Hey guys, the post below is INSANELY long, I just need some code from it so it will be here a couple days. It's an ebook I wrote. Feel free to ignore or to read it and judge me. :)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
ANeverEndingBattle.com
Find Wealth Thru Blogging… Contents And now for the design of your blog: 2 Now, let's get you some traffic! 3 Comment, Comment, and compliment! 3 Writer's workshops, Blog Carnivals and Open Forums 4 And for the big Question…How do I get advertisers on my site? 6 Let's face it, the economy isn't great right now. The stock market isn't making you money and you can't rely on Social Security anymore. You need more income, and the web is a great place to start. Blogging has become incredibly popular over the last few years and several well known bloggers make seven-digit salaries. The good news: anyone can do it. Yes, it takes hard work and a lot of time, but you will see results if you use the tools in this book. There are several great and free blog hosts out there. Check them all out and see what each one offers. Here are several free hosts to check out, and reasons people have chosen them: Blogger.com: Ease of use for a newbie. They offer several different templates and each one can be customized for your type of blog. One other plus is how easy it is to edit the html code in blogger.com. It may sound intimidating now, but before you know it you will be plugging in color and background codes. Wordpress.com: Again, this one is known for ease of use. It is also considered "search engine friendly," which means you may have a better chance of people finding your blog thru Google and Yahoo searches. Wordpress is said to have an advantage when it comes to advertising too, but this will depend on who you advertise with and what kind of ads you choose. Drupal.com: This one is built more for the tech savvy person and preferably someone with some programming experience. Drupal is mostly known for the ablility to easily customize using your own code and for the large choice of modules that can easily be added to your blog. Textpattern: Open source content management system. If you have coding experience this one may be the one for you. Light on what is commonly known as "fat coding," it is a bit more simple to alter the html log. Great site when it comes to adding elements too. There are many more, but all of these are great hosts. You just need to find which one meets your needs. Once you choose a host, you need to register your blog with search engines. Google especially! The registration box will ask you to describe your blog and most people would assume they need to write a coherent paragraph. Don't! Write in key words. If your blog is a mommy blog you would add in key words: support for moms, mommy, chic mommy, menu planning, potty training, 3 year old, child routine, pre-school, etc. Any words that would describe your blog or the posts you know you will be focusing on. Add in some color and spice! Add photos, logos, blocks of color, a simple but colorful header. Let's face it, people like pretty things. They like trendy things too, but don't be constantly changing your template or layout--it will cause confusion, and readers won't use your blog as anything but light reading. Try not to use 10 colors at once--it is distracting. Pick a nice color palette of 3-4 colors and stick with it. Make sure the colors compliment each other. When you read your blog, you should be able to focus on the current post without your eyes roaming the page or getting a headache. Don't add blinking text or images, and don't add neon colors that make it hard to focus. Don't use similar text and background colors, or people may not be able to read the text easily. Incorporate Widgets, Gadgets and modules. Don't just rely on your posts! There are so many fun ones out there. You can add personalized wish lists, slideshows, polls, ads, RSS feeds and news reels. You can also add your own custom XML modules. Choices are endless! If you have a political or news blog, you may want to add in the CNN feed. If you have a sewing blog, you make want to add an RSS feed of several bloggers that you follow, showing when they update and the name of subject post. If you have a cooking blog, you can incorporate an RSS feed that updates your blog with the newest recipes added to some of the larger recipe sites like Bettycrocker.com or Allrecipes.com. Consider putting a Google search bar on your blog. This may what pushes a person to homepage your blog. There are so many options that it may seem overwhelming. You may want to add in a little of everything, but remember to keep it streamlined and simple. Choose Widgets that add to the topic of your site, not just for space filler. Go look at your favorite bloggers and focus on what has worked for them. Do they have a ton of pictures, Widgets and images? Maybe, but I'm betting the layout is simple and easy to read. Google the name of your blog host with the word Background, Template or Widget behind the name. You will be surprised at what comes up. Most of the sites will have only a handful of templates of images, but there are several great sites that offer hundreds of options. You can customize your background headers and text by using pre-made templates. You can find these free all over the net. You usually choose a basic layout on your blogging platform, then using code you can use premade images. Invest in a simple HTML book--you will be glad you did. This will make it easier to customize your fonts, images, alignments and more. There are so many simple changes you can make yourself that will make a huge difference in appearance and quality. Now go register with Google! Before you do anything else, register your site with Google and sign up for Google stats. You'll thank me later. We all know and love those