I’m going to make a few interesting observations on Social Networking Forums and Web 2.0 here.

While I don’t purport to be an expert, I have seen a change in direction from when I first started blogging.

Recently I’ve received several e-mails from some of the forums I belong to asking me to stop back & show my face.  Since I’ve been online, I’ve joined countless WAHM and Business forums.  While I still belong to all of the original ones I’ve joined, (outside of the ones I’ve gotten kicked out of, including Facebook ~ read about it here too) I only actually keep up with just a few.

Here’s where I’m going with this.

The newer forums I’ve joined, such as Mom Bloggers Club, Posh Momma, Hip Mama’s Place, MomDot, Moms United in Business, Cafe Mom and others, have all the bells & whistles where you can add your own “About Me” pages; put up your banner logos; website information; links to your blogs; article bases, Wow!  You can comment on other peoples pages ~ join groups, start discussions and more! There is just sooo much social interaction, it’s mind boggling!  There’s Twitter Groups; Entrecard groups; Digg Groups; Regional Groups; and on and on.

Some of the original forums ~ the ones that are sending emails saying “Please come back ~ visit us again ~ we’ve added new Contests to get you to come back ~ they just.don’t.get.it.

The format is older ~ just a list of topics, and you get to add a verrrrry limited siggy.  That’s it.  It’s so hard to keep in contact.   One particular forum, the bloggers mentioned they don’t use Entrecard (now, if you have a Blog, Entrecard is really a “Must-Have” for traffic.)  See my previous post HERE.

Also, hardly anyone knows about, much less uses Twitter.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much traffic I’m now receiving since I started “Twittering.” For those of you who don’t Twitter ~ it’s considered a form of micro-blogging, and there is definiately an audience for it that you need to capture.

Now what’s ironic about my observations, is all this is coming from me, a Baby Boomer Gram.  I’ve made light of the fact in the past how as a Boomer I’m struggling (well, not really, I’m a Geek at heart) to keep up with technology, and always have to stay one step ahead of the curve & my kiddos.  (Read THIS POST.) Now I’m not fresh out of High School, College or anywhere even close.

The difference between the new Web 2.0 forums and older forums is like night and day; analog and digital; VHS & DVD; Tape Decks and CDs.

Forum Administrators have to keep ahead of technology if you’re going to retain your membership.  Members are going to flock to where there are bells, whistles & graphics nowadays.

We are all spread so thin today and only have a limited amount of time to spend online, and obviously want to maximize that time to our fullest potential.

Why does it take Gram here to point this out?  What do you think?

Do you find yourself drawn to the newer forums?  Are you still frequenting the older ones?  Hmmm?

I’ve been Entrecard Dropping lately and requesting ads on many new blogs.

I check back frequently within a day or two to see whether my ads were approved.  What’s the purpose of putting an EC banner on your blog for people to drop in on, if you can’t bother to check back and approve/disapprove an ad request.  It just languishes there?

I cancel any ad requests I’ve made if it’s not approved within 1 or 2 days tops.  I’m not going to tie up my EC points.  It’s not fair to me, who obviously had taken an interest in your blog.  That’s a sure-fire turnoff to gain new readers/subscribers.

Oh, and one more thing ~ Newbies ~ put your banner above the fold.

Either get with the program, or drop out of it.  SOGOTP.

Awhile back I wrote about how Baby Boomer Gram is trying to keep up with technology and the times.  You can read my post here.

As a mom of then teenagers, and now young adults, I’ve had to learn to use AIM Instant Messenger to keep in constant contact; then I had to learn how to text message on my cell if I wanted to know if the kiddos were still alive, and it goes on and on.

My latest feat is that now I am …. Twittering!  Even my kids don’t Twitter, yet  ~ so I’m ahead of the curve here!

Here’s a great tip for WAHM moms, or any online ebiz, or ebay store owner.

Would you like to earn auto-pilot commissions every time you post to your blog? And at the same time use the Power of Twitter to drive massive amounts of traffic to your blog.

I know it sounds like a fairy tale, but it just became reality, with the launch of John Merrick and Soren Jordansen’s new “Tweet My Blog“.

Just by using the powerful free plugin, you will be promoting your affiliate link on auto-pilot. In other words, you can earn commissions just for posting to your blog.

But that’s just one of the many benefits of using TweetMyBlog, visit the page to learn more - and grab your free copy today.

