Dear Friends,

A formal update has been on my mind for sometime now, but has been readily usurped by the happy demands of married life and work at Sabramedia. I’m writing this brief update today from the kitchen table in our new home. Joslyn and I, married for a few days over a month now, have been working hard putting our home together and it’s nice to finally watch as things are settling into place. Thank you for all your well wishes and support.

Just a little while back, my brother Joshua and I began work on a collective sale of our niche websites to free up focus for work in our web development startup. You can see the work in progress on our sale over at: http://www.woldboys.com

Of note today, though, is a website Joslyn and I have been working on for over 2 years, MoldBlogger.com.

As of April, 2008, the website was bringing in over 4,000 unique and highly targetted visitors on the topic of mold. The “Ask A Question” feature gets an average of 4-5 questions per week. In May, traffic climbed higher to over 5,000 visitors. In June, we’re projected to pass 6,000, with 23 RSS Subscribers and no advertising. Among many other terms, the site is #1 on Google for “mold blog”.

The site is unmonetized at the moment. I have plans to pursue advertising contracts, but am balancing that decision between the time involved and the potential of selling the website and passing the opportunity on to someone else.

Interested? Let me know. I’m giving this a short window of opportunity before making a decision.

Working on MoldBlogger.com has been an awesome opportunity. My wife and I have learned a lot and we’ve had a tremendous amount of positive feedback. Before deciding the next step, though, we want to carefully consider our options.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to further updates in the near future.

Jonathan Wold

1. Press Releases – There’s nothing like getting attention from the media ;). Press releases are one way of baiting the hook. They can generate traffic on their own, bringing in the little fish, and every now and then, they’ll hook a big fish, a news reporter will contact you, a big site will send you some one-way link love, and you can sit back and watch the traffic roll in. As with anything that powerful, there are challenges. Not all press releases are equal, some are free, some aren’t. There’s also a good bit to know about writing an effective ‘news worthy’ press release. More on press releases later on ;). Meanwhile, some great press release sites, courtesy of Naked Business: (Awesome blog on press releases!)www.openPR.com
   www.lxer.com
   www.prleap.com

