Tell Me How I Can Improve This Blog
I am planning a huge revamp of all of my blogs and both of my brochure sites. Since this blog is for you, I need you to tell me how I can improve this blog and make it a better one. What should I write more about? What should I write less about? Are there any technical improvements I can make to this blog that you think would make it better? Let me know.
Please leave a comment on this article and/or send me an email and/or take the below survey and tell me how I can improve this blog. I’m all ears and I’m here to listen. Also, tell me not only what you would like, but what you think would help attract other men interested in Alpha Male 2.0 concepts.
I already did this with my other blog and you guys gave me some fantastic info.
I also had several artists come up with a newly updated logo for my websites. The two finalists I’ve selected are below. I’m going to pick one of them; which one should I pick? I’ll let you guys decide; tell me which one you like the best in the below survey.
And again, if the survey doesn’t list out the topics YOU would like, tell me in comments or an email what you would like me to write more about or less about.
I’m ready to listen. Go for it.
LOGO 1
LOGO 2
Edit/Update: I’ve caused a lot of confusion because I didn’t explain everything fully in this post. My fault.
1. I must change the logo. The current logo looks too much like the Mortal Kombat logo, which was fine when I was a nobody, but now it needs to be changed. “Just keep your current logo BD” is not an option.
2. I am slowly moving away from the branding of “Blackdragon” and towards the branding of “Alpha Male 2.0” which is much better, clearer, and more effective branding. Thus, the new logo will not be for Blackdragon, but for all of Alpha Male 2.0 including my business and lifestyle advice. So if you’re wondering why the logos are not black for Blackdragon, that’s why.
And no, I didn’t say I’m dropping the Blackdragon name or dropping it right this minute, so don’t freak out. It will be a very slow transition.
3. The opinion of “both logos are terrible” doesn’t help at all unless you are willing to sketch out a new logo yourself so you can clearly show me what wouldn’t suck. (And remember, I can’t keep the current logo.) If you’re not willing to show me a good logo, I’m not interested in your opinion of “both logos are terrible.”
Sorry for any confusion. Again, my fault.
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What’s already on the shortlist?
I think one of the most important things is an introduction for new readers, a small sequence of existing or purpose-written articles. Sequences in general, by the way, are a good complement to the “related posts” feature.
Both logos are meh. Separating “2.0” from the words “alpha male” makes no sense, the dragons are very α1.0ish looking, extraneous visuals fight for attention, and I doubt the overall style appeals to what I take to be your preferred audience, wealthy older men. And the dragons are not black.
And I wonder if Q3 is there solely to test Parkinson’s law of triviality, particularly in light of your recent post on the other blog : )
Hey Blackdragon,you should talk more about OLTR management,Oltr marriage.I think at least 70% of all the red pill guys(who know how to get laid) have the goal of having an OLTR that they love and Fbs on the side.It will be great if you will talk more about this topics.
You should also avoid from now on topics like:Look how beta that guy is,Proving that Tmm doesnt work part 123,we already know this things.
You should talk about red pill topics like:Hypergamy,Alpha widows,etc.
In order to avoid talking about Tmm and monogamy you could make a post :”Monogamy is dead” that you pin in the top of this blog and new readers can click on it because is there all the time.And there you offer like an introduction about :”why monogamy doesnt work “and you link the most important posts that you created on this topic,there.And you can use this post(monogamy is dead) for time management like the other posts you did:”Work harder,nobody cares”,or “there is this one girl”.
And after that avoid talking about monogamy,because we already know that the guys who tell you to comment about monogamy are beyond hope and will ignore all of your advice,so focus from now on the top 10% of your readers and start talking only about Alpha 2.0 topics.
My thoughts exactly, they look very sophomoric (“look how cool I am!”). I think your current logo is fine, no need to forcefully change it, just cause it’s old.
Lol these new logos you’re considering look totally silly…
I’d stick to current one if these is what I had to choose from.
It’s a great idea to ask to rank all the different topics 🙂
I am not sold at all on the 2 logos and there is no “they both suck do not use them” answer. Some commenters above already explicited how I feel about them. I answered “equally good” but really they are “equally bad” for me.
Purple!?! What kind of question is this?
Basically just stick with the mainly black & white, some red, and a touch of blue for links as it is now.
Agreed on the logos .. they look nerdy to me. The one you have now is more sleek/simple, I think that works best.
I tend to agree with logos. I hate the second one (it looks like a gamers or RPG blog’s logo), the first one is okay but a bit too busy, visually speaking (orange to red, then black, why not just make it black, like, you know, a black dragon? Plus two different font styles for the text… That’s a lot). So I voted “first one”, definitely, but I think it could be improved.
The 2nd logo looks like a MLS or NBA team logo 😀 and the first one is like “the lest bad”
The very limited design knowledgement I have says it’s hard to mix text with the image in the logo. The question is what are you trying to sell. Your brand (Blackdragon) or your lifestyle (Alpha Male 2.0). I think you are trying to say both and it’s very hard to get a logo which says both and it doesn’t look dorky or inconsistent.
I’d strictly keep the dragon, without letters. The Alpha Male 2.0 concept is pretty well explained with a quick look in the blog.
Regarding some people’s comments on the logo……..I think what everyone is overlooking is the fact that BD said he’s narrowed it down to the two he likes best and he is going to use one of them. I think we’re just supposed to pick our favorite of the two, not recommend that he go back to the drawing board.
Maybe I’m too simplistic, but shouldn’t the dragon in a Black Dragon logo be black?
I think there is an opening to be the top level URL for the manosphere space. The red pill reddit has been quarantined opening an opportunity. You are one of the less immoderate voices in the space. (Five flags and fall of society excepted) In particular there is vacuum where the RP sidebar used to be. There is a spectacular reading list that includes your books but is not limited to your books. Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Sex God Method, Book of Pook, Loving Dominant, Bang, 4 Hour Workweek, More that Two, Myth of Monogomy, Sex at Dawn, Ethical Slut, Mating in Captivity… I don’t think you should see those books as competition to your books but as moderate books that legitimize you and validate your space. For people who may not fit your A2 scheme, pointers to poly, MGTOW, Dan Savage, etc… If you can occupy the top level space then it’ll be your face on CNN when they want to talk about the topic and your books will get vastly more exposure. You’ve bootstrapped to here but there is a huge bigger world for you if you want. …Your new logo ideas are going for a sharper niche than I’m suggesting…
I think you should have readers submit personal somewhat detailed scenarios/examples of nonmono relationship issues they need help with. You pick half a dozen good ones and explain what they did or are doing wrong and how they can fix it or what they should have done if it’s too late to be fixed. Each person’s story could be one blog post so there’s an easy 6 blog post ideas.
Wow that’s a real Sophie’s choice with those logos. Both suck ass. Stick with your current logo. It’s much better
• I’m partial to the Dragon being an actual Black Dragon versus Red or just leave it how it is.
• Also can you allow full Emoji and Photo Comment usage! Omg it would be so much fun for us.
• Can we get 3 posts a week of overall variety each time?
•OPTIONAL location disclose so we can put what we want if we desire so we can get perspective on why somebody says something. Cause then if a guy posts bitching about something in Canada we know why lol.
What about your Girls with Game blog? I know you don’t post on it personally but will there be any new material on it in the future?
Suggestions:
1. Hire someone who learned proper English language grammar to correct recurring errors such as
A. ‘Me and her did it’ (which sounds like cartoon caveman talk, as in, ‘Me did it’ or ‘Her did it’). [correction: ‘She and I did it’, as in, ‘She did it’ or ‘I did it’]
B. ‘I saw less cars’ [correction: ‘I saw fewer cars.’]
Recurring writing errors like these create the impression that the blog was written by someone with big blind spots (or a kind of tone deafness) which cast a shadow of doubt on the validity of any opinions or advice (regarding human perception or interaction) offered by the writer.
2. Why would a blog named “Black Dragon” have a logo showing a RED dragon??
Suggestion: for a blog named “Black Dragon”, have a logo showing a dragon which is BLACK.
3. Install a punching bag in your home so you can punch it a lot every day, so you might be less inclined to respond to a reasonable, neutral question with senseless hostility and macho posturing (and ignoring a legit question).
Good luck and best wishes for continued success.
[FWIW, I have bought four of your books.]
lol…
I was hoping you would move away from what I think is a silly name (blackdragon) for a 40+ plus man to be branding himself as, especially given the very serious, well thought out writing you do on this blog. Every time I tell a friend about you I have to give a disclaimer, yes, his blackdragon name is laughable, silly and ridiculous but his ideas are great. Your two new logos take you in the wrong direction, as most of the other comments here seem to say as well. My opinion is get rid of the dragon in both logo and name ,and stick with alpha male 2.0 or Caleb Jones or smic in an adult and mature looking logo that would appeal to the wealthy, older, intelligent male demographic I assume you are going after . Think GQ or Esquire rather than Dungeons and Dragons .
