Stop playing ‘Carter III’ fans and just admit that this album should have been named the Carter 808. I knew this album was going to be huge since all the kids that run around with their boxer shorts outside of their pants have been bumping ‘Lollipop’ when they roll into the 7-11 parking lot (my day job). The one thing I have learned about record sales and great albums is that the inverse relationship usually applies. The ‘Carter III’ follows this formula. This record might sell 2 million units by the time the summer is over and it still won’t allow Lil’ Wayne to transcend into the pantheon of great rappers.
I pulled the album down from the Napster FREE listening service. Thank goodness too, I saved my hard drive from being wasted. This album was like listening to the future when rap music is played on lite F.M. stations and rap fans are starting to get their social security checks. There are so many R & B songs on this album including joints where Wayne sings the hooks himself. I told you several months ago that Wayne was the greatest rapper tern’t R & B sanger.
I’m disappointed that I am not sitting here eating my words about Weezy’s mediocre rhyme skillset. Wayne isn’t the worst, but he is on the southern side of average. ‘You Ain’t Got Nuthin’ which features Fabolous and Juelz Santana, fellow alums of the school of meh lyricists, is the proof that even with rappers in his generation Wayne is coming in last. ‘Playing With Fire’ was the best song on the album without question. You can hear passion and fire in Wayne’s voice. The song with Babyface in the background is embarrassingly wasted on Wayne. He claims his mom will like it and he is prA’li right. It’s the kind of drivel that only someone’s mother would love like those macaroni pictures kids in kindergarten make.
‘Dr.Carter’? A rap music lounge song? Robert Goulet would have been proud. Rap fans, not so much. I can’t even listen to that ‘Phone Home’ track, and I fucks with spaceship rap on the regulack. The thing that I laugh at on this album is Wayne’s fascination with his own mediocre lyrics as if he just said something profound or even worth repeating. Wayne reminds me of when I used to drop hits of acid and then stare at my hand for six straight hours because I was hypnotized by the pores on my skin.
My favorite line on the ‘Carter III’ is when Wayne calls himself a venereal disease. That was a pretty sick line. The only way anyone is going to top that is if they call themself HPV, or HIV. I’m not really looking forward to that moment. I was looking forward to Lil’ Wayne showing me why he is the greatest rapper alive. This is what people have been waiting years for. I hope this reminds people to continue with their lives and stop listening to rap music so much.
Friday, September 25, 2009
'Blueprint 3' tops the album chart
Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 is Whitney Houston's "I Look To You."
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" is No. 1 on the album chart for a second week, Billboard.com reported Wednesday.
Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 is Whitney Houston's "I Look To You," followed by Muse's "The Resistance" at No. 3, Kid Cudi's "Man on the Moon: The End of Day" at No. 4 and Miley Cyrus' "The Time of Our Lives" at No. 5.
Rounding out the top tier are Drake's "So Far Gone" at No. 6, Lil Boosie's "Superbad " at No. 7, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" at No. 8, Megadeth's "Endgame" at No. 9 and the Black Eyed Peas's "The E.N.D." at No. 10.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" is No. 1 on the album chart for a second week, Billboard.com reported Wednesday.
Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 is Whitney Houston's "I Look To You," followed by Muse's "The Resistance" at No. 3, Kid Cudi's "Man on the Moon: The End of Day" at No. 4 and Miley Cyrus' "The Time of Our Lives" at No. 5.
Rounding out the top tier are Drake's "So Far Gone" at No. 6, Lil Boosie's "Superbad " at No. 7, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" at No. 8, Megadeth's "Endgame" at No. 9 and the Black Eyed Peas's "The E.N.D." at No. 10.
Mya slices hand open before 'DWTS' debut
Season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars" premiered Monday night.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Singer Mya said on her Twitter page she suffered a "deep cut" on her hand shortly before she was to debut on "Dancing with the Stars" in Los Angeles.
"Went2the hospital late last night2get stitches," Mya wrote on her Twitter page Monday. "Deep cut from glass. Only caught 2hours of sleep but feel great. Must be adrenaline."
"She went to grab a glass for something to drink late last night and it just broke and shattered in her hand," a source told People.com. "She went right to the hospital and got stitches and got it taken care of. ... She feels great, she's doing fine. ... She's excited for the show and this will not affect her performance in the show."
Season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars" premiered Monday night.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Singer Mya said on her Twitter page she suffered a "deep cut" on her hand shortly before she was to debut on "Dancing with the Stars" in Los Angeles.
"Went2the hospital late last night2get stitches," Mya wrote on her Twitter page Monday. "Deep cut from glass. Only caught 2hours of sleep but feel great. Must be adrenaline."
"She went to grab a glass for something to drink late last night and it just broke and shattered in her hand," a source told People.com. "She went right to the hospital and got stitches and got it taken care of. ... She feels great, she's doing fine. ... She's excited for the show and this will not affect her performance in the show."
Season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars" premiered Monday night.
"New Moon" soundtrack revealed
"New Moon" hits movie theaters November 20, and its soundtrack is due exactly one month earlier on Chop Shop/Atlantic Records.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The soundtrack for "New Moon" -- the second movie installment of the "Twilight" vampire series -- will feature songs by the likes of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and the Killers.
The track list was posted Monday on "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer's Web site.
The album's lineup is more indie-minded than the first "Twilight" soundtrack, which featured Paramore, Collective Soul and Linkin Park. Death Cab for Cutie scored the lead single for the "New Moon" soundtrack with "Meet Me on the Equinox."
"New Moon" hits movie theaters November 20, and its soundtrack is due exactly one month earlier on Chop Shop/Atlantic Records.
The original "Twilight" soundtrack was released in November 2008, debuted on the Billboard 200 at No.1 and has sold 2.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also logged 20 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 -- the longest top 10 run for a theatrical film soundtrack since 1998, when both "Titanic" and "City of Angels" also managed 20 weeks.
Here is the official tracklist for the "New Moon" soundtrack:
Death Cab for Cutie, "Meet Me on the Equinox"
Band of Skulls, "Friends"
Thom Yorke, "Hearing Damage"
Lykke Li, "Possibility"
The Killers, "A White Demon Love Song"
Anya Marina, "Satellite Heart"
Muse, "I Belong to You (New Moon)"
Bon Iver & St. Vincent, "Roslyn"
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Done All Wrong"
Hurricane Bells, "Monsters"
Sea Wolf, "The Violet Hour"
OK Go, "Shooting the Moon"
Grizzly Bear, "Slow Life"
Editors, "No Sound but the Wind"
Alexandre Desplat, "New Moon (The Meadow)"
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The soundtrack for "New Moon" -- the second movie installment of the "Twilight" vampire series -- will feature songs by the likes of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and the Killers.
The track list was posted Monday on "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer's Web site.
The album's lineup is more indie-minded than the first "Twilight" soundtrack, which featured Paramore, Collective Soul and Linkin Park. Death Cab for Cutie scored the lead single for the "New Moon" soundtrack with "Meet Me on the Equinox."
"New Moon" hits movie theaters November 20, and its soundtrack is due exactly one month earlier on Chop Shop/Atlantic Records.
The original "Twilight" soundtrack was released in November 2008, debuted on the Billboard 200 at No.1 and has sold 2.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also logged 20 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 -- the longest top 10 run for a theatrical film soundtrack since 1998, when both "Titanic" and "City of Angels" also managed 20 weeks.
Here is the official tracklist for the "New Moon" soundtrack:
Death Cab for Cutie, "Meet Me on the Equinox"
Band of Skulls, "Friends"
Thom Yorke, "Hearing Damage"
Lykke Li, "Possibility"
The Killers, "A White Demon Love Song"
Anya Marina, "Satellite Heart"
Muse, "I Belong to You (New Moon)"
Bon Iver & St. Vincent, "Roslyn"
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Done All Wrong"
Hurricane Bells, "Monsters"
Sea Wolf, "The Violet Hour"
OK Go, "Shooting the Moon"
Grizzly Bear, "Slow Life"
Editors, "No Sound but the Wind"
Alexandre Desplat, "New Moon (The Meadow)"
Jackson movie to get mass worldwide premiere
"This Is It" opens to the general public on October 28 for a limited two-week run.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" -- based on footage from concert rehearsals before his death in June -- will have simultaneous premieres in more than 15 cities around the world next month, the studio behind the film said on Monday.
"This Is It" opens to the general public on October 28 for a limited two-week run. While Hollywood movies often have several premieres around the world, they rarely happen at the same time.
But for "This Is It," more than 15 cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, Berlin and Seoul will host simultaneously premieres with a red carpet event in Los Angeles on October 27, said Sony Pictures, which paid $60 million for rights to the rehearsal footage. Names of the other premiere-night cities were not released.
The opening events will feature satellite transmissions of Hollywood stars arriving at the premiere in Los Angeles. London's premiere will happen after midnight local time on October 28, while Seoul's event is scheduled for the morning of that day.
In all, more than 25 cities worldwide will have premieres for the movie but not all will take place at the same time.
In the days before he died of an overdose of prescription drugs on June 25, Jackson was rehearsing for a comeback with 50 sold-out shows in London.
The $60 million movie deal was made between Jackson's estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures.
Based on proceeds from the movie, business deals and album sales that have arisen since Jackson's death, administrators of his estate expect to generate more than $200 million in revenue before the end of the year.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" -- based on footage from concert rehearsals before his death in June -- will have simultaneous premieres in more than 15 cities around the world next month, the studio behind the film said on Monday.
"This Is It" opens to the general public on October 28 for a limited two-week run. While Hollywood movies often have several premieres around the world, they rarely happen at the same time.
But for "This Is It," more than 15 cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, Berlin and Seoul will host simultaneously premieres with a red carpet event in Los Angeles on October 27, said Sony Pictures, which paid $60 million for rights to the rehearsal footage. Names of the other premiere-night cities were not released.
The opening events will feature satellite transmissions of Hollywood stars arriving at the premiere in Los Angeles. London's premiere will happen after midnight local time on October 28, while Seoul's event is scheduled for the morning of that day.
In all, more than 25 cities worldwide will have premieres for the movie but not all will take place at the same time.
In the days before he died of an overdose of prescription drugs on June 25, Jackson was rehearsing for a comeback with 50 sold-out shows in London.
The $60 million movie deal was made between Jackson's estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures.
Based on proceeds from the movie, business deals and album sales that have arisen since Jackson's death, administrators of his estate expect to generate more than $200 million in revenue before the end of the year.
Chris Brown to perform at Power 105.1's Powerhouse show in NJ
The star studded lineup includes: Chris Brown, Fabolous, Keri Hilson, The-Dream, Trey Songz, Mario, Day26 and Ginuwine.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
(New York, September 23rd, 2009) � Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM), New York�s R&B, Hip Hop, & Back in the Day Joints, will host its Power 105.1�s Powerhouse concert on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, at the IZOD CENTER, East Rutherford, NJ.
The star studded lineup includes: Chris Brown, Fabolous, Keri Hilson, The-Dream, Trey Songz, Mario, Day26 and Ginuwine. The announcement was made at 6pm by Power 105.1�s DJ Clue.
Tickets will be sold exclusively to Power 105.1�s Power Playaz via Ticketmaster starting Friday, September 25th at 3pm-11pm. To register to be a Power 105.1 Power Playa and receive the special password, log on to www.powerhouse.power1051fm.com. Remaining tickets will be available through a public on-sale starting Saturday, September 26th at 10am via www.ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster Charge by Phone ONLY. Tickets will not be sold at the IZOD Center Box office until Monday, September 28th at 10am.
For up-to-minute information, listen to Power 105.1 or log on to www.power1051fm.com.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
(New York, September 23rd, 2009) � Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM), New York�s R&B, Hip Hop, & Back in the Day Joints, will host its Power 105.1�s Powerhouse concert on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, at the IZOD CENTER, East Rutherford, NJ.
The star studded lineup includes: Chris Brown, Fabolous, Keri Hilson, The-Dream, Trey Songz, Mario, Day26 and Ginuwine. The announcement was made at 6pm by Power 105.1�s DJ Clue.
Tickets will be sold exclusively to Power 105.1�s Power Playaz via Ticketmaster starting Friday, September 25th at 3pm-11pm. To register to be a Power 105.1 Power Playa and receive the special password, log on to www.powerhouse.power1051fm.com. Remaining tickets will be available through a public on-sale starting Saturday, September 26th at 10am via www.ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster Charge by Phone ONLY. Tickets will not be sold at the IZOD Center Box office until Monday, September 28th at 10am.
For up-to-minute information, listen to Power 105.1 or log on to www.power1051fm.com.
Reverend Al Sharpton Hosts WWE Monday Night Raw
This coming Monday, September 28, social figure Reverand Al Sharpton will make one of his most surprising appearances yet - on WWE's Monday Night Raw. The civil rights leader will host the 9pm live taping from Albany, New York's Times Union Center.
The appearance prefaces Sharpton's four-city tour with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who will be stopping in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Baltimore in Atlanta in an effort to reform public education.
Monday Night Raw airs at 9pm on the USA network.
The appearance prefaces Sharpton's four-city tour with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who will be stopping in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Baltimore in Atlanta in an effort to reform public education.
Monday Night Raw airs at 9pm on the USA network.
Spears's hits collection set for release
NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Jive Records says it will release "Britney Spears the Singles Collection" in November to celebrate the U.S. pop star's 10 years in the music industry.
The CD is set to go on sale in stores Nov. 24.
Her latest song, "3," which will be included on the album, is to hit the radio Tuesday.
Spears -- known for her hits "Baby One More Time," "(You Drive Me) Crazy," "Oops... I Did It Again," "Toxic" and "Womanizer" -- has already sold more than 63 million albums worldwide.
The CD is set to go on sale in stores Nov. 24.
Her latest song, "3," which will be included on the album, is to hit the radio Tuesday.
Spears -- known for her hits "Baby One More Time," "(You Drive Me) Crazy," "Oops... I Did It Again," "Toxic" and "Womanizer" -- has already sold more than 63 million albums worldwide.
