I am posting this entry to join another blog contest which also ends on 30 April, 2007. Why are there so many contests ending today? My previous post will enter me into a lucky draw to win an 8GB iPod nano, and this post, I'm joining a contest to win a 30GB Microsoft Zune!
John Chow dot Com, a blog that helps you make money on the internet, is holding this evil blog contest where a lucky blogger who blog about this contest will stand a chance to win this Microsoft Zune player which John won at the 2007 Affiliate Networking dinner, isn't he evil?
I wasn't so lucky in his earlier Wii contest. So I hope lady luck smiles on me this time and make me a happy blogger!!
Apr 30, 2007
Evil Blog Contest - Win a Microsoft Zune
Blog Review Contest
Wanna stand a chance to be the proud winner of a new 8GB Apple iPod nano? Hop over to PureBlogging.com where its author, David Culpepper, is offering this fantastic prize for a lucky blogger who review his blog and submit the blog post url to him by 30 April, 2007.
David is a chemist by trade and owned a successful environmental laboratory in South Mississippi. He started PureBlogging.com as a place for sharing blogging news, tips, and tutorials and is intended for anyone who is interested in learning the secrets of attaining blogging success and monetization.
In his mission statement (yes! David's blog has a mission statement), his stated goal is to keep readers updated about breaking technology developments, strategies, and the general buzz of the blogosphere in a way that is easy to understand and implement.
David shows how a blog can score with a catchy title and good color matching scheme. The layout of this blog is neat and uncluttered, and most importantly, it regularly serve up useful tips and interesting articles related to blogging.
At the last update of this contest on 23rd April, David had only received 15 entries, so you can imagine the odds of actually winning the nano is very very good!
I hope I'm still on time to join the contest and be eligible for the lucky draw. Well, if I don't win, I still stand to benefit from some link love from PureBlogging.com
Apr 29, 2007
My New Google PageRank
The long awaited Google pagerank update is finally underway, so what PR did this blog get?
My work for the last one month earned me a PR 2 ranking for this blog, again, a new milestone always serve as a reminder that more hard work can be expected for the long journey ahead.
Apr 28, 2007
Mini Blog Reviews - Batch 2
In this second instalment of mini blog reviews, I'll review 3 blogs which I've come across. Not in random order, here goes my review:
Sarah over at "Somewhere Over the Debt - A girl's Journey to Make Money Online" started the blog to share her efforts of creating multiple streams of income and her journey towards being debt free. With her ninja marketing skills and web design skills, she had set out to make a living making money online so that she can be free to live life on her own terms and be in control of her finances.
The blog's header graphic depicts the blog title with 3 doves flying pass a 6-colors rainbow.
Why only 6 colors? Shouldn't a rainbow have 7 colors? Well, my best guess is that once Sarah becomes debt free from her online money making venture, the 7th colors will appear! Seeing this picture coupled with the title, reminds me of the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
Sarah is a single mom, a graphic/wed designer, musician and online marketing ninja, all rolled into one beautiful package. She is available for freelance design projects like web design, blog design, print projects and so on. Visit her portfolio at Stellar Creative Studio.
Next up, we 'travel' to Malaysia to uncover some "hidden conspiracies".
There is nothing freaky about "Hidden Conspiracies", which is a blog started by a guy from a city called Miri, in Sarawak, to make money on the Internet. This blog is inspired by Darren Rowse at problogger.net and is where he documents his journey to make money as a problogger and other various means to achieve his goal to be a millionaire before he reaches 30 years old.
most of the blog post are either about his journal and money making ideas. So, if you are interested to find out about making money online, please do stop by.
Our last stop for this mini review bring us to India, where a 17 year old boy will show us many tips and tricks of blogging via his blog, "I Blog - You Blog". I first stumble on this blog in March and got really interested with his blog post "Extremely effective way of blogging" where he posted a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots, of using voice recognition tool for blogging! What a cool idea!
I was very impressed by his strong knowledge in blogging, considering his tender age. His blog is ads-free, a rare find nowadays, where every blogs in the blogosphere seems to be monetized.
