announcement

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it :)

The Thanksgiving also means the Black Friday on the next day - the first day of the Christmas season and (usually) the busiest and much anticipated shopping day of the year.

This year Thanksgiving and Black Friday means something for you and I - with this post, I’m announcing Noobpreneur.com very first contest!

Noobpreneur Thanksgiving Contest: The Prizes

As this post is published, the contest commences. The end time of the contest will be November 30th, 2008 at midnight GMT+0.

I will reward a single winner the following:

1. $100 in cash.
2. A spot on my 125×125 banner ad section on the right for a month.
3. A blog post dedicated to the winner’s blog.

Noobpreneur Thanksgiving Contest: How to enter

How to enter the Noobpreneur Thanksgiving Contest? Simple:

1. Write a review on Noobpreneur.com in your blog - 200 words minimum with a link to Noobpreneur.com
2. After the post is live, comment on this contest blog post with a link to the Noobpreneur.com review you’ve just wrote.
3. I’ll pick one winner with the most interesting review, and the winner will rake the prizes out.
4. Bookmark & subscribe to Noobpreneur.com RSS feed - Not required to enter the contest, but I thank you if you decided to do so :D

That’s it!

These are the small prints to read :)

1. Don’t forget to comment on this post, because I will decide the winner from the comments. And, make sure you have Paypal account, because I will only send the $100 through from it.
2. How do I know that I am the winner? I will write a blog post about the contest winner, and I will contact you through your blog’s contact form with the prizes detail - so make sure you have some kind of contact forms or email address on your blogs.
3. Don’t include your email or Paypal ID in your comments in this post.
4. Make sure your blog entering the contest doesn’t contain illegal or questionable content.

Fast act bonus

For the first valid comment (with the review link, of course) I receive in this blog post, I will donate $20 to the charity of your choice!

Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving!

Ivan Widjaya
Contest noob

If you visit Noobpreneur.com today, you might not be able to see anything displayed.

That’s because the blog has been experiencing problems with the Wordpress plugin upgrades.

With the upgrades, I hope for Noobpreneur.com to be more bug-free and secure. Unfortunately, the good things in mind result in a blank page and a big question mark.

What’s so special with the problem that make Noobpreneur.com displayed a blank page for the whole day?

Because the last time I did the check-up, everything is okay. I suspect that after the Noobpreneur.com’s server cleared its cache, the problem arose. Added with the fact that I went traveling with my family, Noobpreneur.com is having its own vacation for a day :)

I still look into the problems, and I found out that two of the problems come from Noobpreneur.com contact form upgrade and the most viewed plugin that displayed Noobpreneur.com Top 10 most visited blog posts.

Disabling them finally solves the problem - at last. Perhaps compatibility issues with the other plugins? I’m actually not sure, but I’ll find out somehow :)

So, in the mean time, the contact form is replaced with other (supposedly better?) plugin, and the most viewed plugin is still quarantined.

I’m not that qualified as a techie, so I can’t (and don’t have the guts) to tweak the plugins’ code.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused, hopefully this won’t happen again in the future :)

Ivan Widjaya
Wordpress plugin compatibility investigator
Image by stuckinsuburbia4.

If you wondered why accessing the Noobpreneur Business Blog is a bit difficult and troublesome, I am actually in the middle of upgrading Noobpreneur.com’s Wordpress to the latest version of 2.6.2 - meaning, better security and other enhancements.

Not only upgrading the Wordpress script, I am also in the middle of custom-designing Noobpreneur.com based on a Do-It-Yourself Wordpress theme structure, Thesis.

Why Thesis? After a long search for custom, user friendly Wordpress theme, I finally take action to purchase Thesis Wordpress theme, for several strong points:

1. Easy customisation, via click and apply method.
2. User and SEO friendly
3. Constantly developed - security and bug fixes, more features, etc.
4. Helpful forums!

The license is $87 for a single site, and $164 for multiple sites. It’s a fair price, considering the quality. If you are looking for Wordpress blog themes, do consider Thesis.

The customisation I am doing right now is almost finished. There will be a small update on the theme in the near future, but I assure you during that time, there will be no more interruption in your visits :)

Please let me know your feedbacks and comments on Noobpreneur.com new design.

Ivan Widjaya
Blog designer

I’m happy to announce that one of my web properties are up for sale starting today up until, at least, the next 30 days.

EnglishFair.com - a PR 5 bidding web directory - is listed at Sitepoint.com Marketplace after much considerations.

The reason behind the sales is simply my lose of interest in running a bidding web directory. My secondary reason is being my interests on other web properties that need a particular sum of investment.

EnglishFair.com is doing fine, actually.

I was torn between selling a cash flow site with semi-passive income model I love, and keeping it to myself to enjoy the relatively good monthly revenue. And, unfortunately, losing interest in it is my last resort not to hold it any longer - interest and passion drive you. Have none of them, your web properties will, sooner or later, feel the impact of your lousy morale in running the website.

Any interest? Please contact me or bid through a Sitepoint.com Marketplace.

Cheers!

Ivan Widjaja
Website flipper