One great way to begin generating free traffic is with a WordPress blog, like this one you’re reading right now. WordPress is a free open-source blogging platform that has caught on strongly over the past few years, and enjoys a thriving developer community. With such an active dev community, WordPress system updates are rolled out quickly, and the system is extremely easy to use.

To get started, you’ll need to choose a web host where you’ll store your blog and its related files to share online with your visitors. I recommend my web hosting company Chase Hosting or another quality web host such as Fat Cow hosting, Get Hosted Cheap, or BlueHost. Each of these web hosts supports simple installs for WordPress, which allows you to setup your blog through an easy-to-use wizard installer.

Simple Scripts Install of WordPress on Chase Hosting:

1. Sign up for a web hosting plan, and login to the new web hosting account with the information you receive in the Welcome email.
2. Click the SimpleScripts section on the left side navigation. Choose to install WordPress
3. Enter your blog’s unique details into the install screen, choose your admin account’s information. Click install.

After the install progress bar completes, you’re done! You can login and begin using your new WordPress blog.

To manually install WordPress:

Here’s the quick version of the WordPress manual install for those that are already comfortable with performing web script installations.

1. Download and unzip the WordPress package.
2. Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.
3. Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
4. Open wp-config.php in a text editor and fill in your database details as explained in Editing wp-config.php to generate and use your secret key password.
5. Place the WordPress files in the desired location on your web server:
   • If you want to integrate WordPress into the root of your domain (e.g. http://example.com/), move or upload all contents of the unzipped WordPress directory (but excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server.

   • If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own subdirectory on your web site (e.g. http://example.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you’d like the subdirectory to have and move or upload it to your web server. For example if you want the WordPress installation in a subdirectory called “blog”, you should rename the directory called “wordpress” to “blog” and upload it to the root directory of your web server.
6. Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in a web browser.
   • If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php
   • If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php

That’s it! WordPress should now be installed. You can begin filling your blog with useful information related to your campaigns topic. Pack it full of quality content that you can link to and people will share with others. We’ll discuss how to

Had to make a quick blog post showing off my buddy’s new badass lazar. This thing will put your eye out! Our mutual friend, Larry Davis, built one of these beasts a few years back and spurred the interest, but this round of lazer madness (courtesy of MKD) is a bit more… intense.

Here’s a quick video of it being tested outside

If Morgan were a reddit Dos Equis-guy comic… it’d probably read something like, “I don’t build lasers often, but when I do.. they get blogged about, and burn things.”

Some assembly shots

Finished

People change, and life goes on without skipping a beat. The pace at which we rush through life is blinding. As hard as as we may try to slow down and appreciate our surroundings, putting such a philosophy into practice may seem downright impossible.

Our fast-paced consumerist society values the high-speed exchange, yet everyone wishes they could take things slowly and enjoy the simple things in life. But, come on…. who has time for that?

I like to think I could probably make the time. Yet, despite working for myself, making my own schedule, and ultimately being my own boss for the past few years… I’m not entirely sure I can say I’ve taken full advantage of the freedom it’s allowed me.

Don’t make the time, force yourself to
Despite my best attempts, I always seem to take on way more than I should. Whether that’s the workaholic in me making excuses to stay busy, or the true reality of my situation; I’ve always felt I could be putting aside more time for myself and those close to me.

I decided in December to really try and approach this year a bit differently… and (try to) stick to it. I wasn’t really sure what to do or expect, but it had to be done. The desire for change is an important point in one’s journey, but execution and follow-through are what separate the boys from the men. I couldn’t just want the change… I had to force myself into it.

Don’t make changes, make choices
By making a few drastic life decisions, lightening the load, and generally narrowing the focus of my work, I knew I’d be forced to confront things head-on. I may not be quite where I want to be yet, but I’m learning valuable lessons in management and delegation, and appreciating my position in life more and more each day.

Life is a journey of exploration, awareness, and enjoyment. Work hard, and have fun with it. Ultimately, enjoy what life has to offer. I hope as time goes on, I can find a partner in crime that enjoys a similar attitude to life, and experience the more relaxed side of what life has to offer. Can you say extended hiatus to a foreign location? Yes, plz.

Untitled by Tree Sleepers

This year began on a different note than most I’ve experienced. I had been in a committed relationship with my fiance for almost 6 years and we’d mutually called things off in December and were decided to go our separate paths. This is something I had been premeditating for a long time, and we both agreed was necessary.

We had a close relationship for many years but things had changed, and it was ok. As sweet of a girl as she was, we didn’t have the same drive or life goals, and it endlessly wore on us both in a minor but lasting way. Life continues to go on, and I’m sure we’ll both find happiness again.