And… Even though they are giving this plugin away for free, you should take a close look at the special offer they have in store for you when join. I instantly grabbed my own copy, and I know it will skyrocket my marketing power when using Twitter and Wordpress.

I don’t know if they’re are going to keep this free forever, I certainly feel they could start charging big bucks for it. So, grab your copy today, while it’s still free - and start using it before you competition does!

Thanks to my recent top 10 Entrecard Droppers!

Please take a moment to visit my friends and check out these excellent reads!

Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta.

Septagon Studios Inc News Blog

Pinay Mommy Online

Authority Directory

Work at Home Mom Revolution

Toltec Insights with Dr. Susan Gregg

7daybuzz

On the Horizon

Angels on Your Shoulder

If You Write It

Moomettesgram’s Musings has made it to the front page of Top Momma!

It’s exciting for the recognition, as I’m eager to see how long my blog lasts in the battle for the Top Spot!

What a great way to generate blog traffic.  Top Momma puts a little photo on their site that you can click on to visit interesting blogs and gain new readers and subscribers.

Mommy bloggers are sorted by popularity, which is based on clicks and referrals. When a new mom enters the roster, the least popular one gets pushed off the site. Think of it as a “mommy time out”…With a bit of luck, and a really supportive bra, you just may end up as TOP MOMMA !

Help me Stay on Top and make it into the Hall of Fame!  Click the button on the left side bar, or the one below and VOTE for me!  Thanks for your support!

Here’s an update on my Work-At-Home progress.  Since I started out blogging, I’ve learned so much about what an art-form it is from all the wonderful bloggers I’ve met!   Many Entrecard Droppers have become friends, as well as the mom bloggers I’ve met on sites such as the Mom Bloggers Club and BlogHer.

Here are some important blogging techniques I’d like to share with those of you who are fledglings and just launching your new blog off the ground~

The Spectacular Tricks of Pinging by Terry Detty

In this newsletter, we will explain what pinging is, how it helps your blog, and what the best pinging services are. After you’ve read this newsletter, you’ll know exactly how to use pinging to make your blog popular.

What is pinging?

When a blog is pinged, it essentially tells a web blog tracking system that the blog has been updated. Thus, pinging is the process of telling tracking services that a site has been updated.

So how does pinging work? Well, a ping service scans regularly blogs for updates. Whenever there is a new update for a particular blog, that is reported back to the pinging service’s site. You can almost think of ping services being just like search engine spiders—both scan sites looking for information, and both report that information back to their specific site. The difference is, a ping service only reports back new blog posts.

Why is pinging useful for my blog?

Pinging, in effect, tells people that there is a new blog posting available. Those who are loyal followers of your blog will see the ping and want to visit your blog. Those who haven’t read your blog before will see the ping and perhaps think “hey, there’s a new blog I haven’t been to before, I think I’ll check it out”. Pinging helps to increase your traffic because it tells people when your blog is updated. Those who visit sites with pinging services will see this information in the form of a scroll on the left or right side, or top of the page. The scroll is usually in XML format and typically includes the title and URL of your blog, as well as the date and time of the update.

OK, so now I know what pinging is. Who offers pinging?

The answer is, there are several pinging services available which you can use to have your blog pinged. We’ll go over some of them right now.

Weblogs.com

Weblogs.com is probably the most well-known pinging service. Weblogs.com monitors sites for updates and then pings whenever there is an update to report. Virtually every blog software is available to use Weblogs.

Yahoo’s Blogs

Another popular pinging service. This one is offered by Yahoo and has a built-in integration with movable type and other tools. One cool thing about this service is that it offers the ability to give out updates via Instant Messaging services like AOL and ICQ. It is a direct pinging service, so those who sign up for subscriptions to your blog will be sent an email anytime your blog is updated.

Blogrolling.com

Blogrolling allows its bloggers to manage their blogrolls(updates) through a web-based interface. Recently updated blogs are also highlighted on Blogrolling’s web site. Data is automatically retrieved from other sites like blogger.com and weblogs.com every 5 minutes. Often times your blog is already being pinged by Blogrolling, so you might not have to sign up for it. Search on the site first for your URL before signing it up.

Technorati

Available at http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping, Technorati is another service that pings blogs. It gets its data from a variety of places and is definitely a site you should go to for blog pinging.

