We all have skeletons in our digital closet, and today I’m flinging open the doors to some of my, ahem, earlier forays into the world of making money online.
Back in the days when PageRank was king and SEO felt like the wild west, I dabbled in creating content specifically for selling backlinks. These were created back when building backlinks was a major SEO focus, and let’s just say that my posts weren’t exactly award-winning pieces. I’ve worked on cleaning my virtual house since then, by moving all of them to draft mode. That, my dear blog readers, is how I ended up with more than 300 draft posts. LMAO.
As I browsed through each one and clicking the Delete link, I realized how bizarrely sincere I was in each of these short paragraphs. I always manage to sprinkle in a sentence or two of my life story, while linking to some odd keywords that were totally off-WebGrrrl-y.
So I thought, wouldn’t it be cute to share these cringe-worthy keyword-stuffed content instead of dumping them into the digital abyss? What’s a little self-deprecation eh?
Let’s play a game, then! Here’s part 1 of my soul-selling posts for your purview, with notations (labeled Life and Fluff). Note: Headings are the titles for each blog post. As you read them, try to guess which words were sold as backlinks!
Investment alternative
(Life) In my stint as a lecturer, I had the opportunity to teach the basics of international business. One of the subjects I touched on was the international monetary systems, and it is for this reason that I understood the importance of investing in gold as a way to maintain wealth of an individual as well as of a nation. (Fluff) Even when gold investments and gold as currency began hundreds of years ago, gold is still very much a reputable investment, as comparable to stock and property investments. Yet, even as gold were once used as a means of currency exchange, it is better treated as a long-term investment, and there are always pros and cons of investing in gold, whether you buy gold coins or obtain gold in other forms. Reputable investment companies allow you to manage these commodity investment to ensure that your invested value in gold is safe through reliable investment programs.
Fashion comfort
(Life) If I was your shopping partner, I would be the most boring person to be with because I feel like I don’t have any fashion sense at all. (Fluff) I’m more of a person who likes to stick with the classic look (note that I used the word classic, not old), and I will not have any of those flourescent-coloured clothings or flowery looking platform shoes or something like that.
Books, glorious books
(Life) I’m so fortunate that I was brought up in a family that loves to read books. My dad was a collector of Readers’ Digest books, while my mom loved her romance novels. By the time us kids grew up, our rooms were also filled with bestseller novels. Unfortunately, when we moved back to our kampung and brought our books over, most of them went AWOL. I’m not gonna name names but I’m sure there are certain relatives of ours out there who were the culprits for our receding book collection 🙂
(NO FLUFF!)
My first apartment search
(Life) My first encounter with having to find an apartment for myself was when I first arrived in Tuscaloosa, to continue my junior year in the University of Alabama. I arrived from Malaysia just in time for the Martin Luther King, Jr. public holiday. Just my luck, most of everything were closed — the international students office, banks and nearby shops, these three places where I needed go most, are unavailable. Luckily, as I was walking along the streetwalk by the closed shop, I saw a stack of free catalogues showing off the available apartments that I can rent nearby the campus and around town. I was glad that the phone calls I made during that day were all answered, and by the next working day I was out of my college hostel rental of USD20 a day, and off to stay in the apartment of my choosing.
(Fluff) How the Web changed all that. If I had access to the same amount of information as I had today, I could have easily picked up an apartment thousands of miles away while I was still in Malaysia so that I wouldn’t be stuck like I did. There is a site called Connected Rentals that specializes in Chicago IL apartments listing, so if you’re one of Chicago apartment finders out there, count yourself lucky to have a web site like this available to you.
Nesting period?
(Life) I am in that typical third trimester mood again. What do they call it? Nesting period? It’s when you’re in the mood to clean up and clear up everything in my home to make way for the baby who’s coming this June. (Fluff) It’s lucky that we have an old wives’s tale about not handling hardware or knocking nails and stuff at home. Otherwise, I’d be out buying that cordless Festool drill and sander I’ve been seeing around lately.
The states I missed
(Life) One of the things I wished I was able to do was to travel as much as I could while I was in the US. I’ve only been to the north eastern (NY, Washington DC) and south eastern states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida), and never really to other states, unless you count plane transits as a visit (then Texas and California should be in!). I was eager to visit the other eastern states like South Carolina as my late dad visited the place as well. (Fluff) I heard the beaches are great there and they have fantastic deals on stays like those Hilton Head rentals.
Acnes and adolescent
(Life) During my adolescent years, I was clueless about trying to look nice and didn’t really care about acne because I had no one to impress, being in a girls-only school. But once I changed to co-ed the next year, I started feeling self-conscious about my skin; my forehead particularly was pretty acne prone. (Fluff) Although I didn’t require the best acne treatment, it was the time in my life when I started getting serious with cleansing my face with the right facial cleanser. Life is easier now, I’m not so acne-prone anymore.
Pens as promo material
(Life) Last year, the batik business my mom was running finally got theirs own registered domain name, rothmanbatik.com, thanks to the sponsorship of yours truly. I’m still in the midst of building their online store, with PayPal as the payment gateway. So far, no response and no sales due to lack of online marketing on my side. (Fluff) I mentioned months ago what a neat idea it was if the batik business my mom was running went and got some personalized pens as a way to market their product. I think my mom should get a little serious and invest in some.
Getting my son to blog
(Life) I know it might sound crazy to some of you, but I’m currently teaching my 7-year old son to blog. (Fluff) He kept bugging me about wanting to buy some of the expensive toys he sees in the shop. So, instead of just saying no, I told him he could probably earn his way to buying them with his own hard work. Who knows — he might even improve on his English.
Collector
(Life) I’m never much of a collector, but when I was young used to start collecting pretty clothing buttons. realizing for a while that it wouldn’t add much value, I stopped collecting. When NKOTB mania hit during the late 80s, I started to collect everything that has to do with them. (Fluff) If I were loaded I’d probably want to switch to collecting high-end watches like a Rolex Submariner and such like Jay-Z and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Happy kid
(Life) My son sure is feeling pretty happy this week. He’s been getting present from just about every other relative we had, and it’s not even his birthday. Two of his favorite gifts currently is his Mickey Mouse watch and Spider-Man cap, courtesy of his ah po Norin and aunty Bibi. (Fluff) I’m just glad he’s still seven years old — if he was 18, do you think he’ll demand for more elaborate gifts, like Sector watches?
Argh, enough. My drafts are now down to 219. Part 2 coming soon, I promise!
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