iWeb Review

Even though I can write HTML code and CSS using software like Dreamweaver, I am very impressed by Apple's iWeb app. It makes website creation fast and easy. Most of the building process consists of dragging and dropping elements into your page layout. There is very little HTML involved. You should definitely use iWeb to build a website if you are a web design newbie.

I may not be a beginner web designer but I have to give iWeb credit. I remodeled my custom art website in only a couple days using iWeb. The results were great! The new site layout loads fast, looks good and is easy to use. iWeb keeps everything simple!

For the more advanced users, iWeb offers something called an HTML snippet. Basically, you drag one of these into your page where you want custom HTML to appear. iWeb renders this additional code as an iframe within your page. I have used HTML snippets to place HTML code, javascript code and PHP code. Good stuff.

I recommend using iWeb for building your next website or remodeling a current one.

Check out iWeb's website!

Andre Nickatina - Train With No Love

This song is sick. It's called "Train With No Love" and it's by Andre Nickatina on his "Conversation With A Devil" album.

I couldn't find a music video for it. I didn't try real hard but this video is good enough. At least you can chill to the beat.

Rob Zombie - The Ballad Of Resurrection Music Video

This is an old song but I've been hearing it on my ipod lately. I looked up the video and I think it's pretty cool. Rob Zombie's insane.

Free Drop B Electric Guitar Samples And Loops

I recorded some electric guitar samples using Drop B tuning and GarageBand. I played around with the loops by chopping them up, compressing them and adding effects.

If you want to play around with these Drop B electric guitar samples, then click here to download them now for FREE!

DOMINATED BY DR. PHIL!!!

I was just browsing youtube and came across this video about this chick texting while driving. First, Dr. Phil narrates the girl's recent driving accidents and you can see how much the girl loves the attention. She doesn't realize she's about to get owned!

Funny stuff.

How To Use Drop C Guitar And GarageBand To Make Powerful Riffs

If you haven't tried Drop C Tuning yet, then you have to start now! It's just like drop D, only every string is dropped down one note from that.

Drop C Tuning: C-G-C-F-A-D, where "D" is the skinniest string. Piece of cake.

Once you are in Drop C Tuning, it's time to start shredding! Open up GarageBand or some other audio editing program and connect your guitar output to the input of your computer. In my case, I have a Digitech RP 250 that serves as a middleman.

When creating a powerful electric guitar riff, you need to build a simple repeating bassline. This will serve as the foundation for the track. On top of that, lay down a couple of guitar tracks. Make one of them bass-heavy, and the other one light. In other words, one riff is played on the lower strings, C and G and the other guitar riff is played on the upper strings, F, A and D. Compress each of the guitars differently. I have a rock bass compression on the low guitar in this song and I have a telephone effect compressor on the other guitar.

Choose a drum kit and create a badass drum beat like the one I have on this track. To make it sound more stadium-like, add some reverb and compress the entire track with a punchy bass effect.

Play around with it. The idea is to keep all the instruments separate, so that you can pick them out one by one. However, at the same time you gotta make sure everything blends well. It's a challenge but the final product is worth the work!

Freestyle Hip-Hop Beats Online

Hey guys! I just finished creating my freestyle rap beats website. It is called Beat99.com! All of the beats on Beat99 are only 99 cents each! When you find a beat that you like, all you have to do is press download now and you will receive the file in your email instantly.

There's all kinds of different freestyle rap instrumentals on Beat99. Some are funky, some are serious, some are upbeat, some are aggressive...SEE FOR YOURSELF!

I created all of the beats myself using GarageBand, idrum, Sony Acid Pro, Acoustica Mixcraft and Propellerhead Reason.

Let me know what you think about the beats and use the contact form on Beat99 to leave some feedback and ideas for future beats.

Thanks!

Discover What RottenToons.com Custom Art Can Do For You!

YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT ROTTENTOONS.COM CUSTOM ART!

A unique design by RottenToons.com has three main benefits:

1. Your custom design is unique.
2. Your custom art is catchy.
3. Your design is personalized.

Since your custom design is unique, you won't see it on other storefront signs, websites or clothing. Since your design will be catchy, you can be sure that it will stick in the minds of your audience. This is crucial for repeat business and fans!

If you don't know much about us, then check us out at:

http://www.RottenToons.com/

We create custom logos, cartoons, team mascots, tattoos, t-shirt designs AND MORE!