cute family blogs that our friends and family put together. But let's face it, millions of people are not going to those blogs a day. You need to pick a subject, and 90% of your posts need to be on that subject. These can be anything from religion, politics, IT, motherhood, meal planning, fertility, software development, kitchen appliance reviews, etc. There are so many options to choose from and you must choose one! If you have someone who finds your blog on religion and suddenly the next week every post is about your dog's house training problems, you will probably lose that reader. Stay focused! If you just can't decide between two loves, make two blogs. Yes it is more work, but keeping things separate will make more sense to your readers and you can even cross advertise. Maybe you will end up with two huge money makers! Try to post every day in the beginning. Take an hour to check out current events, if you are writing a political blog, and be sure that you focus on the top stories in the news, especially in the first few months. Make sure your posts are clear and searchable. Think about what a person would search for: Palin as VP, Biden leads in the polls, etc. This will give you an edge when it comes to Google searches. Create a link list in one of the side columns and link to your favorite blogs, websites and new sites in your genre. If you choose to have a craft blog, make sure you have the big crafters on your link list, like Martha Stewart, Hostess with the Mostess, Martha's Circle, etc. Your goal with this is to create a home blogging page for your readers. You want them to come to your page first, and then follow your links to their other favorites. On this same note, make sure you follow each comment back to their profile, see if they have a craft blog (or blog in your same genre), leave a comment back and consider adding them to your link list if they have the content and quality you are looking for. Of course, once you have hundreds of comments to post this may not be possible, but while your blog is starting up this is a must! The people who read your blog are the ones who tell people about your blog. The last thing you need is for someone you just met to see a post about how annoying they are and later you find out they work at an ad agency. Worse even, if a family member reads a post about an embarrassing moment last Christmas, remember, you might see them this Christmas. How awkward will that be at the dinner table? Co-worker rules apply here too. Don't write anything on your blog that isn't positively glowing about a co-worker. Do not write anything bad or detailed about your boss. People get fired over blogs these days. On that note also, do not write about work projects, company policies or go into detail about the actual place of work. Again, this will get you fired. Some of you may be lucky enough to work at a company that encourages blogs, but they are few and far between. Cover your bases. Don't mention the company name or what they do. If you work for a large retailer, just say Large Retailer, don't even give hints. Change names and characteristics if you must write about these people but really, try not to. If your blog makes you as much money as you want it to, then it will be pretty well known, and people you know will stumble on it. Another thing to be careful of is writing about your place of worship. No one wants to see you bashing your Bishop, Priest or whoever heads your church. Religious groups tend to talk to each other. If someone finds their name on your blog in a not-so-flattering post, you better plan on the entire church knowing. You may even get called out on it and be disciplined over it. So again, change names, change characteristics, change places if you have to. Most people out there are good people who just want to learn about a subject or be entertained by you. But there are those creepy blog stalkers who take a bit too much interest in your life and seem to want to know too much about you. Please make this as hard for them as you can. Do not register with your home address, do not list your small suburb for your city. If you live in New Plymouth ID, which only has about 3000 people in it, register under Boise ID. Don't register under your full last name if you are listed and easy to find in the phone pages. In fact, pay the $10.00 a year to be unlisted in the white pages so even if they do know your name they won't be able to stalk you at your home. You may be lucky enough that people will like you so much that they want to send you gifts. Do Not give out your home address! Set up a PO BOX at the UPS store or the Post Office. They will accept packages for you and they will even call you when they arrive. Do not give out your home phone number to blogging friends that you don't know. The last thing you need is for some crazy fan to be calling you at midnight to tell you a story they just KNOW you would want to blog about. When it comes to personal details, make sure you edit. If you post a picture of your home, then blur the address and any street signs. On this note, crop your neighbor's house out too. People can be touché about these things. Blur out license plates and phone numbers on For Sale signs. If you are blogging about your kids going back to school, make sure you don't give the name of the school, take a picture in front of the school, or use photos of their friends without permission of their parents. Just use common sense. Chances are that you won't run into a creepy crazy person, but if you do you will be glad you followed a few simple rules. Many blogger like to post other bloggers' pictures in posts showing off an idea that they liked. Usually this is fine. What isn't okay is bashing a blogger using their own content. If you are having a blogging battle of opinions, do not use pictures from the