Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL

My C.A.N. results on all three blogs in August 2008 are detailed below. Some things could have gone better, but that is an “as always” thing. More things went right than ever before. I am very happy about these results across all three blogs.

Check out how I did in August 2008.

As always, I welcome questions in the comment section. Please feel free to leave a comment or question.

An explanation of the C.A.N. blog rating system can be found here. I maintain 3 blogs. This post combines all their results in one place.

Postcards from the Funny Farm

1. Circulation: 10 incoming links(below). Goal was 4. Percentage= 250%

2. Analytics: 3376 uniques. Goal was 5000. Percentage= 68% :(

3. Net: $410. Goal was $250. Percentage=164%

4. Overall Rating: 268/300= 89%

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Damien at the Speed of Life
1. Circulation: 1 incoming link. Goal was 1. (Thank you Katelynjane!) Percentage=100%
Blogging on a Postcard
2. Analytics: 787 visitors for the month. Goal was 600. :) Percentage= 131%
3. Net: $40. Goal was $20. Percentage= 150%
4. Overall Rating: 300/300= 100% :)

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Dynamite Lesson Plan
1. Circulation: 1 incoming link. Goal was 1. Percentage= 100%
2. Analytics: 634 visitors for the month. Goal was 300. :) Percentage= 211%
3. Net: $0. Goal was $0. Percentage= 100%

4. Overall Rating: 300/300= 100%

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Subscribe to this blog via and Watch how I do in September, as-I-do-it!

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Okay, now for the important stuff: Goals for next month!

1. Circulation: Well, last month I had a low goal of one because I just started the online diary. Matters got more interesting (difficult) when I bought and transferred a domain. This blog is now www.damienriley.com (in case you didn’t know – do change your bookmarks. There is no need to change your RSS feed). Okay, enough blabbering. I am going to go big here and try to get 10 incoming links. Probably 5-6 guestblogs so if anyone out there is interested, hook me up … I always hook up back ;)
2. I knocked this one out of the park. I have learned that you guys are interested in my online diary! Social media helped me get the word out and a couple ezines interviewed me which brought in a lot of traffic. I have a daily “surfing system” in place that I think is going to double my analytics in September but I am not going to go too crazy just yet. It was 780 last month and my goal was 600. How about I double the difference and add it to the 780: 1140 unique visitors for the month.
3. Net: $50

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Postcards from the Funny Farm

1. Circulation: I had over 10 incoming links last month and it was relatively easy. With the 2 newer blogs I really have to knock on doors to get those links but Postcards seems to generate them automatically. For that reason, I am going to challenge myself by doing guest blogs and links from other sites. I’m stepping up the circulation goal to 20 in September. Here goes nothin’!

2. Analytics: I missed my visitors goal by 32% last month. That’s when you have to get real and set a more realistic goal. I always have a feeling PFTFF will go huge any day now. I imagine it being up there with some of the big hitters. Alas, it hasn’t happened yet. For now, I will scale back the goal to a cool 4000 visitors in September.

3. Net: I beat my net goal by over $160. With a few other income opportunities through various means, I think I will go yet higher in September. Nonetheless, I don’t wan’t to get caught up in the “hard” money when I should be focusing on content and passively making the “easy” money. There will be a time to push up into the 700’s and higher but in September, we are not quite there yet. So, my net goal for September will be $400.

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Dynamite Lesson Plan
1. Circulation: This month I think I can get some interest in what I do at DLP. I am going to try and get friends to do that. I am also going to try and find avenues where my posts are read more and possibly “quoted” ergot “linkback” ed. Despite the blog only being one month old, I’m shooting for a bold 3 incoming links. Help me out if you read something worth linking to! ;)
2. Analytics: My goal was 300 and I beat it. This is a tough blog to get people to, moreso than my other two. However, I am going to try and find some educational forums and linkback. I will also use the normal traffic building services you find in my sidebar. Still, my goal is a conservative 500 visitors in September.
3. Net: $40

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Subscribe to this blog via and Watch how I do in September, as-I-do-it!

I have a guestblog up at KatelynJane’s Notebook.  When thinking of a subject on blogging, I decided to do a basic overview of putting images in posts because that is usually something we all struggle through at some point of our blogging timeline.

I hope you will go check out her site.  She’s been a bloggy friend of mine for several months now.  Thanks goes out to KatelynJane for supporting my online diary!

My CAN. Goals for my new “online diary” here at DATSOL were met and surpassed based on preliminary August results (I still have until the 31st and will publish the final results then).  Thank you to all my friends new and old who have visited, commented, and allowed me to guestblog on your blogs.

Damien at the Speed of Life: New Personal Blog
Circulation: 1 incoming link in the form of a guest blog.

• Actuals: 1 (Guest blog submitted, not yet published)

Analytics: 600 visitors for the month.

• Actuals: 718 wow!
  

Net: $10

• Actuals: $10 :) Thanks .

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Announcement: To meet my “C” circulation goals for September I will be doing more guest blogs out there.  If you are interested, please contact me.

I saw Mamma Mia a ways back with my lovely wife who dragged me there. She’d already seen it 3 times by then so I figured it had to be at least decent. Plus I grew up with the music of ABBA so I knew I might like it. There is a song in it called “slipping through my fingers” that is not only catchy but a downright tear-jerker. The mom (Meryl Streep) is having trouble letting her daughter grow up. I can relate with this these days. My kids are 1, 3, and 10 currently and sometimes I watch them or hold them and feel that same sentiment. I’ll be 40 in less than a year and I feel a lot of things are slipping through my fingers. How do I deal?  One way you can read every day.  Oh, and I hug them a lot.

My wife just called me and said it is raining by our house one mile away. Here, there are some black clouds but mostly the sun is poking through. This is kind of like a metaphor for people’s psyches don’t you think? One person will express a rainstorm while another right next to them will not see it. Both are real, both are perspective based truths I suppose. Of course, both also have to do with location which should be considered in every mood we experience.

I may be out of my mind at one moment, in one place. In that moment, there are others seeing things differently. They may be seeing the same things differently or they may be in a different place but I think it’s important to remember that we are all traveling this same journey and when we’re down we may be right and we may BE WRONG in our perception.

I feel like everything is in a holding pattern. It’s Summer still yet the wind has a chill. The trees I walk underneath every day sound like locusts. Everything is abuzz with change and getting ready to do so. If we could learn to appreciate and embrace change. Did you know that a common theme of insanity in people is the inability to cope with change? Let’s not be like that. I’m slating ideas for this year’s writings over at my mega-blog: “Postcards from the Funny Farm.” Hope to see you there. This blog needs my attention as well … as Michael Stipe says in “Departure,” … “So much to tell you so little time.” You can count on a writer here this year. I’m more enthusiastic than I have ever been. I guess the bigger issue is the time. I’ll need to manage mine better if I get done what I want on my blogs.

Did you ever wake up one day to realize your best friend is an Emmy award winning songwriter and millionaire and you teach 4th grade in the inner city for kids that only sometimes get what you are saying? Some of you may know this but I worked at making it with my tunes for almost 15 solid years. I never tapped into the great cauldron of success and I don’t think about it much now anyway.

When I heard Coldplay’s new song “Viva la Vida” recently I was brought back to that place where I hoped to be “heard” with my music. It never paid me back financially so I assume I did the right thing walking away from it. Still, when I hear that song it feels like I could have written it. I guess that is what I chose to do: make a living teaching and keep the music like a distant miracle. I don’t work for the music which I guess is better. Ultimately, I am so happy for my life. It is a dream I never would have dreamed … because it’s tons better. Still, every now and then, these little windows into what might have been pass on the dashboard reflection, upside down every house (to steal Michael Stipe’s image from Nightswimming.)

Do you have any dreams that never materialized?

I take my job really seriously.  That is why when we are forced to sit through dull, even meaningless meetings I really have a hard time sitting still.  Luckily I have friends at work that have a great sense of humor to make jokes that help us survive.

Today at a meeting the speaker said something about a useless piece of laminated information.  She was so excited trying to sell it to us for $3 a kid.  Most of us have about 30 kids in our classrooms.  You do the math.  I looked across the auditorium at my friend and she pantomined frantically getting her checkbook out.  I almost fell out of my chair.  It was a good laugh and nobody got hurt, which is always a plus.

I heard Coldplay’s new single, “Viva la Vida” today and it felt like I was hearing music for the first time.  Below is a full streaming link but I am not sure how long it will stay live, so check it out quick:

ColdPlay’s “Viva la Vida.”

If I had a band and a song, this would be my release.

It’s been almost a full year since I quit reading RSS feeds.  It got way too out of control and for me it was just more clutter in my daily routine.  I have to say that my getting out there to read my favorite blogs has definitely stagnated.  I used to make my “rounds” daily and now I am lucky if I can get to my blogroll once a month.  As any blogger knows … time management is golden.

I’ve learned a lot in the last year that might make RSS feeds a better bet.  I’ve prioritized my goals and set goals in the direction of CAN, my self rating system.  I’ve also learned more how to identify a blog worth putting on my “to read” list.  So I’m gonna go for it.  If you are on my blogroll you can bet I’ll be stopping by more.  If I haven’t commented much lately. my apologies … we live, we learn.

As for those not on my blogroll and the other ones out there in the blogosphere I have yet to discover.  I think going back to RSS feeds and Google reader will have some “pioneering,” “discovery” qualities that will introduce me to more greatness on the web.  Do you read RSS feeds? I know some people don’t.  I’m interested in your input on this new(old) direction I am taking.