Real Blogging Tips » Weekly Round up

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:46:43 +0000

Ah yes it seems we have hit our rhythm here once again. I have to say it still feels as good as it did last week to be back. I just want to take a second right off the bat here to thank everyone for putting it out there that I am back. In a blogosphere that seems to have all but screeched to a halt it seems that this site should be publishing still more often than the average. Which by the way was not an original goal. This week was the first week since I launched the weekly round up that I had a difficult time finding noteworthy posts to link to, mainly being that of the 50-60 blogs I usually read only a few had more than one or two updates.

I will save that discussion for tomorrows post, but today we need to dive right in and see what has peculated to the top of the blogosphere.

Exceptional Posts From My Part Of The Blogosphere:

First out of the box in this weeks link love is the man over at ChrisGuthrie.com. This last week Chris let the cat out of the bag as to his very admirable goal of becoming self employed. Now normally this would not pop up on most people’s radar, but I tend to think that Chris has all his marbles together and is rocking a great plan. If becoming self employed is a dream of yours then I suggest you take a look at his post about his own plans and keep an eye on him in the mean time.

One of my favorite marketing blogs has to be UnconventionalMarketing.com. Josh has been doing a superb job over there keeping the rest of us on the edge of our seat while we play catch up to his vanguard on the subject. This week Josh wrote an article about “How to develop your brand into a story” I honestly believe this is what I tried to do in the early days of my list marketing and then when I originally launched this blog. Although the story is always changing the fact remains that it has been an essential tool for my success and continued movement forward. I highly recommend this article as a read for you to help your own story out.

An old but not forgotten favorite blog of mine called StandOutBlogger.com wrote something this week that any person teetering on the edge of writing their first blog ought to read. Simply put you can Boost Your Business With Blogging. This can work hand in hand with the previous link love by Josh, but more importantly if anyone ever had any doubts as to what exactly a blog can do for a brand then I highly recommend stopping by and taking a look at this article.

What Did I Write About

Well this week was more or less about getting back into the scene. I feel I have done that about as much as anyone can since my neck of the woods has thinned out both site wise as well as content wise. After this submersion into the blogosphere I have noticed that updates and content are scarce and that quality content is even more rare than the precious metal gold. That being said starting Monday I will be going back into content overdrive mode. If you have been unable to get your fill of quality blogging and internet marketing tips content then I am here to rescue you from the abyss that is.

A short preview of this weeks topic include:

The Blogosphere slow down
Infoproducts and you
Your Blog Tune Up
Cruzer Enterprise edition flash drive Review
How to make your blog profitable
I will be starting a JV (joint venture) Giveaway series and then launching one at greatblogginggiveaway2.com

I also will be starting something else new this Monday called – Motivate Your Monday – Make sure you tune in and see how we do it here in my neck of the hood ;p

TOP COMMENTATORS THIS MONTH SO FAR

It is great to see everyone diving back into this blog! At the end of the month the number one spot will receive 1000 entre credits and a free back link! Keep up the commenting and tell your friends!

Contest Update

Just in case you missed it you have a chance to win one of three packages of hosting from Hostgator and Big Ben Patton. Each lasts for one year! All you need to do is post a picture of your blogging area whether you just read them or actually write them. Post to your own blog or if you happen to be a reader include it in the following posts commnents and I will post it here. Make sure in your post to your own blog to include a little description and why your doing it; as well as, linking pack to the post in question. At the end of the month I will make one master post with all the included pictures and then award the winners on the First Day Of March.

Don’t miss out on a whole year of hosting for absolutely free because your putting stuff off or being lazy. A simple post and five minutes of work can net you quite the outstanding prize. Besides it’s what makes the blogosphere go around!

Stay tuned!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:53:42 +0000

So it seems we find ourselves settling nicely back into a comfortable groove. I can already tell your wondering where I have been for these past few months and in the next few posts I shall outline exactly what has happened so do not fret! Today though I need to start off on the right foot, and that of course would mean it is Sunday, and on Sunday we link to exceptional posts throughout the blogosphere that you should most definitely and without a doubt and no mental reservation what-so-ever read as soon as humanly possible.

That being said this week holds many wonderful posts of which I filtered through to bring you the creme of the crop. I will not run on to much here, but to say that some very large events are on the horizon for Big Ben Patton’s Place, and I want you all, the most dedicated of readers to stick around and get involved. Make sure your signed up to receive my updates via rss or email by filling out the proper form in my wonderful header. If you do this, you will be first to know when the action happens, and that my friends is going to be priceless. Let us hop right into the thick of it now and see just what the blogosphere has been running amok with as of late!

