I'm Just Sharing

Showing Your Blog Or Website Feeds Elsewhere

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 15, 2010

Just asking, but how many of you have noticed to the lower right of this blog that I’m running feeds of my other blogs here? They’re both listed under the heading “Other Blogs Latest Posts”; I’m such a wordsmith. lol

Once you have a Feedburner account, not only can you track how many people subscribe to your feed, but you can take your feed and pop it elsewhere, as I’ve done here. I also have feeds from this blog going to my other websites, and vice versa. It gives me the chance to spread myself around to many places and, hopefully, get people to see what I’m writing and visit my blogs.

If you’d like to know how to do this, I’m going to tell you; otherwise, why bring it up, right? You go into your Feedburner account, then click on the tab that says Publicize. Once there, click on the link to the left that says Buzz Boost.

Once you’re in there you’ll see there’s code already set that you can copy. But what fun is that when you can customize it a little bit by answering some questions below it? Just ignore the first thing unless you have one of those accounts, in which case you can make your selection, click on it, and you’ll get something different.

For everyone else you can decide how many feeds you want to show, whether you want it opening up in a new window if someone clicks on it (choose “yes”; trust me on this one), give it a title, and all other sorts of choices. Click save after you’ve made your choices, go back up to the top, copy your code and you’re good to go.

Now, some of you are going to ask me “where do I put this code?” If you’re on WordPress, the best way to display this code is to pop it into a text widget, which is under the Appearance menu of you admin panel. Just drag it into whichever sidebar you want to use, pop the code in there, save and you’re done.

If you’re not on WordPress, and you’re putting it into your website, well, I make an assumption you already know how to do it, but if you don’t, you’d probably best ask someone who’s got HTML knowledge to place it for you. It’s not difficult if you know what you’re doing, but I’d hate to be the one to have you messing up your website because you didn’t understand where I was telling you to put stuff.

I hope that helps some; it’s pretty neat if you ask me.

Juniper Bonsai Tree

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Are You Obsessed With Numbers?

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jan 14, 2010

Let me tell you a truth. I am one of those people who sometimes is obsessed with numbers. There are some numbers that I notice all the time, and some other numbers I don’t pay much attention to. I’m probably like a lot of other people, but I’m owning up to it.

I do come by this honestly, though. As a kid around eight years old, I started counting the number of letters in sentences that either I would say or sentences that sounded pretty interesting. I’m obsessed with the number three, so after counting how many letters there are in a sentence, and then start dividing that number by three to make sure that everything comes out as being divisible by three. If it’s not, in my mind I start finding interesting little rules for eliminating letters or adding more letters. I always thought I would grow out of it, but obviously more than 40 years later I’m still doing it.

Anyway back to being obsessed with numbers. The two numbers on most obsessed with these days, as it applies to being online, is my Feedburner subscriber count and my Alexa number. Obviously, since I don’t have any page rank on this blog, I’ll pay any attention to it. I don’t pay any attention to it on any of my other websites, except for my anti-smoking website, which I’m trying to make more prominent so that, hopefully, and start making some of that great Adsense cash. Yeah, I know that page rank doesn’t mean the site will make any more money, but I’m always obsessing about that site wondering if I’d done enough to interlink it so that it’s SEO friendly.

Back to the site. On Monday, Feedburner, over there to the right, said that I had 121 subscribers. That was slightly down from the 125 that I’ve been hanging around, I wasn’t overly worried about it. Today it’s showing the number 85; what’s up with that? I mean really went to check out Google Analytics to see if traffic is dropped. It turns out the traffic is holding steady. Now I’m really confused; what could have caused the number job so far? At this point, I figure it is what it is, or it could be a glitch in Feedburner. Either way, there’s not really anything I can do about it. So I’m telling my mind to calm down and move on. I hope that works, because I don’t like lying to myself about things that I know are bothering me. It’s just strange; is anyone else noticing any fluctuating numbers in their FeedBurner accounts?

Now onto Alexa. Now I’ve been taking on Sire as regards his growth in Alexa over the past couple of weeks. Controversy sells, and he did a great job of starting a couple of posts that really got things going for him. He’s been on a roll over their ever since, and is Alexa number has been steadily looking better. One of my goals for this year has been to get my Alexa ranking under 100,000 also. But it’d been sitting around 135,000 at least a few months, and I figured well maybe that’s just where it’s going to be. So imagine my surprise when I looked at it today and see that it is down around 128,000. How interesting is it that my Alexa rank is getting better and my FeedBurner is going down? Aren’t numbers the strangest thing?

Of course, the numbers I should be obsessing about are the income numbers. And I’ve just about income just as much as anyone else does, but I haven’t obsessed as much about it on this blog. I am starting to get to that point where I think it would be a nice thing for me to start monetizing this blog a bit better. Actually, I think the blog is monetized well enough, but I probably need to kick it up a gear to at least generate a sale here and there every once in a while. After all, how my going to achieve my “problogger” status if I don’t? I’ll try not to obsess over that penny I’ve made today on this blog through Adsense; I wonder where that came from?

