So I haven’t launched a new website in almost a month! It seems like a while back I used to launch a new website every week. Anyways, I’ve had this domain sitting around for a couple months now, and wanted to finally do something with it. The site will be much like MVP Flix, in that it is simply a video blog.

The domain of my new site is www.maskedmusic.com, and it is a Karaoke Video website. I am going to put some of the best karaoke videos on there that I can find. People have really do have talent. Of course I might throw in the occassional blooper of someone who sucks, but for the most part I want to show people that can really sing.

The site is going to be very easy to run. I simply check YouTube every morning (or night… whenever I get around to it), and publish 4-5 new videos every day. Wordpress comes with an easy to use YouTube mod that eliminates all hassles.

MVP Flix does quite well. It almost averages $1/day. That’s fine by me for only 5 minutes of work a day. My goal is to get Karaoke Videos to the same level. Maybe 200 uniques a day and $1/day in earnings. It shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll start out with a couple link exchanges and some directory submissions. When it comes to actually posting, I’m going to try and plug some keywords into the post titles. If I can get page 1 for the keywords, I should get enough traffic to make $1/day.

I normally have higher aspirations for myself. I want to increase my earnings by a lot more than $1/day, but I just don’t have a lot of time right now. I needed to put something on this website, instead of just letting the domain site there. As you can see, I am using the same wordpress theme on MaskedMusic.com that I use here. I like the theme a lot and it is easy to intregrate Adsense into it (speaking of which…I need to add Adsense to the karaoke video site).

My friends list is looking kind of lonely over there on the right side of my blog. I have some great friends on there, but there’s always room for more. I’m looking to add 3-5 more blogs to my friends list. I don’t care if you don’t have pagerank or tons of traffic. I’m just looking for something that’s a good read.

So if you read my blog, and want to have your blog on my friends list, then simply post a comment here and I’ll add you. If you want to link back to me then that’s great too! I’m not looking for niche blogs. It needs to be a personal/web entrepreneur type blog.

For Christmas, my parents got me a new new black 30 gig video Ipod. I’m not going to get into an Ipod review, because just about everyone in the world knows what and Ipod is. But, the reason I got a new Ipod for Christmas is because my old one was broken. I had a 3rd generation 20 gig Ipod from around 2003 or so. It’s been broken for a year at least and just been sitting around, until a few days ago I didn’t know there was a market for broken Ipods.

When Apple made the original Ipods, they did not intend them to be lifelong products. Ipods were built only to last 2, maybe 3 years. After that, users are supposed to toss the old ones and upgrade to the new ones with better features. Did Apple really expect us to ‘throw’ them away? Well, apparently, broken Ipods are quite popular on Ebay. Type in “broken ipods” into the search and you will find a couple hundred results all of which have 5-10 bids on them.

I put my broken Ipod on Ebay a few days ago. You can view the auction here. With 5 hours left, I have7 bids, 15 watchers, and a top bid of $31 with $10 for shipping. Not bad for a broken Ipod. I figure there must be companies or individuals who buy up these Ipods for parts. They replace the batteries and fix the LCD screen and then resell the Ipods for maybe $75-100 depending on the make and model. It’s not a bad business to get into if you know how to repair them. Ipods will be breaking for years from now.

So if you have a broken Ipod, don’t let it sit in a drawer… put it on ebay and make a quick $30-40. You can buy a couple domain names with that! Or if you want to make some cash and live on a college campus… put some flyers up saying you will buy broken Ipods for $10-15. See if you collect 10 or 20 ipods, then turn around and sell them on ebay for 200-300% profit.

I like to think I have some expertise on forums. I used phpbb software for over a year. I initially picked phpbb because it is the best free forum software out there. It’s relatively easy to install and has some nice mods.

However, after switching to Vbulletin last month, I know realized what everyone has been talking about. I now realize why when you look at a list of the top forums on the web, that 95% of them run Vbulletin. It is simply amazing. I was overwhelmed at first, but after a lot of playing around I am finally getting the hang of it. So for those of you running Vbulletin, or planning on it, I am going to provide you with a list of my top 5 Mods (In no particular order).

1. VbAdvanced - VBA is a portal / content management system used to organize the homepage of your website. I am a big fan of portals, because if non internet savvy people browse to your site and just see a forum, they might not know what it is. A portal divides the website up into sections for easy navigation. My homepage on Gator Envy uses VBA. The number of mods and hacks for vba are endless. You can also use it to create pages within your forum, such as Florida Gator Wallpapers.

2. ibProArcade - Every forum should have an arcade. In my opinion ibProArcade is the best one out there for vbulletin. It integrates fully with a simply upload. It comes with about 7 games, but you can download more via their official website. Users also have the ability to create touraments and crown champions. If you like showing your skills off, there is a nice leaderboard and you can even show “Tetris Champion” under your avatar.

3. vB Ad Management - One of the biggest concerns for forum owners is monetization. Nothing makes monetizing a forum easier than using vB Ad Management. I currently don’t have this mod installed yet. But it basically allows you to put ads in any section of your forum, and gives you the option to display the ads to any user group. You can display ads in post threads as well. Just put your code into the admin section, and it does the rest.

4. vbBux / vbPlaza - Vbplaza is a points system/shop that integrates into your forum. Users earn points for creating threads and making posts. The number of points earned is fully customizable within the admin panel. Users can then use these points to purchase ribbons, gifts, icons or just about anything your heart desires. Members can also buy name changes, username modifications and more. You can pretty much sell anything you want on there. It comes with a bank (and yes you can give out interest and charge taxes on withdrawls).

5. Members who have visited in the last 24 hours - Nothing makes a Vbulletin forum appear active than displaying the total number of members who have visited in the last 24 hours. You see them on just about every forum. It’s a long list of members at the very bottom of the page. This is a great mod in my opinion.

So there you have it, my top 5 VBulletin mods. Once I have run my forum for a bit longer I will post another top 5 mods that I feel are useful for any forum.

I know a lot of you have probably heard this and/or seen the video. It’s Weird Al Yankovich’s new song ‘White and Nerdy’. Just watch and listen to the lyrics. It’s hilarious. You can get the lyrics here if you want to sing along.

I am taking this opportunity to ask my blog readers what you would like to see on my site? What am I missing that other bloggers have?

After reading Dave and Jay’s post about some blog’s they read, they mentioned mine on there, but said “I also occasionally visit David Lithman’s Blog, but I just haven’t been pulled in by any riveting business commentary…yet.”

I have a feeling that Dave and Jay are not the only ones that are like this. In the past my blog has been more or a journal for me. I don’t pass out tips on how to increase CTR or new advertising methods or SEO help. Mostly because I’m a newb myself, and I’m not sure a lot of people want help from me :/

So anyways, what do you want to see? Do you want some business tips? Longer posts? Pictures? Videos? More details?

What can I do to improve this blog? Leave a comment and let me know.