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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:37:04 GMT

Twitter Tool of the Day: Monitter

Monitter: The Real time - Live Twitter" class="zem_slink" title="Twitter” rel=”wikipedia” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview (’/outbound/en.wikipedia.org’);”>Twitter Monitor.

Monitter is great. It’s pretty simple how it works. First you you provide 3 keywords, for instance social media, facebook, and twitter, then hit enter. Now every time a new tweet on social media, facebook or twitter hits twitter you are notified immediately. Monitter is definitely one of those tools that I keep wondering how did I live without this?(Yes, I am a geek)

Monitter uses ajax so it can updates continuously, in real time.

I personally love Monitter, as a blogger because I can keep track of topics I’m interested in most, and build relationships with those who share interest in similar niches, and Monitter makes it uber simple to reply, just click on the reply link next to each post, this is a great way to build your online presence and network with like minded people.

The simple fact is the more people you talk to, or talk to you the more people will in the end follow you. Monitter makes this as simple as can be.

If people see someone send an @reply to someone but they didn’t see the original, they might be curious and want to get in on the conversation as well - people tend to be curious creatures, just like cats. So they may not have been following you before, but now they are.

Also remember one more follower may translate into one more hit on your website, and they might be the person who ends up clicking on your $2 adsense ad, who knows? Or even better they might buy from one of your affiliate program, never overlook the power of just one relationship.

Another feature of Monitter is that ability to subscribe to an rss feed based on your search term, you can also embed a monitter widget into your blog or website.

Monitter also lets you choose which language to receive tweets in. The current options are: English, Spanish, Deutsch, and French.

As you can see the team at Monitter have worked hard to bring an unique tool to the blogosphere, I highly recommend if you haven’t already tried it to give it quick gander, and let me know what you think.

Reader Poll: If you’ve used monitter, what is your opinion? Also in what ways do you use it?

Your help in our poll is much appreciated!

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:18:39 GMT

Calacanis breaks the silence, couldn’t go more than 5 weeks could ya??

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

As many of you are aware, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo, went into retirement from blogging on July 11th. Claiming he needed to find his new voice, he set out on a quest to build an ‘intimate mailing list’ to host discussions on.

In a recent blog post, an update on his retirement, Jason says he is having a wonderful time writing his emails to his ‘intimate email group” (since when is 3000+ considered intimate?)…he continues: “I’ve been writing 2-5k word thought pieces on the email list, and I’ve found it to be very rewarding in a way that the mud pit of blogging isn’t.”

My thoughts are:

1. How is blogging a mudpit, and does that make us bloggers pigs? If so I feel a bit insulted.

2. Isn’t writing 2k+ ‘thought pieces’ the same as blogging just in a different format? I mean blog comes from the word weblog, which is a log of information on the web, a journal so to speak of one’s thoughts and opinions, whether it’s posted to a website or sent over email, in my opinion he’s still blogging.

3. It appears to me that this is somewhat of a scam like his twitter follower campaign, and other such to build a bigger audience for himself and mahalo. Everyone knows that the money is in your ‘list’. I’m not saying building a newsletter is bad, but if you want people to subscribe to your newsletter, don’t do it by trickery, just come out and say it.

Darren Rowse from Problogger says that before you do anything you need to build a list, and should start a newsletter on day one of your blog’s launch. There are just so many people who still don’t use feed readers that can benefit from your blog, and you can benefit from their visiting your site it’s a win-win.

Jason Calacanis continues his blog post : “Now I still love blogs: still read them, still comment on them…. but I’m trying to find my voice again–my true voice. There is something about the acoustic, intimate nature of email that is impacting how I write. I’m writing every sentence as if I’m looking someone in the eye and speaking directly to them. I’m thinking about the economy of words again. I’m trying to say things in as few words as possible, and I’m cutting sentences, paragraphs and pages more than I’m publishing them. I’m proof reading again, and C.K. Sample is proofing for me. It’s a new, slower and more considered process and I’m loving it. I’ve published ten emails or so and I’ve thrown away at least 30. Somethings happening, but I don’t know what it is.”

My thoughts:

When he says “I’m writing every sentence as if I’m looking someone in the eye and speaking directly to them.” I’m thinking, isn’t that how blogs are? That’s at least how I’ve always wrote my blog, as if I’m writing an intimate letter to a long lost friend…

He also says “I’m thinking about the economy of words again. I’m trying to say things in as few words as possible, and I’m cutting sentences, paragraphs and pages more than I’m publishing them. I’m proof reading again,” and I’m thinking economy of words?

Didn’t you say your ‘emaillog’(not to be confused with a weblog of course) are 2k-5k word thought pieces? How is that economical at all?

He continues:

“Over 100 folks respond to every email and I try to respond to every single person. Some of these emails are five pages and I read every single word. No one else sees these words–they are between me and the reader and that is also wonderful and true. Posting to the comment section of a blog is meaningless when compared to sending an email containing your thoughts inteneded for the author. Folks say very, very deep, true and honest things in one to one communications that they can’t say in a blog comment. I love that.”

Call my cynical, but the tone is that of perhaps a hippie(and I’m a very liberal person, hell I voted for Dennis Kucinich), or someone in a midlife crisis, or perhaps someone post stroke, maybe he’s been playing with model kits in a non-ventilated room, your guess is as good as mine. No offense but it’s like he’s living in a dream land. If he were writing blog pieces people could still email him from the blog if he so choosed to put up a contact form right at the bottom of each post or such.

Bottom line: Jason Calacanis if you’re really retired from blogging, more power to you, but why not stop blogging about being retired from blogging, seriously. I know blogging is addictive, and there are places that can help you with your addiction. (that last line was sarcasm, in case you weren’t paying attention…)

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:00:57 GMT

Warning: Avoid these 7 Time Traps or your blog Will Fail - Guaranteed!

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

Running a successful blog takes a lot of effort. There are many things that go into blogging that most people don’t take into account, when they attempt to start a blog.

One of the surest ways to fail at blogging for a living is to waste your time online. Your time is valuable, it is your livelihood. Each second wasted can’t be returned to you, treat your time like gold and you will become a

golden blogger, just like Darren Rowse, John Chow, or Shoemoney.

Here are the 7 time traps that will make your blog fail…

Time Trap #1: Trying to hard to monetize your blog. It is true, that you do need to have a revenue source for your blog, but you shouldn’t obsess over this.

Many bloggers get it in their head that if they aren’t making any money it’s because their advertiser isn’t working out, so they try another, and another..and so on..

My tip is to put up some bidvertiser ads, maybe a few performancing ads, and leave it at that.

Notice I don’t mention adsense, it’s because they’re not a good program to go with until you’re bringing in a lot of traffic daily, if you have even a little click fraud they’re more likely to shut you down if you’re a small site. I am still banned because some idiot clicked on my links 97 times in a single day.

I bet if someone did that over at JohnChow’s site, or shoemoney’s they wouldn’t even slap his hand. Heck they probably wouldn’t even notice.

Time Trap #2: Obsessing over your design. Web Designers sometimes tend to be perfectionists, I know I fall into this category quite often. It doesn’t matter how pretty your blog is, if people aren’t reading it.

I’ll say that again for emphasis:

“IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW PRETTY YOUR BLOG IS, IF PEOPLE AREN’T READING IT.”

Content is king, not design. I’ve seen some ugly ass blogs that earn more than most people see in 3 months. When you have 500-1000 posts and are making the big bucks, then you might decide to tinkle with your design, or theme.

Heck by that time you might as well go ahead and hire someone to create you a professional and unique blog theme.

Time Trap #3: Twitter. Nuff said? Twitter has become this huge distraction. Twitter is great and wonderful, in fact I absolutely LOVE Twitter, but there is a time and a place. Set aside a certain amount of time per day or week to focus on twitter, and leave it at that.

With that said, I would definitely use the pingpress.fm wordpress widget in conjunction with ping.fm to simultaneously post to all your microblogging sites every time you update your blog. This will drastically improve your blog rankings and traffic.

Oh and speaking of twitter, why don’t you go and follow me already?

Time Trap #4: Not planning = Planning to fail. To be successful, you need to have a plan of action. The internet is the biggest time waster on the planet, and it’s addicting. It’s very easy to start reading an article, and follow link after link to related article, till 5 hours have passed and you haven’t written one blog post.

Trust me - this is a trap that I fall into all the time myself. It is one that can get the very best of us. Having a plan of what you’re need to get done, and when you can just surf without a plan will in the end help you stay focused.

The truth is, if you can’t post at least 5 blog updates to your blog per week, then you might as well stop trying to do it for a living. It will never happen for you. I’m sorry to say, but why waste 3 years trying and come out broke and pennyless. Sometimes even 5 blog posts per week isn’t going to ensure your total success, but it is a start. If you can do 1-2 per day then you’re awesome, and should be worshipped by all the wannabe’s.

Time Trap #5: Too many household distractions. Unless your blog is about tv, or tv related topics, or you’re live blogging about some show you’re watching, it’s probably not a very good idea to watch tv while working online. It’s also a good time, if you’re a professional to find a place that you can go and work, a place that isn’t full of distractions. Of course for mom’s, I know that’s hard but this is about doing your best. If you can’t get rid of all distractions work on getting rid of the biggest ones, and you should do quite well.

Time Trap #6: Obsessed and ignoring those who matter most. I have to admit, I’m obsessed with blogging and social media, it’s hard not to become addicted. Sometimes being obsessed makes us forget those that mean the most to us.

As bloggers we need to take time out each day for those we love, or they will resent your blogging. I know this from personal experience. This is a time waster because when people are angry at you for blogging it affects your performance. It also affects your spirit and attitude, which I believe affects your ability to manifest success.

Keep your house in order, when blogging. Bring your family into the conversation. Set time tables where you’re not to be disturbed, and other times where you’re not to touch the computer, reaching a balance in your online and offline lives is pertinent to true success.

Time Trap #7: Not Using the best tools available. As a blogger there are many tools available to us. It seems like each day there are more and more. My advice is to find the one’s that work best for your daily activities, and use them. I swear by feed readers. I don’t have to patience to scan blog posts for ideas unless I’m reading it in a feed reader.