Okay y’all be truthful, is anyone else obsessing over numbers that they know they shouldn’t be obsessing over? Let’s talk about it, kind of a group therapy session. Maybe we’ll all feel cleansed when it’s over.

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My Big RSS Subscriber Contest!

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jan 11, 2009

For those of you who read my 2009 Online Goals post, and those of you who will possibly go back and read it now, my third internet goal for this year was to increase my RSS subscribers to 500 by the end of the year. At the time I didn’t have any idea how to get there; now, I’ve come up with something that might help me get closer.

First, the reason why I want more RSS subscribers. I’ve been writing most of my life. I think I’m a pretty good writer, and I have a lot to say. And I like that people come here to read what I have to say, and comment on it, but the truth of the matter is that I’m somewhat of a writing narcissist; I want as many people as possible to read what I write, and pass it on to others. Not only in this forum either, but I’ll stick with this one for the moment. Not only that, but it’s always acknowledged that marketers have a better chance of making money if they have higher numbers of something, either visitors or subscribers or email addresses for those types of lists. Everyone knows that a big part of this blog is to help me generate income online, but I want readers and subscribers and the like. And this contest is geared towards that.

There was an initial problem, though. I can see how many subscribers I obtain through Feedburner, but it doesn’t tell me who’s subscribing. It does tell me who becomes a fan, though. So, I have to use a different method for determining who the winners will be, and there will be a first prize winner, a second prize winner, and a third prize winner. That’s it; no ties. It will be a drawing, which is going to require a lot of work from me, but I’m ready for it because I’ve done things like it in the past, and I’m well equipped to get it done properly. Everyone will be able to earn entries; how many entries they earn will be determined by what I’m writing below.

Now, the contest. Right now, Feedburner is showing that I have 54 subscribers to this blog. I want to increase that number to at least 250 subscribers in 28 days, which is the main thrust of the contest; the contest starts on Sunday the 11th of January, and ends on Monday, February 9th at 3AM EST, to give people on the West Coast a chance to have until midnight to enter if they so choose. In this introductory post, every person who writes something is automatically entered into the contest, but that’s not all. I want more than a blanket “here I am“, but I’m going to accept that as one entry; spam will be deleted, so don’t try it. But there’s more.

If you become a fan of this blog on Technorati, that will add another entry for you. We’re up to two possible entries.

I have a business newsletter, the T. T. Mitchell Consulting Newsletter, geared towards leadership, management, motivation, customer service, and other business issues, that’s fairly entertaining if I say so myself. Everyone who subscribes to that newsletter, and, in the subscription letter, tells me the name they use on my IJS blog, gets another entry. You don’t have to subscribe to the healthcare newsletter, since I write that one also, and subscribing to it doesn’t give you an extra entry. For examples of that newsletter, you can check out my latest issue, Chain Of Command and a previous issue, Credibility. We’re now up to three possible entries.

I participate on Twitter, and my link there is for Mitch_M. Anyone who follows me on Twitter, and mentions it on my blog, along with their user name (the only way I can go back and verify you’re actually following me), gets a fourth entry.

I now have a brand new blog, Top Finance Blog, and it needs a little bit of promotion. Anyone who happens to mention it on their blog with a link back to the site, then informs me here of it, earns another entry. If you happen to write an article and link to a particular post that helps the article, and you give me that instead, that’s two entries. We’re now up to either five or six entries.

The final opportunity for entries is to purchase a Top Spot link, which is over there near the top on the right. Those links are $5, and since I’m not expecting a lot of people to do that then it’s possible that your link will stick around for awhile, but anyone who purchases a link earns 10 entries into the contest. That’s now a possible 15 or 16 total entries into the contest; that’s not bad if you ask me.

Okay, I hear you now: “That all sounds well and good, but what the heck could you offer that’s worth all of that.” Well, it’s now time for the prizes. These are the minimum prizes that the winners will receive, but only if I hit that 250 subscriber number:

* First prize wins, at least, a website optimization review of up to 10 pages, which is worth $300 based on my SEO business (if you don’t have a website, or want cash instead, I’ll pay you a $50 prize, either through Paypal or by check); a copy of the book The Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner, which is worth $59, and will be purchased by me and sent to you by Barnes & Noble; a signed copy of my book Embrace The Lead on leadership, worth $25; and a copy of my ebook Using Your Website As A Marketing Tool, worth $20.

* Third prize wins, at least, a copy of my ebook Using Your Website As A Marketing Tool and a written review of your blog or website, on this blog.

Now, why am I saying “at least“? Because I’m offering anyone who wishes to help sponsor this contest by adding a prize to any of the levels something. When I receive an offer of a prize for one of the levels, or all of the levels, I will mention that prize in a post on the day I’m notified of it in a blog post, along with a link to their website or blog, as I’ll be giving regular updates of how things are progressing (as well as my normal blog posts), mention all of them again on the day that I identify the winners and all the prizes they won; and create a widget for them that will appear on the right sidebar for a month, dofollow of course, with their blog name and, of course, the link to their blog, or website as you will, in that box. By the way, unless you’re offering something for all three prize slots, I’ll make the determination as to whether your donation is a first, second, or third prize gift.

