Pecuniary Associates Personal Finance Blog Network

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

Penelope Pince — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:24:31 -0700

Sorry about that, CMP, I should've given it more thought but thank you for doing it. I'll be doing mine on Sunday.

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

CountingMyPennies — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:05:34 -0700

Done - though I have to admit, with it being a holiday weekend, I wish the final decision had been made earlier. I'm just glad I saw this post in my feed reader!

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

Penelope Pince — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:44:16 -0700

OK, everyone. Just a quick reminder that this is the 1st weekend of July. Let's all do a roundup (day is up to you - any day from Friday to Monday) and start planning our first group writing project.

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

Penelope Pince — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:58:31 -0700

I don't really know what happened to Passive Dad. He was really excited about joining the network, did his first roundup, then disappeared and stopped answering all my emails. I emailed him a few times between April and May about a few different things and never heard back. Last time we corresponded, his wife was on a business trip and he was busy taking care of his kids. I hope everything's OK with him, too. If he ever gets back to blogging, I'd be happy to have him in the group.

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

LivingWellOnLess — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:58:31 -0700

Hey everyone! Just weighing in on everything.

I'm happy to do round ups whenever. I typically do one per week, but lately I've been cutting back a little. But I post every week day, and I'm always happy to take a break from writing to do a round up. Every other week works fine for me.

As far as GWPs, I am SO excited to start doing them. That was the biggest reason I wanted to join a blog network! I do like the idea of sub topics, but I also agree that it would be a lot more complicated. Perhaps we should keep it simple for the first few months as we're still working everything out and trying to get this thing going smoothly? Just a thought.

I'm going to put some thought into ideas for a GWP and write back tomorrow with my suggestions.

Btw, did anyone ever find out what happened with Passive Dad? It's been so long since his blog was updated and he just seemed to disappear. I hope he's okay ...

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

Penelope Pince — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:12:27 -0700

I'm also thinking that for GWPs (group writing projects), we should each take a different sub-topic within a broader subject so that we can link to each others' posts at the end of each of our posts and encourage our readers to go and read them. This way we're not all talking about the exact same thing but rather related and supplemental stuff.

It would take a little organization - we'd have to find a way to decide on sub-topics and you'd each have to send me the URLs and titles of your posts before we publish and I'd put together a little blurb with the links and send them to you to add to the end of your posts before we all publish. (Wow, was that a run-on sentence? This heat has slowed more than just my computer's processors!)

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

financialnut — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:39:55 -0700

I'm must fine with doing one every couple of weeks. I apologize to those of you still in the group, as I haven't been so good at doing the round-ups (or doing much of anything on my blog!). School has been very busy for me, and I haven't been able to spend the time that I've wanted to on my blog.

It's no excuse, however! I know that you are all busy too! So I am committing to do better.

Anyway- I like the idea of doing a group writing project. One of the main reasons I started blogging about personal finance was to use it as a tool to educate myself more about money. In the past I have really enjoyed finding a topic that I know little about, researching it to death, and the presenting a comprehensive post about it.

SO------> here's what I'm thinking! I think it might be fun to choose a topic together that we all would like to learn a little more about, research it it to death, and then all present something on it.

I don't know... just a thought!

Re: Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

CountingMyPennies — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:04:44 -0700

Sounds good to me!

I like the scheduled roundups. That works well for me. I have to admit, I do best with reminders and strict deadlines like that. I don't mind doing them at all. I really like them, actually.

Hmm. A group topic... Well, I'm happy to discuss anything. Some fun topics could be Financial Splurges, vacations, transportation, etc. It would be fun to kind of tie things to the month. And maybe not always be super financial about it - like in November, post a Thanksgiving recipe. And October could be your favorite Halloween costume but also a few frugal costume ideas. Things like that.

Pecuniary Associates June 2008 Group Business

Penelope Pince — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:59:42 -0700

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay in responding. I've been a little busy working on a new venture with my sister and surviving this heat wave in the desert without A/C (long story).

Anyways, I've made the following decision regarding Pecuniary Associates. Let's remove Passive Dad and Greener Pastures from our blogrolls as Passive Dad hasn't posted on his blog since March and Greener Pastures never did a roundup despite my having sent 2 emails (1 group, 1 personal) about it. I will be removing them from the PA site this week.

That leaves 4 of us who still want to be active in this group:

Pecuniarities
Financial Nut
Counting My Pennies
Living Well On Less

I think we'll just keep the group to 4 of us for now, at least until we have things running smoothly. I think the smaller number can help us become a more tightly-knit group and make it easier to work together.

Now about roundups. Those of us who had been doing roundups stopped because it wasn't fair that we were linking to others who weren't returning the favor. I want to be firm about roundups, but I also want to be fair. If any of you feel that one roundup every 2 weeks is too much, let's discuss it here.

But if you think that once every 2 weeks is good, how about we make it the 1st and 3rd weekend (any day between Friday and Monday) of each month? I think having a schedule might make it easier for us all to remember to do them and to see that everyone else is doing them.

Once we get the roundup issue settled, let's start talking about our first group writing project. Please post your comments, suggestions, etc. in this thread.

Thanks for being part of Pecuniary Associates!

Re: Say "Hi!" Thread

CountingMyPennies — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:12:24 -0700

That was my reason for stopping the roundups too. I would like to still participate though, and I like the idea of doing posts on the same topic on or around the same day. But I do admit, it was frustrating to feel like not everyone was participating. I admit that I don't have the time for blogging that I used to (team at work suddenly went from 6 to 4 people, thanks to an early (healthy) baby and someone quitting) but I do manage to get posts up and try to surf a bit at least!

Re: Say "Hi!" Thread

LivingWellOnLess — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:55:11 -0700

I don't want out, but I did stop doing round ups because it seemed that everyone else had stopped participating. I agree that it may be time to make some changes depending on who would really like to participate in the network, but if anyone is still interested in participating then I'm definitely still interested.

Re: Say "Hi!" Thread

Penelope Pince — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:31:27 -0700

I think we're all still around somewhere. I've been a little busy lately setting up a new venture/store (Etsy shop and a new webstore) with my sister.

I know I've been a little remiss in my blogging lately. I noticed that almost everyone stopped doing roundups, which has me a little stymied as to what to do about Pecuniary Associates. I would like us all to be involved at the same level to be fair to everyone.

I think Passive Dad is out for sure. Financial Nut has gone back to school which is affecting his blogging. I'd really like to get PA rolling, but may have to start culling members starting with Passive Dad and possibly Greener Pastures who hasn't done a single roundup since the beginning despite my having emailed her about it.

What do the rest of you think? What would you like to get out of this network?

Re: Say "Hi!" Thread

CountingMyPennies — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:58:29 -0700

Anyone still around? I was wondering if my RSS feed to the forum was broken, but it looks like things are quiet.

Re: May 2008 Update

CountingMyPennies — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:07:05 -0700

Hey all - it's been a few weeks since I've done a roundup as well. Vacation kind of knocked me off my game, but I'm hoping to get back to normal roundups this week. Lots of great stuff out there!

May 2008 Update

Penelope Pince — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:15:00 -0700

Hey everyone, first of all, I apologize for being a bit scarce the last couple of weeks. I've been a little off lately and also working on a new project - Frugaltroph, a new column and accompanying site for Pecuniarities - with my sister. I know I had suggested May 1st as a possible date for our first group writing project, but decided to hold off on that for a couple of reasons.

1. I don't know what's going on with Passive Dad who hasn't posted on his blog since Mar. 23 and hasn't responded to any of my emails since March. I am guessing he's on a long vacation or has something going on with his family. His 2nd to last post was a Pecuniary Associates announcement and roundup, so I'm sure he still wants to be part of the group. I will be emailing him soon to check if all is well.

2. I also haven't heard from Greener Pastures about roundups - I remember her saying she was going on vacation some time in April, and I'm guessing she's on vacation now.

I want everyone to be involved in the GWP so when I hear back from TPD and GP and they are ready to join us, we'll start planning the first one.

As for the rest of you, please continue to do your roundups. As the above 2 haven't been doing roundups, you can leave them out in yours for now. I'm hoping to get everyone consolidated on this by the end of the month. Roundups are, I feel, the most important requirement of the group. It's the best way to generate traffic for everyone.

I know I've been behind in my posting the last 2 weeks and apologize for that. Please know that I haven't lost interest in blogging or in the group. My sister also has mandated a period of spring cleaning which includes building of new shelves on which to store our heaps of stuff.

Thanks for being here!
P

Re: Roundups

Penelope Pince — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:21:34 -0700

Running late on my roundup for this past weekend. Will be pounding one out over the next day or two. Apologies for the delay.

Re: All-In-One SEO Pack NOT WORKING!

Penelope Pince — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:05:22 -0700

I used All in One SEO Pack for over a year, till a couple of weeks ago I switched to Platinum SEO Pack, which is like AIO, but supposedly better because it has more features.

As far as I know, AIO worked OK on my blog, though I didn't check all that often to see if it was working or not. A few questions:

How long have you been using it?
Do you recollect a time when it was working?
What plugins have you since installed?
Try googling "all in one seo pack plugin coflicts" and see if you get any info that corresponds with other plugins you have installed, or
Try disabling one plugin at a time, in backwards chronological order if you can remember, and checking to see if AIO works without certain plulgins activated.

Good luck.

All-In-One SEO Pack NOT WORKING!

financialnut — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:45:16 -0700

Hey everybody!

I have been using the All-In_one SEO Pack for my meta information on my blog posts for the past 6 months or so and just discovered a couple of days ago that it's not working! The meta information I am adding in is not showing up in the HTML of my posts.

Anybody else had this problem?

HELP!

Re: Roundups

financialnut — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:40:45 -0700

I apologize to all at being so terrible with my link round ups. I have FINALLY gotten one up, and I've still got a couple to catch up on. I'll probably be doing them consistently for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for having some patience with me!

Re: (Possible) Posting Hiatus

Penelope Pince — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:22:58 -0700

LivingWellOnLess wrote:Honestly, I wish I could participate more. I try to pop in from time to time, but I struggle to keep up with my feed reader and regular posting, so it's hard to get in here and get involved more. I do try to join the conversation when I can, though!

I totally understand. I know it's hard just keeping up with blogging and roundups. It feels like I just did a roundup but it's 2 weeks again for me this weekend. Time just flies.

Re: (Possible) Posting Hiatus

LivingWellOnLess — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:04:53 -0700

Honestly, I wish I could participate more. I try to pop in from time to time, but I struggle to keep up with my feed reader and regular posting, so it's hard to get in here and get involved more. I do try to join the conversation when I can, though!

Re: (Possible) Posting Hiatus

Penelope Pince — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:22:20 -0700

LOL. Thanks, it's been a hectic week and I still can't believe I made it. During the last few days before Apr 15th, I dreamed about the carefree days after taxes.

I think the other members are just busy, though CMP and LWOL have been popping in more lately. Maybe we just need more interesting things to talk about. It's also because of the small number of members. I decided to close registrations and just make this a forum for PA members to talk business and chat to get to know each other. And because I didn't want to deal with spammers.

Feel free to start some topics. I'll answer at least.

Re: (Possible) Posting Hiatus

financialnut — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:18:47 -0700

Glad to have you back! The forums here have been a bit quiet. How can we get everybody else more involved? Maybe people just don't have the time that I have. Oh well!

Re: (Possible) Posting Hiatus

Penelope Pince — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:13:12 -0700

Hey all, just wanted to let you know I'm back. (Posted today - actually yesterday now - and have one lined up for Saturday.)