My favorite new tool is a twitter tool called monitter, and I also enjoy ping.fm.

Monitter is a great tool that lets you track live updates on keywords that matter to you. It’s a great way to get new ideas on blog posts. There are many blog tools and research tools for bloggers, that it’s impossible to name them all, and I’d be wasting my time trying.

Mashable.com is a good blog tool starting point, and perhaps I will write another post listing the best blog tools, let me know if you’re interested in that topic, and I’ll definitely post about it.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:46:38 GMT

Dumping Syndrome?

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:25:27 GMT

Whitehouse2008.info - Alltop of Politics.

Whitehouse2008.info is a really cool new political site, consider it the alltops or popurls of politics. Basically it is an aggregator of all the best from election 2008. It’s very well designed, using a modified form of wordpress, and some plugins. (I know this because I built it..shhhh)…

On the left are the democrats and the right the republicans. It’s not partisan so people from all walks should be able to get value from it. It also features a cool tabbed ebay store module that I created, using yahoo’s tab creator. I can give more details on that if you’re interested.

Right now, I’d be really interested in everyone’s thoughts on the project - likes, dislikes and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks in advance!

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:16:54 GMT

Clickbank + weekly payments = explosive opportunity for ppc marketers.

Clickbank weekly payments announced..

Click bank the electonic publisher marketplace has just announced that they will be making weekly payments. Weekly payments combined with some of the lowest payouts in the industry means great things for affiliates.

What does this mean for Clickbank publishers?

Many of the best clickbank affiliates use pay per click campaigns to make their sales. The more money they have on hand the more they can reinvest into marketing clickbank products. This is win-win for clickbank publishers, affiliates, and clickbank in general.

I know this makes me giddy as I make a lot from the clickbank affiliate program. I’ve earned $5809 in one month by just utilizing the tools included in Google Nemesis. Not having to wait for my clickbank commissions is awesome. I usually re-invest about 30% of my income back into more ppc campaigns, and getting paid quicker will mean that I can do this a lot faster and more often meaning more income for me.

I definitely give clickbank props on this one. Perhaps with clickbank’s bold move we shall also see other affiliate programs jumping on board the weekly payment bandwagon, only time will tell.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:08:48 GMT

Twitter Updates for 2008-08-14

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:08:48 GMT

Twitter Updates for 2008-08-14

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Why I hate Google. Join the Google Haters facebook Group!

Google has too much power online, they can make and break anyone that they choose.

If you write a bad article about them, or sell links, or do this or that, they can remove your site from search, not that I get much traffic from search, thankfully I’m a social marketer more than an seo marketer, and most of my traffic comes from pinging identi.ca, twitter, friendfeed, and facebook.

Apparently if somebody clicks a bunch on adsense ads on your website, you WILL get banned from adsense, does this seem fair? I didn’t do a thing, one person ruined me from collecting my adsense revenue. After a year I was at $90 and then in one day got $7 worth in ad clicks. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who works for google made all the clicks so they wouldn’t have to pay me.

I even told google about the suspicious activity, before I was banned. Does this seem right? Sure, I could go register a new adsense account in my wife’s name, but what would stop them from banning her account when we reach $90 again?

Which is why I’m launching a new facebook group: Google Haters. This is a group of people who basically hate google, perhaps a union of bloggers standing up for our own rights. According to google the internet is a tyrrany and google rules, but I believe we can fight back.

Have you been banned from adsense, adwords, or search rankings? Drop your comments or join the Google Haters group on facebook. We’ll have adsense click-off weekends, and do our best to wreak havoc on the internet king. I’m totally peeved at this and I believe in fighting back when I’ve received an injustice. If you’ve been hurt by google in anyway this will be a great way to fight back.

Join the facebook group now!

Of course you can call me mad, or an idiot, or over-reacting, but just wait - anyone can be hit by google, I always did my best to follow all the rules, I never broke any rules, and I still got banned. It can happen to anyone, I highly recommend just quitting google and trying another ad network.

SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Why I hate Google. Join the Google Haters facebook Group!", url: "http://www.theresabloginmysoup.com/why-i-hate-google-join-the-google-haters-facebook-group/" });

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:07:48 GMT

Twitter Updates for 2008-08-12

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patrickcurl's Xanga

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Monday, August 18, 2008

Calacanis breaks the silence, couldn’t go more than 5 weeks could ya??

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Friday, August 15, 2008

Dumping Syndrome?

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Whitehouse2008.info - Alltop of Politics.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Clickbank + weekly payments = explosive opportunity for ppc marketers.

Clickbank weekly payments announced..

What does this mean for Clickbank publishers?

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Twitter Updates for 2008-08-14

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Twitter Updates for 2008-08-14

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Why I hate Google. Join the Google Haters facebook Group!

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Twitter Updates for 2008-08-12

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patrickcurl's Xanga

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Monitter: The Real time - Live Twitter" class="zem_slink" title="Twitter” rel=”wikipedia” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview (’/outbound/en.wikipedia.org’);”>Twitter Monitor.

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