click to hear it. It shouldn't be a problem unless you have thousands of listeners-- so check your site's bandwidth. WMA, RealAudio format, Mp3.. whatever you have it in (although MP3 wont stream for most folks). "Stream" = "People can open and listen to it before the entire download is complete".

If you have a lot of audio files, it's best to go with a streaming host company. They run about 12-20 bucks a month. Only pursue that route if traffic becomes overwhelming.

Looks pretty good, DK. I'm with you on the ads. For some reason, they just bug me. Yes, even on this site. The viewing pane is pretty small.

I'd have never thought you looked like that. Hmm.

I know it wouldn't really effect the content or anything, but I personally kind of enjoy that. How much money do you really think something like that could bring in E?

I've actually heard about this one and if I did one at all I think this maybe the best route. Although, believe it or not tons of people I know think that Amazon is the devil in the flesh. Once again, how much could really be made from doing this?

The one thing about our site isn't to do it to make money. We already have some ideas for that, but I honestly don't know if something like that would be worth it or not. I mean, since you suggested it I'm assuming that it would be helpful, but is it THAT helpful? I honestly don't spend much at ALL on the site. We're talking less than $50 a year here.

Honestly, it's a pretty big .WAV file. Any suggestions on what else I could do? It's basically something we want to put up so people can listen to, we didn't have our hearts set on streaming so to speak.

This isn't something we are looking to do a great deal of. Also if we do we probably won't leave them up forever.

Thanks, I do actually take a bit of "punk rock pride" in the fact that we have no ad's. I like the fact that our site is totally independent of any sponsors and people DO notice that stuff IMO.

So what did you think I looked like? I AM a sexy motherfucker though aren't I?

But seriously thanks for the feedback guys I really do appreciate it. And if you know some horror lovin motherfuckers, pass on the word, we really appreciate it.

Also, if you guys are ever looking for something different to watch and need some recommendations check the reviews on the site, we have some really good stuff and everyone on our staff is pretty damn knowledgable about these movies.

As far as the audio file, you could host it on yousendit, or one of the other free file hosts. It would be a download then, but with everyone having broadband now that's no big deal.

I figured you look like my friend Robbie. The beard part I was right about. Robbie is pretty short and average weight, you seem to be a pretty big dude. Are you prone to wearing baseball caps turned backwards? Don't know why, but it's how I always pictured you.

As far as the sexy factor goes, I guess if big, hairy, axe-murderers are your thing...

Oh shit! I totally forgot about yousendit. That's a great idea actually. Good shit bro.

Actually I usually wear baseball caps front and to the side if at all. I'm prone to skull caps and other weird hats (My Fidel hat is my current favorite). I'm a big guy though, about 6 foot one or so and well over 200lbs. I have a "football player" build so to speak, or so I've been told.

By the way, bitches love the big hairy axe-murderer thing.

rapidshare is actually who I was trying to think of. That is who I usually use for stuff like that.

Allright, I'm covering alot, but I feel this is helpful. I'm not slamming your site at all, just giving you some good pointers. Y'know those stupid "web marketing seminars" or "how to make money on the Internet" ....well, here's what they cover:

Google Ads
Last things regarding the Google ads (adsense.google.com)-- initially, you could probably generate about 10 bucks a month. It'd offset your hosting. Google doesn't pay you until you get $100, though.

Of any given website's audience, less than 5% click on the ads.. but if your traffic skyrockets, then that 5% would be a huge number. Best case scenatio: you'd get some cash for doing something you'd normally do for fun. There will be a dedicated audience for your site, but the majority of your audience will come through search engines and annonymous clowns searching for specific stuff (in my experience: porn or pictures of cheerleaders. Horror movies have alot of HOT CHICS, so you're probably already getting this traffic). These clowns wont return to your site in the future, but they might see what they're looking for on one of your Google ads. So the people who are clicking aren't your "loyal fanbase".

There's a douche I met who makes roughly 40K a month through Google ads. He has several shitty general information sites-- with flight listings, weather and such. But he also plays the opposite end. He puts money into AdWords, the other side of Google's ad program for advertisers. This drives more traffic to his site and he gets more click-throughs and cash. It's sick.