(Possible) Posting Hiatus

Penelope Pince — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:01:57 -0700

Hey PA's,

As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I'm taxed with the task of taxes - heehee, sorry couldn't resist - for myself, my sister, our business and miscellaneous ventures - so I might not be posting on my blog till it's all over. I might need a day or two after to recover, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me here or on my blog between now and next weekend. Just wanted to let you all know in case you wonder where I've gone. I haven't abandoned you all.

Behold a procrastinator paying the price...

Gee, have I used enough emoticons? : Don't hold it against me. I'm reaching that point where one starts getting just a tad hysterical and disoriented from a fast-approaching deadline and lack of sleep.

Re: Blog Reviews For All!

financialnut — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:43:26 -0700

That sounds great, everybody! Let's use some tact and do it.

Re: Blog Reviews For All!

Penelope Pince — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:20:59 -0700

Judging by the last 2 replies, I think it would be a good idea to proceed as I suggested in my previous post. I know it was tediously long and you might not have read to the end.

If you'd like for the group to review your blog, feel free to start a new thread for your blog in this forum - Blogging & Networking. This way those who want feedback can get it and those who don't want any at this time don't have to. If you do a site redesign in the future and want feedback then, you are more than welcome to ask for input at that time.

Re: Roundups

Penelope Pince — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:12:48 -0700

LivingWellOnLess wrote:How closely do you want our round ups to match? I'd really like to maintain my current format with my slight variations.

I'm flexible about it as long as everyone does them. That's the main thing. To be fair to everyone in the group, everyone should be getting the same number of links coming in as they're sending out.

Re: Roundups

LivingWellOnLess — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:04:28 -0700

I typically do my round-ups very similar to the examples you posted with some slight adjustments. I use bullets and link to anchor text related to the blog post content, but I don't always use the exact title. In the past I have been putting my PA round ups below the rest of the blogosphere just because I feel like closing with those links is stronger. How closely do you want our round ups to match? I'd really like to maintain my current format with my slight variations.

Re: Blog Reviews For All!

LivingWellOnLess — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:59:20 -0700

Yikes. This is tricky. I agree that it might be helpful for all of us to get some feedback, but I also agree with Penelope and Megan that it's essential that we remain tactful. Like Megan, I don't have the time to do all of the things I want to do with my blogging (at the top of my list of things I wish I had more time to do is interacting with you guys in this forum ), so there are many things I'm aware could be improved and just haven't been able to do so. As much as constructive criticism can be helpful, it's also tough to hear what's wrong when you don't have skills/time to fix it, you know?

I'm game if you guys are, though. I'm sure I'll be able to get some good pointers!

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

LivingWellOnLess — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:54:36 -0700

I also send blatant sales comments to my Spam box. If they're not contributing anything worthwhile to the conversation, especially if the link they're posting is to a sales site and not a blog, I don't approve their comments.

As for poor spelling and grammar, it's a pet peeve of mine, but I tend to let them through. If they're making an honest effort to contribute to the conversation, then I figure it's not my place to punish them for poor writing skills.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

LivingWellOnLess — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:51:28 -0700

I haven't had any luck with Amazon, but I'm not sure I'm using it correctly. I have an account, but I haven't added a widget or anything. I just use a link when I mention specific products that I endorse. I've seen some bloggers set up an entire associates store. I wonder if that's any more effective?

Re: Blog Reviews For All!

CountingMyPennies — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:23:07 -0700

I go back and forth on this, mostly because I know that my blog needs some work, I just haven't had the time/skill/funds to put into it, and I'm not sure how I feel about having those pointed out to me.

But at the same time, constructive criticism is important - and it might be nice to hear "Hey, you did this over here, and I really like it, and you should keep that up and maybe even expand on it because it's awesome."

Re: Blog Reviews For All!

Penelope Pince — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:49:31 -0700

I'm up for it if everyone else is. Let's just remember to keep it friendly and tactful, okay? I'm sure we all will be nice - that's the reason I invited each of you to join PA - but I want us all to be on the best of terms in order to maintain the best possible working dynamic.

There was a member in my last group for whom tact wasn't his strong suit and he would supply criticism without being asked. When I told everyone I'd changed my blog's name, he made it very clear how very much he disliked it even though I hadn't asked for feedback, and even after I offered my explanations/reasons, it felt like he just had to get the last word in. As professional as I tried to remain, I couldn't help feeling a little put-off.

He also told me I "needed" to change something that weren't broke (I knew for a fact because I'd done my research when working on my business website). That particular member also had some pretty big - we'll call them "disagreements" - with another member, which, thankfully, they kept private via email instead of airing in our forum. That was another reason the group died.

I've also seen a thread on the Wise Bread forum where a blogger asked for feedback on her new design. Someone suggested a color change and she got a little snippy about it. That's one of the reasons I've never asked for feedback on my blog; I've seen how unfriendly people can get in online forums and always try to avoid saying/doing anything that might provoke ill fillings in me.

Again, I know you guys are different. So, if you all want to do blog reviews, that's cool with me. Let's just keep each others' feelings in mind. That's not to say I don't want us to be honest and offer good constructive criticism; if/when you do, please try to phrase things tactfully.

And how about those who would like for other members to review their blogs start their own threads? This way, if you want feedback you get it, and if you don't, you won't be getting unsolicited advice. How's that sound?

I will be extremely busy in the coming week as I have not started on my taxes yet , so will probably be scarce around the forums and social networks for a while. Go ahead and start your review request threads, I'll try and pop in and participate if/when I have the chance. I HATE taxes!

Blog Reviews For All!

financialnut — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:15:49 -0700

What do you guys think about having everybody from the Pecuniary Associates participate in reviewing all of our blogs?

So, for example, we take Penelope's blog first. We start a thread for her blog. Then all of the members take 15 or 20 minutes to do a complete blog review, offering her advice, feedback, suggestions, design help, content help, etc...

Then we can go to another blog.

And then another!

What do you guys think?

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:25:28 -0700

It'd probably be a good place to pick up new readers.

