Blogging Archives - The At Home Couple

Inspiration Has Worked It’s Magic Once Again

If you’re reading this, then that means you’ve (probably) noticed our new blog design! We started this blog way back in July of 2008 as a way to connect with other like-minded people who share a passion for ideas, blogging, the web and various entrepreneurial adventures.

Since then, TAHC has become something much more… it’s become OUR FACE online. If you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning (Lori we love you) you’ll know that it hasn’t been an easy ride, and even to this very day our life on and off the web remains hectic – in a good way!

In the tradition of new beginnings, we decided a new look and feel was long overdue. You’re probably a little surprised at the “non-marketing” look of the new design, but rest assured, how we market this site online was at the forefront of the overhaul “to-do” list.

Since when have done anything conventional on TheAtHomeCouple.com??

The new design was born out of the following inspirations:

We wanted the new site to have the look and feel of our apartment. So we did a custom arrangement of some of our personal items for the header, snapped a picture and gave it some “texture” in Photoshop.
We’re both big fans of typography and the magical powers of a great font, whether it’s online or in print. Rather than have a “logo” we opted for a super simple font – can’t tell you which one though!
It’s all about wood. We’re both second generation hippies, therefor have a super-deep relationship with anything earthly and natural. There’s something comforting about the thought of sitting around a wood table with friends (like at the cottage on a Saturday morning after a late night around the fire) and that is the vibe we attempted to catch with the background texture. It’s like the same feeling you get after an AWESOME cup of coffee (Jay).
Imagery is essential. Our old theme didn’t have any thumbnail features on the home page, or inner pages for that matter. All of the images had to be input manually, which was a pain sometimes. It was essential that our new theme had robust options regarding images, dynamic resizing and custom thumbnail options.

Choosing a new WordPress theme was not fun, and it took forever, but we’re REALLY excited with the end result!

You can expect the site to show a few more changes over the next couple of days, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions – please let us know!

Honesty is always appreciated (especially if you’re not a douche bag).

Cheers,

Elijah

(Sneak Peak) New Year = New Blog Design + New Plan

Blogging is my first true love online. Whether it’s the creative outlet to write anything I want or the excitement of getting that first comment on a new blog post – I still have huge plans for myself as an expert blogger and social media guy.

With that in mind, I’ve spent nights tossing in bed over the last month trying to muster up the (courage) to give TheAtHomeCouple.com a new face and plan.

I’ve always taken pride in the fact that this blog doesn’t make us money (excl. random affiliate sales and adsense trickles). We keep our money sites separate from our personal blog and this has always worked for us.

But to be perfectly honest… I want more… TAHC could be so much more!

So I finally made the decision to start a FRESH design – take a SNEAK PEAK below:

I know it’s not much – but it’s going to be EPIC!

Veronica and I have also been carefully crafting a master plan to take TheAtHomeCouple.com to higher levels i.e. increased branding, free resources and MORE video posts, tutorials etc… More awesome stuff to make you think, teach you something and/or inspire you some way in your life on and off the web.

Inspiration has always been my drug of choice.

Cheers,

Elijah

10 Reasons Why I Don’t Regret Starting A Blog

It’s amazing how life takes you down certain paths that otherwise you would have never persued – blogging being a perfect example of what I mean. If you were to sit me down 12 months ago and tell me:

“Elijah, in 12 months from now you will be on your path to financial freedom through the means of making money online. You will meet several awesome people along the way, many of which you will remain good friends with and invite to your wedding. You will also teach yourself HTML, CSS, WordPress, PHP and Photoshop – and you will use these new found skills to generate more income. You will have a business registered and begin to teach yourself the basics of accounting. Elijah – you will do all this in the next 12 months.”

I would have told you, with zero effort, to go eat 15 soft taco’s from Taco Bell then shove your head up your own ass and wait for them to digest. I would have reacted like this not due to my lack of confidence, ability or drive (I’ve never had a shortage in either of those departments), but simply due to the fact that 12 months ago this is the last place I would have expected to be – plain and simple! And guess what???

I wouldn’t be who I am today without blogging.

