How To Start A Wordpress Blog Now: Be A WAHM

Blog Week Special

BLOG TIPS

I’m in many forums hearing how those on Blogger would like to move to Wordpress, but are unsure of how to transfer over.

Perhaps you read many blogs and would like to start your own, and become a WAHM.

Here’s an opportunity that I’d like to pass along to you.  It’s a special,  for a limited time only.

You’ll be able to get the following:

• A Domain Name ($12.00 Value)

• Three Months of Mom Webs Hosting ($15.00 Value)

• Wordpress Blog Installation ($10.00 Value)

• Wordpress Theme Installation

Plus Much More!

I use Mom Webs, so I really can vouch for their absolutely fantastic, reliable service – and can tell you that they’ve been there for me 24/7 when I need help!

Find out more information about the offers only during Blog Week now! It only lasts until March 19, 2010 – but I’ll let you know about future offers!

Visit: Blog Week!

photo credit: Search Engine People Blog

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Thanks for visiting! Comments are always appreciated! This blog is Do-Follow Links!

4 Wordpress Plugins to Make Your Blog a Fast Mean Machine

Blogging Tips For the Fastest Blog on the Racecourse

Wordpress Plugins and FireFox Add-Ons

This blog is always a work-in-progress.  Since I switched to Wordpress, I’ve become plug-in happy – there are so many Wordpress plugins that can enhance a site’s performance.

If you’re thinking of starting a blog (or perhaps are already an established blogger) and may be wondering whether you should be using Blogger or Wordpress – Trisha and Kim from Top Mom Blogger offer a great explanation of the differences.

Should you make the decision to switch to Wordpress – be sure to sign up for the Wordpress Orientation Classes offered by Kelly McCausey.

I’d like to share a few plug-ins that I’ve recently added, that make my blog a smooth-running machine (usually.)

1) WordPress Gzip – This is a plugin that essentially compresses and zips the text on your pages.  If you’re familiar with Microsoft Word, I make use of the “shrink to fit” button quite often when I’m preparing documents.  It allows me to fit that last sentence or two onto one page.

Find at: GZIP

From the site:

I’ve found that letting WordPress gzip pages significantly improves performance, typically slashing the size of the text to a fourth. For my home page, that’s a 30% reduction of total page size—including images, ads, etc. A 30% reduction in bandwidth is nothing to sniff at.

2)  WP Super Cache saves your recently viewed pages, allowing them to be accessed more quickly by readers.  There’s also the ability for you to manually clear the cache, or to set functions as to when it should be cleared.

WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly.

Find at: WP Super Cache

3)  Link Cloaker – If you monetize your blog and have affiliate links of any type that aren’t cloaked, you may be losing out on affiliate commissions.  It’s happened to me in the past.   If you don’t cloak your links, they’ll show up in the URL whenever someone clicks over to your hop page.

This Wordpress plugin is an excellent add-on that not only cloaks your links, but tracks the click-throughs to see how each affiliate link is performing.

Find at: Link Cloaker

4) TTFTitles WordPress plugin enables me to have my own font listed on my post titles.  Right now, I’m using the Miama font, which matches the font on the header of Moomette’s Magnificents.

This plugin lets you use images to replace the titles of your posts, thus circumventing the problem of guessing what fonts your end-users might have installed.

Eve, from Designing With Eve clued me into this wp plug-in.  Eve, a fellow WAHM, has been designing websites since 1998 and has a degree in computer programming and design.   She recently opened up her new design services company and will be redesigning my recipe blog for me – Moomettesgram’s Favorite Recipes – so watch for my announcement when it’s up and running!  Be sure to check out Eve’s design porfolio!

Find at: TTFTitles

5)  WiseStamp – Lastly, this isn’t a Wordpress plugin tip – but be sure to check out the new Fire Fox browser addon that enables you to customize your email signature by adding your social networking buttons, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and Friendfeed to it!

Hat Tip to: Blogging Basics 101

If you found these tips helpful, please let me know!  Happy Blogging!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Win a Conference Pass to BlogHer10 in NYC: Giveaway

2-Day Conference in New York City

Win A Ticket

If you’re a veteran blogger, you’re probably familiar with all the conferences that take place throughout the year in various parts of the country.

If you’re new to blogging, Blog Conferences are a great opportunity to meet fellow mom bloggers, affiliate marketing bloggers and bloggers from all walks of life.  Together they share information and bounce ideas off of each other.

