Well, I changed up some things with the website. Now I don’t have to worry about having to put an image for each post. I don’t have to worry about writing a stupid summary for each post. A ton of time wasted is no longer.

Hopefully what I did change will make it easier for me to update the site. If so, you can expect that I will update more often.

I also think it will be better for the readers as well. Now you don’t have to click on each entry to read the past couple of blog posts. It will all be right there on the first page.

I was trying too hard in the past to make it look more like a “professional” magazine style website. This is not a professional website though, it is my blog. After using a wordpress theme as a base, pretty much everything you see I created in some way or another. For someone who doesn’t really know what he is doing, I think it looks pretty good.

Until next time….

After writing the post called Creating My Website: Introduction recently, I felt the first thing I should do is give you my reasons for even wanting to create a website.  There are many reasons I am sure I could come up with but the following are the most obvious to me at this point in time:

1.  Express yourself!

One thing the internet has done is allow anyone to be able to share their thoughts.  You can write about anything your heart desires.  How you go about doing it is your choice and will be what separates your website from the rest.

2.  It’s fun

It can be truly exciting when you are writing about the topics you enjoy.  You start to constantly think about what to write about next and how to improve your site on a daily basis.  To throw it all together it becomes “your baby” as you watch it grow.  It can actually become quite addicting.

3.  Helping others

Whether it be offering advice on a topic you are knowledgeable about or making people laugh from some of your content, knowing that you might have helped someone make it through their day is gratifying.  Offering a tiny bit of support is better than not offering any at all.

4.  The challenge

I will admit, it is not always easy…..but that is what is great about it!  It is challenging. Attempting to learn HTML code, amongst other things, is not the easiest thing when you don’t even know where to start.  It is like putting together a puzzle piece by piece, but I promise….it can be done!

5.  Memories

Writing your experiences on your own website can be looked at as a diary of sorts.  A diary that anyone can read.  I look forward to being able to look back on some things I have written well into the future.  Hopefully others might enjoy it too.

6.  The money

This is not an easy task to accomplish as some great websites fail to bring in significant dough.  With hard work and good content though, the money should follow.  My website, now a little more than a month old, has brought in only a couple of dollars thus far. (mostly from Google Adsense)  But I am hopeful and determined to see those numbers grow!

7.  To create

Just look at this website.  I may not be Michelangelo, but this is my Sistine Chapel.   It may not be much, but I really do feel proud about some of the smallest things about this website.  Take the image behind the title you see above as an example, I created that and am proud of it.

8.  Higher learning

Because of this website, I have done more research over the past couple of months than I might have done in a whole dazed-out year at college.  I feel like I am constantly learning something new.  I hope I can pass some of this new-found knowledge on to you.

9.  To network

As I have started this website, I have met a number of people through either direct or indirect conversations.  I am sure those numbers will continue to grow.  Who knows, some friendships might be struck or even new jobs be passed along.  I look forward to who I might meet next.

10.  The future

Lets face it.  The world, and inherently the job market, is changing as we speak.  A prime example can be seen in this video.  Don’t be left behind with no skills for tomorrow.  If that job comes between you and another applicant, having website building experience might be that extra edge to get you that job.

Now I encourage you to go start your own website for what ever reasons you may have.  When you do, stop by and say hello.

Over the near future I plan on talking about some of the steps I took to create this website.  You do not need to be a technology geek to do it either!  If you know how to search the web and can remotely follow directions, you too can create your own site.  It is just a matter of preferences after that. 

As I have been working on this website, I have noticed that most of the tutorials out there expect the reader to have a vast knowledge of website experience.  That is just not the case for me, and I am assuming many others out there.  I am hoping to be able to help people that never thought they could make a website do just that, make a website!

Through this process I will likely bring up terms that you have not heard before.  I encourage you to look up each term that you do not understand via wikipedia or some other source.  On the other side of the spectrum, I will still not know the proper term or phrase for one thing or another.  But I will try to describe it to the best of my ability. 

