Visitors

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Viral Marketing Strategy

Defining Viral Marketing – What is it…exactly?

The term Viral marketing or viral advertising is a marketing technique that utilizes existing social networks to produce and increase brand awareness or some other marketing goal or objective.  This is accomplished through use of a viral “self-replicating” process, similar to that of a viral disease or computer virus, in that they spread quickly and overtake everything they come in contact with.  It can take many forms, such as word-of-mouth, video clips, flash games, e-books, brand able software or text messages.  The goal is to build widespread awareness of virtually anything you choose to market.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Building a better brand

Brand Building
Building a brand is a key step in getting your “product” and or website noticed by the masses.  It not only promotes you, but highlights what makes you “special” compared to your competition.   So what is a brand, and how do I develop it?  In reality, brands are commonly perceived traits.  It is influenced by how you send your message to the public, the content of the message, and how that message is then interpreted.  It is much like creating a personality that relates to people.  How the relationship improves or changes, determines you’re “brand, and how the public sees you.  Every interaction with your audience goes far to refining that image, so it is very important to let your audience know that they have value to you.  Branding in marketing circles has done much to help distinguish very similar products and promote one to success and leaving the other to failure. 

Friday, September 24, 2010

Submitting a Blogger website to Google

 I have struggled with this topic for some time, as I’m sure many of you have.  What originally prompted me to look into this was the fact that my website was not showing up on Google Page Rank (http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php).   There appears to be many reasons why a page might not rank, including not being indexed, being too new, or being banned.  Needless to say I got used to seeing this response from Google Page Rank all the time.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Cambridge Business Academy – Preparing us for the Real World

Cambridge Business Academy is a relatively new online internet marketing training company. A one on one personal training regime is followed including video and audio options to supplement when the training times are not a convenient option. The focus of their training is to assist those with limited knowledge of internet marketing to teach them how to drive significant traffic to their websites, and to expand their understanding of proven internet marketing tactics and strategies.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Get Paid To Write Articles

Article marketing is one of the most effective ways to market yourself as a service professional or small business owner. When it comes to credibility with your target market, nothing performs as well as an article. Once your article is ‘out there’ it works 24 hours a day to drive targeted visitors to your site.
What is Article Marketing? Well, in essence, it is a type of advertising where businesses write short articles or “ezines” related to their respective industry. These articles are then made available in the marketplace for distribution and publication. Within each article is a “resource box”, which includes references and contact information for the author. Quality, well written articles can increase the author’s credibility in their market, and attract new readers, followers, and potential customers.
software to automatically rewrite an article for you but I would recommend that if you choose to do it you get it done by a human copywriter a decent copywriter can rewrite your existing articles for about 1 cent per word. However, this has received a bad reputation due to the fact that a lot of the “spinning” software out there just doesn’t work.
Ezine Articles allows writers to publish articles that include a special area at the end called a resource box. In the resource box the author leaves a link or two along with a couple of sentences. Other webmasters and publishers are allowed to reprint the article on their own websites, newsletters or blogs, as long as they keep the resource box intact.
From a publisher’s point of view it’s free content. If you are struggling to keep a regular email newsletter going reprinting articles can be a fantastic way to reduce your workload. You can also use the content to populate a blog, website or any publication as long as you follow the reproduction rules.
You can publish an ezine completely free.
Yahoo Groups http://groups.yahoo.com will host your list (ezine) free of charge. In addition, they take care of all your subscription requests so you won't have to. To use one of these list servers, simply sign up and instantly create your list. They will provide you with a subscribe and unsubscribe email address and even a list owner email address, all completely free. The only disadvantage is that each posting will contain an ad for their service. This is really a small price to pay for such a great service. If you're just starting out, utilizing one of these free services can simplify the process. Another place would be ArticleFeeder.com, which is an article Submission Directory. There are a lot of different categories of content on this site, with the intent of increasing exposure to the article site, and to your personal blog as well. With regards to online magazines and publications such as Ezinearticles, where there is a greater degree of quality control, as the articles submitted are reviewed for their material and to ensure that the article meets the publishers and readers expectations. Having an article published by Ezine would help to establish credibility in the market, and improve traffic on the back end, with regard to quality content being the primary driver.
No matter which direction you go with, getting your articles marketed is a great idea, and can only improve you exposure.
I hope that the information proved useful to you, and as always, please feel free to comment.
Continued Success to you in all your endeavors!!
Regards,
Mark

