I Have Moved…Come and See Me

       You may have noticed that I haven’t posted here in a few days…I have moved; that is my big news.   I sure would love it if you would come and see me at my new environment.  It will look familiar to you, it will still feel comfortable and yet, because change is change…it will be a little bit different.  I will still write about all that is going on in the world, my observations and opinions.  I had to move and expand my wings.    Come and see me anyway; relationships are no fun when it is only one -sided…if i write…who will read?  http://www.writewhereyouareblog.com  I miss your company and your comments on my blog!!!

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Jumping For Joy

       Thanks to all of the faithful readers, this blog is now celebrating 91,000 visitors!  You guys rock…thanks for being interested in what goes on in the world.  Thanks for sharing your points of view on the latest news, events, and life’s happenings.  You the readers are the best part of blogging.  Appreciate the comments that inform, observe the world, and communicate your opinions in a family friendly manner.  The world is an interesting place, dont ya think?

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Baby Your Blog

Well, this past week has been a lesson on nurturing my blog.  This past week was a week out of the ordinary and I was not able to nurture my blog in the way that I normally do.  I began to think on that thought.  A blog is a bit like a baby…it needs to be nurtured to grow and prosper.

How do you nurture a blog, you ask?  First things first, if you have a blog already you need to evaluate it’s well-being.  If you do not have a blog…begin one.  You need to think about what your blog is intended to accomplish.  Mine was initially set up to develop some discipline, commitment, and to help improve my writing.  As it evolved, I learned more…and therefore; I have discovered what I want and need.  Some of those things have changed with time; and now, I know that  my blog needs some adjustments.   That is ok, it is called growing pains; things that don’t grow become stagnant…they wither and die.  If your goals change for your blog, then you must make changes.  That knowledge requires some re-evaluation. 

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Goal…Can I do it?

        I have one main blogging goal…that is to hit 100,000 visitors by the end of July. That is when I will celebrate my 2 year anniversary of writting this blog. It would be a double celebration to hit the 100,000th visitor and celebrate my anniversary at the same time! Can I do it?  I don’t know; but, I sure am going to do my best to reach my goal.  Of course it is an interactive thing…I write and someone reads.    Hope you are along for the ride to help me celebrate when i make my goal. 

Late last year http://alphainventions.com/ helped bump up my visitors stats. “Meeting” my readers thru the comments is one of the best parts of blogging.  There are so many interesting people out there with wonderful things to say.

It is through the interaction that the joy comes. Finding things to interest both the writer and the reader.  In any case, I just wanted to make my intentions known…so that it sets a standard of accountability.   Are you with me?

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Alpha Inventions-Have You Heard About Them Yet?

         Alpha Inventions, I wondered if you have heard of them yet?  I discovered them the other day when they made an appearance on my stat counter on my blog site.  I wondered who are they and; how, and why are they referring so many visitors to my blog.  Not that I minded the traffic; in fact, it was quite wonderful.  However, sometimes sites connect to your site that you wish had never heard of you; you know what I mean?  Some of them bring traffic that i don’t want associated with my blog.

         Anyway, i did a little sleuthing and found out it is a site that is relatively new.  From what i understand…it is a site that brings exposure to a multitude of sites-in real time.  So, as soon as you post to your site/blog others can see it at that moment.  In doing so, they are current on what information or products you are trying to bring to the world wide web.  I don’t understand all of the ins and outs of their algorithms…but, thankfully, it isn’t my job to understand it.  I am benefitting from someone else’s brillance.  That is ok with me.  In return, i hope that my blog brings something to them as well.

          Interesting though when you stop to think about the name.  Alpha Inventions…when I looked it up there were many definitions for Alpha.  Of course, we all know about the Alphabets…a listing of letters that begins with the letter A.  Then, there is the definition of Alpha as first or beginning-beta (as in beta testing).  Then, there is the definition of top of the line or dominant. And finally, to be the most prominent, talented or aggressive.  Congrats to Alpha Inventions for thinking outside of the box.  Think of it as free media publicity for your writings or your business/marketing site.  It is another tool to use to bring attention to your goals that you are trying to accomplish on your site.

