Before blogging was mainstream. Before Mark Zukerberg was at Harvard. Before I met Twitter and fell in love. Before I lost myself in Pinterest. I maybe sort of wanted to join the Peace Corps. No lie. But, I was scared. So instead, I went on a short term medical mission to Africa - Ghana to be exact. I fell in love with the country, the people and the beautiful children (I also learned how to scrub in and suture, so I COULD be helpful in an emergency. Just sayin'.) And how could you not love a face like this one? So, when Amy and Heather shared their vision for a bloggy fundraiser … [Read more...]
Thoughts on Commenting – a Crafterminds Inspired Post
September 7, 2011 by 39 Comments
Last week Heather posed a reader generated question on Crafterminds about commenting. The post generated a fair amount of discussion and really got me thinking about how to encourage readers to comment. Perhaps you've noticed that commenting is down? I have. There are a myriad of reasons blog commenting may be down - everything from the growing amount of media we (and our readers) are faced with each day to summer breaks and the ability to share a virtual "shout out" on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. What might surprise you is that this is not a new thing, it's just relatively new to our … [Read more...]
Five Ways You Can Get More From Analytics
September 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I don't know about you, but when I first learned about Google Analytics, I sort of became obsessed with my numbers and statistics. I was checking Analytics daily if not more frequently. All of the frenetic checking made me anxious about my blog's growth, but it also taught me how to get the most out of the free tool. Today, I am sharing a few ways on how you can get more out of Google Analytics too. Analytics is about more than page views. Page views may be all a PR firm is interested in, but they're very superficial and may not help you grow that much. There isn't a whole lot of insight … [Read more...]
Beyond the Google Ad
July 20, 2011 by 6 Comments
Once you've put some thought into monetization and what you're looking for, it's time to consider the tools you'd like to use for monetization. Here are eight options for monetizing a creative blog. These options can be used one off or collectively. Pay Per Click or CPM Ads. Easily the simplest and most common form of monetization is pay per click/CPM advertising through an ad network. Though it’s easy to set up unless you have really high traffic, it can take a while for these to pay out. Many bloggers start with Google AdSense, Technorati, Yahoo Publisher or AdBrite, but you can be … [Read more...]
Ten Things to Consider When Monetizing Your Blog
July 18, 2011 by 16 Comments
There are still some purists out there that still believe blogs shouldn't be monetized, that taking money is akin to selling out. For the most part however, advertising and sponsored posts are the norm... Some people will tell you that before monetizing you have to wait until you have a certain number of subscribers. Others will suggest that you may need a to maintain specific levels of stable traffic before you monetize. While traffic is key in monetizing your blog, the decision of WHEN is entirely up to you. It's WHEN you feel ready, whether you have 200,000 followers or two! Here are a … [Read more...]
A Grammar Cheat Sheet: 10 Quick Tips for Better Writing
July 13, 2011 by 11 Comments
Is it its or it's, there or their? Improper grammar can be a post killer. Check out this handy grammar cheat sheet from Grammar.net. The ten quick tips included in this infographic could be the difference between a professional post and a poorly executed one. Happy posting! … [Read more...]
A Few More Thoughts on Commenting
Bloggers tend to concentrate on site traffic - it's easy to quantify and report the number of visitors and page views received. However if you talk to the most successful bloggers, many will report that the interaction and loyal nature of their readers is far more important than traffic. Commenting is one of the number one ways bloggers can create community. With many suggesting comments are down, we've been talking about how to generate comments. Develop a comment policy and clearly post it. Understanding the ground rules will make people feel comfortable leaving their thoughts. There are … [Read more...]