2011 Review

Real quick review - won't be posting anything new until 2012

The biggest thing I've learned is to do my own thing. I have 5 years to get this off the ground - if I stress about following all of the suggestions I want to give up.

If I do what I think is right then I keep plugging away and eventually I'll get there.

Week of 12/5 To Do

• Done! Get rid of grey line around ebook: http://weeklygroceryshopping.com/feed-your-family-eboook/
• Done! announce giveaways and ebook
• Done! change header w/ clickable ebook region

Blog Design

Done! Friday December 2, 2011

Steps I've done week of Nov 29 for eBook:

1. Created cover
2. created a cover for the header
3. created big "add to cart" button
4. Final touches on eBook. DONE!
5. link Paypal Account {don't keep cash in this account} DONE!
6. ejunkie DONE!
7. sales tax 4% DONE!
8. set up accounts DONE!
9. Create sales page on WGS blog {page has been started} need to add testimonials and link to MSM guest post about why I don't use coupons....add a few more links to HH as well. GOOD ENOUGH!

TO DO Later:

1. Affiliates - will do this later

eBook cover Wed. TO DO

Still to do:

1. make cover for HH blog that is 3D (link is how to make the spine)...how to make 3Dimensional
2. Add an arrow to the header in WGS DONE!

• The second way is less elegant but requires nothing more than the GIMP, a font that has arrows (I have one called Wingdings), and some work with the rotation tool. In many ways, that sentence really said it all, but let me elaborate. One of the fonts that your version of the GIMP probably has contains a font of little icons or dingbats. You may have to type out all of the letters on your keyboard to find out which ones they are, but in one of those fonts will be some arrows usually pointing in the cardinal directions. Make a text layer with just one letter from this font, say the up arrow. With the GIMP you can choose any color for your font, and you can scale it to be whatever size you like. If you need a longer tail, you may need to go in and use the selection tool to make a copy of the tail that is there and then repeatedly paste it on the end. This will convert that layer from a text layer to a graphics layer, but that's fine. You may also need to make the layer bigger to accommodate your longer tail. Once you do this, you just have to work with the rotation tool to get your arrow pointing in the right direction

Misc. Notes
filter render fractal explorer




fc5d00

Ebook to do

Steps left to do:

1. sales tax 4% 
• http://sd.gov/
2. set up accounts
3. ejunkie
4. Create sales page on WGS blog
5. Affiliates

Oh there are no dumb questions around here at all!  Make sure the box is checked in Dashboard–>Settings–>Writing–> Convert emoticons like  and  to graphics on display. Then, when you're writing, each time you type a : ), it will automatically switch to the emoticon

To Do Monday Nov 21

Finish eBook!!!!! Everything else can wait....ebook cover
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/08/13/how-to-resize-images-using-the-gimp/

What I Learned:

• how to embed a google doc in my post
• wrote a post on existing blog encouraging people to subscribe on weeklygroceryshopping.com because in a future giveaway it counts as an entry... http://www.hummingbirdhomemaking.com/2011/11/need-your-help-upcoming-giveaway.html
• 
  
• (from think traffic).....To grow your search engine traffic, you don’t need to be an SEO ninja. In fact, you just have to follow a few basic steps:

1. When you’re planning your article, use the Google Keyword Tool to find a keyword phrase that’s 2-4 words long and gets 100-1,000 exact searches per month.
2. Use that keyword phrase in the title of your post, a heading title, bold or italicize it once in the body of the article, and use it a few times in the content of the post.
3. That’s pretty much it!

To Do/Think About/Decide:

1. research next smartpassiveincome challenge
2. http://manvsdebt.com/how-not-to-suck-at-blogging/comment-page-1/#comments.
3. http://thelittlehenhouse.com/category/blog-advice/
4. gimp black and white
5. check google webmaster to see what is being searched
6. Gimp - removing the background from a picture (see sidebar for more posts they've written)
7. write a disclosure policy for WGS
8. Take a print screen of my blog and define the areas ie. #content # secondary
9. Keyword "Homemaking" every post
10. link up at several carnivals
11. http://www.theminimalists.com/blog/  
1. 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.
2. 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.
12. advertising
13. gimp  - valentine day hearts;  gimp - various tutorials on you the designer
14. http://michaelhyatt.com/how-to-monetize-your-blog-without-selling-your-soul.html

EBOOK price will be $2.99:

• 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

Social Media

1. Learn Twitter - UGGGG

Reading

• http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/blogging-tips/

SEO

1. 
   

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

Design using Graphene theme - LATER

1. How people browse blogs
2. http://www.momcomm.com/   wow!
3. Add a picture to the front of your blog so people know you are real

Misc.

• Child Theme info
• Kindle for ebook

DONE

• Gimp tutorials - nothing I need right now
• google webmaster seems to be working - check weekly to see what is being searched
• added social media buttons to my header

Review of the week 11/18/11

WHAT I LEARNED

• I love playing with the design of blogs, but it's time consuming. I needed to get something up that was good enough. After this week {thanksgiving} I really need to keep some kind of schedule/goals as far as things I don't like FB, Twitter, pinterest
• timing matters BIG time over at moneysavingmom
• I'm getting a lot of hits at orgjunkie...be consistent in what I call my link up

DONE

• blog design is good enough for now - using graphene template (will add features later including a different header)
• google webmaster seems to be working - check weekly to see what is being searched
• added social media buttons to my header
• signed up for twitter
• actually wrote something random on my FB wall. After Thanksgiving week make a time schedule again including FB and twitter...pinterest as well..starting to get more hits from that
• linked up twice this week. Lots of hits from moneysavingmom
• my post was listed at smartpassiveincome

DONE

• continually posted on my blog