Tag Archives: blog

Happy November!

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

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Happy All Saints Day, friends.

have-a-blessed-all-saints-day

This morning I had a great, short chat with Matt Patrick on the Morning Show of KTRH, 740 AM, Houston. I saw that a few of you clicked the “listen live” link I provided yesterday. Maybe you heard my coffee-swilling rambling about the state of education. It’s not my main subject and at 6:45 on a vacation morning I wasn’t at full throttle. Still it was a great segment.

Matt, Dale and the crew over there run a very professional operation. I haven’t been on the radio in about five years. I have lost some of that quick, DJ voice. Those guys are fast and succinct. A great show. I was happy to contribute what I could. Many thanks to the crew and staff.

And many thanks to all of you for making October the biggest and best month in blog history. In was close but last night we managed to edge out September by a slight margin. This morning I already have visitors from: the USA, UK, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, and Hungary. Hello, all! This month I’m looking for another increase – a new order of magnitude if you will. Thanks for all the help.

I’m proud of the little site. I wrote a cigar story that led to some “professional” reviews. I wrote a book review for a best-selling author. That lead to a dialogue with the author – a great man with a great message. (And, hello, Gabbers!) I wrote about the colleges and I got a request from the media in a major market. I am humbled.

I’m also tired. In a good way. Been toting bags around amusement parks and trotting after tweens and teens and other crazies. Fun times. 500 miles and I’ll be back with more rambling finery. There’s big things a happening out there.

Stay tuned!

No. 801: The Top 1%

17 Monday Oct 2016

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Last night’s Great All American High School Football Friday Night Shotgun Raffle was my 800th post here. I forgot that amid the excitement of the evening.

 

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This weekend I refrained from any criticism of President Obama due to his recent contributions to the cigar world. I suppose all is fair once again though I still thank him. I’ll dedicate that first legal Cuban to his honor.

So, this is post no. 801. I have the SEO skills of a drunken sea otter but I think volume has something to do with it; if we can’t have quality, we’ll have a ton of rambling and such. Seems to be working, whatever it is. I checked my web ranking and I have crossed the threshold into the top 1% of all websites on Earth (over a billion active sites). Technically the traffic is higher than 99.35+% of the web. I think I’ve improved by something like 23,000,000 slots in the past three months – all thanks to you folks.

That’s great. Yet I would like to gun for the top 1% of the top 1%. That’s possible. Maybe in a year or two. I write for some other sites that are pushing closer to that range right now. That in turn pushes my site to a small degree. And, I’m finding that some of that outside work is now being cited by third parties. Every little helps.

 

SEO or not somehow the word is spreading. Web engine searches lead people here. I mentioned Ivan Throne’s excellent new book the other week and, this weekend, he acknowledged. I’ve promised him a full review here soon – as soon as I finish the book.

And soon I’m going to upgrade to full pro status with WP. For you that should mean more and better, etc.

Thank you and happy Monday! Go to work.

-Perrin

September to Remember

02 Sunday Oct 2016

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A few blogging updates about last month.

This site is in its fifth calendar year. I’ve only posted in three Septembers (2013, 2015, 2016). 2013 only saw one measly post. 2015 was a decent month with thirteen posts and good enough traffic. Last month was on fire, the heaviest trafficked month in history, with a near 20% increase over August (itself the previous record). In the first nine months of this year I’ve exceeded all of 2015 by almost 40% – I’m on pace to more than double traffic from last year and possibly outperform all previous years combined.

An International Presence

This is a quintessential American/Western site though I did have September visitors from 36 countries. The top five, accounting for 97% of visitors were: the U.S., U.K., Honduras, Canada, and Germany.

The Top Posts Of Sept.

Fifteen Years Ago – my recollection of 9/11.

Cigars Are Healthy – medical vindication of my hobby.

A Tale of Two Charlotteans – when the society slides, guns keep the peace.

By the way, the most popular post of all-time is Gunning For Votes (Sept., 2015) followed closely by Democracy in America (May, 2015). I’d pick Democracy out of those two though it’s still not my favorite.

Who Are Y’all

After four years I’m finally building up some regular followers here – I add 1 – 2 per day. Thanks, peeps!

Additionally, I get a healthy clickage from: Facebook, the prepping community (welcome again!), and Linkedin. I also see an increase in Google and other engine-direct traffic. I have the SEO skills of a drunk wharf-rat but something seems to be working.

