Written on December 28th, 2005 at 05:12 pm by mahor dave

First Steps for New Bloggers

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 5 comments

My name is Adams Briscoe and I specialize in stringing together nouns and verbs to build somewhat coherent ideas in the form of readable content. I run a personal blog over at Virtuashack.com and also managed to trick Weblogs Inc. into letting me get away with posting on some of their video game sites.

As a typical male, I had a hard time picking up on hints as to what I should give others for Christmas this season. One of the harder individuals was my father, who became increasingly curious as to what this whole “blogging” thing was all about. After tuning him into several sites of his interests (like enternetusers), he made the proclamation that he would like to start one himself, and (surprise!) make money.

Certainly not a new concept, and definitely not worth reinventing the wheel this time around (again). The catch-22 is that he had absolutely no background in website maintenance or blogging. The most experience on a computer he ever had was sending e-mail.

How do you get someone like that into the blogosphere? Moreover, how do you make it worthwhile and bring in traffic? Okay, sure you’ve got to find a niche. But as a newbie, he had no idea what works and doesn’t work for blogging. All the do-it-yourself posts in the world only do so much for you when you don’t even know how to start.

So what did I do? I bought him a domain and set him up with his own high-powered blog for Christmas. Using WordPress (fast, easy, and complete with wiki documentation), I told him to cut loose and write whatever tickled his fancy. I also dropped a few hints about gaining a few eyeballs here and there.

• Send it around: At first, my advice was to circulate his blog among his co-workers. Take advantage of that corporate e-mail. Having access to a big list of like-minded people who know you means genuinely interested visitors. Those kind of guests leave comments, comments spur activity, and activity draws a crowd.
• Trackback: I told him to develop a habit of checking his blogroll daily and if he finds something worth mentioning on someone else’s site, link back to it in a post so that others reading it can see what he has to say about that topic.
• Network: Get to know bloggers that have your same interests. Leave positive feedback, send tips or contributions. Who knows: you might get lucky and find someone generous enough to let you post on their blog (hint hint).
• Be transparent: One of the most important things is letting your guard down. Say what you mean and mean what you say. When you’re not shy, that affords you the freedom to go maverick and attract the readers who want to see someone spill their guts on something they enjoy too. I mean, isn’t that what blogging is all about anyway?
• Post often: This almost goes without saying, but running a blog that you want to eventually make a few extra bucks off of needs a heck of a lot of content. This is a weak point of mine, but then again, none of us are perfect.

Armed with only the knowledge of how to post and the aforementioned, he has since graduated from not knowing a single thing about blogging to being able to scour the internet for interesting sites and spread a piece of his mind. This goes to s! how you, people don’t have to be complete web pundits to manage a corner of the web for their own thoughts. Even half of a step is going in the right direction so long as you are willing, excited, and can at least send an e-mail or two.

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Written on December 28th, 2005 at 01:12 am by mahor dave

7 Things to Do with your Blog when you take a Vacation

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 60 comments

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What should I Do with my Blog when I go take a Vacation?

This is a question I ask myself in the lead up to every break and one that I seem to answer differently each time. I thought it a relevant topic to write about as I’m currently on holidays (or at least will be by the time you read this).

Here’s a few of the approaches I’ve taken over the last few years:

1. Give your Blog and Readers a Vacation

This is probably the most common approach that bloggers take - they simply stop blogging for the time they are away and resume on their return.

Advantages
- it’s low maintenance in the lead up to and during your time away.

Disadvantages
- your blog stops and you risk losing momentum
- you might end up with a lot of catching up when you return in terms of any news that breaks while you’re away
- traffic will probably fall due to lack of RSS updates

2. Advance Posts

Blogging software like WordPress has the ability for bloggers to write posts in advance of them being published. You simply set the date and time you want the post to go live and it will happen later while you’re sitting on a beach somewhere. This very post is an example of this. I’m currently lounging beside a pool reading a book in wonderful Queensland (or at least I hope I am). If I’m going to do advance posts I generally make them fairly generic, or a tips post or something that is not time specific.

Advantages
- this can give your blog the appearance of you actually being at your blog
- it keeps content ticking over on your blog which has advantages in SEO, maintaining readership levels
- you retain complete control over what is written on your blog while away

Disadvantages
- your posts will not be time relevant and you’ll still need to catch up when you get home on any newsy type posts
- you can run into formatting issues if you’re not careful - make sure you test your posts before you go
- moderation of comments is difficult with this. If a flame war blows up in comments you’re not there to moderate
- increases your work load

3. Retrospective Series

This is really a variation on ‘advance posts’ but instead of writing a whole new series of posts you run some older posts.