You have nothing to lose because your design quote is FREE!

To receive a personal design quote in LESS THAN 24 HOURS, you need to visit:

http://www.RottenToons.com/contact.php

CHECK US OUT!

http://www.RottenToons.com/

The Benefits Of Performing A System Re-Format With Windows

If you are like me, you load your computer with files, installations, media and temporary files. This creates strain on your Windows performance. The results are a slow-processing computer. The following problems will occur:

1. Applications will take longer to open.
2. Windows will take longer to boot.
3. Switching between running applications will take longer.
4. Transferring data will take longer.
5. The start menu will function slowly.

When your computer gets to this point, you must reformat Windows!

Reformatting Windows will erase all data stored on the main hard drive and will install a fresh copy of Windows. The result is a dramatic increase in your computer's performance.

The benefits of performing a system re-format with Windows are as follows:

1. Applications will open more quickly.
   When you open software, games, pictures, songs and videos, you don't have to wait as long.
   
   
2. Windows will boot in less time.
   When your computer is flooded, Windows takes all day to open. Once you see the Windows desktop, you still have to wait for all kinds of back-end processes to load. This makes me not even want to turn on the computer in the first place! So, by reformatting your Windows PC, you will receive a much faster boot time.
   
   
3. Switching between running applications will take less time.
   When you switch between running applications by either minimizing or pressing alt + tab, there will be much less of a delay.
   
   
4. Transferring data will complete faster.
   When you transfer data from one folder/drive to another folder/drive, you won't have to wait as long for it to finish.
   
   
5. The start menu will function better.
   When you click on the start menu, it will load the list faster. Scrolling through the list will also be much smoother.

Now go reformat your PC!

Reverb Guitar Groove With Mellow Feel

Listen to this reverb electric guitar track that I made using the Digitech RP250 effects pedal and GarageBand.

I recorded three different guitars to make this song. One of the guitars has a crunchy distortion effect to give it a gloomy sound. The second guitar comes in every 4 measures and sends a panning echo across both speakers. The third guitar is slightly adjusted to the left speaker to give the song more dimension. All of the guitars have a different reverb effect.

The drum beat is a simple hip-hop style beat that sways back and forth. I increased the low-end bass using an equalizer to make the kicks sound more punchy.

Lastly, I added a warm basement bass to the track. It changes between two riffs throughout the whole song.

This song is mellow and relaxing. I made it at 80 BPM.

Please share this post and show other people my songs! Feel free to post comments too!

Choose Blogger.com For Your Blog Service

If you haven't heard of Blogger.com, then you need to read this post. Blogger is a free blog creation service owned by Google. It's a great tool for creating clean blogs and it's very easy to use.

The reasons why you should choose Blogger.com for your blog service are:

1. As stated earlier, Blogger.com is owned by Google.
   This means that you can trust Blogger's servers, support and features.
   
   
2. The Blogger interface is simple.
   There are navigation tabs at the top left of your window. Each tab has subcategories. For example, there is a "Posting" tab which drops down some options such as "New Post", "Edit Posts", etc.
   
   
3. Google indexes new Blogger posts very fast.
   When I create a new post on yoTyler.com, I see it on Google within two days. If you are looking to make some money from your blog by monetizing your traffic, then this benefit is crucial.
   
   
4. Blogger creates SEO-friendly pages.
   Once you publish your post, Blogger creates the page title name by putting hyphens in between your title words. So, you should name your blog posts something that know your audience will type in. For example, if you name your post, "How To Build Upper-Arm Muscle Fast", then Blogger will create the page name as: "how-to-build-upper-arm-muscle-fast.html". That's perfect for search engines!
   
   
5. Blogger allows labels for each post.
   Labels are like categories. They help to group similar posts and they are a great way to introduce more keywords for your post. Using the example above, I would make the labels something like this: "build-muscle, build-arm-muscle, upper-arm-muscle, how-to-build-muscle, etc."
   
   
6. Blogger is very easy to use.
   You can edit your template right from Blogger's interface. If at any point you screw up your entire blog layout, you can revert it back to its default look and feel. Everything is laid out nicely for you.
   
   
7. Blogger auto-saves your post while you write it.
   Blogger auto-saves your current post in increments as you type it. This is a great feature. If you lose your internet connection or your computer crashes or you suddenly have to leave...YOU ARE COVERED!
   

