The All Women Blogging Carnival
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This is my 2nd week participating in the All Women Blogging Carnival. This weeks host is at jaycee.typepad.com/semantics. I didn’t quite get myself organised for Monday, but Tuesday’s not that bad. I submitted my post on RSS that I wrote this week.
The Carnival was started in June of this year and is for any women who has a blog, it doesn’t matter what it is about. It’s nice to see some of the same blogs I saw last week again, and I look forward to getting to know these blogs and their authors. It’s really good to be able to promote and support each other in this way, and I hope that more women join and become regulars each week. To build the Carnival into a showcase of women’s blogs from all over. The bigger it grows, the more the participants will get out of it, and the more diverse and interesting the information in it will be, a win win situation for everybody.
For more information on how to join in with the All Women Blogging Carnival click here.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:All Women Blogging Carnival, RSSFinding Blogging Inspiration From Others - Part 2
The second blog that really helped me and spurred me on is Entrepreneurs Journey by Yaro Starak, who is another Australian blogger like Darren. His blog is about Internet Business and Blogging and he covers these topics in great detail drawing from his own experiences running Internet Businesses. He is also the Blog Traffic King, a weekly newsletter that you can sign up for (I receive it) through Entrepreneurs Journey, that shows you how to increase you blog traffic on a daily basis.
I found this blog by accident, I was just doing some searches on Google and the name caught my eye, so I clicked out of curiosity. I have found it really useful and full of helpful information for blogging. You can tell he is speaking from experience, he doesn’t beat around the bush, he gets straight to the point.
The best thing we can do as ‘beginner’ bloggers is to listen to these pro bloggers and gain from their knowledge. They have been where we are and have already found the pitfalls, and worked things through for us. They are willing to share it with us, so we should take notice of what they say, and that is what I try to do! Yaro shows the best ways to generate traffic and shares in detail how he does it, and his blogging information is comprehensive. He has over 4,000 daily RSS readers so a lot of other people think so as well, and with figures like that it proves that he knows what he is talking about.
Although there are blogs out there with a lot larger readership figures, I haven’t found one that breaks it down and writes like he does. So I suppose at the end of the day it’s down to personal taste, and whether the blog writing speaks to you or grabs your attention. I’m definitely not saying there are no other blogs out there that can tell you what he does - there are. In a way it depends on you as a person and your likes and dislikes, and what you need at that moment in time for your blogging. But these two blogs came along at just the right time for me, as if out of nowhere (or maybe Google) and basically hit the right spot. So I wanted to share them in case they can help others the way they helped me.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Traffic King, Entrepreneurs Journey, Yaro StarakFinding Blogging Inspiration From Others
As I said in a previous post - blogging timeline part 2, there are 2 blogs that helped me tremendously when I was really stuck, and didn’t know which way to turn to find help. I was looking for direction, and good blogging information on how to get started decently in the blogging world. Knowing nothing really about how to write a decent blog that could make a bit of money, and the tools you needed to do this.
Problogger.net was one of these blogs that really helped me to stick with blogging and keep going. It is produced by Darren Rowse (who is a six figure blogger) it covers blogging news, but also looks at how to make money from your blog, and the different income streams you can use to do this. Up to this point I had read a lot of blogs about this subject, but none of them ‘hit me’ like Probloggers writing did, or went into as much detail. Problogger has a lot of guest posts as well, and this adds nicely to it’s style.
It was a new experience for me having all this exciting and helpful information. I sat there for hours reading his content, like a book you just can’t put down. Although I realise that it takes time to get to Darren’s problogger standards, if at all. It was extremely motivating to see someone else that can and has done it, and is also showing very precisely how you can do it yourself. I still visit (and enjoy) Problogger regularly to see what is new and also I receive the newsletter. I think it’s important to have a blog like this that helps motivate and inspire me, so I have something to pull on in the hard times, to give me that lift and keep me going. I definitely recommend Problogger as a must see blog.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Darren Rowse, ProBloggerI’m a Blog Carnival Newbie!
I’ve taken part in my first Blog Carnival.
