Okay, maybe famous is pushing it a little … how about … let me show you and your biz off a bit!

I’m in the process of writing an ebook about creating Membership Sites for my upcoming website launch.  While working on it the other evening I got to the idea section.  This section is basically a list of membership site ideas as well as an explanation of some of the things you could include in that particular membership site.  I was also thinking - and if you don’t know this already – one thing you can do to jazz up an ebook is to include pictures.  So yeah – gotta get some pics too.

One of the ideas is to create a personal training membership website.  Immediately I thought of one of my best friend’s online … @busymommaval  Val is a personal training as well as she does a lot of business coaching online.  (Hence the nickname I gave her at MommysHelperCommunity.com - Coach Val).

Then I began thinking of a few others I know who are in professional fields such as @LynnTerry & @AureliaW.  After a few Twitter DMs they’re all for it!  The three of them are gonna hook me up with a picture of them “providing their services”.

So, in keeping with the theme here, I thought I’d try to find a few more people.  I’m needing people who are involved in the following fields:

• Freelancer/Telecommuter – Looking for a picture of you working at your computer.
• Frugal Living/Budgeting/Investing Website - Looking for a site logo/ad button.
• Dating/Relationship Website – Looking for a site logo/ad button.
• Travel Website – Looking for a site logo/ad button … or maybe even just a picture of someone boarding a plane or a bus … or any other ideas … just as long as it’s something to do with traveling of course.
• Medical Advice Website – Looking for a site logo/ad button.
• Writer/Author  – Looking for someone who has a website about them being an author/writer.  I could use a site logo/ad button … or maybe even a picture of you with a pen/pencil in hand.

If you’re involved with any of these fields and have a picture already of something that it’s easy to read into “this is what I do” … I am open to any other suggestions.

The only catch is I need these pictures as soon as possible.  Oh and I’m a big stickler to giving credit where credit is due so I will most certainly include your name, business name and website address in the ebook as well.  (Actually, it will be in two ebooks.)

So if you’re interested, feel free to post a comment here or send me a DM at twitter.  My Twitter ID is @anitadefrank  Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Okay before I even go on here, I have to say … NO! I do not need another social network! I especially don’t need another social network that seriously resembles Twitter.

Here’s the deal for me. At times social networking can so get in the way of my biz work. Sometimes I have to force myself to turn off Twitter and force myself to KEEP it off.

I love all my friends and business collegues to death – love ya all! (I also LOVE Twitter!)

But I remember a while back …

You HAVE to get a MySpace account! You just have to! I want to friend request you!

… so, I got a MySpace account …
Luckily with the MySpace account I did not waste too much time. I did waste some but not too much.

It also needs to be made special note here that in between MySpace & Twitter, there were a TON of requests that I had gotten every single day for every new social network on the face of the Earth. And if you remember correctly, there were new ones popping up literally every single day. I got extremely tired of them to be quite blunt here.

Twitter! You must Tweet! You have to Twitter so I can follow you!

… so, I sign up to Twitter …
And again, I *love* my Twitter! And I love how I’ve finally taught myself that I can leave Twitter and still keep up with the important things I want to.

Facebook! Facebook! I love Facebook! This from the people who were begging me to get on MySpace!

I will more than likely get on Facebook but right now I have a site I have to launch and then I’ll be there if I want to.

Am I going to be bombarded soon with Buzz requests? Or whatever they’re called? I have a sneaking feeling I am.

Listen, I’m all about social networking. I think done properly it definitely has it’s pluses on a business-side. Done properly and used within reason. If you’re focusing all your business efforts on social networking only. Buck up cause you’re gonna wish you hadn’t put all your eggs in one basket some day. Don’t believe me now? That’s fine cause if you don’t … that simply means I’m not going to change your mind and I personally don’t have the time to try.

But … that’s a WHOLE other ballpark all together.

Back to Google Buzz …

Now wait, just a second … BUZZ?
Looks like Twitter, Sounds like Yahoo! … Smells like Google??
(Yahoo! Buzz that is.)

