Category Archives: Weblogs

Project Wonderful Introduction

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You’ve probably notice the Project Wonderful ad box in my sidebar. Project Wonderful allows you to auction off ad space on your site to the highest bidder, or bid or ad space. It uses an ebay style auction system that allows you to set maximum bids, so you don’t have to stay tied to the computer.

What I like so far

  1. You have the option to approve (or reject) all advertisers. Although I’m set to not run anything NSFW (not safe for work), that didn’t stop something I considered very NSFW showing up as a bid.
  2. You can automatically approve ads from sites you’ve already approved. That’s a big time saver.
  3. You can control the placement and number of ads.
  4. It gives small sites or those just getting in to advertising a way to sell some ads.

What I don’t like

  1.  So far, the prices have been very low. I’m hoping that as the site builds a track record, the price will go up. As it is, it’s hardly worth the trouble.
  2. In order to sell ads, I almost have to accept a lot that don’t have a lot of relevance to the site.
  3. Project Wonderful uses their own code to estimate page views, which is much less than what my stats software calculates.
  4. You can’t make some alterations to the ad block once bidding has started. So, things like placement and the number of ads can’t be easily changed.

I’ve been running it only a couple of days, so I’m still open. These are just my initial reactions, and I’ll keep you up to date as the month progresses.

I Need Your Help

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One of my blogging goals, is to increase my RSS subscriptions this year. I’m hovering in the 20s, and have been for some time. That’s very low for the number of visitors and page views I’m seeing.

I’d like to see my subscriptions above 30 by the end of January. I know that’s more than 10 percent, but I think it’s very doable too.

Here’s where you come in. I’m asking my readers to go ahead and subscribe to my RSS feed. You can do a feed reader (like Google or Bloglines) or subscribe via e-mail.

Thanks!

Help the Blogger you Love

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If you’re like me, you read a lot of blogs and subscribe to even more feeds. Still, there are probably some blogs that you really love. These are the ones you wait for and look forward to. What if you want to do something to say thank you?

  1. Say thank you. Leave a comment or write an email telling the blogger how much you enjoy his or her posts. If you write an email, tell them it’s okay to use it as a recommendation on their site.
  2. Post a link on your own blog or site. You’ll recommend a great site to your readers, and you’ll drive some much appreciated traffic to a site you enjoy.
  3. Subscribe to their RSS feed. Even sites with respectable traffic can still have abysmal RSS subscriber numbers (I’m one of them!). Since RSS subscriber numbers can affect whether you can advertise on your feed, these numbers are important.
  4. Participate! Post comments on their site. If there’s a contest or poll, consider participating. If the blogger asks for feedback, give it. You’ll help build a strong community and show your appreciation.
  5. If you’re willing to put in a little more time, write a review of the blog on your own site. Send the blogger the link when you’re finished.

If you’re willing to dip into your pockets, there are ways to support your favorite bloggers that can also help them pay the bills, and presumably keep on blogging.

  1. If the blogger sells a book, product, etc., then consider buying it. If it’s not something you particularly want, perhaps you can offer it as a contest prize on your own site.
  2. If you’re shopping for something and your blogger has an affiliate link to it, use their link. Amazon purchases are a perfect example. Instead of shopping directly at Amazon, use an affiliate link instead. The blogger will get a commission on your sale, and you don’t pay any extra.
  3. Take time to check out the blogger’s ads. If you’re interested in the blog, then you might be interested in some of the sites that advertise there as well. I’m not telling you to start clicking willy-nilly, but you should consider clicking those you find interesting.
  4. Buy advertising. If you have your own site, consider buying an ad on a site you enjoy. It benefits both of you!
  5. Donate. If your blogger has a donate button or tip jar, consider dropping off a dollar or two. Even a small amount will show your appreciation.

Even if you’re using a free blogging platform, maintaining a blog is a huge investment in time. For most bloggers, it’s also somewhat of a financial investment as well. Take a few minutes and do something to show how much you appreciate the blogs you read.

Link Love

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If you’re looking for a piece of free software to get something done, then check out Paperback Writer’s list. Wow, this is huge, and definitely worth bookmarking.

Here’s a list of top blogs for writers. If you’re looking for a new blog to add to your RSS feed (and who isn’t!), then this list is one to check out.

Here’s a contest to win $500, if you’re feeling lucky.

Check out this list to find a freelancing job.

Here’s another market listing from Paperback Writer. If you’re not already reading her blog regularly, why not?

Link fun

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Here in the middle of NaNo, I thought it would be fun to link to some other interesting sites.