   www.i-newswire.com

2. Email Signatures – This one’s been around since email began! ; ) How many emails do you send out a day without having a web address of yours tagged below it? Email traffic is highly targetted. If someone is reading an email from you and corresponding with you, odds are they’re going to be interested in learning more about what you have to offer. Want to take it up a notch? Encourage others to put links to your website in their signature. That’s right :). Remember hotmail? That’s one of the ways they hit it big. They tagged ‘their’ signature to the bottom of all their customer’s emails and hotmail grew like wildfire! As a niche marketer, remember that people do things when they feel that something’s in it for them. Create something viral, something personable, and encourage people (make it VERY easy!) to add a link to their email signature!
3. Directory Listings – Ahh, directories. People love ‘em and hate ‘em at the same time. One of the most prominent (and also one of the hardest to get into!) directories out there is good old DMOZ. Add links to your website on in, wait 6 months, and you may get included! ;) – In addition to DMOZ, there are entire directories of directories out there. On caution to keep in mind is that adding your link to just any old directory could actually hurt you. Look for directories of high quality and be hesitant to add to a directory that ‘makes you pay’ unless it’s got a name like Yahoo attached to it ;).Have a blog? Adding your blog and its feed to a blog directory can be a REALLY hot way to get traffic. My good friend Bo Bang has a list of blog directories on over at his site. Check it out!
4. Image Awards – Awards? What’s this? I decided this was unique enough to get a category all to it’s own ;). Want a powerful strategy for getting one way links? Well here’s one! Pick a niche, whatever niche you’re in, and create an ‘award’ for ‘site of the week’, ‘site of the month’, ‘most creative’, whatever you come up with. Build a site around it and start handing out awards to the places you’d like to get links from! Send them off an email letting them know that they’ve won an award and encourage them to share the award by posting up a graphic and a link back to your site, verifying that they are indeed the winner. Give them the HTML, make it really easy and make it look really good. Be professional about it. Be friendly and helpful. This is hot ; ).
5. Offline Advertising – Without spending a lot of time breaking this one down, let me just say that this is something that most niche marketers seriously overlook. They get so caught up the internet this, and the internet that, they wind up forgetting that there was a time when there was no internet and marketing was still a big thing ;). Running classifieds in the right newspapers or magazines can be a powerful way to get targetted, buying traffic to a niche site of yours. Spend some time thinking about it, perhaps we’ll go over it more in the future ;).
6. Publicity – We talked a bit about this already in ‘press releases’. The idea is to get people talking about you. Remember our good friend Alex at milliondollarhomepage.com? He harnessed the power of publicity ;). How do you get publicity? Well, you can do something new, something wild and creative or you could ‘ride the wave’. Figure out what’s hot right now. What’s everyone talking about? What are people looking for a ‘scoop’ on? News reporters are a great example of this. They decide something’s ‘hot’ and they start looking all over for their exclusive. Give it to them! Look over the news stories, see what’s big. Figure out a way to ride that wave and then start contacting the media. This can be really really big : ).
7. Content Distribution – Give stuff away! Whether paid or free, content distribution as a traffic strategy is all about getting your stuff out there to as many people as possible, encouraging them all to pass it around, and making sure that the stuff being passed around has your links on it. How about some examples?
   • Screensavers/Wallpaper – People are always looking for ways to ‘soup up’ their computer. Give them cool stuff to customize their desktops and print your links on it! Make it small, they’ll notice. Tag something as simple as your web address or a small message “Want more? Go to: “.
   • Games – Whether online games or downloadable, people always love to play. Distribute games and make sure you have links back to your website embedded within. Be creative with it! ;).. Maybe even make it a part of the game. This is a great place to use the old “Want more?” tag line. How about sharing secret codes on your site? The possibilities are endless. Simple and fun work wonders. How about some new spins on the classics? A new pong, or a pacman, set to a current hot trend in the news. Go for it!
   • Music/Sounds – This can be a tad trickier since it’s a bit hard to show a web address within a song ; ). How about distributing some funny viral stuff with a tiny audio tag at the beginning announcing your site. An announcer reading really fast “Get more at “.
   • Software/Scripts – WordPress is an awesome example of content distribution in action. Every copy of wordpress that goes out comes with built in links back to wordpress and to the personal sites of the developers. That’s hot ; ). Hundreds of thousands of links pouring in automatically. Offer free software with your links embedded or, better yet, offer a script your visitors can use on their website with a built in link back to your site.
   • Physical Products – Tshirts, mousepads, pens, blenders, playing cards, boxes, you name it! Put your links on everyday items and start passing them out. Picking items that people use all the time is an easy way of making sure that they actually get used and your link noticed ; ). It helps to make things attractive, give people a reason to want to use your items.

And that, my friends, is a wrap! There you’ve got 7 more powerful traffic strategies to keep you busy for awhile. Get rolling on it! Get more? Feel free to add them on in and share with the world! Be sure to include a link back to your site if you’ve got something good to share ; ).

Off to another hard day’s work! You guys are awesome! Talk to ya soon! : )

-Jonathan Wold

The question of what foods are healthy can often be quite a difficult one to answer. The research often seems to be in conflict, the studies that say a particular food is great for you one day often turn around and warn against that very food the next day. Sorting through all this clutter to find the real deal on nutrition and what foods are healthy can be difficult.

Dietary fads seem to come and go on an alarmingly regular basis as well. The low fiber high fat diets of yesterday give way to low fat low protein diets, and the wheel just keeps rolling, with too little thought given to what foods are healthy.

Check it out in all its glory and pick up some healthy food tips over at healthyfoodtips.org

Off to keep working on a big day!

-Jonathan Wold

I’ve been working extra hard over the past few days and I’m proud to announce that a brand new website of mine is now live. Looking for information on glucose meters or, even better, information on how to get a free glucose meter? Check out myglucosemeters.com. We’ve got articles, information, visitor submitted tips, and, yup, information on how you can get a glucose meter absolutely free!

I’m particularly proud of this site :). It represents a new breed of niche website for me.. one that takes considerly more work but in the long run I believe will continue growing and become more and more valuable, both as a resource, and as a stream of income, as time goes on.