Things that make ya go hmm …

Okay, now we’re really back to Google Buzz Are they murdering Twitter? That’s certainly more than I can ever predict. But some of my (own personal) thoughts are …

- Twitter is just fine as is and I’m happy with it.

- Hmmm … nice updgrades from Twitter. But that comes with a but … one of the the main things I like most about Twitter is that it is so quick and easy. Sure, more functions might be nice for some but for me, that’s just more time.

- I do NOT want to start all over in another “Twitter-like” platform or any new social network for that matter.

- And I’m sorry but … Google, get your own idea! Did you really feel that threatened by Twitter? Were they in that much direct competition that you needed to create something just like it but “so-called better”?

And did you really feel the need to rub it in Twitter’s face by saying: “Go Beyond Status Messages”? Sorry but yeah, me personally, I took offense to that.

I could go on and on and on here … but I won’t. I’m sure the big plus many are going to like is the fact that it’s so compatible with Gmail. Works right with your Gmail account. Guess what? I don’t HAVE a Gmail account. wait – back up – that’s wrong. I do have a Gmail account but I don’t use it.

So, am I going to have my Yahoo email account open and my Gmail account open all the time so I can keep up with Buzz. Uh, probably not.

Researching a bit, I also found out about a big boo boo Google did …

According to BusinessInsider.com:
“In other words, before you change any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see the people you email and chat with most.”

Oops! I’m sorry, a Google spokesperson asked them to rephrase their complaint … er, I mean their claim differently. In response, BusinessInsider.com chose this wording instead:
“In other words, after you create your profile in Buzz, if you don’t edit any of the default settings, someone could visit your profile and see the people you email and chat with most (provided you didn’t edit this list during profile creation).”

Don’t panic too badly just yet though, BusinessInsider.com also provides you with instructions on how to immediately make these lists private and then edit them.

I, like Nicolas Carlson of BusinessInsider.com am shocked that Google sees nothing wrong with this. Simply put, Google wanted to make things easier on us so we can “immediately see content from the people they {we} chat with most”.

Thanks but no thanks Google, when it comes to my privacy, I’m fine with clicking a couple more checkboxes.

The fact that I have to sign a Privacy Act everywhere I go – well, almost everywhere. I’m sure the day will come when I have to sign a Privacy Act at my favorite local drive-thru promising me none of their employees will ever share my favorite drive-thru goody. Exaggerating? Maybe, but what do you think? And Google seems to think this is okay?

Click here to have a looksee at their full response …
(Bottom of post)

And FYI – Twitter offers basically the same thing w/ my Yahoo account but guess what? I get to pick and choose who I want!

It’s following the simple steps of:
1. Click Find People
2. Click Find Friends
3. Entering my email and password (over a secure server) and tada!
There’s my email contacts that may or may not be on Twitter that I may or MAY NOT want to connect with and again … I get to pick and choose who I want.

I don’t want everyone knowing everyone I deal with on a regular basis – especially in a business sense.

Do you want everyone to know where you buy all those super-hard-to-find purple polka-dotted widgets – the ones that took you months of research to find at a deeply discounted wholesale price?

Do you want everyone to know you outsource some of your client work? (You know, the work you pay $5 to have done but your client pays you $20.)

Do you want everyone to know you found this great new PLR website that has extremely well-written content about that super hot new niche?

I could go on and on again and of course some of these things in particular don’t apply to me personally but I know a ton of people who these do apply to and in a very big way.

How about the fact that you and your husband are having … uh, shall I say intimacy problems? You ordered a great new “item” online to “spice up your marriage” and you also decided to subscribe to their “52 Weeks of Spectacular Tricks Sure to Make You Feel Like Newlyweds Again” ecourse. Or maybe this ecourse came “free” with your purchase. Not that any company would do something like this to get you on a list – we’d never do this, right? Hello!?!?

What does almost every online newsletter subscription, ezine or ecourse confirmation email request you do? How about something along the lines of …

“To be sure you get your tips every week, please add: business@businessname.com to your contacts list.”