            When you stop and think about it…all of those terms apply to http://www.alphainventions.com .  It is an experiment in transition i think.  However, a brilliant one…I think it will be fine tuned and will catch on like wildfire.  Like any invention…it will go through several phases of development.  In the meantime, enjoy the extra traffic that they send you…you won’t be sorry.

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High Traffic Scores

       Yahoo… I am so excited.  I did a little test on this blog site on www.HubSpot.com.   I got a score of 48…which they say means that, out of the hundreds of thousands of sites that they have tested, my blog scores higher than 48% of them in terms of marketing effectiveness.   Whoooooo Hooo. 

         But, i am a bit confused.  I am not a marketer.  I just write a blog on all kinds of interesting subjects (at least they are interesting to me).  However, I have written on so many subjects…that evidently, i have hit upon enough various subjects to be effective! 🙂  Cool Beans, I say. 

         Technorati has given me a rank of 372,003 which puts it in the top 0.53% of blogs that they track.  Yes…but, how can this be?  I am not a very technological person.  I only started blogging about 16 months ago.  There are things that I have discovered, which would now cause me to do a few things differently were I to start up another blog…but, that is how I know that I am growing and learning.  That is alright…that knowledge can be applied to future projects.   There is so much more to learn.  It is interesting…but learning new things leads a person to discover new passions.  Before long, you start accumulating large amounts of information that crosses over into other projects or areas of interest in your life.

         If we knew everything when we started out trying something new…would we ever push ourselves to go a little farther?  Probably not, human nature wants to be on familiar ground…to feel confident and comfortable in what we do.  However, the most personal and professional growth comes from pushing yourself to test your mettle…doing something that you do not think you are capable of doing.  I never thought i could do something like write a blog; and have someone come to it, and be interested in what i wrote.  But, i discovered when i gave myself permission to do it for myself…then, i was able to follow through. 

         Everyone tells me that it is simply because of content…regular, consistent postings that the blog is growing.  Writing is fun, reading the interactions in the comment section is rewarding to me.  Touching on subjects that can inform, or, share information is exciting.  Getting to know regular readers is the best part; because, they start to share who they are and what is important to them.  Some of the readers even post things that make a difference in someone else’s life…such as the comments on triple negative cancer…or, suicide prevention; or, some other post that affects people in a real personal way.

         It is a challenge to find something in everyday life that gives a small glimpse into what is happening in the world at that time…trying to make sense of how it affects me or others, that I care about.  Still…reading the report on the rankings of the blog…was eye opening to me.  That is because that isn’t why I started to write the blog; however, it is encouraging to learn as i go… and find ways to improve what i do.

        On top of that…my blog received a Google page rank of 4; but, now that i know it has room for improvement…i want to make it better.   A four is not too shabby.  But, what really excited me was that in the area of traffic…the blog was in the top 4.61% of all websites. 

        This, is like winning some kind of award; such as an Emmy, or an Oscar…maybe a Tony; Is there some kind of award for someone addicted to blogging?  hahahah.  Ahhhhemmmm, I would like to thank my mom, and my dad, and my teachers, and my bus drivers, and anyone else who NEVER let me talk when i felt the need (just kidding) ….LOL     Blogging is fun….Go check out your website rating on www.HubSpot.com.  It is a great tool to work with; if you are in the hopes of improving your site and making it more effective by reaching the people you most want to communicate with.  Find out what you are doing right…and, oh by the way, did you find out anything that you could improve from testing your site on Hub Spot?

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Traffic Jam

        Who hates getting stuck in a traffic jam?  Yeah, me too…unless it is with my blog; then, i absolutely love, love, love traffic.  I am thrilled to be to say, that with the next 10 visitors; I will have had 56,000 visitors to this blog in exactly 15 months (minus two days)  🙂   That is totally cool!  Now, if only I was a marketer and had something to sell…hmmm…i could be fairly well up to my eyeballs with nickels and dimes, don’t ya think?  Too funny, as I have no business interest, other than writing that is.