Look forward to more! I’ve been staying busy! ;)

-Jonathan

Matt and I arrived back in Indiana on Sunday and we’ve been getting settled back in. Today was our shopping day and WHAT a day.. Ok, it was ‘my’ shopping day. After taking Matt and Scott over to Subway and us all grabbing some subway style goodness for lunch, I headed off to Paulie’s to pick him up and do some grocery shopping. Plans changed fast though when Paulie wound up getting locked out of the house and needed to stick around for the locksmith. 30 minutes later found me in one of my favorite stores in the whole wide world.. Costco! ;) 2 and a half hours later found me home and..

Just look at all that food! That’s insane and awesome! Today I focused on breakfast mostly and we’re all taken care of for about 2 weeks. We’ve got lunches to make it through a week and then, next week, I’ll be focusing on lunches, getting the supplies I need to start.. cooking!

That’s right ;). I’m going to start cooking! Not just me, mind you, as much as they’re willing, Matt and Scott will be cooking too!

..Alright, for those of you who don’t yet know who Matt and Scott are, I’ll fill you in ;). Over the next few months, I, along with Matt Geri and Scott Byers, are living out here in Indiana as interns for my good friend and mentor, Paulie Sabol. We’re working hard on a bunch of internet marketing projects and we’ve got some exCITING stuff planned out for the next few weeks!

Over the next few months, the three of us are going to be working together on Paulie’s projects and on our own projects. I’ve got a LOT of stuff planned in niche marketing ; ).

Matt and I are working hard on a new project of ours which we’ll be sharing information on before long! To give you a smalll hint.. we’re getting ready to create our first membership site together ; ).

Many of you guys know that Matt and I launched our first product together just about a week and a half ago! Yeah, we were on vacation and yeahh.. we weren’t supposed to be working.. but heck with that! We couldn’t help ourselves ;). It’s gone VERY well so far and we’ve both REALLY appreciated ALL your feedback! You guys have been absolutely awesome! For those of you who haven’t had a chance to read the offer or buy a copy yet, check out our offer over on the warrior forum by clicking here. We’ve only got a few copies left! :)

And speaking of offers.. I’m going to be launching my second personal product very very soon. I’m really excited about it :). I’ve been working with some really talented people to put together a TOP notch product that I’m already very proud of. Look forward to it!

And that’s just about that.. Tomorrow we’ll all be up bright and early for breakfast, another good day’s work, and then I think it’s about time to start working on jonathanwold.com ; ). Matt’s been busy over on mattgeri.com with a COMPLETE new redesign! Check it OUT! Time for me to get working on mine ; ).

Alright guys, I’m off to bed! Goodnight World and talk to ya soon!

-Jonathan Wold

Today was AWESOME! Check out the picture!

Yeah, it’s amazing ; ). Matt and I did really well today, carving through the trees, nailing a few baby jumps, and eating up the powder! I got a nice kiss from the snow after a faceplant from a crazy jump.. couldn’t feel my face for a few minutes ;). Matt had a good laugh and, of course, sliced through the jump jusst fine. There’s always tomorrow!

And tomorrow will be our last day in Tahoe! My good friend Jessi is, weather permitting, heading up bright and early tomorrow for a run with Matt and I on Heavenly. Looking forward to it! After that we’ll be heading down to Sacramento to visit my good friends Sterling and Will, and then back off to Indiana on Sunday! There were a LOT of awesome people I didn’t get a chance to meet up with.. sorry guys :(. I’ll plan on spending more time in California next time!

And that’s just about that.. tonight is the last night of our ‘one week of niche goodness’. Matt and I have been putting together, selling, and delivering some AWESOME niche reports! It’s been a lot of fun! We’re writing the last report this evening and sending it out to our customers. We’ve got just a couple of copies left! If you’re interested in niche marketing, these are for you! :) – Head on over to my post on the Warrior Forum and check it out! Click here! :)

Alrighty! Off to finish the report and then get some food.. then.. sleep! Tomorrow’s gonna be awesome!

Have a great evening!