Look familiar? And just what happens when that particular company decides to add social networking to their marketing plans (that is if they don’t already do so – and who doesn’t?)

Maybe your spouse has … uh, shall I say a problem raising the flag to full mast (to be as polite as possible here) …
Maybe you’re losing your hair …

… Or it could go beyond simple embarrassment …

Maybe you suspect your child is abusing drugs …
Maybe you need help with an alcoholic family member, or you’re a victim of domestic violence or abuse??

And with each of these topics, you’re subscribed to online newsletters.

So maybe I’m exaggerating a bit … but really … am I? These are real life scenerios that could easily happen! I’m not completely making things up here!

And what about children? It’s only a matter of time before this COULD BE the next Twitter. How many teen children are using Twitter? MySpace? Facebook?

Remember my complaint above about “You have to join this new social network!” above? Same thing is happening with our children. Do you want your child’s contact list out public like this? Do you want YOUR child listed on someone else’s contact list?

What happens if a child misses the whole “opt-out” process? Most adults will miss it, gosh knows our kids are probably going to miss it more quickly.

I’m no lawyer here but when you’re involving children here, I do believe this goes way above embarrassment, way above public huimiliation … yeah, above and BEYOND …

Here’s a little tip Google … let me OPT-IN … not OPT-OUT

Of course, this is just my two cents. I’ll step off my soapbox now.

I’m looking for blog owners who are accepting guest bloggers. More specifically I’m looking for the following types of blogs:

Internet Marketing:
All forms, article marketing, affiliate marketing, viral marketing, list marketing, etc. etc. etc.

WAHM:
Anything WAHM related – preferably ones that an internet marketing blog post will fit.

I will be able to provide a copy of the blog post ahead of time for your approval. I will also be giving away free reports to your readers

If you’re interested, please do either of the following:
leave a comment … 
email me at mommyshelperonline @ yahoo.com (without the spaces) with Guest Blogger in the subject line …

Please also include a link to your blog in your message.  

I will be accepting guest bloggers on my blogs in the near future.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Plugin that is … you’re only allowed one. 

If you had to choose one plugin for your WP blog/site … one that you simply could not do without …

What would it be?

First let me say I’m not a big fan of high ticket programs. Generally I shy away with any program with a price tag on it, but this one came with a free trial. So I figured why not?

I was knee deep in search engine optimization, having finally gotten out of my slump and back on the horse. I’ve never been one to jump on the “latest SEO tricks”, and always stuck to the tried and true forms of SEO. Wouldn’t you know it’s been nearly a year since I’ve done anything but a few posts a month on Idea Queen, and all my rankings have stayed put for the most part. “Slow and steady wins the race” comes to mind here.

Now as I’m searching for some of the FireFox add-ons I had installed on my computer before the horrid computer crash of ’09 (I’m starting from scratch here people – I more or less lost EVERYTHING, since I cant even find my back up disks from last April), I stumbled across something new. Well, maybe not new to the internet, but new to me. That program is Advanced Web Rankings.

The first thing I noticed after downloading it was that I’m a HUGE GEEK. I was drooling over all the functions of this sexy beast, and didn’t even know where to start. The main reason I wanted my hands on it was for some -safe- form of checking rankings that didn’t require me typing in all my keyword phrases one by one and searching for them in the listings. Keep in mind Idea Queen has at least 100 optimized pages, some with multiple keyword terms.  Talk about a daunting task, and I can’t even keep track of half of them without it consuming an entire day. Granted I only use to check every 3 months or so, but still. Big, big task. Sadly I lost my spreadsheet with all the info though, so this is a HUGE time saver in my researching.

Some of the functions just aren’t available with the standard version, but that’s fine. I’ve always had my own way of keyword research, and honest, it’s worked for years for me. Don’t fix it if is ain’t broke, right? So that part I don’t need. HOWEVER, it’s sparked some suggestions for me as I was adding in my keywords since I had it set on “Google suggest”. Which in turn sparked an idea for more content. WOO!