Advantages
- Lightens the load in the lead up to your vacation (not completely)
- Shows newer readers some of the older posts from your archives that they will never have seen before
- Still gives you control over what content goes up on your blog while gone

Disadvantages
- Can run the risk of messing up your URLs if you repost an old post on a new date (if your URLs are date specific).
- Still some work before you leave
- Could frustrate some of your older readers who have seen your old work
- Again you can run into comment moderation issues

4. Guest Blogger/s

Last time I went on an extended vacation this was the approach I took. Each of my blogs had a guest blogger or two (enternetusers had 20 or so) who were given posting rights. They were asked to write a few times a week (more if they could) and were given links back to their own blogs in return.

Advantages
- Involves your readers and other bloggers in your field which increases the sense of participation on your blog
- Guest Bloggers can moderate comments on their own threads
- Gives your readers fresh perspectives on your topic that you’d never have considered yourself.

Disadvantages
- You lose some control over what appears on your blog (at least until you return)
- Can be considerable work involved in setting this up if you have multiple blogs
- Some readers might become frustrated by your guest bloggers style/voice if they are loyal to your own.

5. Guest Posts/Series

This is the approach I’m talking here at enternetusers over the next two weeks with the majority of the posts you’ll read here. I’ve got at least one guest post per day from a different enternetusers reader. They’ll get a link or two back to their own blogs in return for the post. Rather than giving each blogger posting rights I tend to do this as a variation on the ‘advance posts’.

Advantages
- in addition to the advantages of guest bloggers (see above) this gives you the advantage of variety. ie instead of your readers getting frustrated with one guest blogger they get a new blogger every day.

Disadvantages
- can bring problems of inconsistency. ie some readers might become frustrated with the lack of consistent voice.
- there is quite a bit of work involved in setting up the advance posts from a variety of different bloggers.

6. Blog from the Road

I’ve done this on a couple of shorter business trips where I’ve arranged for net connections along the way to post from. Generally at these times I post at a lighter frequency than normal.

Advantages
- This means you’re in complete control over content
- There is no set up time required before you leave
- You can keep up with any breaking news (less catching up to do afterwards)
- You can moderate all comments

Disadvantages
- not good for a holiday or you’ll never rest

7. Open Mike posts

Another variation on the advance posts option is to leave a few ‘open mike’ type posts where you invite readers to submit their comments on a particular topic. In a sense then it is readers who provide content for you while you’re gone (although the action all happens within your comments).

Advantages
- gives your readers a sense of ownership
- keep visitor levels up

Disadvantages
- comment moderation challenges
- need to catch up on newsy posts when you return
- some work needed in setting this up (but only really to think of good topics/questions)

I’m sure there are other options which I’d encourage you to leave in comments below.

The choice will depend upon many factors including the topic you’re writing about, traffic levels, the interactivity of your readers, whether you have a high loyal reader factor, the length of your vacation, whether your readers play well together or not etc.

This holiday I’m going for a real combination of the above points on my blogs. Many of them will be going on holidays with me, enternetusers will have a combination of Advance posts and guest posts (and maybe an open mike or two) and a couple of my blogs have other bloggers looking after them for me.

What do you do with your blog/s when you go on holidays?

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Written on December 27th, 2005 at 04:12 pm by mahor dave

Finding Photos for Your Blog

Blog Design 31 comments

My name is Allan Barizo and I write for The Information Bank and the freeware review.

A picture may be worth a thousand words but nobody wants to pay a thousand dollars for rights to use it in their blog. Why pay money to put someone’s photos in an article? We’ve read from Arieanna Foley and Darren about the importance of incorporating pictures in blogs.

1. Readers speed-read; images grab their attention
2. Pictures illustrate points
3. Photos make blogs look aesthetically pleasing (when used correctly)
4. Images convey credibility

So, where to find cheap photography to illustrate articles? How about FREE stock photography? Enter the Stock.XCHNG. And no, I’m not talking about Wall Street.

The Stock.XHNG is a site for amateur photographers and visitors to share and comment on each otherís stock photography. Everything listed is pre-filtered by the owners of the website for inappropriate, low-resolution, or low-quality images. All of the pictures are gratis. Though free, some need permission from the original photographer in order to use them. I usually frequent the Stock.XCHNG for my web design projects. But, they can be used for anything, including blog posts.

