Blogging Web 2.0 New Year - New Look
Posted on January 17, 2008
Filed Under Important News | 7 Comments
Ok, finally I have managed to steal some time out of my rather busy days and deal with this blog. I do apologize to you our readers and also to our guest bloggers since I have been very slack posting here and even making an appearance.
Without boring you with excuses lets just say a few things had to be sorted elsewhere. So thank you for staying with us. It is surprising to see that our subscriptions have gone up during this period which is great.
Terry and I decided a while back to change this blogs theme and all though we looked at CopyBlogger and Keyword Sniper I decided today that the second theme actually looked better than CopyBlogger. It is simply a cleaner look and I’m very happy with the transformation.
There will be some possible re-arrangements in the next week or so to tweak a little more, but I think overall this is a very nice on the eye look. No more clutter and easy to navigate.
However, if you are trying to use the RSS button right now, it doesn’t work since I’m having trouble with the code. Maybe Terry will be able to sort this out, so please just keep checking back.
Monika
Technorati Tags: blog design, Blogging, blogging web 2.0, Important NewsHello, if you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
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De-clutter Your Life Now!
Posted on December 29, 2007
Filed Under Blogging | Leave a Comment
First of all, thanks Terry for keeping up the forth here while I was busy partying away through Christmas. Actually I wish I was partying, but except for the actual Xmas day I was online pretty much all the time. I failed to blog during this time because I was de-cluttering my business including laptop, desktop, mind and other things. But Terry wished you all a happy Christmas from all of us and he talked about blogging them together.
I want to talk about clutter and how it can upset our blogging day. In the last couple of month I noticed a disturbing trend in my mind where I struggled to keep up with all my assignments, both self imposed and paid. There was an ever increasing amount of information that kept bombarding my mind to be read and heard, but the dealing with became a little ridiculous.
It wasn’t for lack of time management, but for information overload. I tried to absorb too much and deal with too many things and on the bottom line this sent me close to mental collapse. (Well, not really but this is what it could do if left un treated).
I realized that I simply couldn’t keep up with the pace I had self inflicted upon me and something had to give to allow for smoother performance. The biggest issue for me was to keep up with reading all the new blog posts (skimming), visiting the more interesting ones and comment. I spent around 3 hours a day in the end to do this as well as promoter other people’s stuff through social media.
This is simply crazy! I cannot keep doing this with a growing writing business and my intentions to grow other income streams if I already run out of time. Therefore this activity had to give big time and these days I limit myself to read and comment on only those blogs that actually give me value for my time spent there.
If I don’t learn something new that I can implement, then I won’t bother reading the blog any longer. Interestingly enough I keep floating back to the same blogs over and over again since they do give me value and therefore I can justify what I do.
My priorities were to organize myself better and since shifting my focus on this more Zen style approach it has made a huge difference.
Sometimes when we feel overloaded and overworked, it really does pay to stop and take a good look at why! This little “break” has given me insight into where I need to cut back and where I need to get more active.
I’m in the process of de-cluttering my business and my life and it feels like a fresh breath of air.
Monika Mundell
Technorati Tags: de-clutter,get organized,clean out your business clutter,blogging web 2.0
Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging web 2.0, clean out your business clutter, clutter, de clutter, get organized, information overload, lack of time, time managementComments
Get Kick Ass Traffic with Blogger
Posted on December 21, 2007
Filed Under SEO, Blogging | 5 Comments
Terry wrote a great post about domain registration and how much better it is to start off with a pre-owned domain opposed to registering a brand new one. Not only will you avoid the sandbox, but you’ll have a good chance of getting a good PR for a decent price.
In the meantime however you can kick ass with blogger blogs. Grizzly wrote a top pillar post on let’s make money right now and I’m not going to repeat what he said.
Let me tell you one thing: if you are desperate to make money on the Internet (which applies to around 95 % of you) then you need to go and read Grizzly’s post! And while you are there you also hop over to Vic’s blog and learn what you have been doing wrong all this time.
I blog about the blogger blogs to show you my results since I have taken Grizzly’s golden tips on board and run with it 2.5 days ago.
As Griz suggested I went and registered a blogger blog. I chose a subject that is popular and started of by using the keyword in the blogs URL
It would read like this: http://yourkeyword.blogspot.com
I then set up the blog using one of the pre-fab themes there and also made sure to use the keyword in the description field.
Next I started writing some blog posts using the keyword often but not so much that it looked crappy or couldn’t be read. To date (2.5 days later) I have 10 posts on the blog that are all related to the main keyword I’m targeting.
In the same time frame I’ve had 2,844 unique hits to the blog so far and still counting. If you are not excited by this stat alone, you need to get a reality check!