Now it doesn’t just spit out all your rankings, but give you reports and other functions to see if your really targeting the keywords you should be. It also shows you if your site has moved from specific phrases over time. Very cool, and very good to know.

When my free trial expires, I do plan to buy the full Standard version for $99. And for those of you that know me, spending this much on one business tool is simply unheard of. Even more surprising, I plan to upgrade to the Enterprise version for the keyword research function after I get further into the swing of things again. For now though, I’m extremely happy to have a good handle on where my pages are ranked, and knowing where I can improve.

If you’ve spent any time at all on this blog, you’ll know Anita and I are big fans of of the big players in the business world. GoDaddy for domain names, HostGator for hosting, WordPress for websites, and Aweber for newsletters. But my “side note” of things I had down to do today ended up in a discovery that made a HUGE difference.

I’ve never been a big fan of popups, popunders, or anything that annoys the crap out of me. Although I’ve been seeing some “less intrusive” means of pop ups that I don’t think are too bad. For some reason being able to click the box off the page itself is less annoying that a new window. Don’t ask me why I really don’t know.

So I went in search of a script or something to use to make one of those nifty subscription box page pop ups. Come to find out Aweber provides this, already built in and highly customizable. *Happy dance* All I needed to do was set it up there and use one itty bitty snippit of code that worked flawlessly on my WordPress template (speaking of, have you SEEN the new redesigned Idea Queen? I’m still working off some static pages but I may be moving it all over to blog-only format eventually).

Now for the Numbers….

I’ve always been pretty darn good about putting my subscription boxes all over the place. Every single page in the MIDDLE or TOP of the content. Not tucked away on the side. The conversion rate of visitors to subscribers was about 1-2%. Absolutely pathetic really. 1-2 subscribers a day, 3 if I was lucky, and sometimes ZERO…. for 700-1000 new visitors every single day. Yuck.

As soon as I changed it so a box would pop up (and yes of course I left the old ones in place, I’d be stupid if I didn’t), I had instant subscribers. It was added sometime this afternoon (still early evening now), and I have 4 confirmed subscribers (5 more still unconfirmed, but won’t add those in the total just yet). Now it may seem small but if you figure there’s probably more to come (and I’m taking into account it’s Thursday – not exactly my best traffic day). Averaging just 8 a day is 250 per month, which is a HUGE leap from the 25 I was averaging.

I’ll be sure to post more results later, but I just wanted to share this awesome feature Aweber has (and probably has for quite some time, I’m just now noticing it HA!). Oh, and it’s under “Web Forms”.

While organizing a “real” cookie swap for some friends and family … I started thinking it’d be cool to do something like this online too.  From there it simply exploded!
 
To try and make a long story short, I need your favorite cookie recipe.  With these recipes I’m going to compile a WAHM Virtual Cookie Swap eCookbook.
 
Included in this ebook will be the name and website address of each submission.  (Think – Exposure!)  eCookbooks will be set up so anyone can give it out to whomever they want.  (Think – Viral Marketing!)
 
And … If you submit a recipe, I will create a personalized copy just for you!  There’s so many things you can do with these.  You’ll find a list of things on our details page.
 
Want more exposure?  Submit as many recipes as you’d like!  The more the better!
 
Grab all the details here:
http://www.mommyshelpercommunity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14530

While I’m still doing some ad testing on the recipe site, an idea for a new site hit me and I just had to jump on it. Sorry, it’s a niche site, so I can’t share too many details. But I will say this – it’s a pretty hot market and it’s income will be from affiliate programs.

Since I did the recipe site with WordPress, I realized that content management scripts are the way to go to make professional looking websites, and great for those you plan to update on a regular basis. Although I had a hell of a time with the WP scripts and getting them “just right”.  Call me a control freak, but it drives me nuts if I can’t make things EXACTLY how I want them.

I started with WP again, this time in search of a magazine-style template since there was only certain sections that would be updated maybe a few times a month. The majority of the site is static and probably won’t change that much. After fighting for a few hours with a few templates, I scraped the whole idea of using WP and went in search of something else. Well, I found it, and it’s name is Joomla.