I think this is a fantastic idea. Caleb, you’ve been writing this blog for years now, and there’s a wealth of info already in your archives and books (not to mention all the other manosphere content out there) about getting dates, going on dates, getting to sex fast, and why monogamy and traditional marriage is bad. More posts on these topics is not high priority in my opinion. But as anyone who follows your advice for more than a couple years finds out, this part quickly becomes the easy part, and the actual relationship with MLTRs and OLTRs becomes the challenge. This is also where there’s a dearth of info, as I’m sure you’re aware, you are one of the unique red pill voices out there who strikes a pretty healthy balance of being pro sex and nonmonogamy but also pro relationship and pro men AND women.
For me, and I’m guessing a lot of your followers, learning the general principles can happen pretty quickly just by reading your blog archive and books, but getting the actual complete alpha male 2.0 mindset takes practice, trial and error, and learning by example. One way to short cut this might be, per Hollywood’s comment above, a weekly post about one or a few of your reader’s letters describing a particular issue in their nonmonogamous relationships, and how they can behave differently to achieve better outcomes.
Another idea, is to take a scene from a current TV show, movie, or book, or an excerpt from aother blog, article, or podcast, and critique it and explain what they’re getting right and wrong. Off the top of my head, podcasts like Dear Sugar or Esther Perel’s This is Where We Begin might be great sources for this.
Last much more frequent updates on your OLTR with pinkfirefly would be great. As you have said yourself, living together with her as an OLTR is a new experience even for you, so bringing us along for the lessons learned would be quite valuable.
A Reccomended Products Tab.
From there it can be anything from
– Books
– Sex Toys
– Clothes
– Anything lol
and make it so we can all contribute
• Caleb I don’t know if you know but sometimes the Mobile version on Safari has glitches
Would love to hear more about the common/best practices in long-term non-mono relationships. Such as
– How to find a 3rd (girl) for you non-mono relationship (for threesomes)
– Common rules to keep your primary from feeling hurt when you are seeing other women
– How to maintain control in a LTR. I’ve noticed about 99% of men slowly lose control to their women over time.
– Separate, but also important – maintaining optimal health as it relates to sex life (best diet, supplements, treatments for men as they age)
Surely the answers to these will vary for each person and you have done a lot by sharing your relationship details with PF, it would be helpful to learn how other non-mono couples manage the man seeing other women
I like the new logos fine but agree with the other posters who think the current one is better.
I’d like to see more stuff on maintaining MLTRS also as this is your field of expertise, moreso than anyone else online.
Also, would you consider publishing your compiled blog posts as a PDF? I’d buy it, as the blog is such a good resource but it’s a pain pulling up old posts.
I already wrote this on the survey, but I’ll repeat it here.
Please fix the part where you say you will give us 4 free ebooks, I tried it and it didn’t work for me. Also, I didn’t really like either new logo. Just picked the first one as the least bad.
Finally, since you made the Alpha 2.0 community and have the SMIC, you can go ahead and do stuff to drive more traffic from other RP sites into this blog, like having other sites link back to this one. Even if you get a lot of meatheads or trolls coming in I still believe yours should be one of the most read blogs on the manosphere. And it could be fun!
Edit: wholeheartedly agree with @Farley99
I would love to have some information on guys around our age should dress, groom, skin care, etc. I know these aren’t really your areas of expertise, but I think maybe some of your older posts could use some updating now that you’re a bit older.
I’m about the same age as you and while I feel confident in the clothes I am wearing, I am wondering if I could optimize my sex appeal by going with an “more mature” look. I feel like once I hit my mid-40s I have a very thin line to balance between younger clothes making me look too “try hard” and and “non-sexy dad” (beta) clothes. I really enjoyed that guest post by Darius, but have we older guys outgrown that?
I would also really appreciate at least one high level skin-care and grooming post. I have a really hard time getting past how much bullshit is out there, and if you could point us in the right direction, I think a lot of guys would appreciate it.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the direction of your blog. For the demographic record I’m a little older than you, live outside the US, have adult children, and am happily not married.
The new logos are cringe-inducingly bad.
The current blog name is congruent neither with you, nor the blog’s subject.
The comments here are bad and getting worse. At least you don’t have the racist morons that infest a lot of the manosphere / Alt Right / MGTOW sites but the level of sperg here is off the scale.
Your responses to dumb comments have been getting noticeably more tetchy and nitpicky, a previous commenter upthread is absolutely right about this.
Your use of made-up acronyms has reached peak impenetrability and makes many posts unreadable for anyone who hasn’t invested hours trawling your glossary.
All of the subjects on your list above are fine for this blog. Just rotate through them. Memories are short.
Here’s how to deal with the comments: Leave them enabled but resist the temptation to reply snarkily to anyone. Publish none of them, ever. The ones that actually ask a decent question or make a valid comment are – of course – used as the basis for a new post. The agony aunt suggestion upthread is a good one.
I like this blog, it’s one of the few I read regularly because I think there is some actual common sense here and it’s not tainted by religion, politics, or other ideology. In addition, you’re writing from a position of “This is what I’ve done and it works” as opposed to “This is what I think you and I should both do”, and I respect you for that. But there is no question that it needs some tidying up.
I’ve caused a lot of confusion because I didn’t explain everything fully in this post. My fault.
1. I must change the logo. The current logo looks too much like the Mortal Kombat logo, which was fine when I was a nobody, but now it needs to be changed. “Just keep your current logo BD” is not an option.
2. I am slowly moving away from the branding of “Blackdragon” and towards the branding of “Alpha Male 2.0” which is much better, clearer, and more effective branding. Thus, the new logo will not be for Blackdragon, but for all of Alpha Male 2.0 including my business and lifestyle advice. So if you’re wondering why the logos are not black for Blackdragon, that’s why.
And no, I didn’t say I’m dropping the Blackdragon name or dropping it right this minute, so don’t freak out. It will be a very slow transition.
3. The opinion of “both logos are terrible” doesn’t help at all unless you are willing to sketch out a new logo yourself so you can clearly show me what wouldn’t suck. (And remember, I can’t keep the current logo.) If you’re not willing to show me a good logo, I’m not interested in your opinion of “both logos are terrible.”
Sorry for any confusion. Again, my fault. I’ve just updated the post with the above info.
Not sure why you would want to change the logo. Don’t change what isn’t broken, otherwise it’ll be like the numerous dreadful revamps of the Dr Who theme that was so otherworldly and perfect in the in the ’60s and ’70s and ended up an awful mess.
I think the blog articles could be better presented, or at least have an alternative structure to them. Starting with fundamental articles leading to more intermediate and advanced articles.
Also, I think it would be a good idea to have past articles and new ones also available to listen to in podcast form. I often get a full inbox with items of interest from various sites that I plan to read and it takes time to wade through them. With a podcast, I can listen to it on a car commute to my various daily destinations, during workouts, whilst cooking or even working online. There are several fantastic pickup/dating MP3 podcasts already and I already spend at least two to three hours on the Joe Rogan podcast which comes out with three new ones per week. Your old articles could be read or several of them combined, that’s where your real competition is. Also, I find the information, for whatever reason, sinks in deeper. I’ve sometimes edited downloaded mp3s for a jewel of an idea, outlook or concept that’s buried in an hour show, that I can listen to again and again until it sinks in. Or sometimes I come back to that segment and it really sinks in because, of course, I’ve changed in the interim.
Regarding your other suggestions, I’ve read all of the comments here and taken notes. A few comments on a few of them:
As I’ve already explained several times, occasionally I must make blog posts like this for the benefit of brand new readers. I realize many old-time readers dislike these posts and I completely understand, but they are occasionally required in order to make this blog grow, whether you (or I) like it.
I’ll let guys like Rollo handle those topics. He’s better at it than me anyway.
I’m more about how the how-to techniques to make your life better in spite of the bullshit you see all around you, rather than discussing exactly why the bullshit exists.
Oh, trust me… I know.
That being said, it’s not my goal to be number one. I’d likely have to sell my soul to do that. But getting into the top 3-4 wouldn’t be bad.
1. I’ve clearly said that I don’t recommend five flags for most people.
2. I never said society will fall, just the dominant aspects of Western society. The human race will do very well in the 21st Century and I’m very excited about what’s coming.
If you want a logo, go to Gravatar.com, create an account, upload a logo, and then use the same email address here when posting a comment.
I don’t give a fuck about emojis.
For a free blog? Fuck no. I’m soon going to bring it down to one post per week per blog. One option I’m looking at is to use Mark Manson’s model and charge people for extra blog posts. That might work. Not sure yet though.
I can’t find women who will post consistently for that blog without being paid. And since that blog makes no money yet, I can’t pay them. So unless someone comes up with a better idea, no.
I am.
