My first week of blogging

Monday 29 November 2010 - Filed under Blog promotion + Blogging + Google AdSense

My first week of blogging has been somewhat successful.  I’ve barely had any traffic on this site, but I’ve also branched out to SideTick.com where you can earn TickBucks (which turn into PayPal cash) by getting referrals, commenting, viewing polls, blogging, etc.  I’ve posted my blogs there as well.

I’ve made $5.66 from Google Adsense and $5.33 from SideTick for a total of $10.99 USD.  I guess it could be worse, but it certainly could be better.  With a lot of ambition, hope, and hard work, I can make this work.  I’ve been busy this week by posting all over SideTick and Craigslist, researching newspaper ad costs, reading blog tips, watching Youtube videos, and joining blog directories like AddYourBlog.  Google, Yahoo, and Bing have all received requests from me to list my site, but apparently they are very slow at indexing new sites.  I’ve come a long way since My Introduction To Blogging post.

Just in case you’re wondering, here’s where all my blogging takes place (picture of my desk while I write this post you are reading):

Writing this post

Coming soon: My first Youtube video

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-29  ::  andyddotorg

Blog of the week: The Brothers Brick

Sunday 28 November 2010 - Filed under Blog of the week

This week’s “Blog of the week” is The Brothers Brick, a popular site for adult Lego enthusiasts.  The site features the latest news and sneak peaks on Lego products, advice for building creations, and photos of the coolest sculptures, mosaics, and buildings online.  Visit today to see this incredible blog.

Brothers-Brick.com

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-28  ::  andyddotorg

Social Media Tip: Send Direct Messages On Twitter

Saturday 27 November 2010 - Filed under Social Media Tips + Twitter + Uncategorized

Direct messages on Twitter are private tweets between you and another member.  It is a more personalized tweet that they will get notified about upon receipt.  It will grab their attention more than just another public tweet.  You can only send a direct message to someone who’s following you.

Follow me on Twitter.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-27  ::  andyddotorg

Blogging: Patience Required!

Thursday 25 November 2010 - Filed under Affiliate Marketing + Blog promotion + Google AdSense + Google Analytics + Web Traffic

Caution: When building a blog and getting traffic, it takes time.  These last few days have been slightly depressing, but I need to keep going on:

My site's statistics for the last week or so

So what have I been doing to promote the blog?  I’ve been tweeting about it, Facebook-ing about it, LinkedIn-ing about it, telling friends on MySpace about it, and posting on Craigslist in various cities.  I’ve been making sure to use the “#” in front of my tweets so that I get noticed in people’s search results.  So far, that has worked, and I’ve picked up 10 or so friends since I’ve started using that technique.

Sidetick balance, 11/25/2010. $2.77 and going up!

I’ve also spend a lot of time on Sidetick.com.  So far, my Sidetick usage has earned me 5536 Tickbuck points which convert into $2.77.

Join Sidetick:

In related news, I’ve only had 1 click for my Google Adsense in last 5 days, and that was from a friend who visited my site.  This is difficult, a little frustrating, but I didn’t expect it to be easy.  The Internet is flooded with blogs, ads, etc.  Keep going on…

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-25  ::  andyddotorg

Social Media Tip: Use Twitter

Thursday 25 November 2010 - Filed under Blog promotion + Social Media + Social Media Tips + Twitter

This one is obvious, but it’s essential in today’s environment.  Without Twitter, you are already behind.  Check out this blog’s Twitter page.  Use Twitter apps on your iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or other smartphone – and tweet all day!  A “tweet” is a simple message of 140 characters or less that you can post to your Twitter page.  Everyone is doing it: celebrities, companies, events, individuals, schools, etc.