Monday, August 23, 2010

How to create and market an e-book product











People spend a great deal of time blogging for ad dollars that never really pay off. Although affiliate marketing is a good way to go, the product is not yours, and you have no control over the cost, or how to necessarily market the product. At the end of the day, the best product you have to offer is one that you own. So then the question becomes what product should I sell? That is a good question, and it depends a lot on what your blog is all about, and who your target audience is.

Information sites are great, but it is hard to charge for information that people can get somewhere else for free. The information should be specialized to some degree and should benefit the reader in some way. The best way to think of it is that your product should either solve a current problem that your readers are dealing with, or it should help to minimize a potential problem that they might incur. The other option is that it could add some sort of entertainment value where the reader is receiving enjoyment in some fashion. In any case, the product should have a measurable benefit to your readers.
What does all this have to do with eBooks you might ask? Well, the thing is you have a certain level of expertise in whatever field of interest you blog about. This information can be of value to your readers, especially if the information is from your best or “Pillar” blogs. This type of content can be culminated into an eBook which in turn can be used to attract traffic to your site, or to help in the process of obtaining an e-mail subscription list which is a very valuable commodity when attempting to make a successful blog that actually makes money. The content does not need to be outrageously long, in fact, you can often turn a sweet profit from a document that is only 10, 20 and up to 50 pages long, as long as those pages solve a problem that people will pay to have the solution to.

When determining what type of issue you are looking to “solve” don’t over think this part of the process, as the information can even something that anyone could research online, as the reader doesn’t want to have to do all the legwork of researching something online when they can have that done for them for a small fee. Do the work, but also show them that you are a credible person that has the necessary credentials to deal with the issue, and as long as the “problem” is real, you should make a sale.
In summation, the steps involved in creating a successful eBook should include:
1. Identify a potential topic (Either a problem to solve or to avoid at some future date).
2. Research the topic and determine a viable solution to meet the reader’s needs.
3. Pull all the information into a single document that is written for the perspective of the target audience.
4. Market the eBook to your readers (For profit, or as incentive to subscribe via email).

By following these steps, your site will begin to see some definite improvement s in the amount of traffic , and in actual sales.

I wish you continued Success in all your endeavors.



Regards,
Mark

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Optimization and traffic

Boosting the ranking of a website in order to be profitable can be a huge endeavor, and a daunting task with little to no reward for the effort. However,
if you are armed with the right knowledge and expertise, most SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and promotional tasks can be accomplished with little or no cost. The attached video is from Steven Witt, affiliate marketer, and gives a base of information to begin with to assist with helping build rankings and blog traffic.

Let me know what you think of this and if you find it helpful.

Regards,
Mark

Thursday, August 12, 2010

New Faces…of Marketing

A name that has been getting a lot of publicity lately is Zac Johnson, as an affiliate and an internet marketing guru. He has an uncanny ability to drive traffic, and has a new ebook out named “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging." This certainly sounds like something that anyone involved in online marketing will want to read. The book is targeted toward s those already online and with some blogging experience.

He has been making a living on the internet for over 15 years, but only recently started blogging 3 years ago. Zac talks about his focus in “finding a blog niche and using affiliate marketing to generate revenue from that blog.”

A lot of attention is directed towards affiliate marketing, what it is, and how it actually works to generate revenue. Products and services are advertised on your blog site, visitors click on links to the retailer’s sites, and a commission is earned on every signup or sale. That is really the process in a nutshell.