I think you're right. Spending time in forums like this does mainly 4 things:

1. Gets you inbound links via your signature.
2. Helps you gain more readers.
3. Allows for great PF blogger networking.
4. Increase your understanding of blogging and finance in general.

Forums are great. I'm a HUGE advocate.

Re: Free Webmaster Tools and References

financialnut — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:21:56 -0700

Okay- that's all I need to hear. I'll definitely give it a try.

Re: Social Networking

Penelope Pince — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:56:13 -0700

Yeah, I'd like to be active in all these forums, but there just aren't enough hours in the day. The MBN forums is the best if you want to network with other bloggers.

I haven't yet checked out the Finance Forums, but it looks pretty cool, too. It'd probably be a good place to pick up new readers.

Re: Social Networking

CountingMyPennies — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:24:17 -0700

I'm also a big fan of WiseBread's Forums (I'm Megan over there). I've not been as active as I would like, simply because there just isn't enough time in the day to get it all done, but I'm working on it!

Re: Social Networking

Penelope Pince — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:22:28 -0700

financialnut wrote:Why do you like Wisebread's so much?

It's one of the first forums I ever joined (Jan 31, 2008) and the one that got me blogging about finance and frugal living in the first place. The people there are nice and I've made a few good friends there as well as gained readers.

The admins are nice and really great about letting you post links to your own blog (so long as it's relevant and useful to other members, of course), so it has been a good source of traffic for my blog. Not all forums are like this; in fact I intentionally left out a couple of forums I've checked out that charge you to put a link to your blog in your signature.

I hate signature spammers, but it's not fair to users who spend a lot of time and share good information on their forums, making them ad revenue (those forums are heavily monetized) and they won't even let you put a little "nofollow" link to your blog in your signature.

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:11:19 -0700

Why do you like Wisebread's so much? I am just starting to become more active there.

Forums

Penelope Pince — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:43:20 -0700

List of links to forums from other pf blogs:

Wise Bread
Get Rich Slowly
Frugal Dad
Consumerism Commentary
Canadian Money Forum (New)
The Finance Forums (This one's not part of a blog)

I wish I had time to be active in all these forums, but so far I've only managed to regularly check in at Wise Bread, which is my favorite.

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:51:42 -0700

Funny you bring this up, P. I have recently been "testing" out the financial forums, and I am definitely going to get more active in the MBN Forums. They're great! Many of the "greats" spend time there, offering a lot of great information.

I have been testing Mint's forum but found it to be less-that-active. I do Money Saving Advice's forum too. YNAB's isn't bad either. I'll have to start a thread with an analysis of each.

Money Blog Network (MBN) Forums

Penelope Pince — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:15:41 -0700

I know this isn't technically social networking, but it is definitely networking. I joined the Money Blog Network forum last summer, but didn't start being active in it till recently. It's a great place to find and share information about blogging, as well as network with other pf bloggers.

I really recommend joining and participating in this forum. Financial Nut is there as are many others from the pf blog community.

Re: Group/Community Writing Projects & Topic Suggestions

CountingMyPennies — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:14:07 -0700

First of the month works for me. Actually, since I frequently queue up posts in WordPress, any day of the month is fine, provided I've got a bit of notice on the topic. Even if I'm out of town, I can have the post ready to go.

Group Writing Project May 1st?

Penelope Pince — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:27:51 -0700

What does everyone think of the 1st of the month, every 2 months? I was also thinking the 15th, but the days before the 15th of this month are going to be heck for me because I've been procrastinating on my taxes ...

What do you all think of May 1st for the first project?

I am also thinking about a joint-network writing project and asking the other finance blog networks (I know of 7 others) to collaborate on a big joint project. I'm not sure how many of them will want to, but I'm going to contact them all to ask. It would be a great way for us to network and work with other bloggers.

What do you all think?

Re: Free Webmaster Tools and References

Penelope Pince — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:16:36 -0700

I've used Firebug a little, but found it to be ... well, a little ... buggy. Plus, as far as I know, Firebug shows you realtime changes, but you still have to save the changed code and upload it. I've also found recent versions of either Firebug or Firefox 3 to have problems - causing pages to take to hang and never fully load, so I've uninstalled it. I've gotten good enough at CSS that it doesn't take quite as much trial and error and hours of uploading as it used to, so I mainly use Notepad++ to do my hacking now.

If you ever hack php, css or html and have never tried Notepad++ you have to try it! I love it. It displays the code in different colors and styles to you can easily see where you open and close things, and it causes less errors because it lets you know if you've left something open. I can't say enough good things about it. You just have to try it if you do any hacking and have been using the old Notepad or WordPad; you will never go back.

Re: Group/Community Writing Projects & Topic Suggestions

LivingWellOnLess — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:14:01 -0700

When are we planning to write about frugal pet care? Have we decided on a date?

Re: Free Webmaster Tools and References

financialnut — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:41:39 -0700

Fantastic tips. I am a HUGE fan of Firebug. The fact that it can REAL TIME show you the changes you're making on your site without really making those changes is fantastic. I've never actually used the Notepad++ program you were referring to. How would that help me if I'm already using Firebug?

Great thread.

Re: Roundups

Penelope Pince — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:06:22 -0700

That's a good idea, CMP. I myself find it easier to just do all 5 PA links at once, and if I have the energy, to throw in 2-3 other non-PA links. For some reason, roundups for me take a super long time to put together - you'd think they'd be the easiest posts to do, but they're not! - so I prefer to do them all at once every 2 weeks.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:25:38 -0700

Well... since you asked...

It's only my absolute specialty! Here's the premise:

There are literally hundreds of article directories on the internet. An article directory is much like a web directory (similar to DMOZ.org or Yahoo's directory), only article directories are full of categorized short articles not websites.

Here are a few examples of them: ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, isnare.com, articlesbase.com, articlemarketor.com, articledashboard.com, etc...

Basically your write short articles (between 250 and 500 words) and submit them to the directories.