Exceptional Posts From My Part Of The Blogosphere:

As usual Joe from IMwithJoe.com delivers another outstanding gem of knowledge from his hidden stash of super secret sammiches. This one most certainly will not disappoint as Joe reveals a tool that could surely help any of us out in getting organized and putting our ideas in better order digitally and in one place none the less. The name of this program is mindmeister, and more specifically mindmaps, if you are looking to get the edge on your competition and not just let those great ideas evaporate in that so called think tank of yours then I would head over to ImWithJoe.com now.

I was checking up on some old friends, and I discovered a brand new super awe inspiring contest that does not fail to deliver. In tough times we all are thankful for what we have maybe a bit more than when things were better. This being said Jim and Motive network have teamed up to blow your doors off with a new contest that also gives back and helps to eliminate homelessness. If ever their was a worthy cause Jim has definitely pegged it on the bulls eye. If you want to check out the details then hurry up and head over to TheNetFool.com and get involved. The prizes really are amazing and the fact that not only you get to feel good for being a winner, but you also get to know you helped to eliminate homelessness. That ought to score you some karma!

Yet again another home run from another dear friend’s blog, and that would be none other than Mr.Balkhi himself the author of www.balkhis.com. In this most notable article he informs us about the incoming change due to slam the blogosphere near the end of February. It has to do with your feedburner account and Google, and what you absolutely must do if you have a shred of love for your blog and readers. If not you may find yourself with a permanently busted feed at the end of the month with no way to repair the damage that will be done. Head of to Balkis.com and read about how to transition from the original soon to be non functioning feedburner site to googles most excellent remake of the same dam thing. If you don’t the lights will still be going off come the end of February.

What Did I Write About?

Nothing recently, this will be the first post for this site in over two long months. That is an eternity in the blogosphere, the fact that I managed to pull a PR3 out in the meantime is rather unbelievable. It will take some time for the site to recoup its losses and to get back onto the curve of growth that it was previously. That being said shortly I should have the subscriber count from my aweber account as soon as it goes live again. In the mean time I do apologize to anyone attempting to download my free ebook as of this minute it is unavailable until aweber catches up with me.

I will take this time to link to a few posts that really shine for this blog and brought in a great deal of traffic, so lets be nostalgic for a minute and see what we can dig up:

You Need A Custom Robots.txt , So Lets Make One – This post makes it so simple even someone that has trouble with notepad will be able to tackle the very serious and very under appreciated robots.txt. By taking care of this little harlet you will have taken the proper steps toward running a sound and competent blog.

You NEED A Custom 404 Error Page, So Lets Make One – This is something that many themes lack, more specifically wordpress themes. Many of your garden variety free themes including some of the more high dollar premium themes lack a basic much less well design 404 page. You are losing readers and pageviews because of this. Take a minute and scan over this article to make sure your 404 error page is correctly implemented and functioning as it should, otherwise you may be losing traffic.

10 Absolute Must Know Tips For Internet Marketers – If you consider yourself a blogger, internet marketer, or affiliate sales person then you most definitely need to take a minute and read this post. I outline 10 things that you simply must know before you can become a success. Knowledge is power, and sharing is definitely good karma, get your fill and polish up on the basics today.

Content Is King And Linking Is Queen – This post gives your the basic rundown that everyone talks about and hardly ever correctly executes. Don’t discount the two most important factor’s in any blog’s success. This will point you in the right direction and have you rolling with the big boys in no time.

Avoiding Libel While Blogging – A post that anyone who wishes to write online should read before they do. Oh what you have been writing already and don’t know? I suggest reading up on how you can avoid nasty lawsuits and harassment from the likes of the really big dogs out there. It is actually easier than you think to have a problem that you can not avoid come up because of what you seemingly thought was harmless at the time. Be prepared and be informed.

3 Questions… 7 Bloggers. A Short Glimpse Into Successful Mindset - The last post I will link from the archive is one of my first really epic posts, although it had a failure of a title, the content surely did deliver. I interview seven of the best and brightest the blogosphere had to offer, and guess what we came up aces. Check out the answers to the questions we all want to know, but they had never answered before.

TOP COMMENTATORS

Normally this is where I would share some follow on link love to the folks that frequent my place on the interwebs and participate in the discussion within my posts. I look forward to next week having a list of people to thank with that link love mentality for helping make Big Ben Patton’s Place that much better!