Payments are Pay-per-lead (PPL), pay-per-sale (PPS), and pay-per-click (PPC). The information in the book goes into more detail regarding the affiliate programs and specific recommendations that Zac makes from his personal experience. From the affiliate programs he then covers detail related to getting a blog set up, devising a “custom” theme, and literally getting it introduced to the “masses.”

I recommend that you take a moment and check it out, as it is a great source of information , and it’s Free!!! You can check out Zac’s site at http://zacjohnson.com/

Best of luck to you all as you continue on your blogging journey!



Regards,

Friday, August 6, 2010

Mailing lists and what to do with it…..


In the course of creating an audience for your blog, it becomes necessary to keep in contact with them. Let’s face it, a blog audience is indeed an audience, but this doesn’t necessarily mean “real-time”. If they receive your content by RSS feed, then they might only check it periodically and not each and every day. This can be disastrous for any promotion or product campaign, especially as time is everything in this competitive market. This can make the entire effort for the promotion wasted, and you lose momentum and potential sales.


This can be corrected by getting people to subscribe via email. Instead of waiting for them to check for new content, they can be notified of it today…..right now……this very second. You have the control to notify your readers in advance. This can be extremely helpful when preparing to launch your promotion.

This is good for the people that you currently have subscribing via email, but what about getting email addresses from those readers already signed up, or directing new readers to subscribe via email. The best way to do this is through a “Free” product promotion. Now, “Free” product does not mean some worthless report that gives absolutely zero relevant information or a compilation of your “best” posts. It means something of value that ultimately solves a problem for your readers. This should be a useful product or tool that provides immediate results. This captures their attention, and creates trust that they can come back and receive good, useful products from you. Very few competitors will follow through with this, giving you a competitive edge.

It’s worth it to take some time and look at what products are offered out there in the blogosphere and see if there is something out there you can use or create yourself.

I will follow up with my own research on products available and present them in a following post.

Regards,

Mark

Monday, August 2, 2010

What is selling?

Blogs do many things. They inform people, tell stories, generate interest, create a need, and in some cases generate money somewhere along the way.


There are articles, e-books, reports, services, and advertisements, and perhaps actual products that are attached to any one single blog. So what is the answer? Well, first off identifying a niche in the platform of your blog is a great way to start. What is your subject matter and target audience?

The term “products” can take many forms when considering a blog. It can be advertisements such as Adsense, product placements, sponsored posts, affiliate products, surveys, and reports that provide specific information that is difficult to obtain somewhere else, or is much more expensive from other sources.

Adsense is a good source is you are generating 100 or more visitors a day. Otherwise you will find that the ads are not effective in viewing, let alone converting sales of any significance. Two things to remember with Adsense are to place ad boxes within the content of your page. The reader cannot avoid the ads this way, and the reader is more likely to actually view the ad in more detail. The second tip is to place the ads next to something that they already need to click on, as they will be more inclined to actually check out the advertisement.

PayPerPost will pay you a fee for posting a product review on your site. In this case make sure that it is disclosed that the review is a paid product review, or this could appear unethical to your viewers. This information can prove to be quite helpful for readers looking for qualified opinions, and also helps to promote trust and loyalty to you as a blogger, and the content that you provide.

Some interesting statistics related to different advertisements is that According to a new study by Internet Retailer, visitors who arrive on a site from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising are 50% more likely to buy than traffic generated by search engine optimization (SEO. The study found that the average conversion rate from paid search is 2.03% vs. only 1.25% from organic search. Visitors sent to web sites via e-mail marketing convert even better, at 6.9%.

E-mail is a more personable approach leading to the reader having more trust that you have a stake in their needs and wants, and gives the most information about what to expect, so the conversion rate is higher. PPC ads have significantly less copy, so the prospect is not as clear on what is being offered, and conversion rate is less.

SEO (Search engine optimization) actually has the lowest conversion rates, and is directly tied to the much smaller fields available for descriptions, and with less consideration demonstrated in regards to making the ad more personable.



As always, I hope the information proves useful and that you continue on your blogging quest with

Passion, Zest, and Vigor as you grow your Blog and your business.