While looking for information on Blog Carnivals the other day I came across one that I wanted to try. The All Women Blogging Carnival is for women bloggers (obviously) everywhere regardless of what they blog about. It happens weekly on a Monday and each week there is a different host. This weeks All Women blog carnival was held at http://lindajomartin.com
So I thought I’d give it a go, and it was really easy to join in. You just fill out the auto link form at the bottom and click enter. My url was the url of the individual post. When you click the title of the post, and it is the only one on the page, then the address bar shows that individual posts url (and then just copy and paste). So when someone clicks on your link in the carnival they are taken directly to that post on your blog. When I had filled the form in, my post appeared straight away in the list of carnival posts. It was really quick to do because I had picked a recent post I had written that week, so it was just a case of sending the link in.
I will definitely be doing carnivals and the All Women carnival again. It was loads of fun and really interesting, with lots of good blogs to read. There was such a wide range of blogs and information, and that’s why this particular carnival appealed to me because it had this possibility, and it didn’t let me down. It will also be interesting to see if other bloggers regularly submit to the All Women Carnival. It was a really good experience and I look forward to doing it again.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:All Women Blog Carnival, Linda Jo MartinWhat is a Blog Carnival?
Good question. I have been reading more and more about blog carnivals and how good they are, so I thought it was time I found out what they are all about.
Basically a blog carnival is a collection of blog posts from all over the blogsphere, that have something in common with each other. So all you have to do is find a blog carnival that is relevant to you, either in your niche or one that you have something in common with e.g. women bloggers. And once a week or month or however often the carnival happens, you submit your chosen post to the host, and then all the posts submitted to the carnival will be posted on the host’s site. The host’s site will generally give you the details on how to submit your post. Some carnivals may even give you the chance to host it one week/month. I would imagine hosting a blog carnival could be quite a lot of hard work, but also rewarding. So I can see why some carnivals may want to share this job around.
This obviously sounds good, as it will give your site exposure and hopefully bring in new traffic. Especially if you become a regular commentator on the carnival, and it is hosted by sites that are more well established than yours, you would regularly be getting exposure to a much larger readership than your own. And if they like your blog you may even increase your readership. Again it would also give you opportunities to meet and befriend new people in your topic area or niche.
I did a search on Google for Blog Carnivals and the first result was www.blogcarnival.com which is an index of blog carnivals on the web, so you can just search for one that fits you.
I have to say it sounds very good. So the only thing to do now is give it a go…
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blogcarnival.com, Blogsphere, TrafficDo You Join In The Blogsphere?
Joining in the Blogging Community or Blogsphere is very important to a blogger. Making useful comments when you enjoy a post, making friends or just reading blogs that you like. It’s good to ‘get your face out there’ it could even help with links to your blog from other bloggers and therefore help your traffic. As well as just meeting people, making friends and finding contacts. It’s a great tool that you don’t necessarily think of straight away, and one that I need to get better at doing on a regular basis. There are even ready made communities, and there are lots, that you can join in with. Like Blog Carnivals for instance (more to come on these), a great place to meet people and find blogs in your niche.
But it is hard to find time to fit everything in. What with posting to your blog, then doing marketing for it and generating traffic, never mind the fact that you also have your off-line life! Time is precious and I do find it hard to get everything done that I would like to. I am getting better at doing this, but there is still room for improvement. This seems to be a problem for a lot of bloggers though, so at least I am not on my own.
What I am trying to do at the moment is make a list of tasks for that day that I need to do, and concentrate on getting them done first. One of the things about the blogsphere which I find, is that I can easily get distracted if I find an interesting blog, or I am catching up on some of the blogs that I read. So I find having a list of jobs to complete first, helpful and then whatever time I have left I can read the blogs without feeling guilty. As long as I stick to the plan it seems to work quite well.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Carnivals, Blogsphere, CommunityWhat Is RSS And How Does It Work?
I had no idea what a feed or RSS was a couple of months ago, but you can learn quick. I’m not going to try and explain the technical side to RSS here, I think this entry in Wikipedia puts it better than I ever could. In this article I refer to blogs, but there are some websites that are now offering feed subscription too.
What does Subscribing do for you?
As you surf around the internet you may find there are a lot of useful blogs and information that you would like to follow. So if you’re anything like me you have a long list of bookmarks. Which is all well and good, but you have to keep checking back to see if the blogs have been updated or posted to, and that can become tedious and time consuming.
And that’s where ‘Subscribing to a Feed’ comes in. When you subscribe to a feed you are sent the posts every time the blog is updated, whether it’s by email or feed readers. But the main point is, it keeps everything in the one place so it’s easy to track what the different blogs that you are interested in are doing. You can be reading any amount of blogs through their feeds and every time the blogs are posted to, they are updated in your feed reader. And that cuts out all the surfing around checking all the blogs individually, a great time saver.