-Jonathan Wold

Oh yes, and being the entrepreneurs that we are, we just couldn’t resist putting together a product ;). On our scheduled second day of snowboarding, Matt and I were too sore and recovering from colds to go out, so we decided to spend the day developing a product. It worked out really well and we’re very proud of it!

You can check it out at: http://warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=67445

I’ll be writing more about it later.. this offer brought up a bunch of new challenges for both Matt and I. Challenges are good, just.. challenging ;). Completely worth it though! We’re proud of how it’s been turning out.

Hope you guys are having a great new year and have an AWESOME weekend!

Talk with you soon!

-Jonathan

Just two nights ago found me back home from a 5 day trip down to Tennessee for the Seventh-Day Adventist General Youth Conference in Chattanooga. WOW what an awesome event! I met a lot of awesome people, learned a lot of awesome things and was all and all, extremely blessed. On Sabbath I sang in the men’s choir! That was awesome! I didn’t know what I was doing at first but after being around a bunch of guys who knew it like it was nothing, I caught on! It was great! :)

And now.. It’s time to hit the road again!

I’ll be heading out at 3:50 AM this morning to catch the 4:20 bus to Chicago where I’ll be hopping on a plane for California! My good friend Sterling is going to be picking me up and I’ll be spending a few short days in Sacramento before picking up Matt Geri who’ll be arriving a few days later. From there, we’ll be heading up too..

Lake Tahoe!

Matt and I are going to be staying just a block away from the Heavenly Ski Resort! *grins*.. 2 Weeks of Snowboarding! Well, snowboarding and building empires.. we’re going to be working on some new products of ours, working out the details, and preparing for the rest of 2006.

Yeah, I know.. it IS a vacation.. and, the first week especially, it’s all about relaxing and having fun! *smiles*.. The whole internet entrepreneur stuff isss fun for us though.. ;).

We’ll be gone from the 6th to around the 22nd. When we get back.. *smiles again*.. they’ll be some exciting new things to share with you guys ;).

And with that.. I’m off to get a little bit of sleep! Hope you all had an AWESOME Holiday Season and are ready for an exciting new year :). 2006 is gonna be a big one my friends!

Take care, God bless, and talk with you soon!

-Jonathan

And so without further ado, let’s take a look back over 2005 and share in a few of my experiences. Lights. Camera..

January 12, 2005. I stepped off the curb at L.A. International Airport.

I loaded all my luggage into the SUV. 5 Minutes later found me on the road with Amae Allen headed to my new home in Venice, California. This was our first meeting. Amae and I met through a mutual friend who knew her through her father, Robert Allen (he’s written a few awesome books, check ‘em out). Amae was looking for someone to help her out with some web design work and I was looking for a place to stay. A perfect match! To top that off, not only is Amae a vegetarian like me, but she’s an incredible vegan chef.

I spent just around 2 months there. I learned how to design webpages in CSS, learned a LOT about web hosting (hostingfrog), learned a lot about how to make delicious and healthy meals (now to apply that knowledge ;), and, I even learned a lot about myself.

Amae took great care of me while I was there. I had my own little room, only a few blocks away from Venice Beach and the boardwalk. I had plenty of awesome food and a lot of time to work on web design and brush up on my photoshop skills. You can read back in January of 2005 to get an idea of some of the things I was up too back then ;). I wrapped up things in Venice and then it was on the road again.

March 15, 2005. I got on the bus in Manila, Philippines.

It was humid! After meeting up with my girlfriend and a few new friends of mine in LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), we boarded the plane and were off to the philippines on a 10 day mission project!

THAT was an experience. We all worked very VERY hard and it was worth every minute of our time and more. Of the 130+ young people that went, we divided our efforts towards building projects, medical projects, and ministry projects through things like ‘vacation bible school’ for the kids. The medical team alone serviced over 6000 people while we were there. It was incredible!

I worked with the kids for most of the time. My awesome new friends and I (we called ourselves the ‘specials’!) put together some great programs and had a LOT of fun. On our last day, we brought all the kids together and had over 1000 kids in one HUGE area!