He is in the process of changing his blog to a new template and he had promised his new template, when completed, will be damn sexy. Check it out for yourself and prepare to be impress.
Get free linkback from PR5 blog
Blogging Secret is a blog that helps you make money online. The owner is offering to link to your blog if you review his blog.
To get a free link back from this PR5 blog, blogger must review his blog with a minimum 200 words post. That is quite unfair considering he just link back to the blog post of the review on one of his post without reciprocating by doing a review. But who the hell am I to judge what's fair and what's not? Since his PR ranking is higher than mine, technorati ranking higher than mine and earning real money from his blog, I need his link love!
The blog owner, Louis Lim, is an undergraduate student in Bachelor Of Business Administration(hons) at University Tunku Abdul Rahman. He professed to be a Malaysian Full-Time Blogger. Looks like this brudder from across the Causeway had discovered the secret to becoming a six-figure-income blogger. Is he a full time blogger or a full time student? That I'm not sure but the English used on his blog posts is very localised and at time funny. International readers may not be able to decipher some of his local jokes.
This blog is using 3 column kubrick theme now and to be honest, i find the info on the sidebar layout very uneven to the point of being messy. I can't imagine how it will look if Louis started using the 4 column kubrick theme!
Apr 26, 2007
Free Blog review #5
The birthday celebrations have come and gone, now that they are out of the way, it's time to get down to business, and return to another fresh round of blog review.
Fortunately, I'm still on time to participate in a new blog review campaign kickstarted byAziz of Hashout, review submission ends 30 April 2007. The basic rule of this review exchange seems rather complicated at first, nevertheless, I hope I'm one of the first 10 review submissions for that will earn me a full fledge review of my blog on Hashout! COOL!!
Hashout (because together we know more) was started at on the 1st of Jan 2007 after weeks of sleepless nights in conceptualizing and designing it, and finally rolling out into the blogosphere. It is all about hashing out opinions, views, reviews, rants, expert advice and general discussions on various subjects. Bright minded people with a fire inside are invited to co-author this blog and initiate topics.
One can really expect to read a wide variety of topics on this blog, ranging from the standard review of tech gadgets, to interesting articles on "How to interpret some common dog tail wags", to offering some "Money savers for your trip" and tips to prevent DVT on long distance flight. You can find a wealth of resources on Hashout!
It is not surprising to see that this blog had been nominated for "best blog design" in blogger'schoice award. Hashout is hosted on Blogger, and I never imagined Blogger template can be so customizable. Aziz had indeed done a great job in the design and layout to make this blog uniquely his own. The nomination is truly well-deserved, and proved that the weeks of sleepless nights spent had not gone unnoticed.
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Apr 25, 2007
The Silence will be Deafening
In Remembrance
Massacre at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007
On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor of the victims at Virginia Tech.
But it´s not only about them. Many bloggers have responded and asked about all the other victims of our world. All the people who die every day. What about them?
This day can be a symbol of support to all the victims of our world!
All you have to do is spread the word about it and post the graphic on your blog on 30th April 2007. No words and no comments. Just respect, reflect and empathy.
[via onedayblogsilence.com]
Some counter views to this silence campaign:
Why be silent? - Diane Levin
Why words matter? - Carson Brackney
onedayblogsilence
Apr 22, 2007
Earth Day 2007
April 22 is Earth Day. On this day, I hope all of us can take a few moments from our busy lives to think about the health of Mother Earth. Mother Earth is sick.
The Eart is the only planet with conditions to sustain human life. The future of humanity depends upon the preservation of a healthy biosphere, with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soil, drinkable waters and breathable air. The protection of the Earth's vitality, diversity and beauty is our shared obligation.
Sadly, we have failed to live up to our obligation. For the past 200 years, since the beginning of Industrial Revolution, the world has evolved patterns of production and consumption which have caused environmental devastation, the depletion of natural resources and led to the extinction of species.
The increasing demand for and the use of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, to generate electricity, power vehicles and operate plants and machineries is touted as the biggest threat. The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, about half of which is absorbed by the atmosphere. This causes glocal warming which in turn leads to Earth's climate change.