So what are the benefits? Here's a few:

1. You can put a couple of back links in the article pointing to your site using whatever anchor text you want.

2. People that have monthly newsletters often come to places like this to get content. They MUST post your link and give you credit for the content, giving you even more back links.

3. These directories naturally rank high because of their prestigious domains.

4. You tend to get a fair amount of direct traffic.

The only type of blog promotion I did in the first few months were article submissions to ezinearticles and managed a 3 PageRank as a result.

Okay! That probably should have been for another thread, but there you go!

Here's a good source: http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... backlinks/

Free Webmaster Tools and References

Penelope Pince — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:18:26 -0700

I believe we all self-host and manage our own blogs, so I thought I'd start a thread where we can share things we've learned that make things easier for us. I started a similar thread on WiseBread last summer from which I'm copying and pasting a lot of this.

-----

I've been designing my own websites for the past 2 years, and these 2 years have consisted of a lot of long nights of code hacking trial and error, uploading and refreshing ad infinitum. Only a few days ago did I learn of 2 useful tools that probably could have saved me hundreds of hours that I could have spent sleeping instead. So I thought I'd start a thread where we can share web design tools and references that save time and make webmastering easier.

Website Design and Set-up

Notepad++
I learned about this from Mrs. Micah via Twitter. I absolutely LOVE this program. It's a code editor that makes editing HTML, PHP and CSS (plus other languages I don't know) so much easier. Notepad and WordPad are arachaic in comparison. If you do any hacking - like on your WordPress theme, this will make your life 1000% easier.
Filezilla
A free FTP client and real timesaver. Filezilla is very easy to use and you can upload an entire site at one time. It can save your log-in information and you can log back in to your exact last location by using the shortcut "ctrl + r", and you can move from one directory to another by typing the destination address directly in the address bar. (Believe it or not, I designed my first 3 websites using my web hosting company's ftp interface where you have to browse for each file and can only upload 10 files at a time.)
Firebug
This is a Firefox extension that lets you edit the code (html, css, javascript, etc.) of any webpage you're on to see the effect immediately without having to upload and refresh. A real timesaver.

Fonts, Colors and Images

Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents
When designing a site, you want to stick to fonts that are common to all systems and browsers so your visitors see your site as you intend. This is a nice chart showing the common fonts with their Windows and Mac names, font families, and in italic and bold styles.
RGB Color Values
This is my favorite reference for choosing colors for my site designs. You can test any hexadecimal color code on the background of the page to see how other colors show up with that color as both background and foreground.
Colorzilla
A Firefox extension that lets you easily see the RGB/HTML color code by hovering over elements of a webpage - text, image, background, etc.
Paint.NET
Free, improved version of Paint that comes installed on Windows. Allows you to edit, crop, re-size, and save images for the web. It's not as advanced as Photoshop but adequate for basic image editing.

Website and Search Engine Optimization

Markup Validation Service
Just type in the address of one of your webpages to check that your HTML, XHTML, CSS, etc. markup is all valid. Click on "Show Source" under More Options to see where exactly each error is.
Web Page Analyzer
Anaylizes your site and makes suggestions and offers guidelines for improving load time.
iWebTool
Many tools for checking page rank, backlinks to your site, website speed test and more.
Google Webmaster Tools
Submit your sitemap, set your preferences, check links and more to help get your site indexed by Google.
Google Analytics
Free and detailed statistics reporting on visitors, page views, traffic sources and more. There are no record limits as with free accounts from other web stats companies like StatCounter, Sitemeter and Active Meter.

Anyone else know of other tools? Feel free to share!

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

Penelope Pince — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:37:24 -0700

financialnut wrote:I do a ton of article marketing, which send back one way links using whatever anchor text I want. I find that to be extremely useful.

What exactly is article marketing? Can you tell us a little about it?

Thanks!

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:33:11 -0700

That is too funny. You're exactly like me! I'm all about rankings and traffic data and other web metrics. It's easy to become so consumed by it that you forget about providing good, valuable content; and that, as we know, is what will end up boosting those rankings anyway.

A couple of months ago I lost my PageRank for several weeks. I thought I was going to die!

Luckily it all came back. Google PR is ALL about inbound links. I do a ton of article marketing, which send back one way links using whatever anchor text I want. I find that to be extremely useful.

As long as you continue to see inbound links come your way, I don't think you'll lose too much PR.

Re: Rankings Obsession

Penelope Pince — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:16:25 -0700

Yeah, I know we shouldn't care too much about rankings and simply concentrate on "writing good content and the rest will follow," but it's hard not to get caught up in it, especially when they drop.

I had a PR 4 last spring & summer but dropped to PR 3 in the fall, which had me really bummed for a while. I kept trying to analyze what was wrong. It was right after I hosted two big blog carnivals and I wondered if it was all the outgoing links. I got used to it after a while and was simply grateful that it didn't continue to drop as another PF Blogger's (from my old group) did; it may or may not have to do with his accepting paid links.

My Alexa ranking was at 200K till last month when it suddenly started falling every few days down to 325K, where, thankfully, it stopped and started reverting. I've been obsessively checking my ranking every day to see where it is - looks like I'm back up to 269K today.

And with so many people doing top 100 PF blog rankings - Wise Bread and FIRE Finance are two big ones - it's hard not to get caught up in it and worry that you'll drop off the chart.

But must remember: "Pride cometh before the fall."

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:25:29 -0700

@P: You know- I agree with what you're saying, but I've found that PageRank DEFINITELY influences the number of advertisers you get and the price they'll pay for a text link. So it does matter.

You're not the only one who loves to have some nice stats. I'm quite proud of my 3 PR and 230,000 Alexa score.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

Penelope Pince — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:43:36 -0700

I just did a little googling on selling links and found that Google has a page where people can report paid links they come across. It's a super simple process, so I'm wondering it it's worth the risk. It looks like anyone can report paid links - all they have to do is fill out the field for "website selling links" and "website buying links" and you're reported.