So, visit the Stock.XHNG and include pictures with your articles. Remember, even though a picture is worth a thousand words, it does not have to cost a penny!

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Written on December 27th, 2005 at 03:12 am by mahor dave

How to Get Your Blog to 100,000 Visitors and Beyond

Blog Promotion, General 11 comments

This post has been submitted by ‘FMF’ from Free Money Finance. It’s actually the first post in a series he’s going to start on FMF in the coming week by the same title.

How to Get Your Blog to 100,000 Visitors and Beyond - Step 1: Pick the Right Topic

I’ve had a lot of requests to detail how I got 100,000 visitors (now past 150k as I write this) to Free Money Finance. While the topic is not clearly in the subject area of personal finances, it can be part of how you increase your income (and thus improve your net worth), so I’ll cover it. Plus, this will serve to help out other bloggers as well as remind me of what else I need to do to grow this blog. If this isn’t your cup of tea, simply ignore these posts. I post frequently enough that a new, money-related post is not far behind this one.

I’ll over this topic in a series of “steps”, each one presenting a simple, unique step I took to get to 100,000 visitors. I’ll also try to keep the steps in the order I did them, though several happened simultaneously, so that won’t be easy.

That said, here we go.

Step 1 to getting to 100,000 visitors and beyond: Pick the right topic.

This might seem to be a simple step (and maybe even counter blogging — can’t I just blog about what I want?), but it’s critical. To me, the right topic is one that:

You’re passionate about — If you’re not passionate about it, you won’t post regularly, you’ll lose interest, and your readers will be able to tell your heart isn’t really in it (and they’ll go away). If you are, your readers will identify with you and get to “love” your personality. And they’ll come back. And tell their friends to stop by.

You’re knowledgeable about — You don’t have to be an expert on the topic, but you need to know more than most people to get a lot of people to your site. Otherwise, why would they stop by (or come back)?

Is it popular — Let’s face it, if you want to write about the exercise habits of your hamster, not many people are likely to visit your blog. You have to have a topic that many, many people want to read about if you want to get to 100k. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t write about your hamster (or anything else a large group wouldn’t want to read about). If you blog for your own pleasure, then go for it — make Hammy a star. But if you want to get to 100,000 visitors, you need a topic (like personal finances) that many people what to know more about.

Watch out for the rest of FMF’s series later in the week at Free Money Finance.

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Written on December 26th, 2005 at 07:12 am by mahor dave

10 Things You Should Know about WordPress 2.0

Blogging Tools and Services 152 comments

Aaron Brazell is from Baltimore, Maryland and leverages his influence as a blogger at various blogs to develop his (sometimes) convoluted opinions. He writes about Web 2.0 topics at Emerging Earth and keeps a personal and political blog at Technosailor.com

If you’ve been seriously blogging for any bit of time at all, you’ve heard of the juggernaut that is WordPress. WordPress, of course, is the most popular self-hosted blogging platform utilized by independent writers. The official launch of WordPress 2.0 is upon us and, no doubt, the blogosphere will be buzzing about its launch. As a tester of the product since the early days of the WordPress 2.0 alpha builds, I’ve watched, participated and even assisted in the development of this software.

While this entry might get a bit technical, it is only because thecoolest new features are under the hood. For new users who don’t feel like tinkering with code and expect a shiny new piece of software out of the box, fear not… you will not be disappointed. The software provides a much more interActive and user-friendly interface. And for those of you who love the color blue, you’re going to love the new admin panel!

However, if you want to get into the real glorious nitty gritty of what you can do, then read on!

Here are ten things you may or may not know that can be extremely beneficial to know about WordPress 2.0….

1. Thumbnails of Downloaded Themes - In the past, whenever you’ve gone and looked for a shiny new theme for your WordPress blog, you might have had the luck of seeing the theme in action. However, I can’t be the only one who has looked at a theme created 6 months earlier and wondered what it looked like on a blog because the author had changed it since publishing. With WordPress 2.0, theme authors are being encouraged to include a screenshot, entitled screenshot.png, in the theme folder. By doing so, the thumbnail will be loaded for the blogger to see in his theme list prior to enabling!
2. Capabilities and Roles - In previous versions of WordPress, users could be given ‘limited’ permissions by assigning user levels. User levels, in the past, have relied on a scale 0 to 10, with 10 having unlimited administrative permissions. Various levels in between allowed ‘guest’ bloggers or contributors to have appropriate rights on your blog. In WordPress 2.0, this has been completely revamped. Without going into a lot of repetitive details on the nature of the various capabilities (Ryan explains capabilities and roles in great detail), the new features open up a whole new avenue of flexibility for plugin authors.

