Random Encounters of We: September 2007

Sunday, September 30, 2007

We Made a Difference

Thank you to everyone who emailed blogrush about adding a "random" category. Thanks to our efforts and many more emails for different causes I received an email from blogrush stating this:

**** A LOT MORE CATEGORIES! ****

You asked for it, and you're getting it!

We're going to be greatly expanding our directory of categories to
increase the relevancy of post links appearing in the widget on your
blog -- this will also increase click-rates (and traffic) for all
members.

* Stay tuned over the next several days for more news about the
addition of new categories.

I am very excited that our small effort helped to make a difference to the blogging community and help bring about some great changes on blogrush!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I wanted to write a quick goodbye for a couple days. We are going on a cruise and we will be back September 30. We have had a great month. Definitely a record breaking month with revenue, subscribers and participation through comments. I really enjoy having a social blog and hope it continues and gets better. October will be a fun month with a great contest, new template, and some other new projects! I look forward to having a little break from blogging to get the creative juices flowing and the stress decreased. I'm also looking forward to not being able to check my stats for more than a week!! Yay! There have been a couple funny post lately talking about people who are obsessed with their stats, and I am definitely one of those people. We may choose to buy some minutes of internet time on the boat but it would just be for a quick hi and maybe posting of a picture or two, we'll see. Thanks for everything and I'll miss you while we're away. Happy blogging to all and have a good week!

Becoming Fall

It is becoming fall here in Kansas and so I have gotten out my leaf wreath. I made this a couple years ago. I'm not sure where I got the idea but it was very fun to paint the leaves and be all crafty! My craft projects are usually more along the scrapbooking or card making lines, so to start painting and handling wood was quite different. It was a lot of fun and I think it look mighty cute on our new house!

Traveling to Australia

From the title of this post you may think to yourself "man, she is going on a cruise, to Germany and now to Australia?! That is very lucky for her." Actually I am not going to Australia, but some of you may be so I want to talk about it for a minute. There are three great toursit towns in Australia and let's cover each one.

First Sydney. Sydney is a great tourist draw because that is the symbol of Australia to those of us that aren't from there. The Sydney opera house is the first thing I think of when I hear Australia. There are some great hotels in Sydney that are near the water and have great views.

Melbourne is Australia's second largest city. There are great hotels in Mebourne also as well as some great shopping. There are many boutiques and fine shopping behind non-descript doors. There's something for everyone in Melbourne. It's easy to lose yourself in Melbourne.

Then there is Brisbane which is ever increasing in popularity. This is Australia's third largest city and is growing everyday. There are some charming hotels in Brisbane. Brisbane is just hours away from the other cities by plane and has some great amenities to check out. If you are heading to any of the major cities in Australia here are some great sites to check out, or perhaps visiting the sites will help you decide its time to go to Australia.

Oh, What a day

Talk about pre-vacation stress! I never thought I would see the day before our vacation. This week has been going by so slow! This morning my daughter woke me up an hour earlier than normal, which I was very bummed about. My theory is if I can sleep as much as possible then our vacation will show up faster. So, having to wake up an hour early didn't help my mood this morning. Then we are testing out some old walkie talkies to see if they work. The last cruise we went on with family everyone was always lost from each other and we couldn't use cell phones because there wasn't any reception, so this time we all decided to take walkie talkies. Everyone else just bought new ones, but we were hoping our old ones would work. Bummer that they don't! Then, after feeing my daughter 2 waffles I went to put the butter away and in slow motion it dropped out of my hands and went crashing to the floor.The huge tub split open and butter flew everywhere all over our new pergo floors. I wiped it up with about a hundred paper towels, but if anyone knows how to safely get the grease off my new floors please send some tips my way. I figure things can only go up from here right?! I'm not going to let these things get me down because... I'M LEAVING ON A CRUISE TOMORROW!!!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Jodi! You are the new proud owner of a lot of candy and popcorn and the Dvd of Hoosiers! This has been a very fun contests. I am very pleased with the amount of entries we had. As soon as I get back from vacation on Oct.1 we will be starting another contest!! Thanks for everyone's participation! Jodi, please email me and let me know where to send your movie night prize pack!

Blog Contest #2 Participants

Everyone who participated in the last blog contest was promised a link from my blog to theirs. Here is the list of those who participated.

Scott from Contest Blog Cat
Laura from Laura Williams' Musings
Ginny from Getting Free From Debt
Christine from From Dates to Diapers
QTpies7 from The Good Stuff and Our Seven Qtpies
Sheila from My Memories, My Personal Reviews and 3 Scrap-Booking ladies
Andrea from The Laughs Will go on
Jason and Caryn from Bailey Family
Anastasia from Enter Now!!!
Jodi from My Life as Mama Jodi
Laura from My Journey to One Million Dollars

Thanks to everyone, this was a great turn out and really fun. I look forward to our October contest!!

Calling it Closed

OK This is the official announcement that the contest for the movie night prize pack is over! Thanks for everyone who contributed and participated. I will be drawing the name soon and then contacting the winner and posting it here. I need to mail the package by tomorrow so please email me with your address! Thanks again!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Contest Coming to a Close

Tomorrow is the end of contest #2 for the fun movie prize pack! Since I will only have one day to end the contest and mail off the package before I leave on vacation I am wanting to verify all entries I have so far and ask if there are any more out there I haven't recorded yet. Please leave a comment under this post to let me know if my numbers are wrong or to add anything.
Scott-1
Laura Williams-5
Ginny-6
Christine-1
Qtpie7-11
Sheila-15
Andrea-6
Anastasia-6
Jason and Caryn-1
Jodi-5
Laura-6

If you have more entries or your name isn't on the list please let me know so I can make adjustments. There is still one day to increase your entries by placing the contest code on your site in more blog posts. Thanks for everyone's involvement, it has been really fun! Good luck to everyone!

I love to Travel

I really love to travel. We go on family vacation kind of often but we don't really travel abroad. In 2006 we went to South Korea because my husband had to go there on business so I just tagged along. Again I am going to benefit from a business trip and in November we are going to Germany. I am very excited, but not too excited that I am going to overlook my cruise I am leaving for on Friday! All of my recent and upcoming trips always get me in the mood to go to a travel blog.

This is a fun blog to go to because it covers destinations all over the world. This site also talks about different activities and touristy things to do in each destination. They have articles about traveling for different occasions such as your honeymoon and such. This travel blog is a very fun site to check out.

Yesterday was when I found out officially that my daughter and I could tag along so today I have been searching this travel blog to learn more about Germany and check out the Germany travel guide. This is a great resource for all your travel needs.

I love Home Improvement

As you can probably tell if you have read my blog a couple times I love home improvement projects! I am a big fan of changing the little things to make a huge difference. I like this kind of home improvement because it usually isn't too expensive. We have done a couple big projects, so now we have some little projects left. Anglian Home Improvements is a UK based company that has been around for decades and excels in home improvements. They work in all areas of home improvement but are wanting to spread the word about their double glazing for windows. Their high quality replacement windows are among the world's best selling. After 35 years in the business it is no surprise that they are one of the best. If you are from the UK and thinking about doing some home improvements or replacing your windows, check out the website for more details.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Everyone is Talking about Blogrush

I am very excited about Blogrush. It is a widget you stick on your blog that displays blog posts from other blogs in your same niche. This also means that your blog posts are displayed on other people's blogs in your niche. This will give your blog the opportunity to reach an incredible number of people you previously haven't been able to. There is one problem for my blog and many others. My blog doesn't fit into any of the categories they have listed. I have emailed them asking for them to add a Random category. I told them of my new catch phrase that "Random is my Niche" and hopefully they will oblige me and add that category. I am now going to ask you to please email them if you also feel that a Random category would be a good one. I know there are many blogs that can't fit into one category. I am sure many people would join the random category if it was available. Please help move the random revolution move along by emailing Blogrush at customersupport@blogrush.com

Also if you want to help spread the word feel free to copy and paste this Random button on your site to tell others that we are trying to start a new category for Blogrush. If there are other sites you also want a random category added to let us know and we will start emailing to get that done also. Thank you very much for all your help!

Thanks for your help!!!

It's that Time Again

Well it is Monday again. It seems it is always Monday. The good thing about Monday's is that it is a great time to start fresh with a new work week. Improve things you want to improve, make some changes. We were supposed to have a big change today on Random Encounters of We, but we are still working on it. It will happen before Friday because that is when we are leaving on vacation for 10 days and we definitely want to leave a good brand new note!

How is your Monday starting out so far? I have already made cookies this morning, that's what type of day I am headed up against. I am excited for the improvements and change that will happen this week. Anything new going to change on your blog this week? Let me know and I'll come check it out.

Reminder

Our blog contest ends on Wednesday so be sure to visit that post to find out how to get as many entries as you can!

Friday, September 14, 2007

A Very Fun Game!

A family member told me about this awesome game! It is called Statetris. It is a very fun spin off of Tetris. There are different difficulty levels. I played easy and successfully completed the United States in 4:16. There are also different versions with all the different continents and countries! This is a very fun way to pass some time, but feel as though you are being educated at the same time! Play the game and report back to me what time you get! Everyone who gets a time faster than my 4 minutes and 16 seconds will get a link on my site. This fun little competition will end Monday so get playing!

Keeping my Mind Open

I was just reading over at Kirby's site about ClixSense. On this site when you sign up you get paid to look at ads for 30 seconds. They don't pay you very much per ad, but if you are sitting at the computer anyway, you might as well just keep a window open with different ads showing. I've decided to keep an open mind about this and try it for a day or two and then decide weather or not it is worth it to me. When you refer people you get a portion of what they make. Since I read about this on Kirby's blog I decided to sign up under him. Why not help someone out right? So if you want to check out ClixSense the links in this post will take you there. Just for fair warning they are my refer link so you can help me out while earning money for yourself. You can then tell your readers about it and hope for some referrals! Thanks in advance for the help. Let me know what you think of ClixSense if you are new to the program or experienced.

I've got Business Cards!

I found a promotion online to get free business cards so I decided to print some up for my websites that I run. Lately people have really started a push for offline promotion so here is my first attempt at it. I'm not sure who I would give these cards to to help spread the word and increase my revenue. For now they will just be going to the contest winners on my blog, but I'll always keep some on me so I can hand them out if I need to. Any suggestions?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Who are "We"?

You may have noticed the picture of me and my husband on the top left sidebar. You may have also noticed that we don't have an "about me" page and so here it is. After almost a year of blogging on this site I will write a little post about us.

My name is Stefanie. I pretty much do all of the post and run Random Encounters of We. Jason, my husband is the cute boy in the picture. He does all the behind the scenes work such as provide me with new template and play with the code when something is working the way it should. We live in Kansas currently and I am not loving it. I do love my daughter. I also like to scrapbook and do other crafty things like that.

In the beginning Random Encounters of We was going to be a place for me to release my frustrations of the world and vent. It then switch gears into being an income earning that needed to provide more useful content than my complaints of life (although at times I do complain on here). I'm proud of the progress Random Encounters of we has made in the past year. I appreciate all the advice and help we have received. I appreciate everyone who subscribes, links and even just reads this blog.

My current goal for this blog as far as money is concerned is to make $300/month through ads, test link sales, and affiliate sales alone. I do write sponsored posts because nothing else is providing that much money at the moment. This month we finally reached our first adsense payout, which in my opinion has taken longer than it should. I would appreciate any comments and advice in this regard to help me reach my next adsense payout in a much shorter time.

We are continuing to improve and work on Random Encounters of We. I am trying to provide quality content that is useful to most people. I work really hard on this blog and spend several hours a day on it. I'm proud of what we are, and excited at what we are becoming and will become. Many exciting changes will be happening soon, and I hope you all will stay along for the ride.

Technorati tags: Random Encounters of We

Hot Deals

I was just reading a yahoo news report saying that September is the month to buy your holiday airfare, hotels and everything else related to travel. The article said that right now is a little bit ahead of when people typically start thinking of buying their Thanksgiving and Christmas airfare and booking hotels, so it makes it the perfect time. The airlines don't start to raise their prices towards the end of October as Thanksgiving nears. This got me thinking that I need to start looking for my own air travel for Christmas and we have a wedding in the beginning of January we are going to.

Some other tips besides travel plans that the article offered is that September is a good time to buy cars because all the new next year's models are in and so dealerships will start offering great incentives to buy.

Jeans also tend to be on sale now as next year's fashions start rolling out onto the shelves. The article also said that dresses have been more in fashion this year and so stores have an excess of jeans they need to get rid of.

Plants and shrubberies are also on the hot deals list. Nursery's would rather discount their plants in stock instead of trying to save them for spring and risk losing everything. The article also said that the ground is still ward in September and will provide a great temperature for the roots to get strong before it start cooling down.

There were a couple other deals in the article that I can't think of right now. I am definitely going to heed the travel warning and book ahead. We are also excited about the plants being on sale. We are doing some landscaping and I look forward to checking out the nursery in town this weekend for some great deals! Happy shopping! Let me know what deals you find!

Technorati tags: hot deals, airfare, travel, jeans, plants, save money

Pre-Vacation Stress

Tell me if this is normal. I am eight days away from an amazing vacation I have been waiting for since February. It seems the nearer the vacation gets the more stressful everything else becomes. It seems I am running thin on patience. Everything that happens seems to be magnified by 10. For the past couple of months I have had a vacation every month and this has happened every month. From January to July I didn't have one single vacation and I didn't ever get this stressed out. I think my body knows that soon I will be on vacation and life will be wonderful and stress free, but until then my excitement at going on a cruise is making normal life frustrating! Anyway, I'm in survival mode. I just need to make it until next Friday and then I have 10 days of a luxury vacation on a cruise ship! Woohoo!

Technorati tags: stress, vacation, cruise

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I love food!

I love good food. I love to find new recipes and try them out (only on my family of course!) I make it a point to test food on my family before it hits my friends. One of my friends and former college roommate has started a very fun blog called Dish Delish. It is a collection of our favorite recipes. She has several friends and family members posting their favorite recipes. If you are interested in such a thing check it out.

Technorati tags: recipes, food

My Recommended Money Makers

I have written about different websites I use to generate income a couple times before. I would like to make a revised list in order of my favorite to my least favorite and let you know my opinion on how well they work.

Sponsored Reviews is my all time favorite money maker! On this website you get to browse all the offers and bid on them. The advertiser gives you a money range that they are willing to pay and you make a bid to how much you are willing to write the post for within their range. I love this site because there are hundred of advertisers waiting for you to bid on their offer. Most of the advertisers don't have any stipulations such as page rank, or Alexa ranking and so every blog can bid on almost every offer. When bidding you have to take into account that sponsored reviews keeps 35% of the money you make so you get 65% of the amount you bid. This isn't too bad when a lot of the offers I am doing are for $20 or more. They pay you every two weeks so that is nice and there is no minimum payout. I have been rejected from multiple offers because I must have bid too much and they didn't think my blog was worth the amount I bid. I have tried to stop being so greedy and bid realistically. I am also an advertiser on Sponsored Reviews and it has been fun to go through the blogs that place bids on my offers and pick the ones I like best to do the reviews.