In Closing

I want to once again thank everyone that along they way encouraged me to keep going, and to those that helped me make this come back through the thick and thin those that read this blog and comment often I want you to know you are the reason why I do this. I am happy to be back and I hope to start sharing with you all again very very soon. I have some major projects in the works, but in the mean time we shall proceed in helping you be a better blogger and internet marketer.

September Monthly Wrap Up AND Extravaganza II Results

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:31:28 +0000

This was an outstanding month for Big Ben Patton’s Place. We grew exponentially in just a short time. Before we start to dissect the month and my earnings and traffic I want to give a big shout out to the Market Leverage Team. Dina, Erick, and Rebecca. They have been along every step of the way and not just for this contest but making sure I have the tools I need to be a better affiliate. I once again urge anyone not signed up yet to do it now it is quick and easy. The tools you will have access to as well as the supportive staff is unparalleled anywhere else in the industry.

All this being said we have quite a bit to cover for this month so grab your favorite cold beverage, or if you prefer something hot and sit back and see what happened.

Monthly Stats

PR2 (recently slapped post incoming)
Alexa 92,004
Technorati Authority 102, Rank 57,684

3,108 unique visitors
5,775 page views
62% bounce rate ( I think this is pretty decent considering I run EC and Sitehoppin)

247 Unique visitors from search engine traffic (highest yet due to changing my seo methods)

5minutes 22seconds avg time on site

Rss Subscriptions 245

I would like to improve these over the next month by at least 10% as this is the goal I have set.

September Income Report

In the past I did not report the income from my blog and other closely related ventures mostly due to the fact that I was not in it to make money. I also really did not think anyone was to entirely interested. But because I have had an overwhelming influx of requests for these stats via email I have decided to publish them monthly. Let’s see how we did for September!

$455.00 That is quite a decent number but let’s break it down.

$300 was from a commission for aquiring a domain for a business partner. While this is not blog income I am counting it since I would have never networked with this guy without having had a blog and sharing a mutal interest. The fringe benefits of blogging are many!

$75 was from the Bloggears.com Contest I lucked out and scored 2nd place in the random drawing. I am filing this as I have the commission since without a blog, I would not have visited this site, or made a video or done any of the promotion involved with the contest. Again the fringe benefits are outstanding!

$80 was from misc links, ads and reviews. This was a light month for the most part, but all things considered I am happy with what was brought in.

Now Let’s talk expenses… Swamp pack from host gator was $14.95 and my Aweber subscription is roughly $19 at the moment for this blog. Expenses for this month were 33.95 putting me ahead with $421.05. This month is defiantly inflated by the bloggears contest and the commission, but I expect to break $100 profit this month after the said bills.

Page Rank Update

Yes their was one in fact. Not as popular this time with most everyone I know getting hit or no gains to report. A few people managed to get a little ahead this time though. As usual no one is certain why the 900lb gorilla has done what it has done, we all just know that is the way it is for now. If history serves as any indicator next time out we should see a little bit of love. I have learned to just roll with the punches.

I wanted to explain just a bit to warm you up to my PR update post that I am currently writing to let you know while my search traffic is quadrupled, my PR rank was slapped. Being as short on time as I have been I managed to get a new seo gig going on Big Ben Patton’s Place, but after a short edit of robots.txt and leaving quite a few more than acceptable errors in webmaster tools I believe I was smacked for this. I will explain in depth how I have been operating and what the only differences are between now and then.

Top Commentators

This month we had some abrupt content publishing I hope to rectify this once and for all, but let’s not drone on the same old thing.

Top Commentators For September

Grats to JK Swopes Once again taking the top spot, this month the reward is 500 Entre Credits down from the usual 1000. This month another 1000 are up for grabs so get to it!

OIO Publisher 2.0

That’s right it is live as we speak and I am going to be reviewing this new version of what every blogger worth a grain of salt is using to effectively monetize their blog. Many positive changes have been made and a NEW site to go along with it. Stay tuned for further details!

BIG BEN PATTON AND MARKET LEVERAGE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT THE CONTEST EXTRAVAGANZA II

That’s right we are ready to announce the lucky winners name that participated in our wonderful contest. Before we do I just want to once again thank the team of super awesome affiliate managers and their co-workers and management team. Without them none of this would be possible. If you are looking for the best CPA network right now I still highly suggest you sign up and take a look at what they have to offer and talk with their staff. You will not recieve better help or service anywhere on the net!

Out of 245 or so entries~!

THE WINNER OF THE EEEPC AND CHAMPION OF THE CONTEST EXTRAVAGANZA IS!!!!!!