Frankly, I don’t think I’ve seen many blog contests that offer so much, as such perceived value as it already is, and value that could increase as some sponsors might come out of the woodwork and want to offer something. Of course, my opinion is biased, but now it’s out here for everyone to see, and if you see it as a nice value then you’ll participate in the contest. And I hope you mention it to your friends, mention it in your blog posts, mention it on Twitter or Facebook or MySpace or Digg or StumbleUpon or Technorati or wherever else you want to mention it. Get the word out, and let’s at least get to that 250 figure. Like I said, it’s going to be a lot of work for me, but I don’t mind because, well, it’s all about y’all. Okay, it’s about me also, but it’s not like y’all won’t be getting anything out of it, right? Look at that Spread The Word thing just above the comment box, pick something, and do whatever it does to help get the word out. If this contest works, well, who knows what the next one, if I have another one, might be.

As Bartles and James used to say, “I thank you for your support.”

Sony BDP-S500 Blu-ray Disc Player Price – $345.10

Feedburner & Feedburner Feed Smith

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Oct 12, 2008

Although I first mentioned it here, I didn’t talk much about either Feedburner or Feedburner Feed Smith, so I’m going to talk about both of them now.

First, most everyone has heard about Feedburner, but that doesn’t mean everyone. Basically, if we have blogs, or webpages that will be constantly updating information in some fashion, it’s a good idea for us to have some type of RSS (random simple syndication) on our site so people can subscribe to our content. That way, when we update something, they can receive it in some fashion, most probably through a reader, instead of having to constantly come back to our site to see if we’ve added anything new.

Your blog may already have something set up for you using RSS1, RSS2, or Atom, and that’s fine. However, the problem you have is that you don’t have any way of tracking to see if people are actually subscribing to your blog. That’s where Feedburner comes into play. What you do is put in your web address and it will create a unique Feedburner address that you can put onto your site, and it will then track and calculate statistics for you. What you can also do is add a way for people to subscribe to your feed by email, something I’ve just recently added. Now, if you want it coming from different email addresses, you’ll have to create multiple accounts. I decided that I’d rather track all my Feedburner accounts from one place rather than having to sign into two different accounts, but I might change that up later on down the line, because people will receive my feeds from my business email account, though they’ll know which blog it’s coming from and should probably click on the blog link if they wish to leave a comment.

If you already have something else, one of the other RSS types, you’ll still have no idea how that’s performing for you. That’s where Feedburner Feed Smith comes into play. Now owned by Google (who also now owns Feedburner), this WordPress plugin takes all your feeds and combines them into one place, so that if someone decides to pick one of your other feeds, Feedburner will still track it.

Most SEO experts and internet marketers will tell you that you need to know what your traffic figures are and where they’re coming from, and Feedburner will tell you that and more. They have some extended statistics that you can subscribe to for free if you choose to, and since it’s free, why wouldn’t you. To me, this is a must have feed and plugin to have.

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Growth Numbers; Looking Better

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Sep 10, 2008

I’m not really an internet marketer, but I’m working on it. Some people call this passive income, but the reality is that I spend about as much time working on this website and my other websites as I do marketing for my main business, which right now puts most of the money in my pocket, and probably will for another bunch of years or so.

The biggest issue, of course, comes down to traffic, and figuring out ways of driving traffic to one’s site. I haven’t totally gotten that one down, but I have achieved some fairly significant things I suppose.

Google ranks my site as 2 out of 10. I must have taken a hit somewhere along the line because it used to be 3; I must need to throw in more links or something, but this one makes little sense. Alexa ranks me around 371,000, and though I know we all love throwing stones at Alexa, it’s a better ranking than not having one at all, and that’s without the toolbar. The same goes for Compete Rank, which I also pretty much totally dismiss, but it’s got a ranking around 656,000 (and now that I’m mentioning it again, let’s see if it drives up the Russian spam once more).

Throwing out more numbers, Technorati ranks it around 293,000 and gives me an authority rank of 24; I’m not quite sure what that authority figure means, but it’s much higher than my business blog so I’ll take it, though I’m also somewhat insulted at the same time. Then again, the business blog is much more serious than this one is at times; I’d never throw in something like this on my business blog:

Moving on, I haven’t quite figured out how to check rankings on either Feedburner or Delicious, and I’m not even sure if they have rankings, per se, but Feedburner is showing that I have some people subscribing to my feed (once I added the Feedburner Feed Smith WordPress plugin, anyway), and that’s a good thing; here, my business blog is crushing this one.

And the average number of visitors per week is growing as well, though not anything drastic enough for me to start proclaiming I’m the new John Chow. Still, it’s moving forward, and that’s always a good thing. I’m not sure how popular the little links I put at the end of every post are, but some of them are pretty good items, including the one at the end of this one; enjoy the day!