That is not the demographic I’m going after. My other two businesses go after that demographic, not this one. I’m happy to have those men in my audience, and I do, but that’s not the target.
Holy shit. Fantastic idea. I will do this.
No one else has reported this. (Likely they’re in your spam filter.)
If you have a technical problem, email me so we can figure it out. Don’t just throw your arms in the air and assume it doesn’t work for the other thousands of people who use it.
Precisely part of the battle plan. That’s one of the reasons for this revamp.
Agree. It will change.
You seriously don’t want me to respond to any comments that disagree with me? You only want me to respond to comments that ask questions?
That opinion makes no sense so you’ll have to explain it further so I can understand.
That’s a possibility if I implement a paid option. I will give more thought to this.
That’s exactly what I’m doing.
Funny enough I always thought your logo was very similar to Mortal Kombat and once looked up the Mortal Kombat logo to compare.
I agree with the following 2 commenters’ comments which seem to be very similar. I find that the most difficult thing for me is maintaining long lasting MLTR‘s. I don’t do OLTR so far, but FB‘s are easy to maintain, it’s the MLTR‘s that seem to be a lot of work, yet I need at least one MLTR in my life to feel happy.
I’m going to echo what a few others have said, with one additional point.
Background – younger reader, been reading for approx. 3 years. Fully on-board with non-monogamy and all that lovely stuff.
But I would love to see more on how to maximise the length of each relationship type – FB‘s, MLTR‘s, High-end MLTR‘s. Especially MLTR‘s, as I think you have more scope with them. FB‘s seem to be “make them cum” and that’s it. OLTR‘s would be interesting too, even though it’s not relevant to me right now.
Like many guys here, I lose women to Beta’s. But I get the impression that they could all stick around a little longer if I was a bit better.
Finally, some online dating stuff for how to pick your best pictures would be nice too!
Cheers.
I’m full of macho posturing and that will never change. As I’ve said many times, I focus on facts, and if my tone bothers you, that’s your problem and not mine. Do you seriously think I would have the audience I have now if I was Mr. Nice Polite Guy?
But that being said, please link to where ignored a legit question. Seriously, I really want specific examples of this. (And just in case you can’t provide any, what does that tell you?)
There is a typo in the survey, what should be “advice.”
There is a post around here and a bit in BD’s books about women leaving. They always leave, but if you do it right, as in framing yourself and acting appropriately, they will (almost) always come back. It may take 6 months or a few years, but it’s a guarantee. Women will go for the beta because they’re easy to control, but they’re boring and they will get bored which is the worst thing that can happen to a woman. Women will go for Mr. Alpha because they’re exciting but will leave after getting fed up with the drama and being controlled.
You can’t choose how long they stick around and you shouldn’t worry about it anyway because they’ll always come back to Mr. Alpha 2.0.
@BD I didn’t say in my survey but perhaps a resorting of the blog topics so there is an itinerary of sorts for newer people without a clue or people who are experienced but need to find “where they are” on their journey to mastery (of whatever their choosing).
As for the logos and such, I could try for a redesign but I like the idea of 80s macho action movies being the thematic draw. Naysayers will comment that there needs to be a serious logo for the older demographic, but you know what a law-firm logo is? Fucking boring. I forget the logos and the names the instant I put the card away or leave the website.
I personally don’t think you need to change anything. I guess you want to change because you’re planning some kind of new strategy to reach new audiences, so maybe you know what fits into your plan best. But like others here, I don’t like the new logos. I guess the first one is better- the second looks like it could be a hockey team sticker on the back of a truck. But even the first is trying too hard. Do you really *HAVE* to change the logo? Like, are you afraid of getting sued somehow? Because otherwise, it’s really not a bad thing to look like the MK logo. People won’t care (-as for me, I never even noticed). As they say- good artists borrow, great artists steal. Furthermore, I like the two-tones of the logo, and the simplicity of it. The lack of the eyes makes it more impersonal, like a logo should be.
As for the site colors- I think you should stick to black and red. And maybe the background should be black. A black background signals many themes of what this is. It’s a bit private information, for one. It’s serious. And it’s opposite to the bullshit of mainstream society. It should look different from their sites.
If you’re trying to find new audiences, maybe I can offer one small suggestion. It would be great if you could become a personality on this board here: https://boards.4chan.org/r9k/catalog (Caution: porn everywhere) “Robot 9000” on 4chan is notoriously the hangout of angry incels who complain constantly about having no girlfriend/life. 4chan really does have the power to propel someone into internet stardom. An example is Ben Garrison. It started when people on another 4chan board, “/pol/”, photoshopped his anti-government political cartoons to be anti-Semetic. Well, when Ben G found out about this, he went to the board himself and made several posts. This only added massive fuel to the fire, as most people don’t have the guts to stand up against … well, everyone. As a result, his fame skyrocketed. Most young people now know his name, and he has a much larger audience than he ever could have before. He even wrote a book about his experience.
http://a.co/d/5lNosaF
http://roguecartoonist.blogspot.com/2015/05/ive-gone-for-months-without-any.html
4chan’s rules state that “advertising is not welcome”, but maybe mods wouldn’t care if you simply link to your blog (which is free) and are actually trying to help people.
…About your content- well, I’d just like to say, our interest in you is not just about women. It’s rare to find such an honest and open voice on the internet. I’m fascinated to hear about your rich globetrotting lifestyle. And I think people even like hearing your thoughts on movies and culture- just, anything that interests you. To really trust someone, it helps to feel like you know them, and that’s what your blogs do.
I found you through RationalWiki:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:Webshites/Sexuality
I don’t know why, but yours is the only site I clicked there. Which should say something about the name you chose. It’s fun. People here are saying it’s “too childish”, but keep in mind that your info is how to avoid being a conventional “adult”.
I’ve shared your site many times in various places. Most of all, I shared your ebook “How to be financially successful if you’re just starting out”, and your blog post “Advice for young people”. I have also linked to your “About” page, but I think you should change the “get to sex in 3 hours” sales pitch, because that sounds sleazy, and it’s not really what you mean anyway. I know you meant to get attention with that, but honestly, a good number of men (especially young men) also have ASD, and they might find that to be too crude. “Within 3 hours of meeting her” sounds like pickup artist advice, which is not what your system is. Really, I think you’re scaring some guys away with that, who otherwise desperately need your advice.
“please link to where ignored a legit question. Seriously, I really want specific examples of this. (And just in case you can’t provide any, what does that tell you?)”
You get paid to spend time on this blog. I don’t. So I lack adequate incentive to spend my time searching through your past blog comments sections to find examples. If you’re concerned about the possibility that I’m right about this observation, you can do this search yourself.
“if my tone bothers you, that’s your problem and not mine”.
If I find your tone sometimes obnoxious, then perhaps other readers also feel repelled by your tone sometimes. If this ever drives away blog readers and book buyers, then it’s also potentially your problem. You might ponder the observation “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.” Could this be a case of choosing short term happiness by shunning uncomfortable consideration of a possibly self-limiting trait, thus choosing long term penalties by letting this trait continue?
“Do you seriously think I would have the audience I have now if I was Mr. Nice Polite Guy?”
That question made me laugh, again and again. Who knows? Maybe that’s a good point. I do know this: nobody’s perfect, and you have printed lots of material which many guys have found worth reading.
My comments were prompted by your request for suggestions for improvements. [“Tell Me How I Can Improve This Blog”]. So I told you.
You seriously don’t want me to respond to any comments that disagree with me? You only want me to respond to comments that ask questions?
Sorry, I obviously wasn’t clear enough and I apologise for that.
No, I seriously suggest you publish no comments on your blogs, ever. Neither those written by your readers, nor your own responses. None. Nada. In those instances where a comment DOES warrant a response, use it as the seed for a new post.
The comments sections of blogs and news sites are a content free zone. They seemed like a good idea…in 1998. They haven’t worked. They inevitably devolve to the lowest common denominator. They are a time suck for the blog owner. They add nothing for the reader and if you can explain to me what value publishing the comments and your responses in their current form does add, please be my guest.
Keep the comment function enabled but have it set up such that every comment goes to mod. Read all comments. Use the ones that you find useful to form the seed for new posts. Use comments that ask for clarification on an issue as feedback that your writing wasn’t entirely clear on that issue in the original post, and learn accordingly. Publish no comments ever. Use them as inspiration and feedback, sure.
I note that Scott Adams has recently disabled commenting on his blog. Can’t say I like his new whacked out stream of consciousness Periscope video blogs but turning off the stream of tripe was an excellent idea.
Keep the current logo, the new ones look extremely cheesy 😉
You have stated that many times that it is important to make a girl come every time you are with her. I’d like to see some posts covering the ins and outs of this topic…. Techniques. What do you do when she is non orgasmic. Any gotcha’s that you have run up against and solved. Toys, tools and accessories.