Of course, if you don't care about PR, and some people don't, then it's no big deal. I wonder if I care too much abut PR. I guess it comes down to what your main goal is - to make money or to have a "nice" site.

For me, it's kind of a matter of pride to have a pretty site with a nice page rank. So appearances may win out over money ...

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:24:34 -0700

@Penelope: I get nervous about losing my Google PageRank too! Google has a strict policy about "paid links," and they will penalize accordingly if they can discover that you're doing it. I'm very careful about the types of sites that I link out to, as I know Google knows about all of them.

I'm glad you're here to make money too!

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

Penelope Pince — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:32:09 -0700

I hate to say it, but my ultimate goal is to make money. My sister and I bought a house in an isolated area in 2005 because our business was starting off well and we needed the space (we started in a 1-bed apartment and soon had no room to walk), but then this economic problem hit and starting about 2 years ago, business has been deteriorating, so I decided to start a blog to help make extra money last year.

Though, I care too much about quality to accept ads I'm not sure about. I haven't accepted any advertising requests for those payday loan and credit repair companies that email me through my blog contact form, because,

A few months after I started out, I had a PR 4. Then last fall, it fell to PR 3, and I don't want it to fall anymore. In fact, I wonder if having too many affiliate links, because they're outbound, is harming my page ranking.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:26:56 -0700

@CountingMyPennies: Yeah- I know exactly what you mean. I guess you have to look at your motives. I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. To learn about personal finance and take control of my money

2. To make money

That's what gets me out of bed and posting on my blog day in and day out. I like that you donate a part of your blogs earnings to a charity. Good for you.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

CountingMyPennies — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:41:36 -0700

I definitely think you're right. Ads are the way to go. I don't break even on my site right now (though I donate half my blog income to charity, so I probably could break even), but I'm not sure that I want to put a ton of ads on the site. I like the fact that if I decide to, I can delete all the ads from my site with no questions asked. I like that sort of control.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:19:15 -0700

@Counting Pennies: I think you're right. If you're reviewing a particular product, it's a great idea. I've never used them, but I may begin doing it with a "product review" mindset.

I don't know- I still think most of the money is in advertising. Not adsense... not affiliate marketing... just raw advertising.

What do you guys think?

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

CountingMyPennies — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:51:47 -0700

I think that Amazon Associates links are good if you're talking about a particular product, though when I do that, I'm sure to reference the fact that it's a referral link. If I do a book review or product review, for example, I try to use a referral link. But other than that, I'm not sure the general ads do very much.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

financialnut — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:57:21 -0700

@Penelope: Good advice. While I think you can make some money using Amazon, I don't think it'll ever be a huge money maker on a PF blog. And it looks like you guys are evidence of that. But that's just speaking about our PF niche; I don't know if it's something viable in another niche.

@GreenerPastures: I've made the vast majority of my revenue in paid month to month advertising of text links. You have to be careful because you can get penalized by Google if you're not careful (and I'm not even sure what "careful" means).

Since we attract so many people that are money conscious, I think the best way to make money is in advertising for monthly rates with private companies.

What do you think?

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

GreenerPastures — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:44:26 -0700

That's good info. I think I'm going to pull my ad. No sense wasting the space.

Re: Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

Penelope Pince — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:53:09 -0700

I haven't had that much luck. Back last fall, when our 101 Ways to Save Money post got mentioned by MSN Smart Spending and had a StumbleUpon surge, we made $13.75 (9 products sold) through a couple of product links we recommended in that post.

9 of the items were Monopoly games, which I assume came through one of our Monopoly game expansions posts. But it was probably as a result of the traffic from 101 Ways to Save Money.

Then around Valentines Day, we made $1.17 (3 sales), probably from a couple of links in my Frugal Valentine's gifts post. I don't know how long it'll be before that becomes $10 and I get paid!

I think it greatly depends on how you use the links. I find that putting up banners on the sidebar isn't that effective; you have to actively promote products in posts, but that's not always right for my blog. There's a thread over at the Wise Bread forum in the Blogger's Corner where someone asks about Amazon Associates, too, and someone actually made around $100 last year from reviewing books.

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

GreenerPastures — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:12:40 -0700

Penny, I would say you have an "A" tattooed on your forehead.

As far as the comments go, I do it on a case by case basis.

Blatant sales stuff is out.

If someone takes the time to write anything of thought, they get posted, regardless. I might make spelling corrections, or not, depending on how much time I have.

Has any had any luck with Amazon Associates Ads?

GreenerPastures — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:03:32 -0700

I've not had any luck at all. Would love to hear what others are experiencing.

Re: Roundups

CountingMyPennies — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:16:17 -0700

I've been trying to do a roundup every week, though that's fallen by the wayside in recent weeks. I've started using delicious.com to bookmark posts I want to include, so that's really helped a lot. It makes it easy to transfer bookmarks from one computer to another, since when I'm not at the gym over lunch, I use my lunchbreak to read PF blogs. The Google Toolbar is also great for this, but I can't install anything on my work computer, so it's not an option for me.

I may try to get in PA links every week, though I might split it up - half the people get links one week, half get links the other week. I feel like if there are fewer links to click, people are more likely to check them all out.

Re: Member Blogroll

GreenerPastures — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:59:02 -0700

Thanks for taking the time to do this! You're doing a great job getting this network set up. It's a lot of work!

Re: Group/Community Writing Projects & Topic Suggestions

CountingMyPennies — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:40:31 -0700

That works for me!

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:11:03 -0700

Penelope Pince wrote:But then "complicated" is also a euphemism for other choice words that come to mind.

Haha...

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

financialnut — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:07:27 -0700

Penelope Pince wrote:I figure if people don't care enough to properly promote themselves, I won't spend my time to do it for them.

Agreed.

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

Penelope Pince — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:11:53 -0700

I agree about not offending readers by not approving comments. I can often tell when English is not someone's native language because language is a specialty of mine, but what bothered me about that 2nd comment was that the commenter is American and says on her blog that she's a published writer.