other person's blog or fully copy their post. It just isn't a good idea. Use quotes with quotation marks, use different colors for texts, do not edit anything or put words into their mouths if there is even one item that can be seen as negative. If you love someone's idea or tutorial, then feel free to post about it, but be sure to give credit and link to them. Also, don't give away the entire story. Don't copy over every picture, every step and every word. Compliment the person, create a link or two for people to follow back to the related post, and suggest people go check it out. Also, leave a comment on the blogger who you are highlighting and let them know what you have done. Let them know that if there is any problem with it, you will gladly take it down, and thank them for their great post and the content. Most bloggers won't mind, in fact they will even thank you. Once in a while you will get the picky blogger who, for some reason, doesn't want free advertising, and they will ask you to remove it. REMOVE IT! Don't even hesitate. Be gracious and classy and remove the entire post. Now when it comes to photography, be careful. Search for free clipart and never post images without giving credit to that person. All you need is some tiny print like this giving the photographer credit. You may want to consider adding a disclaimer to your site saying to please contact you if credit is not given correctly or if the picture needs to be removed. Cover your bases! A great place to find free clipart is in simple software packages sold by large retailers. Some of these art packages are for designing cards or scrapbooking. You can get them starting at about $10.00, and they usually have upwards of 10,000 clip art pictures each. A great place to find royalty free pictures is Flickr.com. Most accounts with Flickr have signed the agreement form that all pictures are usable in any way. Now don't go crazy and steal pictures of people's children and homes. Use discretion and common sense. Try to get 30 posts in the first 30 days. Challenge yourself to put pictures in every post, use current trends and current events. When you title your post, make sure you think about what the post is about and who your audience is. If you are doing a product review of a Dell laptop, simply name the Post "Dell Laptop Model Review". This will help Google grab your post and be able to send to people who are searching for Dell Laptop. I would suggest that, in the beginning, you do your homework. Look at blogs you visit regularly that have a loyal audience. Some will still play by these rules, some have so much traffic that they no longer care and they will use funny and strange titles. Please remember that these bloggers already have dedicated readers. Wait until your blog is making you money before you stop focusing on your post titles. Now go look at start-up blogs that seem to be doing well. How are they posting? How often? What are they naming their posts? This is a business and you must know your competitors! Also, make sure that you are tagging your posts correctly. If you are posting about a new recipe for Mongolian Beef, you don't want to just put Mongolian Beef in the tags. You would want to tag as Beef, Asian, Mongolian Beef, Dinner, StirFry, etc. This way, in the future your site will be easy to maneuver. When you are first starting out and need traffic to your blog, you need to comment on other blogs every day. These blogs need to be in your same genre and have readers who would be interested in your blog. Comment on the actual post, share an idea if you can, then leave your blog address in the comments. Now if they have disabled links in the comment box, you would type your web address like this wwwdotMSNdotcom. No, they won't be able to click on it, but hey who cares? They might just be curious enough to go type it in. Even if the blogger who wrote the post doesn't check out your site, that doesn't mean other readers won't! Make sure you also go back to these comment sections later. Whole conversations go on in there. You may be able to join in and share an idea or opinion that will draw people to your blog, and really, things start to get interesting in those comment boxes. Make it a goal to comment on 50 blogs a day. I know it's a lot, but this has to be approached like a business, not a hobby, to get real traffic for your blog. Compliment the bloggers who have quality material and who share their opinions and ideas. For a political blog, you may want to write a post highlighting another blogger, sharing their opinion and your own, whether it is conflicting or not. A big thing these days is to create an award to give to bloggers who impress you. Create a small image in Elements or Microsoft Publisher, save it as a JPEG and make sure somewhere on it is the name of your award. Example: maybe you have a blog on woodworking. You would take a clipart image of a piece of wood, a log, a tool, etc. Use that image and lay text similar to "Best Woodworking Award goes to…", save as JPG and send it to the blogger's email with a note saying why you chose them for the award. Let them know the award is meant to go on their blog with attached bragging rights as to why they got it. Make sure you also give them examples of what posts and ideas of theirs you appreciated. The point of all this? They will most likely thank you in a post on their blog and link back to your blog. Free advertising! Make sure if you receive an award you do the same. Share the love people--there is plenty to go around. If you choose this route, make sure that your image is small and medium quality. Here is an example: See how small and clear this is? It is also free of bunnies, kittens and precious moment dolls. Keep it simple and classy, people! If it is a bit tacky, they will be less likely to put it on their page. For