Poor Student No More

10 confessions for the sake of transparency:

1.  I highly dislike twitter. In fact, I loathe it. Quite surprising since I use it. Maybe I’m just not “up with the times.” Maybe I’m just a fan of organic connections between people. Maybe it’s because I just really hate the word “tweet” and every other spawn of it. Whatever it is, I have to admit that I can’t stand twitter, but it is definitely useful in reaching out to people (I’ll cede that point).

2.  I used to think business created every evil in the world. I almost classified myself as socialist once. I sincerely thought businesses were only in it for themselves — and while this is still sometimes true, I think there is a new generation of entrepreneurs who believe in corporate social responsibility and socially responsible products and practices. Business is simply a creation of value, which in turn leads to development.

3. I love expensive sunglasses. I fight against materialism and I preach about being frugal, but I get weak in the knees when I see a pair of designer sunglasses that are obnoxiously large and cover the majority of my face. Hey, we can’t all be perfect. I’m a work in progress.

4. Sometimes I wish I were a brunette so that people would take me more seriously. I hate when people look at me and write me off as a dumb sorority girl (note - I am in no way saying that sorority girls are dumb, just referring to a very false stereotype). It’s made me quite bitter and rebellious. Now I stay blonde just to prove them wrong — and the fact that I can’t afford to have my hair dyed. In fact, I had a guy on my flight to Raleigh ask me if I knew where Kuwait was. Seriously?

5. I can remember the moment I decided I was going to transfer out of NYU. A homeless man puked on me on the subway and I thought to myself, “There’s no way I’m paying for this.” I also mourned for the pair of shoes that gave their life to save my feet from that vile vomit.

6. I put off making my simple financial statement for weeks. IT’S SO BORING.  And it’s really not fun to look at your cashflow. But I finally did it, and it’s worth it.

7. I still haven’t made a more detailed personal financial statement. This may take a lot more motivation and actually having a more experienced person help me.

8. I almost quit poor student no more. My frustrations and my personal dilemmas (I described these in a previous post) really almost deterred me.

9. 25,000 CHILDREN WILL DIE TODAY FROM PREVENTABLE DISEASES. Shameless plug for international development.

10. I am now $45,000 in debt thanks to a new loan this year! Thanks FAFSA and UNC for lowering my grants!

Peace, love and loans,

Jess

Revenue made to date: $5.18

big milestone! Also, I had my first site visit directed from a google keyword search!

I’ve been writing about the plans and information related to student loans and the debt they create.  This basic level of knowledge is of course vital to creating a plan to get out of debt.  But the knowledge means nothing if I can’t apply it.  So, how am I actually going to make money?  Here are the details:

1. Set up a Wordpress account.  This provides an easily accessible way to publish my blog.
2. Create a Google AdWords account.  This tool allows you to research keywords, including how many searches they get per month.  This can help guide which words to tag and emphasize on your blog for search optimization.  You want as many people as possible to see your site, so choose key words and phrases that have a high search volume, but are still relevant to your topic.
3. Buy a domain name from GoDaddy.com.  Come up with a name that is easily remembered, catchy and highly related to your information.  Cost: $7.89 for a year.
4. Get hosting for your website.  It’s relatively cheap and easy and makes your website more manageable and accessible.
5. Create a Google AdSense account.  This is how you get relevant ads on your blog.  It tells you how much money you make and it’s free!
6. Create a Google Analytics account.  This tool allows you to track your website traffic.  It has tons of awesome reports, like how many different countries your visitors come from (I’m already up to three!)
7. Start writing.  The more content you have, the faster you will get indexed into the search engines.
8. Market your blog!  This is so important.  If no one reads your work, you will provide no value, and your goal will not be reached.  You can use social media, like facebook, twitter and stumbleupon.
9. Keep writing and marketing.  Money will not come quickly.  It will take some time to make your first substantial amount of money.  Probably months of work.

I’ve made $2.96 to date, but do not plan on quitting anytime soon.  I’ve still got $39,997 to go!
Most Recent Posts:

• October 17, 2009: Student Debt in Politics (1 Comment)
• September 16, 2009: A visceral emotional response to my debt. (2 Comments)
• September 16, 2009: Video Post 3 (4 Comments)
• September 9, 2009: Interest Rates and Debt (No Comments)
• September 2, 2009: How To Build Credit (2 Comments)