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perrinlovett.me is like a giant caterpillar – green and sure to eat all the peppers…

I said a little over a week ago I was redefining what makes a “good” day here. Wouldn’t you know it, that triggered Murphy’s Law. With the exception of last Sunday, it’s been a struggle and the new daily average has been just shy of the new mark. Growing pains.

Anyway, this is number 768. Fall is here. It’s October. This is my favorite season and I’m ready to roll!

Thanks, again.

Perrin

Necessary Recalibration

23 Friday Sep 2016

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A while back I wrote about how well the old blog is doing. It was great. Now it’s starting to almost scare me. Thanks to all my old readers and, again, welcome to my newbies.

I have consistently hit what I consider good daily traffic for more than 30 days in a row now. (That means at least 2 views per day, 3 per week. ;0 ). Some days we quadruple the old number or better. Therefore I am re-calculating what a “good” day is, raising it by a factor of 50%.

The weeks and months are outstanding too. August was a record by a large margin. And I might smash that by this evening for September.

The yearly traffic is crazy. I’m already 33% better now than I was through all of 2015 (a good year by my standards). Very likely 2016 will see more traffic than all previous years combined.

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Only you can prevent blog fires. Please don’t.

I’m at the point now where I could make decent money with annoying ads. I won’t. I’m going to be offering more products and maybe services as the year fails but no ads. There may possibly be small, targeted promotions for things I think will benefit the audience (i.e. guns, cigars, cigar guns). Those, however, will be offset and never interfere with the layout or operation. NO POP-UPS or SHIFTIES EVER! Remember, any ads you see now (at the bottom) are from WordPress and a by-product of my cut-rate plan. I will upgrade that sooner or later.

This, by the way, is post number 750.

I’m going to go celebrate. Maybe with a cigar. Or a nap. I am the world’s 832nd most interesting man.

Well, Then There’s Excuses

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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Last night I promised a big, hard-hitting article on Western civilization, invasion, and terrorism. I had paid work today, a workout and a headache. I did next to nothing. Then I went to a happy hour party of sorts with some friendly recently graduated sorority girls and an open bar…

In short, there will be no big column today. Sorry. Tomorrow. Soon, I promise.

I looked at the news this evening. Turmoil as far as the eye can see. This story caught my eye: UN fears third leg of the global financial crisis, with epic debt defaults. It’s worth a read. It is from the Telegraph, one of the last remaining honest news agencies.

The third leg of the world’s intractable depression is yet to come. If trade economists at the United Nations are right, the next traumatic episode may entail the greatest debt jubilee in history.

It may also prove to be the definitive crisis of globalized capitalism, the demise of the liberal free-market orthodoxies promoted for almost forty years by the Bretton Woods institutions, the OECD, and the Davos fraternity.

Honest enough to admit to an “intractable depression” in progress. Sad but true. And they mention Bretton Woods by name. This warrants further investigation. I actually have another big draft in the works – several years in the making – my solution to the world’s debt problems. Or, at least, those in America. Maybe I can get to that in a few months.

I had been planning to write up a brief story about why you should vote for me as Sheriff. I may run for Sheriff in a few years. I have to establish residency first. I’m not even disclosing the location yet – a rural mountainous county. I will make one Hell of a Sheriff. Anyway, even that can wait.

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So, in the end, all you have are my excuses. Pretty good ones if I may say so.

On the bright side, one of the lovely young ladies I met tonight may be able to get me a discount on my twiner alternative transportation that I’ve been looking at. So Sheriff Perrin can beat a hasty retreat from the mountains to the beach and so forth. (Clovers look like the insects they are from up there.)

Blah, blah, blah … think I’ll just call it a night.

Good night!

The 700 Club

01 Thursday Sep 2016

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This post has nothing to do with Pat Robertson except for success. Robertson’s show is a huge, long-term hit. The blog still pales in comparison but I’m getting there. We, rather, are getting there. This is post number 700! Thank you all.

WordPress.

I’d like to give a special welcome to my new subscribers and visitors. Hello! Thanks for joining the party. From time to time I take a post like this one to note where the show is going.

I also track trends. Right now just about everything is trending upwards. In addition to 700 articles I have maintained at least a post per day for 12 weeks in a row now – 18 weeks with a few brief interruptions. Longtime followers know I had an early habit of taking time off – looong periods. No more. I’m on a roll.

I look at where traffic comes from. For a short time in the not-to-distant past I paid for a little (very little) advertising. It was worth it but is no longer remotely necessary. I get traffic from Facebook and LinkedIn. Many of my new friends from Freedom Prepper are stopping by. And, I am finally noticing increased numbers straight from web searches. Four years of plugging away and a little SEO operation have gone a long way.