cooking, crafts, hobbies and skill-focused blogs, you will see quite a few blog carnivals going on around the net. These are when several bloggers, sometimes hundreds even, create a theme for a certain day's post, and they all agree to link back to either a certain page or link to each other by use of a link list. Example: A cooking Blog Carnival might decide for everyone to try their hand at eclairs. Everyone has a certain recipe that they can feel free to alter. They would all take a picture, give a review, and give a critique on what could have made it better. Or a political carnival might decide to blog about the newest presidential candidate. Rules would be set on what your post must include, such as: who is in the lead, what are the reasons, what do you think they should be focusing on in their campaign, and what is hurting their campaign. Everyone posts the same day and they all link to one page, usually the person hosting the Blog Carnival. This creates a TON of visits for this one person, and gives each blogger who participates free advertising. A Writer's Workshop is similar; you usually have one blogger who will pick a subject. Example: Your Favorite Holiday Memory. Each blogger will post on their own blog their favorite holiday memory and link back to the Writer's Workshop Page. The person holding the workshop will show the list of bloggers who are participating in the workshop. You will also see several bloggers link to others who are joining the workshop to try and get traffic to their sites, and in turn they link back to you. Once you have enough traffic, think about hosting a Writer's Workshop or Blogging Carnival yourself. In my opinion you probably need about 20 people to participate to make it successful. You can always send out invites to your favorite bloggers a few weeks ahead of time, then send out a mini invite two days before hand to remind everyone. Give your instructions on your blog two to three days before the event is actually being held. This way people won't feel rushed and you will see a higher quality of ideas or stories being shared. To find a Blog Carnival or Writer's Workshop, you may have to either start one yourself or even suggest one to a fellow blogger in your genre who has a large amount of traffic. It's more traffic for them, more advertising for you. It's a win-win situation. Some bloggers hold Writer's Workshops once a week or a Monthly Blogging Carnival. Google your type of blog (cooking, sewing, holiday, politics, etc.) with the words Writers Workshop or Blog Carnival behind it. These things change weekly, so make sure to search every few days. Remember that joining one of these can be time consuming, so don't join each one just to join. Make sure you can have a quality post with nice photos prepared. Most places will kick you off or give you a warning if you join and your post isn't up to par. They may even choose to not link your page to the blog holding the carnival. Plus, you want to keep readers who make it to your site, not have them turn away and never look back. When it comes to news, politics, social media, etc. blogs, you may benefit from a forum-type Carnival. Post a question on your blog, and tag or invite fellow bloggers to post their responses. Then link back to them. You will also see these types of bloggers successfully promoting themselves in open forums. You can easily start a conversation in an open forum, get a few people interested in your topic, and then invite them to your blog to finish the conversation. Ask for people's opinions and ideas in these blogs and they will most likely be willing to not only visit your blog but to recommend it to others who share the same interests or opinions. You also want to be sure to ask if they have a blog. Again, share the love, people! How do you find these places? Well, you can find open forums anywhere! Seriously, Google your topic with the words "open forum" behind it, and you will be shocked how many pop up. Search for one that has a high level of turnover of forum topics, and with a wide range of topics. Start your own forum and keep it open for anyone to join. Look for a forum that will email you when someone responds, and use your email provider to text you when these come in, if your provider offers this. That way you can be sure to get on within minutes of the comment. This will work for everyone no matter what type of blog you choose. You can hold a giveaway for a few hours, or you can hold one for a few days. Ask people to comment on the contest post by asking them a question and choose a winner randomly from the commenters. You can give away anything you want--a magazine subscription, a homemade gift, a small toy, a random piece of office equipment that you personalized, a free week of advertising on your blog. Really, the options are endless. If you have a craft blog you can give away something from your favorite Etsy shop. If you have a technology blog, you can give away a year's subscription to Wired Magazine. It doesn't have to cost much to be generous, and you will be amazed at the traffic you get from this. People who win things like to tell other people! These other people will want to win things too, and they will visit your blog. Just to warn you, people will be asking when your next giveaway is, so try to do them monthly or bi-weekly if your blog's traffic can support it. If you need at least 100 readers a day to make it worth it to you, then tell your readers. Create a post saying you need traffic because you want to give away some cool items, and ask them to advertise your blog. Everyone needs money these days. If people say you are "selling out," ignore them. Why in the world would you not make money through a blog if you can?! So ask friends, family, co-workers, etc. to read your blog and to help promote it. You have to treat your