Blogsvertise goes through waves of being really active. Lately they have provided me with a lot of opportunities which makes them my second favorite money maker at the moment. The offers are usually around $10 which is enough to make me happy and they give you all the full amount of the offer. Blogsvertise pays you once your post is approved and 30 days old. This is a great site you check often but like I said, they go through waves, and so they may not have many offer coming up soon.

Smorty is fairly new. When I first joined they had about 5 offers up for me to complete. I did them all. Now about once a week I get an email that there is a new offer up. Smorty's offers for me have ranged from $6-$9. I don't mind these smaller amounts because something is better than nothing. Their posts are easy to write because they only need to be 150 words in length and have one link to the advertiser. They pay weekly as soon as your post is approved.

PayPerPost used to be one of my favorites. Lately they have been lacking. They have started a new system of reserving the posts. Now whenever you want to do a post you have to first reserve it. This new system has left me without reservations! Whenever I find a post I would like to write all of the reservations for it are gone. Lately I haven't been able to find any posts that I can actually get. Plus I have a couple posts that are three weeks old that haven't been approved yet. They seem to be too busy to approve my posts. PayPerPost works really well for high traffic, highly ranked blogs. It seems to be a program to help the "rich get richer." They pay you once your posts reach 30 days. The highest payment amount I have been able to qualify for was $15. Apparently my page rank 4 isn't good enough for the high paying offers. I still check PayPerPost a couple times a week in hopes of finding a post I may reserve for myself, but lately is hasn't been happening too often.

There are other sites like LoudLaunch and Blogitive that I don't use too often. These two companies only have "weird" offers in my opinion and the only dollar amount I have ever seen is $5. Perhaps these site also work better with higher ranked sites, but I doubt it.

If you know of anymore sponsored post sites please share them with me. If you experience with any of these sites is different than mine please let me know about that also. I want to hear your feedback and comments about these programs.

Movie Night Contest is on a Roll!

We have some great participation going on in Blog Contest #2!! This is your one week warning! This contest ends next week on September 18. Hurry and check out the original contest post to find out about rules and how to enter. This contest is great because you can get as many entries as you want to!!

Technorati tags: blog contest, movie night

Blog Carnival of Everything Finance

It's time for another great, informative blog carnival. This time it is the Carnival of Everything Finance second edition. There are many great articles in this carnival and much to be learned! Check it out there have been many great additional articles added since the last time this carnival was up.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Broadway Shows

I have been to New York to see a broadway show twice. Both times the show had been out for a couple months and so I wasn't seeing the original cast. There is something about the original cast that is special, or at least it seems special. Maybe it is just that they are the voices you hear when you get a shows soundtrack, they are the voices you learn to love and look forward to hearing. When I saw Wicked that show had been through many actors and it sounded very different from the soundtrack because everyone has their own style. When I saw The Drowsy Chaperone some of the characters were original and I didn't know much about the show so I hadn't heard the soundtrack. The thing about The Drowsy Chaperone that was amazing is that we were able to see it with Sutton Foster. She in my favorite broadway actress and it was incredible to see her in person! She is now in a new show that is opening in October. That show is Young Frankenstein. I have always told my husband that I would love to fly out to a show that we want to see just so we can see the original cast! I think it is totally worth it. Well we are trying to figure out how we can go to NYC for 1 day to see the show and then fly home. We just moved here and I don't feel like we know anyone enough to ask them to watch our daughter. Our families live too far away for them to come out and watch her. I'm going to have to hint around to a couple of my friends and see what results for dropping hints!! I really want to see this show and Sutton!

Reminder
I'm going to take this moment to remind you when you donate at least $10 to Random Encounters of We I will send you a 'thank you' gift in the mail!! I need to raise money to go to NYC to see the show!!

Technorati tags: Broadway, musicals, New York City, Wicked, Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein

Friday, September 7, 2007

Auction Ads

AuctionAds: Increase the bid on your site's income!
You may notice that my Auction Ads are back! Why you ask? Auctions is trying to improve. They have now given publishers who haven't earned a payout and new publishers who sign up a free $25!! You can't beat that! They have also increased their payouts for affiliate payouts from 2% to 5%. That is a nice increase. In light of their changes I decided to give them another chance. They obviously noticed that they used to be useless and they are trying to improve. I want to help them improve and participate in getting the free $25 so I put the code back up. If you haven't signed up for auction ads yet you can still hurry on over there and sign up for a free $25. If you click on the link in the beginning of this post or the Auction Ads words on the actual ad that will take you to their home page where it will tell you all about the program and how to sign up! I think it is completely worth the free money. Take advantage while the offer still stands!

