Planning Today

Today I'm still spring cleaning up my Internet ventures. I found some place called Superblinky that has a lot of my content. I don't know why it's there but I know it used to be on AC. Well AC was taken over by Yahoo Voices and when Yahoo Voices went away, I guess, Superblinky got it.

It's not like the content was ground breaking, or anything like that, but it was mine. The byline just says "editor". Doesn't even mention little 'ole me. Alas, I didn't keep up with it so shame on me.

On the bright side, I got to do a ton of things with my little girl! I will never regret that.

I've been thinking about embarking on a new venture. I've taken to creating gifts for my family and friends rather then buying stock stuff from the big box stores. And, doling out gift cards just seems so impersonal. They seem to like them and some have even suggested I sell my creations.

I actually started researching different things that go along with selling stuff. Of course, like most people, I have a profile on Ebay and I have sold some stuff we didn't need anymore there. But, I think Ebay is too big for handcrafted goods.

Now Etsy seems promising to me because they have carved out a niche in handmade. So, being the way I am, I decided "if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right!" I started working on a plan.

Etsy sellers have a "store" they sell from. To me, that's like big business on a small scale--Love it! If you plan on opening a store, what do you do? You dream about the name. The name. Hmmm.

That brought me back to the blog today. I was thinking about all the research I did way back when with SEO and Keywords. Hey, If I'm going to open an Etsy shop you know I'm going to utilize all that, and more!

I came up with a name that Google adwords liked and guess what? Somebody already has it. Back to the drawing board...  

Wow! I haven't seen This place in a while!

I started spring cleaning. I'm doing the usual, you know, cleaning. I've made it my mission to change a few things in the house and my life. Today I've been focusing on my computer stuff.

...Wait...

Let me catch you up. Here's the short list:

• Husband is fine now and back to work.
• The little one is growing up and in middle school now.
• I took a long break from any writing so I could get the youngest into and through elementary school; and, the oldest on to graduate not only high school but college too.

There it is, the short list. Now, one might ask, why did those things keep me from writing, releasing whatever I'm thinking about on paper, um, blogging, or whatever? I just found myself always having something else to do.

Well, everyone has to have an excuse. Back then, I found myself using this blog as more of a technical journal. Something to link everything else to. Anyone can see what was going on. I was writing on AC, Shared Reviews, Squidoo...Trying ever so hard to learn all the ropes about SEO, html, and such, I lost myself.

Then the accident happened--the wake-up call. You just never know when those life-changing events will occur. A moment in time that you get a notion you have so much on your plate that things better change or you brain is going to explode.

Then there's my beautiful little girl. I wanted to enjoy watching her grow up. I wanted to be the mommy helping at the class parties, going on field trips, and volunteering in the library.

We did all the cool stuff: aquariums, costumes, dollar summer movies, museums, and zoos! You name it, we probably did it.

All that kid stuff was a fun ride!

So, I'm back to where I started, spring cleaning...Yesterday I sorted through clothes, today I sorted through my blogs, tomorrow is another day. I'll let you know how it goes with my spring cleaning...

Moving up the Associated Content Ladder!

I got a raise at Associated Content! My clout has been sitting on 6 all summer long and today I logged in to check on an article I submitted and I'm a 7 now! Finally.

The raise in clout means I get .05 more PPM/1000 pay! In the long run, long tail, it works for me. Actually, it almost makes me want to do more promotion to move to clout 8.

I wanted to thank everyone for clicking my Associated Content articles when I post them here and through my widget. Without those clicks I would have never made the move up.

It's funny, I've been doing AC and this blog for one year now. I built the blog right after I joined AC. I make money writing articles for AC but I post more on the blog. I guess I like expressing myself more than conforming to the SEO faction.

Now that school has started up again I'll be back to writing articles again. As you know I put a few things on the back burner during the summer. I submitted one the other day and I'm planning on doing at least one a week.

So, I'll lay out my new goals:

• 1 AC article per week
• 2-3 blog posts per blog per week
• 2 lenses per week (after I meet my 50 goal)

I know I can accomplish this if I spread myself out evenly.

Join Associated Content!