Both logos are laughable and belong in the world of pokemon. Here is my suggestion for a new logo. Here is the original from Shutterstock.
Jared made a good point with the dragon being eyeless so I removed the eye and it looks way better. This particular logo also has these circular shapes that resemble the Calebjonesblog logo so it will fit into the corporate identity.
Of course it needs a black background. Ask your designer to do something like this.
Hmmm… I’ve always thought BD’s grammar is pretty good, on this blog at least, especially considering the volume of writing that he produces and the speed at which he must write it.
As to the question of the logos, my comments are:
(a) I prefer the first choice to the second choice.
(b) But both choices look to me to have their most obvious characteristic as mindless aggression, and I don’t think that’s quite the point. I can’t provide sketches because my artistic talent is zero, but that’s how both logos struck me.
(c) I doubt it matters that the dragon is not black; most people will surely realise that the term “Black Dragon” is not to be taken literally.
As to topics, more on the balancing of an OLTR with FBs would be good – having multiple fuck buddies is easy on the whole, esp perhaps for a guy in his 20s, and it is not generally so hard to balance MLTRs with FBs, but having what appears to lots of people to be a “girlfriend” but a non-monogamous with other women “on the side” is not always so straightforward.
But all the topics you mention are worthwhile, and most readers will find most topics of interest at different times.
Care about poor people. You seem to not give a rat’s ass about those that have less then you. Some would call it empathy ( lack of ).
Another way to put it:
You are Right Wing. Don’t.
Ps: you asked
Pss: what’s your take on Global Warming ? Let me guess:
It worked for the dinosaurs for 130 million years. So who cares ?
( Hahahaha )
I can’t remember if it was 130 million years or just 30 million years ( that dinosaurs roamed the Earth ) I am assuming you believe in the pre – existence of dinosaurs.
Sorry about that last comment , BD. I just couldn’t resist : )
I’m taking more notes. Keep the suggestions coming!
BD: Please give me suggestions.
Reader: Yeah, I have a suggestion! Stop ignoring legitimate questions BD!
BD: Um, what? Can you link to where I have ever done this?
Reader: Of course not! That’s not my job!
You either didn’t read this article, or you read it but completely forgot it. Please read it (or re-read it) very slowly and carefully.
Yeah, I just demonstrated what you did above.
Sorry, no. What you’re describing is not a blog. If you don’t like the blog comments, don’t read them, just read the articles. Problem solved.
That’s because he’s using the medium of video instead of (or in addition to) blog posts. I will start doing regular YouTube video soon as well. (But those will have comments too! Oh noooooo!)
Thank you for providing a specific example of something you like. My issue is that your suggestion isn’t radically different from logo #1 in my post (if I just made it all red and removed the wording).
Anyway, I’m reading through the survey results and the consensus seems to be that no one likes either of the new logos. Message received. I’ll have some new ones done up and try this again.
No. Again, read this.
Some of you guys aren’t understanding what I’m asking for. When I asked for suggestions for this blog, I meant things such as which topics I would write more about, technical aspects of this blog, and so on. I didn’t mean to solicit suggestions on how I should radically change my views, tone, or communication style. Are you fucking kidding me? As always, if you don’t like those core aspects of who I am, with all due respect, fuck off and just go away. I don’t need you.
for the logos –
If you absolutely need to change the logo, you can ask your readers to submit a new suggested logo for a small prize (i.e. free ebook, chance to seduce PinkFirefly, etc. – obvs kidding about the last one.) Many readers will go for it and you can use it for new ideas.
I see what you did there. Smart move to have your customers come up with product ideas.
I like it 😉
Maybe reduce the number of blog posts here, but put one blog post each week on the outer circle of SMIC. The posts in SMIC could be the slightly more advanced topics. Leave the newbie stuff and the click bait free.
It would encourage slightly more advanced readers to join SMIC and it would improve SMIC, which really needs more members to get a critical mass happening on the forum there.
If a rebranding image of a dragon is needed, try a Chinese dragon. Typically dragons in European tradition are symbols of destruction and terror, but in Chinese culture they are symbols of power, good fortune, strength, and wisdom.
Hard to find a “simple” design since Chinese dragons are very elaborate, but a silhouette vector that uses just the head inside a circle like this one is my idea.
I guess majority of the audience already bought your 2.0 system. However, things are not easily be implemented for many. for me it may take few years to reach a new different level with women relationships.
it’s best to make as little mistakes as possible during the process. so as suggested above, learning more from your own experiences and other’s on how to overcome various obstacles specifically like case studies managing multiple MLTRs, FBs at the same time and maybe one OLTR would help greatly in the transition.
so rather than ideas and arguments on topics, having blog posts with real life examples, situations, how various problems faced and solved etc would be great.
Please keep doing this. I don’t care that I already know the content, I do need to see this content regularly (though newer framing, new examples, etc will help) so that I don’t relapse into blue pill reflexes and mindset.
Works for me. Quality over quantity, especially if it extends the blogs’ longevity too.
Nah, it’s fine.
Now that makes senses!
So I would go for the first logo but I would keep the black and change the orange/red colors to the same dark reds transitions as the current and 2nd logo, so that there is no orange to red transition, it’s too light, it looks cheap and gay. Dark red looks more classy and badass.
The Blackdragon nickname is badass, I would keep it forever as author for all Alpha Male 2.0 content and comments.
However I would rename as fast as commercially possible the blog and brand to Alpha Male 2.0 indeed.
I would already have these urls point to this blog:
http://www.alphamale.com
http://www.alphamale2.0.com (not sure if this is valid url)
http://www.alphamale20.com (this points to your smic)
And maybe:
http://www.openrelationships.com
MultipleWomen.com
DateMultipleWomen.com
Basically
The Alpha Male 2.0 website by Blackdragon
(aka Caleb Jones)
I didn’t complete the survey after I got to the bit about not wanting to hear that I thought both logos were lousy unless I submitted an alternative.
I thought both of them were poor. I couldn’t express that in the survey, so I didn’t complete it.
Alpha Male 2.0 is a much better brand than Blackdragon. Keep it as your personal handle for consistency’s sake if you like, but de-emphasize it. I really like the blog, but the branding makes me think of a wannabe martial artist fiddling ineptly with a set of nunchucks.
Also i would slowly shift from “blog” to “portal” or “hub”, where things like your products and the Alpha 2.0 forum are more integrated or at least more visibly linked in the menu.
Well actually the products are already in the menu, so add alpha2.0 forum in the menu.
BD please admit the “purple” idea is just PF trolling your audience XD
Not a fan of either logos (seem childish) but love the rebrand to alpha male 2.0! Make a logo that resonates with men in that age group…
I agree with sykbstd
I think you should target a broader content, the RP is changing a lot and is up for the taking.
I also know that it would go against everything you preach for business (you always say “Find a very specific niche”. It doesnt help that Im’ not into your niche content (open relationships, online dating, older man dating young women etc).
About the logos, I agree with whoever said it doesnt really match your readers (or at least commenters). They look like a gamers blog logo. But I couldnt care less.
So really the thing is Roosh and co are losing the RP (and everybody is really salty against society and women and etc lately), and I enjoy your pragmatic style and would like you to write about the subjects they’ve been writing lately with your spin to it. Take over the manosphere! Gamer’s logo and talking a lot about OLTRs probably wont make it happen though
BD you could talk more about Younger guys dating Older women.There are a lot of young girls that like older guys,but the same is true about younger guys.There is not good advice on the internet about how a guy who is 23 can Game older girls,or can make them Mltrs.You only made one post on this topic.
And as an Idea,the same way you “niched” Older guys dating younger women,the same way you can “niche” younger guys dating older women.
Make a google search about younger men older women and there are a lot of Blue Pill articles and its a lot of interest in this subject.
There is a lot of potential about this stuff.You could make a survey and you will found that a lot of guys in their early 20s are interested about ways to get oldr women,both red pill guys and blue pill guys.
I’ve been a regular on a lot of blogs over the last 10-15 years, run by men, and you’re one of the best at responding to comments. You’re personality comes with the theme of the blog. Otherwise it would be called Beta 2.0 or something.
Hey BD, thank you for your work and all the free content!
I just have one question/comment : where has Kryptokate gone?? She was definitely providing the best comments on this blog, too bad she does not participate anymore.
I feel logo 1 (modified to respect the original dark reds color scheme) would be great as the logo for your nickname Blackdragon. This means you would use it as your avatar.
As for the portal name and brand, if deemed possible commercially, I would immediately ditch the blackdragon for Alpha Male 2.0, including the mainvlogo would have no reference of dragon whatsoever. You could just have a stylised under title “by Blackdragon” as a transition if you need to ensure a certain continuity.
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!!!!
BD – DO THIS!!!!!!!!
