Postcards from the Funny Farm

In this post I discuss how valuable Twiter and you may have heard of Twitter is you are not already using it. It is an enigma to me still trying to understand it’s huge popularity. It IS popular though so that alone becomes the impetus to join. As you Twitter, you theoretically can gain reader for your site or blog. I might as well change those terms into your “online ego.” Twitter will feed it for sure. That little blue “t” ca do a lot for your online ego. Whether it’s going to build your traffic? Well, the jury is still out on that one.

Twitter is a simple time-line of messages that users assemble from all over the globe intermittently as they feel the inspiration to do so. It reminds me a lot of the way PHPbb forums used to be. I would post in the morning what I was doing that day and when I got home I would check for questions or responses and I would reply. Twitter gives the reply function but it doesn’t alert the writer that her/his Twitter message has been replied to. To be, this is a huge drawback since the only way to find replies is to go back and back and back into the message since your twitter post to find the reply. Many times after all that, you find no one replied.

So what is it good for? Twitter is good for connecting friends who are online. It is also good for posting sites your run across to recommend, like a tumblelog. You can get traffic this way, but for me it hasn’t brought much. The best part of Twittering for me has been seeing what my friends are doing and getting ideas for content from that. I haven’t had much referral traffic for Twitter.

My friend Chris Gray really likes Twitter and he has this to say about it:

1. Online diary — I like to send updates on various milestones that I would have never otherwise written down. For example, I can go back and now recall the date and time my wife and I took our youngest son to get his first haircut or when he took his first steps. It’s also fun to look back at various other moments, goals, frustration points, and see where I’m at right this moment. I use it as a kind of gauge (if that makes any sense).
2. I also use it as a quick way to communicate with my friends (since I have twitter hooked up to my cell phone I can send them tweets wherever I am). I also use Twadget (Vista sidebar gadget) to post/keep up with tweets.
3. Finally, I occasionally use Twitter to advertise new blog posts (while I haven’t had the chance to do this for some time now- since my posts have been sparse

Thanks to Chris for that helpful info!

My conclusion? Twitter is a luxury/fun item that you should play with to keep up with friends as well as make new ones but I don’t see it as a way to improve traffic.

The other service I want to look at in this article is IZEA. Now, IZEA is a larger company that produces several smaller ones. The most well known one is PayPerPost. This is a service you apply to and, once acceoted, may choose from a list of “Opps” from paying advertisers for varying amounts of money (usually at my level I see opps from 7-45 dollars). Izea also has a new PayPerPost social marketing site called “Social Spark.” It is currently in a invite-only beta phase but i have been told that very soon it will launch publicly. There isn’t much to review with regards to traffic but from what I can tell, this will become both a monster way to find paying ad sponsors, but also a way to network and increase your traffic. The one drawback I see is the fact that some people will perceive this as a competition and not linkback etc. I hope that is not the case and that IZEA creates incentives for referrals and links to other members. If that proves impossible with this business model, I hope they will seek out ways to make members friendly with each others and helpful toward one another.

So, those are the two social networking sites I wanted to write about tonight. I’m getting more and more into this online social marketing stuff. So much so that I have already purchased some patch panels for the computer room in our new home. But whatever I recommend and however much hardware you have in your home, you have to see what really works best for your needs. Use these services as much as you can before you take my review as gospel truth. For some, these may work better than for others. Enjoy.

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I made more money in March than I have made blogging to-date. In this post I show how. So, without any further ado, lets get to my March 2008 goals and results.

In February’s post, I broke down my March goals into three categories. This worked so well that I will be doing the same for April. You may recall the three categories are:

1. Traffic Goals,
2. My Web Publishing Goals, and
3. Monetization Goals.

First, let’s look at last month’s stats:

March 2008

1. Traffic Goals:
   3,532 Visits: Goal exceeded! (was 3500)
   114 Visit/Day avg.: Goal of 100 visits/day exceeded!
2. My Web Publishing Goals:
   Just to reiterate: One of my main goals with my blog is to establish more of a name and an online presence through multiple online locations. These also help with backlinks, Google PageRank and Technorati authority. I went on a publishing field-day to put it mildly! I hope to do even more next month.
   
3. Monetization Goals:
   Feeling a little jaded after Google smacked my page rank from a PR4 to a PR2 because I used IZEA, I decided to set my PayPerPost goal low in March at $30. I exceeded that goal with an income of $65 from PayPerPost in March. Also, I was able to make $20 from Loud Launch and an incredible first month of $70 with PayU2Blog. The PayPal payment just went into my bank account an hour ago. Can you say Sarah and I go to Chili’s for lunch today??? ;) Oh, one more money item: I gained 2 125×125 paying advertisers this month. It is a pleasure having them and I plan to do all I can to keep them happy.

Okay, now it is time to list my future goals for April:

1. Traffic:
   3750 Visits.
   175 Visits/Day (I know it is almost doubling last month’s goal, but I am networking through 9Rules and BlogCatalog much more as well as some sources I’m choosing to wait to mention in case they don’t work).
2. My Web Publishing Goals (10 published articles in April): Publish on …
   BlogCritics (2)
   Associated Content (1)
   FuelmyBlog (2)
   GuestBlogging as the coveted offers come in. I would anticipate a minimum of 5 offers, but we’ll see. If I don’t get that many, I may approach YOU! ;)
3. Monetization Goals: I’m making a goal to make $100 minmum on PayPerPost and PayU2Blog. We’ll see what the ads bring in as well but I am not setting an ads goal at this time.