Where do they get this stuff?

What is TV coming to? I was just reading a news story on yahoo about the top 10 anticipated shows of this upcoming season. Cavemen is one of the new shows we will be blessed with. Have you seen those stupid Geico commercials that started this whole caveman thing? Well I cannot believe they are turning those guys into a TV series. I predict that it won't make it past its first season (if it even makes it that far!) We'll see how well this goes!

Technorati tags: cavemen, geico, TV series

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Fun on Facebook

I am loving facebook. My friend told me about it a couple weeks ago because she just got engaged and she was going to put pictures up on her profile of the ring. I only have like 7 friends on there which has really made me reflect on my life. I can't believe that I can't think of friends I had back in high school. I'm pathetic! Facebook is so much fun though. You can take quizzes, there is a map that you can mark all the places you have been on it, there is so much fun stuff. I find more fun stuff everyday. I feel a little like I don't belong on there because it seems like everyone is single and in college and I don't really fit in having graduated, being married and having a daughter, but it is a lot of fun. If you want to be my friend on facebook let me know!

Technorati tags: facebook, friends, fun

Taps and Faucets

I have previously mentioned some of the home improvement projects we have been working at our house. We have put in some Pergo floors in the kitchen and dining room, we took out our sliding glass door and put in French doors, and we recently had our swimming pool filled in. I have mentioned before that sometimes when you are trying to improve and update your house small and simple things can make worlds of change. Some of those small things may be changing out the taps in your bathrooms or kitchen.

Taps4less.com is an online tap shop where you can shop for different makes, models and brands. I know a huge selection is very important when remodeling your kitchen and bathroom to make sure you get the exact look you are going for. Before you decide you leave your house to do a bunch of running around and looking for new faucets, check out this website to see if you can find your perfect match. As I was browsing the website I saw some very cool taps that I may consider when it is time to remodel our bathroom, but until then it is fun to look!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Participation in Blog Contests

Why don't you participate?

I completely understand why people don't participate in blog contests. There is only one prize most of the time and you feel like you'll never win it, or the task to enter into the contest isn't worth your time. But what if everyone else feels that way? Someone has to win and if not too many participate then your odds are good.

Participate! Someone has to win!

With my last blog contest only 5 people participated. That is pathetic, but good odds for those people who participated. Right now I am 2 days into a new blog contest and not one soul is participating right now. I know I haven't given it much of a chance, but still. Two days in and nothing. If only one person participated they will win it, so why doesn't at least one person try? Especially with the current contest where you can get as many entries into it as you want to. It doesn't take a lot of effort to enter. Simple copy and pasting code into a post on your own site will get you as many entries as you would like so why aren't people participating yet? This puts the odds of you winning in your own hands. It's a fun prize so let's have a fun contest! Woohoo!

$4,000 Prize Drawing @ davidairey.com

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of David Airey's graphic design blog, he is launching this bumper giveaway. Here are the fantastic prizes up for grabs:

Gold award

gold medal

The ultimate business blog package:

Logo design from David Airey. Add a touch of professionalism to your business with one of my logo designs.
Custom WordPress theme design from Nate Whitehill of Nate Whitehill dot Com. It’s vital to set yourself apart from the crowd, and Nate will help a great deal with your very own custom WordPress theme.
Personal marketing / advertising plan from Maki of Dosh Dosh. Maki is an expert where blog advertising is concerned, and he is kindly donating his time to help you make the most of your new custom blog.
One year’s hosting and blog setup from John Boardley of I Love Typography. John has kindly donated his time and will do everything you need to get your new custom blog hosted on one of Media Temple’s dedicated servers.
Signed copy of Blogging Tips by Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress. I bought this book myself, and it contains excellent blogging tips for beginners to pros.

Silver award

silver medal

Logo design from Tara Roskell of Graphic Design Blog. You only need to visit Graphic Design Blog to realise that Tara really knows a lot about great design.
Website critique from Randa Clay of Randa Clay Design. If you want some expert advice on how to improve your website design, you won’t be disappointed by this offering.
One hour SEO consultation with Lyndon Antcliff of Cornwall SEO. Lyndon will conduct a Skype consultation with the winner of this prize, and he comes highly recommended for search engine optimisation and linkbaiting.
$60 of books from Amazon courtesy of Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. Is there a book you’ve been meaning to buy on Amazon? How about getting it free? A great donation from a professional blogger.

Bronze award

bronze medal

Logo / blog header design from Jonathan-C. Phillips of Smart Wealthy Rich. Jonathan has donated his expert skills to help your blog stand out from the crowd.
One hour blog optimization consultation with Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips. This consultation will cover design, SEO, monetization and blogging strategy, from the author of one of blogging’s most useful resources.
Revolution Premium WordPress theme package (personal package) from Brian Gardner, WordPress designer and consultant. Brian’s WordPress skills are second to none.
Blog review and email interview published on Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak. The man to ‘make it great’ will critique your blog and feature you on his very own PR5 blog.