BlogHer is open to anyone and everyone who considers themselves part of the blogosphere; BlogHer is particularly focused on highlighting the skills and talents of women who blog. All genders, ages, ethnicities, and levels of blogging experience are encouraged to attend! We promise there’s something for everyone.  (And in case you’re curious, about 10-15% of attendees are men.)

Many of my readers know I was all excited about attending BlogHer10 in New York City this summer however I’m now unable to attend.

WIN my ticket! I’m hosting a Giveaway for a 2-Day Conference Pass to BlogHer ‘10 in NYC!!!!  (a $298 value for the 2-day pass) open only to my readers who are email subscribers!

Mandatory Entry Requirements.

Main Rule:   (remember if all of these rules are not followed and completed then no others will count)
1. Sign up for my free Newsletter Updates to my blog through my e-mail Feedblitz link (on the top of my right column or let me know if you already are, in a separate comment)

2.  Enter by writing  a blog post of approximately 200 – 300 words about why you would like to attend a blogging conference.  Let me whether you’ve ever attended BlogHer or similar conferences in the past, and how you benefited from them.

Choose one of the keyword phrases below and corresponding links to place within your post.

If you have more than one blog, you may write one post per blog url that you own.  Each post will count as an entry.  You will need to post your link here in a separate comment for each entry.

Your blog must have its own domain and have a Google rank of 2 or better.  Blogs not meeting these requirements will not count as an entry.

3.  Please use one of these keyword phrases within the context of your post, and make sure that the link is live, and works before submitting :

Link #1: “WAHM tips” and link to http://moomettesmagnificents.com/blog/backlinks-how-to-build-solid-traffic/

Link #2: “blogging resource tips” and link to http://moomettesmagnificents.com/blog/alexa-toolbar-benefits/

Link #3: “product reviews and giveaways” and link to http://moomettesmagnificents.com/blog/review-info/

Rules #1, #2 and #3 must be completed to be considered entered into the contest.

Submit a comment for each blog post, along with the live URL link to your post. If the post is done in accordance with the above rules, it will be counted as an entry in the contest to win a 2-Day Conference pass to BlogHer ‘10 in New York City.  Please ascertain that all links work before submitting your post.  Posts that are incomplete will be voided.

This contest will run until April 15, 2010 at 11:00 pm. EST

*No purchase necessary
*Open to USA and Canada Only 18 years and older
*Rules for each entry must be followed to be valid.
*Winner will be contacted by me to transfer ticket. May not be re-sold or transferred to another person. Not exchangeable for cash.

For Additional Entries, check out my Contest Entry Rules.  Grab this banner to place on your sidebar, linking to this post, and it will also count as an extra entry.  Please leave your blog’s URL:

SUBMIT ENTRIES HERE FOR MY SPREADSHEET:

For a second chance to win, Visit Digital Mommy, who’s also hosting a BlogHer10 Conference Pass Giveaway!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Link Building Through KeywordLuv: Blog Tips

Improve Your Blog Links

WAHM Tips

My latest tweak to my blog to make it more reader and user friendly has been to install the wordpress plugin, KeywordLuv.

In addition to CommentLuv and the wp DoFollow plugin, as a blogger or internet marketer, KeywordLuv benefits you by improving not only your own SEO links, but those of your readers as well.

When you go to leave a comment at the bottom of a post that has the plugin installed, you’ll see a notation that says KeywordLuv enabled, and instructions to leave your name @ your keywords that you would like to link to.

Gail from GrowMap writes on business blogging topics and offers a more detailed explanation of the benefits of link building in a recent post.

You can download the wordpress plugin to use on your blog at KeywordLuv.

UPDATE March 4, 2010 I have deactivated Keyword Luv as it was my intention to help my WAHMs and bloggers and I am receiving too many comments that I must manually moderate.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Backlinks: How to Build Solid Traffic

Blogging Tips

Why You Need Backlinks On Your Website

Each day I spend a substantial portion of my time writing blog posts, reviews, and taking the time to do some social networking.  Recently I’ve been allocating an additional hour towards building backlinks to my blogs.

I found some invaluable information from an all-in-one backlinks package from Lynn Terry and Paul Short that contains tools, URLs and advice on how I can get 450 search engine dominating backlinks to my site.  There’s no membership fees or logins.

Many work-at-home moms, Direct Sales business owners, such as Tupperware, virtual assistants and graphic design businesses will put up web sites or blogs in anticipation of getting readers and clients from the Web. Usually what happens is they get few readers, or no traffic.