Jay-Z & former partner Damon Dash sued $15 million,rap newcomer Mims hit with a $7.5 million,50 Cent going ‘Straight To The Bank’
Jay-Z and former business partner Damon Dash are being sued for $15 million (£7.5 million) by an author from Philadelphia, who claims the duo stole his book concept for their movie State Property. In the lawsuit filed earlier this month, Antonne Jones alleges the 2002 movie bears striking similarities to his own novel, The Family: A Philadelphia Mob Story, about four men who seek to gain money, power and notoriety. The writer claims he was in talks with Roc-A-Fella to hand over the rights of the book for use in a movie, but negotiations fell through because Jones wanted $450,000 (£225,000) more than Jay and Dash were willing to pay. It was only when the Beanie Sigel-starring State Property was released that Jones realised the similarities in the two plots. The film’s distributor, Lions Gate, is also named as a defendant in the legal papers. Moving on, and rap newcomer Mims has been hit with a $7.5 million (£3.75 million) discrimination lawsuit, after a New York promoter claimed he had backed out of a concert because of his misogynistic views towards women. Club promoter Marquitta Blair claims she paid $2,500 (£1,250) to the rapper’s agents for a gig at the Manhattan club, Eugene. But Mims failed to turn up for the show; an action Blair believes is down to his discriminatory views towards the fairer sex. The lawsuit states his supposed views are “a pattern of conduct involving the belittlement and degradation of females as ‘bitches and hoe’s’.” Blair goes on to quote several of Mims’ lyrics in the suit. Meanwhile, Young Jeezy was arrested outside a club in Atlanta, Georgia, early last Thursday (May 24). Jeezy, born Jay Jenkins, was allegedly involved in an incident outside Stoker’s strip club and was later arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Public Information Officer for Dekalb County Sherriff’s Office, Mikki Jones, said: “I do know that there was no physical altercation between them. This was a verbal confrontation.” Jeezy was eventually released on a $284 (£142) bond. News on 50 Cent now, and the Queens rapper is going ‘Straight To The Bank’, after receiving a reported $400 million (£200 million) payout. The drinks firm Glaceau, which produces the rapper’s vitaminwater energy drink range, has been taken over by The Coca-Cola Company for $4.1 billion (£2.05 billion), meaning 50’s 10 per cent share in Glaceau is now worth $400 million. In related news, the rapper has denied reports his new album ‘Curtis’ has been pushed back from June to September due to the poor feedback of his new songs. In contrast, the G-Unit general insists the delay in its release is to ensure fans across the world can get hold of the album at the same time, with a worldwide release set for September 4. He says, “I’m an international artist. My fans worldwide deserve to receive my album at the same time as my fans here in the US. Taking that into consideration moving the album to September was a necessary course of action.”
JERMAINE JACKSON - JACKSON BROTHERS RIFT APPARENT AT PHOTOSHOOT
JERMAINE JACKSON has fuelled speculation he has fallen out with his brothers by refusing to show up for a scheduled photoshoot in New York.
The singer was due to join siblings Tito, Marlon and Jackie for a promotional session to launch an upcoming reality TV show - but he cancelled at the last minute, due to an eye infection.
And Marlon has revealed to U.S. news show Entertainment Tonight he was more than a little frustrated: "He's got pink eye, and I told him that when I see him, he's gonna have a purple eye."
Jermaine will be photoshopped into the promotional picture.
Rumours of a family rift started last month (Aug09) as Jermaine tried to finalise a tribute to his late brother Michael in Austria. Reports suggested the family hated the idea and refused to be a part of the Vienna show.
And Tito has confirmed there were issues, stating, "We're still mourning. Some time maybe in a year, a year and a half from now, it makes a little more sense for us to do something as a unit."
The concert has since been postponed due to a lack of big names.
The singer was due to join siblings Tito, Marlon and Jackie for a promotional session to launch an upcoming reality TV show - but he cancelled at the last minute, due to an eye infection.
And Marlon has revealed to U.S. news show Entertainment Tonight he was more than a little frustrated: "He's got pink eye, and I told him that when I see him, he's gonna have a purple eye."
Jermaine will be photoshopped into the promotional picture.
Rumours of a family rift started last month (Aug09) as Jermaine tried to finalise a tribute to his late brother Michael in Austria. Reports suggested the family hated the idea and refused to be a part of the Vienna show.
And Tito has confirmed there were issues, stating, "We're still mourning. Some time maybe in a year, a year and a half from now, it makes a little more sense for us to do something as a unit."
The concert has since been postponed due to a lack of big names.
Julia Roberts Turns a Temple in India Into a Closed Set
Pretty woman? Make that goddess
And so to India, where Julia Roberts is filming the adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love, that bestselling travel memoir of airport-novel spirituality, wherein the author comes to impressively certain answers to questions that have defeated minds from Thomas Aquinas to René Descartes, much in the manner of most people who have had "done" India. Those of us confined to the world of Wash, Work, Drink can only imagine the enlightenment of it all.
Anyway, Julia is now on location near Delhi, and according to news agency reports is being protected by 350 guards, including 40 gunmen, while being driven in bulletproof cars tailed by a helicopter. (At what point does set security officially cross the line into private army? Perhaps someone with the sufficient diplomatic clout – Geri Halliwell, basically – could ask the Indian government for clarification on this.)
All has been passing off relatively without incident, until this week, when a temple was sealed off for filming on one of the nine days of Navratri, when Hindus worship the Goddess Durga. "Entry for devotees is barred," one outraged villager told the Daily Telegraph. "We were not allowed to enter and pray in the morning by security." A fellow worshipper took up the case. "I am going to barge in for the evening aarti [ritual]. Let's see who stops me."
How this daring mission unfolded remains tantalizingly unclear, but it's great to finally have a de facto ruling on that most pressing question of the age: who is the most powerful, movie goddesses or actual goddesses? Barring any thunderbolt-related tragedies in the coming days, I'm thrilled to tell you that Hollywood totally edges it.
And so to India, where Julia Roberts is filming the adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love, that bestselling travel memoir of airport-novel spirituality, wherein the author comes to impressively certain answers to questions that have defeated minds from Thomas Aquinas to René Descartes, much in the manner of most people who have had "done" India. Those of us confined to the world of Wash, Work, Drink can only imagine the enlightenment of it all.
Anyway, Julia is now on location near Delhi, and according to news agency reports is being protected by 350 guards, including 40 gunmen, while being driven in bulletproof cars tailed by a helicopter. (At what point does set security officially cross the line into private army? Perhaps someone with the sufficient diplomatic clout – Geri Halliwell, basically – could ask the Indian government for clarification on this.)
All has been passing off relatively without incident, until this week, when a temple was sealed off for filming on one of the nine days of Navratri, when Hindus worship the Goddess Durga. "Entry for devotees is barred," one outraged villager told the Daily Telegraph. "We were not allowed to enter and pray in the morning by security." A fellow worshipper took up the case. "I am going to barge in for the evening aarti [ritual]. Let's see who stops me."
How this daring mission unfolded remains tantalizingly unclear, but it's great to finally have a de facto ruling on that most pressing question of the age: who is the most powerful, movie goddesses or actual goddesses? Barring any thunderbolt-related tragedies in the coming days, I'm thrilled to tell you that Hollywood totally edges it.
Whitney Houston: Return of the Troubled Diva
With her tempestuous marriage to Bobby Brown behind her, Whitney Houston has come back stronger, with her new album topping the US charts
On the release of her first album in 1985, Whitney Houston was hailed by the New York Times as "an exceptional vocal talent". Last month, her latest album was welcomed more cautiously by the same newspaper: "She's tentatively climbing back into the pop machinery, no longer invincible but showing a diva's determination."
In the intervening 24 years, Houston has achieved the heights of extraordinary fame – according to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the fourth-biggest-selling female star of all time – and the depths of tabloid infamy.
She has spent evenings on the world's biggest stages and months in drug rehabilitation centers. She has starred in blockbuster movies and in a reality television show described by the Hollywood Reporter as "undoubtedly the most disgusting and execrable series ever to ooze its way on to television". And last week, she appeared on Oprah Winfrey's chatshow and is once again making headlines all over the world.
It is not hard to see why she remains a subject of such fascination. Her early talent was widely proclaimed, she is a genuine Hollywood star and her most celebrated songs – such as I Will Always Love You – are instantly recognizable.
And yet she has a knack for public confessions of the type more usually seen in the Big Brother diary room. Her terrible reality TV show – Being Bobby Brown – was supposed to relaunch her then husband's musical career, but became more famous for providing shocking details of his aggression towards her and the squalor, albeit opulent squalor, of the way they lived.
In 2002, she gave an interview to American TV journalist Diane Sawyer in which she denied taking crack cocaine by explaining: "I make too much money to ever smoke crack." And in 2007, when she owed a storage company £100,000, she dealt with the bill by putting hundreds of items of clothing and furniture up for public auction.
This time, Houston has spoken about how her mother forced her into rehab, by storming into her house with "these sheriffs", threatening Brown and marching her out of the door. She added that for a full seven months, while she was using drugs heavily, she wore her pyjamas and did not get dressed.
Those dark years were a long way from her clean-cut childhood. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised a Baptist, but educated at the best local school, the Roman Catholic single-sex Mount Saint Dominic Academy. Her father, John, who would later become her manager, worked initially as a truck driver and later entered local politics as an aide to the first black mayor of Newark, Kenneth Gibson. Her mother is singer Cissy Houston, her cousins include Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and her godmother was Aretha Franklin.
With this background, it might appear that Houston's parents simply decided she was going to be a star, but her father always maintained that it was not until he was blown away by her vocal range during a rendition of Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah at the age of 11 that they decided to put her on stage with her mother.
By the time she turned 21, she had signed her own deal with Arista records and shortly afterwards came her debut album, Whitney Houston, which had phenomenal success – a year after its release, it reached the top of the US charts, remaining there for 14 consecutive weeks. Houston was nominated for three Grammy awards in 1986 and won one; in the same year, she won an Emmy and seven American Music Awards. Most notable was the apparent universality of her appeal – black, white, rich, poor: everyone loved Whitney Houston (or so ran the marketing pitch).
Two years later, she released her second album, Whitney. It was another commercial success and provided four more number one hits, although critics pointed out that musically it was unadventurous. "She was technically brilliant," says music writer James Maycock. "She had extraordinary range and a very polished voice, but it was fairly boring music. She hadn't done enough living to sing like Aretha Franklin. She lacked a soulful quality."
Houston, who had been trumpeted as a great "cross-over artist" for her ability to bridge the racial divide, found herself facing criticism for becoming "too white". At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when her name was called out, she was jeered.
This had little effect on the Houston machine. In 1992, she starred opposite Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard and released I Will Always Love You from the soundtrack. As well as the apogee of her fame, the film provoked another round of criticism. Was her appeal universal or was she just too bland? Who exactly was she? "People know who I am," she retorted.
But did they? The world had met a clean-cut young star. She had been a fervent supporter of Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid campaign, had raised money conscientiously for charity and in 1989 established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, which continues to care for the sick and impoverished. In 1991, she had recorded The Star Spangled Banner to raise money for the families of American soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf.
However, all this was about to be eclipsed by a very public personal decline and her private life – until now so discreet and wholesome – was set to explode into messy infamy. In 1992, after relationships with Eddie Murphy and American football star Randall Cunningham, she married R&B singer Bobby Brown and a year later, they had a daughter, whom they named Bobbi.
In her Oprah Winfrey interview, Houston insisted that Brown was not responsible for her subsequent drug taking and continues to deny that he ever beat her, but she describes her marriage as "emotionally abusive".
Anyone who has seen an episode of Being Bobby Brown will know he treated her roughly; it is a matter of public record that during their marriage he was twice in prison – once for drink-driving offenses and once for probation violations. He was also arrested for allegedly hitting Houston and a judge ruled he could stand trial for battery, although she refused to press charges.
On Oprah, Houston also told how, as she suffered narcotic-induced paranoia, Brown painted images of enormous eyes all over her bedroom walls. The wholesome artist of such wide appeal, so cleverly engineered by a steely combination of her father and Arista records president Clive Davis, who still works with Houston and is behind this autumn's new album, crumbled. She did not produce another studio album until 1998.
The intervening years were not, however, fallow. Houston starred in two further films – Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996) – and produced a soundtrack album to accompany each. Waiting to Exhale was notably marketed more directly to a black audience than any of her previous work, but it proved a success, taking more than $80m across the world, and the soundtrack once again hit the number one spot in the charts. She was paid $10m for her role in The Preacher's Wife, in which she appeared with Denzel Washington, but at the box office it was less of a success.
When her 1998 album, My Love Is Your Love, was released, she was again honoured at the Grammy awards. In August 2001, she signed a new contract with Clive Davis and Arista worth $100m, which was the biggest deal in recording history. It remains to be seen whether that was a good investment.
"When Whitney arrives," reads an article in Jane magazine in 2000, "she was extremely unfocused, had trouble keeping her eyes open and kept singing and playing an imaginary piano." She was due to appear at the Oscars ceremony in the same year, but was sacked. And in 2002, she found herself facing a lawsuit from her father's company for money it claimed it was owed for negotiating her new deal with Arista. In a public appeal from his hospital bed, the dying John Houston told her: "Get your act together, honey."
Whitney Houston divorced Bobby Brown in April 2007, which presaged a decline in her profile, something of a blessing, it seems. Those close to her say she has been quietly rebuilding her life – and recording I Look to You, which was released in America three weeks ago, and went straight to number one.
It seems hard to believe that Houston is just 46 – no reflection on her handsome looks. Partly, this is because so much has happened, and so publicly, in her relatively short life. But it is also because she peaked early, before hip-hop had hit the mainstream and revolutionised black American music, and seems to belong to a different era.
We have, though, already seen two very different sides of Houston and her future remains unmapped. If the respectful recognition I Look to You has so far received is a sign of things to come, we may just be about to witness Whitney, Act 3.
The Houston lowdown
Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston on 9 August 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Married Bobby Brown in 1992 and divorced him in 2007. They have a daughter called Bobbi. She has sold 140 million albums and 50 million singles.
Best of times Appeared in The Bodyguard in 1992 alongside Kevin Costner and released I Will Always Love You from its soundtrack. The single was a number one success.
Worst of times In 2004, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence for Bobby Brown to stand trial on charges of battery, but she declined to press charges, and their home was later repossessed because they couldn't keep up mortgage payments.
What she says "God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?"
What others say "None of us would sound the same if Aretha Franklin had never put out a record, or Whitney Houston hadn't." – Mariah Carey
"Because of what Whitney did, there was an opening for me." – Anita Baker
On the release of her first album in 1985, Whitney Houston was hailed by the New York Times as "an exceptional vocal talent". Last month, her latest album was welcomed more cautiously by the same newspaper: "She's tentatively climbing back into the pop machinery, no longer invincible but showing a diva's determination."
In the intervening 24 years, Houston has achieved the heights of extraordinary fame – according to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the fourth-biggest-selling female star of all time – and the depths of tabloid infamy.
She has spent evenings on the world's biggest stages and months in drug rehabilitation centers. She has starred in blockbuster movies and in a reality television show described by the Hollywood Reporter as "undoubtedly the most disgusting and execrable series ever to ooze its way on to television". And last week, she appeared on Oprah Winfrey's chatshow and is once again making headlines all over the world.
It is not hard to see why she remains a subject of such fascination. Her early talent was widely proclaimed, she is a genuine Hollywood star and her most celebrated songs – such as I Will Always Love You – are instantly recognizable.
And yet she has a knack for public confessions of the type more usually seen in the Big Brother diary room. Her terrible reality TV show – Being Bobby Brown – was supposed to relaunch her then husband's musical career, but became more famous for providing shocking details of his aggression towards her and the squalor, albeit opulent squalor, of the way they lived.
In 2002, she gave an interview to American TV journalist Diane Sawyer in which she denied taking crack cocaine by explaining: "I make too much money to ever smoke crack." And in 2007, when she owed a storage company £100,000, she dealt with the bill by putting hundreds of items of clothing and furniture up for public auction.
This time, Houston has spoken about how her mother forced her into rehab, by storming into her house with "these sheriffs", threatening Brown and marching her out of the door. She added that for a full seven months, while she was using drugs heavily, she wore her pyjamas and did not get dressed.
Those dark years were a long way from her clean-cut childhood. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised a Baptist, but educated at the best local school, the Roman Catholic single-sex Mount Saint Dominic Academy. Her father, John, who would later become her manager, worked initially as a truck driver and later entered local politics as an aide to the first black mayor of Newark, Kenneth Gibson. Her mother is singer Cissy Houston, her cousins include Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and her godmother was Aretha Franklin.
With this background, it might appear that Houston's parents simply decided she was going to be a star, but her father always maintained that it was not until he was blown away by her vocal range during a rendition of Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah at the age of 11 that they decided to put her on stage with her mother.
By the time she turned 21, she had signed her own deal with Arista records and shortly afterwards came her debut album, Whitney Houston, which had phenomenal success – a year after its release, it reached the top of the US charts, remaining there for 14 consecutive weeks. Houston was nominated for three Grammy awards in 1986 and won one; in the same year, she won an Emmy and seven American Music Awards. Most notable was the apparent universality of her appeal – black, white, rich, poor: everyone loved Whitney Houston (or so ran the marketing pitch).
Two years later, she released her second album, Whitney. It was another commercial success and provided four more number one hits, although critics pointed out that musically it was unadventurous. "She was technically brilliant," says music writer James Maycock. "She had extraordinary range and a very polished voice, but it was fairly boring music. She hadn't done enough living to sing like Aretha Franklin. She lacked a soulful quality."
Houston, who had been trumpeted as a great "cross-over artist" for her ability to bridge the racial divide, found herself facing criticism for becoming "too white". At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when her name was called out, she was jeered.
This had little effect on the Houston machine. In 1992, she starred opposite Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard and released I Will Always Love You from the soundtrack. As well as the apogee of her fame, the film provoked another round of criticism. Was her appeal universal or was she just too bland? Who exactly was she? "People know who I am," she retorted.
But did they? The world had met a clean-cut young star. She had been a fervent supporter of Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid campaign, had raised money conscientiously for charity and in 1989 established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, which continues to care for the sick and impoverished. In 1991, she had recorded The Star Spangled Banner to raise money for the families of American soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf.
However, all this was about to be eclipsed by a very public personal decline and her private life – until now so discreet and wholesome – was set to explode into messy infamy. In 1992, after relationships with Eddie Murphy and American football star Randall Cunningham, she married R&B singer Bobby Brown and a year later, they had a daughter, whom they named Bobbi.
In her Oprah Winfrey interview, Houston insisted that Brown was not responsible for her subsequent drug taking and continues to deny that he ever beat her, but she describes her marriage as "emotionally abusive".
Anyone who has seen an episode of Being Bobby Brown will know he treated her roughly; it is a matter of public record that during their marriage he was twice in prison – once for drink-driving offenses and once for probation violations. He was also arrested for allegedly hitting Houston and a judge ruled he could stand trial for battery, although she refused to press charges.
On Oprah, Houston also told how, as she suffered narcotic-induced paranoia, Brown painted images of enormous eyes all over her bedroom walls. The wholesome artist of such wide appeal, so cleverly engineered by a steely combination of her father and Arista records president Clive Davis, who still works with Houston and is behind this autumn's new album, crumbled. She did not produce another studio album until 1998.
The intervening years were not, however, fallow. Houston starred in two further films – Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996) – and produced a soundtrack album to accompany each. Waiting to Exhale was notably marketed more directly to a black audience than any of her previous work, but it proved a success, taking more than $80m across the world, and the soundtrack once again hit the number one spot in the charts. She was paid $10m for her role in The Preacher's Wife, in which she appeared with Denzel Washington, but at the box office it was less of a success.
When her 1998 album, My Love Is Your Love, was released, she was again honoured at the Grammy awards. In August 2001, she signed a new contract with Clive Davis and Arista worth $100m, which was the biggest deal in recording history. It remains to be seen whether that was a good investment.
"When Whitney arrives," reads an article in Jane magazine in 2000, "she was extremely unfocused, had trouble keeping her eyes open and kept singing and playing an imaginary piano." She was due to appear at the Oscars ceremony in the same year, but was sacked. And in 2002, she found herself facing a lawsuit from her father's company for money it claimed it was owed for negotiating her new deal with Arista. In a public appeal from his hospital bed, the dying John Houston told her: "Get your act together, honey."
Whitney Houston divorced Bobby Brown in April 2007, which presaged a decline in her profile, something of a blessing, it seems. Those close to her say she has been quietly rebuilding her life – and recording I Look to You, which was released in America three weeks ago, and went straight to number one.
It seems hard to believe that Houston is just 46 – no reflection on her handsome looks. Partly, this is because so much has happened, and so publicly, in her relatively short life. But it is also because she peaked early, before hip-hop had hit the mainstream and revolutionised black American music, and seems to belong to a different era.
We have, though, already seen two very different sides of Houston and her future remains unmapped. If the respectful recognition I Look to You has so far received is a sign of things to come, we may just be about to witness Whitney, Act 3.
The Houston lowdown
Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston on 9 August 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Married Bobby Brown in 1992 and divorced him in 2007. They have a daughter called Bobbi. She has sold 140 million albums and 50 million singles.
Best of times Appeared in The Bodyguard in 1992 alongside Kevin Costner and released I Will Always Love You from its soundtrack. The single was a number one success.
Worst of times In 2004, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence for Bobby Brown to stand trial on charges of battery, but she declined to press charges, and their home was later repossessed because they couldn't keep up mortgage payments.
What she says "God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?"
What others say "None of us would sound the same if Aretha Franklin had never put out a record, or Whitney Houston hadn't." – Mariah Carey
"Because of what Whitney did, there was an opening for me." – Anita Baker
Beyonce to perform in Malaysia despite dress code
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Beyonce Knowles says she will perform in Malaysia in October, two years after cancelling a show in this Muslim-majority country after protesters threatened to disrupt the concert because of her sexy image and clothing.
The R&B superstar's upcoming show is already drawing the ire of conservatives in this country, where female performers are required to cover up from the shoulders to knees with no cleavage showing.
Knowles said on her website that she will take the stage at a stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's biggest city, on October 25. "Beyonce for the first time ever has decided to make Malaysia part of her I am World Tour," her website said.
Knowles cancelled a planned concert two years ago following protest threats by Malaysia's opposition Islamic party. At the time her talent agency said the show was called off due to a scheduling conflict.
Instead she went to Indonesia, which has less stringent rules about how performers should dress and behave.
Sabki Yusof, youth vice head of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said that they would send a protest note to the government over the concert. He said it was the government's "responsibility to protect the people of Malaysia" from what he described as immoral Western influences.
"We are not against entertainment as long as it is within the framework of our culture and our religion," Sabki said. "We are against Western sexy performances. We don't think our people need that."
He said besides the protest note, the party had no plans so far to disrupt the concert. Organisers for Beyonce's October show could not immediately be reached for comment.
Artists such as Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani have performed in Malaysia under similar protest threats by conservative Muslims, forcing the artists to don attire that revealed little skin.
In the most recent controversy, the government late last month at first barred, then reversed the order forbidding Muslims from attending a Black Eyed Peas concert because it was sponsored by a beer company. With the ban lifted Muslims can now watch the U.S. hip-hop stars at a theme park near Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25.
In family and personal matters, Muslims, who make up two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people, are governed by Islamic law, which forbids the consumption of alcohol. The laws do not apply to non-Muslims.
The R&B superstar's upcoming show is already drawing the ire of conservatives in this country, where female performers are required to cover up from the shoulders to knees with no cleavage showing.
Knowles said on her website that she will take the stage at a stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's biggest city, on October 25. "Beyonce for the first time ever has decided to make Malaysia part of her I am World Tour," her website said.
Knowles cancelled a planned concert two years ago following protest threats by Malaysia's opposition Islamic party. At the time her talent agency said the show was called off due to a scheduling conflict.
Instead she went to Indonesia, which has less stringent rules about how performers should dress and behave.
Sabki Yusof, youth vice head of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said that they would send a protest note to the government over the concert. He said it was the government's "responsibility to protect the people of Malaysia" from what he described as immoral Western influences.
"We are not against entertainment as long as it is within the framework of our culture and our religion," Sabki said. "We are against Western sexy performances. We don't think our people need that."
He said besides the protest note, the party had no plans so far to disrupt the concert. Organisers for Beyonce's October show could not immediately be reached for comment.
Artists such as Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani have performed in Malaysia under similar protest threats by conservative Muslims, forcing the artists to don attire that revealed little skin.
In the most recent controversy, the government late last month at first barred, then reversed the order forbidding Muslims from attending a Black Eyed Peas concert because it was sponsored by a beer company. With the ban lifted Muslims can now watch the U.S. hip-hop stars at a theme park near Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25.
In family and personal matters, Muslims, who make up two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people, are governed by Islamic law, which forbids the consumption of alcohol. The laws do not apply to non-Muslims.
DTP Says Ludacris/Shawnna LP Still in the Works, Despite MC’s T-Pain Connection
(September 21) a new track by T-Pain and Shawnna hit the net, with Pain introducing her as the newest member of his Nappy Boy roster.
On the track, “Dope,” which finds Pain returning to his rapping roots, Shawnna proudly starts her verse off by spitting: “It ain’t no secret that lyrically I’m the reason Nappy Boy had to put me on their team.”
When contacted by XXLMag.com to find out if she was officially signed to the label, Nappy Boy records said “no comment.”
Surprisingly the T-Pain collabo comes after news that Shawnna is working on an album with longtime associate Ludacris entitled Battle of the Sexes. XXL contacted Luda’s DTP records to see if the album is still in the works. Label rep AJ Dixon said it is still a priority at the label, but as of press time there is no release date.
Shawnna started off as a member of the female rap duo Infamous Syndicate. They released their debut Changing the Game in ‘99 on Relativity. After the label folded ‘Cris drafted her for his Disturbing tha Peace crew and Def Jam inprint, where she released solo two albums, 2004’s Worth tha Wait and 2006’s Block Music.
On the track, “Dope,” which finds Pain returning to his rapping roots, Shawnna proudly starts her verse off by spitting: “It ain’t no secret that lyrically I’m the reason Nappy Boy had to put me on their team.”
When contacted by XXLMag.com to find out if she was officially signed to the label, Nappy Boy records said “no comment.”
Surprisingly the T-Pain collabo comes after news that Shawnna is working on an album with longtime associate Ludacris entitled Battle of the Sexes. XXL contacted Luda’s DTP records to see if the album is still in the works. Label rep AJ Dixon said it is still a priority at the label, but as of press time there is no release date.
Shawnna started off as a member of the female rap duo Infamous Syndicate. They released their debut Changing the Game in ‘99 on Relativity. After the label folded ‘Cris drafted her for his Disturbing tha Peace crew and Def Jam inprint, where she released solo two albums, 2004’s Worth tha Wait and 2006’s Block Music.
Jay-Z Remains in Top Spot, Kid Cudi & Drake Make Impressive Chart Debuts
Hip-Hop dominates this week’s Billboard 200 sales chart thanks to Jay-Z and the flood of new major rap releases that hit shelves last Tuesday (September 15).
Holding down the No. 1 position for the second week in a row is the self-described Frank Sinatra of the rap game, Mr. Shawn Carter. Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 sold an additional 297,900 copies this week, bringing his two-week total to an impressive 774,000 units, according to the Nielsen SoundScan.
Coming in at no. 4 is Kanye West’s protégé Kid Cudi. The XXL Freshman alumnus failed to meet his 110-120K projections, but still managed to break 100k with his Universal/Motown debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day, officially selling 103,900 CDs in its first week. The disc received a boost in sales thanks to its $3.99 price tag at amazon.com.
Two spots down at no. 6 is Cudi’s fellow Universal label mate Drake. The Toronto-bred upstart managed to surpass expectations by racking up 73,300 in sales figures of the shortened, retail version of his critically-acclaimed, free mixtape So Far Gone.
Landing one spot down at no. 7 is Baton Rouge trap star Lil Boosie. Fans picked up 48,700 copies of the Trill Entertainment rapper’s new disc Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz in its introductory week.
The Black Eyed Peas slide down to the no. 10 slot this week. The group’s latest disc The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) tacked on an additional 40,200 units to their growing sales number, making their overall stats stand at 1,111,300 after 15 weeks.
In his sophomore week on the charts Raekwon plummets from the no. 4 position to no. 22. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II, the sequel to the Wu-Tang rapper’s 1995 classic solo debut, moved 21, 300 units this go-round. After two weeks, the Chef is sitting on 89,000 in sales.
Sitting tight at no. 31 is Eminem. The hip-hop heavyweight continues to keep registers ringing well into his 18th week on the charts. Relapse rang in 13,800 CDs in sales this week, bringing the Detroit superstar’s overall tally to 1, 438,500.
Miami vet Trick Daddy debuted at no. 34 this week. Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug, pulled in a 13,200 in sales in its first week on shelves. Fellow Floridian Pitbull landed two spots down at no. 36. The Latin rapper’s new disc Rebelution sold 13,000 units this week, bringing its three-week total to 72,100.
New releases by the New Boyz, KRS-One and Buckshot and Q-Tip failed to make it into the top 40. Skinny Jeans and a Mic by the New Boyz landed at no. 56 with 9,700 albums sold. Survival Skills the collaborative effort between KRS and Buck pushed out 8,400 discs from stores, earning the duo a seat at no. 62 and Tip’s Kamaal the Abstract came in at no. 77. The former Tribe Called Quest frontman, was able to sell 6,500 discs of an album that was originally supposed to drop in 2002.
Foundation, the new disc by M.O.P did not make it into The Billboard 200. According to the Nielsen SoundScan report the disc sold close to 2,100 copies in its debut week.
Next week look for Us, the new release by indie staple Brother Ali, to make it onto the charts.
Holding down the No. 1 position for the second week in a row is the self-described Frank Sinatra of the rap game, Mr. Shawn Carter. Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 sold an additional 297,900 copies this week, bringing his two-week total to an impressive 774,000 units, according to the Nielsen SoundScan.
Coming in at no. 4 is Kanye West’s protégé Kid Cudi. The XXL Freshman alumnus failed to meet his 110-120K projections, but still managed to break 100k with his Universal/Motown debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day, officially selling 103,900 CDs in its first week. The disc received a boost in sales thanks to its $3.99 price tag at amazon.com.
Two spots down at no. 6 is Cudi’s fellow Universal label mate Drake. The Toronto-bred upstart managed to surpass expectations by racking up 73,300 in sales figures of the shortened, retail version of his critically-acclaimed, free mixtape So Far Gone.
Landing one spot down at no. 7 is Baton Rouge trap star Lil Boosie. Fans picked up 48,700 copies of the Trill Entertainment rapper’s new disc Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz in its introductory week.
The Black Eyed Peas slide down to the no. 10 slot this week. The group’s latest disc The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) tacked on an additional 40,200 units to their growing sales number, making their overall stats stand at 1,111,300 after 15 weeks.
In his sophomore week on the charts Raekwon plummets from the no. 4 position to no. 22. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II, the sequel to the Wu-Tang rapper’s 1995 classic solo debut, moved 21, 300 units this go-round. After two weeks, the Chef is sitting on 89,000 in sales.
Sitting tight at no. 31 is Eminem. The hip-hop heavyweight continues to keep registers ringing well into his 18th week on the charts. Relapse rang in 13,800 CDs in sales this week, bringing the Detroit superstar’s overall tally to 1, 438,500.
Miami vet Trick Daddy debuted at no. 34 this week. Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug, pulled in a 13,200 in sales in its first week on shelves. Fellow Floridian Pitbull landed two spots down at no. 36. The Latin rapper’s new disc Rebelution sold 13,000 units this week, bringing its three-week total to 72,100.
New releases by the New Boyz, KRS-One and Buckshot and Q-Tip failed to make it into the top 40. Skinny Jeans and a Mic by the New Boyz landed at no. 56 with 9,700 albums sold. Survival Skills the collaborative effort between KRS and Buck pushed out 8,400 discs from stores, earning the duo a seat at no. 62 and Tip’s Kamaal the Abstract came in at no. 77. The former Tribe Called Quest frontman, was able to sell 6,500 discs of an album that was originally supposed to drop in 2002.
Foundation, the new disc by M.O.P did not make it into The Billboard 200. According to the Nielsen SoundScan report the disc sold close to 2,100 copies in its debut week.
Next week look for Us, the new release by indie staple Brother Ali, to make it onto the charts.
Lil Boosie Pleads Guilty to Drug & Weapons Rap, Sentenced to 2 Years
Baton Rouge rapper Lil Boosie entered a guilty plea earlier today (September 22) on drug and weapons charges stemming from an arrest that occurred last October.
Local Louisiana news network WAFB reports that Boosie was scheduled to go to court this coming Monday, but pleaded guilty today in an effort to avoid trial. He was sentenced to two years in jail, but depending on his behavior he may only have to spend one year behind bars.
“I’m just ready to get all of this behind me and get further along in my career,” he told the station. “I plead guilty, it was in my best interest.”
As previously reported Boosie, born Torrence Hatch, was arrested in Baton Rogue on October 22, 2008 after authorities’ smelled marijuana coming from his car. Upon searching his vehicle, they found a firearm along with a bag of marijuana.
In related news Boosie’s new CD, Superbad, hit stores last Tuesday. The disc is projected to sell anywhere from 24,000 to 50,000 copies in its first week.
Local Louisiana news network WAFB reports that Boosie was scheduled to go to court this coming Monday, but pleaded guilty today in an effort to avoid trial. He was sentenced to two years in jail, but depending on his behavior he may only have to spend one year behind bars.
“I’m just ready to get all of this behind me and get further along in my career,” he told the station. “I plead guilty, it was in my best interest.”
As previously reported Boosie, born Torrence Hatch, was arrested in Baton Rogue on October 22, 2008 after authorities’ smelled marijuana coming from his car. Upon searching his vehicle, they found a firearm along with a bag of marijuana.
In related news Boosie’s new CD, Superbad, hit stores last Tuesday. The disc is projected to sell anywhere from 24,000 to 50,000 copies in its first week.
Update: Eminem, Apple Trial Begins Today
After failing to a settle a dispute with Apple Inc. in a conference held yesterday (September 23), Eminem’s music publisher Eight Mile Style LLC will go to court against the computer giant, the Associated Press reports.
Eminem’s company claims that Apple has been illegally selling more than 90 of Em’s songs on iTunes without permission or payment. Apple maintains that they not only received permission but have paid out a substantial amount of royalties.
The problem is that Apple believes their agreement with Aftermath Records, which has control of Eminem sound recordings, is valid. However, Em’s music publisher maintains that Aftermath, whom they are suing as well, had no right to enter into agreement with Apple.
The trial began this morning (September 24) in Detroit.
Eminem’s company claims that Apple has been illegally selling more than 90 of Em’s songs on iTunes without permission or payment. Apple maintains that they not only received permission but have paid out a substantial amount of royalties.
The problem is that Apple believes their agreement with Aftermath Records, which has control of Eminem sound recordings, is valid. However, Em’s music publisher maintains that Aftermath, whom they are suing as well, had no right to enter into agreement with Apple.
The trial began this morning (September 24) in Detroit.
Eminem's Music Publisher Sues Apple & Aftermath
According to Billboard, Eminem's music publisher, Eight Mile Style is planning to sue both Apple and Aftermath Records for the unauthorized distribution of 93 of Em's songs in downloadable formats via iTunes. The case, which was filed back in 2004, will go to trial on Thursday in Detroit if a settlement is not reached by Wednesday.
Eight Mile claims that Apple illegally made over $2.5 million from Eminem iTunes downloads, a bulk of which came from the 2002 smash single "Lose Yourself," off of the "8 Mile" movie soundtrack. Not only does the publishing company demand money for the loss in royalties, they are also asking for a share in profits of Apple's iPod sales.
In addition, Eight Mile Style alleges that Aftermath collected $4 million from Eminem's music sales in partnership with Apple. Although Aftermath and Apple refute the accusations, showing court documents that suggest Aftermath owns the exclusive rights to Eminem's master compositions, the publishing company believes it actually owns the rights to Em's music.
This is not the first time Aftermath and Apple have had to go to court over licensing disputes. In 2007, Em's producers, FTB Productions also filed suit against Aftermath for licensing Em's music to Apple's iTunes.
If the trial is taken to court, Eminem may act as a witness.
Eight Mile claims that Apple illegally made over $2.5 million from Eminem iTunes downloads, a bulk of which came from the 2002 smash single "Lose Yourself," off of the "8 Mile" movie soundtrack. Not only does the publishing company demand money for the loss in royalties, they are also asking for a share in profits of Apple's iPod sales.
In addition, Eight Mile Style alleges that Aftermath collected $4 million from Eminem's music sales in partnership with Apple. Although Aftermath and Apple refute the accusations, showing court documents that suggest Aftermath owns the exclusive rights to Eminem's master compositions, the publishing company believes it actually owns the rights to Em's music.
This is not the first time Aftermath and Apple have had to go to court over licensing disputes. In 2007, Em's producers, FTB Productions also filed suit against Aftermath for licensing Em's music to Apple's iTunes.
If the trial is taken to court, Eminem may act as a witness.
Kanye West and Lady Gaga Team Up For Tour
When Kanye West announced that he and Lady Gaga would be going on tour together, it seemed to catch some folks off guard. Some wondered if Lady Gaga would be the opening act, but West recently clarified that she would not be given that title. Later, Perez Hilton reported that the two performers would be on stage together for the entire evening of each show date.
During his appearance on The View, West acknowledged Gaga as more than an opening act.
“She’s talented and so incredible that she’s not an opening act. We’re doing it together, with no opening act.”
The only time the two have been linked in the past has been through sampling. West took Gaga's recent hit "Poker Face" and flipped it for Kid Cudi's album on "I Make Her Say."
During his appearance on The View, West acknowledged Gaga as more than an opening act.
“She’s talented and so incredible that she’s not an opening act. We’re doing it together, with no opening act.”
The only time the two have been linked in the past has been through sampling. West took Gaga's recent hit "Poker Face" and flipped it for Kid Cudi's album on "I Make Her Say."
Why Do People Take Drugs?
Drugs have been part of our culture since the middle of the last century. Popularized in the 1960s by music and mass media, they invade all aspects of society.
An estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey.
You probably know someone who has been affected by drugs, directly or indirectly.
The most commonly used—and abused—drug in the US is alcohol. Alcohol-related motor accidents are the second leading cause of teen death in the United States.
The most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. According to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana.
Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. Based on a survey by the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, 45% of high school students nationwide drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot during a one-month period.
In Europe, recent studies among 15- and 16-year-olds suggest that use of marijuana varies from under 10% to over 40%, with the highest rates reported by teens in the Czech Republic (44%), followed by Ireland (39%), the UK (38%) and France (38%). In Spain and the United Kingdom, cocaine use among 15- to 16-year-olds is 4% to 6%. Cocaine use among young people has risen in Denmark, Italy, Spain, UK, Norway and France.
WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE DRUGS?
People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives.
Here are some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs:
To fit in
To escape or relax
To relieve boredom
To seem grown up
To rebel
To experiment
They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem.
Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place.
HOW DO DRUGS WORK?
Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.
A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.
This is true of any drug. Only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs.
But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.
Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.
Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.
DRUGS AFFECT THE MIND
Normally, when a person remembers something, the mind is very fast and information comes to him quickly. But drugs blur memory, causing blank spots. When a person tries to get information through this cloudy mess, he can’t do it. Drugs make a person feel slow or stupid and cause him to have failures in life. And as he has more failures and life gets harder, he wants more drugs to help him deal with the problem.
DRUGS DESTROY CREATIVITY
One lie told about drugs is that they help a person become more creative. The truth is quite different.
Someone who is sad might use drugs to get a feeling of happiness, but it does not work. Drugs can lift a person into a fake kind of cheerfulness, but when the drug wears off, he or she crashes even lower than before. And each time, the emotional plunge is lower and lower. Eventually, drugs will completely destroy all the creativity a person has.
An estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey.
You probably know someone who has been affected by drugs, directly or indirectly.
The most commonly used—and abused—drug in the US is alcohol. Alcohol-related motor accidents are the second leading cause of teen death in the United States.
The most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. According to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana.
Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. Based on a survey by the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, 45% of high school students nationwide drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot during a one-month period.
In Europe, recent studies among 15- and 16-year-olds suggest that use of marijuana varies from under 10% to over 40%, with the highest rates reported by teens in the Czech Republic (44%), followed by Ireland (39%), the UK (38%) and France (38%). In Spain and the United Kingdom, cocaine use among 15- to 16-year-olds is 4% to 6%. Cocaine use among young people has risen in Denmark, Italy, Spain, UK, Norway and France.
WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE DRUGS?
People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives.
Here are some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs:
To fit in
To escape or relax
To relieve boredom
To seem grown up
To rebel
To experiment
They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem.
Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place.
HOW DO DRUGS WORK?
Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.
A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.
This is true of any drug. Only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs.
But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.
Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.
Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.
DRUGS AFFECT THE MIND
Normally, when a person remembers something, the mind is very fast and information comes to him quickly. But drugs blur memory, causing blank spots. When a person tries to get information through this cloudy mess, he can’t do it. Drugs make a person feel slow or stupid and cause him to have failures in life. And as he has more failures and life gets harder, he wants more drugs to help him deal with the problem.
DRUGS DESTROY CREATIVITY
One lie told about drugs is that they help a person become more creative. The truth is quite different.
Someone who is sad might use drugs to get a feeling of happiness, but it does not work. Drugs can lift a person into a fake kind of cheerfulness, but when the drug wears off, he or she crashes even lower than before. And each time, the emotional plunge is lower and lower. Eventually, drugs will completely destroy all the creativity a person has.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Jay-Z Comes to Kanye’s Defense after the MTV awards
After being blasted by members of the media and fellow celebrities for interrupting Taylor Swift during her MTV VMA acceptance speech, Big Brother Jay-Z has come to Kanye West’s rescue.
During an interview with Radio 1, Jay defended his frequent producer and collaborator. “He didn’t kill anybody,” he told Jo Whiley.
According to BBC News, Hov agreed that Ye’s outburst was “inappropriate at the time” but reminded listeners that the Chi-town artist is “just a super-passionate person.” ”Of course it was rude because it was her moment but that’s the way he really felt,” he said.
“I think it was rude but the way they’re treating him… He’s on the cover of every paper,” he continued. “He didn’t kill anybody. No one got harmed.”
As previously reported Kanye has since made several public apologies, including one that was televised on The Jay Leno Show. Swift has accepted his sentiments.
During an interview with Radio 1, Jay defended his frequent producer and collaborator. “He didn’t kill anybody,” he told Jo Whiley.
According to BBC News, Hov agreed that Ye’s outburst was “inappropriate at the time” but reminded listeners that the Chi-town artist is “just a super-passionate person.” ”Of course it was rude because it was her moment but that’s the way he really felt,” he said.
“I think it was rude but the way they’re treating him… He’s on the cover of every paper,” he continued. “He didn’t kill anybody. No one got harmed.”
As previously reported Kanye has since made several public apologies, including one that was televised on The Jay Leno Show. Swift has accepted his sentiments.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Eminem & T.I.Pop, Kanye Flops at MTV VMAs
Hip-Hop showed up in full force at Sunday night’s 2009 MTV VMAs with big wins by rap heavyweights Eminen and T.I., super star performances by both veteran Jay-Z and newcomer Wale, and of course a notable outburst by the notoriously outspoken Kanye West.
Early in the show, West interrupted an acceptance speech by pop singer Taylor Swift after she won a moonman for Best Female Video. Hijacking the microphone from Swift, Ye told the crowd that Beyonce had “one of the best videos of all time,” causing angry audience members to boo the Chi-Town rapper.
Although West was nominated for several awards for his “Love Lockdown” video, he was unseen for the remainder of the night. T.I.’s Live Your Life” clip beat out the Louis Vuitton Don in the Best Male Video category and Eminem’s “We Made You” took home the trophy for Best Hip-Hop Video. Em, who also appeared in several skits with comedian Tracy Morgan throughout the show, thanked the fans for sticking with him over his five-year absence and dedicated the win to his late friend and fellow D12 partner-in-rhyme, Proof.
Throughout the night, Washington, D.C. MC Wale headed the ceremony’s house band, performing some of the year’s biggest hits as well as songs from his own highly anticipated major label debut, Attention: Deficit. The XXL Freshman alumnus also backed fellow classmate Kid Cudi as they performed the Cleveland rapper’s new single, “Make Her Say.”
Closing out the show was Brooklyn legend Jay-Z as he ran through “Empire State of Mind,” his duet with Alicia Keys from The Blueprint 3. Hov donned his signature Yankee cap as he payed homage to his New York hometown with Keys in tow singing the chorus.