JK SWOPES! AKA THE MAN FROM IMWITHJOE.COM!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS JOE!!!

THANK YOU to everyone that has participated and I look forward to writing diverse and interesting and honest content for you in the future.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:41:52 +0000

Last week was a shaky week schedules changing and another hurricane. Had to be prepared for evacuee’s again as well. Also have been actively doing sales calls so I have been using my blogging time for strategics the next day. That being said we should be back to our normal flow here after a rough week. I am rested and ready to start off with a good ol’ Weekly Round Up Post.

Let’s hop right into this cause it’s already Monday and I know your just waiting for the juicy details of last week!

Exceptional Posts From My Part Of The Blogosphere:

Joe from Imwithjoe.com talked about How To Reach Success Through Teamwork And Friends. This is a great post for bloggers and internet marketers of all experience levels. Joe puts the goods down and shows you how to make it happen. This is a great read so make sure you check it out.

Apparently someone has cownapped John Cow during the first cow cast. I have bets that Garry Conn had something to do with it. Anyhow get all the details about it and find out how to get your blog or business featured on the next cow cast episode!

Hugo Santos from Bloggervenue.com had a very good article last week “Run away from these Wordpress themes” where he talks about 7 themes to stay away from. Definitely something to check out.

Max from Moneybites.com had a great interview with Dina from MarketLeverage.com exposing their latest strategies for getting the word out about the industries best affiliate program.

Chris Guthrie enlightened us with 9 ways to protect your online assets. I highly recommend you take a read of this if your serious about establishing and maintaining an online presence.

What Did I Write About

Not much reallyÂ as I was quite busy with the day job this week I was forced to neglect this blog. I am happy to say the content bin is full though and we should be avoiding this for the foreseeable future.

I did stumble across a great 250gb lifetime free account worth of storage space. If you haven’t signed up already you better hurry cause it expires soon!

TOP COMMENTATORS THIS MONTH SO FAR

The Top commentators are keeping things hot its not to late to take out 1st place and get your hands on 1000 ec credits at the end of the month for being number 1!

CONTEST UPDATE

We are more than halfway through the month already and I am happy to see people working very hard at earning those extra entries. For the rest of this month if you can get ANYONE to sign up with my affiliate link for Market Leverage I will award 250 extra entries.

Keep up the good work cause somone is going to be mighty lucky come the first of October!

Weekly Round Up Late Edition

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:26:15 +0000

Let me start off by apologizing to everyone on not getting around to this sooner normally this is a Sunday post type deal. I have officially switched to first shift which has changed around my schedule quite a bit. That being said I think I am back on track with all my projects so lets jump into our weekly round up late edition!

This week was a great week for informative content in the blogosphere not just here at Big Ben Patton’s Place, but at quite a few other blogs in our neck of the woods.

Exceptional Posts From My Part Of The Blogosphere:

Joe from ImwithJoe.com show us How to benefit from product launches. Of course he has all the sammiches so keep an eye on him! This is a great article for those of us that haven’t yet gotten our feet wet in the pre-launch/ launch phase of a product campaign.

Max from Moneybites.com talked about Selfishness in Affiliate Marketing. I like this article because it tackles one of the larger issues that many affiliates do not talk about. You should definately stop by and read this.

Jim of TheNetFool.com is running a Host Gator Hosting Bonanza if you are looking for some free hosting stop by and see what Jim has to say.

I did a guest post this week on TheUniversityKid.com. I decided to share with everyone How To Get Follow .EDU and .GOV Backlinks. Make sure you stop by and read this cause it’s simple and effective and you should be doing it!

What Did I Write About?!?

We had a pretty decent week here kicking off the contest, doing our first questions and answers session and awarding a year of hostgator swamp pack hosting.

I also listed the top 20 plugins for wordpress that I use. I just want to point out that seo all in one does not do everything that the one I listed does so if your still using that plugin upgrade!

I also published my site flip case study, both part 1 and 2. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I should be attempting a larger one with a bit more on the table some time later this month or early next month so stayed tuned on that front.

Remember if you sign up for Market Leverage under my affiliate link you receive an extra 100 entries towards the eeepc! So if you havent already get to it!

TOP COMMENTATORS THIS MONTH SO FAR

CONTEST UPDATE

So far this contest has been stellar in regaurds to user participation. I am looking forward to the coming week and what it holds for this blog and this contest.