These are just 4 of the many different blog pinging services available. A quick search on Yahoo or Google will reveal many other possible blog pinging services to use for your blog. It is best to sign up for as many as you possibly can to ensure that your blog is well-pinged. A well-pinged blog will definitely help your blog attract more visitors. So sign up for as many as possible and watch your blog traffic increase.

Pinging tells people when your blog is updated. It is an incredibly useful, and easy to sign up for service, so be sure to sign your blog up for pinging!

Terry Detty, 42, enjoys all aspects of internet marketing and getting out for a breath of fresh air occasionally. Online email marketing, time tracking software and repair my credit.

Article Source: The WAHM Shack Article Directory

I hope all my fellow American readers had an enjoyable 4th of July Holiday!

My writing has taken a little hiatus, as Charming Son-in-Law’s parents were visiting from Vermont, and we spent a lovely holiday weekend with them.  ‘Lil Moomette enjoyed seeing both sets of grandparents all at once.

Now it’s back to beefing up my content writing on this site…mini vacation is over!

While I don’t profess to be anywhere near an expert blogger, I do spend an inordinate amount of time on the ‘Net.  I enjoy reading as much as I can about blogging techniques, and how to build a better ‘widget,’ so to speak!

If you’re a work-at-home mom like me, I try to promote my eBay store and ecommerce boutique shoppes site by blogging.  Blogging is an excellent way to promote your products and contests, as well as giving your site more of a personal feel ~ as if you’re shopping from your favorite local brick and mortar shopkeeper!  It gives you the ability to ‘personalize’ the internet shopping experience.

Through Entrecard, I’ve made so many friends, and have been introduced to some very talented bloggers!

In particular, run right over to read Matt, from Meltwater, Torrents, Meanderings, Delta.  He’s written an excellent post on How to Digg articles.  Matt explains all about how to get your articles noticed, increase readership, and other techniques.  While I’ve been Digging all along, I’ve since learned that it is an art-form!

If you feel you’ve gotten some great information out of a post and see the Digg button, or link at the bottom of the post, click & Digg It to share with others!

I highly recommend you visit him, and if you haven’t already joined Entrecard, do it now!

I was EC dropping today and came across this great way to increase your blog’s Technorati Authority!

It’s very important to click that little “Fav this Blog on Technorati” button when you come across one you enjoy! (Like mine, I hope!)

Now, we bloggers all want more exposure and traffic for our blogs, as we put so much hard work into them, right?  Join the Technorati Train and watch your ratings soar!  Hat Tip to Brad!

Try it, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose!

1. Copy The List Below into a blog post of yours.
2. Add Your Link To The List
3. Comment On This Post So That We Can Update The List With Your Link
4. Watch Your Authority Sky-Rocket..

*–Copy Here - Technorati Authority–

Wow, I recently got approved and signed up for the social networking site SocialSpark!

This is going to be my first paid post about the site!

As all my faithful readers know, I’m trying to retire from my day job. Social Spark from IZEA gives me the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, and helps to monetize my blog by enabling me to post for honest, reputable companies.

Similar to Pay-Per-Post, once your blog is approved, you can browse the marketplace and apply for any posting opportunities that you may be qualified for. When you submit your blog for approval, you can choose which categories you would like to qualify for to be shown on your blog.

What’s equally nice, is that Social Spark maintains a very high standard of ethics. This means:

* 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
* 100% Transparency
* 100% Real Opinions
* 100% Search Engine Friendly

Since I am a WAHG with several online ecommerce sites, I try to give tips and promote my businesses through my blog. I’ve become an avid blogger, and the social aspect of Social Spark enables me to visit other bloggers, and leave and receive comments on my blogs and theirs. Here’s my profile that I’ve created so other bloggers can find and network with me.

Lastly, Blogging is becoming mainstream, and more and more people are looking towards bloggers to receive their news and garner new opinions. Advertisers are recognizing the value of this new social media, and taking the opportunity to create buzz for their products. It’s a way for advertisers to reach a whole new target market and generation of potential customers who are familiar with technology.

If you’re a stay-at-home Mom or Dad, Work-at-Home Mommy or Dad, or Baby Boomer such as myself looking for a supplemental source of income, or simply looking to reach out, network and explore new horizons, sign up for Social Spark now! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the benefits!

Here’s my disclosure policy that I’ve developed: