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!

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Hi, I see you're new here! You may want to want get eMail Updates to receive my Newsletter or RSS feed for the latest Work-At-Home Mom advice, Social Networking Tips, Giveaways, and Reviews. You can also sign up for my RSS feed by clicking the chicklet banner. If you're already a subscriber, thank you.

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.

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.

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Alexa Toolbar Benefits

Blogging Tips

Internet Tools

I’ve been doing some blog tweaking lately.  Recently I’ve installed the Alexa Toolbar.  Apparently it’s working out well as my Alexa rating has been steadily decreasing.  Also, I’m toying with the idea of switching to the Thesis theme, even though I’m not too good at coding.

There are numerous tools available on the Internet to assist in online business blogging.  A valuable tool that you should use is the Alexa Toolbar. Even better -  this tool is free.

If you have a blog, you might want to consider adding the Alexa toolbar to improve your stats. Theoretically, the Alexa toolbar isn’t spyware as it doesn’t retrieve any private or personal information.

Alexa is owned by Amazon, and ranks sites from 1 to 5,000,000 and sometimes higher. Ranking  #1 has the most traffic while anything below 250,000 and you should be getting some decent traffic levels. Right now my current Alexa rating is 74,800.  This information can be used to determine how well your advertising campaigns are going and how your traffic levels are growing over a period of time. Since I write product reviews and have a PR Media Kit, I monitor these statistics and update my Media Kit periodically.

This information can also be used to determine how your fellow bloggers are doing and keep you one step ahead of them. The tool provides you with essential information regarding any site you’re looking at, including your own. If a company approaches you claiming they have lots of traffic, you can just pull up their site and review the Alexa statistics. This allows you to verify who’s receiving a significant amount of traffic and who’s feeding you a line.

So now you want to know how do you use this tool? First, you download the Alexa Toolbar as follows:

1. Go to Alexa.com
2. Click “Download Alexa Toolbar” at the top of the page.
3. Click “Install” on the next page.
Reload the page you are viewing and the toolbar will appear across the top of your browser.

If any of your readers have the Alexa toolbar installed, any time they visit you, it will help your rankings.  In turn, when you visit their sites, you’ll be building back links while helping your fellow blog buddies out.

Why not try an experiment for a month – download the toolbar and monitor one of your sites.  Once you see the data you receive and the way it can be interpreted and used, you won’t know how you survived without it!

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

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!

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!

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Land a Job With These 9 Job Search Tips

Career Choices

Each day news sites such as CNN, or MSNB, along with local and national print newspapers are featuring articles regarding unemployment figures in the USA.

You or a family member might even be out of work yourself.  We all know people who are unemployed or underemployed. Unless you already know absolutely what field you’d like to work in, do some research on the alternative career choices.

Start a list of potential career choices.  Explore the possibility of turning your hobby into a career.  Are you a wine connoisseur?  Recently I did a post about how I’m a new aficionado of Ice Wine that my brother helped me to discover.  You might look into wine jobs. Then thoroughly investigate each one and find out what the job tasks are and what training and/or skills are necessary.  You should be able to narrow your list down the more information you discover.

Searching for a new job is becoming a common occurrence these days what with all the layoffs from companies downsizing or going out of business.

However,  searching for a job doesn’t need to be as painful as you might envision it, and there are definitely things you can do to make it go smoother.  Here are some job searching tips:

Treat job hunting like a full time job.

Work on your search every day, just as you would a job.  Looking for a job is a full time job. If you need to, get dressed in work attire, sit down in your home office, and get to work making phone calls, searching online, networking, sending out your resume and cover letter, etc.

Don’t wait to find a job.

Even if you’ve been given a nice severance package, don’t procrastinate.  You don’t know how long it’ll take to find a job and you don’t want to run out of benefits before you nail a new position.  If you have experience in the beverage jobs field as a barista, research transferring those marketing talents into the coffee jobs field.

You might find that you need to take some courses at a local community college to get yourself up to speed in your industry, and the sooner you find this out in your job search, the better off you’ll be.

Create an e-resume.

If you make a master e-resume, then you can personalize and change it to match different job positions that you’re applying for. It’s easier to do if you can work off a master copy rather than recreate a new resume each time. Likewise, you can do the same for your cover letter.

Educate yourself.

Learn as much as you can about the company you’re applying to so you can showcase your knowledge and gear your resume and interview answers around the company’s mission statement, business direction,  and  philosophies.

Get online and offline help.

Don’t be afraid to use all the resources available to you such as resume posting services, headhunters, job search emails, job boards, career counselors, State Department of Labor, etc.

Have your reference info handy.

Have a paper with all pertinent facts – names of at least 3 references; the companies they’re employed by; their business titles; plus email addresses and phone numbers.  When you’re going through the interview process, give your references a heads-up that they may be contacted shortly.  That way they don’t get a phone call out of the blue and they’ll be prepared to speak to your strengths.

Research and target your market.

Find out where the jobs are in your market.  Is it a growing field with new opportunities that might interest you?  Is one company merging with another? Is the current CEO retiring?  Do your research and keep abreast of current events and go after the position you want.

Spread your net.

Tell everyone from friends, neighbors, past co-workers, to fellow church and organization members that you’re looking.  Use social media like LinkedIn to list your credentials and resume.  Network with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  Many people have found jobs via Twitter by simply tweeting what their area of expertise is and asking people to “retweet” their message.

Have a plan.

Start a spreadsheet to record what you’ve done and where you are with your searching.  That way you wont’ duplicate your efforts and you’ll  have a clear idea of what to do next.  Being proactive will help you from becoming too discouraged.

Searching for a new job after you’ve been let go sometimes feels like the end of the world, but there are ways you can speed up the process and become successful at finding the job you want.

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Smartphones To Network Your Way to a Better Job

Use Your Connections

It’s a fact that many of the prime jobs never get posted publicly and are filled quickly.  Yes, some of these are filled in-house by present employees who have been groomed for the job, but that’s not the case with all of them. Many are filled through informal networking paths.  It’s a fact that networking can play an important part in finding a good position.

Offline

When you think of networking, you probably picture informal face to face conversations and handshakes.  Traditionally, this is how it’s been done, and it still works today.

When it comes to looking for employment, consider all the people you know and all the relationships you have.

• fraternities and sororities

• civic organizations

• sports-related such as your bowling league

• college alumni association

• previous employers

• coworkers, past and present

• work-related organizations

• neighbors

• family

• fellow church members

• your kids’ friends’ parents

• your hair stylist, doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant

Some possible paths to a new job are obvious, but the improbable happens too. Open up all lines of communication.

Online

Online there’s a whole networking world called social media at your fingertips.  This opens up so many more avenues for you, but if you’re not already involved in social media, it’ll require a little work and time to get set up and growing your networks.

The benefits are many; recruiters can find you, you can establish your brand, beneficial connections can be made, and those hiring can see you’re up to speed with technology.

LinkedIn is considered one of the best career networking tools online.  You create a profile with your professional accomplishments.  You find and get found by others you already know in business and then others who want to connect with you based on your profile.  You can see how your network web grows exponentially as your connection’s connections become your connections, and so on.

Twitter can be used as a business tool or a social tool, but it’s best not to mix them. Basically, you join; gather followers in your field of interest (the more the better if you’re job hunting), build relationships and send “tweets” or messages in 140 characters or less. It’s not a bad idea to let some of the better aspects of your personality show through, but know that anybody, including potential employers, can read your tweets. Be sure to tweet that you’re searching for a job.

Facebook is another social media tool that’s free to use. Again, it’s best not to use your profile for both business and personal. Create your profile as you would a resume, and consider that millions of people can potentially view it. Posting a picture of yourself is up to you. If you do, make it a professional head shot.

The basis of networking is building relationships that benefit both you and others.  It’s not a one way street. The best time to establish these relationships is before you’re looking for a job, but it can be done after the fact too.  Use networking, offline or online, to help you land that job before it gets posted to the public.

Smart phones today play an important part in helping us to keep up-to-date with our contacts.  Make it a New Year’s Resolution to check out a cell phone trade in and upgrade your existing phone to take advantage of all the applications that iPhones and Blackberry’s provide.  With the new applications, you’ll be able to access your e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter and other social media networking sites accounts.

At Flipswap, you’ll be able to sell or trade in YOUR old cell phone and help to reduce eWaste on the planet.  You can also recycle or take advantage of a cell phone donation.  Flipswap offers fast and free shipping.

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Best of Moomettes Magnificents Blog Posts 2009

Old Lang Syne

Year End Thoughts and Starting a New Decade

Now that we’ve passed the Winter Solstice and are wrapping up 2009, I’ve tried to put together a collection of my favorite“Best of 2009” series of Moomette’s Magnificents posts.

While I’m a mom, I’m also a grandmom, wife, sister, and friend.  I try to identify myself as a multi-generational blogger, and my blogging friends and readers are many and as varied as grains of sand in time.

Although I write about work-at-home tips, product reviews and giveaways, I’m also a humorist.  OK, make that a New England Yankee dry sense of humor.  I do a lot of double-entendres.  Take it or leave it!

My regular readers know that I’m a frustrated Librarian wannabe – which is why you’ll find me on many social networking forums spewing forth my 2-cents worth – much like in the Exorcist, whether I’m asked for my opinions or not!  My disclaimer on many social networking forums is “Opinionated Baby Boomer Grandmom from New England.” As Moomettesgram – the old lady of many forums, I’m everybody’s mom.  The fact of the matter is, I like to share with others what’s worked for me and what hasn’t in the blogging and WAHM world.

Also, I especially like to participate in Wordless Wednesday which you’ll find under my ‘Meme’ category. My new hobby is photography and I try to share with you many local travel and tourism scenes which I’m especially fond of in New England.

So as we go forth into 2010, I, like many other bloggers and mommy bloggers am trying to reinvent myself for the New Year. I’d like to expand my horizons; improve my relationship and communication with my readers; and develop new contacts to collaborate with.

I hope you’ll enjoy a few of my favorite posts and leave me some comments!

Work-At-Home Tips:

Tips To Get Sponsorships To Blogger Conventions and Conferences

Turn Your Talents And Food Related Ideas Into A WAHM Job

Bonanzle ~ WAHM Ventures Into New Online Marketplace

Cross Blog Conversation With Christie – Work At Home Moms Talk Radio: Part 2

Talking ‘Bout My Home Town:

Halloween in Connecticut – Scarecrows on Main

Life in New England – Does That Mean I Need a Live Christmas Tree?

The Perils of Aging: (You’ll be in the same boat some day)

Lingerie: Or What Do You Do With This Stuff? A Baby Boomer Dilemma

What is Light Therapy – Why You May Need it in Winter

Green and Eco-Friendly Advice:

Mom’s Money Saving Tips: Make Your Own Homemade Beauty Products

Declutter Your Home – Host A Family Swap Meet

On my ill-fated camping trip to the Connecticut Shore:

Deet or Deet Free: I Used Natrapel Instead of Off and The Mosquitoes Won

This Is My Life:

Post Woodstock:  Part 2 – The 1970s and Still Kid-Free

Life in Dysfunction Junction: Part 3 – Guest Post By The Cat

Life In The Fast Lane: Part 5 – PTA and Parties

Summer Camp – Empty Nest and a Trip Down Memory Lane

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

Next Page »