Also I am happy to announce the winner of the One Year Of HostGator Swamp Pack Hosting for having the best question from my first questions and answers sesssion:

Congrats to

Ryan Lineker

Shoot me an email and I will get you hooked up with that year of hostgator swamp pack!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:01:31 +0000

This week I wrapped up most of the major changes to the site. I am sure that you are as excited as I am to see these all finished in just under a month of digging through this theme and checking everything at least three times I am done. For Now. Until someone finds something else. Moving along lol. I also managed to get out some pretty decent content.

I hope everyone is enjoying the new formatting that I am taking great lengths to incorporate into every post. I know you guys like the content because you keep coming back, but I have asked a small portion of my readers what about the content could I change or even in the delivery and by far most asked for me to either write shorter posts or start breaking it up and formatting it. I believe with my first attempt at doing this all the way to the end I had delivered the goods. While this adds a substantial amount of time to my daily posting habits I will try my hardest to keep this habit going to make your reading experience a positive one.

Wow the end of an exciting month, and most definitely a exciting week. Lets delve right into the mix and see what was going on in the blogosphere.

Exceptional Posts From My Part Of The Blogosphere:

Mattaw over at MoneyBites.com talked to us about some very important tips to enable effective in person networking. This is a great article for those of you wishing to meet up with anyone from your field. After all more is done for business over a pint or at the golf course than anywhere else. Stop by and take a look.

Our friend Jim from the Netfool.com showed us how to use the ancient art of solicitation to garner ourselves a few more rss subscribers using flattery. This is great for anyone looking to add a few more to the ol’ feedburner counter.

Bryan at siteflipu.com revealed what happens when you mess up and decide not to pay for your new blog’s setup. This should serve as humorous reminded to anyone else thinking of taking in services and not paying. It really is amusing though, but I admit I would have been a bit meaner about it.

And lastly Balkhis of Balkhis.com shared with us his many resources for free stock photo’s for use on your blog. Just make sure to follow the create common’s lisc. for each picture. If your looking for stock photos for use on your blog you will be able to fill a few hd’s with these links.

What Did I Write About?!?

Well actually I did write a little bit of content this week. Lets recap it just in case you missed anything.

We did start the week off a little rough, but don’t fret those posts are not lost forever. I actually successfully flipped my first blog. I intend to walk you through everything I did, and show you how you can do it too. I believe Bryan from siteflipu.com will also be making an appearance or two in these posts letting you know what he thinks and how I could have done better. Hey if someone isn’t being critical of you then your probably not going to get much better at the trade. Besides I would say he has some experience which we could learn from. Keep an eye out for this mini-series of sorts within the next week.

Once we managed to get our footing again and closed the sale I showed everyone some great free resources for internet marketing. While these can be helpful never let your guard down about people being a little too helpful.

After that I asked you to ponder whether you were an opportunist or a strategist. As it turns out we are all probably both and if not should think hard about why we are not.

I took a minute and shot a video using ustream.tv to spice it up a bit and reported on a little bit of site news as well.

Then it hit the fan. Aparently some blackhat methods managed to get quite a few folks over at digital point into a mess with some Rico charges involved. This should be interesting because I believe it will be the largest case of its type. Only time will tell what will actually happen. Innocent until proven guilty.

I finished the week off with a MONSTER of a post weighing in at 2283 words… whew. And it is chock full of info

You NEED A Custom 404 Error Page, So Lets Make One.

This is something you need to do NOW if your serious about blogging and you do not have one, or even know what one is I reveal it all in plain simple to read and repeat english. If you happen to not be even the slight bit techy email me and I will see what I can do for you.

That was it for the week and this next week looks very promosing. Lets not kill the flow just yet so switching gears again.

TOP COMMENTATOR FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST!

Again JK Swopes, Joe the King of commenting has topped the charts here at Big Ben Patton’s Place. That earns him another 1000 EntreCredits. Joe and I have again decided to donate his credits to the Market Leverage Walk For Breast Cancer Blog. I am sure they will enjoy being able to tell the blogosphere about their mission to raise money to cure breast cancer!

The next post for today will reveal the CONTEST EXTRAVAGANZA II rules. Make sure you stop by and read that once its up cause its going to break it all down for you to win with Big Ben Patton and Market Leverage. Good Luck.

This week is going to be a big week for content so keep your eyes peeled and enjoy the official relaunch of Big Ben Patton’s Place!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:59:47 +0000

Well this was yet another wonderful week and not just here but all across the blogosphere, lets get right to it and recap what has been going on here at Big Ben Patton’s Place in the last week.

Yesterday I discovered another great way for any affiliate specialist to earn yet another stream of cash if used correctly even on autopilot. Of course I am talking about Triple.com. If you have not stopped by and signed up I highly recommend you do as this has as much potential as say the HostGator.com Affiliate program.