She makes some effort on her blog to write in complete sentences and words, capitalize and punctuate, but when leaving a comment on someone else's blog, doesn't do any of that. She doesn't even bother to check if her own blog URL was entered correctly.

Being of the "if you're going to do something, do it right" school of thought, this bothers me. But as you guys say, I don't want to offend my readers and discourage commenting, so I let it through. But I also didn't correct any of her mistakes, including the URL. I figure if people don't care enough to properly promote themselves, I won't spend my time to do it for them.

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

CountingMyPennies — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:17:51 -0700

I would delete the first type of comment (the random comment plus link) and leave the second. My spam blocker actually catches the first type, which makes it easier for me to decide. As for the second, I don't always know the native language of the person commenting, so I try to not worry if it seems a bit incoherent. No need to offend readers who are trying to learn about personal finance by not letting their comment through!

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:43:52 -0700

Haha... I understand. You don't want to discourage your visitors by not approving their comments, but at the same time, you've got to maintain the integrity of your comments.

Ohhh well... decisions, decisions.

Re: Membership Requirements & Guidelines

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:21:13 -0700

I completely understand what you're saying! It's tough when you get some momentum. Sleep becomes such a burden! But then your efficiency drops and so does the quality of your work.

I know what you mean, though.

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

Penelope Pince — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:20:08 -0700

Thanks, those are good points and I'm glad I'm not the only one bothered by it. My sister says I'm too touchy, and I know I can be, but I do try to be reasonable.

I also have a tendency to be indecisive, so even a simple thing like approving comments can take me longer than for most people. Where most people see black and white, I see a large, hazy gray area. (My stepfather always used to make fun of my inability to make decisions.)

Re: Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:14:12 -0700

No. I don't think you're "Type A" at all. That type of thing bothers me, as many make it blatantly obvious that they're not there to contribute anything to the conversation, other than a link to their site.

Here's the thing: Most of these people won't see any clicks because their comment doesn't cause anybody to ask, "Hey- who was that intelligent person that made that intelligent comment?" Unless you say something somewhat interesting, you're not going to be drawing any clicks.

Then there's still the link issue. Does the person benefit from a search engine perspective? Not usually. In fact, most blogs are "nofollow" blogs; in other words, no "link juice" is actually being passed because of the link.

So, essentially, even if we do allow those types of comments, the people are wasting their time because it doesn't matter- they won't get clicks and they won't get PR.

I hate it too, P. Drives me crazy! I am fairly liberal, however. I'll let people comment if I can see that they at least kind of tried. When it's totally blatant, I get rid of it.

Re: Social Networking

Penelope Pince — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:11:31 -0700

lol No offense taken here. But yes, "special" is more of a euphemism in this day and age where cynicism is king. But then "complicated" is also a euphemism for other choice words that come to mind.

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:02:59 -0700

Penelope Pince wrote:You have no idea how "special" - though I prefer the word "complicated" - our familial issues are.

Complicated- yes... that's definitely a better world. "Special" can mean any number of things.

Oops! I hope that didn't offend, as I didn't mean anything by it!

Re: Social Networking

Penelope Pince — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:10:21 -0700

You have no idea how "special" - though I prefer the word "complicated" - our familial issues are.

Re: Membership Requirements & Guidelines

Penelope Pince — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:08:02 -0700

I'm really hoping that we will be as active as you hope. My blogging's been a little sporadic lately because I've been so wrapped up in setting up the Pecuniary Associates and Carnival of Pecuniary Delights sites, but I am ready to settle into some serious blogging now.

Whenever I'm working on websites, I tend to stay up way to late (or maybe "early" is the more correct word) and not get enough sleep. And whenever I don't get enough sleep, I am completely devoid of blog post ideas and the energy to think about ideas.

That's something I really need to work on.

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:06:53 -0700

So I see! Makes sense... that separation can be important, especially if you've got some "special" circumstances with you family.

Re: Membership Requirements & Guidelines

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:02:52 -0700

It all depends on how active the group is. If we're constantly interacting with one another, commenting on our group's blogs, and spending time in the forums, I think we'll see an real interest. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

I'm still excited about it! For some reason I've been so driven to blog! I hope I don't lose this fire.

Re: Social Networking

Penelope Pince — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:28:50 -0700

I blog with a pen name to keep my personal and blogging lives separate, and that's why I have social networking accounts under my pen name instead of my real name for blog networking. I'm still myself in my social networking and my blogging, so it's still the real me, but just a little less personal.

One reason we decided to blog under pen names is that we don't want our stepfather to know what we're up to - long, complicated story - and happen on some things we've said about him like in Our Family Financial History.

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:40:08 -0700

Very cool.

I am going to get a Facebook account for my blog, then, at some point this week. I'd rather keep my personal stuff a bit more private; however, it would seem nice to have everything in one central location.

Do you have any concerns about doing it that way? Part of me doesn't want to mix my personal with my blog; however, at the same time, why not?

What's your take?

Where do you draw the line when approving comments?

Penelope Pince — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:13:09 -0700

I often have a hard time deciding whether or not to approve a comment. Sometimes feels like someone is only leaving a comment in order to post a link to their website. I had someone leave a comment today that just said:

I just wanted to say that I love this site

The post is on natural exfoliators and the commenter has a dermabrasion (kind of exfoliation) website. I did a quick Google search and didn't find the exact same phrasing everywhere as I do with some really obvious spam comments, so I ended up approving it. But it still feels like she's only here to promote her own site and not really to "comment" on the post itself.

What do you guys think?

And the other day, I received this comment on my When "Free" Things Aren't Free post:

so true! I went to Walmart the other day and had to pay .40 as tissues weren’t free as coupon was for a dollar and they were 1.39 plus the tax gets you too like for soda…I got the flat wrigley’s gum free though. My eco-canteen was not really free as I ahd to write a nice review on the stainless seel biotle but is ok as i like it and will use it rather than plastic ones and save at store from buying drink and using either drink from frig. when i travel or water from the tap as tastes good and cold too!

