Techorati Badge

So, I finally progressed to adding my Technorati Badge to my blog. Yep, that's blog, singular as I'm kind of tired from a very long day. I'll do the rest of them tomorrow or some other day.

Mostly, I just wanted to see how hard it is to put in the html. Actually, with blogger, it wasn't hard at all.

Sum it up:

* Go to Blog

* Click in Customize

* Click Layout

* Click Edit HTML

Now, like I said, the hardest part is trying to figure out where you want to put it. Especially if you are as unfamiliar with html as I am.

First, grab the tag for the technorati badge that goes with your blog.

Steps?, you ask

* Enter your account on Technorati

* Click on your Claimed Blogs

* From here you can either go straight to the widget clicking, you guessed it, Widget or you can both edit your blog information and grab a small widget by clicking Edit Settings.

* Either way, grab the code. (I assume you know how to copy/paste, right?)

* Go back to blogger

* Post the code where you think you want it to go in your (I did a search for the word "follow" to find where blogger put the google friend connect.)

The beauty of working with blogger is that you can click "preview" before you make permanent changes to your blog. And if you made an oopsie, you can always just click "Clear Edits" and your blog instantly goes back to the way it was.

After you've found your ideal location, simply click "Save Template" and you're done.

After much sleepy struggling, I got the badge to show up on the bottom of this blog but I much prefer it on the side such as on my CrazyLazyMother Blog. Maybe I'll try to move it to the side after I get some sleep. Possibly not. Lol.

Hey, I'm not coining the phrase Crazy Lazy Mother for nothing!

~Ms. Katrina

Technorati

Signed up for technorati today. Wow, is there ever so much to learn. Doesn't seem to be too difficult though. Mostly, I just added my blogs to be "claimed" as they put. Seems to take about an hour to complete the process. On the other hand, blogger is part of OpenID so adding each one of my up-to-date blogs was really simple. You should be seeing the cute lil' Technorati badge on the side bar soon.

Oh, and the reason why technorati is important is hard for my sleep-deprived mind right now but the jist of it is that technorati will ping you blog and raise your page rank and find you followers. Followers are important. After all, what is the point of a money-making blog if no one is reading it. Save that for your personal, non-money-making ones! Lol. Ok, that was funny in my head but maybe because I'm soooo sleepy.

No blogging today.

Today, I have done pretty much nothing towards my blog. Why?, you ask. Has the newness of having a career in blogging warn off already?

Nope.

It is because today is Thursday and Thursday is a very busy day for yours truly. I volunteer at a church at 9 am in the morning and then a different church at 6:30 pm. And in the meantime, my friend surprised me with an invitation to lunch at Quiznos which ended in a shopping spree for her. :-( Lol.

But, guess what! By posting this here, I have officially blogged, so THERE!

~Ms. Katrina

Amazon Associates

So, today I signed up for the Amazon Associates program.

Really quick and easy sign-up. Just click the link at the bottom of pretty much any Amazon webpage. Then, you can decide whether or not to set up your payment options now or wait til later. Of course, you have the option of being paid via Amazon eCert ($10 minimum), direct deposit into your personal account ($10 minimum), or by check ($100 minimum with a $15 check fee for all those with US addresses).

There are three options to browse once you sign up:

* Product links (links to products, duh. Lol.)

* aStore (build yourself an Amazon store for your website.)

* Omakase links (Amazon automatically detects what to sell on your site.)

For now, I'm choosing product links. I'm doing a general search for "blog" and wowsie-wowser, what an interesting selection that comes up! My guess is that any description placed by the seller with the word "blog" in it pops up. So, I narrowed it down to books on blogging. Ah, much better! Only 1129 options. Hehe.



Now, lookee what I did above. Took me a minute and a bit of research to figure out how to get the ad to appear here in my blog. Actually, it is beyond easy. Get the link from Amazon. Click "Edit HTML" on blogger (apologies, no clue about posting it anywhere else) and then just copy the link code. Hitting Preview will show you the link that leads you directly to the product. Woo Hoo!!

Yeah, I chose Blogging for Dummies for a reason. And, of course, I've added the book to my personal Amazon wishlist if you are so inclined. Hm, wonder if I'll get Amazon Associate credit for that if someone purchases it for me?? Ah, well, that is research for another day.

Or an experiment for now. Hint. Hint. Hintity-hint.

Profit Making Goals

As with any business enterprise, there are three profit making goals: Today, Tomorrow, and Next Year.

Actually, of the three, today seems to be the hardest to contemplate, especially for a beginning blog. For now, I simply have Adsense on each of my blog. Unfortunately, new blog = no traffic. I am also going to add a few affiliate marketing links that relate to each of my blogs. Still have that pesky no traffic problem to contend with though. Setting a modest goal of $1 a month.

Tomorrow is more being translated as next month and then 60 days from that because 30 and 90 days are the minimum amount of time that has to pass before a blog is eligible for paid-to-post type of programs. For now, this will probably be the most lucrative of the three efforts. However, this is not my favorite type of income, as it is actually work and is very limited to my efforts. Setting a goal of $100/week within the next 120 days.

Next year, however, is my favorite. I'm kinda lazy and I really enjoy passive income. That's income where I do the work NOW and potentially reap the benefits FOREVER. Its gonna take some work to get up to that level, though, which is why I set the goal for next year. I'm setting what I believe to be a modest goal of say $100/month in passive income. Hopefully, I will exceed it. I'll keep you posted.

Getting started: Today's Research

Today, I am reading up on blogging at the wahm website. There is a whole folder on blogging and I'm just scratching the surface by reading an extra long thread mostly asking the opinion of a successful blogger with the ID Razz. She's very kindly made a site for her FAQ.

Mostly, I'm reading and taking notes but the important sites to sign up with are:

PayPerPost
SocialSpark
Blogvertise
PayU2Blog
Technorati
Sponsored Review
Review Me
Squidoo
Commission Junction
Blogitive
Kirtsy
EntreCard
Kontactr
eHow
BlogCatalog
MyBlogLog

And a LOT of places to read:

MediaShift
BloggingMommies
CNET
Improving Google Rank
ProBlogger
Blogger Widgets
TipForNewBloggers
How to Make Money Blogging

eBlog Templates is a site that has wonderful templates. And best of all they're FREE! And they have an affiliate program too so be on the look out for it on my sidebar.

I also need to remember to do more research on the Amazon associate earning opportunity. I use to have it before but I've quite forgotten what email address the account was under. Guess I haven't earned much!

Blogging for Profits

I use to blog back in the day but I wasn't really focused in it enough to do it for profit.

This time, I'm taking notes and applying myself just to see if I can really make money doing this.

Follow here to keep apprised of my adventures (and misadventures).

I'll mostly be talking to myself and using this platform as a note taker but I'm sure many of you curious folks will enjoy the synopsis.

~Ms. Katrina