Bonus prizes

The following prizes will be drawn individually.

Podcasting kit

podcasting kit

Behringer Podcastudio USB Podcasting Kit, kindly donated by Fraser’s Affiliate Marketing Blog. Looking for a new way to express yourself? Ever wanted to be a famous producer? Then podcasting is the answer and the BEHRINGER PODCASTUDIO USB bundle has all you need to make high-quality podcasts and home recordings.

Free money

dollars

$25 via PayPal courtesy of Gayla McCord of Mom Gadget. Free money! Who doesn’t want free money? Very kind of you Gayla.

USB storage keys

sony usb

2GB USB storage key x 3 courtesy of Jamie Clague at Terinea Weblog. Three USB sticks will make up three separate prizes, with free worldwide postage. Jamie, Edinburgh Computer Services, has also kindly donated his valuable time to helping with the prize draw administration.

Blog reviews and design help

blog reviews

Full blog review with deep links and images published on Blog-Op with Chris Lodge. Chris knows how to piece together an excellent blog review, giving you an added insight into the impression your website is giving.
Blog review from Aaron Russell of miLienzo. Aaron has been coding WordPress themes for a while now and certainly knows his stuff where blog design is concerned.
Expert WordPress blog help from Lakshmi Mareddy of Chilligavva. Have you ever had any ideas for your blog that you haven’t been able to incorporate? Lakshmi has kindly agreed to offer her WordPress skills, helping you out with either code or graphics.
Blog review from Hock Ng of Marketing Tools Review. Hock will focus his review on your blog content, design, SEO and usability.
Blog makeover from Charles Jordan of The Queer Chef. Charles is proficient with design for the Blogger platform, and can also design WordPress. He’ll tantalise your taste buds with one of his blog makeovers.

Telephone and Skype consultations

blog consultations

Blog writing consultation with Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog. Ben has offered his expertise to review 3–5 of your articles, providing tips and giving suggestions on writing, plus a quick guide to social media and how you can benefit from it.
Two 45 minute coaching consultations with Mark McGuinness of Wishful Thinking. Mark specialises in coaching creative professionals, and is a real expert in his field. The first session will involve goal setting, with the second session reporting on progress and making adjustments.
4 hour business growth consultation with Rebecca Caroe, via telephone / Skype, or face-to-face in London / Cambridge. Rebecca is a business growth consultant for creative agencies, so if you’re looking to expand your company then this is the prize for you. If you want Rebecca to visit your offices simply pay her travel expenses.
Tele-Coaching with Tammy Lenski. A one-hour, private telephone consult with professional mediator and conflict coach Tammy Lenski. Figure out how to deal with a challenging client, strengthen your contract negotiations, or confront difficult conversations with more confidence and success. Free call within the U.S., via Skype outside the U.S.
One hour product launch consultation with Design Translator (DT) of Design Sojourn. Whether you’re launching a line of t-shirts, custom furniture, electronics, or any other product, DT will lend you his product launch expertise.
Blog improvement or monetization advice with Easton Ellsworth of Business Blogwire. You choose, do you want to generally improve your blog or do you want help making money from it? Easton has kindly offered his help.

Art and literature

book prizes

Two premium quality books designed and produced by David Hyde of david the designer. John Hinchcliffe, internationally acclaimed designer-maker, is the subject of the richly illustrated first of two quality books. Crafts in the 20th Century is the second book kindly donated by David.
Copy of Brand Aid by Brad VanAuken of The Blake Project. Brand Aid is a practical how-to guide on building winning brands. Derrick Daye was kind enough to offer this great prize.
Watercolour print from Ed Roach Watercolours. Ed has quite a talent, and will graciously ship your favourite print from his watercolour studio.

Online advertising

online advertising

728px by 90px banner ad for 30 days above the fold on The Blog Experiment, courtesy of Sara. This is quite a new forum for bloggers, but already there are approximately 5,000 posts! You must supply your own artwork.
125px by 125px image ad for 30 days on Smart Wealthy Rich. An excellent donation from top blogger, Jonathan.
Ad icon located site-wide in the top left of Blog-Op, courtesy of Chris Lodge. Another kind gift from a fellow blogger in Scotland.
30 day text link ad shown site-wide on Contest Blogger. This is a great way to advertise your very own blog contest. Blogging is about giving something back, so get your contest featured.
125px by 125px image ad for 30 days on Freelance Folder. Another superb offering from Jonathan a.k.a Smart Wealthy Rich.

Forum membership

Andy Beard

Lifetime membership to the paid membership site that Andy Beard, WordPress SEO and Niche Marketer, will launch on Andybeard.eu (eta and value yet to be determined). If the prize winner already qualifies for membership (some people will), then Andy will kindly come up with an alternative prize.

When you visit his logo design blog you will get all the instructions for entering his drawing! It is fantastic!

