Today is the Day…or Maybe it’s Tomorrow

Filed under: — Blogging, General, Tips & Tricks

Motivation can be a funny thing when you work on the internet. There are a million things waiting to distract you. From casual games to that television show you missed, you have a number of ways to distract yourself from whatever your goals are when you come online.

Blogging can be especially tough because it’s easy to get lost in Stumble Upon or to spend hours networking on other sites. While these things are equally as important, if you don’t spend time writing blog posts your blog will only get so far.

Some days, I stay on task incredibly well. Other days, I convince myself that being a reviewer means I can spend the day playing games. It is true I can do that, but in reality I need to do more than that to make any of the sites I write on successful.

Staying on task sounds easy, but with so many ways to lose your concentration what do you do to keep it?

Keep a Blog Schedule
As much as I hate schedules (and I seriously hate schedules), I find that they do offer a huge benefit. If you run multiple blogs, scheduling time for post writing, networking, and research can be a huge help to you. This will stop you from spending too much time on one blog and not enough on another. It will also make you try harder to stay on track. Having a structured day gives you a reason to get done whatever you need to do.

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I Love My Website, but Why Don’t You?

Written by: Ashtyn at 5:48 am on

Filed under: — Blogging, Marketing

When you’ve built a website or a blog you’ve most likely done it because you want it to succeed. That also probably means you have spent a good deal of time on it. Maybe you had a personalized design made or you found a template that was nice and seemed rarely used. You took the time to write out some posts, fill in all the pages with the proper information, made sure your contact form was working and your ads were in place. In other words, you were ready to settle into the groove of being an internet entrepreneur.

So, now what?

All of the pieces to the puzzle are complete and you’re adding posts by the dozen, so why aren’t people visiting your website? Like the title suggests, you might love your website but you find yourself wondering why you’re the only one that does.

The good news is that if you’re site is as good as you think it is, you’re probably just suffering from new site blues. When people start out with their first blog they rarely (and I mean rarely) are lucky enough to see substantial numbers come out of the woodwork. Most people have to plug away at building a site and a community. They have to network, work the social networking sites, and hope for a couple of breaks. It doesn’t come easy and the number one mistake that failing bloggers make, especially new failing bloggers, is thinking that it should come easy.

The truth is, there could be a number of reasons why you aren’t getting a maximum amount of exposure. Finding out what those reasons are and doing something about them is what is going to set the professional bloggers apart from the failed bunch that have to go back to 9 to 5.

So, what do I do to get visitors?

Social Networking
One of the best free methods of advertising you have is known as social networking. Sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, and even Myspace or Facebook can be invaluable to a blogger. Sure, you will have to spend some time working on these sites. You will need to make friends, digg articles, and promote yourself, but if you do these things you won’t have any problems getting visitors out of the deal. In fact, in most cases, you will end up with visitors that comment and come back to your site. Just make sure you aren’t spamming people in the process because that will do just the opposite of what you want. It’s great that you love your site, but don’t be obnoxious about it. There is nothing wrong with mentioning your blog or your new articles, but if you’re begging for people to digg your articles you might want to re-evaluate your methods.

Twitter
If you’ve been living under a rock you might not know what Twitter is. Otherwise, you’re likely well aware that it is a type of up-to-the-minute mini-blog that explains what you are doing, where you’re at, or what’s going on in your life. In addition to posting these things, you can use Twitterfeed to add your RSS and send your updated blog posts to your twitter list. Like other social networking sites people can follow you to see what you’re up to. This allows them current information about your blog, so they can decide whether they should subscribe to it or not. This is great because people will click on links that they are interested in and could have missed out on.

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Software Review: Microsoft Office Professional 2007

Written by: Ashtyn at 2:07 pm on September 27, 2008

Filed under: — Reviews, Tips & Tricks, Writing

Microsoft Office 2007 Box As a business professional of any kind there are certain things that you need to function in business both efficiently and comfortably. Productivity software is usually high on that list. As a blogger, I could never do my job without using software that makes my job faster, easier, and more organized. Many of the necessary programs on my list are Microsoft Office programs. The most common of those include Word, Outlook, and Excel. These are the programs that I absolutely cannot live without. While these programs are expensive, if you can afford them, they offer much bigger benefits than your average word processing software.

Word is one of those programs that are just universal in business and academics. In colleges across the country, the .doc format is the basis for all papers handed in for grading. Likewise, in business this is a format that is used with the assumption that most other business people will be using that program, too. In fact, at least in some form, it tends to be one of the first programs that people learn to use when they are learning the computer.

So, as you can imagine, when we were given the chance to review the 2007 version of Microsoft software, we jumped at the chance. I had heard of all of the great things that would be coming out in the 2007 version of Microsoft Office, but I tried to ignore the excitement value because I was just going on hype at that point. I had checked out a few screenshots and knew the basic specs, but I had not tested it out and that’s what is really important.