Since my Writers Manifesto Blog is now around 8 months young and I’m getting 800 unique’s + a day getting 2,844 unique’s in 2.5 days to a brand new blog is just out of this world.
The point of this post is not to brag to you - actually far from it. But it is to show you that it can be done by anybody if you follow the advice given. And I’m telling you right now, I won’t hold your hand doing this either and silly questions on “but how did you do this” will be ignored.
This would only show to me that you didn’t read Grizzly’s post and therefore nothing will change for you.
Money wise I have only made a couple of dollars in that time frame which shows that I need to monetize better. This is probably were I struggle most. I need to learn what works best for my audience and I suspect this is often a hit and miss too.
I’m excited about what happens when we do the right thing and once I manage to make some sales I will be onto a true winner.
Monika Mundell
Technorati Tags: kick ass blogger traffic,blogger,blogging,blogging web 2.0,seo
Technorati Tags: blogger, Blogging, blogging web 2.0, kick ass blogger traffic, SEOComments
Boost Your Incoming Links
Posted on December 16, 2007
Filed Under Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment
Incoming links are part of the bread and butter for any blog and website. Without them our blog dries out and we are left with only crumbs - of traffic that is. Since incoming links are essential for SEO purposes we need to learn as much as we can do get more links pointing to our blog.
And no, this isn’t a post about submitting your blog to directories. In fact, I have never done this before. My time is too valuable to fart around with directory submissions and there is a much easier way to get back links and getting indexed quickly even with a new blog.
The open secret is social bookmarking sites!
With social bookmarking sites you can gain a tremendous amount of incoming links within a relative short period of time. And not only that, you will also save a lot of time by not having to submit your posts to every site (of which there are hundreds) individually.
You can do this easy and fast with OnlyWire
OnlyWire not only allows you to bookmark your posts to 22 sites within a couple of minutes, but most of them have a very high Page Rank. This means for every bookmark you submit you will get one incoming link back to your post.
Over time this can result in a huge amount of incoming links to your blog with as little as 2 minutes work daily (after your post is published).
But this goes even further. As you bookmark your posts on these sites, bloggers will pick them up if they like what they see and maybe even blog about you, so more links again.
As you can probably see, doing this kind of activity will help your traffic too.
OnlyWire isn’t the only bookmarking service on the market
(by the way it is free)
But it certainly helps to get you some incoming links!
Monika Mundell
Technorati Tags: incoming links,web 2.0,blogging web 2.0,blogging,social bookmarking
Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging web 2.0, incoming links, social bookmarking, Web 2.0Comments
26 Ways To Get Organized Now!
Posted on December 10, 2007
Filed Under Blogging | 3 Comments
We all struggle with clutter in our life and this often stops us by getting ahead and actually getting things done. As Terry mentioned the other day, a blogging waste of time is so easily achieved by not focusing on the relevant, which results in us sabotaging ourselves instead of moving ahead.
But in a world full of distraction we really need to get better at shutting distractions out of our minds, so we can concentrate better on the tasks at hand.
Have you ever found yourself staring at your screen for hours not knowing what to do next because you felt so overwhelmed with all the work that needed to be done? I’m sure we can all relate to this in one way or another.
Often when these blocks happen we make things worse by procrastinating, instead of starting somewhere and eliminating the work one by one.
I used to be a Master procrastinator for many years and only recently started to get a grasp on the idea of actually working to achieve things.
While I don’t claim to be an expert in any way, I can simply try to share with you what helped me to become a “near task master” (please note the word “near”).
With Christmas and the holidays just around the corner it is more important than ever to get organized now, because we will most likely want to spend some time offline celebrating, stuff our tummies with yummy food and be merry and not worry about the bulk load of work that awaits us when we return to the office.
Claim a day now to get organized and save weeks later down the track.
26 Ways To Get Organized Now!
- check email accounts only twice a day and answer queries ASAP.
- use manila folder files for individual projects
- alternatively use folders on your hard drive to to do the same
- keep all your passwords and log-in details in the same location (notebook, special file on your hard drive, print out)
- always write your to do list today for tomorrow. That way you can get going the instant you step into your office.
- take some time once a week to plan the following week. Sunday evenings might be suitable for most and also back up your hard drive while doing this.
- finish tasks before creating too many new ones
- eliminate email clutter
- eliminate paper clutter
- shut out distractions from family (make it clear to them that you do run a business, therefore you need “your” time to work.
- Try to achieve a main task and a new goal every week. This could run into several weeks of working on the same project, but it will help to grow your business
- focus on quality - not quantity
- outsource the work you suck at or the work you hate to do and keep putting off.