I am still very much a newbie to this whole website creation stuff.  I am not going to sit here and claim that I am a pro.  However, the fact that I am not a pro may be beneficial in helping to relate to those that might be looking for the proper advice.   A few months ago I knew absolutely nothing about creating a website, and I will guess that many of you do either. 

If there is anything special you would like for me to talk about, let me know.  I am not going to follow any type of step by step process.  I will just try to tackle each topic based on interest and relevance.

For future refence:  I will put all of this information in its own category, Website 101, so that you can easily find all the information you may need.  (Categories can be found on the right side of this website)

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the brand new website!  For about the past month or so I have been slaving away at creating this site.  I am still working on some small things here and there.  But I feel as though the site is “ready enough.”  I really hope people will enjoy it and come back to visit.

Past Web Experience

To start, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing when it comes to building a website from scratch.  The only web experience I have had up this point was the creation of my old site on blogger.  I definitely hit some dead ends with some things but then would make a breakthrough with others when it came to the little intricacies of creating this website.  It was a ton of trial and error type of stuff, and this is the final product!  I am really excited about it.

I really feel like I learned a lot while going through the process of building this website.  I encourage anyone else thinking about starting a website to do it on their own and not hire outside help if possible.  In the coming months I will discuss how I created this website from scratch by using templates and plugins via wordpress.

The Old Site

Already mentioned, this website is a product of the transferring of my old blog.

The old website, nomenotpoker.blogspot.com

nomenotpoker.blogspot.com was my old blog hosted by blogger.  The old site was strictly a poker blog.  In fact, everything you see here on this site written before Mar 12th (’09) is a direct transfer from the old site.

The New Site

I noticed that as I was creating a new post on the old site one day that I didn’t really feel like talking about poker at that moment in time.  I wanted to broaden my horizons at a blogger.  I started talking about how the wife and I were expecting our first child (which is due any day now).  It was a start of the realization that I need to write about more than just poker.

That is exactly what I will do here at nomenot.net.   I will discuss pretty much whatever is on my mind for that day.  I am not going to limit it to just poker.  I will likely discuss the following:

1. Business- as I am a true entrepreneur at heart.
2. Sports- being an ex-student-athlete in college, it is a part of who I am.
3. Life- pretty broad topic for now, but think family stuff.

Of course that will just be the start of it.  I will post some as just quick updates or short topics on the day.  While at other times, I will attempt to approach a topic with the mindset of providing a true value to whom ever may read it.  I feel I did that with the poker article I wrote, Tournament Strategy to the Nth Degree.

So Why NoMeNot?

Nomenot, that was the title of this website I decided to go with.  Was it a lack of creative ideas or just the right idea staring me in the face?  I’m not sure exactly, but it is what it is.  If you are more interested in knowing where the term “NoMeNot” came from check out my About page.

Not only is that a term from way back when, but it is a term that is seeming to creep back into my life to describe my feelings as of recent.  When I think of the term “NoMeNot”,  I think of an anarchist, break away from the norm, point-of-view.  That is viewpoint I have had recently towards my work.

That brings up my next point as to why I started this website, to hopefully break apart from my normal 9 to 5 one day and do what I want to do.  Haven’t you ever heard someone say that you should do for a living what you would be doing if you were already financially secure?  Well, I would probably just play poker, attempt to own multiple businesses, and travel.  This would be my first attempt at owning a business.

The Business Side of It

Yes, there is another side to this website.  I am also trying to make some money if at all possible.  I plan to be completely honest about that with all of my visitors.  I hope the advertising will not discourage people from coming back to my site.  Hopefully I can provide good enough content to see to it that it couldn’t be an issue.  At the same time, it will be something for me to post about.  The business side of NoMeNot.net.

Keeping the Conversation Open

If you like what you see so far, I ask that you bookmark my site and comeback again.  If there is something you would like for me to talk about or you want to just say “hi” you can comment below or let me know.

-NoMeNot