I'm writing about things I do to help others. This blog documents my experiments in the world of blogging, SEO and Internet marketing to the detail.
I started this blog on May 2009. Here is the story so far, my trek in the blogosphere before Zemalf.com.
A bit about me and this blog
My life with computers, technology and all things geek was setup at a very young age as I've been actively surrounded by computers since the age of 6 or so.
I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to the "web" very early. I used the Internet before it became World Wide Web, I’ve seen the birth of great services like Google and Wikipedia and I've witnessed the evolution of the WWW into this colossal social mayhem it is now.
I started blogging because I loved the idea of sharing, teaching and helping others to do the same things I enjoy the most doing. I started writing about things I'm passionate about, things I'm into and the things I do.
And that's what I've been doing ever since. I share the things I do and how do I do them, to help YOU.
My very first blog post
I made my very first post on September 13th 2005. The post is at my blogspot blog, which I temporarily moved to this domain between 05-08/2009. The post was titled "The Test" and all I wrote was:
This is the very first post to this blog (for testing purposes).
So that was my very first blog post. I'm so happy I didn't delete it :) The original post (in all it's glory) is at http://zemalf.blogspot.com/2005/09/test.html
My Trek in the Blogosphere
This blog is a narrative of my trek to reach my dream lifestyle, my dreamlines, doing the things I love - and you're invited to the journey.
To backtrack a bit and in case you were wondering, Zemalf is my online name and I’ve used name the since 1995. Apart from couple of exceptions, no-one else has used the (nick)name, so if you see this name somewhere, it’s very likely to be me. In a way, it is just a name I came up
with and I wanted a unique online call-sign/nickname, so I kept it.
In 2004, when XBox 360 was launched, I won a competition which took me to Los Angeles, Mojave Desert and the Zero Hour - invitation only XBox 360 Pre-Launch Event.
My Zero Hour experience is documented on my (older) gaming blog and that is how I started blogging in the first place.
I started the Zemalf's Haven -blog in the blogspot (the free blogging platform, nowadays owned by Google) and in the blog I wrote about things I did - online games - On the blog I wrote posts about World of Warcraft and Eve Online. Those, and many others, were the console and computer games I like to play, both on- and offline.
In April 2009, I was browsing through Amazon and pumped into a book called The 4-Hour Workweek (Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich) by Tim Ferriss (I'm sure you know the book, but if you don't, I recommend you read it, it changed my life for sure).
After bit of wandering online in the footsteps of others, I ended up in the blogs of blogging gurus like Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net and Yaro Starak at Entrepreneurs-Journey.
Both blogs which I've been occasionally reading before, but now after reading the 4HWW, I started looking at my blogging hobby in a whole new way- - "Wait a minute! I can make MONEY from this? Why didn't anyone tell me this 9 years ago.." -- or even 5 years ago, when I started blogging.
Zemalf.com Is Born
Yeah I know, the blog's name should probably mean something, but what can you do when your online nickname is Zemalf?
Well, you start a blog called "Zemalf" and put it on a domain called zemalf.com -- so that's what I did.
Rather quickly after being exposed to the information and understanding how much potential I've been sitting on, I had my own domain at Zemalf.com, hosted by DreamHost, and after couple of days, my blogs from blogspot were imported into this brand new, shiny WordPress blog on my own domain.
The Zemalf's Haven was still there, but this new blog was not blogspot's, it was mine - and even if it's digital "property", it's quite cool to own it all yourself.
I've always been super-fast absorbing information I see, read and listen. It was easy for me to setup a new host, start a blog, install WordPress, configure it, design my own theme for it, code php and make the blog run like I wanted. Doing this kind of technical stuff for years and years helped quite a bit on the process.
At the same time I wrote how-to's, guides and experiences about what I was doing straight to the blog -- you'll find some of those pieces from the Top Posts -page, in addition to all the new content I keep adding to the blog.
Since I started focusing on this self-hosted WordPress blog, it's been a great ride. Starting my own blog, on my own domain was the best decision and I never looked back...
For Me, It's About Helping Others
For a moment, I had the old blogs content imported on the new blog, but later I understood that I didn't want to make Zemalf.com about online games.
I wanted to write about things I am most interested in; blogging and Internet business, affiliate marketing, WordPress and social media and everything related. Since then I've been writing about the things I've learned and done. It helps that I'm passionate about helping others and teaching too.
As I was writing and giving out all this info, I understood that this is what it's all about, helping others. And I liked it a lot so I wrote some more and here I am, blogging like never before.
Technology Alchemist?
With this blog, I've become a self-proclaimed technology alchemist. No, I don’t try to create the elixir of life, nor do I search for the philosopher's stone. Instead of transmuting common metals into gold or silver, I transmute the "hard" technical tasks easy for everyone.
I want to tell everyone about the possibilities out there, expose others to what I've learned about the huge potential of the Internet business -- something I wish someone would've done for me year ago.
Making a living and earn money through Internet is not hard. Really. To me, being able to live my dream lifestyle and supporting all that with online business is quite a compelling thought.
You don't have to be an IT specialist or a geek to do it. You take what you got and run with it. Learn every day and concentrate on what really matters -- making progress, making it happen.
All the information you need to make it happen, is here. It is up to YOU, if you choose to put it into use.
All the technology you need to do all this is exposed here with simple tutorials, guides and how-to's - written by me - to YOU.
If you have any questions or would like me to help you, feel free to leave a comment on the blog posts or contact me via email. And check my about-page for even more information about me and this blog.
Antti Kokkonen aka Zemalf