Regards,
Mark

Monday, July 26, 2010

Please “Click” here……

Has anyone out there had any difficulties getting any response to the ads on their web pages? I know that I definitely have. It can be a frustrating experience to go to all the trouble of getting the ads and then getting some traffic, only to find that it doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. After researching this countless times online, I have found that the advice given is pretty consistent.


First, make sure that the ads are relevant to you blogs subject matter, and to the audience that you are reaching. I know that this is difficult if you don’t have a lot of options regarding the ads that finally make it to your blog. I know that once an ad made it to my site, I was pretty excited, and the last thing I wanted to do was edit the ads making it to my blog, but it is solid advice that does make sense. It is also important to make sure that the ad is very specific to what it is offering. You do not want your readers to have to scroll through a lot of different options to “shop” for the right product. Make sure they are aware of precisely what “benefit” they are going to receive through your offer.

A prospective customer will only click once on the banner ad link, and if it doesn’t bring him to your site, you will have lost a visitor and a potential sale. Also remember that you have a limited amount of time to present your offer. A highly targeted ad will quickly inform the reader of the product, promotion, and benefit, and should direct them precisely to where they need to go.

It is important to remember that in order to make more money, the ads have to be more effective, which equates to a higher click through rate. Now, to increase your click-through-rate, what are the steps?

1. Well, testing the ads is always a good idea. Check out Google Adwords Content Network Google Adwords Content Network. This allows you to test traffic against specific ads to see what is working and what is not. The test will take about a week, but will help you out immensely in the long-run.

2. Focus your attention on sites that do not have a lot of ads. This effectively limits competition to your own site.

3. From the results in 1, start implementing the winning ads on you sites. You should realize an immediate improvement in traffic and measurable hits on your ads.

All the Best,
Mark

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Advertisers…stop by and visit

It seems that no matter what your blog is about and the reason behind it, making some money at it never hurts. Some blogs are strictly devoted to making money, while others have a specific message to convey. But regardless of the reason behind it, you need to attract advertisers to your blog in order to help achieve this goal.


First of all, you can attract their attention with an “Advertise with us” banner somewhere on your blog. These can be placed on either side of the top bar or side bar, and draw attention.

Include an advertisement page. This can reveal all the pertinent information regarding your particular blog niche. Additional relevant information would be blog ranking, traffic, advertisement rates, and payment method. A contact page would be good as well.

Focus on your specific niche, as advertisers will definitely want to reach the target audience associated with those that read and follow your blog. To market your blog, make sure that the articles are of high quality and quantity, as both are needed to draw in visitors and advertisers likewise. Some hints for this are to generate good likeable content. Write posts that say something worthwhile, even if they are somewhat lengthy. Don’t think that because your post is several paragraphs that you can post every few days. You need the content coming in frequently to keep your readers interested. Writing about something useful is always a good idea, particularly if it’s something the readers can implement or use immediately to solve a problem or satisfy a need.

Make sure that ads that find their way to your site are matched to your blog content. There are always some that are attracted to higher traffic that might not be the “best fit.” Remember, that this is a give and take situation, and you want the best fit for your blog in order to promote it and get higher readership.

The layout of your blog should also be considered. Bold formats can be just fine, but it should look professional. The blog page represents you but it also represents the advertiser’s products, so make it a good fit for both.

Success to you all in your endeavors!



Regards,
Mark

Monday, July 19, 2010

Blog vs. Email Newsletters

There are 2 items are usually associated with a web marketing campaign, email newsletters and business blogs. Both of these are forms of communication, and are useful in their own way, but having the time to put together both a blog and an e-mail newsletter can be daunting. So the question then becomes which of these options will be more effective for what you want to do.


In the corner of the newsletter, we have the fact that customers are showing less loyalty these days. By using permission based e-mails, this can be a way of reminding the customer that it is time to re-stock, renew, or check out new products that may have just recently come out. I t is also less of a time constraint and requires less dedication to publish a newsletter and send it out to multiple clients or customers.