There is now near universal consensus that humanity are faced with the very real prospect of ecological disaster if we do not drastically reduce our emission of CO2 and find ways to reduce our dependent on fossil fuels.
The battle against global warming and climate change cannot be won by the actions of the Governments and businesses alone. Every individual human being must be aware of the dire straits and be infulenced by the urgency of the problem and we must be prepared to make sacrifices and adjustments to our lifestyles, our values and our attitude towards nature and Mother Earth.
For a start, we can aspire to lead simple lives rather than lives of conspicious consumption. When we make purchases, we can look for ebvironmentally certified products. Most of all, we need to learn to love Mother Earth and do our little part to help restore the balance between the human enterprise and the natural world.
global warming 
earth dayIf you've enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my feed
Apr 18, 2007
Predict PageRank contest and make money!
It's contest time once again but I'm not running one, yet. I'm referring to Kumiko's "Predict My PageRank" contest, where bloggers who correctly predicts her PR ranking (next update coming soon, so I hope I'm not too late to submit my prediction) stands the chance to win US$30 and the 'money-can't-buy' opportunity to write a post and get published on her site on any topic that the winner chooses.
Yes, it's Kumiko, that feisty lady from Tokyo who live in her own pinkish world and who is on a divine quest to make money online. She just got banned from Adsense but this small hiccup (it's not even a setback) has got her all fired up and her divine quest will not be stop! On the contrary, she's finding new money making opportunities in the face of adversityand I'm expecting her to go on and do better in her post-adsense days ahead. Kudos to her unflinching fighting spirit! BLOG ON!!
For her contest, Kumiko is daring anyone to submit a prediction of PRzero and I'm tempted to go along this line as no one had done it. My heart says go for the dare, but my head says her blog is way too good to be PRzero. In conculsion, I'm going with my head and make a un-calculated bold prediction that Kumiko's blog will attain a PR6 ranking! Yeah, she's that good!
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Apr 17, 2007
Remodel, Blog & Win!
Bloggers and website owners are encourage to send in entry of their home improvement project. It’s important to note that no project is too big or too small or too amateurish, and the same can be said about the budget.
What is a contest without the prizes? For this contest, Remodelingmyspace.com is offering a grand prize of US$5000 to the winning entry which will be judged on creativity in layout and design, best use of space and budget, how your showcase posted on your blog captivated your readers, so on and so forth.
Besides the grand prize, "People's Choice" award (US$1000) and "Random voter" award (US$250)are also up for graps! However, monetary prizes are only eligible for entrant who is a legal resident of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, or a legal resident of Canada, excluding the residents of the Province of Quebec. Click here for full contest rules
For International entrants who are not eligible for the cash prizes, fret not, more benefits awaits us in joining this online contest. So wait no more, dust off those cover-alls, bring out the paint brushes, carpentry tools, and crank up your creative juices and join the contest now!
Have fun and good luck!
Apr 15, 2007
Free Blog review #4
The fourth installment of my free blog review campaign brings us to a blog touted as "observations of an aspiring internet marketeer" hosted by Mr Gary Lee who is a self-confessed Apple Whore!
Gary Lee lives in Southern California and currently work from home consulting a number businesses to drive more traffic to their site and also how to monetize that traffic wisely.
Similar to my Review Exchange campign started in March, Gary is offering a linkback promotion for reviewing his blog. So here I am, taking up his reciprocal offer. Gary's blog, only 2 months young, offers many useful 'need-to-know' online marketing news and tips, as well as blog monetization secrets and tricks.
Gary's blog is not all business. Besides offering tips on how to make money online, Gary also blogs about his love for Apple products and his gastronomical experiences. If you get tired reading the tons of marketing and blogging tips, and Apple gadgets do not happen to be your 'poison', then take a stroll down memory lane with Gary or hop over to read about his travelogue.
In conclusion, "observations of an aspiring internet marketeer" is a dynamic blog with future PR6 potential that offer its readers different topics to satify different segments of readers. Invest your time in this young blog, and you will be rewarded with riches in your knowledge!