The UC4C and Generating Article Topics

And the winner for the Ultimate Call for Content is Rodney Southern! Congratulations!

The top ten finalists and the winning article can be viewed from the AC News Team: "Ultimate Call for Content Winner and Runners-Up."

As for me, I'll just keep trying. I actually came up with several article topics from my submission, "Collaborative Media Editing is "What's Next?" for the Internet." (Now I just have to get to writing them). I believe AC was trying to push producers into thinking outside of the box with this contest, giving us free reign on article topic choice. Hopefully the trend will continue.

Generating article topics can be rough. Swubird, of Swubird's Nest, mentioned in his last comment that reading helps him come up with article topics. I use reading myself. Sometimes I read something and think, "I need to write about that."

Ideas don't just come to me from Internet reading. Junk mail, magazines, books, and sometimes even billboards give me leads. Occasionally one word will get me off on a writing spree.

I've been working on developing a wider perspective on things. For instance my article, "Go Green Eternally: Green Burials, Sky Burials, Cremation, or Promessa," developed from a conversation I had with my Father-in-law about his funeral preparations. Talking to people can generate many good article topics. Heck, even eavesdropping can give you an idea or two...

I keep a notepad handy to jot down things down when I get hit with an idea for an article. Most of my topics sit in contemplation before I actually get to writing about them. Some topics are scratched off or narrowed because they are too involved or overly done.

I'm finally figuring out the ropes at AC. They want articles readers want to read. They want articles that have good ad alignment--something I've read over and over on the forum. They want the articles to be well written with good SEO. I'm finally getting the SEO thing. With those things in place page views rise, the site makes money, and the producers get paid.

I believe I'm doing pretty well. Considering I've got a few articles that are dead, a couple of poems, seasonal, and local interest only pieces. My page view average for 51 articles is about 488 and continues to rise. Take away the poetry and the dead entries and I'd be well over a 550 average.

I need to keep up the momentum. My anniversary with AC is the end of August. I'd love to raise my average to at least the 550 to 600 range by then. Now I'm off to work on it...

Topic to Theme: Brainstorming, Freewriting, or Clustering

My article submission for the contest (I mentioned in Friday's post) went in at about 6 pm yesterday. I did as I said; I let it sit and edited it to the bone on Monday. Yesterday morning I spent some time working on my links and finding an appropriate picture to accompany it.

I mentioned my brainstorming in Friday's post also. Since the submissions are all in, I'll tell some of what I did.

The theme was "What's Next?" Content producers had carte blanche on topic choice. I went through a myriad of ideas. I went to Yahoo and Google top searches and discovered "Stand up to cancer" was in the top ten. I mused about it for a while and decided there would be too much involved in writing about and narrowing a topic like that. However, I may do something on it in the future.

Other than cancer, the lists were like a "who's who" of the stars. I knew the UC4C might get some submissions about the stars but I don't write about people like that. My thinking was on the mark as the actual UC4C clearly stated submissions should not be about who will get pregnant next?

On that note, I did think about writing on teen pregnancy. The Spears teen pregnancy, being a mother of a teenager, and the movie Juno kind of made me sway towards it. I opted against it. Again, the topic was too large to do in 400-500 words.

I thought about work at home, blog marketing, and citizen journalism. All pretty big topics...

What I ended up doing was taking the last three thematic topics, combining them, and narrowing to something I could manage. My topic is something I have a lot of interest in and relates to photography, videography, writing, editing, and publishing.

I did my best with it. I employed all the keyword and SEO tricks I've been learning and writing about here. We'll see how it goes. The finalists are supposed to be picked today and judged through the 10th. I'll let know when my article goes live for a looksy.

ETA: the contest submission: Collaborative Media Editing is "What's Next?" for the Internet

Since it's Wednesday, let me throw this in for Workshop Wednesday. I know I'm cutting away from my fiction practice again, but it's all in good writing fun.

There are so many wonderful ways to come up with a topic. Brainstorming is a good one. It can be done alone or in a group. Group brainstorming is more fun because you gather more input and variation. To brainstorm you take a theme and develop topics from it. Write your topics out on a piece of paper, one after the other, as quickly as you can.