I also spent a couple of days this week working on a sideline project to test some theories that I had come up with about site flipping. From concept to auction block in 24 hours and within another 24 hours the first bid.

While I have not yet broke even the promise is there as I have never done this before. This itself will be a mini series early in September.

What had originally inspired me was a debate or battle between Brian from http://www.SiteFlipU.com and our buddy Jim from TheNetFool.com. Essentially what happened before the contest spawned was that Jim had basically said it would be impossible to get close to $1k for 5 sites within 24hours. Brian from http://www.siteflipu.com happily took him up on this challenge and so far it is looking good with the sites successfully completed and to date have been bid up to a total value of $800.00+. So already ahead of the $20 per site predicted by Jim, and surely will make the $1k or close to mark predicted by Brian! This whole tail has a large touch of drama, and if your interested you can read it on the respective blogs as I am not really wanting to perpetuate any of it here.

Now as you know I have been writing about some exciting blogging tips for quite some time and finally decided to get busy with he internet marketing aspect of this blog. I hope your enjoying it so far, and stay tuned cause I am almost ready to show you how deep this rabbit hole goes!

I also set the basis for this “rabbit hole” affair by setting out 10 Absolute Must Know Tips For Internet Marketers.Â While some of these are similar for retail sales, blogging, and hoteliering you can see the theme for success

We also took yet another look at viral marketing and how to leverage this act while doing your internet marketing thing. Always try to use this tool with anything worthwhile.

I also touched on the BlogGears.com Contest, and once again if you haven’t already stop by and submit a video , free traffic and being part of the next big viral blog craze is fun, and $250 in cash up for grabs raises the stakes!

The first post of last week was the kick off of our internet marketing lessons for everyone, showing that a $1,000 USD project aka blogsinspace.com could become one of the top 10 viral sites of all time. Not to mention you get to broadcast your blog into deep space!

Ok now that we are done recaping the obvious and the http://www.siteflipu.com success story, lets see what else is going on in our neighborhood.

Chris Pirillo asked “How Could We Wipe Out Piracy?” This is a great question and had many creative seasonings on how to battle an out of control vice. Unfortunately even though I already purchase all my proper software licenses I doubt this will ever happen until ignorance is wiped out or we go totally open source. My vote is with Star Trek!

Normal Joe managed to brand our friend Brian from http://www.SiteFlipu.com “crackhead” which unexpectedly stuck as of late, just in case you missed Joe’s video post that started it all stop by and view it.

John Cow talked about something I am sure a lot of us will need after the last week, “Work Stress Affects Your Overall Life – So Take Time Off” Some great advice as he outlines creating memories with those who are most important to you. A great read and some sage advice from someone with a great deal of experience in this field.

And to close out our link loving Sunday, The Stand Out Blogger has put his blog up on the block for sale while he will be missed, I am sure someone with the time and fortitude to post regularly will take over and see this deal through to the end. Stop by and check it out if you have not yet www.standoutblogger.com

Wow this is a meaty version of my weekly round up, I hope your enjoying it!

Of course we can not finish this off without giving the love to our top commentators this month so far. REMEMBER 1st place gets 1000 Entre Credits! Good Luck!

Top Commentators

Just one last update and I won’t make your eyes hurt any more today. The contest in conjunction with Market Leverage will be live September 1st. Look for a post this week explaining exactly how to enter and a detailed prize list as well. I can say that the GRAND PRIZE is going to be a EPC LAPTOP. A bloggers dream and I am sure you will join me in thanking Market Leverage for sponsoring this contest!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:01:15 +0000

This week was a smorgasbord of tantalizing content. I decided it was about time that I shared my feelings on three of the most successful affiliate networks that I use and give you a general outline on which may work for you. Hopefully these were helpful articles and hopefully you signed up if you haven’t already. If not I suggest you sign up now, procrastinating never won anything except being late to the party.

In other news one major theme that seems to be buzzing quite hot here lately in the blogosphere is the fact that feedburner continues to stay out partying on a daily basis and is having issues correctly counting subscribers. From JohnChow.com, to Balkis.com, even ImWithJoe.com have seen crazy and unanswerable changes in subscription numbers, but without a single unsubscribe. Whats happening? We may never know…

Now lets check out whats been going on here at Big Ben Patton’s Place. Of course the tedious labor of design work has officially ended. It seems many love the new additions to the theme, and to those that do not. I’m sorry. Yesterday’s post covered the new direction for this blog with crystal clarity. Blogging And Internet Marketing Tips For Everyone!

