December 18th, 2009 by Don Rodgers Jr
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Here we are a month into the launch of this site and about four months since I launched my other site. I am wondering if I should take a holiday break and start fresh in the new year, continue to push through even through I am not giving this, and therefore my you, the attention you deserve. Or, should I close up shop and just continue working site design and admin support on my other site (I do not contribute content for the other blog)? I am lucky enough to have been able to see continuous visitors despite my lack of posts lately, but I doubt that will (or should) continue. I know that to have a successful blog takes persistence. I must admit that having a 8 month old and full time job doesn’t make this blog the easiest of endeavors. Maybe I need to approach this decision with the end/goal in mind:
My goal is to identify, through experimentation and learning from other’s experiences, the repeatable steps to a successful and profitable blog so that I can start other blogs/websites that deal more directly with my passions (such as helping other become successful).
If this is truely my goal, I guess the answer is to push onward. How can I ever hope to leave my fulltime job and do something I am passionate about if I am not working towards that goal. I cannot just expect someone to hand over a successful blog with all of the steps, tips and secrets that made it so. Hmmm…I guess you’re not rid of me yet! 
ABloggersLog.com lives to blog another day…or something like that. Thoughts? Please share them.
Happy Blogging!
Don
November 26th, 2009 by Don Rodgers Jr
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As we discussed in the last post, I saw a need to get some plug-ins installed right from the start. Functionality ranges from visitor tracking and admin functions to enhancing visitor’s experience. As I stated last time, I’m really focusing on Word Press powered blogs and themes as seen in my other site about parenting, life and friendship. I have categorized the plugins I’ve used based on several categories; user engagement, admin functionality, social bookmarking and traffic trackers. I admit that some of them are redundant and I am possibly a little heavy on the traffic tracking side, but after all, I am a numbers guy. To keep this post from being too long, I have provided only brief overviews. We will talk about this in greater detail in the coming weeks once I have more data.
User Engagement
- WP PostRatings- Allows readers to rate your posts using a customizable format of numbers, stars, thumbs up/down or other forms.
- Contact Form 7- Easy contact form to put on a page so that visitors can email you through your site.
- WP Mobile Edition- Adds a mobile version of your site through use of a second theme that operates behind the scenes. You don’t have to configure a whole mobile version if you use this plugin.
Admin Functionality
- Broken Link Checker- Looks through entire site for links that lead nowhere.
- Forgot the Category- Great to remind you to add a category to your blog especially if you are using a permalink that utilizes the category name.
- WP TimeSheets- Not such a big deal if you are the only individual posting blogs on your site, but on my other site it’s been real handy in keeping everyone pulling their weight.
- WP Admin Notepad- Just a notepad to add to your dashboard. I found it usefeul to keep track of social bookmarking sites I’ve registered with along with notes for blog topics.
Social Bookmarking
- Socialble- If you read and followed the steps fromt he first blog, you will have no doubt signed up for some socail bookmarking sites. If you didn’t, it doesn’t matter, I bet at least some of your readers will. This lets them share your site with others in a long list of social sites.
Traffic Trackers- As stated earlier, redundant. Just want to see which ones are accurate.
- WP.com Stats- Quick overview of visits, most popular posts and search queries.
- Google Analytics Dashboard- Pulls data from Google Analytics and shows some stats on the dashboard of your blog.
- WP Stats Dashboard- Gives a whole list of different stat sections. Some are a little unique.
- WP Stats- Another stats tracker. No dashboard view.
What have you found useful? I’d love to see what everyone else is using. Feel free to share and even promote your own plugins if you have developed any. Thanks for joining me.
Happy blogging! YW7MCJAHBZ97
November 21st, 2009 by Don Rodgers Jr
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Hello and Welcome to my blog. I hope to discuss my experiences in the process of blogging. I will try to encompass all aspects from the begining steps of choosing a topic, name, host and other technical start-up topics. In addition, I will talk about my experiences with customization of my site (most likely WP based blogs), building a following, SEO, making money, networking and a host of other blog related topics. I hope you enjoy your time here and you find some value from our time together.
Happy Blogging!
