أرشيف شهر Site News

Feeling Better: Getting Things Back on Track

While I thought it would take me a lot longer to feel better, thanks to some great friends, family and even strangers, I am already starting to feel better and get back into the swing of things.

One of the biggest issues is finding the time and energy to really hunker down and get everything done. It quickly becomes easier to prioritize blogging lower and lower as you get out of the habit of writing, and so I wanted to jump on here quickly and get some posts out. I have some friends who also might help me out posting a few things on here to take the load off of me a little bit, giving me more time to sort out the personal issues I mentioned before.

By Wednesday, the Xfep Podcast will be back, better than ever I hope, with Thursday probably being my first attempt at a video episode in the recent history. I am also up for the idea of doing a Ustream.tv session or a talkShoe session for those that are interested in interacting with me in such a way.

I have so many thoughts, ideas, hopes and dreams to still publish on this site, so thank you all for sticking with me during this rough patch in my life.

تعليق واحد

Everything On Hold: Personal Reasons

So, for those of you waiting for a new podcast yesterday, I am sorry. Other than the one tonight on WordPress Weekly, I am going to take a short break with regards to the podcast, and even posting over the next few days as I got some bad news that has really effected my mood, and ability to write.

Hopefully, I will be back to my old self soon, and thanks to all those that have been and continue to be supportive during this time.

8 تعليقاً

New Advertising Rates

I have decided to update my advertising rates once again, as traffic continues to soar pretty high on this site, and rankings continue to rise and things change both in my life and on the site, I figured it would be a good time to set them once again.

Currently, you can advertise on this blog starting at prices less than $0.20 CPM!

I think that blows the industry standard out of the water, and I hope many potential advertisers will appreciate the low rates. I doubt I will keep them this low, even if the response to the prices is low, as I could be more active in seeking out advertisers and I know I could secure them, even at higher rates with the high amount of traffic I am receiving.

Some quick stats for those that are interested:

  • Last month, this blog did over half a million page views.
  • This blog is now 17th on the 45n5.com/top100 Make Money Online blog list.
  • This blog now has nearly 400 posts, and over 1100 comments
  • This blog is now read by over 400 RSS subscribers daily

If you are interested in advertising on Xfep.com, check out my Advertising page, and then contact me. Get your 125×125 banner on Xfep.com for $60 today!

أترك تعليقا

Mashable Mentions Grand Effect

There are a handful of blogs out there where being mentioned is one of those gold stars you put on your mental calendar and just yesterday, I was able to give myself a gold star with Mashable mentioning the Grand Effect blog network that I am part of.

I almost feel embarrassed though as we have such great members, but the network site is in disarray. I am working on a redesign which should be up sooner rather than later with tons of new content which highlights our great members and the advantage of advertising with us as a collective.

I am no Mike Rundle though, so please be patient as I put it all together, and I hope you will like it. It will be a marked improvement over the current site, and it will have many more features and rate cards for advertising on each member’s site as well as the network as a whole.

I want to give a huge thanks to Mark at Mashable for mentioning us. I am very humbled that we got a nod from such a great site, and I hope the hordes of people stay away until I can get the new site unveiled.

For those that are interested, here is a little snippet from my attempt at a new design:

Grand Effect's New Design

8 تعليقاً

No More TTZ Media or Pepperjam Network Advertisements

I am on a quest to remove advertisements that don’t perform for me on this site to make your user experience as clean as possible and give more focus to the advertisements that do help pay the bills. I mean, why clutter up the site with advertising that doesn’t work, right?

As of today the TTZ Media advertisements from John Chow’s company will no longer be displayed here. Not that there was anything wrong with the advertisements, but they didn’t perform well on my site because there are no real “blogger” products that you would all be interested in and as such, I didn’t give it a very good position. I made absolutely nothing from having the ads on the site.

I have also removed the Pepperjam Network advertisements for more or less the same reason. While they did have products and services that some of you might have enjoyed, I didn’t find that it was converting well on my blog. I gave it some good positions and a good trial run, but after over a month of displaying a variety of ads under their program, I only made five dollars.

I am sure none of you will miss these advertisements, and while I am sure many people are experiencing successes with them, they just didn’t work for this blog. If you have had successes with either of these ad programs, I would love to hear about them. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

أترك تعليقا

Grand Effect Grows Again

Sarah has added two new members to Grand Effect and so the network now has ParisLemon and The Last Podcast within its ranks.

With the addition of these two great sites, the focus now turns on building the network site, as well as getting ourselves organized where monetization and support is concerned, and so I hope to see some great movements on the Grand Effect website soon.

I hope you will check out all the Grand Effect blogs, and welcome our new members as well.

As always, if you’re interested in becoming a Grand Effect advertising partner, you can reach us at our main address: advertising@grandeffect.com.

أترك تعليقا

Looking for Weekly Columnists

Looking at all the blogs out there, and the continued growth of this site and the other sites I run, I am looking to add more content to this site, but I am going to get very busy over the next little while. I was hoping that you, my readers, might be or might know of some people that could work as weekly columnists on this blog.

What I am Looking For

I am looking for someone who is passionate about blogging, and has either come from a network paid or freelance paid blogging background. You must have worked or be working for a major blog (over 1k page views a day minimum) or a known blog network. If you’ve never written for a blog with more than one hundred RSS subscribers, then you probably aren’t what I am looking for.