So how do I Subscribe to a Feed?
Well on this blog - Build a Blog there are 3 different ways to subscribe:
1. Through the orange RSS icon button. That should be fairly obvious in the top right hand corner of the blog. All you do is click on the RSS icon. This is a universally recognised icon now, so whenever you see this icon it means you are able to subscribe to that blog/sites feed. When you click the icon it will take you to a page with several options on how you would like to view the feed (email, feed readers, embedded widget), and also shows the blogs most recent posts, so all you need to do is pick an option and your away.
2. Via the email subscription box. Fairly self explanatory, just enter your chosen email address (it’s completely safe and spam free) you will receive a confirmation email with an activation link that you will need to click and that’s it. Whenever the blog you are following has new content, you will find the posts from your feed in your inbox.
3. Through one of the feed reader buttons, whichever suits you the best.
Down the right hand side of this blog in the sidebar you will see a list of buttons, Google Yahoo, MSN etc. These are feed readers, and if you click whichever one you prefer it will take you to the feed reader software, where you will receive the feed and view it. There are a lot to choose from out there and most are free. I use Google feed reader, because I already have a Google account, so when I click it, it will log me in using my existing Google account. This is the same with most of Google tools once you have an account you can use the same details to log in to all the tools e.g., Adwords, Adsense, Gmail, Google feed reader etc. A pretty neat feature. Once I’m logged in Google gives me the choice of viewing the feed through the feed reader or adding it to my Google homepage, all you have to do is decide which is best for you. I use the feed reader just because I find it easier to read a lot of feeds using it.
There is not one option that is better than another, it’s just up to you and which one you prefer. All these options on this blog are managed by a service called Feedburner (this is when I subscribed), they provide me with a ‘burnt’ feed. They also provide me with statistics on my subscribers and the site, showing how many people subscribe through which option. From a blog owners point of view it is an essential service to offer to your readers. Making it easier for them to subscribe, and giving them the ability to follow your blog easily, and hopefully become a valued and loyal subscriber.
So if you have found this article or my blog interesting and would like to follow this blog, or you just enjoy it, then please subscribe to my RSS feed and keep up to date!
Thanks
Mandy
Site Search Tags:feed readers, Feedburner, Google, RSSFinding The Up’s and Down’s of Blogging.
I have been thinking about writing this post for some time, and I have decided to write it now, so I can share my journey with this product.
I would like to make an update on Blogging to the Bank. I am referring to some posts I made when I first started this blog, and I want to share that my opinion has changed or rather moved on about this product. Here’s the posts -
http://builda-blog.com/2007/03/15/create-blogs-3/
http://builda-blog.com/2007/03/16/create-blogs-4/
Why has it changed?
Well, the main reason is experience. When I made those posts it was true, BTTB had helped me start a blog and set it up (for Blogger). But the more I watched my blog grow and the more I learned about blogs, the more I realised I didn’t like his techniques. I learned what ‘black hat’ meant, and I don’t agree with those methods so I stopped using BTTB.
Now I could have easily just deleted these posts and pretended they had never happened, or just left them to get lost in my archives, but that’s not what this blog is about. If I find my opinion has changed or I learn something new, about something I have recommended then I want to be honest, point it out, and say why. Build a Blog is about following my journey with blogs, and the ups and downs that I go through on the way. This is part of that journey and one of the downs. I was new to blogging and naive, jumping in with both feet and full of enthusiasm. I had just started my first blog and got it going!
But as time goes on and I grew through experience, knowledge and time. I realised that the information I had first used hadn’t helped me as much as I thought. The good part is being able to say so. To come back and post about it, so I can show that my ideas and influences have completely changed and grown since I started blogging. And that’s a good thing, it shows real growth as a blogger to me. It’s also an important step, to be able to recognise the ups and downs along the way. It’s all part of the blogging learning curve!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blogging to the Bank, DevelopmentWhy I Blog - The Reasons.
So why did I start blogging, what was my vision and has it changed?
Now I could answer that question with an array of answers that would sound good, the love of writing, wanting to reach people etc…but I want to take the honest route. Here are some of my reasons for blogging (in no particular order).
