One PC to rule them all...

Sorry for the lack of content lately, but I'm happy to announce that the new computer has arrived and I've brought over as much data as I could from the old one that I torched inadvertently.

X-Blade 3 Gaming Tower from CyberPowerPC

At 42 feet tall, the new Forechecker Data Center towers over the neighborhood...

I configured it online via the good folks at CyberPowerPC.com (using the coupon code MYSPACE I got $30 off the order), and went with an Intel 2.66Ghz dual-core setup, 2GB RAM and an NVidia 8600GT video card, good enough for my purposes. I was able to harvest the hard drives and DVD drive off my old box, but some things were lost, so I've got a lot of data to rebuild.

On the downside, it looks like the Fab Forecheckers are going down in the Fantasy Hockey playoffs to Mirtle's Merry Men. So much for that regular season dominance...

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.

NHL Fake Trades, an idea worth pursuing further in 2013

As I wrote about a month ago , I decided to jump upon a short-term opportunity and set up a "hot topic" website for the 2012 NHL Trade Deadline. NHLFakeTrades.com was inspired by a column by Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail, who looked at the frenzy with which hockey fans jump on even the sketchiest of information about potential hockey trades, and wondered if some cash could be made by simply and forthrightly writing about fictitious trade scenarios. This meshed nicely with an exercise I went through a few years ago to create a Random Trade Generator, so in the course of a few hours I went ahead and registered the domain, set up a WordPress site using ( as I do at Hockey Gear HQ ) the wonderful Genesis framework with the News theme , and freshened up the Trade Generator for 2012. So how did it do, in terms of traffic, revenue, and accuracy of the trade projections? Let's take a look...

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