If you've enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my feed
Apr 14, 2007
Technorati Favourites Exchange Experiment (Update #1)
3 days after posting the Technorat Favourites Exchange experiment, I've been favourited by 28 members and received link love booster all round!
The success of this project is never in doubt from the word go. The speed in which the project took off (I have no way to verify but based on the 'faves' received, I would like to think it i spreading like wildfire in the blogosphere), and the spillover effect it had on the technorati rankings (courtsey of link love booster) of all participatig blogs must be quite AWESOME!
There is NO STOPPING the unrelentless charge of this Technorati 'train' and as the saying goes', "a rolling stone gathers no moss", so wait no more, jump on the bandwagon and start giving and collecting your Technorati Favourites by clicking
Posted below is a list of blogs that had exchanged faves with me and I'm linking them back, as promised and as my way to say thank you. Those blogs not link here at press time, I seek your kind patience and it will be updated soon. These links also act as a one-stop resource for new project member to kick-start your Technorati train.
EJ Cooksey
JAMEO TIPS - Valkrie Angles
Quasi fictional
foreignpersepctive - arnold
Christyscoffeebreak - Christy Z
Sexy in Red - Norlina
star500k
Home Based Business - Brian Pratt
millionnzdollars - Rob St. George
Brown Thoughts - Ariel Garcia
Money Conciousness - Nenad
Ant3eye - Anthony Tripodi
Shadowscope - Richard Miles
Beyong the gas
Fortune Watch - Robin Bal
The Sports Trader - Ray Atkins
Necessary Skills - Peter Haslam
smemon's blog - sean
digitalphocus - brendan
Manila Mom - Maia Jose
smartwealthyrich - Jonathan
Thoughts on the World - Simmons
walletrehab
Life In the Fast Lane - Deborah Petersen
the anitokid chronikos
rishiraj
Local Lingo
Planet Apex
smstoday
Somewhereoverthedebt - Sarah
tech lock - rahul
Our Journey - Cynthia
Sharing Everything in Life
Azhad
Techlivez.com
TechChee.com
The Frugal Momma
Filipino Entrepreneur
Show Me The Money - Gerri
Diet Recipe For Everyday - Cherry
Technacular - Vikas
Ordinary Folk - Mike
Blogtology
My head's Angol - Wanah
Sleeping Princess
Our Journey
i.ndustrio.us
Earn Money on the Web - Kent
Spark Minute - David Spark
Making Money through Internet
Blogs et IE
Techno Freak
Enkay Blog
Earn Money Online
40s Singleness - Lisa
Betshopboy
Apr 11, 2007
Technorati Favourites Exchange Experiment
If you thought my link swap campaign to boost my technorati ranking was evil, you thought wrong! This exercise appears juvenile when compared to what Maki is scheming over at Dosh Dosh where he started a Technorati Favourites Exchange experiment aiming to break into the top 100 favourite blogs in Technorati! Definitely EVIL!
I'm all for this type of "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" programmes where bloggers help out fellow bloggers. Needless to say, I've added DoshDosh.com to my Technorati Favourites, and will systematically exchange favorites with all the interested participants of this experiment. So wait no more, jump on this bandwagon and join in this unique experiment.
Here are the steps you can take to get started:
1. Participate by Exchanging Favorites
This is fastest way to join the exchange program. Favorite my blog by clicking Add to Technorati Favorites and then leave your Technorati username and a link to favourite your blog in the comment page. I'll add your blog to my Technorati favourites once I see the link in the comment page.
2. Get a Link Back.
Link to this blog post with your post about this Technorati Favorites Exchange experiment.
These are the steps you need to take:
Create a post on your blog announcing that you are exchanging Technorati favorites. Prominently include a link to this post to indicate that there is a Technorati favourites and link exchange exchange going on here. Similarly, leave the url of your post in the comment page and I'll do a link swap to your blog as soon as I possibly can.
By linking here, you’ll send your readers to participate in this experiment and when I link back to you, the readers of this blog can visit your blog to trade favorites with you as well.
This is a targeted two-way arrangement and allows us to share traffic and readers with each other, and trust me, this will add some serious turbo charged booster to our technorati rankings!
