Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL

Click on image to view the Excel spreadsheet.
This month’s theme: “Automation.”

Here are the textual results:

Postcards from the Funny Farm – PFTFF
9,651 Backlinks
8,630 Visits (in June ‘09)

Dynamite Lesson Plan – DLP
3,123 Backlinks
2,030 Visits (in June ‘09)

Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL
5,376 Backlinks
1,422 Visits (in June ‘09)

Net for all blogs= $207

Sources:
Backlinks-Yahoo
Visits-Google Analytics
Net-PayPal

Notes: Last month I used this word: “automation.” I suppose if I were putting out a CD I’d call it that. That’s the name of the game these days for my blogging life. I have just about everything automated to produce money and traffic. Backlinks are a little harder to produce that way but I’m working on new ideas every day. As a teacher who is getting more responsibility at work every day, I don’t have the time I used to devote to blogging.

Automation methods:
Backlinks: The only automation I can think of for these is submission to Article Avenue and the like. Many of my backlinks however are the result of people linking to my articles or blog because they like them. This would lead to the ultimate automation technique: “Write good content.”

Visits: In my experience, Stumbleupon and other social media has produced the largest increase in traffic. Find classy ways to ask people to read your work through social media. The following sites are the ones I am leveraging for traffic-

• Ping.fm – Choose the services you post statuses to and send a status and a link to your blog out to all of them with one click.
• Twitter – Ping.fm can take care of this one.
• Facebook – This is often a small group of a hundred or so friends. I usually use Ping.fm to drive my Facebook statuses but there are other features you can use on Facebook other than statuses to promote your blog.
• MyBlogLog -
• Blogcatalog – Send bulk messages to members of your community.

Net: Automation methods are Text-Link-Ads. I am making over $20 a month with my 3 blogs with this service. Google Adsense has made me very little money, but it is always increasing. Getting Adsense on a site is a good idea. The more traffic I get, the more Adsense will make for me.

These are the automated methods I use to make passive income. It is a small percentage of the total I make monthly but they are a substantial chunk. The rest of the pie consists of hard work writing and doing sponsored posts. I never do 2 paid posts in a row. Every other one is a rule I have for myself.

I encourage you bloggers out there to use the services and methods I have talked about.  Also, remember that each blog is its own animal.  What works for mine may not work for yours.  The thing that makes bloggers great, in my opinion, is their ability to create and innovate ideas that work for their blog.  I will continue to look for ways to automate my backlinks, visits, and net. Your comments are warmly invited.

In effort to make my blogs as attractive as possible to sponsored post clients and advertisers, I’ve been wading through some SEO optimizer posts today. Some really good advice came from this one I found by searching blog seo and it’s a good one:

3. Use your secondary keywords in the body of your post

If you want to get listed for secondary keywords use them infrequently in the body of your post and pepper your blog titles or links with them appropriately.

Don’t overdo this or your posts will end up sounding unnatural and spammy to readers.
4. Use your keywords in the anchor text of links

Keyword in links have more importance than simple text.

Use your primary and secondary keywords in the anchor text of links when linking to other blog posts or to other pages on your main site.

Link keywords where they naturally appear in the body text, but again, don’t overdo it, or you’ll end up with spammy looking pages.
5. Make sure search engines can spider your blog easily

Set up your blog so that the side navigation bar is present on all pages.

Make sure your archives and previous posts are accessible from all pages of your blog so they get spidered easily.

I think the best seo strategy will come about after attending a sales training course. After all, aren’t we really just selling our blogs? Finding the tools that help me do that is what my seo research consists of.

There are lots of tools that will show the keyword denisity of the index but I need one that will suggest keywords based on a larger selection of posts. Still looking.

The reviewer learns from the reviewee

Reviewing peer blogs can be an excellent way to see bogging from “outside the box.”

I’ve been reviewing blogs let me tell ya!

I started a thread over at Blog Catalog offering anyone a blog review as long as it came to me prior to January 9th, 2009. I have a little time off work and I thought it would be fun to meet some new bloggers and maybe help some people out if possible. The response so far has been positive.

Ever bite off more than you can chew?

Just kidding.  Kinda.  I’ve managed to do 12 reviews in 3 hours and my neck hurts LOL. I’ve tried to be positive and comment on the PROS more than the cons. Some people have asked me to really criticize though so in some cases that is what I’ve done. Even though I am behind, I am committed to reviewing everyone who asks prior to the 9th. It is a blast and I am learning while I review.  I thought I would summarize a few things here on my personal blog that seemed common issues to me anyway:

Here’s the common roadblocks I see …

• Too many ads on new blogs is annoying – My advice? Wait until your traffic warrants payment. Generally 15,000 visitors or more per month.

• Intentional Branding is crucial – The name is the thing. Really think before you put up a name or a tagline. It is your currency and it is all you ever have in blogging. Many seem haphazard.