I am pretty stoked to see so many comments on MLTR‘s & FB‘s. Although BD & I are the same age, I live more like a 30 y/o than a 46 y/o (still more debt than savings, working on it daily). There is just such a massive difference between OLTR/FB game vs. MLTR game. I’m waaaaay more interested in the latter than the former, and I’m guessing the majority of your audience is in the same boat I’m in, nowhere close to an OLTR.
The opportunity cost of having an OLTR is nuking all of your MLTR‘s. Ouch.
The ideas on breaking down reader’s situations are solid, IMO. Actionable intelligence. Men trading notes, it’s what the manosphere is supposed to be….I try to stay away from the manosphere in general, it’s too bitter and angry for me. Hearing about other guy’s success with LSNFTE (along with whatever other successes and failures they have) would be awesome….
and also kind of help with relevance. Rich(ish) guy game with an OLTR & Sugar/Salt Babies is just not that relevant to some of us.
Yes, I’m tying around with that idea; perhaps making two versions of this blog, a free version and a paid one.
Already in the works.
Thank you, and what you are saying is factually accurate. No one else at my traffic level (that I know of anyway) responds to comments as much as I do.
Political correctness detected. Initiating red pill countermeasures now:
Are you fucking serious?
So……you want BD to pander to prudes, tradcons, and Jesus freaks? How about…….NO!!!
You’re talking about the same group of men who consider “Dr.” Phil to be an admirable male role model. They will NOT benefit from BD’s advice any more than a vegan eco-terrorist will benefit from a recipe for roast suckling pig!
BD would lose the respect of so many of us if he started suddenly pandering to the blue pill sheep.
Now, this is just elitism.
BD can correct me if I’m wrong, but he doesn’t really have a demographic as far as sex and women are concerned, unless you count “adult men” as a demographic.
Why do so many old men here think BD should dismiss younger guys? This reminds me of the thrill of the hunt PUAs who think that if you don’t go to bars or nightclubs you’re not a “real seducer.” It’s arrogant, absurd on its face, and stuffy.
HAHAHA!!!
Your European-style fascism is as hilarious as it is impotent. This is why America fought a revolution.
Your real problem is that BD isn’t a beta male.
More political correctness detected. Initiating…..ah, you know what I’m talking about:
Rich people are not your monkey.
And just what would “giving a rat’s ass about those that have less then you” consist of? How should BD demonstrate his empathy? Should he make a video of him crying every time some homeless loser dies of a heroin overdose? Should he give money to charity (I believe he already does)?
Should he flog himself daily while screaming “I’m sorry I’m rich” while standing in a homeless shelter and the band Twisted Sister plays “we’re not gonna take it” in the background?
Should he start a prostitution service for the “ugly and unkempt” while trying to get charity 501C3 tax exempt status from the IRS?
Just how would you like him to hate himself today?
As distinguished from what? Should he become a feminine bleeding heart hippie who does nothing but wag his finger at those who are happy and glorify sadness and misery?
I don’t know if you noticed, but this blog glorifies happiness. It does not make people ashamed of it. The idea that anyone feeling happiness is a demon from hell who should be ashamed, while the miserable, depressed, and suicidal are the saints is a sick ideology invented by sick people like Karl Marx who believe that every human being should be chained to the lowest common denominator and no one has the right to rise unless the lowest loser rises with them!
This is an ideology of slavery and sadomasochism and you should be ashamed of yourself for espousing it.
Or lead by example by giving away all your possessions to the homeless. Then cut off your dick and donate it to a trans-gender woman looking to become a man and needing a penile implant. Don’t laugh! It’s called empathy bro!
Seriously? Wow, you really are on the wrong blog.
We should fight to stop global warming as soon as Santa Claus frees all his elves, or at least permits them to join a union.
Psss, what’s your take on unions? Should Santa pay his elves a living wage?
What kind of a question is this?
Neither could I. 🙂
Due to cultural programming, she got herself a monogamous, live-in boyfriend whom, she admitted a while back, would freak out if he knew she reads this blog.
Poor girl! I sincerely hope she’s at least regularly cheating on him. Otherwise, I’d go completely insane if I were her.
Agreed. All talk of prostitution should be banned from red pill sites. We’re focused here on improving our lives and getting laid using our sexual merit, not attempting to bypass lack of merit with money, which should be consigned to the beta and blue pill world only.
I always thought that was intentional.
I posted this in the survey box above, but half the time those things don’t work, especially with a ton of text, so I’m posting it in the comments (with a few edits as well.
I’ve got some comments about both the blog and the logos, but let’s start with the logos.
Logos
No offense, but they both suck, just for slightly different reasons. I apologize in advance if I come across as a dick here, because I’m about to rip these designs apart (and put one of them back together). A good logo should do a couple of things. First, your eye should be drawn to a specific focal point in the logo, usually through the use of leading lines, and none of the elements should work against that flow. Both logos fail on that point.
You also want the logo to work in silhouette. In other words (and this is just for example, I know you’re more organized than this), if you were to run out of color ink on your printer, and you had to print the entire logo in solid black or solid white, you want the logo to still make sense. In this context, I think the first logo does a much better job than the second one, which is very reminiscent of Mike Cernovich’s Gorilla Mindset logo (but not nearly as good as that one, tbh).
The first logo is better than the second one, but they’re both super busy visually. The gradient and jagged lines on the first logo makes it difficult to quickly process what I’m looking at (making the gradient a solid color would probably fix that issue). There’s also the issue that the second one, while currently a bit more polished, doesn’t look like any dragon I’ve ever seen, lol.
If you decide to keep one of the logos, go with the first one, but make a few tweaks. The biggest issue is that if you look at the lines in the logo, they’re all conflicting with each other. They don’t consistently direct you towards the head of the dragon, and none of them point towards your Alpha Male 2.0 text. See this link (https://imgur.com/gallery/TeYB51b)
That said, most of this could be fixed (and in these suggestions, assume I’m talking to your illustrator). First get rid of that red/orange gradient. Second, rotate the spines on the back of the dragon’s neck about 45-60 degrees counterclockwise, and make the spine in the middle of the jaw point more towards the middle of the neck. Ideally, this should form an arc with the black spine on the front of the neck. Speaking of the black spine, it needs to be moved upwards by a few pixels so it doesn’t intersect with the border on the “Alpha Male” text. That’s just lack of attention to detail. The spines on the crown should also curve more towards the back of the neck so that, combined with the prior changes, all the lines form a spiral directed towards the head, and beginning at the Alpha Male text. In addition, the white space between the large neck piece and the other scales (see the green circle https://imgur.com/gallery/SKZ8dNO) is significantly wider than the space between the rest of the scales, and those curves don’t line up. Finally, the top line on the black piece below the “Alpha Male” text needs to be parallel with the text itself (see the blue lines on the last link).
Overall, while the first logo is fixable, it looks like the work of a designer who is either very inexperienced or pays zero attention to detail. The second one is fancy, but sucks as a logo in my opinion.
If you decide to go back to the drawing board, here’s a few examples of good dragon logos that you can pull from.
https://www.brandcrowd.com/maker/asset/logo/908fef2f-3446-4753-911b-aa99063f1662/image/logo?text=Logo%20Text%20Here
(The one below is actually a much better, but less detailed version of the dragon design your first logo is going for. Notice how well all the lines flow together to form that spiral, particularly in the neck)
https://as2.ftcdn.net/jpg/01/08/20/99/500_F_108209947_ImSHSinxPj6WvjNSfRgLyWXyd3cYCacK.jpg
Ignore the colors on this one
https://www.logoground.com/uploads/2018114212018-03-272913948swirl%20dragon%20logo.jpg
Blog
Now onto the blog. Overall, I like the design of your blog. That said, there are a few adjustments that I would suggest from a design and readability perspective.
First of all, PLEASE implement a dark mode. You’re the Blackdragon, after all, lol. No but seriously, a dark theme for your blogs would not only fit the Blackdragon theme, but it would also save the eyes of so many of your readers. I know this is just one data point, but I have quit reading most blogs that don’t have a dark mode (either first or third party through a browser extension) just because of the eye strain. Yours is literally the ONLY content that I read on a normal white background, and I read a LOT of content online. While that reflects the quality of your work, I would still like to be able to read it comfortably.
Second, picking a slightly different font would also go a long way towards making your content a lot more readable. While your current font is ok when it’s just normal text, it’s got a lot of issues with the kerning (the spacing between different pairs of characters. Look at any word with an apostrophe for an example of what I’m talking about), as well as becoming far less readable when it’s made bold, italic, or you add an underline. I would suggest replacing it with another, similar serif font like Alegreya (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Alegreya), or Merriwether (https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/merriweather). Alternately, if you wanted to switch it up and go with a sans-serif font, Tisa (https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/ff-tisa-sans) or Lato (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Lato) would both be good choices.
Your comment system is also quite dated. I’d look into something like Disqus, which allows for simple moderation, and easy browsing.