If you are not comfortable to leave any links in the comment page, feel free to email me anytime.
Apr 9, 2007
Free Blog review #3
The celebration and holidays are over, it's back to another week of free blog review again.
To start off the week, my blog review takes me to a fabulous blog that I wanted to do some time ago but only got down to doing it now.
I'm referring to Christy's Coffee Break! It's header introduces the blog as "great contest every month" but in my opinion, Christy's Coffee Break had much more substance than just mere contests. Besides those contests, Christy's blog focus on "A Coffee Break Review" where she reviewed products, services, and companies. She also blog about her own experience of making money online, post constant stream of interesting articles here and here, and if those do not cut it with you, then Christy's 5 quick tips on becoming a better blogger is a must read for all newbie, like me.
As a fellow blogger, I draw valuable lessons from Christy's blog, one of which is to
DIVERSIFY
DIVERSIFY
DIVERSIFY
both in contents as well as revenue sources. One can never go wrong.
Visiting Christy's Coffee Break never fails to give me the relaxing feeling of having my coffee in a cafe, flipping the magazines and simply watching the wold pass by.
And if one coffee break review is not enough for you, Christy actually authors 3 other blogs (where and how she find the time really puzzles me) and they are The Reviewer, where products, companies, services, and web sites are reviewed, for business owners' who like a review of their companies, products or websites, and also for consumers who wish to post their review or experience in a company, product or service.
The next blog is titled "A Hint of Poetry", it is a site about poetry and writing. You will find poetry from around the world, poetry contests, and great writing advice. You are welcome to submit your own poetry for review and possible publication on the site. See the submission guidelines for more information.
The fourth blog that Christy authored is a fun blog for kids, titled "Just For Kids (and their parents!)". Just For Kids has great links to children's websites and great articles for parents to enjoy. Christy had callaboarated with Ezine Articles to provide useful articles for parents as well as for kids to help them in their growing up years. Kids can send in their drawings, pictures, and poetry for a chance to be published on Just For Kids. Find out more by reading "Send In Your Work."
There you have it, this free blog review of mine actually consist of 4 mini reviews all authored by the multi-talented Christy Zutautas. Be sure to drop by Christy's "cafe" for a coffee break...
Apr 8, 2007
Painting Day
I moved into my current flat some 7 years ago, and the initial coat of paint is still intact. Some of the walls are in need of a fresh coat of paint, and a little home maintenance will go a long way to keeping my nest in tip top shape. The online home improvement and remodeling resource, RemodelingMySpace.com posted some useful and important pointers on how to find the right home painter. Since I'm not painting the entire house, I'll embark on a little Do-It-Myself mini home improvement poject. Today I'll start with painting the ceiling of the 2 bathrooms and that of the kitchen.
The can of paint only cost me $9.
The brush and paint holder tray were borrowed.
I've slotted in a plastic bag over the paint holder tray
for easy removal of left-over paint later on
Some 'before' pics of the stained ceiling shown here.
Oh, these stains are evil!
Let me wield my magic brush on the 'canvas'.
I'm getting the hang of it, but my neck is stiff and my arms are burning!
Now for the final assault. Surrender you dirty stains!
You have been completely surrounded!
Yes, finally completed! Compare this 'after' pic
with the 'before' pic posted above.
My first house painting project finally completed without much fanfare. I was awashed with a sense of satisfaction and expecting my neck and arms to go on strike tomorrow. I'm sure this paint job is nowhere near 'pro' standard, but for a first-timer like me, it will have to suffice.
Apr 5, 2007
Go With The Blow
There's not much you can do with soap bubbles, except blow them, watch them float about andvanish into thin air - unless you are Tom Noddy.
BUBBLE-BLOWING extraordinaire Tom Noddy shares 5 things about bubbles you probably never knew:
1. Bubbles burst not because they come into contact with a sharp object. It happens becausethey touch a dry surface. You can use a wet straw to gently pierce a bubble and you won't succeed in popping it.
2. Humidity is good for bubbles. If the weather or surrounding is too dry, the bubble solution vaporises more quickly, causing the bubble to burst.
3. A single soap bubble in the air is a near perfect sphere. Surface tension acts to minimise the form of the object, and the sphere is the most economical shape in nature - it uses theleast amount of surface area to contain a given volume.
4. Bubbles are not weightless. In a room with no air circulation at all, bubbles will dropto the ground in a straight line. You see them floating and drifting about only because theyare carried by moving air.
5. To catch hold of a bubble, don't place the blowing stick under the bubble. Part of the bubble,outside of the contact surface of the blowing stick, will inevitably come to rest on the drywrist area causing it to pop. Always use a wet stick and hold it from the top. Lots ofpractice is needed, like 30years?
Apr 4, 2007
Free Blog review - Batch 1
From today onwards, my "Free Blog Review" posting will undergo some changes. Instead of writing review to individual blog, I'll do mini review in batches of up to 5 blogs (max), depending on my sighting of interesting blogs in the blogosphere. The basic rules and objective of this campaign remains unchanged,
The reviews are as follows (not in order of preference):
- Dawayne of Dwayne's World had earlier dropped a comment in my post for a review exchange, I'm honoured to oblige, albeit a little belated. Dwayne blog about many different topics, but mainly about how to make money online, useful tips on how to write simple, effective post and how to keep the blogging fire burning can also be found.
The poems that Dwayne posted brought much joy to my reading, my favourite being "RAIN". His blog is worth repeated visits base on the quality of his poems.
Acquirewisdom is an interesting blog that focus on posting words of wisdom or inspirational quotes, like Leadership, Seizing Opportunity and Success, to name a few.
The blog title with its short write ups already sets the tone of what is to come."Wisdom lies not in the amount of knowledge acquired but in the degree of its application. We only live once. But if we live properly, once is enough" Very meaningful, isn't it?
In a nutshell, Acquirewisdom is indeed an acquired taste.- BLOGGER LOUNGE is a relatively new blog that was started less than 2 months ago, but do not take its newness for its weakness as its popularity is evidence in the speed at which its Technorati ranking shot up overnight! BL touts itself as a place learn and share the latest trends, tips, strategies, for those willing to become part of a new breed of creatives and entrepreneurs.
The most impressive feature that makes Blogger Lounge stands out is its uniquely designed logo and amazing icons! Its owner George C must be a damn fine web designer, although his background was not published in his profile page. He has just started a blog contest where the Top commentator will win (no prizes for guessing right)an amazing free logo design for his/her blog, by George of course!
His blog post Top Blog Branding series teaches the essential basics of blog branding and one of the techniques is via unique design, which is his expertise! Blogger Lounge is one hell of a website for bloggers, new and seasoned, to learn, to contribute, and to participate!
blog review
May you be Blessed
Imagine a world where everyone is blessed by the presence of everyone else.
Just imagine how beautiful such a world would be......Kate Nowak
Click here to watch this beautiful video clip.
The Words
May you be blessed with all things good.
May your joys, like the stars at night,be too numerous to count.
May your victories be more abundant
than all the grains of sand on all the beaches
on all the oceans
in all the world.
May lack and struggle only serve to make you stronger
and may beauty order and abundance
be your constant companions.
May every pathway you choose
lead to that which is pure and good and lovely.
May every doubt and fearbe replaced by a deep abiding trust
as you behold evidence of a Higher Powerall around you.
And when there is only darkness
and the storms of life are closing in
May the light at the core of your being
illuminate the world.
May you always be aware you are loved beyond measure
and may you be willing to love unconditionally in return.
May you always feel protected and cradled in the arms of God,
like the cherished child you are.
And when you are tempted to judge
may you be reminded that we are all ONE
and that every thought you think
reverberates across the universe,touching everyone and everything.
And when you are tempted to hold back,
may you remember that love flows best when
it flows freely and it is in giving that we receive
the greatest gift.
May you always have music and laughter
and may a rainbow follow every storm
May gladness wash away every disappointment
may joy dissolve every sorrowand my love ease every pain.
May every wound bring wisdom
and every trial bring triumph and with each passing day
may you live more abundantly than the day before.
