Archive for April, 2008
Monday · Popularity: 49% · stars
I am going to try to get back to doing this post once a week like I use to do, but for now, here is the latest version of this past weeks starred items from my Google Reader. A complete list is shown on the sidebar to the far right, but these are some posts from the previous week that caught my eye.
It is really amazing how many quality blogs there are now. I now have 686 feeds in my reader. Yes, not all are quite the premium material, but with so many good articles to choose from it is hard to narrow it down to 10, but, here they are.
Top 10 Stars of the week of April 21st
image by Jeff Bauche
Yesterday I wrote about being a ruthless blogger and named a number of areas that I find helpful to have more harsh boundaries in with the hope of it helping me become more productive and focused…
If you are trying to make money blogging then you have no doubt become well versed with the typical methods that bloggers use to try and make money online. The problem is that you and every other one
Author info: This is a guest post by Alan Johnson, the author of The Online Business Handbook. If you are interested in reading about something, you can rest assured that the information you are looking for is just one click away. If you want to talk to someone, all you have to do is pick up…
@happygirl08 asks about how to - “get more relevant readers to your blog/ mailing list??”
Good question - some bloggers tend to focus on getting more…
Freelancing can be a rewarding career, with many benefits over being a salaried employee. But success in freelancing means there are a lot of things you shouldn’t do - things I’ve done over the past twenty…
Cathlyn asks:
For affiliate newbies, should they really by By Rosalind Gardner’s book, the Super Affiliate Handbook? (?? Yes, even knowing you are…
This past few days have seen me experimenting with a new type of post here at ProBlogger - Speed Posting.
I set myself the challenge to answer 20 or so questions from my…
What is Forced Continuity?
I had not actually heard of the term “forced continuity” before last week even though I have encountered it many times. It is where you…
Hey, friends. We’ve got a busy week ahead here at Bruce Clay, so let’s just jump right into some of the big stories of the day. Grab a…
If you are looking for additional way to add spice into your blog, why not try having guest bloggers?
Guest bloggers could be considered as another way of livening up the blog since it brings a fresh voice and at the same adds value to the…
Thursday · Popularity: 28% · twitter
With all the hype surrounding Twitter I had to give it a go a few months ago. The big question for me at the time was, is Twitter a useful tool or another avenue that eats time on the Internet?
I am not sure that question has really been answered in my mind yet, but I have made some observations over its use the last month, and if nothing else at all it has connected me to some people in business and blogging that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. At this point, I only wish more of my existing friends were using Twitter.
So Does Twitter Have Usefulness
What caught my eye and got me using Twitter was all the blog posts about its usefulness in business applications, and of course blogging. A few good posts I came across are:
Since most of these posts go into how Twitter functions I won’t try to repeat that here, but I have found a few good applications for its use. Blogging is all about networking of sorts, and Twitter is a social networking agent, so put the two together with a Wordpress Twitter Tools Plugin and you have a great match.
Twitter Tools Plugin & Twhirl
This is a great plugin (and another great one by Alex King, whom I am starting to think is the king of Wordpress plugins) that will automatically post a tweet when you post a new blog article. It is simple to use, and is loaded with options. This is the area on my sidebar that says “What I’m doing…” and it updates with blog posts and also @replies and regular tweet posts.
Then there is Twhirl. This is a standalone program that runs on Adobe’s Air platform that will allow you to use Twitter similar to an IM window on your desktop. They also just came out with a new version, info is on their blog at twhirl 0.8 released - adding friendfeed support. This and support through iPhone and other mobile devises make using Twitter easy.
Interacting is Networking
I found out that you really don’t want to call an automatic blog post entry the end of your Twitter use though. This is not quite the best etiquette to be used on Twitter. Like most things. To make them truly useful you really need to use and interact with them.
This is the case on Twitter as well. I learned how to use the @replies and general updates through a fellow user on Twitter and it expanded it use and productivity, at least as far as traffic goes, ten fold. I would highly recommend using Twitter for more than just blog post entries.
What has your experience been with Twitter? Do you find it a useful tool to use in business applications?
If you are so inclined, you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/islandzephyr
Friday · Popularity: 25% · blog, review
I don’t usually promote or recommend a specific product or service, but in this case, I wanted to post a quick note about Timesnapper. [authors note: this is not a paid review or promotion]
If you are not familiar with Timesnapper it is a method of recording what is shown on your screen, and the programs used throughout the day. I found it last year when looking for a program that would record keystrokes and found this program (I have yet to find the other).
