I’m extremely proud to announce that TUK will be taking the sponsorship even further. They’ve now agreed to sponsor any new website I create for $100, and that will have a similar setup to TUK now. With the launch of their latest product, they are really going towards new breaking boundaries in the blogosphere, and I trust this partnership will be very fruitful for both of us :)

As for the decision - I felt worried about making it after a few comments yesterday, but as I’m growing to not mind the look I do think it was a good decision. Just like Namepros, in a few days you will get used to it - did you complain much when Wordpress upgraded? It adds a colourful look to the website, and I think it is a lot better than the dull grey background I had before.

Last but not least, Fruitful Time have taken such an active interest in me that they will be sponsoring my University education, in exchange for a banner on my forehead. This banner will take advantage of new revolutionary technology and beam out positive thoughts to all onlookers. I will also be required to wear a Fruitful Time shirt whenever I go out, use Fruitful Time flavoured shower gel when I have a bath, and last but not least they will also be sponsoring my dog. I don’t have a dog right now, but should I get one in the future I will be required to have the Fruitful Time logo shaved into its fur. I thought Fruitful Time were against animal cruelty, but I guess not. However, as the dog has no say, I do not believe he will mind (much).

You guys embarrass me.

Well, those of you that believe this whole sponsorship deal was real… I think you need to keep taking that medication. :razz: $1,000 for lifetime sponsorship is insanely low - especially for a blog that is growing like this one is, and if I had truly agreed to such a deal, I’d fully welcome all the abuse (that I received through instant messenger, as most of it is too vulgar to share here :razz: ) and confusion.

However much I like Fruitful Time, that kind of deal was not something I’d accept - they never made it, though. Gaetano approached me earlier asking for some buzz for Fruitful Time’s Electro (for all of you that didn’t download it, shame on you :) ) and I worked this into the post - a multi-hundred dollar sponsorship deal :D . I kept the price high enough to be somewhat (alright, minimally) believable, yet low enough for the questions of insanity to start.

Do you see how ugly Namepros looks now? I will probably never be visiting the website again.

Lifetime deals are always a bad idea, as you never know how a website will grow - if you don’t think it will grow, you shouldn’t have started it. Even if your website is pulling in just two visitors a day, you should never go for the lump sum, unless it’s too big to turn down ($1,000 a month or $12,000 per year, for example is something I would have seriously considered).

I would like to thank some of you that knew about the prank but created drama in the comments just for the heck of it, and Jay over at Datmoney who even dedicated a post to the cause. I do not think he knew that it was a joke, but whether he did or not, I’d like to thank him for further increasing the exposure :)

The hints

Come on guys - I did give you hints. Talking about how Gaetano was looking at sponsoring the new Blogger’s Energy Drink would have clued anyone in that actually took a look at what that energy drink was, and anyone that actually went to the FTTM Electro page and tried to download it would have realised it was a joke too. It’s not my fault that none of you looked into it though, and I feel pretty smug at all the debate that was drummed up :cool:

The actual decision, were it a real offer

I have not really disclosed how much this blog makes at the moment, but I will say it is around the $500/month mark right now - I’ll cover the break down in a few days. A figure that will only grow, and one that values this blog at around $5,000 (not including the user base, established traffic and backlinks, etc). Something that makes me believe that I was right to turn down that $6,000 offer a while ago. Personally, the hardest part of a blog is the beginning - getting those first (repeat) visitors to your blog, putting up somewhat interesting content, tricking getting people to signup for your RSS feed :razz: . Once that is done, I can foresee some decent growth, especially that I’m now on a swanky dedicated server :cool:

Alright, that’s done. Now, for some other news…

Sponsored Message By Fruitful Time

Naah, I’m joking.

Blog Premiere Forum Launches

I got up the Blog Premiere Forum yesterday and it will (hopefully) slowly grow - I’d like to ask anyone that is interested in the subject, or just wants a place to hang out to join. The first thing that I got around to doing was enabling email verification - those of you on here that remember the EXP Forum debacle that I tried to start and all the porn spammers should be grateful for that. At the moment, there are a few established blog forums in the industry, however I feel this can break into that space, especially as I already have a sold platform to launch off - TUK, and with the right amount of marketing this can go well.

I’m working on getting a custom design created - I’ve seen $250 coded, which is fairly decent I think. I’ll also be creating a Bloggers Chat Room, just for fun; it won’t be a large part of the blogging magazine, but it will be there soon enough for anyone that wants to talk.

Hope you guys didn’t have a too terrifying April Fools Day. I’m off to restore the background now, let’s hope I don’t break anything ;)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!