Last month saw a massive uptick in hits. August 2016 was, by far, my busiest month ever. Even now – even early this morning – I was able to extrapolate that September will be even busier. Over last year and previous falls it may be an order of magnitude.

Until recently I had in my mind a cutoff number for what I considered a good day. It now seems sadly antiquated, an embarrassment even. Lately, I’ve been hitting it by early morning. I may have to adjust my expectations, substituting what used to be an average week for what makes a “good” day.

I even “helped” a new blog into existence. Check it out sometime.

I still get asked if I plan to “monetize” the blog. Outright, no I do not. I’m still mid-level in the WordPress plan world. Soon I will go full pro which will allow me commercial control. Honestly, I hate gimmicky ads all over a page. And the people who run the ad programs tend to shy away from my brand of … ideology.

If I do allow any advertisement here it will be targeted and directly linked to the source. That will probably mean firearms and cigars. We’ll see. Of course, I will continue to sell books. More of those and many related items are coming hard and fast. Ready those credit cards please.

And please keep coming back. I have some changes in mind. I think they will help the overall flow here.

Thank you so much and please stand by for number 701!

-Perrin

PS: Other numbers. I still have about 50 drafts cooking. Hmmmm.

PPS: More numbers. My thrilling success here has carried over to the physical world. It helped pull me out of an exercise rut. Thanks for that too! I will never bench press 500 pounds. Not without steroids or bionic modification.Not going to happen. I did however hit 365 lbs – today – twice (2 consecutive reps) – unassisted. That’s 207.4% of what I weigh. Not bad for an old crazy man.

Advice for Writing and Publishing

29 Monday Aug 2016

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A talented friend asked me how I do the crazy things I do. This was going to be an email to him. However, I thought it better to share with everyone. I suppose I can give this now. Sometimes its easier to give it than to live it. Do as I say!

Here are a few ideas:

Start a Blog

I use and recommend WordPress.WP allows for easy and professional startups. The base level is absolutely free. I pay a nominal fee to keep the “wordpress.” out of my page name and a few other perks. Next I will step up to the expensive level. Start small – and cheap. Just get started. There are other free hosts out there too.

Social Media

From WP you can link your posts to Facebook, Twitter, etc. This will help generate traffic and maybe build some new friends. Don’t forget LinkedIn.

Email List

They say for real on-line success one needs an email list – a go to group of dedicated followers. I spent a lot of time building mine this summer. I took it from about 20 people to almost 1,000. Sadly, I have not tested the system out. I will. I use Gmail which is okay for one to one emails. For a list there are vastly better options – MailChimp, Aweber, etc. Those cost money. Keep it simple (and free) to start.

Publishing

My friend has a wealth of historical knowledge he would like to share. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get paid to do it. One sure-fire way to do that is to publish a book:

Createspace

Createspace is Amazon’s professional publishing wing. Account setup is free and relatively easy. Converting, editing, and formatting everything takes a little work. However, the services are free and one can then directly upload to Amazon. These are books “available on demand”. Someone sees it, orders it and pays for it and CS prints a copy and mails it out. They also have other formats which I have not experimented with – audio, video, etc. For a fee they also have editing and design services.

You can make a book like this:

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This is the way of the future – self publishing and Amazon. A few more years and traditional publishers and bookstores won’t exist. They are committing suicide.

CS is also a stepping stone to:

Kindle

Once one has a manuscript ready it can be converted to Kindle for ebook publishing and sale. This is not necessarily easy. I have one book in Kindle and the format is horrible. Worse, I have never gone back and fixed it yet. Learning curve here. One can also pay to have the formatting done. Otherwise the system is free. There are books available on the subject. I suggest reading them.

Amazon Tools

Once one has a book out, odds are people are going to find it on Amazon. Remember to set up an Author Page with links to your Blog posts.

PDF

There is a super easy way to make an ebook. Just convert a Word, WordPerfect, or Docs text to PDF and link it to your blog or email it. Freebies build business although it is possible to offer these for sale.

PayPal

Set up an account and use it to receive payments for the PDFs and other services offered until you can afford a real e-commerce system. Amazon and Kindle offer direct deposit for their sales of your work. PayPal also comes in handy for freelancing (see below).

Some Writing Resources

These are in no particular order and there are so many out there:

James Altucher offers a wealth of publishing tips and other inspiration. Read this.