A few other miscellaneous comments regarding the design:
*The top menu isn’t very mobile friendly. Looks inconsistent to the rest of the theme on mobile.
*The borders around the sidebar look very dated. Try a colored ribbon and tab on the side, similar to the way the question boxes in the survey are designed.
*Ditto with the rounded borders on all your images. Looks super dated.
*Speaking of images, most of the stock images you use look super 90s/early 2000s. Ideally, you don’t want your stock photos to look like, well… stock photos. It comes across as super cheesy. I’d strongly suggest that you look into a better site for your featured images. For free stuff, you can’t beat Pexels and Pixabay. If you’re looking at paid options, Getty is the best, and Adobe Stock has some good stuff as long as you stay away from the super staged looking shots.
*The layout of your homepage needs some love. Try something similar to Return of Kings where you have 2-3 featured articles at the top for new readers, then article previews in reverse chronological order from there
*Speaking of article previews, RoK does a great job with those as well. Clean and to the point with the featured photo off to the left, with title, author, date, tags, and number of comments on the right. They also use font size and weight to communicate the different UI elements instead of using the oldschool blue link look.
*Lose the social sharing widget in the article previews on the homepage. You don’t have the kind of audience that is going to kneejerk share an article after just reading the title. Or at least, the good part of your audience anyways…
*Actually, now that I’m looking at it more, the RoK theme is really pretty fantastic. You probably can’t go wrong copying anything from their theme.
Content
Overall, I think your content balance is great. I wish you’d write a bit more about the changes to online dating in recent years, as well as the differences between dating online for younger and older guys, but other than that, I really like your content balance.
I also wish that the promo content you put out wouldn’t completely displace the normal posting schedule. The Alpha Male 2.0 Business course posts actually got me off my routine of coming here first thing every Monday and Thursday to check for new posts, and I’m probably one of your most regular readers (and I’ve bought several books, as well as subscribing to the SMIC course for a while. I plan to be back in a couple months once I get my income up a bit more). The fact that you weren’t posting regular content for almost 2 weeks broke my habit of coming here right when you post, just because my brain wasn’t expecting to find anything useful since I had already seen your promos. I don’t mind the sales pitches, especially for YOUR products, but I won’t see them to begin with unless I’m coming for the regular content.
On that note, it probably wouldn’t hurt to start an email list to let people know about new blog posts, events, and new products (ActiveCampaign is by far the best and most cost effective way to implement that, btw. They’ve got a great UI for putting campaigns together too. Very simple and easy). Plus, it’s a more personal medium, so it gives you the opportunity to publish certain types of content that are a bit too casual for the blog, but not exclusive enough for SMIC. Simon Black and Chase Amante are great examples of how to do this (and if you want an awesome AtoZ instruction manual, check out the content at Digital Marketer’s email marketing certification. Their certs are legit some of the best all around info on how to market different types of products). Just make sure you experiment with the frequency of different types of emails so you get the most value out of them without burning out your list.
Yes, I agree. Replace this gradient with similar solid dark reds as logo 2. 2 solid shades of this dark red could be enough imho.
Dark mode would be great indeed.
Yes, please switch to one of those sans-serif fonts.
I wholeheartedly disagree, at least about Disqus. I like the linearity of your comment section, I dislike Disqus, it feels too messy.
Please refrain from posting articles such as politics or business when they have nothing whatsoever to do with women life area. These articles are great for your other blog.
Please don’t go the Roosh way where he now mostly talks about stuffs completely unrelated to dating women. It’s annoying as fuck, keep it focused on pragmatic ideas about women life area. Talk about those stuffs in your other blog. Add more visible links to your other blog if necessary but refrain from polluting this blog with unrelated articles.
The travel posts are okay but need more detailed focus and pictures about the women aspect.
I agree with Gang. I like hearing your thoughts about business, politics, current events, movies, etc. but that’s why I follow your other blog. While some of the Alpha Male 2.0 stuff that isn’t purely women related (like your article about where to live in a city) fits on this blog, the business topics really feel out of place. I think that keeping that clear separation is key to maintaining the clarity of your message. I do enjoy that material though.
Yeah that is my main complaint. I come here every Monday and Thursday only to see that there is an announcement for a book, course, seminar or whatever and there will be no actual new post for that day. I don’t expect him to change that since making a real post right after a promo post would make the promo less visible. However since BD is moving away from blog format perhaps there is a way to promote new products without messing up regular posting schedule.
As for the logo. Keep it simple and to the point. There is just too much going on with the two offered here. You don’t need to go all Patreon logo with simplicity but this is just a bit too much.
BD,
If necessary make another poll from the most relevant suggestions you will get here to finalise the selection.
A lot of guys are not very creative in giving examples, but when given specific content they know right away what they will choose.
I think rebranding to Alpha Male 2.0 is a great idea. I anticipate much more mainstream exposure with that name.
I think your “My History With Women/Business/Whatever” posts are great. Not sure what else you’d write about,business networking, social skills, time management, systems fixing, whatever, but those History With posts are cool. It can be hard to conceptualize how our own journeys will go with your techniques without your big picture timeline stories, imo.
As well, I think it’d be AMAZING if you wrote posts on the specifics of how you formed your relationship/business systems and philosophies. I know that, for example, with women near the beginning of your journey you tallied data into a spreadsheet so you could track trends, what was working, what wasn’t. Like, what kind of data collection, how you learned faster over time, how you kept cognitive biases in check, contained your societal programming, just in general, how you made up these elaborate systems and how we could begin forming our own.
I find most self-improvement gurus will teach you what they’ve learned, but now HOW they learned it. So your readers could then apply it to any other field of life. Sort of a “teach a man to fish” instead of giving him a fish kinda thing.
1. Think about changing the logo to something which is less computer game looking and more serious for the general public. Take a step up and make these advices which are really good look less “young 17 yr gamer insterested in sports and booze” in the international market. A logo, concept and books for men should maybe have a serious logo if they are meant to sell. This blog is a huge part of it.
2. Regarding the blog. More head on advices regarding dating women, how to do it, like it was back in 2014 but with all your new insights that come with age. It will never be outdated. Hints and tips also for nonmonogamous people. This is is such a tough subject for people to get around that it is basically neverending.
3. Less general business advices and more personal finance advices and ideas in relation how to be able to live such a life. These are personal things. The shelves are loaded with business books. General business advices can be included in personal finance writings.
4. Less travel and lifestyle things as these are also personal interests which instagram is full of. The unique thing with Blackdragon are all the ideas about dating, getting laid, how to handle women and their psychology, nonmonogamous concepts and lifestyles etc etc. Fantastic things!
Thank you for doing the thing that nobody else is doing for men!
A few cool dragon logos examples, that are close to your current logo but further away from Mortal Kombat’s :
https://www.kisspng.com/png-logo-dragon-graphic-design-dragon-logo-1445857/
https://fireballsupply.co/products/dragon-logo-large-die-cut-sticker
https://www.kisspng.com/png-how-to-train-your-dragon-symbol-logo-1593052/
https://99designs.fr/logo-design/contests/design-dragon-logo-company-787822
This one is further away, but it’s my personal favorite :
https://www.logoground.com/logo.php?id=73877
This is very subjective, but I like these logos because they are simple, lean, abstract, and can easily be used as a favicon (your 2 suggestions will look very bad as a 16×16 icon, especially the second one). Your first suggestion is close, but a bit too busy IMO.
Regarding the logo, I am attracted to shadow type logos and I think this gets away from the gamer look of the two examples and adds a bit of maturity to the branding.
So maybe a black dragon shadow image and incorporating the alpha 2.0 text?
Disclaimer: I am not a graphic designer!
All, great suggestions! I’m taking notes!
And yes, I’m going to do a second round of surveys / logos.
Logo 1 is cleaner. Perhaps the dragon might be black with red trim, rather than red with black trim?
Depends on what you mean by business. If you’re talking about location independent businesses I disagree. It’s one of the cornerstones of the alpha lifestyle, this blog and is 100% related to “women life area”. Shit you have guys still living with the mothers on this site. You don’t think that’s related to “women life area” if you’re living in your parents basement?
I work very intensely with my brain and sometimes i need some lite reading to take a break. I dont want to even click on any mainstream media or left wing blogs. So i would visit manosphere stuff for about twenty minutes a day. I personally dont think theres enough daily content for us guys and i would pay monthly for that. I actually enjoyed ROK before it devolved so bad at the end.
BD,
You asked for input, so I gave you some. If you disagree, fine, that’s your business. Why do you presume that a reader has a vested interest in persuading you that he is right?
You always advocate to increase income, avoid wasting time, do what’s best for yourself, etc., and yet you expect me to donate my time doing a tedious chore (searching past blogs for examples) to improve your business. Check your reasoning.
When you can’t persuade me to do your work for you (against my own best interest), you respond with scorn and attempted ridicule. This behavior is transparently manipulative (and typical of a narcissist).