May you be blessed
And may others be blessed by you.
This is my heartfelt wish for you.
May you be blessed.
Apr 3, 2007
Birthdays
April is the Birthday month for my kids. Yes, both of them are born in the month of April! Went to the bike shop to get the birthday presents.
Transport secured, time to go home!
Finally reach home. Gotta hide both set of wheels in the storeroom until the big day!Stay tune to find out when their actual birthdays are.
Apr 2, 2007
Progress @ Q1
In the corporate world, public listed companies are accountable to shareholders for thier financial performances, and one way to announce their figures is through the annual report.
As my blog is also a public property, I've a duty towards my readers who are my stakeholders, and short of holding an AGM or publishing an annual report, I'll publish quarterly report of this blog's progress here.
March has been a hectic month for me on the blogging front, with a record 18 posts published in March. Ever since i started monetization of this blog, i have to start "growing up" in a fast-forward mode, with a steep learning curve as my constant companion.
I entered into a "attract online traffic at all cost" phase and put in a solid 3 hours every week-nights for this purpose. Fortunately, i'm glad to report, I've achieved some minute result in improving my technorati ranking. Before monetization, this blog was ranked 2.9 million with zero links, but by end of March, there were 4 other blogs linked to here and my technorati ranking hit below the 1 million mark. This ranking position is nothing to crow about really, but the speed and the huge jump over the last 3 weeks was phenomenal.
It gave me such motivation to work harder, and most importantly, it shows that if I put my heart and soul into it, with hardwork and focused dedication, I actually can make this work!
One of the project I started was "Free Blog Review" where I will scour the net for interesting blogs and do reviews of those blogs for free, in return for a review exchange or link swap (no free lunch in this world, ok?). Being a newbie in this business, I realise early on that I cannot sit here expecting traffic to just flow in. I've to go out there, do all the 'ground work' in order to create awareness of my existence in the blogsphere.
This post is as much a progress report as is a self reminder that this is only the begining of the journey and I've still got a long and arduous road ahead. Having said that, it is important to recognise that online success is never garaunteed.
I sure as hell got lots to learn, i've not even earn my first dollar from this blog after all the hours put in, but with the friends I've made and the stuffs I've learnt, the journey thus far is worth every single minute i've invested. I hope I have the chance to incorporate my earnings report by the time Q2 comes around.
Last but not least, I want to thank all my subscribers, my readers and all those who have supported and linked to this blog. Keep those comments, feedbacks and/or critics coming in! BLOG ON!!!
Apr 1, 2007
Free Blog review #2
This "Free Blog review" campaign with reciprocal link swap, is catching on with bloggers as I've received a few review requests. It'll take me sometime to clear the backlog but it is a happy problem I'll gladly have, anytime.
Today, my free blog review adventure brings me to a beautiful blog titled "TERRI TERRI QUITE CONTRARY". To start with, the picture of big red hibiscus shouted out for attention, but what leaves a deep impression on me is the wonderfully taken photographs that were generously peppered throughout the blog, and coupled with the catchy and infectiously hum-able blog title that keeps repeating in my head the whole time I was reading the blog posts!
Another notable feature of this blog that I must mention, is the absence of online ads! It is totally ad-free! In these days of monetization, where anyone with an internet connection wants to make money online (there are millions of blogs out there cluttered with ads), Terri has defied convention and stayed true to the original spirit of blogging. For that I APPLAUD you.
Terri's blog is unique in that she blogs about her life, her work, her children, summer vacations, home improvement project (boy, I love those psychedelic colors!), and just about anything and everything under the sun. These are events only unique to her and her family, no one can copy (unlike the millions of copy-cat money-making tips readily available) , and no one can take that away from her.
Reading Terri's blog afforded me the sanity I seek in this near-total monetized world of blog.
I've add the links to her blog on my side bar, to remind myself to apply that balance, and also to remind myself what's most important in my life (my family of course).
Terri's blog is so much fun and indeed a breadth of fresh air. Wait no more, don't just base on hearsay from this review, see for yourself how Terri returns to the root of her ancestor! (Hint: picture tells a thousand words)
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