blog like a business if you expect to make money from it. Join online networking groups. It can be something simple like an IT online weekly forum, an online mother's forum, a crafts group that meets online, etc. So many options! Join 1 group for each day of the week that you are willing to work on your blog. Pick one group a week to be a member of, and make sure you log in and comment at least one day a week. Don't just leave a simple "Hi, I was here" comment. Get into the going conversation, leave an idea, share your opinion. Make sure that you create a log in memo or leave text every time that shows your blog address. You might be surprised who may find your blog. I know several people who have met advertisers on their blogs this way and have made good money, all because they joined a group and spent 20 minutes a day once a week in the group. Make sure you join Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, and any other social networking group that may help people find you. When you create your blog, also create an email to send to friends, family and co-workers. Ask them to send the link to your blog to everyone in their address book. Yes, everyone. You WILL get readers from this alone. Make sure that you have your blog up and running with a classy design and a few well put together interesting posts before you do this. You want to grab these people so they will come back. Resend this email every other month and make sure to add the email addresses of anyone you meet or current readers, if possible, to the list. People like to help people and they love feeling like they are helping others succeed. They will help you, I promise! Share the love, people. Choose one day a week to promote and highlight a blog that you visit that is in the same genre as yours. Show some of their pics, brag about them, highlight some ideas and link back to them. Leave a comment on their blog telling them that you hope they don't mind but you loved their blog so much that you wanted to highlight them. They just may thank you and link back to you on their page. Even if they don't, they will check out your blog at the very least and see what you wrote about them. You would, wouldn't you? Please, make sure to keep in mind the tips I went over in How to Not Get Sued when you are highlighting people's blogs. A great way to get some free advertising is to do a trade program. This is when you promote another blog for specific amount of time and, in turn, they also promote your blog for a specific amount of time. This works well if you have open space in your side bar and they do too. Create a small tasteful picture or logo for your blog and have the advertiser link the image to your web page. Suggest that they do the same. Again, you want your page looking put together, classy and professional, and you can't do that with an ad that looks like a 4th grader made it. It is absolutely worth it to hire a graphic designer to make this image for you. Most will create a small logo or image for a blogger for less than $50.00, or you can even ask around and see if anyone you know happens to love and know Photoshop well. Just make sure it looks good! People review everything these days--books, vacuums, tools, kitchen supplies, food, diners, etc. Pick something to review once a week. No matter what you review, use the name of the product in the title field of the post. This will let Google pick it up in its searches. So let's say someone is looking to review a Dyson Vacuum. You put in the name of the vacuum and the word Review. THAT IS IT. Hopefully the next person that searches for a review of that item will see your post pop up in the top 10-20 Google searches. Wouldn't it be nice if you got 1 new reader a week from this? I think so! There are several bloggers out there who make great money and don't need any more traffic, but once in a while they will review a product out of the blue. No, they are not being paid, well, usually they are not. They are trying to get a large flood of people onto their site for that day and that post. This works, people! Make sure you have signed up for Google stats. This way you can see which posts are bringing people in and where they are coming from. This is a good way to find out if someone has linked to you on their site also. Oh, there are so many ways! First of all, if you choose to use Google ads, please put them below and between each post, don't put them above your post. It's tacky and people hate it. Enough said. As for selling advertising space, there are hundreds of options. When you see products or specific name brands advertising on a blog, it is because they have an advertising broker. You will need several thousand visitors a day before you will be able to get a broker or have them come searching for you. Don't fret, there are other options! You can sell space on your blog to small stores, boutiques, critics, bloggers, websites, etc. Start by placing your own ad on your site. Have the ad be simple but colorful and attractive. This will show them that you can advertise for them in a professional manner. Next, have an advertising sale. Do this by having your advertisement say something like "For the month of December, all 1" by 1" ads will be sold for only $10.00 for a month of advertising!" Now hopefully you will have several people sign up if you have enough traffic. Make sure you highlight each of these sites and bloggers the day you put them up in a short post. The goal is to get enough people visiting them that the next month they will see that a good portion of their traffic was from your site. Now you raise your rates to $25.00 a month, after all the $10.00 a month was just a sale. You also hold a contest for these advertisers for one winner to get the month free, which keeps people happy. Again, make sure you are sharing the love, people. Ask