Another great way to get to a topic is freewriting. In freewriting, you just start writing. Take 10 or 15 minutes and write non-stop, without constraint from grammar or sense. Start with a keyword or phrase and go from there. Write everything you know and let it ride.

A combination of freewriting and brainstorming is clustering. Clustering takes your theme and gives you a pictorial reference of it. I never could cluster very well. One would think clustering would be my favorite since I'm more visual than anything else. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles.

There you have it, my textbook post on topic to theme development.

Content Article Conflict and Brainstorming Resolution

The last few days have made my brainstorming brain hurt. AC is having a writing contest: The Ultimate Call for Content. The theme is "What's Next?" Meaning what's going to be the "thing" of 2009.

Writers can write content on any topic of interest--a person, technology, how-to, etc. However it cannot be overdone, it must be SEO friendly, and it must be a tight 400-500 words.

I tend not to be too tight...I like wordy expressions, leading phrases, and overused puns.

The prize is $5000. That said, after the way the year started, I'm really going to try my best on this one. I believe I picked a good topic. I researched it to the bone yesterday. I put some words on the screen, edited a bit, and now I'm letting it sit.

The only problem is on the call announcement screen it says the content call will be released on June 3 and you have until midnight to submit your work. Usually when they put out a C4C they tell you what they want and you go from there.

This time they released the vague theme and topic choice ahead of time. I just hope they don't throw us for a loop on the 3rd and say, "Write about _____." I know there are a lot of producers working on something now. Wouldn't it be a shame if AC did something like that?

Tomorrow I'm going to read through my article content again. I'll be double checking my SEO, keyword density, crossing my t's and dotting my i's.

I wonder what everyone else is writing about? My curiosity always gets the best of me. I know there are a lot of really good SEO/keyword/LSI writers at AC. I'm especially curious about what their topics are. Of course I'm not giving away my topic choice here or anywhere. I know they wouldn't either.

How do you go about selecting a topic for an article like that? Your choice on the theme "What's Next?" There are so many ways to go. I decided to look at the Yahoo and Google most searched stuff first. That was no help. Most of what they've got listed there is the stuff the teens are searching for--hot actors.

I ended up digging a little deeper and found a few things that interested me. Then I did some brainstorming to narrow it down. Hold your chair because I'm going to tell you something interesting. For my brainstorming session, I actually used pen and paper!

I write notes a lot, but I have not done much brainstorming on paper since college. I think it really helped. At least I hope it did.

I hope everyone has a super weekend! If you're writing for the content call, Good Luck!

Friday Roundup, the Weekend is Here!

Do you remember your first kiss? How your heart beat so hard and fast you thought surely it would burst out of your chest? I do. I caught these two kissing the other day.

Then they realized they had been caught.

I think they're a little young for this, don't you?

I've been busy. Yesterday I took a ton of pictures. I need a better camera. I've been looking at an Olympus. It has all I want and more. Plus it takes sequential shots! How cool it would be to capture sequences without waiting for that digital to do whatever it does between shots.

Yesterday I also decided that we need a new computer. Ours is starting to really lag, hang up, and be just plain slow. Well, it's either the computer, or it's the DSL. I'm voting for the computer.

I did a lot of updating and site work yesterday. I added a new widget here for the reviews I've been doing at Shared Reviews. That site is turning into a pretty good side-line for a lot of people. I've even made a little money. I'm going to work on bumping that up a bit since it takes so little time.

They only require 750 characters for the reviews. That's short. Mine are running about 1400. It takes me a few minutes to write a review and post it. Then I vote on reviews--takes only a few minutes of my time. Then I get paid. It doesn't get any better than that.

I wrote an article and submitted it yesterday also. (I actually did two but one was just for fun). I don't know if they're going to buy the real one yet. I think the topic was pretty time conscious and should remain "evergreen."

Evergreen articles are it online. That's what everyone wants. Something that will stand the test of time. Something that will be hit over and over again. Okay, so that's what I will give them.

Yesterday was a busy day for me. Today will be also.

This weekend we will be taking the boat out for a test run. We completed all of the wiring, did the tilt trim unit, installed the new extinguisher, and battened down the hatches. The driveway run proved well, now it's time to put it in the water. If we forget the plug, all will be fine because we got the new bilge pump in also.