The candidate should understand writing for the web, social media promotion, and be intimately familiar with WordPress. I am looking for someone that can write one five hundred word or more post every week that is the best work they’ve ever done. The posts will center on the writers expert experience, so if you know everything about WordPress theming and plugins, that’s fine too, but the posts have to fit the audience I maintain. I will be expecting the highest quality and will retain full editorial control over any posts submitted.

What Do You Receive?

Other than gaining access to my connections, and my advice, you will also be able to promote your own blog or outside work at the end of each post, as well as being paid a flat rate, to be decided, based on the experience and type of column written.

Get in Touch!

Jump on over to my contact page and send me a message. Please include a link to an article which you think shows your talent, as well as a paragraph selling yourself and lastly your expected rate.

3 تعليقاً

Why I am Different

There are thousands of “make money online” bloggers. There are even more bloggers that talk about blogging, but I feel like I am different than most, and if you are looking for someone to add to your daily reads, I ask that you chose me.

No Make Money Online E-Books

One of the things you have probably noticed on around a third of the blogs out there like this one are the downloadable guides that will teach you everything you need to know about making money online.

While some of them are well written, the blogosphere changes so fast that by the time these people have compiled their thoughts into a document, the information is fairly useless. There have been a few exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, you can’t follow the steps that someone else took and expect to become rich, it just doesn’t work.

No Heavy Affiliate Promotion

Some bloggers will spend all day formulating posts, only to stuff them to the brim with affiliate links. The more people they get signed up, the more money they make, and the wider the divide between you, seeking knowledge, and them, “providing” the knowledge gets.

Do you want to fill their pockets with money, or your own? While I do promote affiliate products from time to time, I am careful in doing it. I support products I enjoy, and I usually note what links are affiliate links so that you can avoid them if you so choose.

While I am here to make money as well, it isn’t my primary objective.

Less Than Ten Ads Per Page

With cost per click rates dropping, CPM deals drying up, more bloggers are stuffing their blogs to the brim with advertisements. Do they really need eight 125×125 pixel advertisements on every page, along with two or three AdSense banners and one or two other advertisements?

What do you gain as a user from more than ten advertisements on every single post, page, and area of their blog?

I Have Experience

A large percentage of “make money online” bloggers don’t have any experience in their field. While it can be interesting to discover things with them, it can also be frustrating and misleading.

I have been a full time blogger for going on three years. I have written articles for a variety of niches for a variety of people. I have worked with Darren Rowse, Paul Scrivens, David Krug, and many other interesting and brilliant Internet personalities. These bloggers know who I am, and have, over time, shared some of their skill, knowledge and abilities with me.

While I don’t consider myself an expert, I am not just starting out in the industry. I have knowledge of the way things used to be, and how many of the important people got to where they are now.

Also, the experiences I have had as a network backed blogger is very different than many of the freelancers out there. I have had consistent full time employment, and understand what networks are looking for in a potential writer, server administrator, marketer, advertiser, and more.

I’m a Geek

While I have spent a fair bit of time writing, I also understand WordPress, PHP, web development, basic server administration, proper backup procedures and a variety of other technical aspects that sets me apart from many of the bloggers currently covering this subject.

Do you think most of them have ever really developed their own WordPress theme? Heck, most of them weren’t even blogging back when WordPress began. I’ve been using it since version 0.72.

Conclusion

There are many great bloggers out there, and they have advice that might help you, but I will tell it to you how it actually is. I am knee deep in the trenches, and I can see where things are heading. While I dislike “tooting” my own horn, I just wanted to set the record straight. I am different than your typical “make money online” blogger, and definitely worth subscribing to.

4 تعليقاً

One Thousand Comments

Recently, this blog passed the one thousand comments mark. To me this is bigger and better than any other metric so far on this site, as it shows involvement. Having others interested in sharing their thoughts, opinions and views through the comments of my blog makes me so happy, and so excited.

I am looking forward to the next thousand comments, and want to thank everyone who has taken time out of their day to come on here and express themselves. I really appreciate it and hope it will continue.

This blog is more about sharing and learning than me just telling you all what I think, so your participation is the most important thing to the life of this blog.

Thank you all.

أترك تعليقا

Grand Effect New Member: SheGeeks

You haven’t heard much coming from that banner in the header, but I assure you Grand Effect is still working hard on building a strong network of amazing blogs related to the online and technology world.

Our latest addition is SheGeeks, a great blog on social media and social networking.

From her welcome to the network post:

I’ll still be blogging here and the site will remain the same, with the exception of the bar that you now see at the top, which sports links to all the other great members of the Grand Effect network! I recommend you all check out their sites. I subscribed to Sarah in Tampa and gHacks months ago!

That brings our network to six great blogs that I hope everyone is checking out and subscribing to. There are going to be many improvements to the Grand Effect website over the coming months as I gear up and complete it.

I hope you will all join me in welcoming SheGeeks to the network.

If you are interested in joining Grand Effect, please contact us at advertising@grandeffect.com and Sarah will get back to you as soon as possible.

أترك تعليقا

المواضيع السابقة »