   For instance, there is an API function called current_user_can(), which allows the plugin author to match a currently logged in user against a list of capabilities. These capabilities range from ‘moderate_comments’ to ‘publish_posts’. Ryan’s article has the entire list, but it can also be found at the bottom of the wp-admin/upgrade-schema.php file.

3. Importing from Other Blogging Platforms - As WordPress becomes an even bigger entity with a higher profile, it’s likely more defectors will want to migrate their existing Blogger, Moveable Type or other style blog to WordPress. I certainly wouldn’t blame them. Old-style import scripts that were included with WordPress have been scrapped for a couple reasons. For one, the other platforms have changed over time and the importers no longer work or the changes to WordPress over time have required a new approach to getting user data into WordPress accurately and effectively. There’s also the little detail of shoddy or incomplete code.

I, along with others, have taken to creating easy upgrade paths for folks coming from Textpattern, Blogger and Moveable Type. If you’re not on one of these platforms, but still want to come over to WordPress, the core software also permits import from an RSS feed!

As a bonus, for readers who have been monitoring the merger of b5media and About Weblogs , you might be interested to know that the tool of choice is a custom Nucleus CMS importer that ultimately will be submitted to the WordPress core code. But that won’t make this release!

4. Built In Caching - Caching is the idea of storing files for quicker page load time. The concept as a whole is not new. Browsers cache all the time. Internet Explorer uses Temporary Internet Files and Firefox has its own cache. These help individual users load pages faster, but does not help a site load faster across the board. With WordPress 2.0, caching is built in. Queries to the database are saved because, if a page or setting has been loaded once, it is stored on the server file system for quicker load for all users.

   This is generally beneficial but can also cause problems, particularly if you wish to move your blog from one folder to another (For instance, if you have had your blog in http://example.com/blog and wish to move it to a new folder such as http://example.com/wp). Because database options have been cached, WordPress still thinks it is at another location.

   To get around this, edit wp-config.php and add the following line before the closing '?>'.

   define('DISABLE_CACHE', true);

5. Image Uploading - In previous version of WordPress, there was an “Upload” feature available through the admin menu. That menu item is no longer. It has been replaced with an uploader on the edit page. In theory, bloggers can upload images and then drag-and-drop the image into the post. Unfortunately, this feature has caused much heartburn for some testers. There are options to use a full-size image or a thumbnail in the entry, but either way in pre-release versions, this feature seems to be iffy at best with various platforms and browsers. This will probably be an item that is improved upon, but for the time being, manually editing the HTML with specified dimensions is best practice.

   Also note that dragging and dropping images when not using the Rich Text Editor will only create a permalink to the image.

6. Use WordPress for Social Networking - There are probably a thousand social networking tools out there - many of which have plugins for WordPress available to them. Someof these are Flickr , del.icio.us or Digg. However, WordPress has built-in integration with such a tool in that allows search engines understand your relationships with other bloggers. It is called the XFN (XHTML Friends Network). XFN allows bloggers to establish links in their link manager (blogroll) as “friend”, “co-worker” or “crush” among others. It even allows you to designate whether you’ve physically met the person.
7. Hooks and Filters - Hooks and Filters are a boon for plugin developers. They are what allows plugin developers to modify the behavior of WordPRess without actually changing the core files. Of course, filters and hooks are not a new concept… there’s just more of them in WordPress 2.0. Filters are functions that do as they suggest - filter. Items like a subject header can be filtered through to create an effect or change the way an item is displayed. Hooks give the developer a way to ride the coat tails of an existing “element” (such as a header or the rendering of a post, etc) and perform an action of some sort. An example of this would be to have someone emailed whenever publish_post occurs. (Of course, this is already something that can be done so it is a poor example).
8. Built in Anti-Spam - WordPress 2.0 now ships with Akismet, a built in spam-filter. I’ve been using Akismet spam filtering since October 25th, the day it was launched and I have had one spam comment make it through to my moderation queue. There are alot of other plugins that do spam filtering, but in the past it has often required blogs to use two or more plugins just to get a good grip on comment and trackback spam. There is one hitch though. Akismet users will need to register for an API key in order to use it. It’s free and worth it.
9. Don’t Use the Rich Text Editor - WordPress developers will likely scorn me when they read this, but it’s my entry, right? WordPress 2.0 includes TinyMCE, a javascript Rich Text Editor that gives bloggers a familiar Microsoft Word-like editor complete with common shortcut keys like Ctrl-B for Bold, Ctrl-I for Italics, etc.