Here are 10 reasons why I don’t regret starting a blog (even though I don’t have time to blog anymore!):

I finally realized that all those years reading books about time travel, Raul Duke, middle earth and vampires really paid off – in the context of sounding like I know what I’m talking about when I really don’t. This is a key ability to becoming a millionaire in the blogosphere.
My bitterness towards the college to cubicle lifestyle translated very well with the public, and allowed me to come to the realization that I’m not alone – and people find my bitter sense of humor quite amusing.
I would have never discovered the power that an over-sized head can give you – especially if it’s displayed in a cartoon format. I’ve also discovered that there’s tons of money to be made in sammich promotion.
I’ve finally found a sense of normality in knowing that it’s quite common for bloggers to be awake at 4am. Prior to blogging I was starting to believe I had a sleeping disorder.
I confirmed the fact that I am one of those rare breed of people who actually enjoy seeing and hearing themselves on video. My grandmother thinks I’m cocky.
I’ve spoken on the phone to people all over the world – all of them which I met via blogging.
After years of searching for a magic button, I finally discovered that there is an actual industry online. With the right tools, skills and persistence it is possible for anyone to make some money. If I didn’t start a blog I would have still been stuck in the sales page loop searching for that secret solution.
I’ve made some great friends, and I mean REALLY great! Call me naive, but I don’t see myself loosing contact with any of you (you know who you are) in the near future. You bitches are stuck with me.
In the real world talking about midgets, one-armed prostitutes and dildos doesn’t go to well – especially in the workplace. In the blogosphere I’m looked at as someone who isn’t afraid to speak their mind, and commended by my peers for a “great post!”
More than anything, blogging has taught me to be giving. It’s all about sharing, helping and giving credit where credit is due. This doesn’t manifest itself as much in the real world, but in the blogging world every comment counts! Bloggers stick together. Bloggers are smart. Bloggers are dreamers. And I’m proud to be one.

I would absolutely love to read some reasons why you crazy bastards don’t regret starting a blog. Share what you’ve learned and any crazy stories you might have throughout your years or months in the blogosphere. Don’t forget to track back so I can stop by and read your posts!

Have a great week guys.

Cheers,

Elijah

Hearts, Farts and Shopping Carts

Yes yes.. another month gone, another Paypal balance transferred. I hope everything has been productive for you guys and gals in 2009 – I’ve been doing my best to keep busy and remain afloat in this massive Internet ocean. As you’ve been noticing I’m starting to get back in the groove with regards to posting and keeping fresh content for the search engines – and in actuality, I post because I like to hear from you guys (as you’ve probably noticed I don’t do tutorial type posts anymore).

I think the biggest obstacle was figuring out how I can shift my objectives while still expressing myself in a fashionable manner. Making money online is no longer a mystery to me, but rather a daily task which I absolutely love doing.

Hearts…

So Valentines day is approaching, and if you haven’t already, it’s time to get some of that seasonal affiliate money, right? I dunno.. I find I’m more motivated if I treat everyday like it’s a special occasion to make money online. Sure, people’s online shopping frequency may increase over Valentine’s day – but it’s one day, one month and one shot.

I’m definitely considering running a few ads that will funnel traffic to some CPA offers like Nintendo Wii, iPhone and other popular gifts desired by the women we love. Let’s face it guys, we do most of the shopping on Valentines day – so if you are thinking of running a few campaigns or promoting a particular product, be sure you’re targeting the male audience. If you’re great a targeting niche markets, then I would say fuck the male market and really snipe the female shoppers, because most big time players are probably targeting the male audience – which means there’s less competition towards the female purchasing traffic.

Here’s an idea: Create a little one page website with a poll that collects information regarding “what do you want for Valentines day?” and advertise the page via your facebook, twitter, etc.. You could pretty much gather results and have your campaigns pointed out to you. Hmmm.. That really wouldn’t take much to put together. Good job Elijah – Thanks Elijah, you’re so smart – Aww, thanks man. I really appreciate it.

What do you guys have planned for the Valentines day traffic?

Farts…

Veronica and I have severely shifted our diet to consist of 99% organic goods – and it feels amazing! Physically, I noticed a decrease in the “bloated” look of my face/gut within the first week. It’s now been 2 months, and I wake up feeling energized almost every morning – and that is something that I never felt before.

Along side eating all organic, we’ve stopped purchasing meat and dairy products, but we’re not necessarily vegan – let me explain: I could never go straight vegan or vegetarian because I love meat. Steak, chicken wings, steak, um.. steak… I could never give up the pleasure I get from the combination of a bbq, a steak and a cold beer. What we’ve done though is stopped purchasing meat and dairy products, so it will never be found in our own fridge. If I’m over at a friends, or we’re out at my favorite steakhouse, then you better believe I’m treating myself – but that is the keyword. It’s a treat, not a daily consumption.

We decided this based on many obvious factors such as the chemical preservatives, steroids, and other variables that are in the meats served to the general public, as well as the sheer brutality of how the animals are kept and killed in the processing plants.. it’s like something out of a horror movie – and we just couldn’t bare with the thought of purchasing and eating something that was gutted alive while hanging upside down by it’s ankles on a zip line.

Anyways.. I wanted to comment as I’m sure a few of you are of the vegetarian/vegan/organic persuasion: eating well makes you fart like a hell storm! Not that Veronica and I ever had problems letting it rip before (quite the opposite) but it seems to be more regular and often now that our diet has shifted – which is awesome because it’s free laughs!