More than half the kids on the trip were Canadian ;).. *smiles*.. Those guys were so much fun. One of my best memories is the final program we put on for the kids. Towards the end of that program we all went through and sang our national anthems. The philippine kids did theirs first. Wow. 1000+ kids singing in harmony. Beautiful. The Canadians went next. A good friend of mine, Donny, wore my American Flag leather jacket, his back with the embroidered flag facing the audience.. *grins*.. And THEN.. it was the American’s turn. Yeah. It was bad. The Canadians had to help us with OUR anthem. Ok, so many of them were in a choir and they had a lot of practice, but still. It was so much fun :).

It was tough leaving. I really really miss those kids. One of the Philippino boys, JT, sticks out most in my memory. He was an awesome kid, hope he’s still doing well :). You’ve got a bright future ahead of you JT, all the very best to you :).

March 30th, 2005. Welcome To Portland Oregon.

The airport in Portland is beautiful. As you make your way to the baggage claim, you go by a bunch of beautiful artwork, spread all throughout the airport. It’s all very well designed and makes you want to smile, reflective of a city that has a charm about it which can’t quite be described.

Portland really is beautiful. Look back through my blog entries and you’ll find some pictures. The waterfalls, the trees, the grass, the sky, the architecture, and even the people. Ted and I described the people as having more of a ‘rustic’ beauty.. *smiles*.. but it’s still a beauty ;).

Ted Schneck. He’s someone I won’t ever be forgetting. Ted’s right up there as one of the most influential people in the past 3 years of my life. It was during my short month-and-a-halfish stay up in Oregon that my life as an entrepreneur started to take a serious turn for the better.

I began making money.. passively.

There’s a difference between making money, and making it passively. I had turned down high paying jobs up in the past because I knew there was something better. Ted helped me take all the things I’d been learning, all my experiences, all the foundations that had been prepared and built up by the many other wonderful people in my past, Ted helped me take all that and move things up a notch. I opened up a Google AdSense account, put it up on a few new websites of mine, and, taking the new concepts that Ted taught me, I began making money. Life picked up its pace.

June 9th, 2005. 19 Years Old.

I’d just helped my dear girlfriend and her family finish up a move from Arizona out to the beautiful state of Oklahoma. Today was my birthday. Joslyn woke me up, gave me a good morning hug, and that was the start of an awesome day. We had breakfast and a really awesome birthday dinner. I had a great time :). There’s nothing like being around people you love and who you know love you.

That was the first time I’d been away from my family for my birthday. That part of it was tough. I missed seeing my mom. I missed being around my brothers. Things work out though. Things worked out and I’m growing up, even though it feels like it happens so slowly sometimes. Joslyn has really made a huge difference in my life. Getting the chance to spend some time with her around my birthday and help out her family was awesome.. I love you so much Joslyn :).

September 15, 2005. The Internet Marketing Main Event.

Phoenix, Arizona. The weather was beautiful. My dear friends and mentors, Donna Fox and Paulie Sabol, were hosting two events simultaneously! Donna was running the ‘Credit Millionaire Mastery’ event and Paulie was running the ‘Internet Marketing Main Event’. Both events were INCREDIBLE and I was honored to be a part of them. I learned a LOT and met some incredible people at the event.

On stage, Paulie introduced me as a young man earning $4000+ a month with AdSense. Yeah. I’d gone a long ways since Ted’s :). I’d broken personal record after personal record and there was still no sign of stopping.

Things calmed down since then. A few of my sites stopped doing so well and a bunch of other priorities caught up my time. That didn’t matter though. I now had the knowledge, the knowing that I could make money and do it again, over and over, and that knowledge was priceless.

December 2, 2005. $1000 in 24 Hours.

I took the knowledge I’d been gaining and put it into action! December 2nd is a day I won’t be forgetting anytime soon :). That $1000 was made through the sales of my very first product! All the things I’d been learning and taking action finally lead me up to a point where it was time to take it up to the next level. I did it! I created my first product and it was an incredible success.

I owe that success to my friends, to the people who supported me. I would NOT have been have able to do it without you guys! It’s the incredible people I’ve been meeting, the relationships I’ve been building, that all came together and gave me the support I needed to step out and take action. Wow, what an experience that was :). Today, December 27th, that product finished its short life cycle, selling out the last of my limited 35 copies.

