Thanks for dropping by! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. But if you really want to be an insider, just join my mailing list (over on the right). You'll even get some freebies to help you make money! Thanks for visiting!
I started a blog simply because it just made sense. I have had several different versions of my own site online since about 1996, when I first started spending time on the internet. Over the years, I learned a lot about how to build websites, how not to build websites, and what I should expect to encounter during the ‘running a site’ process.
Back in the day, I would code all of my own websites in pure HTML using the best website building tool ever, Notepad. Was it a lot of work? Sure. Was it worth it? Well, yes. I was able to set up a place where I could post my own thoughts and ideas (even though nobody ever saw it). The format was pretty cool, as well. I’d have date stamped updates whenever I would post a new thought…it was great.
And it was a blog before blogging as we know it.
So fast forward to today. I don’t hand code my HTML anymore. I’m just too lazy for that, and I really don’t remember a lot of it, since I don’t use it. Now I just run WordPress. Really, it’s faster and easier (although since I can’t make my own themes and I don’t have the cash on hand to buy a custom theme it doesn’t always look how I envision it).
Getting started in blogging, for me, was just a logical progression from what I was already doing.
Why did you get into blogging? Leave your comments below!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
Comments Off | tags: Audience Participation, Blogging, blogging for newbies, starting a blog, why start a blog, wordpress | posted in Audience Participation, Blogging
We all know that WordPress is an awesome blogging platform. Honestly, I can’t see why anybody would want to blog with any other substandard tool. But besides its ease of use, the best thing about WordPress is its ability to be made better with the addition of plugins. I wanted to share a few of the plugins that I use on this blog, and give you a bit about why I can’t live without them.
CommentLuv – The CommentLuv plugin is awesome. Whenever a legitimate user (not you spammers) leaves a comment on my blog, CommentLuv will automagically connect to their blog and add a link to their latest post on their comment. It’s a great way to share the link love.
Subscribe to Comments – Subscribe to Comments does exactly what it sounds like. It gives folks who comment a chance to get an email whenever someone replies to their comment (or to the post). How does this help bloggers? It reminds them that there was a blog that they commented on, and that they should return to your page. Nice, huh?
Tweet This – This plugin adds a ‘Tweet This Post’ option to your blog posts. It also can shorten URLs using Bit.ly so that your tweets don’t get truncated.
Twitter Tools – Another Twitter related plugin, this one helps integrate your blog with Twitter, autoposting a tweet whenever you publish a new post. This in conjunction with Tweet This can add a potential viral factor to your blog. Just publish your post, let the readers come, and they retweet it. Nice, right?
Ninja Affiliate – This, to me, is the mother of all WordPress plugins. It’s not a free product, but it is by far the most useful plugin I have ever used. Basically, it’s a URL cloaker that also can replace keywords in your blog with affiliate links. Can you say money? I knew you could. Not only is it great for use inside the blog, but you can use it to make your affiliate link easier to remember, such as http://thesugarbuzzproject.net/my-affiliate-link. Sure beats trying to memorize all of those numbers, letters, and weird characters, right? Believe me, if you can fit it into your blog’s budget, I can’t emphasize enough the value of this plugin.
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
2 comments | tags: 5 best wordpress plugins, best wordpress plugins, plugins, wordpress, wordpress plugins | posted in Blogging
Just heard that “MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate” is available at discount until Feb 05, 2010.
I think this is the best opportunity to grab your copy… and to give you 3 other good reasons, I want to emphasize the features I like the most:
1. You can convert keywords on your blog into money-making affiliate links – within seconds!
2. You can explode your affiliate marketing income almost overnight
3. You can create professional redirect links, quickly & easily
The “Easy Affiliate Link Management” option makes it a breeze, even for a non techie, to start using “MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate” for affiliate commission supercharge.
If you’re still on the fence, I have to confess something to you.
Since I started using this software myself my affiliate commissions almost doubled and I cut link editing time tremendously. Now I don’t have to spend hours changing links to new affiliate IDs, instead I let “MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate” do it for me automatically, while I spend time on other stuff which is important to me.
You can experience similar results yourself. Grab your copy of MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate and try it out for yourself. You’ll thank me later on!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
Comments Off | tags: maxblogpress, mbp, ninja affiliate, Plugin, wordpress | posted in tools
I came across a post via Twitter that caught my eye…it was a post about ten WordPress plugins that would help increase your blog’s ranking. What I expected to find were the usual suspects (All-in-One SEO, Headspace2, etc.). What I didn’t expect was a plugin called SEO Smart Links.
OK, maybe I did expect to find something with ‘SEO’ in the name, but what I didn’t know about this plugin is that it works in a very similar way to an excellent, yet expensive, commercial plugin called Ninja Affiliate by MaxBlogPress.
What SEO Smart Links does is essentially the same thing as Ninja Affiliate. According to the author, it “can automatically link keywords and phrases in your posts and comments with corresponding posts, pages, categories and tags on your blog” and also (and this is the good part) “set up your own keywords and set of matching URLs” just like its big brother.
The main difference? With SEO Smart Links you will save $97. And THAT is a lot of money…at least for me.
While it is true that I do use Ninja Affiliate, I won it in a contest, so I don’t plan to change soon. However, if you are a beginning blogger trying to break into affiliate marketing, check out SEO Smart Links and see if it can help you get a foothold on cashflow.
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
Comments Off | tags: affiliate links, link cloaking, maxblogpress, ninja affiliate, Plugin, SEO, seo smart links, wordpress, wordpress plugins | posted in Blogging
I can stop biting my nails now.
I’ve successfully upgraded to WordPress version 2.5 without any problems (and only about 5 minutes of downtime). The UI looks a bit different, but it’s very nice looking…once you get used to it. I do like the ‘settings’, ‘plugins’ and ‘users’ menu links being off to the right-hand side, separate from everything else.
WordPress seems to be getting easier to use every day. No wonder it’s considered the best blogging platform around!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
1 comment | tags: blog, Blogging, upgrade, wordpress | posted in Site News