With that out of the way, the time had come to lighten the load of both my mental and physical responsibilities. I began aggressively getting rid of things I’ve held onto for so many years. Some of the items were old computer parts, aftermarket parts for one of the various project cars, or other interesting and quality items that once held a place in my heart, but had simply become junk to me over the years and needed to be posted on Craigslist, tossed, or given away.

Clearing out old boxes and possessions you don’t actually need or want anymore is a liberating experience. It comes with some element of reluctance, considering most of the things you’re getting rid of were once purchased or sought for a purpose. But, once your mental inventory of things begins to dwindle, you realize how unimportant those material things really are.

Giving away as much of what I can to friends and relatives, if the opportunity arises, has also been nice. New computer projects for some of my tech friends, better sound systems for a friend’s car, etc. If it was trash, it’d go in the dumpster, if it had some value but not worth my time to sell, give it to a friend! For any old clothing or household items furniture, down the hill to Goodwill they’d go.

The “house-cleaning” didn’t just start and end with my home and personal property, however. At the same time, I began to tear through my digital network and begin consolidating the 10 something “Downloads” and “Clutter” folders I’ve accrued over the years and various hard drives, organizing my media and storage folders on the network, and otherwise eradicating any unnecessary redundancy or disorganization in my file storage schemas.

Reducing the number of files I was keeping, organizing the files and folders that were staying, and deleting old project work folders that were no longer active and had since been archived held the same sense of freedom as the physical downsizing. This process, along with a few other network upgrades and changes, has helped dramatically reduce any digital stress or anxiety I’ve experienced over the past few years when it comes to file organization across my systems. That endless worry of backing up file stores larger than most people’s backup solutions, and juggling things across multiple (non-redundant) file systems can take a toll on an IT guy.

The biggest obstacle to overcome was the massively vast scope of my workload and responsibilities. Over the years, I fell into the trap of trying to tackle it all with a limited amount of resources and time. Namely, there only being one of me. Being a homeowner, serial entrepreneur, boyfriend/fiance, driving and maintaining my fleet of cars, and the list went on and on. With a new chapter of life already underway, I’m excited to see what I can achieve with a narrowed focus on my businesses and ventures.

My two biggest focuses are the behavioral advertising tracking platform, eInfer, and my advertising networks.

Ok, lol. I’ll stop making promises on when I’ll write, and just try to keep it flowing. I’ve been doing a lot of writing on other mediums lately and I like the approach of just jotting a bunch of stuff down as it flows. I’ve had success in almost every regard this year by deciding to just take the approach I prefer, so maybe it’ll work for this as well.

A New Direction

For those of you who don’t know, I stopped taking on new client work at the start of the year, and spent the first half of the year actually making that happen. There were a few straggling projects towards the end of the year, but I’ve successfully been able to transition to my own workload again full-time. No more stressing on client work, now I’ll have project managers handling new jobs, and several talented developers, in addition to myself, banging out the code.

A New Ride

Some of you who know me personally know I traded my old Lexus IS300 for a G35 after my brother bought it and couldn’t swallow the maintenance. After trading, I pretty much hated it, but don’t have the cash in the bank to throw down on the Twin Turbo Gallardo yet, so I traded it in for a new IS250. So far, I’m loving the new ride.. way better than the piece of crap it replaced. Not as fast as my usual ride, and the first silver car I’ve ever owned (yeah, yeah, hater’s gonna hate on the all-too-common color, haha) … I know… but it’s comfortable, and has a warranty for the next 5 years.

A New Focus

Basically, I’m not going to focus on cars or lifestyle for the time being, and plan on putting the majority of my time and attention to my work. Then the fun can begin again, besides.. I already have 6 cars, 2 trucks, several successful businesses, and a stack of bills. That’s more than one ride for everyday of the week, and I barely even leave my home office at the moment!

I’ve written very little in terms of creative outlet, or private journals lately, so it’d be nice to get caught up on some of the cool things I have happening in my life right now. Whether it’s because I’ve just had too much going on with my businesses, or just prefer to keep my thoughts to myself… who knows. I think I’m going to begin expanding my presence in the affiliate marketing industry this coming year, so it’d be good to get some stuff on the site for the online marketing crowd. As birdman would put, I’m all about my money, I’m all about my grind. I’ve pretty much always neglected the majority of my personal projects for client work and my network sites, figuring it put more money in my pocket, and faster. I’ll admit, all these years.. I was wrong.

Big Plans for 2011

It turns out, it’s better in the big scale of things to be one of the guys running the game, so I think I’m going to take that approach. Talk is cheap, but putting things together, and making things happen is my specialty. I know I’ll be in good company, and I know there’s plenty of room for all of us.

As most of my longtime friends and readers are aware of by now,

when I put my mind towards something, it happens.

It’s only a matter of time.