Use the pound sign (#) in front of a phrase (with no spaces) or a word, and other people can search on it.  For example, by sending a tweet containing #TheBeatles, people can then search on Twitter for “The Beatles” – your tweet will come up in the search results!  Already, I’ve had Tweeters “follow” me on Twitter thanks to this technique.  People will find you if you put yourself out there and tweet consistently.  You can even tweet about your web site to promote it (or if you’re really nice, this one!).  It’s a win-win for everyone, and it’s fun!  Go ahead and follow me at http://www.twitter.com/andyddotorg

AndyDDotOrg's Twitter Page

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-25  ::  andyddotorg

Social Media Tip: Add Facebook, Twitter, and RSS Icons To Your Blog

Wednesday 24 November 2010 - Filed under Facebook + RSS + Social Media + Social Media Tips + Social Networking + Twitter

Today, I added my Facebook, Twitter, and RSS icons to my blog at the top right. The top right is the typical spot for these ubiquitous icons. Adding these links to your website shows that you are serious about social media, provides more exposure for different social media outlets, and allows more people to follow you with a tool they are already familiar with. The opportunities are too great to miss.

Use these icons on your blog or website:

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-24  ::  andyddotorg

SEO Tip: Use meta tags

Wednesday 24 November 2010 - Filed under SEO Tips

Meta tags are those HTML tags that begin with <meta> that sit in the <HEAD> section of your pages.  These tags are hidden when viewing the page in a browser.  Meta tags aren’t the magic answer to get your site at the top of search engine listings, but they do help in displaying your site’s search results within a search engine.  The content of your site and the page <TITLE> will help your site rank higher, not necessarily the meta tags.  The most commonly used meta tags are “keyword” and “description”.  Here’s an example of what my newly-added meta tags look like (NOTE: I expect to be tweaking these over the coming weeks as I watch my traffic go up and down accordingly.  I’ll be documenting my progress here):

• <meta name=”description” content=”A blog about blogging – SEO tips, blog writing tips, and more!”>
• <meta name=”keywords” content=”blogging, blogs, Internet, web sites, social media”>
• <meta name=”author” content=”Andy DesRosiers”>
• <meta name=”copyright” content=”2010″>

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-24  ::  andyddotorg

Google Analytics – setup

Wednesday 24 November 2010 - Filed under Google AdSense + Google Analytics + Website Maintenance + WordPress

I just (hopefully) installed Google Analytics on my website. First, I went to my Google Adsense’s page, then clicked the link at the top to sign up for Google Analytics.  I simply added this website’s URL and that was about it.   I followed these instructions on WordPress’s website to install the plugin.  It asked for my Google account number, which Google provided my in a block of JavaScript code.  Instead of pasting Google’s script in my template, the WordPress plugin did it for me.  I verified this by going to http://www.andyd.org in my browser then looking at the page’s source.  There was my Google JavaScript.  The tracking column still says “Tracking Unknown”/”Not Verified” on my Google Analytics’s page, but it also says it needs 24 hours to get updated.  We’ll see what happens!  All in all it was an easy process, but might have been even more simple if I would’ve added the code myself instead of using a WordPress plugin to “do it for me.”  According to Google’s help section:

Always check the ‘View Source’ option
Once your page is live, select View Source from your browser’s menu and look for the code. If you don’t know how to find the site’s source code for a particular browser, please read this article. The Google Analytics Tracking Code should be immediately before the </body> tag of your page, and should look exactly as it was provided to you:

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-24  ::  andyddotorg

My Blog’s Theme – Before and After

Wednesday 24 November 2010 - Filed under PhotoShop + Website Maintenance + WordPress

After some tweaking the PHP templates on WordPress and some Photoshop magic, here’s what I came up with:

BEFORE:

Boring WordPress Theme

Much Better!

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-24  ::  andyddotorg

Join SideTick.Com and Start Making Money Today!

Wednesday 24 November 2010 - Filed under Making Money Online + Social Networking + Twitter

I just joined SideTick.com.  SideTick.com gets its money from advertisers.  They are willing to pass some of that money on to you, by you advertising for SideTick.com and referring friends, posting tweets, clicking links, etc.  You get points, and those points can be converted to PayPal cash.  It’s not a whole lot, and you have to be patient, but you could potentially earn around $100 or more each month with minimal work.  Read more about SideTick.com.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-11-24  ::  andyddotorg