You solicited suggestions (“to improve”), but when you dislike the constructive suggestions, you respond defensively and combatively. Perhaps the long term benefits of improving are less compelling (to you) than the instant rewards of arguing.
You seem to view a criticism as an argument to be won, rather than as a possible opportunity to improve. Does responding that way serve you best in the long run?
If more than one reader misunderstood your request for suggestions to improve your blog, you might take responsibility for having failed to communicate clearly the restrictions of the info you seek, rather than getting angry and insulting to readers who think they are providing the free information which you requested.
Perhaps I overlooked some spot where you warn readers that before they post a comment or question, you expect that they have read every blog you’ve ever posted before and that they remember all of it (because your blog is as important to all of your readers as it is to you).
You’ve ignored all of my positive and diplomatic remarks. You seem very angry that I won’t obey your wishes and let you control my responses.
Shouting and cursing about your indifference is not very persuasive.
You’re an interesting individual. By your own metric, you have been very successful so far. However, this does not guarantee you a successful future. Sometimes the same traits which enable a man to climb very high are the same traits which later bring him down low. I hope you will be successful (and healthy) for decades to come.
Hi, Caleb!
I was thinking about how I would like the new logo to be and said “fuck it”. I sketched one as my birthday present for the community (It’s my birthday).
https://ibb.co/bMfqAV
It’s a Dragon, but there are all elements present: And alpha letter (though it’s lowercase), a dot, the dragon forms a number 2 and it is reminiscent of the Libertarian emblem. The tail forms a pronounced curve that was mean to represent an 0, but together they form a kinda infinity sign that I meant to symbolize abundance. It’s not closed, though, because it’s FREE
Ive been exploring this for the past couple of years, and I’d like to see more of this. Specifically how you target them using online dating (with updates to how the current dating apps have changed over the years, and dating 33+ when you are 48).
I recently changed jobs, and have a sales/marketing oriented position for the first time in a decade. So, as I reread my copies of Dating Younger Women and the online dating manual and have mixed few about them. Parts of it (the canned openers and questions, how to utilize TEP, etc) are so solid and timeless. Other parts (using your technique in an area smaller than 200,000, how to target type IIs and IIIs online with POF being out, workarounds in the age restrictions) either need addressing or clarification.
I tried online dating when I first got divorced, and swore it off because I kept dating women who were already in my social circle. Even then, it was frustrating because I didn’t know what I was doing. So I decided to start dabbling in it again, this time following your advice.
Holy shit is it effective! And easy to not screw up. But I can see spots where a little further dialing in would really help a lot of users.
Anyway, I want to thank you for opening up a door that leads away from the nonsense of a “normal life”. It has been a godsend after a failed TMM and a lifetime of SP. Nobody else in the sphere did anything to move me forward into a much improved life. But you did. I appreciate you showing me the way.
Agreed.
Same here.
Advice on what to do with your money. The alpha 2.0 should earn $75.000 or above, and I have achieved this goal, however all my money is sleeping on a bank account, which means it is depreciating. I have low trust in youtube guru’s about how to invest in the stock market, and I have to admit I am also a bit risk averse as I can’s put too much time in following stocks ect. A guide on what to do with extra cash, how to invest it, … would be nice.
Caleb on the mobile version when you hit the down arrow it disappears.
That’s the glitch I was referring to.
At least it happens in Safari for iPhone.
Man that’s kinda funny in a way : imagine the boyfriend stumbling on the “confessions of a serial monogamist” article (the best article on this blog by far, true investigative journalism lol)!
But it also shows the power of SP…
I am looking at your last post. I opened the photo in a new tab. The resolution is 480×267. It’s useless.
This requires improvement: reader should be able to somehow display a higher resolution picture. 1920×1080 is a minimum.
I wrote a long ass text but it couldn’t be sent. I tried multiple times
Just testing now
It must be that small because if larger all the hundreds of images really slow down the blog.
BD,you could encrypt both blogs,with HTTPS,because right now the ISP can see everything that we do on your blog ,and most users care about privacy.
Good idea. But I’m not sure how that would protect WordPress comments.
Add a button near the bottom of the page that readers can click and can go back to the top of the page….no more scrolling to get back to the article, links, ect.
Thanks BD!
Logo
TheTimTastic had some amazing notes about the logo, so I just want to second what he said and highlight his comment.
Blog Content
I know that this blog is more of a seduction blog, but I’d like more business advice as well as seduction advice. I would like to see more about online dating as you don’t seem to have much new about it anymore. That would help tie in the Alpha Male 2.0 concepts a little bit better, which, correct me if I’m wrong, you seem to be wanting to go into.
As many, many other people have already noted: more stuff about MLTR‘s and OLTR‘s would be highly appreciated. I’m newer/stricter with even MLTR criteria and haven’t had but 3 (depending on how you count it could be as low as 1) and have really mucked it up (the last one I was doing extremely well on until life hit me with a big bag of thundercocks and I got weak and abandoned, oh well… dem’s the shakes sometimes).
–> there was also a great comment about using stories from other guys’ lives and using those as a basis for posts. Coach Corey Wayne does this with his YouTube videos. While he’s not someone who I would recommend as a consistent role model, he does have some great seduction advice and a good system that you could use yourself (in coming up with content).
Also really, really loving your travel/city related posts (my god I’m practically salivating to see what you have to say about Columbia). I’d love to see more about them. In addition, as we seem to have very similar tastes in women I’d love to see an ever-growing post about your personal hottest cities. As someone with a similar taste in women and someone who in 5 years hopes to get on top of his own flag theory plans, I’d love to see a quick list that I can bookmark (that also grows as needed). I know you made a hottest cities from a normal man perspective (and a personal hot girl list), but not sure if you made a personal city one (that I can find, please point me in the right direction if you have one).
PDF Posts/Better Introduction for Newer People
One member mentioned making some PDF’s with your posts, that’s an option and always a good one. You could even integrate these into an introduction for people and sell ’em off for a few bucks each as a tripwire to some of your other stuff (along with/replace/charge more for/whatever your 9 dollar book). While it won’t make you a ton of money it could help offset a few costs of running the site while also moving newer people along.
Even turn them into an audio/pdf bundle.
Off the top of my head:
1. PDF’s about a Dragon in…
2. Online Dating Related Shtuffs
3. First dates
4. Texting
5.Fuck Buddies
6. Relationship Advice (M/OLTR‘s)
7. Business/lifestyle related
There was another comment that mentioned you could create some kind of an introduction to newer people. I’d even go as far as to specifically try to put them on their own email track. That way you can introduce them to the core concepts and get them up to speed as needed without bogging down everyone else (of if anyone needs a refresher).
Misc.
I understand why you replace certain posts of the week with product related launches instead of an actual post. So while it’s annoying, I’d honestly say keep it (unless you trade to once/week posts in which case make the product post a second one that week).
Same notes about your tone. Yeah it does come off as a little aggressive/off-putting at times but that’s a big part of why you have the audience you do. It’s a core part of who you are and your own message. I know you don’t need to hear this, because you already know it: but I wanted to make a quick note on it so you’re not overloaded with “I hate your tone” messages. Even though I, personally, don’t like it some of the time; I’d say it’d be way worse to change it.
Even if the preview embedded in the page is still the same size and only by clicking somewhere to explicitly request to view one picture full size.
Again no. I want that link to be to the SMIC page, not the image. The only reason the image is there is for SEO.
Caleb, first I want to tell you, and your readers, that your writings, particularly The Unchained Man, have proved to be transformational for me. I have always been independent – thinking, and when I encountered your blog and purchased your manuals, I came to realize how to amplify the man I am into one even happier and more successful. Thank you.
When I read your blogs and manuals, as with all other information I receive, I frame the information in the context of my life and desires. For example, I have a long history of successful serial monogamy, ranging from weeks to months to 16 years. This has worked very well for me since my mid – 20’s, and while I truly respect your being a proponent of (and living a life of) non-monogany, there is so much valuable information in your materials that I have become a true fan and frequent visitor.
As an age – 64 man, in excellent physical and mental condition (TRT, attitude, outcome independence, no TV – ever, avoidance of politics and news, gym training), and with a successful business which is the core of my Mission (I own and manage a group of radio stations), I am in a unique position to have an incredibly happy and fruitful life going forward.
Caleb, as someone who is in the mass media and advertising business, and someone who is age 64, I propose you do the following:
Include more content directed to the age 45+ male, topics such as dating advice, the behavior of older women (40+?), how to best use the online dating sites, how to keep frame as you age, revisit TRT and other “anti – aging” techniques, how much drugs such as Cialis and Viagra can make even younger men’s lives incredible.
In your posts and writing, you often refer to men of say, age 50 and up as “really old”. Rather, I see us as your greatest business opportunity. We have more money by far than at any previous time in our lives. We have life experience that like yourself can be leveraged into great happiness. We have made terrible mistakes in our work and women lives and have learned from them. And, at least some of us are having the best sex of our lives – my most recent girlfriend was an age – 66 hottie with the body of a 25 year old (truth – she used to be a professional ballet dancer) and a complete freak having sex. In my pipeline now are two early – 50’s, a 43, and a 26. Far from bragging, please know that I recognize my good fortune and am incredibly grateful. But, my own efforts made this happen. And others can realize this too.
Two of my radio stations target the age 40+ group, both men and women. Those are by far my highest – performing stations. Perhaps that demographic can be your most valuable as well.
Lastly, I want to reach out to your readers here. Pay attention to what Caleb brings you. If you have yet to purchase The Unchained Man, do so immediately. Put into action the parts of this remarkable life instruction manual that you feel will benefit you. Work every day on being the best man you can be, first for yourself, then to be the best man you can be for the people you love and who love you. Treat your women with the highest respect and care, and expect the same from them. STOP WATCHING TV – get it out of your house and life. RESIGN FROM POLITICS – being involved in politics, voting and giving a shit about all that was my greatest life mistake. Don’t engage in political discussions – that is always a no – win. Philosophical conversations – fine! Don’t get caught up in the Red Pill / MGTOW anti-woman trap. Celebrate life. Get outdoors, hit the gym, ride a bicycle, eat great food, start TRT, cherish your friendships, take your dog for a walk to the park and engage with people there. And kiss a pretty girl. And make sure she kisses you back.
Normal
0
Totally off topic (well she is latina though). I first heard about Sofia Vergara in your blog, who I find super hot. And I recently started to watch modern family just to see and hear her because she’s hot. Damned the SP is so damned strong in this show! It almost makes me want to be monogamously married and have kids, especially the scenes with Phil, his blond wife and 3 kids.
I am a hardcore polyamorist and swinger at heart since I am a kid, I do not exaggerate. Of course I didn’t know any of these words, but back in kindergarden we would swap girlfriends with my friends for kisses on the mouth, making parents furious. I have never believed in sexual exclusivity and always wanted open relationships, both ways, even before I ever had sex. And I do not want kids at all.
Excellent post Don, great to see you are enjoying life in your latter years.
Like you, I have a similar philosophy and advocate living a more organic existence outwith the mainstream matrix and my life is all the better for it.
I would be really interested in hearing more from you including your dabbles into TRT and your younger chick escapades.
Cheers bro.
I concur with Don’s comments, although it sounds like he’s doing fine for himself. He and other older users should probably memorize these two BD articles (if they haven’t already):
https://alphamale20.com/blackdragonblog/2016/03/14/15767/
https://alphamale20.com/blackdragonblog/2016/03/28/date-women-33-part-two-2/
I used to work in radio and television when I was in high school. I figured out back then how advertisers paid the bills and the station skewed coverage to keep the listener engaged (or, enraged). That was the beauty of Rush in the early days, those ditto heads would lock it in, rip off the dial, and buy whatever Rush was hawking. New York Seltzer, Snapple, whatever.
I think it’s hilarious the radio guy doesn’t have a tv because he doesn’t want to fill his head with nonsense! That’s insight, baby.
@ Blackdragon
Please never listen to the foolishness about never talking and writing about prostitution. I noted that you have moved on to having some Sugar Babies which is a form of prostitution, and the best part about it is if you can afford it that it provides the Girl Friend Experience better and more often because the Sugar Baby rarely thinks of herself as a Prostitute which she is but rather a Girl Friend or Friends with Benefits. As men get older then it becomes more difficult to seduce without money the young 20 something women men want to have sex with. All this talk about merit is nonsense. Everything in this world is predator against the prey in each and every way and each and every day without relent or repent as well as the fight usually is finished before it ever started. If some men want to complain like the Afghan Taliban that it is not fair that all they have is a bolt action rifle and you as an American Soldier have a machine gun and they are provably better shooters, then it is their problem and not yours because they are dead and you remain alive. In the same way, either you get the number and kinds of women to ejaculate your penis or you don’t. Part of a man’s happiness is getting his penis ejaculated by the types of women, the kinds of sex and the number of women he wants. When the naysayers mature and grow up they will find out the hard way.
I won’t, but…
Absolutely wrong on all levels. Sugar babies should be wham-bam-thank-you-maam fuck buddies and that’s it. I’m friendly with my sugar babies, and they’re nice people, but it’s just sex, that’s it, and if it’s anything more with a woman you’re giving money to, then something is very wrong.
Oh dear, those logos…
Forget the second for all the reasons given above.
The first one could be made half decent by sticking to just one colour (and not everything between orange and red plus black) – just make it all red or, indeed, all black. And please use the same font for writing and numbers…
As for themes, I don’t care much for the travel bits (probably done quite a bit more traveling than you have), but could imagine that it might appeal to an US audience – personally, I would prefer advice on this blog’s core theme – game, dating, maintenance.
And yes, I too noticed the occasional mistakes, both spelling and grammar (despite English being a second language), but figured that’s more due to speed and volume of your output rather than you actually not knowing.
I’d love to see more info about the technical aspects of hunting down FB‘s and putting them on your roster while in an OLTR. When do you let them know that you’re married? How do you get them over to your office to bang while maintaining plausble deniability? How much extra does your office space cost? How do you deal with other tenants in your office rental space while running hoes in and out?
I know you already have a large file of former FB‘s to call on. But it would be useful information for your bloggers. Also since you’re moving soon you’ll have to go on the hunt to find more FB‘s in the new countries you’ll be staying at.
@ Blackdragon
It was my fault for not being clear and detailed enough, and I apologize for that. There are sexual acts and enthusiasm levels which may be more difficult to get out of women sexually physically speaking Professional Prostitutes rather than Friends with Benefits. As an example, that if you are an Alpha 2.0 then your may want to kiss your FBs on the mouth as in French Kissing(open mouths and tongues touching), and most professional prostitutes won’t do that or if they do then they charge extra for the Girl Friend Experience. Sugar babies are more likely to kiss than Professional Prostitutes. I never meant dating them as according to your rules. Alpha 1.0s and Betas may want to do the dating thing. I would rather have FBs with most women than date most women, and I think most men are the same. Most men get entangled into have a relationship because it is the only way they can get sex which in the modern Western World as far as most men are concerned should really be called a RELATIONSHIT! For all the whining most Western women do about their relationships, they get more positive things out of it than most men. Prostitution in all its forms would be greatly diminished and maybe disappear if men could easily and quickly seduce women, A personal example one night in my early thirties I walked up to woman drunk and said that once I finished my beer, I was going to fuck her and to my surprise she agreed and I ejaculated inside her three times that night. I am 50 years old now, and I wish seducing women was always that quick and easy, but it is usually not. Call me an extreme Pleasure and Sex man if you want, but I think that many such kinds of men like Prostitutes for that reason is because it is quick and easy as well as they get the types of women and sex they want. As men get older, this becomes more difficult, and some the younger commenters, like Jack Outside the Box will find this out the hard way sooner or later. If I and most other men found it that easy then we would seldom or never have relationships or RELATIONSHITS. The difficulty then becomes most women would rather date most men rather and not have sex with them or will only have sex with them if they are dating or in a Relationship/RELATIONSHIT. Maybe you will write more on how to avoid dating and how to get into having more FBs. Thanks in advance.
I agree with Doclove. The GFE isn’t about seeing escorts or sugar babies as more than fuck buddies. It’s a manner of having sex that doesn’t feel mechanical and more like a passionate (in a very physical sense) hookup. wham-bam-thank-you-ma’m suggests more of a 20-minute romp, and some men enjoy the occasional full hour of physical intimacy, it doesn’t prevent them from knowing what’s what. I have no plan to be having any serious GF more than maybe a third of the time in the coming decades, but I don’t intend to restrict myself to quick near-robotic bangs in between.
BTW – Don who posted @”November 23, 2018 at 11:56 am” is 64. I´m 43 – I want to live a similar life like Don in 21 years. Learn from people who have more experience.
OH! More how-to’s about sex, preferably with diagrams. You seem to know a LOT–your articles over the years have mentioned pillow under the hips technique, finding the gspot fast, always make her cum, teaching her how to cum with her gspot, etc. But I get the impression there’s a lot you know that you’ve been to busy to discuss. A+ guarantee if you wrote those blog articles viewership increases a ridiculous amount–also you would be saving many men and women from mediocre sex and give the gift of teaching orgasms.
PLEASE WRITE THESE ARTICLES LOL
Blackdragon fiction that shows how the world and women really are, not how typical Hollywood movies portray it.
Hey BD…. please give us alpha 2 men more on how to combat women in our special framed way… I love your shit test post along with all written on preserving the male trait and lifestyle….. keep it up sir as you have a very loyal follower here…. JRP
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