It's not spam, but the commenter was so careless with it that after reading it a few times, I still don't quite understand everything she's saying, plus, she made errors with her own blog's URL.

Does it make my blog look bad if I approve comments like this? Should I go through all comments and correct them for typos, spelling and grammatical errors? Or not approve them at all because the commenter is careless?

When I leave a comment on a blog, I always double check all my spelling and grammar before hitting "publish," because not only is a comment representative of yourself and your blog, it also seems like a sort of courtesy because you're posting it on someone's blog.

What do you guys think? Maybe I'm just too Type A?

Re: Group/Community Writing Projects & Topic Suggestions

financialnut — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:41:33 -0700

Sad day! I don't have any pets!

I did, however, grow up with some so it's fine. Let's go with it!

What does everybody else think?

Re: Group Writing Project Topic Suggestion - Frugal Pet Care

Penelope Pince — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:22:03 -0700

While putting together our profiles, I noticed that all but one of us have pets:

Pecuniarities - 2 dogs
Greener Pastures - 2 dogs
Living Well On Less - 1 dog
Counting My Pennies - 2 cats
Passive Dad - 2 dogs

So I thought that we might do a group writing project on frugal pet care. Maybe things like how we save on pet care expenses without compromising our pets' health?

Financial Nut doesn't have any pets but has told me he can contribute with his viewpoints/ideas.

Re: Membership Requirements & Guidelines

Penelope Pince — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:13:58 -0700

financialnut wrote:It would be nice if after a few months we had a HUGE list of names of bloggers that are trying to become a part of this group.

I've already received 2 emails from people who are interested in joining our group. I've posted on our Contact page that we're currently not recruiting, but those who are interested can let me know and we'll consider them if/when we decide to expand.

Re: Social Networking - Facebook

Penelope Pince — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:43:26 -0700

First of all, my Penelope Pince facebook account is a primarily pf blogging and networking account. I have a separate personal account for my family, friends and old schoolmates.

1. I set up my facebook account using my blogging email address, and because I have hosted several carnivals in the past, I have over 100 email addresses for other pf bloggers in my address book, and vice versa by having participated in blog carnivals. This makes it easy to add networking contacts. Also, the pf community is very connected on facebook and there are lots of mutual friends in the "people you may know" tool.

2. Facebook also seems to recommend people I follow or who follow me on Twitter.

3. I joined the Personal Finance Bloggers Group through which another pf blogger just found my blog the other day and added me to his friends.

4. I added the Blog RSS Reader application and set it up to post notes to my profile when a new blog post is published.

5. I also have the Twitter App which automatically posts my tweets to my status. Because I have Twitter Feed post tweets about newly published posts, this does create a duplicate posting (along with the RSS reader app) about new blog posts. I've yet to figure out if this is harmful or not.

People have come to read my blog posts through these Facebook updates. Some have commented on my posts or my facebook status (for the post) and "Liked" them - new Facebook feature. I only recently started facebooking, and while it's not a huge source of traffic - yet - it has brought me traffic.

If any of you join or are on facebook, feel free to add me.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Penelope-Pince/1046360701

Subscribe to Forum Updates via RSS

Penelope Pince — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:07:24 -0700

One of the reasons my old group didn't work was due to lack of discussion or awareness of discussions going on in the forum, so I have added RSS Syndication to make it easier for members to keep abreast of group announcements, discussions and activities here in the forum without having to come here and check for updates.

I've burned a FeedBurner feed that includes all new posts here in the forum so you can subscribe by reader or email. The feed url is:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/PecuniaryAssociatesForum

There is another method that I recently discovered and absolutely love. It's called Live Bookmarks and I believe it's a Firefox 3 feature. You can place the feed right in your bookmarks toolbar and all you have to do it click on it to check for new items. Here is a screenshot:

To add the Live Bookmark to your browser (Firefox 3):

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/PecuniaryAssociatesForum?format=xml

Re: What was your favorite childhood movie?

financialnut — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:16:49 -0700

ohhhh Pennies... that just cracked me up!

Re: Social Networking

financialnut — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:15:36 -0700

I'm curious... you mentioned that Facebook has been effective in bringing you traffic to your blog. Tell me a little bit about how that happens? How are people finding your group, other than you directly advertising it?

I have found StumbleUpon to be extremely effective. SU is by far my favorite social media network; Twitter comes as a close second. I'm also really starting to like LinkedIn.

Re: Roundups

financialnut — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:12:38 -0700

Yeah- that actually sounds really good. Let's plan on it.

Re: Roundups

Penelope Pince — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:54:30 -0700

It's up to you when you want to do your roundups so long as you do them. I know Living Well On Less does roundups on Fridays, and most bloggers do them on weekends, usually Sundays. I usually publish mine on Sundays or Mondays.

Regardless of when we do them, as long as we're all doing them bi-monthly, it'll be great. Also, if we don't have set schedules and stagger our roundups, we might get more even incoming traffic - i.e. I just did a roundup this past weekend so I won't be doing one this coming weekend, but if some of us do them this coming weekend, we'll all have a sort of balance with links coming into our blogs each week. Does that make sense?

Re: Group/Community Writing Projects & Topic Suggestions

financialnut — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:10:15 -0700

I actually like the idea of doing this once every 2 months. Let's go with that.

Re: Membership Requirements & Guidelines

financialnut — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:07:47 -0700

Honestly, Penelope, you have to have somebody who is going to enforce things to make this group work. And I feel like it gives it some measure of "status," which is really important. I would be nice if after a few months we had a HUGE list of names of bloggers that are trying to become a part of this group.

If we're all active and we follow what's been outlined, I'm fairly confident that it'll work and that a membership here will greatly benefit all who are involved.

I'm excited. Be tyrannical. It's good.

Re: Roundups

financialnut — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:04:33 -0700

Yeah! That looks great. When are we supposed to have our first one done? I just want to get on a schedule and follow it.