Go To Blogger.com Now>>

Electric Guitar Hip-Hop/Rock Track Made With Digitech RP250 And GarageBand

Check out this electric guitar track that I made using GarageBand and the Digitech RP250. It is a very simple song. I layered a few guitar tracks with different compressors. The idea was to blend everything together.

The guitars all have distortion and chorus effects on them. Some guitars have delays and reverbs. You can also hear some sounds alternating between the left and right speakers.

The drum beat has an oldschool hip hop feel with an aggressive kick drum. I increased the bass of the kick drum to give the song a deeper, more gangster feel. I think the song moves nicely. Even though it is slow, I changed it up a lot by chopping pieces out at certain times.

If you like this electric guitar hip-hop track, make some comments and share this post! I will be happy to make more of these if you guys have any ideas.

Thanks!

How To Write A Good Blog Post: 3 Rules

I am not an expert when it comes to blogging nor do I make a full time living off of blog revenue. But I do know how to write a good blog post.

When you create a new post to your blog, you need to apply the following rules:

1. Keep your titles descriptive, yet brief.
   You want to target the keywords that your audience may be typing into search engines. To find some good keywords for your post, use the Wordtracker free keyword tool. For example, the title of this blog post is "How To Write A Good Blog Post". This will target visitors who type in "how to write a good blog post" in the search engines. It will also target visitors who type "how to write a blog post", "write a good blog post", "good blog post", etc. It is straight to the point, it is clear and it is brief.
   
   
2. Make sure to use strong keywords in your blog post content.
   After you find some keywords relative to your post topic, make sure to spread them around in your content as you write. Sometimes I add more keywords into my content after I finish writing it. Think of the blog post as the top of a cupcake and you need to sprinkle the shots (your keywords) into your frosting (your content.)
   
   
3. Provide value to your visitors.
   This means that you should create posts that can provide a benefit, service or product for the visitor. Don't create posts that narrate your daily activities, like "I Just Ate An Apple!"...UNLESS you can tie them into some kind of benefit for the visitor. Like, "I Just Ate An Apple - Find Out Why You Should Eat Them Too!". After telling your audience that you ate an apple, you can tell them the health benefits of apples, different types of apples, apple decorations, etc. The key is to educate your visitors.

Those are The Three Rules To Writing A Good Blog Post. As long as you apply the rules above, you will have success with your blog(s).

Twhirl, A Great Twitter Widget

If you have a Twitter account, then you need to download Twhirl. Twhirl is a Twitter.com widget for your desktop. It's simple, easy to use and it eliminates the need to navigate to Twitter.com in your web browser.

Benefits of Twhirl:

1. It saves your login info. I don't mean that it auto-fills the forms and then you press submit. I mean that it really saves your login info. This means that when you open Twhirl, it logs into your account and you can start posting tweets IMMEDIATELY!!!
2. The file is small. You don't have to worry about Twhirl taking up a lot of hard drive space.
3. Twhirl makes everything simple. You can reply to tweets, send direct messages, add to favorites and retweet tweets with only one click!
4. It's small. The default dimensions of Twhirl are about 350 pixels by 500 pixels. This makes everything more manageable and easy.
5. IT'S FREE!!!
   

Check out the screenshot of Twhirl below and download the widget by clicking here.

Using Free Downloads And Aweber.com To Capture Visitors

I can't teach much in this article because I am brand new to Aweber. But I can at least tell you what I have done so far to achieve a few subscribers to the RottenToons.com newsletter.

If you check out RottenToons.com, you can see for yourself that a small hovering window fades in over the website layout after a couple of seconds. This window has two fields, name and email address. It also has a submit button.

Instead of simply requesting that the visitor signs up for our newsletter, I decided to offer a free tattoo ebook download to anyone who enters their name and email address. Once they press submit, they will get a confirmation email. Once they confirm the link in that email, they will get another email with a link to the tattoo ebook.

This method is great because it is beneficial to both parties. The visitor gets something useful for free and we get a new subscriber to our newsletter. I signed up for Aweber just yesterday and put the ebook download script on our site a few hours ago. I have already captured six subscribers. Not bad for a newbie!

Blog Updates

I should not be awake at this hour but since I couldn't sleep, I decided to update my blog layout.

I added a funny cartoon face tiled background using CSS. I also put a thick solid black border around the main DIV container. This helps the main content stand out from the background.