for traffic for these blogs, help them out, and they will help you. Once a month, write a short post reminding people of the great sites that are advertising on your blog. Offer a contest giving away something from one of your advertisers--they will love you for it. Also, ask them to review your site on their web page for $5.00 off that month. This is FREE advertising for your blog, and I promise it is worth it. Other ways of advertising are reviewing products or writing essays for companies. In exchange, they will not only pay you but they will feature you to advertisers, kind of like a broker. I would start by applying to: Blogsvertise.com, Smorty.com, and PayingPost.com. And inlinks.com has a cool concept that I think some bloggers might really benefit from. Be careful, though, you don't want to have a political blog and have an ad broker tell you that you must write an opinion piece on recycled yarn for a local crafters show. Make sure that you have the option to say no to the requested reviews. Also, these review sites usually have very specific rules on what you need to have in the post in order to be paid. Each one will have its own set of rules, so make a binder or file, just something to keep track of who expects what, or you will end up doing reviews for products you may not have wanted to review and get very little out of it. Example: You run a blog on NY Real Estate trends. If you go to Coldwell and ask for advertising they mostly likely will not advertise on your blog unless you have a minimum on 1000 visitors per day. But if you contact a small firm like XYZ Brokerage they will be more likely to advertise. Small businesses look for maximum advertising for a minimum price, and a blog is perfect for that. Try to keep some quality space on your page open at first for these small businesses that need that professional "front and center" kind of attention. Have a presentation email ready to send out. Make sure your presentation includes prices per month, prices per square inch, space available, and the registered Google tags. This way, the company has all of the pricing info and can also see what people will need to search for before your blog comes up on the Google search results page. Send this out to each small company that you think would benefit from advertising on your site. Make a goal to send out 100 a week. You can find email lists through your local Chamber of Commerce or even all over the web. As a blogger, Google will be your best friend! Again, you must approach this as a business if you expect to make money on your site. Make a large number of business cards and keep at least 50 on hand at all times. Make sure they look professional. If you make your own, PLEASE run spell check. Triple check the blog address! Give out these card everywhere you go! The grocery store, the car detailer, your laundromat, etc. If you see value in your blog, someone else will too, but you have to give them the opportunity to see it. Also, you never know if a small local company might need a way to advertise. The more advertising you have on your site, as long as it is done in a tasteful and professional way, the more big fish advertisers you will attract. When you begin your search for advertising, about 20% should be legwork on your part and the rest of your focus should be on traffic. If you can get enough traffic, the advertisers will come to you! Go back and read the traffic section of this blog. Work it like a business, set a few hours a day aside just to focus on increasing your traffic, and the ads will come eventually. I know everyone wants to start a blog and have 1000 visitors a day the first week. Sadly, it isn't realistic. You have to approach this like a job not a hobby. You have to spend hours on your blog's content and keep up with the rest of the online world. It can be done, but you have to work on it every single day. If you find things aren't working, then mix it up--try a new layout, try different subjects within your genre, ask other bloggers for advice, try a writer's workshop or a blogger carnival. Change it up! Keeping your blog fresh and up to date is important. Don't let your readers get bored. But at the same time, focus on small changes first. You don't want your readers becoming confused every time they visit. Make a choice and stick with it for at least 30 days to see what works and what doesn't. Most of all , enjoy your work because if you don't, you won't stick with it! Ask others to review your site and ask for advice. But don't take it all, or you will have chaos. Ask people to pass along your blog address and have their friends tell you what they think. Ask people what they are looking for in a blog and what their favorite blogs are. Just keep working it like a business, and it will happen! Amber Oler
Introduction:
Chapter 1: Starting a blog.
And now for the design of your blog:
Find a Niche
Caution!
Caution: Do not write anything negative about anyone who may read your blog EVER. Do NOT write about Co-workers or work!
Blogging Safety
How to NOT get sued
Now let's get you some traffic!
Posting
Comment, Comment, and Compliment!
Writer's Workshops, Blog Carnivals and Open Forums
Contests and Giveaways
Join groups and ask for traffic
Promote other blogs.
Review Products
And for the big Question…How do I get advertisers on my site?
Don't be afraid to contact small companies to advertise on your site.
Give it Time
Good Luck!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I'm back!
Are you frightened? You should be. Kidding. Sorry it's been awhile, to be honest I have no excuse. I was really enjoying having my hubby home but then he just had to go and get another job. Okay so I guess that is pretty good huh? Sadly he hates said job. Bummer. So he is still looking and if anyone hears anything let me know please! Thanks.