1. To Make Money - Was my original and only one, but things have changed!
To be completely honest I started blogging to make money, I had been trying to make money on the internet with adwords and pay per click advertising, but it wasn’t going well. I was spending more money than I wanted to doing it, and getting nowhere. So blogging was my next method that I had heard about for making money on the internet. I was looking for any way that I could get to work. I think I was getting a little desperate to see if it was possible to make a living off the internet! But I quickly realised if that’s the only reason you blog then you will never get anywhere with blogging. Blogging has to be much more than about making money, people will see through it , and that you are not really interested in what you are blogging about, and you will fail. The one good thing that came out of this original reason, was finding blogging.
2. I Like It!
Simply, I like blogging. I kind of stumbled into it, but I am very glad I did. I’m a creative person and I get a kick out of seeing my writing on the internet, without the hassle of going through a publisher or editor and the pitfalls that go with them. And I like the fact that you are building something that you can make completely unique, whether it be through content, themes or plug ins. The possibilities with blogging are very exciting, and I hope to achieve some of them over time. The side effect to blogging that I didn’t expect at first, was the community and the people you meet in the blogsphere, it’s great.
3. The Potential to Build a Business.
The money part would still be nice and very possible with blogs, but not as the one and only motivation. Blogging and blogs in my opinion (now) are all about building a blog about a subject that you love, with solid foundations and good information that is regular and of value to your readers - something I am continually trying to achieve. That in turn can build credibility in your niche and you can become an authority in your area. All of these reasons will also help increase your traffic just because they are true. Blogs are search engine friendly and can really help grow a business. Now if that’s not a reason to blog then I don’t know what is. Especially if you have a business or want to start one that can be promoted through the blog. So if you think about it like that, then blogging becomes a very appealing and worthwhile pursuit.
I realise that the above takes time and commitment and it is not an easy route to get there. And although I believe this information that I have learnt, to be true. I have by no means got to this point myself. It’s good to know your goals and work hard to get to them.
Mandy
A persistent blogger.
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Site Search Tags:Development, GoalsMy Blogging Timeline - The Journey so Far…Part 2
Following on from yesterdays post - part 1…
There were 2 blogs that I found that helped me more than the rest (and still do), and first introduced me to structuring blogs from a business point of view, planning them and promoting them using business and marketing techniques. They are Problogger.net by Darren Rowse and Entrepreneurs-journey.com by Yaro Starak. They are both packed with help and information about blogging, from their wealth of experience and knowledge. I also subscribed to the Blog Traffic King newsletter through Entrepreneurs-journey.com giving tips on traffic generation for your blog.
These were all pieces of the jigsaw but there were still gaps, I wanted somebody to take me by the hand and guide me through. While trying to find more information, I was finding it hard to keep up with the posting and marketing that I wanted to do. I was wondering if what I was doing was helping me or not, and that all added to the frustration. As I said early I was also subscribed to some internet marketers newsletters, and they were telling me that to get anywhere I needed help, I couldn’t do it on my own without a lot of trouble and it would take a long time to achieve anything. Great! They were saying I needed a mentor, and that happened to be them. But I didn’t want a mentor for internet marketing in general I just wanted one for blogging. Wouldn’t that be great, someone who could show me step by step how to build a successful blog. But there was no one out there.
Then in March I received an interesting edition of the Blog Traffic King newsletter, Yaro Starak was asking if anyone would be interested in a blog mentoring program ran by him. Would I! would have been an understatement. I just had to wait and see if it came off. I had to wait till June when Blog Mastermind was launched and I joined up straight away.
I’ve been in the program a month now and I am absolutely bowled away by the information and help I have received (I will go into more about Blog Mastermind in another article). Only one of my original 3 blogs still survives - Create Blogs. I used it as a starting point and somewhere to practice my newly acquired skills. But you wouldn’t recognise it after having the Blog Mastermind treatment. That’s why I have moved it from Blogger to Wordpress and it has now turned into the blog you are reading today - Build a Blog.
And that’s where I am now, enjoying the community, help and information I receive from Blog Mastermind and it’s members. I am looking forward to the future and creating and building my photography blog that I have wanted to do for so long. But I now know I have the support, firm foundations and structure that I looked for, and craved for so long. So here’s to my new challenges and their rewards, I’ll keep you updated. I’ll keep blogging and I’ll see you soon.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Mastermind, Create Blogs, Entrepreneurs Journey, ProBlogger
