And That’s….the Truth

One of the things that I just love looking at while visiting other peoples blogs are all the nice pictures that they have posted.  They look so attractive and professional and really do add something to the site.  I have had a couple of comments on different blogs about my lack of pictures on my sites and this is actually what prompted this particular post.

I seriously suck at taking pictures and don’t get me started on the art of uploading them.  I can do a lot of things crafting wise and I would love to be able to come in and post lovely pictures for you all to see, but when I take the picture and upload it on any site, it normally looks very unattractive.  I do upload some and would probably upload more if I didn’t suck so bad at this part of blogging.

So if you’ve been wondering why you don’t see many beautiful pictures on this site or any others that I own, now you know. 

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Yesterday I had a bit of extra time on my hands so I figured out and installed a plug in that closes comments  after a certain period of time.  I set this plug in to close comments on any post that was made prior to March 1 of this year.  So I was EXTREMELY happy to see that the amount of SPAM comments that I had to moderate was way….down this morning.  I honestly don’t understand why people would go into someone’s blog and post comments on seriously old posts, knowing that these comments would never be published.

So, because this plug in worked so well on this blog, I’m going to spend a little of my day today adding it all to my other blogs.  It was a great feeling knowing that I didn’t have to waste about an hour of my day sifting through all these spam comments.  Of course all the legit comments are approved and I don’t mind the time it takes to approve them, but the spam ones are gone….

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Yesterday I wasn’t online very much.  I decided to take a “me” day.  So first thing in the morning I checked my e-mails, checked a couple of forums where I post a bit in, and then shut my computer down for the day.  It was a really weird day for me as I am not used to spending so little time on the computer.  But, I have to say I had a very enjoyable day.  I spent some quality time with the kids, did some housework (yuck) and then started sorting through all my scrapbooking supplies. 

But now that it’s Monday morning, my “me” day is over and I’m back to the same routine again.  I had so much fun yesterday, that I may start taking more “me” days in the future.

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Well now that I am happy and content with the amount of blogs that I post on daily and for once am happy with all the themes that I have chosen for each blog, I have decided that it’s now time to start working on gaining some readership to my sites.  The first thing I did was to add entrecard to all my blogs and I’m very happy with this decision.

So today I started working on my feed subscriptions.  I must say that I was actually surprised at myself.  I only had two blogs listed in feed burner.  Well I guess that would explain why I have no subscribers. lol  So if you notice a little piece of text on my sidebar that invites you to subscribe, then that’s what I’m talking about.

It’s completely up to you, but if you enjoy my posts and would like to get no info as I post it then I’m sending out a personal invitation to subscribe.  And just to let you know, I will never spam you or sell your information as the biggest thing on the Internet that drives me insane is spam e-mails.  And I would never do it to someone else.

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After 3 long weeks of having people underfoot, today I was finally able to get back to blogging.  I never realized how distracting two little ones and my husband can be when I’m trying to do some work on my computer.  Kids I can understand not understanding why I spend so much time on my computer, but my husband really doesn’t understand why I need to spend this time.  Sometimes I think he is the kid and the kids are the adults.  But it’s all good now.  They are all back to school and work so I now get to have the much needed computer time that I need.  Oh, good times!!

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I have been blogging now for about a year.  It amazes me how much I have learned in the past year, and it also amazes me on how much more I need to learn.  I have learned that there are several ways to attract readers and just lately I have decided that I am going to give some social networking a try.

So, I have been scouring the Internet to find some social networking sites that are popular and seem to work.  I have found a few that I have joined, but apart from joining them, I haven’t really done much with them as I am unclear on how to proceed.

This is where I am looking for any and all input from you more experienced bloggers.  I understand that that social networking is key to attracting readers, but I honestly don’t understand what I need to do to maximize the exposure that I could be receiving from these sites.

So, if you have any advice for me on this particular issue, I would sure love to hear from any and all of you!

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Well now that it’s January 2 and the holidays are firmly behind us, it’s time for me to get back to my normal routines. So that means that I need to get back to my blogging that I have come to enjoy and to get cracking on making sure that this year I get my home crafting business over at Simply Crafting up and running and profitable. For the past couple of weeks, I haven’t really done too much crafting but now that I have my living room back, I’m going to get back at it.

Although I do enjoy the holidays, I am happy to see when they are all over. This way the kids go back to school (next week), my husband is back at work, and I am slowly getting back into my own routines. So don’t be surprised when you see my face around your blogs a little more than I have been over the past few weeks.

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As you all know six months ago I had to quit my outside job due to babysitter issues.  Since then I have been trying to earn a little extra income off the Internet.  I have tried paid blogging and freelance writing.  Out of the two, I definitely preferred the paid blogging.  It paid better and I had so much fun doing it.  But, I’m thinking that I need to go in a different direction now.  Because of the latest Google update that took away all my page rank for all my blogs, I haven’t been able to make hardly any income at all through paid blogging so I have decided that I may need to look back into freelance writing.

So, I have a question for all you freelance writers out there.  How do you find good paying freelance writing jobs that are legit??  I have searched a lot of sites over the past year and most of the sites that I have discovered offer very little pay for the type of work required or they are just a scam to make people shell out their valuable money.  I’m sure there are some legitimate sites out there, but honestly guys I am unsure as where to find them.

So if you could give me a little nudge in the right direction I would be so grateful and maybe, just maybe, I can’t start earning a living again to help out with household expenses and things that my kids would like to have.

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Honestly, I really can’t understand what motivates people to do and say some of the things that they do.  Yes. I am talking about a particular incident.  As you all are aware, I occasionally participate in some paid blogging.  That is, I get paid to write reviews about different companies and products for a small amount of compensation.  I’ve never tried to hide this fact, nor have I denied it.  I started doing paid blogging as a way to earn a little extra income working from home since I currently can’t work outside of the home due to baby sitting issues.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with this or didn’t realize how badly paid bloggers are treated on the Internet.

Now, I don’t pretend to be an expert in the world of blogging, Internet marketing or SEO.  So, I have come to depend on others to kind of lead me in the right direction.  Up until today that has worked out pretty good.  But, when a so called “expert” gives false information on purpose (their reasons, who knows??) just to scare the pants of us bloggers who aren’t quite as informed as they are, that really burns me.

Because of this misinformation that I was given today, it totally stressed me out and really got me to thinking about why even bothering doing what I am doing on the Internet.  Thankfully some other people who are a lot more knowledgeable in this field set me straight  and I’m not quite as stressed as I was earlier.

My point to this entire “rant” and yes, it is a rant.  Is WHY do some people set out to cause grief and unhappiness for others.  Does it make them feel better about themselves?  Do they think that if I get discouraged and quit doing any online activities at all that means more work for them?  Honestly I’m trying to figure out why these type of people exist on the Internet and what their motives behind messing with other less experienced people are.

On a brighter note, having this experience today did show me that there are people out there who are more than willing to share their “truthful” experiences with us all and to these people I would like to say thank you.  To the trouble makers, I would like to say “Go Away!”

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A few weeks ago I entered a contest over at Jenn’s Blog and I would like to tell you all that I won!! This was a very simple contest to enter, all you needed to do was do a blog post about what you are most thankful for and let Jenn know where she could find your post. Then yesterday she picked a post that she liked and seriously much to my surprise, I won!! Because Jenn is such a nice person, the prize that she was giving away was some scented products, but if you live in Canada (which I do) she will substitute the prize for a gift certificate from an online store. So, I received my email from her today telling me I won! I’m totally excited about this and invite you all to stop by Jenn’s Site to see when she has another contest up and running. You can bet I’ll be one of the first ones to enter!!

Thanks Jenn!!

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