   There are a couple problems I see, as a web purist, with this approach. TinyMCE, though it will probably continue to be improved, creates really shoddy HTML in some cases. Empty tags, funky cut-and-paste, and the now-internally-infamous shoddy image feature makes it great for quick and dirty entries but poor for day-to-day usage. I don’t use Safari, the preferred browser for most Mac users, so I can’t be sure if it works yet for you Safari users, but last time I recall it didn’t.

10. WordPress as a Content Management System - Suppose you like WordPress as a blogging tool and you wish to use it to run non-blog sites. This is a distinct possibility, and not necessarily WordPress 2.0 specific. In fact, I’ve been doing this for the past few years in one form or another.

    Let me give you an example of one such site. My father is a pastor at New Covenant Community Church in Audubon, New Jersey. (Feel free to visit. I’m sure he won’t mind!) This site is completely WordPress 2.0 driven and it doesn’t even resemble a blog! The question is, how did I accomplish this?

    Well, there’s a couple of things I did and I’ll bullet point them for quick reference.

    1. Because we wanted the front page to have a different layout than the rest of the site, we created a special template file called NCCC_Main_Page.php. To make it usable for our front page, we needed to add this block of code near the top (after the opening '<?php')
       /*
Template Name: NCCC_Main_Page
*/
    2. We created a "page" with our home page content and selected the NCCC_Main_Page template from the Page Template drop down.
    3. We then downloaded the Static Front Page plugin and followed the instructions to install it.
    4. We created the content for our home page and assigned it a page slug of "home" (Note: this is most easily done by assigning the page title of home and then changing it to something more useful after publishing)
    5. Because most non-blog sites, including NCCC’s, have a manageable number of pages, we were able to create Entries in WordPress and create a static menu using the entry permalinks. There are built-in functions and plugins to make larger amounts of content more manageable and automatic.
    6. As a bonus, we did create a non-blog blog of “Upcoming Events” by posting under a specific category. The permalink to this page was a mere category archive permalink with the specific category used in the archive call. This provides added benefit of enabling an RSS feed of upcoming events.

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Written on December 25th, 2005 at 07:12 am by mahor dave

Darren Rowse Quits Blogging

enternetusers Site News 25 comments

I’ve had enough of blogging and I’m quitting… for a couple of weeks.

Sorry - I couldn’t resist a little link whoring of my own.

Yes it’s time for me to say farewell and to wish you all a Happy Christmas (substitute with the Holiday of the Season of your choice).

It’s Christmas Day here in Australia already and today I’ll be spending breakfast, lunch and dinner with three different parts of our extended family. It’s expected to be a warm day (mid 20’s - that’s Celsius) and the day will involve quite a bit of time outside having BBQ’s and maybe even swimming (the mother-in-law’s house has a pool). I know the idea of a summer Christmas freaks a few readers here out - but I find it hard to imagine Christmas any other way.

Tomorrow (Boxing Day - another thing that I know some of you don’t have where you live either) V and I take off for some time away in Queensland (two states north of where I live) for some time on the coast. Our time there will involve lots of doing nothing.

I’m picturing lots of lazing by a pool, in bed, on a beach and anywhere else I can get horizontal with a book.

Speaking of books - I’m going to use the time to do a fair bit of reading. In addition to taking three novels I’m also taking Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (which has been sitting on my bedside table for close to six months) and a book Yaro recommended to me yesterday by Richard Koch called The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less (something it might be nice to know how to do).

While I’m gone enternetusers will continue to run - in fact it could be even better than when I’m here because I’ve just uploaded over 20 posts which will go live over the next two weeks. The posts are mainly written by readers of this blog (with 2 or 3 from me). When I asked for submissions for these posts I did so with a little fear and trembling (I didn’t want to have to reject anyone) but as it’s turned out I’m really happy with the quality and variety of what has been submitted.

While there are a few I would never have thought to write (or had the ability to write) they cover some great topics and are sure to spark some interesting discussions. Interestingly a number of the posts are pitched at the ‘beginner blogger’ - something I’ve been asked to write on quite a bit recently. While I won’t be here to moderate the discussions I trust that everyone will be supportive of those who have submitted pieces and will get along nicely.