I also disclosed the possible prizes which I must choose from that some lucky blogger next month will be awarded. I am still working hard at a meaningful contest that everyone can be on equal ground to win for so stay tuned for further details about that.

I also finally submitted my BlogGears.com Video. I highly recommend every blogger to participate in this sites dream. It’s free and can gain you some exposure you may have otherwise not netted. It has been mentioned all across the blogosphere from Johnchow.com and beyond. Now to sweeten the deal I am going to tell you about a contest as well with $250 up for grabs. All you have to do is submit your video. Here is an excerpt from Bloggears.com to explain exactly how it will work.

Itâ€™s time for the first BlogGears contest. Here at BlogGears we want to help reward bloggers for their hard work. That is why we are giving away $250 cash! There are three cash prizes which are as follows

First: $150

Second: $75

Third: $25

What Do I Have To Do (How To Enter)

To get one entry, simply just create a video for BlogGears which is up to 90 seconds in length about your blog (which you can submit by clicking here). You can learn more about BlogGears videos by clicking here.

If you have already submitted a video or if you want to earn an extra entry there is one more thing you can do. If you blog about BlogGears and link to both BlogGears and this contest page. The top ten videos (by rating) on September 1 will also receive one additional entry.

The three winners will be chosen out of a pool of all entries (it is 100% random).

To finalize your submission, email admin@bloggears.com (or use our contact form, which can be found by clicking here) letting us know you have entered (and what you have done to enter).

When Does It End?

The contest starts today (August 11^th) and will run to September 1. All winners will be paid via Paypal or alternate money transfer option.

Thanks for helping support BlogGears and best of luck!

This should be more than enough motivation to get you to submit a short video about your blog and put your hand in the contest for the cash prizes. If not feel free to vote me up!

I am sure your wanting to see the Top Commentator’s as well so here we go!

Top Commentators

I am starting to think that Jk Swopes will continue to sweet the commentator list here and walk away with another 1000 Entre Credits this month.

Overall a productive week. I have started participating in the “U Comment, I follow” movement and as such you should be seeing me visiting all of your sites

I hope you have had a great weekend and here is to another great week here in the blogosphere!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:58:29 +0000

Well another great week of informative posts and even a review of an upcoming blog. Hopefully everyone had a great week as we are getting closer to the close of summer here in the northern hemisphere. If not then I especially hope that this upcoming week will change the tide for you. Let’s dive right in and see what all happened this week and not just here at Big Ben Patton’s Place but across the Blogosphere.

First I just want to thank everyone for coming here every day and reading this blog. This is the fuel for my fire to keep writing even when I am not sure what to write about. Without you the reader I would be locked in that echo chamber still, and I am sure we all remember how disconcerting that is. I also want to give a shout out to Host Gator for providing top notch hosting to this blog. It has been roughly three months since I switched and honestly their is no looking back. If your host is giving you trouble I highly recommend switching to the swamp pack as that’s what I’m using.

First let us take care of our top commentators. So far this month this is where we are.

Top Commentators

I am wondering if JK is going to rule the commentator list this month as well. Keep in mind 1000 ec credits for first place at the end of the month, and a free link on my blogroll. An easy bit of PR juice huh? :p

OK moving along we are getting through these updates on the site quite nicely, and so far as you can see they are looking good. This week we have seen my newest ad’s deployed, my gravitar changed and some really awesomely rounded edges on the blog. Also the fold between the content side and sidebar side has been removed to give more of a floating feeling to match up with the rest of the updates. I have a social me section under construction and yes a few more tricks up my sleeve. Keep an eye out and see if you can spot them before anyone else.

A few very interesting articles caught my attention this week and i wanted to share them with you just in case you missed them.

Forest author of The Random Forest and Frugal Zeitgeist was mentioned in a radio broadcast in Montreal in a segment about cheap living. If you are like me you will find this quite interesting to listen to, and a very good site to read for some really great tips to better living through a more frugal method.

http://www.therandomforest.com/ and http://www.frugalzeitgeist.com/

Our good friend Joe from http://imwithjoe.com/ has a new theme. Don’t fret though its the same Normal Joe as always just an easier to navigate and much more friendly on the eyes. Check out his new theme and his latest vblog entry outlining this next weeks goals. Good Luck Joe!