There are three main features of this program that I like and use all the time, but this is not an exhaustive list, just my top three. (1) Screen Shots, (2) Productivity, and (3) Movie Play. One I didn’t list because I haven’t put it into use yet is the time card feature. This one I would like to use and would be quite helpful, I just haven’t set it up yet.
Screen Shots Will Save You Time
The first time I had to actually go back and find a screen shot I was thrilled. Since then, every time I managed to have a program crash or loose some text that I spent the last 15 minutes writing (and apparently not saved), I know I can go back and find the screen shot and my text will be shown where I can at least recreate the lost material.
This one feature is enough for me to recommend this program, since there are those of us who are saving impaired and can’t seem to remember to save our work, it has saved me from having to completed start over again. Of course you can’t copy and paste text, but it is enough to remember the context and re-write something if you need to do so.
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Thursday · Popularity: 32% · images, photography, sales
How much importance do you put on using high quality images for your products and services? You have heard the saying, image sells? Well, you can increase your sales by using professional looking images. Over several articles, I am going to examine some ways we can improve the images we use to promote our products and services.
Producing high quality images does not have to be expensive, and it can be done just about anywhere you run your business, but the finished product also reflects on your business, blog, or website, so you want to put forth the best images you can produce.
Importance of High Quality Images
I have been a photographer for about 15 years now, so one thing I always pay attention to on my own ecommerce sites is the quality of the images I use. But, you don’t have to be a great photographer to get good results. Below I will look at some simple steps you can take to improve the quality of the images you are using on your website, blog, or ecommerce site.
There is a great correlation to the quality of images you use and the ASP’s (average sales price) you achieve, or even the traffic you generate. It is easy to gage. Just put up some run of the mill (or bad) images and see what stats you get on sales, then put up a great image of the same product and see what changes.
Most people don’t want to take this approach of course, they already use the best images they have, so we should really just be trying to improve on those images, but good images draw a person into the site, they hold attention, and can also repel.
Some Photography Basics
Photography is a method of allowing light to draw on a medium to reproduce something you see. There are of course a few basic things you will need.
You need a camera. A digital cameras are not too expensive now, but if you can, I would recommend getting an inexpensive SLR (single lens reflex) camera over a point and shoot type camera. The image quality will be better and you will have more options if you want to go beyond the basics.
Nikon has several digital SLR cameras for under $500, the D40 is one, and B&H Photo is a good reputable online camera dealer with good prices. I have ordered from them for years and their prices are very competitive.
Another good basic piece of equipment to have is a tripod, especially for product images. The slightest movement will create a far less sharp image and if you start with a poor original you end up with a poor finished product as well. If you buy only one other item outside the camera, make sure it is a tripod.
Some Quick Tip Basics
I will expand on each of these ideas in later posts, but some things that you should remember when trying to improve on the image quality for your products.
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Tuesday · Popularity: 43% · affiliate, ebay, news
Today eBay announced the official opening of the eBay Partner Network (or EPN) which, in 30 days no less, will replace Commission Junction as the sole affiliate program for eBay.
For those casual users of the eBay affiliate program, the email this morning might come as a bit of a surprise but they have been working on this for some time, and promise to have a better reporting and functionality, although I have been very happy with Commission Junction for many years now.
The news didn’t go unnoticed by those in the blogging world where you could find several posts this morning like eBay Partner Network now live by Sue from Tamebay, eBay Dumps Commission Junction from Net Profits, a good discussion from Shoemoney in eBay Affiliate Program FINALLY Drops the CJ Dead Weight, and several others. For those working with the eBay affiliate program in one way or another, this is big news.
What is an Affiliate?
If you are unfamiliar with how affiliates work, it is a simple concept that has been around for quite some time. A company offers an affiliate partner (the user) an incentive of some kind, usually money, to promote their company. At this point almost all companies do this in one form or another, and even small ecommerce sites can setup affiliates for their customer. I am both an affiliate partner and an affiliate provider through one of our small ecommerce sites.
You can even see this on non-eccommerce site and large B&M companies. DirectTV has offered $50 to anyone who gets a friend to sign up for a new satellite TV account for a long time, this is just a simple affiliate offering that can be done by anyone who has a friend who needs their service.
How Much Does an Affiliate Pay?
This is always the question. How much can I actually make using something like this. The answer is just about as much as you are willing to put into building your affiliate network. For most of us, we don’t have a 40 hour work week we can devote to an affiliate program, so we use it where we can, when we can.
I have posted my most recent report below, so you can see it isn’t much. We current run about $100 a month on the eBay affiliate program but it doesn’t take much effort to produce results like that below. We have made as much as $500-$600 a month and as little as nothing. It all depends on how much work you want to put into the program.
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