This should prove to be a great weekend. I hope everyone has a good one!

Fear of Rejection? Not this Muse

A few weeks ago I submitted a couple of articles. I have been working on implementing some of the things I've been writing about here. I wrote the articles, put them in queue, and waited. They were rejected.

Supposedly the topics were too common. I would agree that one may have been common. However, it had a personal approach and the information was from the latest research. In the end, I'm canning that article.

The other is a topic that I could narrow a bit. I also think I could change the title to make it more SEO friendly. I was thinking if I changed my keywords and phrases, I could get the article accepted. I'll be taking that on today so I can submit it again in a couple of weeks.

I've been working hard on this quest. I'm not going to let a little rejection stand in my way. Rejection only makes me want to improve.

Rejection is such a negative word.

I refuse to take your rejection
Having hit the button "ejection"
I will take a moment of reflection
And resubmit my selection

Okay, I'm sorry, that is a sad attempt at poetry. I'm just trying to stretch those creative muscles. Perhaps I should save that for Wednesday...

Where's My Branding Iron?

(Today I've been working on a few marketing and promotion things. I registered this blog with BlogCatalog, Jiglu, and BlogRush. I have to thank a fellow Associated Content producer for her help and the links to get me there, so "Thank you Momie Tullottes!" (Give her name a click to read her terrific work))

What exactly is branding? Do I have a brand? I'm not marketing anything aside from my content, can I call that a brand? When I first heard about this I thought, "what?" So I'm here to say I have read a lot about it. What I gather it's all about what you're selling. The better your brand (content) the better your sales (page views), as applied to my work at Associated Content.

From "Bringing Sexy Back: The Eight Steps to Content Marketing Bliss" by Joe Pulizzi I gathered a bit of information and applied it to my own version of branding. He lists 8 steps and from those I pulled out what I wanted to use.

While weeding though this article, I began to get discouraged because I don't target my AC articles to one group (niche). Then I thought, wait a minute, I may be targeting several audiences, some may consider that a pitfall, why not work it to my advantage. After all you are Eclectic Muse.

In step 7 Mr. Pulizzi says, "Start out with niche content and build from there." Well I can't very well do that since I don't necessarily have a niche. But I can concentrate on delivering "focused...valuable content."

There are several great ideas that can be drawn from this article. I took step 3 "invest in design" and personalized this blog to reflect the season, added personal information, and added widgets and links. I also took the strategy over to my eBay page and changed it to include links back to my articles, my blog, and a few other ventures I have taken on.

Do I understand branding? No. But I know it relates to marketing. Am I a brand? Well, I'm not yet. But I'm learning.

Breaking Barriers: Promotion

If you've been reading my blog, then you know I've been in a quandary about promotion and how to really make it work. This week I chose to try something new and join one of the reader groups exchanging page views with other Associated Content producers.

I embarked on a 10 for 10. What a challenge! I had to read 10 articles, and comment on them, of each of the posters signing in for the task.

This was not as easy as it seems. As it turned out only 6 others were up for the task. I put my nose to the grind stone and read each one of those 60 articles, commented as promised, and received my returned favor page views--which boosted my totals up to where I needed to be for the next bonus.

All in all I enjoyed it. I actually learned a lot from the other producers. I also came up with an idea for an article from my reading--a bonus!

I have heard that reciprocal reading groups don't work and are not worth a drop in the bucket for what you get out of them. That may very well be, but what about the topic generation you can achieve from it? What about the promotion aspects? What about the fact that you are adding another reader to your list?

Sure it's just a matter of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." But, isn't that what makes the world go round?

Promotion

How the heck does one do that? I've been working on promoting my material to no reward. I email my friends and I have come to the realization they think my emails are spam. I've been blogging about my trials and errors else where, so I'm going to let off some more steam here.



I really have been working hard at trimming up my article submissions to be more tight, include more keywords for SEO, and write about subjects I think will be around for the long haul. That seems to be what the Associated Content content managers/editors say they are looking for. But as with everything else, it's all pretty vague though when it comes to what they want, what they take, and what they pay for. One minute you hear they want this, but what they are really looking for is that. Isn't that a little tit for tat?