Think I can pull it off? I am confident I can. You might consider subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss an update! This month should be an exciting month of meeting these new goals. Oh, and if you are interested in getting traffic from this blog, I would like to do a guestblog or interview for you on your blog. Let’s talk! Thanks for reading Postcards from the Funny Farm.

Get your 125×125 ad on this blog TODAY! Advertising on this site is an excellent choice for your company or blog. Besides working daily to create exciting and engaging content for my readers, I am equally committed to providing my advertisers with a quality experience that drives traffic to their blog or company website. This blog offers more to its advertisers than most others do that way, let me tell you how.

1. Your 125×125 ad will always be above the fold so more readers see it without having to scroll. This is my guarantee. Though my blog layout may change to improve the experience, your ad will remain at the top.
2. I am an SEO marketing enthusiast and each day I research ways of bringing more relevant traffic to this blog. If my track record is any indication, which I think it is, my readership will continue to grow and get your ad more exposure every day.
3. I commit to read your site if you are a blogger and/or review and write about your product if you advertise here. This is at no extra charge to you. I aim to please and keep my advertisers.
4. I stumble your pages as well as submit them to all the social bookmarks when you are running an ad on this blog.
5. My prices are very competitive in the marketplace. I also accept best offers in some situations, so ask me if that applies.

There are also some other ways to get your ad on Postcards from the Funny Farm, here they are:

1. Project Wonderful: If you look at the top right-hand side of this blog you can see a 125×125 ad. (Although, its exact location may move from time to time.) Project Wonderful is an easy way to find affordable and target specific websites to advertise on.
2. Reviews - Just send me your info and request. I am willing to review anything decent for $10/post.   Please note though, that if we don’t like it I won’t shy away from saying so.
3. Affiliate Programs:  If you use an affiliate program please let me know.
4. Other: If you have a better idea, we are all ears.

If interested, please drop me an email:

rileycentral at yahoo dot com

or use this convenient contact form below:

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I’d say there are three main types of bloggers:

1. Online Authors
2. Service/AD Promoters -and-
3. Purely Personal Bloggers

I am a mixture of 1 and 3 and I am working daily to become mostly a 1. I would say for types 2 and 3, online publishing is not really a necessary concern. But if you are trying to develop on online name as an author, then it should be a priority in your blogging week.

A commenter asked me today the following question that I am choosing to answer in this post. She wrote:

How do you go about getting published on the web? Do you approach people, or do they approach you?

Great question. The answer is: BOTH, but mostly you ask them. Lately I have been working on guest blogging on sites I respect and that I feel have a similar audience to my blog. In doing so I have the chance to attract new readers and give the host blog my traffic for the day I have the guest blog up. They get a link from my announcement of the post and I of course get a backlink from the post in the short bio credits. Guest blogging is the best way I have found to publish on the web. I recommend you frequently let your readers know you are interested in doing it and then that you approach specific bloggers through email with your proposal. If they say no, don’t be crushed. But mostly they say yes in my experience.

In addition to guest blogging, there are many web publishing blogs and ezines that will publish your writing. Two that I write for on a regular basis are:

BlogCritics -and-

Associated Content (AC)

You must apply to BlogCritics and AC approves on a post by post basis.

As I said, there are many many services and blogs you can publish online to. Have a look around the web and see what’s right for your style. In publishing your work other places than your primary blog you get your name around the web. These create backlinks to your blog thereby giving it better seo authority (ie; your posts come up higher in the searches) and advertisers see you as a better value when they consider paying you to show off their products.

The other benefit, which is to me most paramount, is it gets you more familiar with the worldwide audience that is the web. I like to get out of my blog comfort zone and challenge myself to write for new audiences. Ultimately, the “writer” type of blogger, as opposed to the commercial or strictly diarist type, should be challenging him/herself with new writing situations as this will improve her/his ability to attract and engage readers for the lifetime of their blog. (I hope mine is as long as my own lifetime ;) Actually one of my secret dreams is to make enough money through online publishing to be able to buy some Briggs and Riley fine luggage and take my wife to Ireland on a romantic vacation. Who knows, stranger things have happened right? If nothing else, whether the online publishing pays out or not, I know I’ll be a better writer and since I started, that has always been what it is all about for me.

Do you know of some other online publishing avenues out there I haven’t mentioned?

Online dating helped me find and marry my soul mate Sarah. I even found her during the “free trial” period so the service was free! I thought I’d write a blurb about Yahoo! Personals because I feature them as an advertiser. It isn’t just demographics that makes me do so (most my core readers are married). On the other hand, I chose them because I believe in their product. Most of all, I feature their ads because it worked for me.

I remember at that time feeling quite lonely in a new town with a new job and Yahoo! Personals connected me with Sarah when I really had no friends or family around to help me meet people. (interested readers can find more details on our &#....)

It works like this: You sign up and upload a small picture of yourself (actually this is optional but it really speeds things up!) Then, you fill out some profile questions and send out a few emails to members that you are interested in. Some, you will find, are indeed certified loony cases. Just keep telling yourself “All you need is ONE.” From there, as you sort through replies you will undoubtedly start to make email friendships. You will find yourself at your parents for thanksgiving sneaking to the computer to see what your online romance has to say.

If it works out perfect like it did for me, you’ll get married within a month! That was 5 years ago and now my wife and I have a wonderful family with laughs and memories that keep on going. If you are single and wanting someone special or if you know someone in your friends and family circle who feels that way, get tuned in to Yahoo! Personals. Trust me, it can work. All you Need is ONE. (and don’t be surprised when the ONE plus ONE turns into one or more beautiful kids! Be ready because it can happen fast!)