This is the first post in (what will become) a series that will outline the steps you need to take to become successful in the online world, and not just become another site that fades into internet oblivion. These tips apply to online businesses too (we’re just big fans of the whole “Become a Better Blogger” alliteration thing we’ve got going), and following these tips will help to ensure you get noticed in the online community.

Okay, so as far as boring goes, this first post is pretty much the absolute epitome of monotony, and believe us when we tell you, the most important stuff usually is. But don’t worry, we’ve tried to make our maiden post as compelling as we can, but be warned – making “blog planning” sound exciting is kind of like trying to assassinate a cockroach with a toothpick (It’s hard, in case you didn’t pick up on the analogy).

Remember your career counsellor back in high school? The one that always gave you the “you’re-wasting-my-highly-valuable-and-precious-time” look? The one that always told you that you’ll get nowhere without a career plan? Well, as much as we all hate to admit it, there’s not a lot of denying that they’re right. Planning is actually important if you want to succeed at something, and when it comes to starting a profitable website, if you don’t have a plan, you’re not going anywhere.

Without trying to sound like a motivational speaker, the advantage of a website plan means that you know where you want your website to go, and you know the goals you want your website to achieve. It doesn’t have to be elaborate (in other words, no need for a multilayered, color-coded mind map) – all you need is a list answering a few basic questions. The perfect plan should set out in your mind exactly what your site is, what the goals of your site are and how are you going to achieve those goals?

What is your site?

Probably the most important aspect to your plan – what is your site? Is it a blog, a business website, a membership site? What are you going to write about, or what are you advertising? Many online entrepreneurs mistakenly begin with a unclear view of what they want their projects to be, and most often, they’re the ones who fail. By setting out the basis of your site on a sheet of paper, it provides a clear foundation for you to build everything else upon, and acts as a framework you can return to in order to ensure your blog is fulfilling its initial purpose.

What are the goals of your site?

By starting a website or blog, what are you hoping to achieve? Are you spreading information and contributing to a specific online community? Do you want to monetize your online venture? Set goals, short term and long term, to keep you motivated, and to give your site a direction. For example:

-In the short term, I want to attract 500 visitors a month from online advertising
-In the long term, I want to be accepted into an advertising network (e.g. BuySellAds – review here), so I can monetize my website.

How will you achieve these goals?

How are you going to make your site a success? Will you drive traffic through social networking predominantly, or will you guest post on relevant websites in your area to attract visitors? What steps are you going to take to put you plan into action?

It’s easy to dismiss the idea of website planning as pointless and unnecessary, and we can’t blame you – planning is seriously dry. But the truth is that by creating a solid future plan for your website, you are already a step ahead of any other startup, because you know what needs to be done, and how it’s going to get done. Of course the website plan is by no means concrete – it will change as the goals of your website change, but in the short term a reliable plan provides you with actionable steps to help you grow your website – an absolute essential for anyone who wants to be successful online.

It used to be social network websites. Then there was the video uploading sites. And now, apparently, we are witnessing the rise of the advertising networks, of which BuySellAds, a project undertaken by Todd Garland, is one of. But is it any good?

Just Googling BuySellAds (BSA, to those already familiar) results in a couple a’ million different reviews, all of which with a different opinion on whether the latest incarnation of a tired formula is worth your time. Regrettably, in an age where one good idea leads to a thousand second-rate copies, it’s often difficult to weed out the godawful from the genuinely good. So where does BSA fit in?

BuySellAds, as the name indicates, is essentially a service for both advertisers (a.k.a. you’re advertising a product) and publishers (a.k.a. people are buying the advertising space on your website), allowing the sale and purchase of advertising space through a sophisticated, well-rounded system that takes the hassle out of advertising.

the advantages

BuySellAds separates itself from other networks first and foremost through an incredibly intuitive and simplistic user interface. It’s clear that the aim of BSA is to simplify the process of buying and selling advertisements, and it certainly succeeds in this area.

Everything about BuySellAds is just easy, from listing your website’s advertising space (publishers) to buying advertising space (advertisers). The whole process is as easy as breathing, which is a huge plus for anyone who finds the process of selling and buying ads frustrating and time consuming.

A fully-fledged analytics program as well as support services are also a click away for both advertisers and publishers, again another huge advantage. At the moment banner ads seem to be the way to go, although BuySellAds is undergoing private beta testing of pay-per-click advertisements, which will allow both advertisers and publishers a bit more freedom in the future.

For publishers, your website is listed in the BSA directory, allowing advertisers target-specific searches to help find a compatible website. A gray place holder box that’s become a somewhat recognisable icon sits in your advertising space, potential advertisers just a click away to purchasing that space in monthly subscriptions.

We found that payouts were quick and seamless, the PayPal system very efficient. Wire transfers and cheques are also available as payout and payment options if PayPal is not your thing.

the drawbacks

Too good to be true? You know the saying, and yup… it is. Well, sort of…

Let’s start with the publishers. By using BSA, you are paying for the simplicity, and you’re paying for it big time. The BSA system will take away 25% of your earnings – for those who failed second year maths, that means BSA will take 25 cents in every single dollar you earn. Compared to the major ad networks out there, or to selling advertising space privately, the cut is unusually high, and can be quite damaging for higher earning websites.