Blog + Website= Blite

The other day I was telling someone about my blogs and what I do. He didn't really understand too much about a blog but his comment was "isn't that just an online journal when you can cry to the world about everything wrong in your life?" I was somewhat offended at his understanding of a blog. From what I understand the definition of a website is that it doesn't get updated, it stays the same and it is used for business purposes. A blog on the other hand gets updated regularly and is for personal use. Well since I use my blog (it is updated everyday) for business purposes I have decided that a lot of us have blites instead of blogs. Let's spread the word that a Blite is the new blog!! If you like this term and think it applies please write a post about this on your blog and feel free to link back here to the home of the "Blite!"

Technorati tags: website, blog, blite

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Blog Contest #2

WooHoo it's time for another contest! This time the contest involves putting the prize picture contest code on your site. The code is for this picture of the fun movie night prize pack! When you copy and paste the code on your site that will count as one entry into the contest, for example, if you put it at the bottom of every post that will be an entry each time. If you put the contest picture on the sidebar of your site (preferably near the top) that will count as 5 entries! Leave me a comment now saying that you are participating and putting the code on your site. Keep track of your entries and at the end of the contest I will ask you to leave another comment with the total number of entries you have on your site, I will browse all of the sites to see some of the entries. Each site that participates will also get a link on this blog at the end of the contest!!! This contest will end on September 18th. That is two weeks from today! I will mail the winner all the goodies and the movie in the picture ASAP. Good luck and happy posting!!

I'm entered into a contest at Random Encounters of We to win this fun movie pack. Click the link for more details.

#2 Spot

Well I have start my September marketing campaign on Link Referral for Random Encounters of We. I purchased a spot in the top 5 of the miscellaneous category. Right now I am currently ranked #2 which is pretty good. This method should bring in a lot of traffic and hopefully people will discover what a great blog it is and subscribe! I am currently sign up for two months for this campaign so we will see what a difference it makes and perhaps continue. It cost me $70 to purchase a top spot. Hopefully through being in the being of peoples searching on link referral I will be able to recover that $70 and then some. I will be sure to let you know. If you click on the Link Referral link in the beginning of this post it will take you to the page where I am currently number! Feel free to check it out!

Mimicking Success

There are many bloggers out there that are very successful with their blogs. My question today is if you mimic their success will you also become successful?

What do I mean by Mimicking?

When I talk about mimicking a successful blogger I don't mean plagiarism or any other type of stealing content. I'm talking about the arrangement of page elements. If a successful blogger has their ads in a certain place on their blog, perhaps I will benefit by moving my ads to that location on my website. If the successful blogger also has a certain page layout that places the posts and referral buttons in different places than I have mine, if I rotate things will that also make me successful. Also, what about their ad choices? I personally have decided to use a certain ad company on my blog because one of these successful bloggers uses it on their website and I'm hoping this will help improve my ad revenue.

I honestly don't know the answer to my question. On one hand if someone has gained success from doing things a certain way than that means their way works. If I try to arrange things on my log in the same way does that mean it should also work for me? Probably not to the same extent as the original successful blogger because our content will be different and we already have different readership, but it should improve things, right?

At the same time, on the other and people give differemt advice for ad placement because different blogs see different success with their ads in different places. If everyone was successful with their ads in the same place, things would be a lot easier. We all would be doing a lot better than we are because we would already know the answer.

My Answer and Thoughts

So, what do you think? If you mimic a successful blogger in areas as page layout and design, but not breaking any of the rules will you become more successful? I think my answer is yes but not for the reason you would think. My answer is yes because when you update and change your blog it improves your statistics. When you change things around on your blog it usually is for the better because you have learned a better way of doing things or you are in the process or tweaking things. This will make you more successful. I guess this makes my 'yes' answer also applicable to the question. Mimicking a successful blogger will probably make you more successful because you will be tweaking in a way that is more beneficial.

What do you think? Will mimicking success make you more successful? Why?

Technorati tags: success, blogging, mimicking

Another Directory, Another Banner

I'm trying out a couple new directories to see if they are worth it or if they will be a waste like so many of them are. I try to join directories where I don't have to link back, because I have done that and all it does is clutter your blog. I decided to add the code in a post so it wouldn't clutter my sidebar! I'll let you know if the traffic start rolling in because of these blog directories!

Soy Candles

With a new health craze among us the soy bean bean is becoming ever popular. Some people use it for its health aspect, others have to for dietary reasons. Have you ever considered soy candles? Caterpillars Creations has a new popular "roly poly" candle with a very curvaceous jar. These soy candles are longer lasting with a natural scent. Extra large candles are begin sold through country stores, gift shops, farmers markets as well as upscale gift stores.
These natural soy candles feature scents from natural vegetable oil and not traditional petroleum based liquid. Soy candles last up to three times longer than traditional candles. Get your wholesale soy candles for your business today!

Carnival of Finance

It's Carnival time again! I haven't participated in a blog carnival in a while so a couple weeks ago I went through and joined a couple. Please check out this Carnival of Everything Finance. It has a lot of useful articles on everything from mortgages, to debt consolidation and handling money in general. This carnival will definitely enhance your knowledge of finances. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Technorati tags: blog carnival, finance

Monday, September 3, 2007

WOOHOO

Woohoo is my daughter's favorite word. She says it all the time when she is happy or excited. When we get in the car, when we arrive somewhere, when she is getting dinner, when she is getting ice cream (usually a couple woohoo's). This simple word is how she expresses her excitement and joy in life. It is so sweet and funny to hear.