- execute a plan and then put the plan into action
- ask for help
- spring clean your office
- take breaks (you’ll be amazed at how much more you get done this way)
- only take on board what you can handle with a 10% stretch (for growth)
- learn to say NO (most of us struggle to do so)
- JV with a like minded person to achieve something together
- upgrade your computer for faster performance
- read books that help you organize your life
- streamline your life (often less is more, especially if you work it)
- stop stressing about Christmas, focus on togetherness instead of frantically buying crappy presents nobody ever wanted anyway. Do a secret Santa instead.
- use time tracking tools
- and finally … get a life away from the computer
If you have more useful tips that can be added to this list, please leave them in the comments section.
If you need help or clarification, then please just ask
Monika Mundell
Technorati Tags: get organized,organize yourself,organize your life,organize your work,blogging web 2.0
Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging web 2.0, get organized, organize your life, organize your work, organize yourselfComments
December Competition
Posted on December 4, 2007
Filed Under Monthly Competition | 3 Comments
Well, following November’s successful competition here at Blogging Web 2.0 it’s time to announce the competition for December!
As I won Monika’s competition at her Writer’s Manifesto Blog for last month, I decided to recycle the prize money and put it up here – in stages. I’m a great believer in giving back what I take out, so it seemed a really useful way of using the money rather than simply spending it on myself (ok, that’s also a nice thing to do with money…).
As the success of this blog is more important to me than a few case-loads of beers (aw, I like beer!) I talked it over with Monika and we decided that the best way to go would be to keep the competition the same for this month and keep attracting new guest bloggers to participate by posting as many (relevant and original) articles here as they can and the one who posts the most by midnight GMT 31st December 2007 will win the money. Simple!
How much money?
Well my first impulse was to put up the whole hundred, but then thought it would be better to split it over two months. That’s because Monika has put up the prize money for the first two months here and its well and truly my turn to do the same.
But…
This blog is still young and isn’t paying for itself yet. While it has done phenomenally well in it’s first two months of existence, it still needs more readers and contributors to push it along. It’s only by increasing our traffic stats sufficiently will we warrant touting for some advertising revenue to start making it pay. That will come soon enough as long as we keep working it as hard as we are and promoting it to the outside world as we’re doing.
So we decided it would be best to spin the money out over 3 months with December and January prizes at $30 and February at $40.
In three months we aim to be generating sufficient income from this blog so that further competitions will be sponsored from it’s own earning rather than from our own pockets – the way a business should be run!
So we ask all our current guest bloggers and friends to join in and post away as before and tell your blogging friend about us so more will join in the fun!
Remember, each post you publish here gets you a one-way back-link to your site. We’re already PR2 and the way we are going that will increase with the next round of Google page rank reshuffles so your existing as well as future links will grow in value as this site does. Plus as our traffic grows, more people will see your work and some to your blogs to see more, so everyone benefits from this.
So please get posting and anyone reading this who hasn’t already joined in, feel free to jump on board!
Monika and myself look forward to you joining us!
Terry Didcott
Blogging Web 2.o
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Blogging Web 2.0 Stats For November 2007
Posted on December 1, 2007
Filed Under Monthly Overview | 3 Comments
This blog started out in September this year and considering it is still young it is growing just nicely. This is due to the top writers who blog with us here and credit belongs to all of them. Both Terry and myself are excited about the high caliber of quality shown and we know that this blog will go from strength to strength over the coming month.
The month of November has been great for traffic once again. We have now officially topped the quarter of a million hits 2.5 month into being and that is partially due to one of my posts track your time being picked up by Life Hack, one of the biggest blogs online.
This has resulted in more than 320 visitors from Life Hack since they featured my post. This just goes to show what can happen when a big blog picks up your post.
Currently this blog gets an average of about 267 visitors/day and 8576 hits/day. As you can see, we have gone from 85,770 hits in October to over a quarter of a million hits one month later!
As far as income is concerned, we managed to make a couple of dollars once again.
Scratchback: $ 2.95
Clickbank: $ 0
Amazon: $ 0
Google Adwords: $ 3.78
Widget Bucks: $ 0 (I’m not counting the $25 sign up bonus until I get paid for it)
Total income November 2007 = $ 6.73
As for the guest blogger who took Novembers $30 home for writing the most entries, congratulations are on order again for Karen Zara. She did it again with a cheeky home run in the last minutes of the month toppling Trent by 1 post.
Well done Karen, I’ll PayPal the money to you as before.
Thanks to all of you who make this blog happen and taking shape and here is to a great end of year! (It started great already with a whopper Google day!)
And if it wasn’t for our readers, we wouldn’t be here in the first place, so thank you to all of you.
Monika
Technorati Tags: blogging web 2.0,blogging stats,blogging web 2.0 stats
Technorati Tags: Blogging Stats, blogging web 2.0, blogging web 2.0 stats, Monthly OverviewComments
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