I guess the body needs to detox and rid itself of all the crap built up from the years of digesting chemically processed shit. Also, we found this awesome company located here in Toronto that delivers our organic produce weekly to our door for $35! They’re called FrontDoorOrganics, and they provide organic food delivery – everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to organic shampoo, soap, condiments.. pretty much everything you would need. Sweet!

Shopping Carts…

I’m in the final stages of completing NicheOnDemand.com – which will be serving as my home base for niche website services etc.. Feel free to check it out and give me some feedback! Anyways, I need to implement some sort of shopping cart element into the site, and want something a little more diverse than a Paypal button. I’ve heard of e-junkie and a few others… Do you guys have any suggestions based on your own personal experiences? I need something that gives me the ability to track, provide receipts emails to clients etc.. You know what I’m talking about.

So, what do you guys think based on what it is that I’m doing?

Cheers,

Elijah

Karma, Good Deeds, And Free PLR

Here’s a great story for all you crazy mofos in the blogosphere. About a week ago I was domain searching for an upcoming site flip I’m working on, and after about 30 minutes of being denied I finally found a gem – www.TheStressFactor.com. Pretty sweet right? Immediately I determined that this was too good to be true (as most things in life are) and I was also suspicious because the .org and .net were registered, and when typing them into Firefox I noticed that they both redirected to the same site.

Do I grab the domain and hope that I get a sexy offer for it down the road? Or do I try and get a hold of the owner letting him know that I was interested, just in case he was waiting for the .com to become available?

Here’s where my good deed steps in…

Being the half decent guy that I am, I chose to contact the owner of the site and advise him that I was interested in purchasing TheStressFactor.com, and if he was waiting for it to become available and I didn’t hear back from him in 48 hours, I was going to go ahead with the purchase. This seemed fair to me.

Well, sure enough the next day I received a response from a guy named Ronnie Nijmeh who thanked me for contacting him, and said he was so glad to receive my email because he had been waiting for the .com to become free for quite some time! Ronnie proceeded to let me know that he owned a PLR membership site, www.PLR.me, which specializes in the self help/personal development niche, and to show his gratitude he would love to give me free access for the rest of the month to download all the December content – fuck yeah!

Karma is king…

Feeling so good about my decision, I checked up on Ronnie’s Flagship site www.ACQYR.com to see what this guy is all about, and to my surprise I discovered that not only is Ronnie the founder of a personal skill and development firm in Toronto, but he’s also nationally recognized with national broadcast appearances, live’s in Toronto currently and is from the same neck of the woods as myself – Scarborough. Talk about a small world!

I guess my whole point to this ramble is pretty simple – even though it may seem at times that the Internet business and making money online is a dog-eat-dog world, where you have to step on shoes to get to the top, the true success lies in recognizing opportunities. Whether that opportunity is to follow your intuition and reach your hand out to a complete stranger while disregarding personal gain, or a chance to sacrifice your own gain to better the situation of someone who you feel deserves the opportunity more.

One tiny good deed put me in the path to connect with an awesome, super inspirational and resourceful contact. In return that good deed got me a shit-load of free high quality PLR content in a niche that I frequent, and at the end of the day I have a kick ass post to share with you guys, to fill some silence during my dry spell. It’s win-win baby! Don’t be greedy, and you will be rewarded – I promise.

Cheers,

Elijah

I’ve Lost My Way

So it’s very clear that I have lost all steam on TheAtHomeCouple.com – what amuses me the most, is I have no reason why, or when this happened. It’s like one day I woke up and had nothing to write about. Eventually that day turned into weeks, and now I’m at the point where I am.

I want to be very clear in letting all of you guys know that Veronica and I are doing well. We’re doing great actually! I’ve been kicking ass online and making somewhat of a living over the last 3 months; a little white hat, a little black hat, a little NO HAT. I’ve recently hit the point where It would be smart to start outsourcing some of the content creation for my site flips, so I can produce more sites in less time – ultimately increasing my profit for that revenue stream.

To answer a few questions that I’ve received…

I am not selling this blog – no way in hell.

I am going to get back on a regular writing schedule after Christmas, promise!

TheAtHomeCouple.com will be revamped in the early new year, with a new theme, vibe and logo.

I promise to start leaving fucked up comments on your blogs more often as I manage my time and tasks more accordingly (this is where outsourcing comes into play).

That’s it!

I might squeeze out a post before Christmas hits, but in the mean time I hope all of you guys have a great holidays, eating lots of food and drinking lots of other people’s booze. If there’s a girl at your office that you’ve had your eye on, be sure to give her ass a good squeeze at the Christmas party – because it’s the only time of year you can get away with it!

Cheers,

Elijah