Other than that I have just been enjoying my kids. It's really hitting me that this is the last summer before both my babies will be in some sort of school. Crazy! It makes me feel old and I'm too young for that! I was planning on posting a bunch of pics but I can't get this camera my mother gave me to talk to my PC. I'm Digitally Challenged. It's a tough condition to live with but I will make it.
So yeah...not much to say, sorry. I can tell you my kids are adorable, how about that? The other day I had a horrible headache and Cam and Wes made me a bowl of cereal all by themselves and brought it to me in bed. I still haven't asked how they got the milk down from the top shelf of the fridge because, really, I don't think I want to know.
Cam asked me the other day how to get a girlfriend. I told him when he is older and he likes a girl enough to hold her hand and maybe kiss her on the cheek then he can ask her to be his girlfriend. He said EEWWW! He also said that he isn't ready for that but maybe when he is 17. Hehehe. I agree.
Wes is in a stubborn "I'm always right" stage but it definitely has some amusing side effects for all of like. Like when he insists that two hundred million thousand twenty three and 40 thousand is a coherent number. The color his face turns when I explain that these number don;t quite exist the way he is saying them is picture worthy. I'll try to get a pic to show you what I mean.
Poor Cam just stubbed his toe. He says it is the worse pain EVER!!! He is also limping. But on the wrong foot...hmmm.
As for me, I'm a bit less crazy, maybe not certifiable anymore. I've learned that if I tell the kids that I'm working while I'm actually playing on the Internet that I can earn a good 15 more minutes of alone time. Yes, I'm lying and I'm proud of it thank you!
I'm trying to relearn the basics of web design. I know, everyone does it these days but I thought maybe if I have enough small side jobs going on that I can actually bring in an income. We'll see. My first web site I'm designing will be my father in laws, when I'm done I will let ya all know and I will expect much love even if it sucks.
Well I'm off to make dinner and clean up the back yard. My mom is coming over tomorrow to hangout and I REALLY don't want her to see the mess that is our yard.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
What a day
Well, Doug was laid off today. His company let over 80 people go. He did get a comp package so we will be fine for awhile and worse case we'll pack up and move to Mexico and live on the beach while hiding from debt collecting leaches and changing our names yearly. I always wanted my boys to be bilingual.
My hubby has serious skills so if there is a job out there than he will get it, I totally belive in him. I just wish I had some skills to offer. I really don't have anything I can do in this market to bring in enough money to support a family, it's a blow to my over inflated ego really.
Oh and incase anyone is curious, cobra health care is about 1400 a month. I'm sorry, did you just choke? I thought I heard something... Oh wait, that was me.
-- Post From My iPhone
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Twighlight Eye Candy
I promise this blog is not going to turn into a slide show of beautiful men. Really. But I just thought that I would be doing a serious disservice for all woman kind if I didn't post this picture.
Are you ready?
I swear the guy in the back on the left really has wolf instincts :)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Marriage Defined
Marriage: A Noun
Definition:
1. the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.
2. the state, condition, or relationship of being married; wedlock: a happy marriage.
3. the legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of a man and woman to live as husband and wife, including the accompanying social festivities: to officiate at a marriage.
This issue keeps coming up in my circle of friends, my family and blogs. Several well known articles have been written in the last year that confirm what we all know; that when it comes to arguments over same sex marriage were one side is faith based and one side is not, the faith side is losing. This makes me happy for several reasons and I've written on this subject before but it seems like yet again, I can't keep my mouth shut.
The newest argument that is gaining publicity over all is that marriage should be for religious couples only and that all other couples should only get to have civil unions. If a law is created that specifically says only couples that are married in a religious ceremony get to call their union a marriage this same law will need to specify which religions are considered true religions or true churches. There are several well known christian churches that have baptised members who are gay/lesbian and who find no fault in their way of life. Will these churches be allowed? If their church is not allowed can you imagine the law suits, the challenging of religious freedom, the repercussions to the state, etc? These laws are harmful because they would specify certain groups as being "correct" or "true" and others as being a joke. Well what if your religion wasn't on the list of acceptable faiths? How would you feel? I'm assuming you would be hurt, disgusted, offended and feeling down right rebellious, which you should be by the way.