I also put an adsense link unit at the top of this blog. I think it looks good there. Hopefully it will yield a high CTR.

That's it for now. Time for bed!

Creating Cartoon Faces Using Photobooth.app

If you haven't heard of Mac's Photobooth App, then you need to check it out! This thing is great. It uses your webcam to capture your picture and you can add all kinds of cool effects to yourself!

They have glow effects, black and white effects, strobe effects, charcoal effects and much more!

By playing around with this tool, a buddy of mine made himself look goofy on the webcam. His features were exaggerated. I decided to screen shot the image of him by going to video>take snapshot.

When you take a snapshot, the application does a "print screen" capture of the image and saves it as a jpeg file to your desktop.

Once you have the jpeg file, you can open it in an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. Once you have imported it, you can trace it, color it and funk it up! Check out the final product:



If you can't figure out how to make your faces into funny cartoon pictures, then send me an email and I will do the work for you for a low price.

Mac App Review: Fluid.app

If you are a mac user like me, then you need to download the Fluid App. This thing is great! The Fluid App allows you to make standalone versions of specific websites. In other words, you can make an icon in your dock that will open a specific website in its own window that you can scale to any size you want.

This is perfect for services such as Playlist.com, Pandora and Facebook Chat.

If you want to make a standalone version of your Facebook Chat, then simply download Fluid, install the app and then open it up.

Once you open the application, you will see a window that looks like the one below:



In the URL field, you need to paste the pop-up chat URL. To get this URL, login to facebook, open up the chat window in the bottom right corner, click options and then click "popout chat".

Once the new pop-up window opens, copy the URL of that page and paste it into the URL field of the Fluid App.

For the name field, that's up to you. Call it something you will easily recognize, like "Facebook Chat". I usually leave the icon as the website favicon. It's usually good enough.

Once your new standalone website app has been created, you can drag it to your dock so that it is always there for easy access. Enjoy!

How To Choose A Great Blog Topic

This one is simple.  YOU MUST CHOOSE A TOPIC YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT!

Having a genuine passion and interest in your blog topic will keep you posting new, informative content.  Since you will be updating your blog regularly, it is mandatory that you enjoy what you are writing about.  I have tried making bullshit blogs about random topics in the past.  I thought I could scoop up some ad revenue with a bunch of random niche sites.

THESE ALL FAILED!  This is because I did not truely care about the website content.  I was simply making these sites to lure people into clicking my ads.  

Now I stick to topics I enjoy such as drawing, digital music production, guitars, making money online, blogging, etc.

So, when choosing a blog topic, make sure that you will enjoy writing about that subject.

How I Make Money With Google Adsense

I make money everyday from Google Adsense.  It's simple.  I create some ad units, copy the javascript code and paste that code in various locations amongst multiple websites.

The best way to make money from Google Adsense is to create unique niche topic websites and blogs.  Choose a topic or multiple topics that you find interesting and start writing unique informative content for people to find on the web.

Make sure to include keywords related to your topic.  Think of your site as a big web or a net.  The larger the net is, the more traffic you will trap.  In other words, fill your site with as much juicy content as possible and load it with extremely targeted keywords.

For example, in this post right here, I have used the term Google Adsense multiple times naturally.  This will bring traffic from search engines.

If you are having trouble coming up with some good keywords, then use the wordtracker free keyword tool.  This thing will give you a list of keywords that are related to your niche.  You don't even need the full version of Word Tracker!  Use the link below:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Get Some Extra Spending Money With Infolinks

If you haven't heard of infolinks.com, it is a website that allows you to host ads on your websites.  It is similar to Adsense, in the fact that if the user clicks on the ad, then you make money.  The difference is that the infolinks.com ads are embeded into your content.

In other words, when you install the infolinks javascript code, it will generate clickable text within your content.  If a user clicks on that link, you make money.  It's simple.

Sign up for a publisher account at infolinks.com right now.  It's free!  I started earning money right away.  They even pay by paypal if you want!

How To Register A Domain Name With Godaddy.com

If you are looking to put yourself online, then you need a domain name.  This will be your .com, .net, .us, .tv, .org, etc.  

When picking a domain name, your best bet is to choose something short, catchy and to-the-point.  I will get into domain name tips in a later post.  For now, I want to talk about Godaddy.com.

