Working at Home on the Internet

This Weeks Helpful Reads…Week 7

This is an ongoing series of interesting and helpful reads that I have come across on the Internet.

I try to include the most helpful articles and links each week to provide the widest range of information for the home business entrepreneur.

Telecommuting: The Ultimate in Home Work by Jessica Dyer… A look into a life of telecommuting.

10 Habits of Highly Effective ProBloggers by Darren Rowse… Darren’s contribution to a write-in project he started.

Credibility In Blogging by Aaron Brazell… Aaron talks about knowing a tabloid from a news source.

Is “The New Your Times” Too Big? by Mark Kingdon… A single-person study on Media Consumption.

Screencasting by Rachel Cunliff… Very informative introduction to a new tool that can be used instead of Podcasts.

I hope you find some of these articles informational and helpful. I think they will be enjoyable reading nonetheless.

~~~ All the above can be considered infected with the Link-Leak Virus ~~~

Previous Links:
Week 6… 5/21/06
Week 5… 5/14/06
Week 4… 5/7/06
Week 3… 4/30/06
Week 2… 4/23/06
Week 1… 4/16/06
Today’s Good Reads… 3/22/06

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May 28th, 2006 at 09:48am | Posted by Joe | Weekly Helpful Reads | reader remarks | Print This Post

What Do You Think…?

… about the new layout of the Blog. Most of the changes have been subtle. Some have not.

When I moved the sidebar around to make navigation easier, there were some major changes. I had to rearrange my profile, remove some non-profitable advertisements and move things around in general.

After that came the overabundance of AdSense occurrences. At first I tried moving the ads to the end of the page keeping a full week of posts on the first page. The AdSense revenue dropped dramatically.

Then I tried to just shorten the page to just a few days, keeping the ad layout the same. There was no improvement whatsoever. Which brings us to the present layout.

Since AdSense is my main source of revenue, I put the ads back the way they were originally, showing at the end of each post. So as to not be in breach of the Google Terms of Service, I shortened the page to just two days. That in turn left a whole lot of white space.

Hence, I removed the List of Resources from the sidebar and moved them to the white space below the posts. I still thought there was just too much missing. That is why I put the Last 10 Posts Links after the second post. I think this should make it easier to find the last couple of posts prior to what is shown .

Another major change was the (more…) addition. The reasons are twofold: First is that if there are any longish posts I can show a snippet and give access to the whole post. Second is this is the best way I found to expand comments, so they show as a conversation and possibly entice more people to comment on whatever subject is being discussed.

There were a lot of minor changes that were made over the past few months, most of which I have forgotten about, these were some of the major adjustments to the layout I have made.

What do you think, do you like the new layout? Do you think the page is too short? Too long?

Related Posts:
Check Your Source Code
(more…) in Blogger
How to put a Category List on Blogger Blogs

May 27th, 2006 at 12:29pm | Posted by Joe | Blogger, Community | reader remarks | Print This Post

My Contribution to the Highly Effective Blogger Project

Darren of ProBlogger.net has a project going on this week. It’s called “Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers”. As a group project he already has 48 contributors listed. I’m hoping to make it in time on the last day.

So, here are some things I think are necessary to be Effective in Blogging…

~~ Write Good Content… I have mentioned may times the importance of writing good relevant content. With good content you will undoubtedly keep your readers interested in your topic.

~~ Be Consistent… Stay on topic as much as possible, use related subject matter. Post on a regular basis, so that your readers know when to expect something new. It can be daily, weekly or multiple posts in a day, just remain consistent.

~~ Be Active on Your Blog… Invite your visitors to comment on each post you write, then be sure to join in the conversation with them. This is a good way to bring readers back for more.

~~ Be Active on Other Blogs… If you comment on other Blogs, you will expose yourself to other potential readers. Just be sure to leave relevant comments, no one likes purely self-promotional comments.

~~ Be Active in Forums… Find forums that are related to the subject you write about on your site. Join in the conversation there. Again, be sure to be relevant, not spam-like.

~~ Be Original… As the quote at the top of the page says “Don’t be the one that copies others, be the one that others copy.” Try to do something that no one else does in your niche. Just be yourself, you are unique.

~~ Don’t be Afraid to Share Links… If you find something that may be of interest to your readers on another Blog, provide a link. Your readers will appreciate what you are doing for them, and likely return because you provide them with good information.

~~ Don’t be Afraid to Change… Being consistent doesn’t mean you have to stick to something that isn’t working on your site. Whether it is Ads, Layout or anything else that doesn’t work, change it to something that does.

These are far from the only ways to find success and be effective Blogging. They can really be applied to almost any work at home situation.

Can you think of any other ways to be an effective Blogger? Share some of your ideas in comments, you know I always answer.

Related Posts:
ProBlogger.net
Content Is King

May 26th, 2006 at 11:22am | Posted by Joe | Blogging, Community | reader remarks | Print This Post