Now, a blog is a better tool to use when you do not typically have multiple purchases and less research is involved. The blog is a great way to get information out to the general public, establish credibility, and send leads for site conversion, but is more driven by the subscribers, and what they are looking for. The “Push” for marketing results may not be as forthcoming.

A blog is more interactive if you like getting feedback and response from blog visitors. It also helps if you like to write and have a sense for what people are searching for. However, a sense of urgency may not necessarily be associated with blog posting s in creating marketing interest and sales conversions.

But that isn’t to say that they can’t be. There are definitely examples of blogs that generate massive interest and sales conversions daily, but it depends a lot on the individual site and what you personally want to accomplish.

Ultimately the best choice is to have both, but that will depend on the time and resources each individual has, and what their goals are.

Regards,
Mark

Friday, July 16, 2010

Search Queries and what is being used…

A recent review by Chitika published findings regarding the examination of search driven ad impressions. Their results showed that three–word search queries are driving the most traffic. The sample was based on 41,103,403 impressions of search traffic coming into their network between June 13th and June 19th. According to their findings, 26 percent of search-driven traffic was the result of search driven traffic. The full breakout of their findings was:

1. Three words: 26 percent

2. Two words: 19 percent Bold

3. Four words: 17 percent

4. One word 14 percent

It is believed by some that the percentage for queries over 3 words is growing, and that the two and three word queries are on a downward trend.
















Regards,
Mark

Google Adsense Secret: Google’s Referral Programs

I'm always looking for more information for better utilization of Google Adsense, and I'm providing a link to one that looks good.  If you have some time I would recommend checking it out.

Regards,
Mark

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Affiliate Marketing – Simply what is it?

I’m sure you’ve heard this term over and over. It’s linked into just about every site that has anything to do with making money online or monetizing your blog or website. Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is when you take a service or product found on the internet and then promote it to someone else using a special link.

When a visitor reads your website, article, or blog and clicks on your special link or advertisement, they are taken to a page on the internet where they can purchase the service or product you recommended.

When someone uses your link to purchase a product or service you receive a certain percentage of that sale.  The adverisements will pay based several different options.  There is CPM (Cost per thousand) which is the amount the advertiser will pay to show their ad 1,000 times.  These could be unique or repeats depending on the program.  CPC (Cost per click) is the amount that will be paid per click of the ad or banner.  CPA (Cost per action) can be simply clicking on an ad or link, filling out a form or survey, and possibly making a purchase.  CTR (Click thru rate) is the percentage rate at which people click thru your banner.

And there are people out there that have this as their full time job. I still work a 60 hour week at a corporate office, but I could definitely dream about doing this full time.

The real problem is that there are a whole lot of different programs out there, so what are they and which ones should you use? Well there are sites that compare the different programs, and list them by popularity, product category, and by overall rating.

One Site is Top Affiliate. Now, I would definitely recommend doing further research before signing up with anyone, and a great source come from other blogs that you follow, that have their blog set up the way you would like, but their a few years ahead.

For some of this information, I go to Problogger to get information and insight. Thru that site I learned about the partnering of Amazon and Google to create the Amazon Associates Program. You can learn more about it from Amazon Associates Amazon Associates.

Again, this is just one option that is available, and there are a number of them out there. I will definitely be following up with more posts about this subject matter and the different programs that are out there. But for now, this is it.

Take care,
Mark

Monday, July 12, 2010

Graphics are just a click away....

The best way to communicate any idea in the world of web design is a good and a subtle straight-forward design. It helps to showcase, when a website is launched with a creative and unique layouts. It does not stop at having a great content, the entire layout and how it has been structured, decides its readability and influence on the reader. Content is always important, but the first impression means a great deal to whether the reader will take a personal stake in contributing to the success of the website or blog.


More and more effort is being put to take inspiration from the print world, which is accompanied by headlines, quotations, multi-column text, highlighted quotations, indented text, supporting imagery, side notes and footnotes. Greater emphasis is being placed on the eye-catching properties of the message or advertisement.

