Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Types of Blogs :: Lessons from Digital Photography School

Friday, September 15th, 2006

I’m currently writing a book on Newbie Blogging - and taking the time to spell out each kind of blog has been a fun and interesting process. I also mentioned that I am in the planning phase of launching some other blogs, but I am plotting carefully to ensure that the time I invest is time well spent.

It is interesting to note that different blogs generate revenue in different ways. Some do well with AdSense, some not so well. ;) I read an interesting post from ProBlogger on the subject - from the depths of his archives - on Why AdSense is Not Suitable for All Blog Types.

Key points from his article:

  • Certain topics simply won’t do well with AdSense because of the nature of the material - including political blogs, religion blogs, and gossip/celebrity blogs
  • Some of the biggest blogs out there aren’t using AdSense at all - likely because high volumes of traffic opens different (or more appropriate) doors of revenue opportunities
  • He makes mention that his Digital Photography blog is his highest earning blog to date.

This is exactly the kind of market research I need as I decide what new blogs to launch. Darren sent me a really cute and enjoyable post from his Digital Photography School Blog :: How NOT to Tip Your Family Over with Digital Photography While on a Vacation (relevant to us as moms too!!).

I was super impressed with the content (as I just got my own new digital camera!!) but also with the blog’s Alexa Rank. Darren’s suite of blogs is a smart move in that he offers comparison shopping as well as how-to content - turning surfers into loyal readers of his content across several domains.

Hhmmmm…. somthing to think about ;)

I’ve also compiled a list of a wide variety of types of blogs - if you think of any others - please add them to the list!

  • Advertising supported – blogs that run like newspapers or magazines – lots of good content with ads to support the blogger
  • Consulting blogs – for the self employed and entrepreneurs, these blogs create visibility and help them build a mailing list and attract business leads
  • Tutorial and how to blogs – these sites earn revenue off of product recommendations or advertising
  • Shopping blogs – featuring products in a certain theme or niche
  • Review blogs - can be a shopping blog or just commentary
  • Company blogs – as a supplement to a company web site
  • Group blogs – written by multiple authors
  • Book Author blogs are a given – they generate interest for their books and build a following and reputation simultaneously
  • Personal blogs – online journals and communities built to connect family and friends
  • Vlogs – video blogs
  • Photoblogs – photography blogs
  • Podcast blogs – content delivered via downloadable audio files
  • Political blogs – pretty self explanatory

It’s important to note that many blogs are a combination of these things in a certain niche - so add to the list “Niche Blogs”.

More Mom Blogging $$ Opportunities

Monday, September 11th, 2006

Popgadget has had a baby!

Their Babygadget Blog is seeking writers. Now I know for a FACT that some of you readers (you know who you are!!) would be absolutely PERFECT for this gig.

Go! Apply! Tell them you heard it from me! :)

Now!!

To my Readers Who StumbleUpon Me

Friday, September 8th, 2006

I Luv! you when you grace me with a StumbleUpon link.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! :)

Jolting the Traffic of eMom Bloggers Everywhere!

Monday, August 21st, 2006

Have you heard yet about the eMoms BlogJolt?

eMoms at Home is running a big link-building project to help mom bloggers - and bloggers who write about topics of interest to moms (yes, that does include a lot of GUY bloggers too!!).

The BlogJolt process is simple.

One Blog. One Week. Lots ‘o Traffic.

We pick one blog each week, and everyone in the group writes about and links to the target blog. We raise their Technorati Rank, give ‘em some Google Page Rank action, and give them a traffic jolt they won’t soon forget.

So. What do you have to do to get in on this link love action?

Just join. Isn’t that easy? And to top it off, the group communicates regularly about blogging $$ opportunities, tech tips, and business advice. Check out the FAQs if you need more info.

Spread the word! We want to spread LOTS of links and LOTS of traffic.

Does your Peer Group Influence your Business?

Thursday, August 17th, 2006

I was reading one of my new favorite blogs today, over at Passion Meets Purpose. Author Kammie is positive, full of energy, and totally infectious. She wrote a great post about a bit of an ego bruise that was a blessing in disguise - and it made me think of my own big ego bash from a while ago…

I remember when I first seriously considered becoming a life coach. It was almost 2 years ago - I was doing a lot of training with the Anthony Robbins companies, and really felt like I was finally getting this whole living a great life thing. I was working with some great potential clients at events, and really making a difference.

At the time I was working outside of the house, and my interest and passion for getting into coaching started becoming a distraction. I wanted a career that I could be passionate about - one that didn’t bore me after 2 months, as most of my jobs had in the past. I had encouragement from many people I knew, and even from people I had coached informally. I had the experience, I looked into coaching certification, and went to my coach and told him about my intentions.

Then I got some nasty medicine.

My coach didn’t think I was ready to be a coach for others. He suggested I needed a lot less talk and a lot more action in my life. That I wasn’t really walking my talk. Man, I was PISSED.

But I really, REALLY respected my coach. That pissed me off even more, because I couldn’t dismiss his observations as uninformed or ingenuine. I felt like he had given me the NASTIEST pill to swallow. But I trusted him. So I swallowed the pill - and my pride - and I took another look within.

