Many of you know me as Chef Patrick, my actual name is Patrick Ruddell.

I started in the domain industry about a year ago and have kept my name private. If someone was to ask I would tell them, it was just not something I published. It wasn’t because I was hiding or trying be someone I’m not, but because I simply wanted some privacy. I did not want to mesh my online work with my real estate dealings.

With becoming such a well known blogger, the upcoming release of some of my products and the probability of some national TV exposure, I feel it necessary to include my name in what I’m doing.

If you’d like to get to know more about me please visit PatrickRuddell.com.  If you have any more questions feel free to contact me.

Of course bloggers are allowed opinions. Really, isn’t that what a blog is all about. A blog can be about everything and anything written from the perspective of one’s self or as a newscaster.

For the official Wiki definition click here.

What price do we pay for having an opinion?
Well, you are a putting your thoughts and self in a public place to be dissected and ridiculed. Depending on your thoughts and views you may even alienate some potential advertisers.

For example, just the other day I posted my favorite 5 domaining blogs. First two comments were you shouldn’t post something like this, only bad can come from it. I understand what they were saying, that potentially other bloggers in the industry that I did not mention would think I don’t like them or their blogs. That’s not the case, but you can only have so many favorites. I am friends with many of the other bloggers and they know I like them and their blogs. There are going to be some that are mad at me for my post. I have to accept that. I didn’t post that list as a recommendation to what everyone should be reading per say, but just to voice what I read most frequently.

I have already accepted the fact that not everyone thinks like me or will agree with everything I say. That is what makes us all individuals. That is truly the essence of what keeps things interesting. We as bloggers, have to be willing to put ourselves out there, not because we want to get our own propaganda said, but to get the feed back and to have interactions with our readers. Expressing your opinions opens up a dialogue. These dialogues will make your blog more alluring and have people coming back unless they absolutely hated what was said because it was offensive some way.

Know that if you blog you too will be criticized for your opinions. The upside is you will also be praised and followed. Do not let the thoughts of a few stand in the way of your success. Take this into consideration when you decide to blog. I say it often, blogging ain’t easy!

Let me start off by saying thank you to Joel Comm for giving me a copy of his new book Twitter Power before today’s release. For those of you not familiar with Joel he is a New York Times bestselling author for the book The AdSense Code and is also known for the very popular iPhone application iFart.

I had a chance to review this book over the weekend and was blown away with the details. Some of the key points are why and how to use Twitter along with building your list of followers and connecting with them. Not only connecting but the subtle ways to influence them for your personal gain. Lastly the chapter titled “A 30-Day Plan for Dominating Twitter” is a simple road map for success on Twitter. Twitter Power is the perfect A to Z guide on the use of Twitter. I must have read dozens of blogs about Twitter before creating my own uses. I only wish this book came out sooner.

What is Twitter?
It is a free micro blogging social media outlet which allows up to 140 characters to be sent to everyone following you. The simplest comparison would be a text message which allows you to send a short message to a friend.  Twitter allows you to send your messages to a larger audience.

In case you are not familiar with the look of Twitter below is an image of my profile page and a few examples of messages I have sent within the last 24 hours.

Why use Twitter?
I use Twitter for the following reasons:

• Connect with my readers
• Make new friends and business connections
• Drive traffic to my site
• Seek advice and guidance

Today I just wanted to give you some basic information about Twitter. I am going to follow up tomorrow with some more details about my use. In the mean time please make sure you are following me on Twitter and order a copy of Twitter Power.

The number one challenge for any blogger is their ability to write quality articles on a consistent basis. Sure it’s easy enough to throw some words up and call that a blog post but that provides zero value and will more than likely cost you readers.

I myself have found it a struggle to make the time to blog. Not that I don’t enjoy writing or have the information to pass along but more so because of time. My old method of blog writing was to wake up, usually around 11am and think of a topic to write about for that days post. I would find myself  halfway through an article and realize I’m not giving myself enough time to write or research everything needed. The last thing I want to do is put out a garbage post. I would delete what I had so far and tell myself I will write later tonight and post it for the next day. That just does not work, at least for me.

My new plan…
Some days I feel better than others and to be honest I’m not in a mood to write every day. I have come to realize the days I’m feeling in a funk, it is better not to write. What I have decided to do from this point forward is to write several posts when I’m feeling great. This actually does a couple things, it assures top quality articles are being produced and will also save me time throughout the week. Instead of writing an hour a day I may spend four hours in a single day and write posts for the entire week. This may or may not work for everyone. My blog is more personal, it’s about my experiences trying to make money online, blogging and domaining. For others your blog may revolve around reporting the news, something I rarely do nowadays. I have no urge to report the news on a daily basis. For those of you that do though you have to report daily. When a new story breaks you have to get it online before the other guys do. Instead for myself what I have thought about doing is posting a recap of that weeks news. More than likely I’ll do it in a video blog and capture all of the headlines from the week.

In closing, if you are in the mood to write then just keep writing. Don’t limit yourself to writing one article, write multiple articles and save some for a rainy day.

Elliot Silver has been blogging since June 2007 and has not stopped since.  I really applaud him for this, it is extremely difficult to take a blog and continue writing month after month supplying new information.  I am not the only one to notice, he has been awarded blog of the year 2008 by DomainTools.com, DomainerChoiceAwards.com and if memory serves me correct he won something at TRAFFIC.

Beyond his blogging Elliot is becoming a big player in the Geo domain name scene.  He owns domains like Lowell.com and Burbank.com which are 2 of the top 250 populated US cities.  I know what Elliot paid for Lowell.com, it was no joke.  Elliot is a serious full time domainer, making waves and here to stay.

Q. I read the bio on your blogs, says you are a graduate of NYU, do you think your education has helped in anyway with your domaining business?
A. I attended grad school at NYU and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Direct and Interactive Marketing. One of the hallmarks of direct marketing is that you should test everything – creative, price point, call to action…etc. – all of which can be done by using a variety of domain names in a campaign. In grad school, I also learned about the importance of being able to calculate your return on investment for any marketing effort.  By using a call to action domain name for different campaigns, you can see where visitors learned about your product/service and track your ROI. Continue reading…