Another one of our favorite reads lately has been http://www.bloggervenue.com/ in his latest article he talks about the importance of captivating the reader, just like a newspaper. An important headline and the first few lines to summarize the story. He also points out that most readers are not fan’s of 1000 + word articles. While I am super guilty of this on a regular occasion I would like to think that my articles are sticky and bookmarkable able to be read in more than one sitting. In either case I highly recommend taking a look at this post.

I know many of us here are fans of both www.Moneybites.com and www.Thenetfool.com and as such I found this podcast to be a good listen. Max from Moneybites.com has interviewed Jim from Thenetfool.com and posted it for his readers to hear. I enjoyed the interview and I think you will too. http://www.moneybites.com/moneybites-podcast-6-talking-with-jim-from-the-net-fool

Ok now that we have a small cross section of my neighborhood of the blogosphere lets move on a little shall we.

I pretty much walked everyone through from start to success in reguards to social networking and effective use of social media and bookmarks this week. Keep in mind that quality is better than quanity just like with most things in life. The social tools laid out this week may not make or break your site, but it surely can help give you an extra boost and even pick up loyal readers along the way. A keyword you should always remember though when working with others in the blogosphere is “reciprocity”. This will take you the distance whereas in a take, take world you may not enjoy the same level of success.

This week is also setup to be quite exciting. Monday we should be taking a look at a new site that I am going to try and start using here on the blog. Don’t worry though it should only make things better. We shall see.

Here is to having a great next week, and meeting all your goals. Have a good day and keep blogging!

Weekly Round Up

Make Online Money - Real Blogging Tips — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:18:49 +0000

Hello again everyone as you can probably see I have been making some major changes to the site and I am happy to announce that these are just the first in a series of staged updates. I have many many more in store for you all. Hopefully you are enjoying them so far. Essentially this is all in preparation for September’s Grand Re-Opening / Re-Launch / Contest. I can not reveal any of the specific details but rest assured Market Leverage is the primary sponsor.

This upcoming week I plan to address social networking and pretty much everything to do with the subject. I recently managed to get my own house in order on this subject and I thought that I would share the steps I am taking to ensure success on this front. This is a week set to be one of the most exciting with all the changes and excellent content.

Weekly Round Up / End of the Month Round Up

JK Swopes

was our top commentator for the month of July and staying good on my promise I have duly awarded him 1,000 entrecredits. Upon notification JK let me know he wanted to donate these to a better cause. That cause in itself is worthy enough to mention here in our weekly round up and that is the 60 Mile Walk For Breast Cancer. This will surely buy them some extra advertising in order to spread the word and gather donations to their end goal and completion of the 60 mile walk. If you are able please stop by http://ml60milewalk.blogspot.com/ and make a donation every penny helps the cause.

This last week we covered some very important page rank factors. I thought this would be a good follow up the general feeling of mass hysteria throughout the blogosphere, and help people get a plan for the next update in the meantime.Â The feeling of the echo chamber on the blogger is often times overpowering and only the very strongest authors make it out of this room. I thought this would be a good change of gears for those of us that are not boasting large rss numbers or commentators on our blogs. we also addressed how to avoid libel while blogging. This issue can get you into a lot of trouble quite fast, but for the most part its just good to know and think out your posts that may contain this type of content and just pursue a differnt method to make the same points. Also 5 easy ways to destroy your blog by commenting on other blogs. The most posted item I have seen across the board is telling all bloggers to comment on other blogs to grow. While this is sage advice it usually is not followed with a proper caveat. It is infact possible to do more harm to your site if you are not paying attention. We took a look at some fast and hard blogging for cash tips. I thouht this post would do well with the other content I had planned for the week. I like to make sure everyone is on the level about the whole topic of blogging and making money.Â The qualities and habits of a successful blogger were looked at as well and I shared what methods and habits I have run across interviewing other bloggers. And last but not least how to eliminate clutter from your blog. This seems to be a topic not often hit on by the blogging tips niche and after cruising entrecard and things of that sort I was appalled by the amount of junk people compress into their blogs with absolutely no good reasoning what-so-ever.

This next week is slated to be quite exciting as I really make an attempt to tackle the social aspects of blogging and which networks, etc are going to be in your best favor to leverage for your own goals and future endeavors.

We are knocking on the door of 150 rss subscriptions make sure if you are reading this to sign up today via email or rss feed. In case you did not notice my free ebook is available now as well if you sign up for my rss as well by using those boxes and submit in the sidebar.

I would really love some feedback from everyone abou tthe changes going on if they are overall positive or negative. I am also taking suggestions for changes that you do not see going on so do not be hesitant, if you would rather not post in the comments you can use my contact page to email me directly.