Amazon
The Amazon thing I, myself, haven't had much luck with. But I haven't really promoted it too well. I think I have maybe three links to it, throughout my site. It might work better for you, since you're covering things that are readily available on DVD. Movie reviews encourage people to see the actual movie and form their own opinion. Some bloke would be reading the site and think "hey, I'd like to see that movie". He gets to the end of the article and BOOM, there's a link to Amazon if he wants it. I believe eBay has a similar program. In both cases, it's one text link. I think of these as helpful pointers instead of ads.

Honestly..you're ALREADY DOING THIS...in your review for "The Atrocity Circle". You link to the Copp Films site. Same exact thing....is anybody calling you a sellout shill for that?!

There's no financial investment required. I'd say sign up for one program, try it for a month and see if it returns good results. It's easy to go back and remove the ads. A HORRIBLE example of ad integration is that "History of the WWE" site. It was a helpful resource, but the guy didn't know how to properly integrate his ads. You visit the site and you have a full page of Amazon ads before you get to what you want. In the word of John Wayne: "Reee-g'damn-diculous".

Audio file
The audio file might work via uSendit. But wouldn't you have to re-upload it every 10 days? Also, with the steady use of CNN videos and YouTube, some people might click and expect to see the video begin. Instead they get the download dialogue and say "fuck it" and give up. Again, I'm sure there WILL be people who want to hear the file and WILL download it... but the casual fan will be turned off. It seems like that wont hurt you in this case, though. The people who want it will get it..and I think that's who you're shooting for.

Traffic
Also, to build up traffic you should work with that "Links" page. Now here's the impotrant thing: having "Links" aren't necessarily helpful to your audience, but they're helpful to your site's exposure. Text descriptions and links (no banner ads) are more helpful. This is where you need to promote a "link exchange" with similar sites. Don't just link to sites... contact them and ask that they link back to you.

What this does is that it increases your Google exposure and ranking. When Google indexes a site, if it sees a link to YOUR site--suddenly your site has more relevance in Google's eyes. You can also check any site's "Google ranking" to determine how important it is. Download and install the Google Toolbar for this reason only. If a site has a ranking of 4 or higher and is linking to your site..that's good. By comparison, sites like Yahoo or CNN have a ranking of 10. That HorrorReview site? They're a 5, so setting up a link exchange with them would be great for your site. You've already done your part...so politely ask them to return the favor. Looks like the horror genre loves link banners, so I'd suggest whipping one up (or get Yer Pal, ES to do one for ya').

Wow, good shit E. I really appreciate all of that. I think I'll look into doing some of that, even though it's gonna be awhile before I get it going. Feel free to set up a link banner if you wouldn't mind, that'd be awesome of you! Just let me know what you would need from me to do it and it's on like napalm.

The atrocity circle deal though is simply because we know the filmmaker and it would be supporting him independently. Not some big company. I know what you mean, but I didn't want to sound like a hypocrit. We've already done the link exchange with a few people, but mostly everyone we link to are people we get free movies from, so that's basically our trade off. Good thinking though....

Seriously though E, I'm about to hire you as a fucking consultant on the business end of things. Holy fucking shit.

That actually cleared things up a bit and I think now after you doing all of that, it's definately worth me looking into. I don't make all of the decisions as it's a mutual deal with a couple of people but it's something I'm going to tell everyone to seriously consider.

You're the man for this though E, for realz.

Yeah, if you already have agreements in place with certain directors for links, use those. But if you're home alone one night and decide to add a review for, say, the movie "Corpses", use an Amazon link.

So here's a quick little site banner I whipped up for ya'. It's 468 x 60, the old standard size for most banners. This is under my Photbucket site, so right-click and save it to your machine. Then upload it to your website and go bananas, Gorilla.


Nothing too flashy. I went with the faded background so the text would pop more. Also, alot of the banners I saw seemed to have black backgrounds, so I thought this might differentiate yours a bit.

Dude, I really dig that. Good shit bro, thanks again!