Graphics and the different software used to produce and manipulate images allows for greater flexibility and more creative options. One free available tool out there is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop, but with a steep learning curve to match. Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for Windows without significant problems.

Other free applications available are:

1. Paint.net

2. Photo Pos Pro

3. Photoscape

4. IrfanView
5. Adobe Photoshop Extended (free Trial)

6. FastStone Image Viewer

Please take a moment at some point to check out the incredible resources that are available at no charge, that can bring life and invigorate old blogs, and help create facinating new ones.
 
Regards,
Mark

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Mashable

Anyone that hasen't heard of Mashable should definitly check it out.  It is an internet news blog started by Pete Cashmore in July 2005.  With a reported  7.0M + page views, it ranks as one of the largest blogs on the internet.  Regular articles are featured regarding YouTube, Facebook, Google, Twitter, MySpace, Apple and startups.  It regularly reports on current events that are shaping the social dynamics of the World and can definitly give insight to trends in the blogging community that are growing and helping to inprove online networks.

Top social networking websites and the list of the fastest growing websites are just some of the items you will find on their site.

I am always looking for new and relavent sources of information, both in the fields of online marketing and social networking. 

Please feel free to add any recomendations for other good sources, and I will definitly check them out.

Regards,
Mark

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Back Links, What are they and how do I use them

Backlinks are nothing new, and many blogs are already utilizing them, but they are quite helpful in building traffic for your own blog. They enable you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts.
Lets say that one person (Jim) writes a blog entry that another person (Ron) finds interesting. Ron might then write a post about Jim's post and actually link to it. Jim's post will reflect the link and possibly a small snippet of text. This helps to relate discussions that occur on different sites.

The backlinks setting can be found under the Settings Comments tab, and consists of a single, simple option to turn it on or off:

If you click the link, you will then be taken to the actual post page.
Hope this is helpful,

Regards,
Mark

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tags..Tags.....and more Tags

Tags...tags...tags....  You hear a great deal about tags and how they can help your website.  But what are they really, and what do they do.  Well, to put it simply, tags are little page "markers" that are used to reference a point in a story, post, or blog.  Much like "categories", they help in referencing information in the posting.  Categories are used to place an entire post into a specific group, where then all the postings of a particular group can be view at the same time. 

Tags refine this grouping even more by referencing detail related to a line in the post.  The describe the content of individual sections.  Tags kept in the sidebar cumulate in a so called "cloud" formation, much like a list.  This works by fitting a lot of information into a little space, also making searching for specific information much easier.  The will also provide alternate navigation paths to your blog content for individuals and search engines.

I am providing a link to a "blogger" friendly Tag Cloud Widget that can be installed to assist with managing both Categories and Tags. I am going to try this out as well to see how it works on this site.  I am quite interested to see how this interfaces with the rest of my blog. 

Please try and let me know how it works for you as well.  Always remenber to backup your template prior to installing and new gadgets.

Thanks again,

Regards,
Mark

Monday, June 28, 2010

Resources

Greetings,
I have been working with adding some small improvements to my blog.  Although my blog has had an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to a multitude of different viewers, it was brought to my attention that having an e-mail subscription feed was also a necessity. An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed", or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically (derived from Wikipedia).

I was able to set this up free through Feed Burner Google Feedburner which then sends a confirmation notification once the subscription has been requested.  There are also tracking statistics that can be requested at no cost.  I found this to be a really good deal, and I personally have all my blog subscriptions through e-mail.  I don't necesarily know if there is any benefit over using a "reader" for the same application or not.

Regards,
Mark

Friday, June 25, 2010

Community

It has recently come to my attention that even though there are a number of different sites that list by joining them that your site traffic will increase dramatically, I have done so with little results.  I will admit I am impatient, and want to see results immediately.  After joining some dialogue groups on Blog Catalog,
I was surprised to find hundreds of individuals in the same boat as me, with few, if any visits to their blogs,
and struggling to bring new acquaintances to their sites.  And the recommendation they all received was to list their site, and the "scratch my back if I scratch yours" scenario. 

I did make my way into a couple of discussion groups, and made comments while listing my site URL, and the funny thing is it does work.  I am happy to announce that Freshworks Marketing and Media has it's first official follower.  Thanks to Dyeve!!!

To everyone that visits, keep at it an be diligent.  It will payoff eventually, but you do need to get involved and stay involved.

Regards,
Mark

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Blog Traffic

I have been researching through all the various sites to come up with ways to increase my traffic and exposure.  One of the best that I have come across is Darren Rowse, and ProBlogger.  I have attached a link to his site so that you can see his recommendations first hand.  I 'm in the process of getting myself set up in different discussion groups and making sure that I establish links to all the sites I've referenced, as well as prior postings so that I can establish those links. 

I feel that I have a lot to learn in this industry, and am looking to my visitors to provide me with critisism and feedback so that I can make necessary changes and improvements.

Thanks for all the help and support.

Regards,
Mark

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Attractive and functional blogs

It is taking some time to get my blog set up the way I want it to look and function.  I used a standard template that came through the Blogspot website, and have modified and change the template multiple times.  I found that following others development process has been helpful.  Mr. Yaro Starak has been very helpful.  He originaly learned through teaching himself HTML, and I suggest this as quite useful, in order to understand the webpage elements and create the specific webpage / blog that each person wants.  I am still looking for useful tutorials for this as well as learning CSS and how it also is utilized.

I have found that I am having some difficulty in placing the advertisement strings for both Adsense and Amazons affiliate program to get the ads to actually run on my site.  Any suggestions that anyone has would be appreciated.

The is also the aspect of getting some traffic generating on my site.  I am subscribing to numerous blogs including John Chow and Yaro Starak who appear to be some of the best out in the blogisphere for running a successful blog.  There is sooooo much material on these subjects, that getting to the core of the information is taking a bit. 

I know that there are thousands of bloggers out there in the same situation that I am in.  Working full-time , and then trying to get something else going in the the few minutes I have available each day.  Again, any comments that are made are more than welcome, and I look forward to any comments and feedback.  If you visit this site, please let me know, so I can have some idea of who is seeing this site.

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by!!

Regards - M.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Refining

The process of refining the blog site does take quite a bit of research.  I am continuing to struggle with getting the site to look like a decent site and have the content I would expect from other sites.  I am currently not happy with the page, and am struggling with editing in html.  I am extreemly new to this although I have been getting some good reference material from the blogs tht I currently follow.  If you have a chance to visit my site, make sure and check the links to the other sites.

Thanks,

Mark

Monday, February 1, 2010

Another Monday

In my line of work, the days can really start blending together.  I am an accountant at a rather large company in Portland, OR, and they just recently finished year-end.  Anyone familiar with year-end knows that things can get a little crazy, and that a lot of hours can add up really fast.  Burnout is almost a given, and it becomes increasingly difficult to not let it take over your life.  I was putting in 77 hours a week, and things were literally becoming a blur.  Fortunately I've been able to cut that back a little bit over this last week and spend some time with my family.  I am married, and have 2 little boys whose ages are 5 and 3.5.  They recently pointed to a picture of myself with them, and said to my wife "That looks like our dad.  We used to have a dad."  That was it for me.  I needed to take a couple days off to be with the family.  I now find it increasingly harder to spend this much time away from them. 
But for now, it will have to be just another Monday.

Friday, January 29, 2010

More Changes

I have been scowering the internet looking for individuals that are at the top of their game in blogging, and are using the most up to date information and resources available.  Problogger is a really good source, and has helped me get this site going.  I don't have a whole lot of time to devote to this at the moment, and am actually working on this during my lunch break.  My goal is to create an interesting site for people that can direct them to great resources that will help them with their blogs and getting traffic actually directed towards those sites.  I've definitly a novice, so I ask for your patience as I get this going, and request that if you visit, to please leave a comment.  Any feedback would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks again, and hope your are having a great day.