Here’s the reason why.

A web site or a blog isn’t an ad. No one “reads” web sites in some sort of “web site newspaper.” In fact, nobody will discover or visit your site unless you specifically invite them. A blog or web site actually needs advertising.

You need to build the traffic to your site in order to receive traffic.

Commenting on other blogs is one way to do this, and another terrific way is through backlinks.

What is a backlink?

A backlink is a link FROM another site TO your site.

For example, if you’re a member of a social Ning site where your niche is food, and someone is looking for a food blog, then there’s a pretty good chance that this person will see your listing or personal page in the “Food” section and click a link to your web site.

This is a backlink from Food blogger’s ning to your blog.

Backlinks are also referred to as “in-bound links” and oftentimes can also be called “reciprocal links.”

Many of the links that bloggers have on their web sites are specifically designed to take visitors from the link on their web site to other web site. These are usually located in a link section called a “Blogroll” link exchange or a resources section, such as “Good Stuff.” These are also called “forward links” or “outbound links.”

The important thing to keep in mind is that backlinks bring visitors TO your site. Once visitors come to your blog or business web site, you can turn them into returning readers, affiliate product sales, newsletter subscribers, commissions and more.

1.  Why are backlinks totally necessary?
Foremost, an obvious reason is to direct traffic to your site. This traffic can be cashed in for sales, clients or advertising CPMs.

2.  If done right, “backlinking” can tremendously increase your search engine rankings and thus result in even more traffic.

How?

From the eyes of search engines, your “site’s worth” increases when the number of backlinks increases. Each backlink raises the popularity of your web site.

Liken it to being someone who works the crowd when they walk into a room. The more people who know who you are, the more popular you become.  Call it the “Law of Attraction.”

3.  What can this lead to?

When people put the phrase “Mom Blogger” or “Baby Boomer” into a search engine, for the most part, the sites with higher popularity will come up first.

4.  Backlinks can create consistent traffic

Most bloggers send out weekly newsletters which often lead to  immediate “bursts” of traffic.  I send out customized weekly Newsletters to my subscribers on Wednesdays, using the Feedblitz Newsletter service.

Bursts of traffic are great, but they require that you take those additional efforts in order to continue to get that traffic.

Backlinking builds a steady, consistent, and predictable stream of traffic that keeps coming without additional work. You can confidently expect the same number of visitors each month.

With the creative backlinking strategies that I’m using through this package,  I can create a situation where my web site is attracting backlinks without me doing any work at all.

As a New Englander, to me it’s like a snowball going down-hill that hopefully continues to grow!

Check out how many links you have here: Backlinks Checker – This shows you the backlinks you have coming into your site. It take a little bit of time to get all the links if you have quite a few.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Blog Hop Time Again at Friday Follow

More Followers!

It’s the 4th Friday Follow Blog Hop going on!

Spread the word about Friday Follow by grabbing the button for your blog and come celebrate again every Friday.  Feel free to also send out a tweet, blog, stumble or share the news in your own special way!

On Fridays this meme is a great way to meet new friends and get more blog followers! Welcome to the second Follow Friday Celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades!   They invite you to join them every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

• Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.
• Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.
• Follow as many blogs as you’d like to have followers
• Comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow
• Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

BlogHer10 Conference Pass Giveaway Coming Up!

2-Day Conference in New York City

Win A Ticket

Many of my readers know I was all excited about attending BlogHer10 in New York City this summer.

If you’re a current email subscriber to Moomette’s Magnificents – thank you; but if you aren’t yet – you must might want to subscribe NOW because I’ll be running an exciting contest in March!

But first things first.

If you’re a veteran blogger, you’re probably familiar with all the conferences that take place throughout the year in various parts of the country.

If you’re new to blogging, Blog Conferences are a great opportunity to meet fellow mom bloggers, affiliate marketing bloggers and bloggers from all walks of life.  Together they share information and bounce ideas off of each other.

BlogHer is open to anyone and everyone who considers themselves part of the blogosphere; BlogHer is particularly focused on highlighting the skills and talents of women who blog. All genders, ages, ethnicities, and levels of blogging experience are encouraged to attend! We promise there’s something for everyone.  (And in case you’re curious, about 10-15% of attendees are men.)

My friends Connie, from Brain Foggles; Heather from Beautiful British Columbia; Murray from Murray Newlands Marketing Blog; and Trisha from MomDot all are veteran conference attendees.  It’s thanks to friends like these who help me to improve on my blogging skills and techniques and enable me to meet new friends through social networking.