The circumstances change depending what your website focuses on, but another aspect to consider regarding BSA is the fact that it is a very niche-specific network, meaning only websites focusing on tech, web design / development or freelancing have a chance of succeeding in this system. While this will probably change in the future considering BSA is relatively new on the scene, at the moment it’s a fairly limited community of websites all focused on specific areas. In other words, if you blog about the nutritional value of capsicum, you haven’t got much of a chance.

And because no one cares about the nutritional value of capsicum, and therefore you have no visitors, you will again be rejected because BSA requires a base impressions level of at least 100K per month, although we’ve found this figure to be very flexible. BSA is not all that welcoming to websites with little traffic and no reputation – you need to have a solid foundation of steady traffic to stand a chance of being “accepted” into the BSA system.

The Verdict

Publishers
For startups and smalltime blogs and websites, BuySellAds is unsurpassed as a well-rounded easy to use advertising network, so long as you can be accepted. BSA really does remove the stress of selling advertising space like no other service can, and for small time websites BSA is the ideal solution.

For websites commanding larger amounts of traffic (and consequently a bigger income) BSA may not be the solution you are looking for, only because of the steep 25% cut, which when you are earning thousands of dollars will severely eat into your profit. BSA provide a good service, but no one likes a company THAT much to give them a quarter of our earnings…

BuySellAds takes the pain out of selling advertising space and is certainly a service that should be considered for all web startups and small time websites focused in the design and web services area. If you don’t fit into any part of that previous sentence, Google Adsense, or privately selling your advertising space may be the smarter option.

Advertisers

For ease of use there is no service quite the same. We have yet to compare click through / impression rates compared to the other major services, but as long as you are advertising a product relevant to the design, tech or web services industry, BSA really is a no-brainer for driving targeted, specific traffic to your website. Stay tuned for the site-wide release of PPC advertising.

BuySellAds

It’s often very hard to find quality, free icons, so we’ve done the searching for you and put together a list of some of the best sets of free icons the online design community has to offer.

Briefcase

Designer’s Tools Icons

Hrvoje Bielen Icon Set (13 icons)

Archigraphs Cars Icons (7 icons)

Container Icon Set (40 Icons)

Canon 400D + lens (2 icons)

Bugatti Sang Noir Icon

Gentle Romantic Icon Set (5 Icons)

Cemagraphics Dock Icon Set (17 icons)

Musicons Icon Set (8 Icons)

Massive Media Icon Set (3 Icons)

Pre Desktop Icon Set (3 Icons)

5 hand picked highly flexible premium wordpress themes in a league of their own in terms of design and usability

Shape Shifter

Beginning the list is ShapeShifter, a unique “single page” wordpress theme.  The shapeshifter theme allows content to be displayed in a minimalistic and very sophisticated way that not many other WordPress themes can boast by incorporating separate parts into one page, where the sidebar links “scroll” to a different section of the website. Sound confusing? If you can describe this theme any better please let us know – the preview image and our description really don’t do this theme justice. Available from Themeforest for $30 (deposit)

Flexolio

If you’re looking for something with a big header that’s not boring, Flexolio is probably one of the best out there. Okay, so it has a pretty bad name, but the theme itself is exceptional both in it’s design and detail. This theme incorporates the CU3ER flash header that displays a few neat tricks to wow your visitors. Beyond that, the Flexolio theme incorporates subtle visual accents that surpass the quality of most other premium WordPress themes.  Available from Themeforest for $30 (deposit)

Glow

Elegantthemes has always been one of the leaders in WordPress theme design, and Glow is perhaps one of the best themes there. Available for $19.95 (which, FYI,  allows you access to 30 additional high quality themes), Glow is a highly flexible, high quality and generally good looking theme. The accompanying ePanel allows you to make easy changes without digging into the theme files, which saves you time AND helps you’re stress levels. Available from Elegant Themes ($19.95 for one year subscription to all themes)

Marketplace Community WordPress Theme

While not as stunning as other WordPress Themes, sometimes flexibility and simplicity come before anything else, of which the Marketplace Community WordPress Theme is a great example. The layout, which is simple and intuitive is ideal for a website focused more on content visibility than visual impact. Maximus is well known for creating high quality WordPress Themes, and the level of support you will receive with this theme will be more than enough to customise it to your liking. Available from Themeforest for $25 (deposit)

Quadro

Normally we save the best until last… er, sorry about that. But while Quadro (another aptly named theme) may look dull and uninviting, upon closer inspection this theme is actually highly detailed and endlessly flexible, meaning that with a bit of love this theme could be transformed into something else. From the intuitive and simplistic layout to the pixel-perfect line work, Quadro is a great option for those looking for a foundation to build a unique custom theme. Available from Themeforest for $30 (deposit)

It’s that time of year when we get our nerd on and crown the best icon of the year. The criteria is simple – it has to look good and it has to be free for download by the general public. With a post this exciting, you’d be crazy not to click “read more”…

We are a biased group of judges – not much point trying to hide it. And since we all have a thing for cars, and Jaziel Valladares Herrera just happened to create a stunning icon of one of the world’s fastest and most beautiful automobiles, the winner of IOTY (yeah, we made it into an acronym) wasn’t a very difficult choice.

Congratulations to the wonderfully talented Jaziel, with his stunning Bugatti Sang Noir icon, available for free download over at deviantart. You win… nothing. But hey, wear the icon of the year title with pride – it will look awesome on your resume…