         Anyway…i was just so excited to share this very important update,  lol…that i couldn’t wait for those last ten visitors to appear.  I remember just a few short weeks ago, announcing on a teleseminar with Michael Penland, that i was about to hit 51,000 visitors; and, that was on August 30th–that is only 6 short weeks ago!!!  https://writeasrain.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/doing-something-new-is-scary/

        Wow, that’s 5,000 visitors in six weeks.  Every new blogging milestone far out-distances any goals that i have ever set for myself.  Imagine what an individual could do when they go about setting their sights on a goal with determination to achieve it!!!   Mind blowing to a girl who’s only goal was to set about being disciplined and writing every day; when possible…and trying to document the world as i observe it, in my own way.  Maybe i need to raise my expectations for myself; set a new goal or accomplishment to achieve.   I will have to think on that…what do i need to focus on or do with my writing that is different? 

         I guess it just illustrates the need to connect…and communicate; human beings share so many things in common with one another.  We all have opinions on the things that go on around us; maybe you have something to write about that someone else wants or needs to hear?

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Doing Something New Is Scary!

        I don’t know about you…but, doing something new is more than a little bit scary.  I don’t know if you are like this or not…but sometimes, I stop myself from doing things just because I get a little bit intimidated or fearful.  I also had a slight case of a fear of failure…and even worse…a fear of success!  Yep, I am definately my own worse enemy at times.  How many things in life do i miss out on, because the voice in my head has cautioned me to step lightly or turn around and go back to the same old status quo; just because it feels familiar and safe?  How many times have I cheated myself out of something wonderful and positive?

         Geez, I just bet I can’t count that high, LOL.   I think about this blog in particular…when I was moved in my soul to start disciplining myself and write on a regular basis; I knew it was something that I needed to do.  Yet, can you believe I almost talked myself out of it? 

           If I had allowed myself to continue to doubt…then, I would not have had the pleasure of helping supply information to so many people about triple negative breast cancer and have had the impact on lives that had not heard about the disease.  There were people who contacted me on that subject who were going through scary times and needed support.  There were other readers who had experience with TNBC and were able to be a support to others, through my blog.  Then, a subject i hold near and dear to my heart which is fetal alcohol spectrum disorders has had an impact on lives because of the information in that post.  I consider it an honor to have the priviledge to  possibly steer someone away from picking up an alcoholic beverage while pregnant; and maybe, preventing someone’s child from having a lifetime of disabilities that could have been avoided.  That is the power of positive impact.

           That very first post was so very intimidating that I sat and worked on it for hours…hours I tell you!  🙂  Finally, i confessed that it was intimidating and just jumped in with both feet and did it.  Scary, yes…am I glad that I took the chance and have since been blessed by the experience…YES!

            Tonight, I did something else that I wasn’t sure I could do.  I got on a live tele-seminar and spoke with businessman Michael Penland.  He had more than 100 people on that call, listening to his guests speak.  You can hear a replay of that call here:  http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=3926631   The listeners on that call were hungry for information on how to build their businesses and their websites; so that their dreams can come true.  Sometimes, it just takes a little encouragement for people to believe in themselves.  

            Michael is a special person who goes out of his way to help others succeed in their own businesses.  He helped my husband get started in marketing over a year and a half ago.  He helped to build my husband’s confidence and opened new doors for him.  Now my husband is a respected marketer who has helped to encourage and mentor so very many others in ways that have changed their lives for the better.   It is like a chain reaction when people set out to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

            Michael has a live seminar coming up in Orlando, Florida on Sept 19th-21st.  Check him out and see what he can do for you!  http://www.instantcashmarketing.com/jeff.html   The speakers at this event are powerful and have the skill to teach you how to achieve your dreams in a way that will open your eyes to the talents and skills you already own inside of yourself.  You may recognize some of the marketers by name, there is Willie Crawford, Matt Bacak, Brad Fallon, Dr. Mike Woo Ming, Howie Schwartz, Joe Sugarman, Debra Thompson, Jason Pearson, Frank Garon, Keith Wellman, Jeff Wellman, Dale Calvert, Alan Bechtold, Drew Miles, and Jeff Herring and of course, Michael Penland.  

            The title of the seminar is Magic 17-Billion Dollar Marketing Dream Team.  You will learn things at this live event that you may never have another opportunity to experience.  Do yourself a favor and click on this link and see how you can get yourself going in the right direction.  Empower yourself to do what you have always wanted to do; you can do it if you only dare, to not be intimidated or doubt yourself; I know you can!  http://www.instantcashmarketing.com/jeff.html

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