I realized that even though coach training would be highly valuable, perhaps it wasn’t exactly what my heart was telling me to do at that time. I was actually more looking for a way OUT of my office job than I was looking to DO coaching, if that makes sense. And I hated, I mean REALLY HATED to admit it, but my coach was right. It was time for me to put up or shut up.

I decided that I would make no career moves until I pushed past my boredom and resistance in my current job. I realized that I was looking for something in my job to complete me - but I was looking at it all backwards. What I really needed to focus on was being complete - and then I knew I could trust that the right career opportunities would appear. I also made the decision to be successful in my current position, no. matter. what. How could I coach people to push past their own fears and resistance if I couldn’t do it myself?

By swallowing that little nasty pill my coach offered to me, I found that it wasn’t nasty at all. It just tasted nasty going down - but once down in my tummy it turned out to be one of the greatest gifts he had ever given me. And I know it was hard for him to offer it - but I’m so glad he did.

Had I listened to all the people who just said “Yeah, go for it, Wendy!” or “Wendy, your’e great!” I would not be where I am today. Not to say that I don’t surround myself with positive people. I most certainly do.

But the people that I spend the most time with, the ones who really define true friendship, are not my cheerleading squad. They hold me to a higher standard - by calling me on my sh*t, by living their own lives at high standards, and by never letting me buy into anything less than my own greatness. And by doing this, then, and only then, do we get to celebrate great successes together.

After that very painful experience, I took walking my talk to a whole new level. I rocked the house down in my office job. And I really dove into learning and applying NLP, coaching, and the science of persuasion. Just recently, my coach paid me the highest compliment he has ever given me.

In front of a room full of 50 people, he found himself in a position to help faciliate a reconciliation between two of our mutual friends. It had been a huge (and I mean HUGE !) challenge for all of us - because we were all so closely tied to each other. After tears were shed and hugs shared, my coach said that this was a great example of the fact that we as leaders have our own problems from time to time - and that this reconciliation would not have happened if it weren’t for MY coaching of all of the people involved. Wow. Talk about a tear jerker.

Had my coach not sacked my ego two years ago, this would never have happened. And it’s very likely I wouldn’t be here behind eMoms at Home today. So did my peer group influence my business? You had better believe it!

So the question is - who is in your peer group? Are these people that buy into your “story”, or do they hold you to a higher standard? Hopefully you have at least one person in your life that sees you at your best - even when you don’t - and reminds you of who you are when you forget.  And if you don’t, just keep reading my blog until you do - or until I get to meet you in person - whichever comes first!

I Think I’ve got Feeding Issues

Monday, August 7th, 2006

No, I’ve not suddenly put on a lot of weight. I installed a plugin on Friday that was supposed to forward all of my feeds to my FeedBurner Feed. But I just heard back from the FB tech support guys (who are really GREAT, I might add), and I tested it. 3 of my four feeds are broken :( .

Until I can get things fixed, you can update your feed by using the following URL:

http://www.emomsathome.com/blog/wp-rss2.php

Or you can wait patiently for me to figure this darn feed thang out!

My apollogies for the interruption!

Database Scare and Tracking Feeds

Friday, August 4th, 2006

Today I added a WordPress plugin to enable me to direct all of my feeds to FeedBurner, because I like them so darn much. WordPress was generating 3 feeds, but FeedBurner was only tracking one of them. I was getting a lot more hits on the other feeds - so the good news is that I have a lot more subscribers than I thought. Woo Hoo!

The bad news was that this particular plugin completely crashed my blog for an hour. Turns out it attempted to make an edit to my htaccess file on the server, and Yahoo Hosting wasn’t too happy ’bout that. The person I spoke to at Yahoo actually told me I would have to restore my database or reinstall WP. (I HADN’T BACKED UP MY DATABASE IN THE LAST 3 WEEKS!!!).

I thought my blog was gone, sunk, kaput. I panicked. Big Time.

But thankfully Sarah Lewis came to the rescue and did the most obvious of things - deleted the plugin from my site via FTP. And all was well.

*I’m breathing again*

Big hugs to you Sarah!!! :o )

 

PS. I found a better plugin, by the way. FD Feedburner Plugin 

Finally, a Decision on my Business Position

Thursday, July 20th, 2006

I have been surprised at the last two weeks of success and transition with the eMoms at Home blog. Firstly, I was delighted and happy to hear from readers I didn’t even know I had in regards to what direction the blog should take. Secondly, I have been even more happy and surprised at the amount of traffic the blog is seeing in it’s relative infancy (I still don’t even have a full three months of posts yet). My musings, both public and private, have pushed me to get very clear on what the heck I am doing here… and I’m ready to unveil my future plans for both this site and eSelfHelp. The questions I have been asking myself have been difficult and challenging. Thankfully, I believe in my heart that I am on the right path, so backing down is simply NOT an option (and a good thing, too, because this has definitely been a challege!!).

In regards to eMoms at Home

  1. I will continue to post about the techy behind-the-scenes site building process, as I know this is just plain valuable information for any person who wants to know what it is truly like to build a content site from scratch, from home, and with kids running around.
  2. I’ll also continue to write about internet marketing, even though it’s not my true area of expertise. I have been writing about my marketing experiments and initiatives along the way - which in the end will help the readers to understand what doesn’t work as well as what does. This will also help as you consider investing in true internet marketing training programs, because you will be more educated and knowledgeable on the actual behind-the-scenes workings of running an internet based business.
  3. I will be adding articles and material written more specifically about the personal side of working from home. This will include examining and maximizing our personal strengths and weaknesses, the mental obstacles that many women face when we are required to believe in ourselves and our abilities at a higher level than we have in the past, self-sabotage, and tools and techniques to empower ourselves to reach for and accomplish our dreams.
  4. An exciting component of this is that I will be building an assessment tool to help determine what an individuals’ personal obstacles are, clarify what is limiting and holding progress back, and provide a written report with a road map to get you to where you need to go.

As for eSelfHelp, it will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. I will also be creating it with a CMS (Joomla!), so the time to have it up and running again will be longer than I had hoped, but the site will have a much stronger foundation - content-wise AND technologically. So the external development of the site will be on hold as I work on it in the background. Consequently, I will temporarily throw more of my efforts towards eMoms at Home, as I am thoroughly enjoying taking on this new-ish direction with the blog and making the most of the success to date.

eSelfHelp will become more of a content site (meaning written by me), and will incorporate a lot more of my expertise than it currently does. The big plans for the site will be in the content library, in which I will be developing an audio file library of self-hypnosis material, NLP and Time Line Therapy workshops, meditations and visualizations. Worksheets and workbooks will also be incorporated into the library which will eventually be available on a subscription basis. The material will be directed into three growth tracks as mentioned earlier, entreprenurial, personal and spiritual. I will continue to promote and sell other products from different self help experts, because they all have their own strengths and I am not seeking to be everything to everyone.

And finally, I have let go of the idea that I need to merge the two sites into one. There are things I want to put out there that are very specific to work at home moms, and then of course, things that will appeal to a wider audience. Additionally, it is wise to diversify my streams of income, especially in an internet based business. If things eventually evolve into one site, that’s fine too. For now, they will be developed separately.

First up is going to be a series of articles on work at home challenges, similar to my article The Top Ten Working from Home Mistakes.

I am also taking ‘requests’ so to speak. What is YOUR number one personal challenge when it comes to working from home? Is it staying focused? Is it a belief (or lack thereof) in your talents and abilities? Is it procrastination? Please comment or contact me privately with your input and your suggestions will be included in future content on the site!

 

Hosting Transfer Complete!

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

Well, the transfer from to is complete, and here are my tips and lessons learned:

  1. GoDaddy is a great hosting company. I would have preferred to keep both of my sites on the same server. But since it might have been keeping me in the Google Sandbox, I decided just to make the move early rather than later when the site is more established.
  2. Yahoo Hosting has it’s plusses too. I really, really like the easy WordPress setup. That made it much easier to switch.
  3. This may be obvious, but move everything to the new server first, make sure it works, and get everything set up before you actually switch hosting servers.
  4. I didn’t really know what to do about the new URL of my blog. I have some established inbound links and don’t have the knowledge of how to change the URL of the new WordPress blog. So I created a very comprehensive “Page Cannot be Found” page, with a list of links to every single blog entry with it’s new link. You can check it out here: http://www.emomsathome.com/e404.html.
  5. Get your nameserver information and make the nameserver change yourself if possible. Although the full switch took about 36 hours, the www. site was live on the new server right away. Next the site went live without the www. Lastly, the email server got switched, at the very end. If you have to wait for your hosting company to switch your nameservers, that can definitely add time to the transition process.

All in all, the switch was a bit of a pain, only because I had to do it at all. But once in the process, it was easy and I’m so glad I did it. I am thrilled with WordPress – which is just so much better than Nucleus for my uses (read:: I don’t know enough PHP to customize Nucleus in order to get it functioning as well as WordPress). I now can recommend more products based on usage, and there was definite value in going through the transition. Hopefully the info will help others now too!

Buying Domains

Monday, July 3rd, 2006

I’m excited about growing my affiliate sites. I decided I wanted to give my husband an opportunity to get involved. So what better way than to give him an excuse to research and test HIS favorite products?! So I got absolutely lucky and bought eGreatOutdoors.com today, and will plan on putting all sorts of fun stuff up there on boating, camping, RVing and hiking. What a great domain name!

Although I use a variety of companies to purchase web products from, I only buy my domain names from can’t be beat, and their domain management tools are super-simple to use.

The best part of buying from GoDaddy is that they have a great built in suggestion engine. You tell it the domain name you want, and their suggested alternatives are actually really great suggestions as well. And the list they provide is usually over a 100+ domain names. I usually start with a domain I think is likely taken (it usually is) and then let the suggestion engine find me something similar. I found that CatchNature.com is available, but decided on my first choice. CatchNature is not only a great domain, but I wouldn’t have found it without GoDaddy.