As far as promotion, I have been reading and commenting on other producer's work. That has been of some benefit. I set up accounts with stumble upon, digg, and delicious. Which I believe is helping somewhat.

I was reading an article on self promotion and it suggested Myspace. I had been hoping to avoid signing up to yet another site, but you gotta do what you gotta do. So I guess I'll have to take my non-techno self over there to learn how to set up a page.

I'm still learning how to link things here. Yikes my brain hurts.

Well, my motto is learn something new every day. How about upgrading that thought to ten something news every day.

Facing Rejection

Today the editor rejected an article I wrote. Actually it was a children's book review. They said the title was not search-able. No big deal. I just reworded it and resubmitted. We'll see what happens.

I took that information and reworded two other article titles. Those were not reviews though. I've been learning so much about key-wording, writing, editing, and developing topics. Writing is re-writing. That's what they say.

Reading the Associated Content forums has been a vast resource of knowledge for me. I've only made a few posts but I lurk a lot. When I got the rejection, I decided to hit the forum to find some insight. I found that they don't necessarily pay for book reviews. When they do the review must be of a non-fiction work. Okay my review was non-fiction--The Butterfly Alphabet. Linking letters to butterflies and acquiring facts through reading and association. That's non-fiction, it's based on facts.

I changed the review title to omit the word review and made it just "Butterflies A to Z," which is more SEO friendly. I also put some stuff in the subtitle to beef it up. I hope it works.

My inspiration for today would be finding acceptance through rejection, but I don't know if I've been accepted yet. So I'm looking at the rejection as a learning curve for now. It's guiding me in the direction I need to turn my writing towards.

A Moment to Spare

Just look at that beautiful sunset! Talk about an inspiration. I know I said I was only going to make a weekly post, I lied. I felt the urge to write, but not research write, work write, or review write--I want to write for me!

I think I'm doing pretty well with Shared Reviews. I've written 9 (which count as ten) reviews so far, gotten paid for 5. I've done some promoting also to get some referrals under my belt.

I don't how many more reviews I'll write. I have been neglecting Associated Content. I really think that is the pay off for me. My page views are really getting up there and I seem to be on the right track.

Research is really bogging me down. I've been studying keywords in an effort to produce better paying articles. You know, keywords are what the search engines look for. I found a series of really great articles about them and I'm going to sit this weekend and see what I come up with. Maybe even write an article or two on the subject. Or maybe just write here about it. There are a lot of Associated Content articles about it already and I wouldn't want to step on any toes.

The household is beginning to think I've turned into some book worm (article worm?). Read, research, study, write--shesh it's like I'm back in school again. Okay, I know it's all going to be worth it.

Memories

The other day I wrote a news article for Associated Content. Our local high school JV football team experienced an injury of a player. The boy was air lifted to the hospital. It was an upsetting, frightening experience to watch (read article).

It reminded me of my high school days. There were a few boys that suffered injuries. One was left with permanent problems.

Over the weekend I decided to pull out my high school yearbooks. I looked at everything that was written and scoured through the familiar faces. I haven't seen the majority of my old friends since the year after graduation. I almost wanted to pick up the phone to call some of them, but given that it was after 1:00am I opted not--been there before and I've since learned not to make phone calls after 10:00pm.

Have you ever been over come by nostalgia? It can be very inspiring.

Working at home, I'm working on it

I've been a stay at home mom for a little over three years now. I haven't missed a thing with the three year old and I'm filled with joy about it. When my teen was little, I had to work full-time and go to school, I missed a lot. Now I've enjoyed being one of those moms that goes to all the school functions. I'm loving it!

The little one will be going to school in two years. Since I've gotten a taste of what it's like to be home, I don't want to go back to the daily grind. As kids grow they get more expensive. One income just doesn't cut it.

So, what do I do? I've been selling on eBay. I've started writing for Associated Content. I've signed up to be one of those blog advertisers. I've been looking into blogging for money and freelancing. So far it's working!

I'm working on working at home. I am inspired to succeed!