Punctuation fun on flickr. Think about how you’d punctuate it, or simply read it aloud.

Design Your Life

What would you do if you could do whatever you want each day. Although this article isn’t specifically directed at writers, it certainly is something to think about. What would your writing day be like? Think about what you want your days to be like, and what do you need to do to make it so.

SEO Tips for Bloggers

This article gives some great tips, and some great advice for optimizing your blog.

How to Write Faster, Better, and Easier

That’s a great title, and a great post. ‘Nuff said.

Five (more) blog posts for November

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Read the first entry in this series, blog posts for November.

As promised, here are five more ideas for blog posts that will help you get through NaNo unscathed.

1. Look to your archives.  Choose one of your older posts and revamp it somehow. Don’t forget to link to it!

2. Head over to the NaNo Forums.  There are plenty of topics under discussion. Answer something, add to the discussion, etc. Don’t forget to post a link to your post. However, do this sparingly or you’ll come off as trying to milk their site for traffic!

3. Respond to others’ posts. Take just a few minutes (really, a few!!) and browse through some posts in your RSS feed. Write a note about those and link to them.

4. Post some photos. Everyone enjoys looking at pictures, and most of us have quite a few stashed away somewhere. Post a few on your blog.

5. Ask your readers a question. Ask for input on the blog, what they’re doing, etc. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, ask them to talk about their holiday plans or tell a favorite family story.

Using Blog Search to find Ideas and Build Readership

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If you haven’t tried it out yet, then give Google’s Blog Search a try.

Type in keywords that relate to a topic you’re interested in, and you can see what’s being talked about in blogs on the subject. If you’re looking for others in your blogging niche, then type in keywords that describe your blog. You can also try the search terms that are used most often by people finding your blog (check your stats for these).

You’ll see a list of blogs that are talking about the same things you are. This can be good for you in several ways.

  1. You can get an idea of how popular your topic is. You might think that finding few entries is a good thing, but it really isn’t. If few people are talking about it, then it may not have enough interest to support a blog.
  2. You can quickly review others’ opinions. Remember to discuss these in your own posts with links back to the authors.
  3. You can find a fresh approach to a popular topic. Maybe you have some personal experience or an interesting take on the topic.

If a post (or posts) inspires you to write a blog entry, then remember to link back to that blog! It’s better for your readers, and the blog author will appreciate the traffic. Often, this is a good first step to building friendships with other bloggers.

Five Blog Posts for November

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NaNo is only a bit over a week away, and if you’re also a blogger, you’re bound to be wondering where the time and ideas for the blog will come from. To help you out, I’ll be posting some blog idea lists.

You may want to write up one or two of these now and put them away for November! Even better, go ahead and schedule them to post so you won’t even have to think of it during NaNo.

1. Top posts.  Post a list of your most popular posts for the last month, year, or whatever. Use your RSS  or web page stats to see where most of your traffic is coming from.

2. Top search terms.  It can be fun to look at what search terms bring people to your site. Problogger even turns this into a fun contest.

3. Run a poll. You can even make it NaNo related if you like. Get help with the plot, naming a character or even picking a title.

4. Link to your favorites. What are you reading? Link to some of your favorite blog posts. Don’t forget to use trackbacks so the bloggers realize they’ve been linked to.

5. Update us on your novel.  Talk about what’s working and what isn’t. Tell us what your novel is about.

Don’t let NaNo catch you unprepared!

Subscribe to my Feed

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You’ll notice a couple of changes to the sidebar, I’m sure. First off, I have two RSS subscription links. One for a reader and one for email.

If you’re unfamiliar with RSS, it provides an easy, automatic way to keep up with blogs you read regularly. If you subscribe using something like Google Reader or Bloglines, you’ll use an account there (free) to subscribe to feeds. Then, you can view all feeds in one window. It’s much quicker than visiting each blog individually and checking to see if it’s been updated.

If you prefer, you can also subscribe via email. Each time a blog is updated, you’ll receive an email notification. Either way, you don’t have to worry about missing posts.

I’m using Feedburner to handle both types of feeds. The biggest reason is the ability to track subscribers. Without feedburner, I’d have no idea how many people are reading my RSS feeds. Because people using feeds don’t usually visit the site and don’t show up in the stats there, I’d get an artificially low estimate of how many readers I really have.

Another reason for using Feedurner is the fact that I’m a member of a feedburner ad network. You can see the three most recent posts by members in the sidebar.

If you’re not already subscribed to my feed, please take a second to do so now. And remember, if you use the email subscription option, you’ll need to confirm your subscription.