I have lately been contemplating her woohoo's. She is a good reminder for me to be happy with the little things in life. It shouldn't take a monumental occasion to make me happy or for me to be excited. Why can't I be excited at little things also? (although I do get excited when I get ice cream) I love how little children can humble you and bring you back to the basics.

My daughter's woohoo's have also inspired me as far as my writing goes. I don't need huge news events, or latest technology breakthroughs in order to post. I can post simple everyday things that mean something to me and probably others who read them. I enjoy sharing the little bits of knowledge I have about things.

Let's all be happier and more excited about life and say Woohoo a little more often! Go spread the woohoo's!

Shopping!

Saturday we traveled to Wichita to do some shopping. With a bunch of sales around it was a good time to pick up a few things we needed. We didn't find all of those thing but one important thing we found was this. It is the Canon MP470. It is an all in one printer as you can probably tell. It isn't the exact printer we wanted to get, but we couldn't find any stores that carried the one we wanted, and the online stores that had it were out of stock. We just decided to go a head and get our second choice.
A while back when we lived in California our old computer printer was stolen out of our storage unit and this is the first chance we have had to replace it. We are excited to have such a fancy printer. I often need copies made and such during the week and I would have my husband do it at work. Now I can leave him alone and do it myself in the comfot of my own home. We are very excited to have this fun new "toy".

Technorati tags: computer printer, all in one printer, canon,

Happy Labor Day

What will you be doing to labor today? I am planning on taking advantage of having my husband home today. Right now he is helping some friends move into their new home, but as soon as he gets back we start the work here! We have some pictures and decorations I want to get hung on our walls. Even though the boxes are unpacked, all the walls are naked. We haven't begun to try and hang pictures yet, so today we start! I'm also hoping we can do some landscaping in our front yard. We are working on ripping out some huge bushes in the front of the house! I hope you enjoy your holidays and labor hard today!

Technorati tags: Labor Day, holiday, work, home improvement

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Photo Throws

There are a lot of fun to new products that you can personalize. I've seen bags that you can put pictures in, you can put pictures on your mouse pad or even on you mug. These are fun way to show off you family in creative way. There now is a way to put your loved ones on beautiful photo throws. These blankets have a soft microsuade top with plush fleece on the bottom. This makes them very soft and comfortable. The company that makes these is called Vision Bedding and they also have pet blankets and pillow that you can personalize. I actually have a personalize pillowcase. One of my roommates in college made all the girls in our apartment a pillow case with a bunch of our pictures and catch phrases from throughout the school year. It was such a great present, and I love that pillow. As I have been exploring the website there are many different sizes of bedding you can choose from. I think I am definitely going to choose one of the blanket to make for my daughters Grandma's for Christmas. I love this idea and I think you all will too.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Increasing Revenue and Traffic

Well it's a new month and a start of a fresh clean slate. Now is the time to begin new programs to help increase your sites traffic and revenue.

Link Referral

In September I am going to start a new marketing program with Link Referral. If you are interested I have a button on the side bar you can click on that will take you there and tell you about the program. It basically is a blog directory in which you can control how high up you are on the lists by visiting other members sites. This month I will be buying one of the top slots to see how that will improve my blog's performance.

Bidvertiser

I am very impressed so far with how my ads are doing on Bidvertiser. They have increased my sites revenue by %35. I also have a Bidvertiser button linking to this site if you are interested in seeing how they can help increase your website's traffic and revenue. I will continue my ad programs in September and I am confident all my stats will continue to rise.

Text Link Ads

This program is a little more tricky to participate in the ad program because they have to approve your site, but there is always affiliate sales through text link ads. John Chow just released his August income report and in that report he states that he made a nice chuck of this $17,000+ in August from Text Link Ads. It also is one of John Chows recommended money makers. Again, if you are interested in this program I have a button on the right hand sidebar about half way down. I have enjoyed Text Link Ads and through the constant improvement of my site I also expect this to increase my revenue.

Blog Contests

My first blog contest just ended yesterday. It was a lot of fun to put on and I am excited to continue doing them. I have a great prize idea but I haven't bought all the things that go in the prize pack yet so I'm going to have a mini contest before the big one. I will start this contest on Monday so check back so you can participate!

How are you statistics doing? What programs are you implementing to help increase your blogs traffic and revenue? I would love to hear any suggestions and ideas.

Technorati tags: revenue, traffic, blogging,

Drum Roll Please

It's time to announce the big winner of our first ever blog contest!!! The Winner is... Ann Levings (this is a link to her website)! I will be contacting her unless she see's this and contacts me first to find out where to wants me to send that gift card! Thanks for all the participation, next time let's make it bigger and better!!

Random is my niche...

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Sunday, September 30, 2007

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