Before testing it out I did know that at least eight specific versions of the software would be available for purchase. These bundles include Microsoft Office Basic, Home & Student, Standard, Small Business, Professional, Ultimate, Professional Plus, and Professional Enterprise. This review is on Microsoft Office Professional. Professional includes Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. After using them for a bit to test everything out, I can honestly say that it would be hard to live without these programs, especially for business, and they are worth the few hundred dollars that Microsoft is charging for them.

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Job Leads for Saturday May 31, 2008

Written by: Ashtyn at 6:43 pm on May 31, 2008

Filed under: — General

Hi Everyone Here are this weekend’s job leads for Saturday! The leads are kind of scarse today, though we do have some good telecommuting options, as well as a few regional options in various pay amounts. Saturdays can be touch and go when looking for jobs, but I am sure there is something here that you might like. I wish you all well on your job hunt and hope you find the job you’re looking for during your search!

$10 and Higher

Telecommute

Content Writer/Blogger
$1,000-$2,000 Monthly

Writers Wanted
$10 per Post

Gay Pornographic Movie/Website Reviews
$40 per review (750 words + Short Description)

Regional

Writer - Alexandria
$10 per Hour

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Even Better than Yesterday

Written by: Ashtyn at 8:24 pm on May 9, 2008

Filed under: — Scams, Writing

So, the guy that sent in his writing request has decided to raise his pay scale. Granted, it’s not much, but I’m starting to think I am a fool for not snatching this client up!

Title:10 Dentesty articles for 15 USD

Description: I need the density articles (250-550) words

choose topics from the following or any other subject but must be related to density and i can also provide you with research links.

Examples:
any treatment or type of procedure
any dental related materials or instruments
any dentistry related news
any dental equipment

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The Funniest Job Bid I’ve Ever Received

Written by: Ashtyn at 4:42 am on May 8, 2008

Filed under: — Job Opportunities, Scams, Writing

After years of being a freelance writer, I’ve heard and seen some pretty crazy things. A lot of those things tend to do with pricing and payments. It’s amazing how people think they can make a successful business by paying an English speaking writer ten cents (an article, not word). However, I just usually walk away from most of them. I have my rates posted on some of the sites where people contact me and if people are unable to pay attention to them, then I just ignore the bids.

This one though…this one just takes the cake. It is by far the most laughable offer I have ever received. The sad thing is that I am sure someone will end up doing it, further allowing these cheapskates to assume that it’s okay to charge writers the little money that they do.

If you need a laugh feel free to check this out:

Title:10 India Traveling Articles of 300 words in 24 Hours for 10 USD

Hi!

i need ten articles written but that should be the quality work and the dead line is 24 hours!

Articles are fairly simple and most research links will be provided. Word count should be about 150 to 300 except for any long articles but these should be under 500 as far as possible. A template that you will need to use will be sent.

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7 Giveaways at Literary Illusions & LI Kids

Written by: Ashtyn at 12:35 pm on May 7, 2008

Win One of Three Copies of Ben 10 Race Against Time on DVD

Filed under: — Contests

Win One of Three Copies of In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale on DVD

Win One of Three Copies of The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream on DVD

Win One of Five Copies of The 4400: The Fourth Season on DVD

Win One of Three Copies of Wristcutters: A Love Story On DVD

Win One of Three Harlequin Triple Feature, Volume 3 on DVD (more…)

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JOBS: Looking for Writers at Literary Illusions

Written by: Ashtyn at 10:35 pm on January 7, 2008

Filed under: — Job Boards, Job Opportunities

We are looking for writers for our website, Literary Illusions. Writers will be paid through Adsense. This value will be accumulated through ads that are placed on every article the writer has on our site. Rather than having our Adsense ads on your pages, your Adsense ads will automatically be placed on the website on all of the articles you write. You must have an Adsense account to write for us. You can get an account for free at adsense.com.

Literary Illusions is an information portal that offers news and reviews. Our combined portals get close to 500,000 page views per month so you will find that there is an audience who will be checking out your articles. Our portals are: Entertainment, Sports, Reviews, News, Opinions, and Kids. We need writers who are interested in writing on the following topics:

For Hotarazzi (Our Entertainment Portal):
-Music Scene News
-Movie/TV Spoilers & News
-Celebrity Pregnancies, Babies, Birth, Rumors, and Kids
-Teen/Tweens News & Commentary (We need someone who is rather Snarky for this)
-DUI/Junkies News

For Home Team Advantage (Our Sports Portal):
-Hockey
-NBA
-NASCAR
-Olympic Sports & News
-Football/Soccer (FIFA & MLS)
-Boxing/Mixed Martial Arts/Wrestling – Contact Sports
-Golf
-Other – Horse Racing, Skateboarding, Sports not Otherwise Covered
-International Sports (Rugby, Cricket, etc)