I’ll be back on deck and blogging on Monday 9 January. I hope the next two weeks are everything they can be for you. Thanks for your support this year (I’ll leave the reflections on the year to a post I’ve set to go off on New Years Eve) and have a save and happy time over the next couple of weeks.

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Written on December 24th, 2005 at 09:12 pm by mahor dave

How to Make the Most of the Start of Year Quiet Patch on your Blog

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 15 comments

The increased traffic and earnings that many Bloggers have had over the past few weeks in the lead up to Christmas yesterday and today has begun to slow for many bloggers. I’ve had a few emails and Instant Messaging conversations with concerned publishers asking if the slow down is ‘normal’.

While I won’t answer for every industry I know it’s normal for most sites to experience lulls in traffic at this time of the year and also in most cases to see decreases in both CTR and click values in contextual advertising programs.

I know of a number of AdWords advertisers who put their ad campaigns on hold between Christmas and mid January and suspect that the decreased demand for ads translates to lower click values. While I don’t know this for a fact I suspect that this might be the case for Chitika advertisers also.

Some industries will see things pick up sooner than others. Traditionally online (and offline) sales start in the new year (and sometimes even earlier in some countries) and this can see things pick up for bloggers in those niches. But for many the dead patch lasts through to the end of January. There is no hard and fast rule.

Similarly there is no real right or wrong in terms of what to do as a blogger over this period but most experienced bloggers change gears in some way or another. Heres a few ways that bloggers see this quiet patch as an opportunity rather than something to get down about:

1. Some take advantage of the quiet news patch and low traffic and go on vacation
2. Others use the next few weeks to do redesigns
3. Experience bloggers often use the end of the year to do reviews, look at stats and set direction and goals for the year ahead
4. Quite a few bloggers use the time to launch new blogs
5. Some bloggers use this time to start up other projects like writing books, recording podcasts etc
6. Others use the time to write posts and series that they’ll use later in the year
7. A few bloggers I know spend January going through their current blogs with a fine tooth comb to do SEO, delete dead links and basically get everything in ship shape order

I personally am going to rest and forget about blogging for a week or so and then come back to do some review, planning and to work on a couple of projects that I’ve had on hold for a while before getting back into the swing of my ‘normal’ routine.

Whatever you choose to do over the next few weeks it’s worth reminding yourself that if traffic and earnings do slump for you that it’s not the end of the world and it’s not worth getting too down in the dumps about. Things generally pick up I no more than a month. Rather than get down about it - see it as an opportunity to do some or all of the above on your blog.

What are you going to be focussing upon the next few weeks?

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Written on December 24th, 2005 at 06:12 pm by mahor dave

Best AdSense Resources of 2005 Poll

Adsense 0 comments

Eric is running another award/poll - this time it’s the Best AdSense Resources of 2005 Poll. The great thing about this poll is that you can make suggestions to other AdSense resources along the way.

There’s not nearly enough votes in all categories so head over and have your say.

Thanks to the nominations for enternetusers and me Eric (I’ve never been called a ‘personality’ before!).

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Written on December 24th, 2005 at 05:12 pm by mahor dave

WordPress 2.0 Nears Official Launch

Blogging Tools and Services 11 comments

WordPress 2.0 is almost ready to go live after it’s successful beta testing. The official release is set for December 26 (put back a couple of days to ensure there’s enough support due to the holidays).

I’ve had a play with the beta and it’s looking good. Look out for a post here at enternetusers.net on the 26th which explains some of the things you ‘need to know’ about WP 2.0 from Aaron.

I’d love to hear the thoughts on WP 2.0 from others involved in the beta test in comments below.

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Written on December 24th, 2005 at 04:12 pm by mahor dave

2006 Trend Predictions in Social Commerce

Blogging for Dollars 2 comments

Interesting post over at Micro Persuasion on the topic of 2006 Trends to Watch Part II: Social Commerce where he makes the following prediction:

‘Watch for sites like Amazon, Froogle and Yahoo to develop turnkey stores that can be integrated into blogs. This will take affiliate programs to the next level. It’s also possible that some electronic commerce sites will partner with the major blogging platforms to make co-branded social commerce even easier.’

Wise insights there from Steve. I think many commercial blogs have vast untapped earning potential without avenues to sell products in partnerships with online retailers. I know this is one of the things I’ll be investigating further in 2006. In fact I’ve already had one online retailer make contact to talk potential collaboration.

As Steve says this will take affiliate earnings to a whole new level.

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