Godaddy.com is a great place to buy domain names and hosting.  They are cheap, reliable and their interface is easy to use.

Go to Godaddy.com and type in the name of the domain that you want to buy.  Each domain name will cost you less than ten dollars per year!

Godaddy also suggests domain names based on keywords that you type in.  This feature is good if you can't come up with a domain name that isn't already taken.

GO REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN NAMES!

Using Samples in GarageBand

Using samples on GarageBand is a great way to produce catchy beats and songs. To use sample loops, simply browse the GarageBand samples library and choose sounds you like.

Once you have found a good sample, just drag it into the track bay area. You can then modify the sample track by adding effects such as track reverb, track echo, distortion, chrous, flanged and much more.

You can also chop up the samples and rearrange the sections to create unique sounds and rhythms.

You should definitely download and install the GarageBand jam packs from apple.com. These will provide you with loads of great samples and loops.

Have fun!

Blogger.com Mac Dashboard Widget

I just installed the Blogger.com Mac Dashboard Widget!  This thing works great!

It is small, quick-loading and extremely simple to use.  It also publishes posts much more quickly than using the Blogger.com interface in an internet browser.

The only down side is that you cannot post pictures using the Blogger.com Mac Dashboard Widget.  However, you can post links to pictures using services like TwitPic.com.

Use the link below to download the Blogger.com Mac Dashboard Widget FREE!

http://www.google.com/macwidgets/

Adsense 336x280 Rectangle Blocks

Hey guys. I just put a new Adsense unit on this blog. The Adsense unit that I chose is a 336 x 280 rectangular block. This unit type is proven to have the highest click through rate (CTR) out of all the Adsense unit sizes.

To match the template, I kept the background white, the border white, the link titles blue, the text black and the URL black. I read that having the standard blue link, #0000ff, you will get a higher CTR because people are used to seeing blue text as being a link.

I also gave this ad unit a unique channel name, that way I can check to see how much of my Adsense revenue is coming from this blog.

Hopefully I will make some decent revenue with this new Adsense block unit!

Using idrum with GarageBand

I am in bed and about to pass out but first I need to tell you guys a little bit about using idrum with GarageBand.

Idrum can be used as a standalone application or as a plugin with GarageBand. I installed idrum and downloaded some free drum kit samples.

To use idrum with garageband, you will need to install the application in the same location as GarageBand on your mac hard drive.

Once idrum is installed, simply create a new software instrument track and select drum kits, then select idrum.

Once you choose your idrum drum kit and tempo, you can create your beat.

Once you are satisfied with a beat, you just have to click and drag the "drag midi" icon on the bottom right of idrum and drag it to your GarageBand idrum track.

I have made some very catchy hip hop rap beats uaing idrum and I have only had the software for a few days. This is a great tool for all music producers looking to lay down an original drum beat on their GarageBand songs.

Let me know what you guys think about idrum and be sure to post links to great idrum drum kit samples.

Good night!

Chitka Tips

Hey guys. I recently installed chitika premium ads on my main site www.rottentoons.com. I am having very little luck so far,as my average daily income is at about 6% of my average daily adsense revenue.

If you guys have any tips for optimizing chitika premium ads, then please share them by using the comments box below.

So far, I have changed the ad colors to match my site, removed the borders and used the mega units. Not much luck.

I read that having blue links for chitika ads increases CTR but I need my links to be red to match the Rotten Toons evil art theme.

If you haven't checked out my custom art website, rottentoons.com, then feel free to check it out and get a feel for what we are about.

Thanks in advance.

Back To Blogging!

It's about time I update this damn blog! I waste so much time contemplating new ideas for Rotten Toons when I really should be blogging!

I just downloaded Blog Writer on my iPod touch. The full version of the app is only $1.99. This should help improve my iPod/iPhone typing skills...I just got this thing last week!

I figure I can create blog posts at night on bed, since it takes me 45 min to an hour to fall asleep.

I plan to cover many different topics on this blog. In the past, I used this blogger.com blog to post new art. I will still do this. However, I will also cover topics related to: facebook, twitter, iphone's/iPods, adsense, chitika, affiliate marketing, making money online, drawing tutorials, website reviews, music production and much more!

All day long my mine keeps running. I might as well post some shit on here and if you guys are bored and want some cool links, you can come here and check it out.

Keep checkin back and subscribe to my RSS feed. There should be a link to it in the sidebar somewhere.