The last two days I have spent joining Facebook and MySpace groups. I am trying to become more active in the social networks in which I am apart of.

I am extremely surprised of the out come so far and in this short amount of time almost 70 people have added me as a friend and I am meeting some very interesting people just by being a little more social.

I even have my own group on Facebook and MySpace. Be sure to check them out by clicking on the previous links.

Somewhere along the line web businesses lost the price tag on their product or service.

Businesses started handing our their service and products for free hoping eventually it would go viral. They could then charge for a premium price or upsell them onto another product.

I am starting to think this is the wrong way to go about it. Start charging from day one - build up some capital, use it to expand and grow.

There is a reason why Amazon and eBay are making a ton of money. There are scripts available for people to start their own auction website like eBay so why hasn’t anyone created a platform where sellers could list their products for free? I am sure a lot of people have, unfortunately they can not survive because the cost eventually out weighs the revenue keeping it free.

What do you think - can you make money by offering a free service and hoping the money eventually comes in or do you start charging right away?

Ok - I have seen like 10 blogs down today for up to an hour at times. I am pretty sure it is not my connection because 99% of other websites are working.

Does anyone know of a blog monitoring service? I have my own monitoring tools that text messages my cell phone if any of my servers are down.

Was just wondering if anyone knows of anything to monitor if their website/blog is down?

Sorry for not updating again in a while! I am getting bad for that

I have been really busy with the companies I am involved with so no news from me is good news! I have been side tracked from promoting the Social Millionaire but I want to re-assure you that this month I should see a nice stream of traffic and sales later in the month.

I just registered for Web Weekend in May like 10 minutes ago. Here are some details:

The concept is simple. A bunch of people who don’t know each other get together for a weekend with one goal: launch a (web) product and start a company by Sunday night, from scratch. Participants get shares in the company according to how much time they spend building it. It is a creative experiment and a great networking opportunity.

I am very excited to be able to participate in it. I would never have the chance to participate in an event like this in Halifax.

P.S. - It took me 3 times to get this post live… Not a huge fan of the new Word press! Anyone else try it?

Today I read an article from the New York Times about how blogging is causing a lot of stress and may have even lead to the deaths of bloggers Russell Shaw and Marc Orchant.

So what about blogging is stressful and can lead to sleep deprivation, weight gain/loss and even heart attacks? The root cause is creating new content in real time to match their readers’ needs.

The problem from the reader perspective is we sometimes feel it is necessary to know everything that is happening pertaining to our industry in real time. For example in my case I am involved in the internet startup scene so I read Techcrunch and Gigaom multiple times per day and I receive notifications come in as new posts are made.

But not anymore!

I realized after reading the New York Times article that I do not need to be hooked into those or any blogs 24/7 because I am only fueling the fire. Knowing that Facebook is now valued at $15 billion or the Wireless Spectrum was purchased by Verzion really does not affect me. If anything it just throws me off focus!

If you think my points above make sense try boycotting your favorite blogs for a day and see if you become more productive and are able to live without them.

Lots of fun stuff on the web today because of Aprils Fool.

Here are some of the links:

• Digg
• Google
• YouTube
• TechCrunch

If you have seen more today please leave them in the comments.

If you are struggling to get more traffic to your website then check out these 21 ways to get free traffic.

1. Blog Comments
2. Blog Trackbacks
3. Blogroll
4. Blog Widgets: MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog
5. Guest Blogging
6. Forum Posts/Signature
7. Directories: DMoz
8. Viral Components: Tell a friend script
9. Review websites: KillerStartups.com
10. Interviews
11. Link Exchanges
12. Contests
13. Affiliate Program
14. Joint Ventures
15. SEO
16. Press
17. Article Marketing
18. Radio Shows
19. Podcasts
20. Magazines
21. Local Newspapers

Do you know any other ways to get free traffic if so leave a comment and I will add it with a link to your website.

If you like this post, Digg it up!

If you own a blog and are looking for a guest blogger look no further…

I am looking to write a series of guest blog posts, it would be entirely related to your content!

Please leave a comment if you are interested or contact me.

UPDATE: Sorry for not having any real informative blog posts lately. I do have some really interesting blog posts coming up so stay tuned!

Today is my birthday

I turn the big 20 today. I kind of do feel old as I’m the baby in my family and the youngest of all my cousins!

The last person to leave a comment on March 26th gets $10 worth of advertisements on this website.

I do not really have a lot to say tonight so I thought I would show you a picture of what a Rhinoseptoplasty does to your face

Hopefully it doesn’t scare you away!

To perform a rhinoseptoplasty they place you under a general anesthetic. While you are unconscious they break the septum (cartilage in the middle of the nose) and reposition it so it is straight. This helps correct a deviated septum, which is what I had, which made it hard for me to breath. This could have caused more problems like sleep apnea and deprivation of oxygen if it was not corrected.

Recovering has not been bad at all. I have no pain except on my front teeth and upper gums which still is not that painful. My biggest issue is I can’t taste food cause my nose is completely blocked at the moment.

Imagine over Easter weekend not being able to taste anything. That has been my only pain… not being able to enjoy food.