Tues To Do

this week (oct 31) I'm finishing up my ebook and only focusing on that....




To Do/Think About/Decide:

1. check google webmaster to see what is being searched
2. Take a print screen of my blog and define the areas ie. #content # secondary
3. Add FB icon so someone can like your page in the header widget area
4. Write on ebook 1 hour
5. from 365cp site - choose to post every single day using your keywords in your post...tip a day? quote of the day??
6. http://www.momcomm.com/   wow!
7. link up at several carnivals
8. http://www.theminimalists.com/blog/  
1. Vision. The reason our site design looks good is because we had a vision of how we wanted it to look, and then we worked very hard to make that vision a reality (N.B. neither one of us had any design experience prior to starting this site). It’s hard to create a great looking site if you don’t know what you want it to look like.
2. We Instead Of You. The best bit of non-fiction writing advice we ever received was from Joshua Becker when we wrote a guest essay for his site. He asked to use “statements of ‘we/our’ rather than ‘you/your’ especially when talking about negative behaviors or tendencies.” It reads far less accusatory. Think of it this way: we’re writing peer-to-peer, we are not gods.
3. Research. Spend your time researching what you’re writing about. The reason we are able to use so many helpful, relevant links in our essays is because we put in the time to research our topics. That doesn’t mean that we read all of these blogs regularly, but we put in the time reading them when we’re doing our research.
9. read http://www.farbeyondthestarsthearchives.com/how-to-create-an-a-list-minimalism-blog-in-less-than-6-months/
10. advertising
11. gimp   gimp
12. twitter
13. 
    

Social Media

1. Learn Twitter - UGGGG

SEO

1. 
   

Other Bloggers
at 1:14 mins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pjNMkPG0A
http://www.pocketchanged.com/

Design

1. header
2. Like MichaelHyatt's design
3. more font information at blogigs.com
4. like TheSitsGirls logo
5. Allaboutbasic
6. A lot of design tips http://www.blog.web6.org/
7.   {real food ~ on a budget ~ without coupons}

Misc.

• Child Theme info
• Kindle for ebook

To Do Later for EBOOK:

• clickable table of contents do not do now because when you update the table of contents you lose all of your hyperlinks:
• http://www.ehow.com/how_5714608_create-using-ms-word-openoffice.html
• Make TOC linkable (this didn't seem to work for me)
1. for the kindle

DONE

• Gimp tutorials - nothing I need right now
• google webmaster seems to be working - check weekly to see what is being searched

Review of the week 10/28/11

What I Learned:

• Guest posts help tremendously. Definitely worth the time investment. This one fell into my lap, but I need to look for more opportunities.
• http://www.momcomm.com/   wow!
• It's still murky on what I'm supposed to be doing first, but have decided NOT to release a sub-par ebook just to get that project done.

What I've Done:

• Guest post at GroceryCartChallenge 552 page hits/ 1032 page loads one day; 332/714 page loads the next
• linked up at several relevant carnivals
• link within a post - not working quite right...
• figured out header getting blurry...had to define in functions AND in style sheet #branding img - that part took forever - love this part of blogging!
• played around with gimp - again that takes forever, but it's amazing what you can do
• added a like button to my posts via a plug in

To Do:

• My running list of to do's just keep getting longer - separate post on this blog.

Review of the week 10/21/11

What I learned:

• Once again, how important social media is...
• If I try to compete with others on MDBP then I lose focus of my most important priority (my family/home)
• If I focus on working on my ebook for an hour a day I don't enjoy it at all.
• I need to spend some time reading other bloggers

What I've DONE:

• created "purchases in alignment" spread for page steps for success
• created blank grocery budget by food you want to serve your family
• created a grocery list sample and blank sheet
• added the sidebar back into each single post (continue reading had no sidebars)
• wrote guest post for GCC
• updated employer info on facebook - not sure it did any good though
• added a clickable image for weeklygroceryshopping.com in HH blog - about me. Added button to a post with a 2005 date, then right clicked on image to get the image address...could be an easier way to do this???
• from bloggerseo website:
• <a href="URL WHERE YOU WILL GO AFTER CLICK"><img src="YOUR IMAGE DIRECT LINK" /></a>
• added clickable image on WGS directing people to HH:
• Amy in a new text widget put the following code:
• "<a target = "new" href="http://www.hummingbirdhomemaking.com/"><img src="http://weeklygroceryshopping.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/HH-button-for-WGS-button-snipped.jpg" /></a>"
• insert image into your server via the dashboard - doesn't look clear because of using snipping tool. Need to learn how to use gimp to do that.
• Added table of contents to ebook - do I want this to be clickable???
• decided against google+ for now.
• found another place to link up 

What I need to do:
I keep my to do list updated on this blog...most importantly I want to write on my ebook one hour every day AND ENJOY THE PROCESS!!!

Review of the week 10/14/11

What I learned:

Holy Cow - what have I gotten myself into? Just read SEO from ThinkTraffic and then tried to find a keyword w/ 500-2000 exact searches/month AND with google results < 20,000. Very difficult with my topic. In VBL's example he chose search volume of 3,600 and a google result of 96,000. Should have chosen a domain with my keywords in them.

I'm creating a combo niche site/authority site....need to keep keywords in mind. Keyword researching takes FOREVER and a day there are tools you can buy to make it easier.

• Learned how to disable comments on one page....at the top of the post or page, click on screen options, select discussion...at the bottom of your post uncheck allow comments.
• How to add "continue reading" in posts: http://www.blog.web6.org/make-summary-post-in-wordpress-blog-homepage/
• basically you put your cursor where you want the "continue reading" to be at and then click on the icon from your kitchen sink that says "insert more tag" when you hover (two pieces of paper split apart.
• Unfortunately for me - Social Networking matters - have got to figure this out!
• " You “aren’t really into” social media.
  Dude. Dude. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t like social media, you’re missing out on perhaps the single easiest thing you can do to be successful. I don’t care if you don’t like Twitter or Facebook or Google+ or LinkedIn. You need to at least have a mild presence at these social networking sites. You need to at least give your readers buttons to they can share your content. You need to stop complaining about the kids on your lawn and admit that social media isn’t some new-fangled passing fad. It’s here to stay."

What I've Done:

• picked SEO keywords
• updated my All In One SEO plug in using this video:  http://www.craigfifield.com/all-in-one-seo.htm    
• changed site so the permalinks include the day and month
• read keywords finding your niche
• http://www.e-mealz.com/  became an affiliate for my ebook
• wrote my first post and linked it to LifeasMom
• continued working on blog layout
• trying to decide if I want static pages or not
• from BloggingwithAmy:(Dashboard–>Settings–>Reading–>Front page displays–>"a static page"
• added social icons to each post....not to main blog page
• Establish your platform now from MichaelHyatt
• to do now:
• Consistently publish to your blog.
• Guest post to other blogs with similar markets.
• Collect emails on your blog and keep in touch.
• Consider producing a podcast.
• Create a Facebook Fan/Like Page.

What I Need To Do:

• http://bloggingwithamy.com/one-easy-way-to-cross-promote-on-facebook/
• I use the Comment Reply Notification plugin. http://bloggingwithamy.com/15-basic-blogging-dos-and-donts/
• Change headers/create ebook design...check out more font information at blogigs.com

Review of the week 10/7/11

What I learned?

The main thing I realized this week was that I need to work on my ebook every day. It's basically compiling everything I've written over the past couple of years regarding saving money at the grocery store and different strategies to try to feed your family.

This new blog will be a way to promote the ebook and help all people (not just homemakers) w/ grocery store issues.

What did you do?

text widget formatting
worked on ebook every day
Read about google plus  and decided to add this later! There are a million things I want to do.

designed blog - still more changes need to be made.

What I plan to do by Oct 14.

more font information at blogigs.com
Sociable Icons - For now add a FB like to each blog post.
1 hour each day on ebook.
4 hours uninterrupted Tues and Thurs...more hours throughout the week, but those are the two big days

Penalty

Not sure what I'm going to do here....paying money didn't work!