Now there is one major drawback here, and that’s the huge learning curve in front of me. I know NOTHING about this program or how to edit. Although after doing some playing I’ve come to realize that it has a LOT of editing options you can play with. Still, there’s a few things I want to change (remember I am VERY picky!) and have no idea how, so it’s a bit frustrating. It’s almost as there’s just too many options and I find myself completely lost.

Still, I’m enjoying learning about something new and creating a really cool looking site in the process. I’m glad I went with something completely different from WP, because there’s more I can do and a whole lot more layout options (which is GREAT for various sections and pages on the site!). I do love WP, but it just wasn’t going to work this time around.

Update: I ended up completely scrapping Joomla as well. Was just too much of it I wasn’t liking, and I have to stick with my good ole’ tried and true WordPress -OR- static sites. Plus with every update I love WordPress more and more – just too many plug-ins and templates to stray to another platform!

I’m a stat freak. And as such, I notice even the smallest of changes in my visitors, income, and other stats lots of people don’t pay attention to.  What I’ve been noticing is how poorly my CTR (click through rate) and CPM (views per thousand) have been doing at Adsense.

A few days ago I mentioned how I was blocking irrelevant ads from my site. It worked, a little bit. But for every 5 I blocked, another one would show up. I have been blocking sites DAILY for the past week or so, and frankly this is getting tiresome. Do I really need to tell Google that ads on skin care and teeth whitening do NOT belong on a recipe site? Apparently so, and I’m SICK OF IT.

I went in search of something to cure this bad ad disease, but instead found a new ad network specifically for recipe portals and sites. WOO! I got pretty excited about this, mostly because it was exactly what I was looking for – TARGETED ads for the site.

The more I looked at this network, the more I fell in love with it. Not only do I get targeted ads to start with, but I get to set my own prices for CPC and CPM. FINALLY I will actually KNOW what I’m getting instead of what bone Google decides to throw. Happy dance time? Oh, not yet!

It dawns on me this ad network for recipe sites (GourmetAds, for those of you who were curious), is actually part of a larger company called Adify. I poked around and saw several different networks that would be PERFECT for Idea Queen, so added that site to my account while I waited for the original recipe site to be approved for GourmetAds.

Now, the absolute BEST PART of this entire ad network is the fact you can set your own default ads to run in case you don’t “sell” them through Adify. Which means for those of you nervous (like me) to yank your current ad network, you don’t have to! Before I was even approved for the site, I set up a few ads to run and set my Adsense as the default, so it runs the same ads as I was running before I found this awesome site while I wait to sell some ads. ROCK ON!

While I haven’t dug too deep into this just yet, I’m just beyond excited to have found it. I can’t wait to start serving up some ads and knowing exactly what I’ll be earning instead of praying to the Google Gods to bring me enough to pay my bills this month. Happy Dance Time!

By now most of us know what Google Adsense is and what it does. Ads go on your site, visitors click, you get paid. Doesn’t get any more simple than that.

But what happens when those clicks are only earning you a few cents, and your CTR and eCPM seems to be dropping by the day? What happened to that great click though rate you once had, and the income to match it?

After doing a little digging, I found the real cause for all these nasty looking ads and poor payouts was actually pretty simple – bad, ugly, “made for adsense” sites sucking the GOOD income out of the program. Basically banking off MY visitors. Well nothing irritates me more than a thief, and I’m so relieved to have found this totally awesome site…..

AdsBlackList.com is a FREE resource (with some paid options for those of you who depend on that check from Google to pay the bills) that allows you to set up your domain name with keywords, and check to see which sites might pop up that are on the “Blacklist”.

What do you do with them from there? Easy! Just go into your Adsense account and filter them. That way the only domains which will be visible on your site are good paying decent sites which will boost your CTR and your earnings.

This might not be something new, but I’m glad I found it. I’ll be playing with it over the next few days to see what changes in my Adsense funds come my way. *GRIN*