Do you think you’d like to attend some conferences, but need to get sponsored to attend? Read up on some of the following tips to help get sponsored.

Now that you’ve made it this far, I’ve saved the best for last.

Certain plans don’t always pan out, and this year’s BlogHer10 conference falls on my grandson Slugger’s birthday weekend this August.  I already bought my conference pass to BlogHer10, and will be hosting a Giveaway (a $298 value for the 2-day pass) to my readers who are email subscribers!

So watch for my upcoming Giveaway post Enter the contest HERE which will tell you the rules and sign up for my Newsletter!

For More Information Visit:  BlogHer10

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Friday Follow Blog Hop: Join To Get More Blog Followers

Join the 2nd Follow Friday Blog Hop!

On Fridays this meme is a great way to meet new friends and get more blog followers! Welcome to the second Follow Friday Celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades!   They invite you to join them every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

• Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.
• Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.
• Follow as many blogs as you’d like to have followers
• Comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow
• Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow

Spread the word about Friday Follow by grabbing the button for your blog and come celebrate again every Friday.  Feel free to also send out a tweet, blog, stumble or share the news in your own special way!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Google Friend Connect – my buttons are on my sidebar!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Information For Bloggers: PLR vs. Free Reprint Articles: Which is Best?

Blogging Tips

One of the ways for moms, virtual assistants or retirees to earn money working at home or blogging is by becoming a ghostwriter.  Ghostwriters often write PLR articles that can be purchased or turned into eBooks.

Here’s some information that can get you started working from home as a ghostwriter, or familiarize you with PLR and reprint articles for your blog.

PLR vs. Free Reprint Articles: Which is Best?

By Nicole Dean

Content is always in high demand. Right now the focus seems to be on Private Label Rights (or PLR) articles. PLR articles are pre-written and sold in packages to online businesses looking for content. The big selling points of PLR articles are that you may edit the articles and that there is no author bio required (so they don’t have any outbound links).

Compare PLR articles to free reprint articles. Free reprint articles from places like ezinearticles.com or freeaffiliatearticles.com are written by people who have something they’d like to share. (Or, they are sometimes written by people just publishing junk, in the hopes that they’ll get some incoming links. But, good article directories will delete those, so we’ll focus on the good ones here.)

So, which is better? Honestly, each has its place. Sometimes you’ll find an excellent free reprint article that you’ll want to share with your readers and you won’t mind a bit having an outbound link, especially if there is an affiliate program associated with it. The free reprint article added value to your readers, and you didn’t have to write the article. That’s what free reprint articles are all about.

Other times you’ll already have an idea in mind for a topic and you’ll just want a boost getting that section of your website done. If you run across a high quality PLR package on that niche, you’re set to go.

So, how do you know which PLR service or membership to choose? Here are some guidelines to follow:

1. Some PLR sites offer a monthly membership where you receive a grab-bag of articles – on any topic. If you already know what you need, this may be a waste of money. Other PLR sites will list topics and you can buy the articles in a shopping cart. That ensures you receive the articles you need when you need them.

2. Are the articles written by professional writers with experience? Or are they outsourced to the cheapest overseas help they can find – no matter the quality? If the articles are going to be a reflection of your business, you’ll want to ensure that the articles are well-written.

3. Who’s running this thing? Is the PLR site run by someone who knows about content or someone who thinks they can ride the content wave and make a quick buck? Make sure you’re hitching your wagon to someone who knows what they’re doing.

Those are just a few tips to keep you from wasting money on a PLR site that you can’t use. Continue to use free reprint articles, but look into PLR articles as well. They can both benefit your website and your business.

Article written by:

Nicole Dean is the owner of  www.EasyPLR.com – where you’ll find high-quality PLR articles sold in very limited quantities.  The PLR articles at EasyPLR are professionally written and professionally edited — top quality at an affordable price.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

How To Get More Blog Followers – Friday Follow Celebration

Friday Follow

Get More Followers!

This meme occurs on Fridays and is a great way to meet new friends and get more blog followers! Welcome to the first ever Follow Friday Celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades!   They invite you to join them every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

• Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.
• Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.
• Follow as many blogs as you’d like to have followers
• Comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow
• Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow

Spread the word about Friday Follow by grabbing the button for your blog and come celebrate again every Friday.  Feel free to also send out a tweet, blog, stumble or share the news in your own special way!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Google Friend Connect – my buttons are on my sidebar!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

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