The Write Life. All kinds of advice for all sorts of things.

That will do for now. If you have an idea or a question, don’t forget the Google.

Freelance Ideas

Independent contract work can be a great way to build business and make money. Many of these jobs can be found just by looking around. Then there are “content mills”. The mills are marketplaces where people look for work and companies look for talent. I list three of them below. I can’t really recommend using them because so much of what is offered is pure crap. However, the gems are out there. It’s just a matter of finding them.

As for my friend or really anyone, I would recommend searching hard within the author’s niche. I’ve stumbled into some great projects that fit my crazed topics and style. One might as well be happy when working.

Jobs for Bloggers

This is just a board published by ProBlogger. No account to set up; just communicate directly with projects by email or their sites. I’ve had the most success with this service. And jobs are posted daily and are searchable. Most pay by PayPal.

Freelancer

A true content mill with required setup. They frequently handle payment but they also take a cut. That’s also how it works at:

Upwork

They handle all payment issues in-house. I think it’s a slightly better system. A good deal of hassle and BS but you can search out what you’re looking for.

As I said there are many other resources. This is a gateway not only for writers, but also for speakers, artists, professionals, and anyone with something to offer. I hope it helps. Happy hunting.

World Book Perrin: International Studies

26 Friday Aug 2016

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I’d like to say hello to all of my new visitors and everyone around the globe.

So: Welcome! Welkom! Dobrodošli! Vítejte! Welkom! Tervetuloa! Bienvenue! Willkommen!  Yôkoso! and Sveiki atvykę!

This site is based in the United States. It frequently features themes of Western Civilization. Still, somehow, it has gained an audience around the world. I like to think of it as global madness. In the past four years I’ve had visitors from around 100 countries on six continents (not sure WordPress tracks Antarctica).

The other day I noticed that had the Anglosphere covered:

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I suppose NZ took that day off.

Then, later, I dug a little deeper. Here’s a recent comprehensive map:

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I think that one covers 91 countries. Not bad although I would love to pick up Iceland. China seems like a good market too. Sadly, I am not read in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, or Somalia.

Being somewhat Amero-centric, the vast majority of my views come from my own nation. Surprisingly (or not) my next largest concentration is in and around the Caribbean. That would be my cigar friends. The DR and Nica account for more traffic than all of my third largest contingent – Europe.

Here are my top twelve countries:

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Hello out there! I have no idea how this site is translated abroad. Google I suppose. I’m just glad to have you.

I offer special greetings to my new preparedness audience. Preppers aim for freedom and that’s my main theme here, if one can overlook (or appreciate) cigar commentary and periodic zaniness.

What else? Through yesterday I had 686 live posts here. 687 now. My most popular category (and those are rather broadly defined) is “News and Notes”. The most frequently used “tag” is “America”. The most popular post for 2016 so far is A Den of Vipers and Thieves. I once knew the most popular post of all time but I have misplaced that…

2016 is already the biggest year yet and by December I look to surpass all previous years’ traffic combined. Thanks for being a part.

Your humble host,

Perrin

 

I’m With … WordPress: Ad(ed) Value

08 Monday Aug 2016

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So … at the bottom of this post you will probably notice (if you keep scrolling) a small advertisement for something or other. I mentioned a few days ago that I don’t control these ads; WordPress (my awesome hosting platform) places them. The reason for this is that my site is considered a “free” site by WP. That’s not entirely accurate; I pay a small fee to keep “wordpress” out of my link address and to have the “.me”. I was once at “.com” for a while but I forgot to renew (always forgetting something) and a domain pirate swooped in a grabbed it.

They will kindly sell the .com back for about $2,800 – up from $600 or so thanks to the increase in my site’s popularity. (Thanks, all).

Anyway, my next step with WP is to go professional. That comes with a host of neat features but costs a little. I’m planning on stepping up by the end of the year. (Donations will be accepted soon at GoFundMe…..).

Until then, this is how the WP ads work:

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WordPress.

I’ve never intended to burden my readers or slow down my site with a lot of ads. At some point I may run some targeted “affiliate” ads for things I recommend; knowing me, those will probably be cigars and guns. Until then, I am happy to suffer the occasional WP ad in exchange for reasonable pricing.

When I’m not ranting about cigars, guns, or wall rugs, I tend toward political news with an anarchist point of view. I do not endorse politicians unless they are exceptional (Ron Paul) or dead (Leo Ryan) or both (Cicero). However, it has come to my attention that WP has been running political ads lately – this being political ad season.

Like Facebook and Google, there must be a liberal slant at WP because the only ads I see (and readers notice) are Hillary Clinton ads. I recently wrote a short piece about how Hillary is a criminal and, low and behold, it was accompanied by an “I’m with her.” ad. Funny but I don’t even like the appearance that I might be endorsing a candidate, especially Killary.

Since I cannot afford to dispense with the ads yet I have began to counter them with a disclaimer: “*The gag “ad(s)” above this line are endorsed by Perrin Lovett; those below are not.”; and with little “ads” of my own. It looks something like this to readers:

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This process has allowed me to make use of a meme generator for the first time. That’s fun. I hope this serves as sufficient explanation. Until such time as the ads are done away with, please know: I’m with freedom.

 

joe w hill

*The gag “ad(s)” above this line are endorsed by Perrin Lovett; those below are not.

Moving Forward

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

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Summer can be a time for reflection. I, as author and editor of this site, have the luxury of taking stock of where the work is going. This is the fifth summer at perrinlovett.me though the third of real activity (2012 and 2014 were pretty lame, yes). Based on such a short history I can still see trends. For instance, I know summer, for whatever reason, is a slower time for readership. Kids out of school, vacation, too hot – whatever. It’s just slower than the rest of the year.

Yet and still growth is happening. The July ended this past Sunday was my busiest July by far. The attention comes in waves. Lately the peaks of those waves have been reaching higher and higher. By the way, thank you all.

It’s not just July that impresses me. Everything is trending upwards. This post, on August 2nd, will bring my total for 2016 some sixty articles higher than through all of 2015. Positive growth. You are responding too. Sometime this morning I achieved more total viewers for this year than through all of last year (and I thought last year was impressive – for me). All that compressed into seven months, one day, and a few short hours. I’ve also noticed a growing audience outside of North America – much of what I write is about Europe and the rest of the West. It’s entirely likely that by December I will have eclipsed all previous numbers, counted together. Thanks, again.

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WANTED for cigar arson and crimes against insanity.

Today, as a reward, I re-posted a popular piece from last fall – Piracy, Counterfeiting and Treason. Those are the three named crimes from the Constitution which the federal government may pursue. Of course, as I point out in the article, today the government commits them rather than prosecutes them. A few weeks ago a friend joked with me: “Perrin’s blog – government is bad.” That’s my theme (punctuated with guns, cigars and cultural befuddlement). Yes. That’s me and that’s not going to change.

What of the future? What will change, if anything?

Progress will continue to be slow and steady. I am akin to the tortoise of Aesop fame. More commentary, certainly. More books offerings. I am (veeeerrrry slooowly) working on an e-course which many of you will find of great utility. Rumor has it The Perrin Lovett Show may return.

There will, some day, be another page upgrade. There are three levels at WordPress. I’m in the middle level right now. Level one is free (for me) and basic. My level is paid and comes with many expanded features for you. The next level costs a little more but offers me near-total control while allowing you a more seamless experience. For one thing, it will eliminate the ads which WP sometimes runs here. I don’t control or benefit from them. I don’t really like them but I can’t, yet, do anything about them. The other day I wrote a short about how bad Hillary Clinton is. When I looked at it through a regular browser it was accompanied by a “I’m With Her” political ad. Ridiculous. That sort of thing will be going away.

I’ve never run ads per se here. Naturally, I promote the site and my published work. Once I had a few links to some businesses owned by friends. They may come back if I so decide. I may also run a few independent and narrowly targeted ads for things that fit with my overall theme. You’ll know them when you see them.

The next level will also feature embedded video. That will be handy should I decide to do a full-time, regular video series or a podcast or something. I also toy with the idea of a paid section – a newsletter or something similar. Nothing mandatory though.

I have been building an email list this summer. Experts say this is critical for promoting a presence and marketing things like e-books. Hint: if you’re reading this, you may very well be on the list. In short order I will do a test mailing. That will allow you the opportunity to stay on the list or to leave (why you would leave is beyond me…). It will also allow me to judge how bad my infrastructure is. Very bad I suspect. Moving forward I will upgrade to a professional mail service; right know it’s just a “group” in Gmail.

The experts also say a list needs 10,000 members to be truly effective but that the list essentially builds itself once it gets going. They say several hundred members is a good start. I’m starting somewhere between a good start and truly effective. I’m counting on you to get me to 10,0000 and beyond.

You can count on me to keep rambling and ranting away. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Thank you, yet again.

Perrin