• Many blogs have way too broad of a scope – How many malls does a town need? Be a STORE not a mall. I am reading so many blogs that have taglines like “a little of this a little of that and everything else.” It is YOUR job to tell us who you are and why YOU are worth reading.

I hope my words are helpful and not pissing people off over there. I aim to do right by my contribution to people’s art. If you’d like a review of your blog, I still have plenty of spare time before the 9th. Go ahead and submit it over at Blog Catalog and I’ll do my worst for ya!

Thanks to the Blog Catalog folks I’ve reviewed for giving me the privilege of reviewing your work.  If the 9th has passed and you’d like a review, ask me.  If I have the time I’d be happy to.

If you want to set yourself apart as a blogger, you have to do a few things differently. These tips are the best advice I have to offer.  They are the result of two years of intensive blogging.  I welcome feedback as comments or questions.

1. Be mentored: offer someone doughnuts!
2. Monitor inbound links.
3. Don’t link out more than you have inbound links.
4. Write a a dynamite “ABOUT” page for your blog.
5. Have a “Best of” page.
6. Guest blog out there.
7. Host guest bloggers on your blog.
8. Write reviews with proper references (ie; IMDB for movies)
9. Optimize use of categories.
10. TAG by idea, not by words used.
11. Write great excerpts, summaries, and introductions.
12. Use search words in your title.
13. Pick a simple theme and then test, test, test.
14. Paragraphs no longer than 10 sentences.
15. Here today, gone tomorrow: remember your post is not a bestseller in process.  Write it and move on.
16. Submit your best stuff to social media.  Even better, ask your friends to.
17. NOFOLLOW when you should NOFOLLOW.
18. Outline your post.  Don’t “freewrite.”
19. Use pictures.
20. Get a picture hosting and posting routine you like.
21. Use Google Reader.  Leave comments.
22. Have a minimal sidebar.  Most the “flair” out there is so distracting and lame.
23. Make subheadings in BOLD.
24. Don’t “create” topics, wait for them to come to you.  be ready with a yellow pad or tape recorder.
25. Use the future posts timestamp feature of WordPress to get more than one post started in one sitting.
26. Schedule deadlines to be mailed to you through Google Calendar (No, I don’t work for Google … wish tho ;) )
27. Find your “niche” and become a slave to it.
28. Value SEO and learn things about it.
29. Set goals.
30. Monitor results of goals.
31. Spell check and correct basic grammar.  Try Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style.”
32. Make posts over 100 words, around 200 words and usually not more than 400 words.
33. Get away!  Time off captures ideas.
34. Go to the Library for inspiration.
35. Use RANK then do not pay any attention to it.
36. Value real readers not empty “click-through” traffic.
37. Know your stats.
38. Be entertaining.
39. Regularly post.
40. Be accessible as an author.
41. Blogging is not instant gratification.
42. Spend most your time working on your own blog and smaller amounts commenting and blog hopping.
43. Adjust as necessary, be flexible.
44. Don’t look for advertisers, rather look to be the type of blog that would have advertisers.
45. Check out addons and plugins available to you.
46. Take an official photo.
47. Be a brand.
48. Ask for feedback
49. Put ideas in your blog as “drafts” for rainy days.
50. Measure success on your own terms.

Follow these tips and your blog travels will be stronger than a Samsonite.

When deciding what your blog will be about, there are a few things you can do to help. One thing to do is decide what topic, or niche as the blogosphere would call it, jusy flows through your mind daily. For example, in my case, I think about teaching all the time. It’s my job! This means I get topics for posts about every hour or even more often than that! Once a blog is setup, I don;t have to work very hard to come up with inspired and authoritative posts. Keyword being “not work very hard!”

I see a lot of blogs that attempt to be all things to all people and it’s not a mystery to me whay their rank and subscriber numbers stay low. These types usually counter with: “I don’t care who reads my blog.” Hmmm, I’ve spoken to this statement so I won’t give a rebuttal. Summary? “Get a journal and keep it under your bed then.”

Spend some time with a broader mission statement but make your goal to narrow your niche. The ideal situation is when you are writing directly from your life as you know it and people who want to hear about your subject just naturally read and the advertisers fight to get on board as that process is going on. If you are worried about limiting yourself with a niche, have a few blogs. BUT, I suggest you develop them one at a time. Has something like this ever annoyed you as much as it has me?

Someone emails you:
“Please support a starving dad” (or starving mom, soccer mom, whatever the hell else they beg with) by visiting my blogs!

HowIfeelonsaturdays.blogspot.com
dogsandwhyIhatethem.blogspot.com
unemployedandlovingitpleasedonate.blogspot.com

yadda yadda

Blog smart. Get a niche, work your personal experiences into it, and work out from that nucleus.