For a full list of winners, visit mtv.com.
Early in the show, West interrupted an acceptance speech by pop singer Taylor Swift after she won a moonman for Best Female Video. Hijacking the microphone from Swift, Ye told the crowd that Beyonce had “one of the best videos of all time,” causing angry audience members to boo the Chi-Town rapper.
Although West was nominated for several awards for his “Love Lockdown” video, he was unseen for the remainder of the night. T.I.’s Live Your Life” clip beat out the Louis Vuitton Don in the Best Male Video category and Eminem’s “We Made You” took home the trophy for Best Hip-Hop Video. Em, who also appeared in several skits with comedian Tracy Morgan throughout the show, thanked the fans for sticking with him over his five-year absence and dedicated the win to his late friend and fellow D12 partner-in-rhyme, Proof.
Throughout the night, Washington, D.C. MC Wale headed the ceremony’s house band, performing some of the year’s biggest hits as well as songs from his own highly anticipated major label debut, Attention: Deficit. The XXL Freshman alumnus also backed fellow classmate Kid Cudi as they performed the Cleveland rapper’s new single, “Make Her Say.”
Closing out the show was Brooklyn legend Jay-Z as he ran through “Empire State of Mind,” his duet with Alicia Keys from The Blueprint 3. Hov donned his signature Yankee cap as he payed homage to his New York hometown with Keys in tow singing the chorus.
For a full list of winners, visit mtv.com.
Kanye West Leads BET Hip Hop Awards Noms
Kanye West has earned the most nominations at this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards, racking up an impressive nine nods.
Among the categories the The Louis Vuitton Don is vying for are: Best Live Performer, Lyricist of the Year, Producer of the Year, and People’s Champ (Viewer’s Choice).
Jay-Z and Lil Wayne are close behind Ye with seven nominations each and T.I. was able to garner six nods.
Toronto necomer Drake was nominated for both Rookie of the Year and Lyricist of the Year awards alonside veterans Eminem, Jay, Weezy and West. These two nominations signify the type of unbelievable year the phenom has had and comes at a time when the retail version of his widely circulated, critically-acclaimed mixtape So Far Gone is projected to reach 55-60k in sales in it’s first week.
Also during the show, veteran West Coast rapper Ice Cube, who is rumored to be working on a documentary for ESPN about the L.A. Raiders, will be honored with the “I AM HIP-HOP” Icon Award for his role in pioneering the West Coast rap movement in the late 80’s. Cube will join previous recipients of the award Russell Simmons, Grandmaster Flash and KRS-One in this honor.
The late DJ AM will be recognized during the ceremony as he has been posthumously nominated for DJ of the Year.
The show, which airs Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m., will be hosted by comedian Mike Epps.
For a full list of the nominees and categories for the 2009 BET Hip-Hop Awards visit BET.com.
Among the categories the The Louis Vuitton Don is vying for are: Best Live Performer, Lyricist of the Year, Producer of the Year, and People’s Champ (Viewer’s Choice).
Jay-Z and Lil Wayne are close behind Ye with seven nominations each and T.I. was able to garner six nods.
Toronto necomer Drake was nominated for both Rookie of the Year and Lyricist of the Year awards alonside veterans Eminem, Jay, Weezy and West. These two nominations signify the type of unbelievable year the phenom has had and comes at a time when the retail version of his widely circulated, critically-acclaimed mixtape So Far Gone is projected to reach 55-60k in sales in it’s first week.
Also during the show, veteran West Coast rapper Ice Cube, who is rumored to be working on a documentary for ESPN about the L.A. Raiders, will be honored with the “I AM HIP-HOP” Icon Award for his role in pioneering the West Coast rap movement in the late 80’s. Cube will join previous recipients of the award Russell Simmons, Grandmaster Flash and KRS-One in this honor.
The late DJ AM will be recognized during the ceremony as he has been posthumously nominated for DJ of the Year.
The show, which airs Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m., will be hosted by comedian Mike Epps.
For a full list of the nominees and categories for the 2009 BET Hip-Hop Awards visit BET.com.
Jay-Z’s First-Week Sales: Not Quite Eminem-Level, But Not Bad
Unsurprisingly, Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 debuted atop today’s Billboard 200, thanks to sales of 476,000 copies in the time that elapsed between its release last Tuesday and Sunday night. But how did Jay’s first-week numbers fare in the more rarefied arena of No. 1 debuts? I crunched a few numbers to figure out just how all of the albums that topped the charts in their first week of sales fared, and came away slightly surprised!
It wasn’t surprising that Eminem’s first-week numbers for Relapse were the best posted by a debuting album all year, but I was a bit taken aback by the fact that a little rock band called U2 beat Jay out by a slim margin:
1. Eminem, Relapse (608,000, June 6)
2. U2, No Line On The Horizon (484,000, March 14)
3. Jay-Z, The Blueprint III (476,000, Sept. 26)
4. Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King (424,000, June 20)
5. Rascal Flatts, Unstoppable (351,000, April 25)
6. Maxwell, BLACKsummer’snight (316,000, July 25)
7. Whitney Houston, I Look To You (305,000, Sept. 19)
8. Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. (304,000, June 27)
9. Daughtry, Leave This Town (269,000, Aug. 1)
10. Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted (255,000, March 28)
11. Jonas Brothers, Lines, Vines, And Trying Times (247,000, July 4)
12. Bruce Springsteen, Working On A Dream (224,000, Feb. 14)
13. Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown (215,000, May 30)
14. The Fray (179,000, Feb. 21)
15. Keith Urban, Defying Gravity (171,000, April 18)
16. Rick Ross, Deeper Than Rap (158,000, May 9)
17. George Strait, Twang (155,000, Aug. 29)
18. Now 30 (146,000, April 11)
19. Bob Dylan, Together Through Life (125,000, May 16)
20. Demi Lovato, Here We Go Again (108,000, Aug. 8)
21. Colbie Caillat, Breakthrough (106,000, Sept. 12)
22. Fabolous, Loso’s Way (99,000, Aug. 15)
23. Reba McEntire, Keep On Loving You (96,000, Sept. 5)
24. Chrisette Michele, Epiphany (83,000, May 23)
25. Sugarland, Live On the Inside (75,000, Aug. 22)
Maybe it’s just that the expectations for U2’s album were a lot higher than those for Blueprint 3—recall that last week, early estimates had Jay’s first-week sales somewhere around the 300k mark—but the reaction when the numbers finally came out was very different than the semi-triumphant reception this week’s numbers are getting, no? I guess the summer was really that bad for the biz…
Beatles, Jay-Z Dominate Album Charts [Billboard]
It wasn’t surprising that Eminem’s first-week numbers for Relapse were the best posted by a debuting album all year, but I was a bit taken aback by the fact that a little rock band called U2 beat Jay out by a slim margin:
1. Eminem, Relapse (608,000, June 6)
2. U2, No Line On The Horizon (484,000, March 14)
3. Jay-Z, The Blueprint III (476,000, Sept. 26)
4. Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King (424,000, June 20)
5. Rascal Flatts, Unstoppable (351,000, April 25)
6. Maxwell, BLACKsummer’snight (316,000, July 25)
7. Whitney Houston, I Look To You (305,000, Sept. 19)
8. Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. (304,000, June 27)
9. Daughtry, Leave This Town (269,000, Aug. 1)
10. Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted (255,000, March 28)
11. Jonas Brothers, Lines, Vines, And Trying Times (247,000, July 4)
12. Bruce Springsteen, Working On A Dream (224,000, Feb. 14)
13. Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown (215,000, May 30)
14. The Fray (179,000, Feb. 21)
15. Keith Urban, Defying Gravity (171,000, April 18)
16. Rick Ross, Deeper Than Rap (158,000, May 9)
17. George Strait, Twang (155,000, Aug. 29)
18. Now 30 (146,000, April 11)
19. Bob Dylan, Together Through Life (125,000, May 16)
20. Demi Lovato, Here We Go Again (108,000, Aug. 8)
21. Colbie Caillat, Breakthrough (106,000, Sept. 12)
22. Fabolous, Loso’s Way (99,000, Aug. 15)
23. Reba McEntire, Keep On Loving You (96,000, Sept. 5)
24. Chrisette Michele, Epiphany (83,000, May 23)
25. Sugarland, Live On the Inside (75,000, Aug. 22)
Maybe it’s just that the expectations for U2’s album were a lot higher than those for Blueprint 3—recall that last week, early estimates had Jay’s first-week sales somewhere around the 300k mark—but the reaction when the numbers finally came out was very different than the semi-triumphant reception this week’s numbers are getting, no? I guess the summer was really that bad for the biz…
Beatles, Jay-Z Dominate Album Charts [Billboard]
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
MTV Awards 2009 download links
PART 1 - http://d2b36d5b.linkbucks.com
PART 2 - http://e4bf0184.linkbucks.com
PART 3 - http://e1b12874.linkbucks.com
PART 4 - http://3167a3da.linkbucks.com
PART 5 - http://6573b00b.linkbucks.com
PART 6 - http://1e218fc5.linkbucks.com
PART 7 - http://17cd8fe1.linkbucks.com
PART 8 - http://12dc33b0.linkbucks.com
PART 2 - http://e4bf0184.linkbucks.com
PART 3 - http://e1b12874.linkbucks.com
PART 4 - http://3167a3da.linkbucks.com
PART 5 - http://6573b00b.linkbucks.com
PART 6 - http://1e218fc5.linkbucks.com
PART 7 - http://17cd8fe1.linkbucks.com
PART 8 - http://12dc33b0.linkbucks.com
Friday, September 11, 2009
Very Useful Tips if you own a blog
How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog)
Since posting my 2005 traffic figures recently, I’ve received many questions about how I was able to start this web site from scratch and build its traffic to over 700,000 visitors per month (Jan 2006 projection) in about 15 months — without spending any money on marketing or promotion. Building a high-traffic web site was my intention from the very beginning, so I don’t think this result was accidental.
My traffic-building strategy isn’t based on tricks or techniques that will go out of style. It’s mainly about providing genuine value and letting word of mouth do the rest. Sadly, this makes me something of a contrarian today, since I happen to disagree with much of what I’ve seen written about traffic-building elsewhere. I do virtually no marketing for this site at all. My visitors do it for me, not because I trick them into doing it but simply because they want to.
Here are 10 of my best suggestions for building a high traffic web site:
1. Create valuable content.
Is your content worthy of being read by millions of people? Remember that the purpose of content is to provide value to others. Do you provide genuine value, and is it the best you’re capable of providing?
When I sit down to write, I sometimes imagine myself standing on an outdoor concert stage before an audience of a million people. Then I ask myself, “What shall I say to this audience of fellow human beings?” If a million people each spend five minutes on this site, that’s nearly 10 person-years total. I do my best to make my writing worthy of this differential. I don’t always succeed, but this is the mindset that helps me create strong content.
Think about the effect you want your writing to have on people. Since I write about personal growth, I want my writing to change people for the better. I want to expand people’s thinking, to raise their consciousness, and to help them eliminate fear from their lives. If my writing doesn’t change people’s thinking, actions, or awareness, then my value isn’t being transferred well enough.
When you focus on providing real value instead of churning out disposable content, your readers will notice. And they’ll refer others to your site — in droves. I typically see at least 10 new links to my site appearing each day (mostly via trackbacks but also via vanity feeds). I’m not going out and requesting those links — other bloggers just provide them, usually because they’re commenting on something I’ve written. Many fellow bloggers have also honored StevePavlina.com with a general recommendation for the entire site, not just links to my individual blog posts. It’s wonderful to see that kind of feedback.
Strong content is universally valued. It’s hard work to create it, but in the long run it generates lots of long-term referral traffic. I’d rather write one article I’m really proud of than 25 smaller posts. It’s been my experience that the best articles I write will outperform all the forgettable little posts I’ve made. Quality is more important than quantity. Quantity without quality, however, is easier, which is one reason so many people use that strategy. Ultimately, however, the Internet already contains more quantity than any one of us can absorb in our lifetimes, but there will always be a place for good quality content that stands out from the crowd.
If you have nothing of genuine value to offer to a large audience, then you have no need of a high-traffic web site. And if there’s no need for it, you probably won’t get it. Each time you write, focus on creating the best content you can. You’ll get better as you go along, but always do your best. I’ve written some 2000–word articles and then deleted them without posting them because I didn’t feel they were good enough.
2. Create original content.
Virtually everything on this site is my own original content. I rarely post blog entries that merely link to what others are writing. It takes more effort to produce original content, but it’s my preferred long-term strategy. I have no interest in creating a personal development portal to other sites. I want this site to be a final destination, not a middleman.
Consequently, when people arrive here, they often stick around for a while. Chances are good that if you like one of my articles, you may enjoy others. This site now has hundreds of them to choose from. You can visit the articles section to read my (longer) feature articles or the blog archives to see an easy-to-navigate list of all my blog entries since the site launched.
Yes, there’s a lot to read on this site, more than most people can read in a day, but there’s also a lot of value (see rule #1). Some people have told me they’ve read for many hours straight, and they leave as different people. I think anyone who reads this site for several hours straight is going to experience a shift in awareness. When you read a lot of dense, original content from a single person, it’s going to have an impact on you. And this content is written with the intention to help you grow.
Although I’m not big on competing with others, it’s hard to compete with an original content site. Anyone can start their own personal development web site, but the flavor of this site is unique simply because no one else has had the exact same experiences as me.
While I think sites that mainly post content from others have the potential to build traffic faster in the beginning, I think original content sites have an easier time keeping their traffic, which makes for a more solid, long-term foundation. Not everyone is going to like my work, but for those that do, there’s no substitute.
3. Create timeless content.
While I do occasionally write about time-bound events, the majority of my content is intended to be timeless. I’m aware that anything I write today may still be read by people even after I’m dead. People still quote Aristotle today because his ideas have timeless value, even though he’s been dead for about 2300 years. I think about how my work might influence future generations in addition to my own. What advice shall I pass on to my great grandchildren?
I tend to ignore fads and current events in my writing. Wars, natural disasters, and corrupt politicians have been with us for thousands of years. There are plenty of others who are compelled to write about those things, so I’ll leave that coverage to them.
Will the content you’re creating today still be providing real value in the year 2010? 2100? 4000?
Writing for future generations helps me cut through the fluff and stay focused on the core of my message, which is to help people grow. As long as there are people (even if our bodies are no longer strictly biological), there will be the opportunity for growth, so there’s a chance that at least some of what I’m creating today will still have relevance. And if I can write something that will be relevant to future generations, then it will certainly be relevant and meaningful today.
In terms of traffic building, timeless content connects with people at a deeper level than time-bound content. The latter is meant to be forgotten, while the former is meant to be remembered. We forget yesterday’s news, but we remember those things that have meaning to us. So I strive to write about meanings instead of happenings.
Even though we’re conditioned to believe that news and current events are important, in the grand scheme of things, most of what’s covered by the media is trivial and irrelevant. Very little of today’s news will even be remembered next week, let alone a hundred years from now. Certainly some events are important, but at least 99% of what the media covers is irrelevant fluff when viewed against the backdrop of human history.
Ignore the fluff, and focus on building something with the potential to endure. Write for your children and grandchildren.
4. Write for human beings first, computers second.
A lot has been written about the optimal strategies for strong search engine rankings in terms of posting frequency and post length. But I largely ignore that advice because I write for human beings, not computers.
I write when I have something meaningful to say, and I write as much as it takes to say it. On average I post about five times per week, but I have no set quota. I also write much longer entries than most bloggers. No one has ever accused me of being too brief. My typical blog entry is about 1500–2000 words, and some (like this one) are much longer. Many successful bloggers would recommend I write shorter entries (250–750 words) and post more frequently (20x per week), since that creates more search engine seeds for the same amount of writing. And while I agree with them that such a strategy would generate more search engine traffic, I’m not going to take their advice. To do so would interfere too much with my strategy of delivering genuine value and creating timeless content. I have no interest in cranking out small chunks of disposable content just to please a computer. Anyone can print out an article to read later if they don’t have time to read it now and if the subject is of genuine interest to them. Part of the reason I write longer articles is that even though fewer people will take the time to read them, for those that do the articles are usually much more impactful.
Because of these decisions, my search engine traffic is fairly low compared to other bloggers. Google is my #1 referrer, but it accounts for less than 1.5% of my total traffic. My traffic is extremely decentralized. The vast majority of it comes from links on thousands of other web sites and from direct requests. Ultimately, my traffic grows because people tell other people about this site, either online or offline. I’ve also done very well with social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg.com, and reddit.com because they’re based on personal recommendations. I’ve probably had about a dozen articles hit the del.icio.us popular list within the past year, definitely more than my fair share.
I prefer this traffic-building strategy because it leaves me less vulnerable to shifts in technology. I figure that Google ultimately wants to make it easy for its visitors to find valuable content, so my current strategy should be in alignment with Google’s long-term strategy. My feeling is that Google would be well-served by sending more of its traffic here. But that alignment simply arises from my focus on providing value first and foremost.
5. Know why you want a high-traffic site.
I write because my purpose in life is to help people become more conscious and aware — to grow as human beings. I don’t have a separate job or career other than this. Because my work is driven by this purpose, I have a compelling reason to build a high-traffic web site, one that aligns with my deepest personal values. More web traffic means I can have a bigger impact by reaching more people. And over the course of the next few decades, this influence has the potential to create a positive change that might alter the future direction of human civilization. Most significantly, I want to help humanity move past fear and for us to stop relating to each other through the mechanisms of fear. If I fail, I fail. But I’m not giving up no matter how tough it gets.
Those are big stakes, and it might sound like I’m exaggerating, but this is the level at which I think about my work today. Everything else I do, including building a high traffic web site, is simply a means to that end. Today I’m just planting seeds, and most of them haven’t even sprouted yet. A high traffic web site is just one of the sprouts that came about as a result of pursuing the purpose that drives me. But it is not an end in itself.
What will you do if you succeed in building a high-traffic web site? If you someday find yourself in the privileged position of being able to influence millions of people, what will you say to them? Will you honor and respect this position by using it as a channel to serve the highest good of all, or will you throw that opportunity away to pursue your own fleeting fame and fortune while feeding your audience disposable drivel?
Although I launched this web site in October 2004, I’ve been writing articles since 1999, and feedback has allowed me to understand how small slices of my writing have affected certain people in the long run. After reading something I’ve written, people have quit their jobs, started their own businesses, changed religions, and ended relationships. While some people might find this level of impact ego-gratifying, for me it intensifies my feeling of personal responsibility for my writing. I’ve seen that I’m able to have an impact on people, so I damned well better make it a good one.
This “why” is what drives me. It’s what compels me to go to my computer and write something at 3am and not stop until 10am. I get inspired often. The #1 reason I want more traffic is that it will allow me to help more people. That’s where I direct my ambition for this site, and consequently I’m extremely motivated, which certainly plays a key role in taking action.
6. Let your audience see the real you.
My life and my writing are intricately intertwined, such that it’s impossible to separate the two. When someone reads this web site, they’ll eventually come to know a great deal about me as a person. Usually this creates a skewed and inaccurate impression of who I am today because I change a lot over time — I’m not the same person I was last year — but it’s close enough. Getting to know me makes it easier for people to understand the context of what I write, which means that more value can be transferred in less time.
I’ve told many personal stories on this site, including my most painful and difficult experiences. I don’t do this to be gratuitous but rather because those stories help make a point — that no matter where you find yourself today, you always have the opportunity to grow in some small way, and no matter how small those changes are, they’re going to add up over time to create massive lifelong growth. That’s a lesson we all need to remember.
When I find ways to turn some of my darkest experiences into lessons that might help others in similar situations, it actually transforms those painful memories into joyful ones. They take on new meaning for me, and I can see that there was a positive reason I had to endure such experiences, one that ultimately serves the highest good of all. Oddly, I now find that it was my darkest times that help create the most light for others.
With respect to privacy, I don’t really care much for it. I do respect other people’s right to privacy, so when people tell me personal stories via email, I don’t turn around and re-post them to my blog. But I’m OK with being rather un-private myself. The need for privacy comes from the desire to protect the ego, which is a fear-driven desire, and fear is something I just don’t need in my life. My attitude is that it’s perfectly OK to fail or to be rejected publicly. Trying to appear perfect is nothing but a house of cards that will eventually collapse.
I think allowing people to know the real me makes it possible to build a relationship with my audience that’s based on intimacy and friendship. I dislike seeing people putting me on too much of a pedestal and using labels like “guru” or “overachiever.” Such labels create distance which makes communication harder. They emphasize our differences instead of our similarities. Communication between equals — between friends — is more effective.
More genuine communication means better connections with your audience, which means more repeat traffic and more referral traffic. This isn’t a manipulative game though, and excessive or overly dramatic self-disclosure for the purpose of linkbaiting will only backfire. Your reasons for storytelling must be to benefit your audience. The traffic benefits are a positive side effect.
7. Write what is true for you, and learn to live with the consequences.
If the stuff I’ve written on this site means I’ll never be able to run for a political office, I can live with that. I’m willing to write what is true for me, even if it goes against my social conditioning. Being honest is more important to me than being popular. But the irony is that because bold honesty is so rare among civilized humans, in the long run this may be the best traffic-building strategy of all.
People often warn me not to write things that might alienate a portion of my visitors. But somehow I keep doing the opposite and seeing traffic go up, not down. I don’t treat any subjects as taboo or sacred if they’re relevant to personal growth, and that includes diet and religion. It’s no secret that I’m a vegan ex-Catholic. Do I alienate people when I say that torturing and killing defenseless animals for food is wrong? Perhaps. But truth is truth. I happen to think it’s a bad idea to feed cows cement dust and bovine growth hormone, to pack live chickens into warehouses where the ammonia from their feces is strong enough to burn their skin off, and to feed 70% of our grain to livestock while tens of thousands of people die of hunger each day. I also think it’s a bad idea to pay people to perform these actions on my behalf. It really doesn’t matter to me that 999 people out of 1000 disagree with me. Your disagreement with me doesn’t change what went into producing your burger. It’s still a diseased, tortured, chemical-injected cow, one that was doomed to a very sad life because of a decision you made. And you’re still responsible for your role in that cow’s suffering whether you like it or not.
That last paragraph is a good example of the kind of stuff I write that makes people want to put me in a cage, inject me with hormones, and feed me cement dust. It wouldn’t surprise me terribly if that ends up being my fate.
I write what is true for me, regardless of public opinion. Sometimes I’m in the majority; sometimes I’m not. I’m fully aware that some of my opinions are unpopular, and I’m absolutely fine with that. What I’m not fine with is putting truth to a vote.
I take the time to form my own opinions instead of simply regurgitating what I was taught as a child. And I’m also well aware that there are people spending billions of dollars to make you think that a burger is not a very sad, diseased, tortured, chemical-injected cow. But I’m going to keep writing to help you remain aware of things like that, even though you may hate me for it. That defensiveness eventually leads to doubt, which leads to change and growth, so it’s perfectly fine. I’m good at dealing with defensiveness.
I don’t worry too much about hurting people’s feelings. Hurt feelings are a step in the right direction for many people. If I’m able to offend you so easily, to me that means you already recognize some truth in what I’ve written, but you aren’t ready to face it consciously yet. If you read something from me that provokes an emotional reaction, then a seed has already been planted. In other words, it’s already too late for you.
My goal isn’t to convince anyone of anything in particular. I’m not an animal rights activist, and I don’t have a religion to promote. My goal is to awaken people to living more consciously. This requires raising people’s awareness across all facets of their lives, so they can make the big decisions for themselves. It requires breaking social conditioning and replacing it with conscious awareness and intention. That’s a big job, but someone has to do it. And if I don’t do it, then I have to admit I’m just part of the problem like all the other hibernating bears.
A lot has been written about the importance of transparency in blogging, and truth is the best transparency of all. Truth creates trust, and trust builds traffic. No games, no gimmicks… just plain old brutal honesty. Even the people that say they hate you will still come back, and eventually those people will become your most ardent supporters. Even if they don’t agree with you, they’ll learn they can trust you and that your intentions are honorable, and trust is more important than agreement.
8. Treat your visitors like real human beings.
Even though I’m sitting at my computer writing this, seemingly alone, I know you’re a real human being reading it on the other end. My apologies to sentient androids who may be reading this years after it’s been written. You aren’t just a number in my web stats. Despite the technology involved and the time-space differential between my writing and your reading, there’s still a human-to-human connection between us that transcends time and space. And that connection matters to me. I feel its presence whenever I do my best writing.
While I imagine being on a stage in front of a million people when deciding which topic to write about, once I actually get going, I imagine having a one-on-one conversation with a friend. This means revealing some of myself and being honest, as the last two points already addressed, but it also means genuinely caring about you as a person. And that’s perhaps one of the best kept secrets of my success as a blogger. I actually care about helping you grow. I want you to become more conscious and aware. I want you to experience less fear in your life. And my concern for your well-being isn’t conditional upon you liking me.
I happen to think we have a lot more similarities than differences. Based on what I know about myself, I imagine you’d like your life to be better tomorrow than it was yesterday. I imagine you’d like to be happier, more fulfilled, and more at peace with yourself. I also imagine you’re living below your potential and could use some help overcoming fear and solving certain problems to enable you to tap more of that potential. And finally, I imagine you wouldn’t believe me if I said you can have it all for only $19.95 (as well you shouldn’t).
The reason I work so hard to create original content and then give it away for free is because I want to help as many people as possible. I genuinely care what happens to this beautiful planet and to the people who live here. It’s possible I actually value your life even more than you do. This is the kind of motivation that never wanes. I sometimes lose sight of it when I get caught up in the details, but the connection is always there, waiting for me to tap into it whenever I want. This provides me with a wellspring of creative ideas and an inexhaustible passion for contribution.
I don’t need to play stupid marketing and sales games with you. There’s nothing for you to buy here. Even if I add some products in the future, I’m not going to try to manipulate you into buying something you don’t need with a slew of false promises. I might make more money in the short-term by doing that, but it would sever our genuine connection, create a wall between us, and reduce the level of impact I’m able to have. Ultimately, that approach would lead to failure for me, at least in terms of how I define success. I can’t help you grow if I violate your trust.
I cannot force anyone to grow who doesn’t want to. But there are a lot of people on this planet who are now ready to let go of low-awareness living and start pushing themselves to the next level of human existence. And they need help to get there because it’s a difficult journey, and there are strong forces working against it.
Real human beings helping real human beings is ultimately what traffic growth is all about. That’s precisely what a link or a referral is. If you align yourself with the intention of genuinely helping people because you care, you’ll soon find yourself with an abundance of traffic.
9. Keep money in its proper place.
Money is important. Obviously I have bills to pay. Money pays for my computer, my high-speed internet connection, my house, and my food. I just returned yesterday from a vacation that money paid for. My wife and I had a great time partly because we didn’t have to worry about money at all on the trip. We did everything we wanted to do without being hampered by a lack of funds. And this web site paid for it.
It’s important that I generate some money from my work, but it’s not necessary that I extract every possible dollar. In fact, relative to its traffic levels, I’m seriously under-monetizing this site. But money is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Making a positive contribution to the world is a lot more important to me than money. Money can be useful in achieving this objective, but human relationships are far more important. The funny thing is that the less I rely on money, the more of it I seem to have.
I’m already making more money than I need to pay my bills, and my income from this site keeps going up each month. If I simply keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll probably end up becoming fairly wealthy. But money is an extremely weak motivator for me. Very little of what I do today has a profit motive behind it except to the extent that money will fuel more important goals. That tends to confuse certain people because some of my decisions align with earning money, but many don’t. While I do consider myself an entrepreneur (at least it’s less isolating than “guru”), I only see money as a tool for enhancing and expanding my contribution.
While many entrepreneurs pursue money for the purpose of becoming wealthy, I chose a different route. I sought to earn money for the purpose of increasing my freedom. I don’t want to get myself stuck in a pattern of working for money, so I’m constantly turning down opportunities to make money that would restrict my freedom. For example, I don’t do any consulting or coaching. Consequently, my calendar contains very few fixed appointments. This doesn’t mean I’m idle. It just means I spend my time doing what I freely choose to do instead of what others would have me do. I require this level of flexibility to do my best work.
By paying close attention to how I earn money and not just how much I earn, I keep money in its proper place. This allows me to stay focused on my purpose without getting wrapped up in less important concerns like building a brand, closing sales, or doing phony marketing.
I dislike it when other people use one-dimensional sales and marketing tactics on me, so I avoid using these techniques on this site. I’ve sort of unplugged myself from the current capitalistic system and set up a side system of my own that I find much more congruent with conscious living. I would love for other people to have the same level of freedom I enjoy each day. I’m sure I’ll continue to improve my approach over time, but it’s working wonderfully so far. Imagine having a business with no products, no inventory, no sales, and no customers, but still generating an abundant positive cashflow.
Since the income generation is largely on autopilot, I can focus my time and energy on creating content instead of on doing marketing or trying to sell something. And being able to devote so much time to content creation without worrying how I’ll pay my bills makes it a lot easier to build high traffic.
Some business models make it very challenging to build traffic. You have to spend a lot of time and energy just on lead generation, and then maybe you try to monetize those leads by selling a product or service. It’s always an uphill struggle.
I give all my best content away for free. Word of mouth does the rest. So my traffic building strategy is more like flowing downstream. It hasn’t been a struggle for me at all. And once you have sufficient traffic, it isn’t that hard to monetize it without becoming an ogre.
We’ve all heard the expression, “Build a better mousetrap, and they’ll come.” And we’ve also heard marketing and sales people say that this is just plain wrong — you have to market and sell that mousetrap effectively too. I say they’re all wrong. My approach is the equivalent of, “Build a better mousetrap and give it away for free, and they’ll come — and they’ll bring friends too.”
10. If you forget the first nine suggestions, just focus on genuinely helping people, and the rest will take care of itself.
One thing that turns me off about typical self-help marketing is that authors and speakers often position themselves as if they’re the opposite of their audience. I’m successful and you’re not. I’m rich and you’re not. I’m fit and you’re not. You need me because something is lacking in your life, I have exactly what you lack, and if you pay me (and make me even richer and you poorer), I’ll show you how you can have it too. And if it doesn’t work for you, it just means you’re even more of an idiot than the people who provided my testimonials.
I’m sure you’ve heard this sort of nonsense many times before.
All of this I’ve-arrived-and-you-haven’t stuff is stupid. It suggests that life is about destinations and that once you’ve arrived, you’re done growing and can just relax and sip fruity drinks for the rest of your life. But there’s more to life than border crossings. If you go from single to married or from non-millionaire to millionaire, that’s fine and dandy. Crossing the border into parenthood was a big one for me. But that’s only one day of my life, and to be honest, I didn’t have much control over it except for a decision made nine-months earlier (and it seemed like a pretty attractive idea at the time). What about all those other days though?
Growing as a human being is something I work on daily. I’m deeply passionate about my own growth, so naturally I want to share this part of the journey with others. If I start marketing myself with the “I’m successful and you’re not approach,” I hope someone will come put me out of my misery, since that would mean I’m done growing and ready to die. I don’t expect to ever be done growing as long as I exist as a human being. There are always new distinctions to be made and new experiences to enjoy. And yes… plenty of mistakes to be made as well.
One of the great benefits of focusing on helping others is that it gets fear out of the way. Without fear you become free to just be yourself. You’re able to take intelligent risks and remain detached from any specific outcome because the journey is more important to you than the specific stops along the way. Personally it’s not the destinations that excite me but rather the unfolding process of discovery. I love the anticipation of wondering what lies around each new bend.
If we are to help each other, we need to be partners in the pursuit of growth, not opponents. So it makes no sense to put up fake walls between us. The ego needs walls to protect it, but if we can get past the fear-based needs of the ego, we’ll make a lot more progress.
There are plenty of things I could do with this site that would make me more money or grow traffic faster in the short-term, but I won’t do them because they’ll just put more distance between us. I’ll be on my side, you’ll be on your side, and we’ll each be slightly afraid of the other. I’ll be worried that maybe you won’t buy what I’m selling, and you’ll be worried about getting ripped off or taken advantage of. We’ll just be drinking yet another round of fear, which is exactly the opposite of what we need to grow.
One of my biggest challenges in life right now is figuring out how to help enough people switch their primary polarization from fear to love. Our emotions are an energy source for us (they drive our actions), and most of the world is still driven by fear energy. Watching TV news is a good example; we can actually feel energized by watching others suffer. Hurting animals is another example; we eat their fear for breakfast. But there’s another fuel for human consciousness, and perhaps the best way to describe it is unconditional love. This isn’t the squishy emotion of romantic love — it’s a sense of connection to everything that exists and a desire to serve the highest good of all. Unconditional love, when it becomes one’s primary fuel, cultivates fearlessness. In this state you still have the biological fight-or-flight response, but you aren’t driven by emotional worries like fear of failure or fear of rejection. You feel perfectly safe regardless of external circumstances. And when you have this feeling of unconditional safety, you’re truly free to be yourself, to embrace new experiences, and to grow at a very fast pace.
Personal growth is not a zero-sum game. If you grow as a human being, it doesn’t harm me. In fact, ultimately if all of us grow as individuals, it’s going to make this whole planet better for everyone. When enough people switch their primary polarization from fear to unconditional love, this planet will become a true paradise. That’s a good thing for all of us, one that’s more important than all the money in the world.
Perhaps you have a less ambitious goal for building web traffic than raising human consciousness and working towards world peace. That doesn’t matter. You can still make helping others your primary focus, and if you do that, you’ll find it relatively easy to build a high-traffic web site. If you align yourself with serving the highest good of all, you’ll receive plenty of help along the way, and best of all, you’ll deserve it.
Do your best to help your visitors out of genuine concern for their well-being, and they’ll help you build your traffic and even generate a nice income from it. It’s as simple as that.
Final thoughts
Building a high-traffic website can be very challenging if you’ve never done it before. These tips really only scratch the surface of what you need to know to succeed. Since writing this article, I found an alternative suggestion for those who find it difficult to build substantial traffic and income online. Please check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.
Since posting my 2005 traffic figures recently, I’ve received many questions about how I was able to start this web site from scratch and build its traffic to over 700,000 visitors per month (Jan 2006 projection) in about 15 months — without spending any money on marketing or promotion. Building a high-traffic web site was my intention from the very beginning, so I don’t think this result was accidental.
My traffic-building strategy isn’t based on tricks or techniques that will go out of style. It’s mainly about providing genuine value and letting word of mouth do the rest. Sadly, this makes me something of a contrarian today, since I happen to disagree with much of what I’ve seen written about traffic-building elsewhere. I do virtually no marketing for this site at all. My visitors do it for me, not because I trick them into doing it but simply because they want to.
Here are 10 of my best suggestions for building a high traffic web site:
1. Create valuable content.
Is your content worthy of being read by millions of people? Remember that the purpose of content is to provide value to others. Do you provide genuine value, and is it the best you’re capable of providing?
When I sit down to write, I sometimes imagine myself standing on an outdoor concert stage before an audience of a million people. Then I ask myself, “What shall I say to this audience of fellow human beings?” If a million people each spend five minutes on this site, that’s nearly 10 person-years total. I do my best to make my writing worthy of this differential. I don’t always succeed, but this is the mindset that helps me create strong content.
Think about the effect you want your writing to have on people. Since I write about personal growth, I want my writing to change people for the better. I want to expand people’s thinking, to raise their consciousness, and to help them eliminate fear from their lives. If my writing doesn’t change people’s thinking, actions, or awareness, then my value isn’t being transferred well enough.
When you focus on providing real value instead of churning out disposable content, your readers will notice. And they’ll refer others to your site — in droves. I typically see at least 10 new links to my site appearing each day (mostly via trackbacks but also via vanity feeds). I’m not going out and requesting those links — other bloggers just provide them, usually because they’re commenting on something I’ve written. Many fellow bloggers have also honored StevePavlina.com with a general recommendation for the entire site, not just links to my individual blog posts. It’s wonderful to see that kind of feedback.
Strong content is universally valued. It’s hard work to create it, but in the long run it generates lots of long-term referral traffic. I’d rather write one article I’m really proud of than 25 smaller posts. It’s been my experience that the best articles I write will outperform all the forgettable little posts I’ve made. Quality is more important than quantity. Quantity without quality, however, is easier, which is one reason so many people use that strategy. Ultimately, however, the Internet already contains more quantity than any one of us can absorb in our lifetimes, but there will always be a place for good quality content that stands out from the crowd.
If you have nothing of genuine value to offer to a large audience, then you have no need of a high-traffic web site. And if there’s no need for it, you probably won’t get it. Each time you write, focus on creating the best content you can. You’ll get better as you go along, but always do your best. I’ve written some 2000–word articles and then deleted them without posting them because I didn’t feel they were good enough.
2. Create original content.
Virtually everything on this site is my own original content. I rarely post blog entries that merely link to what others are writing. It takes more effort to produce original content, but it’s my preferred long-term strategy. I have no interest in creating a personal development portal to other sites. I want this site to be a final destination, not a middleman.
Consequently, when people arrive here, they often stick around for a while. Chances are good that if you like one of my articles, you may enjoy others. This site now has hundreds of them to choose from. You can visit the articles section to read my (longer) feature articles or the blog archives to see an easy-to-navigate list of all my blog entries since the site launched.
Yes, there’s a lot to read on this site, more than most people can read in a day, but there’s also a lot of value (see rule #1). Some people have told me they’ve read for many hours straight, and they leave as different people. I think anyone who reads this site for several hours straight is going to experience a shift in awareness. When you read a lot of dense, original content from a single person, it’s going to have an impact on you. And this content is written with the intention to help you grow.
Although I’m not big on competing with others, it’s hard to compete with an original content site. Anyone can start their own personal development web site, but the flavor of this site is unique simply because no one else has had the exact same experiences as me.
While I think sites that mainly post content from others have the potential to build traffic faster in the beginning, I think original content sites have an easier time keeping their traffic, which makes for a more solid, long-term foundation. Not everyone is going to like my work, but for those that do, there’s no substitute.
3. Create timeless content.
While I do occasionally write about time-bound events, the majority of my content is intended to be timeless. I’m aware that anything I write today may still be read by people even after I’m dead. People still quote Aristotle today because his ideas have timeless value, even though he’s been dead for about 2300 years. I think about how my work might influence future generations in addition to my own. What advice shall I pass on to my great grandchildren?
I tend to ignore fads and current events in my writing. Wars, natural disasters, and corrupt politicians have been with us for thousands of years. There are plenty of others who are compelled to write about those things, so I’ll leave that coverage to them.
Will the content you’re creating today still be providing real value in the year 2010? 2100? 4000?
Writing for future generations helps me cut through the fluff and stay focused on the core of my message, which is to help people grow. As long as there are people (even if our bodies are no longer strictly biological), there will be the opportunity for growth, so there’s a chance that at least some of what I’m creating today will still have relevance. And if I can write something that will be relevant to future generations, then it will certainly be relevant and meaningful today.
In terms of traffic building, timeless content connects with people at a deeper level than time-bound content. The latter is meant to be forgotten, while the former is meant to be remembered. We forget yesterday’s news, but we remember those things that have meaning to us. So I strive to write about meanings instead of happenings.
Even though we’re conditioned to believe that news and current events are important, in the grand scheme of things, most of what’s covered by the media is trivial and irrelevant. Very little of today’s news will even be remembered next week, let alone a hundred years from now. Certainly some events are important, but at least 99% of what the media covers is irrelevant fluff when viewed against the backdrop of human history.
Ignore the fluff, and focus on building something with the potential to endure. Write for your children and grandchildren.
4. Write for human beings first, computers second.
A lot has been written about the optimal strategies for strong search engine rankings in terms of posting frequency and post length. But I largely ignore that advice because I write for human beings, not computers.
I write when I have something meaningful to say, and I write as much as it takes to say it. On average I post about five times per week, but I have no set quota. I also write much longer entries than most bloggers. No one has ever accused me of being too brief. My typical blog entry is about 1500–2000 words, and some (like this one) are much longer. Many successful bloggers would recommend I write shorter entries (250–750 words) and post more frequently (20x per week), since that creates more search engine seeds for the same amount of writing. And while I agree with them that such a strategy would generate more search engine traffic, I’m not going to take their advice. To do so would interfere too much with my strategy of delivering genuine value and creating timeless content. I have no interest in cranking out small chunks of disposable content just to please a computer. Anyone can print out an article to read later if they don’t have time to read it now and if the subject is of genuine interest to them. Part of the reason I write longer articles is that even though fewer people will take the time to read them, for those that do the articles are usually much more impactful.
Because of these decisions, my search engine traffic is fairly low compared to other bloggers. Google is my #1 referrer, but it accounts for less than 1.5% of my total traffic. My traffic is extremely decentralized. The vast majority of it comes from links on thousands of other web sites and from direct requests. Ultimately, my traffic grows because people tell other people about this site, either online or offline. I’ve also done very well with social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg.com, and reddit.com because they’re based on personal recommendations. I’ve probably had about a dozen articles hit the del.icio.us popular list within the past year, definitely more than my fair share.
I prefer this traffic-building strategy because it leaves me less vulnerable to shifts in technology. I figure that Google ultimately wants to make it easy for its visitors to find valuable content, so my current strategy should be in alignment with Google’s long-term strategy. My feeling is that Google would be well-served by sending more of its traffic here. But that alignment simply arises from my focus on providing value first and foremost.
5. Know why you want a high-traffic site.
I write because my purpose in life is to help people become more conscious and aware — to grow as human beings. I don’t have a separate job or career other than this. Because my work is driven by this purpose, I have a compelling reason to build a high-traffic web site, one that aligns with my deepest personal values. More web traffic means I can have a bigger impact by reaching more people. And over the course of the next few decades, this influence has the potential to create a positive change that might alter the future direction of human civilization. Most significantly, I want to help humanity move past fear and for us to stop relating to each other through the mechanisms of fear. If I fail, I fail. But I’m not giving up no matter how tough it gets.
Those are big stakes, and it might sound like I’m exaggerating, but this is the level at which I think about my work today. Everything else I do, including building a high traffic web site, is simply a means to that end. Today I’m just planting seeds, and most of them haven’t even sprouted yet. A high traffic web site is just one of the sprouts that came about as a result of pursuing the purpose that drives me. But it is not an end in itself.
What will you do if you succeed in building a high-traffic web site? If you someday find yourself in the privileged position of being able to influence millions of people, what will you say to them? Will you honor and respect this position by using it as a channel to serve the highest good of all, or will you throw that opportunity away to pursue your own fleeting fame and fortune while feeding your audience disposable drivel?
Although I launched this web site in October 2004, I’ve been writing articles since 1999, and feedback has allowed me to understand how small slices of my writing have affected certain people in the long run. After reading something I’ve written, people have quit their jobs, started their own businesses, changed religions, and ended relationships. While some people might find this level of impact ego-gratifying, for me it intensifies my feeling of personal responsibility for my writing. I’ve seen that I’m able to have an impact on people, so I damned well better make it a good one.
This “why” is what drives me. It’s what compels me to go to my computer and write something at 3am and not stop until 10am. I get inspired often. The #1 reason I want more traffic is that it will allow me to help more people. That’s where I direct my ambition for this site, and consequently I’m extremely motivated, which certainly plays a key role in taking action.
6. Let your audience see the real you.
My life and my writing are intricately intertwined, such that it’s impossible to separate the two. When someone reads this web site, they’ll eventually come to know a great deal about me as a person. Usually this creates a skewed and inaccurate impression of who I am today because I change a lot over time — I’m not the same person I was last year — but it’s close enough. Getting to know me makes it easier for people to understand the context of what I write, which means that more value can be transferred in less time.
I’ve told many personal stories on this site, including my most painful and difficult experiences. I don’t do this to be gratuitous but rather because those stories help make a point — that no matter where you find yourself today, you always have the opportunity to grow in some small way, and no matter how small those changes are, they’re going to add up over time to create massive lifelong growth. That’s a lesson we all need to remember.
When I find ways to turn some of my darkest experiences into lessons that might help others in similar situations, it actually transforms those painful memories into joyful ones. They take on new meaning for me, and I can see that there was a positive reason I had to endure such experiences, one that ultimately serves the highest good of all. Oddly, I now find that it was my darkest times that help create the most light for others.
With respect to privacy, I don’t really care much for it. I do respect other people’s right to privacy, so when people tell me personal stories via email, I don’t turn around and re-post them to my blog. But I’m OK with being rather un-private myself. The need for privacy comes from the desire to protect the ego, which is a fear-driven desire, and fear is something I just don’t need in my life. My attitude is that it’s perfectly OK to fail or to be rejected publicly. Trying to appear perfect is nothing but a house of cards that will eventually collapse.
I think allowing people to know the real me makes it possible to build a relationship with my audience that’s based on intimacy and friendship. I dislike seeing people putting me on too much of a pedestal and using labels like “guru” or “overachiever.” Such labels create distance which makes communication harder. They emphasize our differences instead of our similarities. Communication between equals — between friends — is more effective.
More genuine communication means better connections with your audience, which means more repeat traffic and more referral traffic. This isn’t a manipulative game though, and excessive or overly dramatic self-disclosure for the purpose of linkbaiting will only backfire. Your reasons for storytelling must be to benefit your audience. The traffic benefits are a positive side effect.
7. Write what is true for you, and learn to live with the consequences.
If the stuff I’ve written on this site means I’ll never be able to run for a political office, I can live with that. I’m willing to write what is true for me, even if it goes against my social conditioning. Being honest is more important to me than being popular. But the irony is that because bold honesty is so rare among civilized humans, in the long run this may be the best traffic-building strategy of all.
People often warn me not to write things that might alienate a portion of my visitors. But somehow I keep doing the opposite and seeing traffic go up, not down. I don’t treat any subjects as taboo or sacred if they’re relevant to personal growth, and that includes diet and religion. It’s no secret that I’m a vegan ex-Catholic. Do I alienate people when I say that torturing and killing defenseless animals for food is wrong? Perhaps. But truth is truth. I happen to think it’s a bad idea to feed cows cement dust and bovine growth hormone, to pack live chickens into warehouses where the ammonia from their feces is strong enough to burn their skin off, and to feed 70% of our grain to livestock while tens of thousands of people die of hunger each day. I also think it’s a bad idea to pay people to perform these actions on my behalf. It really doesn’t matter to me that 999 people out of 1000 disagree with me. Your disagreement with me doesn’t change what went into producing your burger. It’s still a diseased, tortured, chemical-injected cow, one that was doomed to a very sad life because of a decision you made. And you’re still responsible for your role in that cow’s suffering whether you like it or not.
That last paragraph is a good example of the kind of stuff I write that makes people want to put me in a cage, inject me with hormones, and feed me cement dust. It wouldn’t surprise me terribly if that ends up being my fate.
I write what is true for me, regardless of public opinion. Sometimes I’m in the majority; sometimes I’m not. I’m fully aware that some of my opinions are unpopular, and I’m absolutely fine with that. What I’m not fine with is putting truth to a vote.
I take the time to form my own opinions instead of simply regurgitating what I was taught as a child. And I’m also well aware that there are people spending billions of dollars to make you think that a burger is not a very sad, diseased, tortured, chemical-injected cow. But I’m going to keep writing to help you remain aware of things like that, even though you may hate me for it. That defensiveness eventually leads to doubt, which leads to change and growth, so it’s perfectly fine. I’m good at dealing with defensiveness.
I don’t worry too much about hurting people’s feelings. Hurt feelings are a step in the right direction for many people. If I’m able to offend you so easily, to me that means you already recognize some truth in what I’ve written, but you aren’t ready to face it consciously yet. If you read something from me that provokes an emotional reaction, then a seed has already been planted. In other words, it’s already too late for you.
My goal isn’t to convince anyone of anything in particular. I’m not an animal rights activist, and I don’t have a religion to promote. My goal is to awaken people to living more consciously. This requires raising people’s awareness across all facets of their lives, so they can make the big decisions for themselves. It requires breaking social conditioning and replacing it with conscious awareness and intention. That’s a big job, but someone has to do it. And if I don’t do it, then I have to admit I’m just part of the problem like all the other hibernating bears.
A lot has been written about the importance of transparency in blogging, and truth is the best transparency of all. Truth creates trust, and trust builds traffic. No games, no gimmicks… just plain old brutal honesty. Even the people that say they hate you will still come back, and eventually those people will become your most ardent supporters. Even if they don’t agree with you, they’ll learn they can trust you and that your intentions are honorable, and trust is more important than agreement.
8. Treat your visitors like real human beings.
Even though I’m sitting at my computer writing this, seemingly alone, I know you’re a real human being reading it on the other end. My apologies to sentient androids who may be reading this years after it’s been written. You aren’t just a number in my web stats. Despite the technology involved and the time-space differential between my writing and your reading, there’s still a human-to-human connection between us that transcends time and space. And that connection matters to me. I feel its presence whenever I do my best writing.
While I imagine being on a stage in front of a million people when deciding which topic to write about, once I actually get going, I imagine having a one-on-one conversation with a friend. This means revealing some of myself and being honest, as the last two points already addressed, but it also means genuinely caring about you as a person. And that’s perhaps one of the best kept secrets of my success as a blogger. I actually care about helping you grow. I want you to become more conscious and aware. I want you to experience less fear in your life. And my concern for your well-being isn’t conditional upon you liking me.
I happen to think we have a lot more similarities than differences. Based on what I know about myself, I imagine you’d like your life to be better tomorrow than it was yesterday. I imagine you’d like to be happier, more fulfilled, and more at peace with yourself. I also imagine you’re living below your potential and could use some help overcoming fear and solving certain problems to enable you to tap more of that potential. And finally, I imagine you wouldn’t believe me if I said you can have it all for only $19.95 (as well you shouldn’t).
The reason I work so hard to create original content and then give it away for free is because I want to help as many people as possible. I genuinely care what happens to this beautiful planet and to the people who live here. It’s possible I actually value your life even more than you do. This is the kind of motivation that never wanes. I sometimes lose sight of it when I get caught up in the details, but the connection is always there, waiting for me to tap into it whenever I want. This provides me with a wellspring of creative ideas and an inexhaustible passion for contribution.
I don’t need to play stupid marketing and sales games with you. There’s nothing for you to buy here. Even if I add some products in the future, I’m not going to try to manipulate you into buying something you don’t need with a slew of false promises. I might make more money in the short-term by doing that, but it would sever our genuine connection, create a wall between us, and reduce the level of impact I’m able to have. Ultimately, that approach would lead to failure for me, at least in terms of how I define success. I can’t help you grow if I violate your trust.
I cannot force anyone to grow who doesn’t want to. But there are a lot of people on this planet who are now ready to let go of low-awareness living and start pushing themselves to the next level of human existence. And they need help to get there because it’s a difficult journey, and there are strong forces working against it.
Real human beings helping real human beings is ultimately what traffic growth is all about. That’s precisely what a link or a referral is. If you align yourself with the intention of genuinely helping people because you care, you’ll soon find yourself with an abundance of traffic.
9. Keep money in its proper place.
Money is important. Obviously I have bills to pay. Money pays for my computer, my high-speed internet connection, my house, and my food. I just returned yesterday from a vacation that money paid for. My wife and I had a great time partly because we didn’t have to worry about money at all on the trip. We did everything we wanted to do without being hampered by a lack of funds. And this web site paid for it.
It’s important that I generate some money from my work, but it’s not necessary that I extract every possible dollar. In fact, relative to its traffic levels, I’m seriously under-monetizing this site. But money is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Making a positive contribution to the world is a lot more important to me than money. Money can be useful in achieving this objective, but human relationships are far more important. The funny thing is that the less I rely on money, the more of it I seem to have.
I’m already making more money than I need to pay my bills, and my income from this site keeps going up each month. If I simply keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll probably end up becoming fairly wealthy. But money is an extremely weak motivator for me. Very little of what I do today has a profit motive behind it except to the extent that money will fuel more important goals. That tends to confuse certain people because some of my decisions align with earning money, but many don’t. While I do consider myself an entrepreneur (at least it’s less isolating than “guru”), I only see money as a tool for enhancing and expanding my contribution.
While many entrepreneurs pursue money for the purpose of becoming wealthy, I chose a different route. I sought to earn money for the purpose of increasing my freedom. I don’t want to get myself stuck in a pattern of working for money, so I’m constantly turning down opportunities to make money that would restrict my freedom. For example, I don’t do any consulting or coaching. Consequently, my calendar contains very few fixed appointments. This doesn’t mean I’m idle. It just means I spend my time doing what I freely choose to do instead of what others would have me do. I require this level of flexibility to do my best work.
By paying close attention to how I earn money and not just how much I earn, I keep money in its proper place. This allows me to stay focused on my purpose without getting wrapped up in less important concerns like building a brand, closing sales, or doing phony marketing.
I dislike it when other people use one-dimensional sales and marketing tactics on me, so I avoid using these techniques on this site. I’ve sort of unplugged myself from the current capitalistic system and set up a side system of my own that I find much more congruent with conscious living. I would love for other people to have the same level of freedom I enjoy each day. I’m sure I’ll continue to improve my approach over time, but it’s working wonderfully so far. Imagine having a business with no products, no inventory, no sales, and no customers, but still generating an abundant positive cashflow.
Since the income generation is largely on autopilot, I can focus my time and energy on creating content instead of on doing marketing or trying to sell something. And being able to devote so much time to content creation without worrying how I’ll pay my bills makes it a lot easier to build high traffic.
Some business models make it very challenging to build traffic. You have to spend a lot of time and energy just on lead generation, and then maybe you try to monetize those leads by selling a product or service. It’s always an uphill struggle.
I give all my best content away for free. Word of mouth does the rest. So my traffic building strategy is more like flowing downstream. It hasn’t been a struggle for me at all. And once you have sufficient traffic, it isn’t that hard to monetize it without becoming an ogre.
We’ve all heard the expression, “Build a better mousetrap, and they’ll come.” And we’ve also heard marketing and sales people say that this is just plain wrong — you have to market and sell that mousetrap effectively too. I say they’re all wrong. My approach is the equivalent of, “Build a better mousetrap and give it away for free, and they’ll come — and they’ll bring friends too.”
10. If you forget the first nine suggestions, just focus on genuinely helping people, and the rest will take care of itself.
One thing that turns me off about typical self-help marketing is that authors and speakers often position themselves as if they’re the opposite of their audience. I’m successful and you’re not. I’m rich and you’re not. I’m fit and you’re not. You need me because something is lacking in your life, I have exactly what you lack, and if you pay me (and make me even richer and you poorer), I’ll show you how you can have it too. And if it doesn’t work for you, it just means you’re even more of an idiot than the people who provided my testimonials.
I’m sure you’ve heard this sort of nonsense many times before.
All of this I’ve-arrived-and-you-haven’t stuff is stupid. It suggests that life is about destinations and that once you’ve arrived, you’re done growing and can just relax and sip fruity drinks for the rest of your life. But there’s more to life than border crossings. If you go from single to married or from non-millionaire to millionaire, that’s fine and dandy. Crossing the border into parenthood was a big one for me. But that’s only one day of my life, and to be honest, I didn’t have much control over it except for a decision made nine-months earlier (and it seemed like a pretty attractive idea at the time). What about all those other days though?
Growing as a human being is something I work on daily. I’m deeply passionate about my own growth, so naturally I want to share this part of the journey with others. If I start marketing myself with the “I’m successful and you’re not approach,” I hope someone will come put me out of my misery, since that would mean I’m done growing and ready to die. I don’t expect to ever be done growing as long as I exist as a human being. There are always new distinctions to be made and new experiences to enjoy. And yes… plenty of mistakes to be made as well.
One of the great benefits of focusing on helping others is that it gets fear out of the way. Without fear you become free to just be yourself. You’re able to take intelligent risks and remain detached from any specific outcome because the journey is more important to you than the specific stops along the way. Personally it’s not the destinations that excite me but rather the unfolding process of discovery. I love the anticipation of wondering what lies around each new bend.
If we are to help each other, we need to be partners in the pursuit of growth, not opponents. So it makes no sense to put up fake walls between us. The ego needs walls to protect it, but if we can get past the fear-based needs of the ego, we’ll make a lot more progress.
There are plenty of things I could do with this site that would make me more money or grow traffic faster in the short-term, but I won’t do them because they’ll just put more distance between us. I’ll be on my side, you’ll be on your side, and we’ll each be slightly afraid of the other. I’ll be worried that maybe you won’t buy what I’m selling, and you’ll be worried about getting ripped off or taken advantage of. We’ll just be drinking yet another round of fear, which is exactly the opposite of what we need to grow.
One of my biggest challenges in life right now is figuring out how to help enough people switch their primary polarization from fear to love. Our emotions are an energy source for us (they drive our actions), and most of the world is still driven by fear energy. Watching TV news is a good example; we can actually feel energized by watching others suffer. Hurting animals is another example; we eat their fear for breakfast. But there’s another fuel for human consciousness, and perhaps the best way to describe it is unconditional love. This isn’t the squishy emotion of romantic love — it’s a sense of connection to everything that exists and a desire to serve the highest good of all. Unconditional love, when it becomes one’s primary fuel, cultivates fearlessness. In this state you still have the biological fight-or-flight response, but you aren’t driven by emotional worries like fear of failure or fear of rejection. You feel perfectly safe regardless of external circumstances. And when you have this feeling of unconditional safety, you’re truly free to be yourself, to embrace new experiences, and to grow at a very fast pace.
Personal growth is not a zero-sum game. If you grow as a human being, it doesn’t harm me. In fact, ultimately if all of us grow as individuals, it’s going to make this whole planet better for everyone. When enough people switch their primary polarization from fear to unconditional love, this planet will become a true paradise. That’s a good thing for all of us, one that’s more important than all the money in the world.
Perhaps you have a less ambitious goal for building web traffic than raising human consciousness and working towards world peace. That doesn’t matter. You can still make helping others your primary focus, and if you do that, you’ll find it relatively easy to build a high-traffic web site. If you align yourself with serving the highest good of all, you’ll receive plenty of help along the way, and best of all, you’ll deserve it.
Do your best to help your visitors out of genuine concern for their well-being, and they’ll help you build your traffic and even generate a nice income from it. It’s as simple as that.
Final thoughts
Building a high-traffic website can be very challenging if you’ve never done it before. These tips really only scratch the surface of what you need to know to succeed. Since writing this article, I found an alternative suggestion for those who find it difficult to build substantial traffic and income online. Please check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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