I am a good person, my husband is a good person. We are good parents, good citizens and we contribute to society in a positive way. I have been told by several people, both friends and family that because I don't believe in God that I should only be able to have a civil union and not a marriage. Why should I be expected to have my marriage defined by any group of people? Why does it need to be defined at all? I happen to have a very healthy, happy marriage. But because we don't believe in God we should be able to have the same benefits as other marriages?! Also, there have been several surveys done throughout the years and do you know who has the lowest divorce rate? Atheists and Agnostics. See the following link http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm. I don't find this surprising, as a majority of the marital strain I have seen in couples is due to religious conflict, having more children than they would otherwise choose, living places they wouldn't otherwise choose, and paying a tithe that puts unnecessay strain on their relationship.
Then you have the people that say that a civil union and a marriage are the same. Then why would you need to define them if you believe that? Why do you feel that your relationship deserves what you feel is a superior title? Myself...I don't really care what you call my marriage. To be honest I don't care about that little piece of paper that is filed away in some state building. I went through the ceremony for friends, family and the dress. Signing that paper did not in any way make my relationship stronger or my commitment any more serious. It does offend me though when you tell me that my relationship with my husband deserves less respect than yours due to the difference in our beliefs. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a question of right or wrong and you are wrong!
I just find it sad that there are people out there that feel the need to look down on any group of people whether if is because of sexual preference, religion, skin color or any other superficial reason. They are discriminating and they are ignorant.
Friday, April 17, 2009
It's Official: I Suck.
Yes, I know, I suck at this blogging thing. I had so many plans and stories and ideas that I thought I should share with all you people but instead I do nothing. I write nothing. I sleep. Yes, that's right, I have no excuses to offer up. I have been sleeping and existing peacefully and I have not blogged or really read many blogs for quite awhile. I seem to have taken a break from the Internet for about a month. Don't ask me why, I have no idea. In fact I didn't even realize I was doing it.
Do you know that I had no idea that it was the 17th of April today? If you asked me the date I would have guessed that it was maybe the 8th? or the 9th? Which is funny if you think about it because I know Easter this year was on the 12th and since I participated in Easter festivities I should have realized that it must be nearing the middle of April. But I didn't. I suck.
What have I been up to? hmmm. Well these are a few things that have been going thru my mind int he last 24 hours:
-Dear lord, I am about to be the mother of a Kindergartner! I have to turn over my child to a complete stranger for 2.5 hours a day and hope that they teach him to be a good little human that can read and write and be civilized when cookies are not involved. Because really, who can be civilized when cookies are involved? And why is there not an armed guard at the door of the school with another armed guard guarding the first guard?
-Don't you think it would be fun to be a relay operator? Especially when it is a call from an irate customer. Do you get to be angry on the customers behalf while relaying the call? Or do you have to be professional? If they swear at the person they have placed the call to, do you have to swear for them or should you sensor yourself? Because really, I think it might be a wonderful form of therapy to get to act out someone else's frustrations. And what about phone sex calls?!
-I'm wondering if a slurpy made from Diet Coke would have any effect on Mentos. Wait, reverse that. Would Mentos have any effect on a Diet Coke slurpy?
-We haven't had a home phone in years. This means that Cam and Wes have not learned how to use a phone. Have I stunted their mental growth?!
-When Britney Spears sings that song "Have You Seen Amy", does she really think she is fooling anyone? Although I have to admit, it is a great workout song.
-I miss pottery. I miss hanging out with my mother in law. So much that I'm feeling a bit lost.
-Why is my water softner making that blasted noise?!
So, there is just a few of the random thoughts that have gone thru my mind today.
***
On another note, Easter went well. We celebrated with family at a church up in SLC the Saturday before, luckily there was no religious stuff so we all felt comfortable, we didn't offend anyone and there were no awkward moments. There was also tons of delish food. I also have a confession...we didn't hide eggs the next day for the kids at home. We just told them that Easter was at the party. We're torn on the whole Easter bunny thing so we were happy to not have to tell them anything while they still had a ton of fun and candy. I doubt we will get away with it next year.
The kids have been amazing and cute and are getting all old. Cam has started saying "Oh Crap Dang" all the time and Wes "Hates Everything!!!" Delightful huh? But really, they are amazing kids. Tomorrow we are headed to the park to try and teach them how to ride bikes without training wheels. Any bets that I will be having a heart attack? Maybe I should have a martini or two before I go. My poor kids, I would wrap them in bubble wrap if wouldn't suffocate them.
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