December 27, 2005. Today.

And that brings me to this very moment. The weather outside is beautiful. I’ve been living in Northwest Indiana since the middle of June, 2005. Just a few days ago, I moved into a new apartment, which I’ll be sharing with my dear friend Matt Geri when we get back from Tahoe towards the end of January. I’ve spent the past few days getting things moved in and organized. It’s gone well :). I had an awesome Christmas!

In just a few minutes I’ll be picking up my car from the body shop, had to get the heat fixed ;). The pastor from my local Adventist Church is gonna be taking me over to pick it up and then we’re going to talk about some plans for the youth group in this next year. I’m looking forward to that! Pastor Shepherd’s an awesome guy.

Yesterday, I wrapped up a few of my niche website projects. As many of you guys know, I’m really strong into niche marketing right now :). I look for needs in the market and build websites, products, communities, etc, to meet those needs. Yesterday, I added in a bunch of new content to my cash advance website. I also did a bunch of updating on my debt blogging site. And finally, I did some work on moldblogger.com. There’s a rather ‘humorous’ post by a new writer of mine.. he uhm.. well ;). Read the ‘mold jokes’ post for yourself and see.

It’s been an emotional year for me

Anytime that you have a lot of growth, you have to have just as many if not more challenges. I’ve definitely had those and more times than I’d like, they’ve gotten the best of me. 2005 came with a LOT of growth and just as much pain. Those challenges, though, are what help you grow. You can’t grow without them!

I had some rough experiences. I had projects that didn’t work out anything like I wanted them too, I had things that I dealt with within my family, and the biggest challenges of all were within my personal life. They can reallly really get you.

It’s the times when I’m feeling the most down, though, that I really just have to stop and think about things and put them in perspective. I don’t have anything to complain about. I’ve been given SO much opportunity. I’ve been blessed to meet so many incredible people. I’ve been able to learn, absorb and take action. I’ve been absolutely blessed and I can’t complain.

I’m excited about next year!

There are a few key things I’m setting out to accomplish next year. The rest is stuff that I’m sure I couldn’t even begin to imagine yet :).

First, I’m taking my very first ‘vacation’ as an independent adult. (Wow, what a phrase!)

Matt Geri and I are taking a 2 week vacation up to Lake Tahoe, California, to go snowboarding at the Heavenly Ski Resort. I’m REALLY looking forward to that. We’re going to have a lot of fun and do a lot of planning :). 2006 is going to be a huge year for both of us.

I’m creating more products next year. In January I’ll be launching my second product, which I’ll be sharing more about as I get the chance. January is a huge month for information products and I’m excited to be kicking it off with an offering of my own. Look forward to that :)!

I may be speaking at a seminar! My good friend and mentor, Paulie Sabol, is working with another seminar next June, and he’s invited me to be a speaker at that event. We haven’t worked out the details yet and I haven’t decided if I’m going to go for it yet, but the opportunity is there. It’s incredible opportunity and however it works out, I’m excited about it :).

And finally, in 2006, I’ve set a financial goal for myself. My goal is to earn $250,000 in net income by the end of 2006. I want to be able to give away more money in 2006 through tithe and other things I come up with than I’ve made in my entirely life, put together. That’ll have me giving away close to $50,000 over the course of 2006. I’m REALLY excited about that goal and excited about making it happen. 2006 is going to be an incredible new year and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take it on :).

I’m also excited about sharing the next year with YOU guys!

In 2005 I met so many incredible people. I look forward to sharing my experiences and spending time with each of you, many of whom I know well, some I don’t, and some I haven’t even had a chance to meet yet. It’s the people we meet in life that make all the difference, that shape us, that make us who we are. I’ve been honoured and priviledged to get to know each and every one of you. I look forward eagerly to sharing in YOUR experiences and in watching your growth througout the next year.

And with that, I’m off. I’ll be checking back on around the 3rd or so of January, 2006. I’m off to Tennessee for a few days and then California!

2006 will be what we make it, so let’s make 2006 the very BEST year of our lives :).

Looking forward to it! Cya next year!

-Jonathan Wold