Well, I haven't posted on My Notes and Lists in a while, which of course means I have neglected the main purpose of this blogsite, and of course this also means that I have notes and lists scattered all over the place again!
So, here is one of my latest "scatterings"
List and notes (11 points below) of what to do regards the freelance work Tony and I do, and also regards getting more traffic to our sites, in particular our main 1pic4twenty site right now, as 1pic4twenty is the site where we list the services we offer, and work is pretty quiet at the moment, so we certainly need more traffic to the services and prices pages of our site, so that more people can see how affordable we are, and hire us!
1.
I need to write and get 3 articles off to ServiceR8d as I write a weekly article for this site, for their Work From Home column. I only really need to write one article today and email it off today too, since the ServiceR8d email newsletter goes out tomorrow, but there's a good chance our Internet bandwidth allowance may run out before the end of the month because I failed to properly monitor usage in the first half of this month, and have allowed my boys far too much time on the Internet so far this month, without realising the penalties Tony and I would have to "pay."
The boys have been playing some online games and Zooty has taken to learning some magic tricks by watching YouTube videos about magic tricks. Zooty has also been watching some YouTube videos about learning to speak Italian. Tony and I have also spent some time watching YouTube videos, so no more YouTube for us for the rest of this month, and no Internet at all for the boys for the rest of this month.
We cannot really yet afford to up our monthly Internet bandwidth allowance, so we just have to be ultra careful the rest of this month, and then in future, monitor our usage more carefully and more frequently. This is why I need to get 3 articles off to ServiceR8d soon, so that the next two weeks' articles are already sent too, just in case we have no Internet towards the end of the month. ServiceR8d is a local (East London, South Africa) WordPress site, that Tony and I helped set up for the owner, and although I don't earn anything for writing the articles, I do get to include a link to our workfromhomeideas.co.za site at the bottom of each article, and this helps give us a little more local exposure. Due mostly to the newsletter ServiceR8d sends out weekly to over 4 000 subscribers (so far,) the site does get a fairly decent amount of traffic.
2.
I've added a "new" service to our 1pic4twenty.co.za site (email address hosting) and I need to add the link to it on all our other pages of services (over 20 pages/services)
3.
We've only recently nicely split up the services we offer into separate pages that give details and prices, but I need to still rewrite each of these pages a bit for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization,) as well as do better meta title, meta description, and meta keywords in the coding. Hopefully this extra SEO work will get our services and prices pages found a bit more on search engines like Google, and people visiting the pages will also see the list of services we offer, down the right hand side of each of these pages (and they all link to the appropriate page for more details and price information) - it's handy that many of the services we offer all sort of relate to each other, so somebody who finds one of our services and prices pages, may also need one of our other services listed down the side.
4.
Once done with 2. and 3. above, resubmit the site to search engines.
5.
Get a bit more exposure and possibly a few backlinks by commenting on South African blogs. Of course no spam, so browsing through many South african blogs to find content that I really want to leave nice comments on, can take quite a bit of time. I need to do this quite urgently in the hopes that Tony and I can generate some traffic to our sites and possibly get some orders for our services, but, essentially, this is also something that needs to be done on an ongoing basis, from time to time, forever.
6.
Prior to starting a new surge of commenting on South African blogs, I need to double check that some of our sites (to which I would leave a link to when I comment on blogs [my name automatically links to one of my sites when I fill in the details eg name and website address when I comment on other blogs]) mention the services we offer, or at least link to one or more of our services and prices pages.
7.
Do research and write some seo-optimized articles for an overseas client for one of his sites - we have been paid in advance some time ago, and there's no major rush for these articles, but we do need to get in all those hours we owe sometime, inbetween trying to market for some more local clients.
8.
Prepare and write etc our 3rd Work From Home Ideas newsletter, and get it sent off to our few subscribers.
9.
Get as many articles as possible written, and added to our own sites, whenever we get the chance!
10. Refresh our ads on the online free classifieds site, Vottle, and perhaps add a few more ads to Vottle, perhaps also add a few ads to some other online free classifieds sites.
11.
Get off the Internet now, and go return two dvds we watched last night, before midday. The two dvds we watched were Black Swan and The American.
© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Niche Site Topics
I would like about another 20 sites, maybe more. I'm not talking about totally free sites like this Blogger blog where I don't even have to pay for hosting and domain registration. I'm talking about sites that are my own where I pay for a unique web address (register a domain) and where I pay for hosting.
That's two choices for me:
html/CSS site, which Tony and I can at least design ourselves, to save on the expense of hiring a designer, and the hassle of having to explain to the designer exactly how it is we want our sites to look - and, also, knowing how to design our own sites, we can make any alterations or add new pages ourselves.
The other choice is a WordPress.org site (not the totally free .com WordPress sites, where you don't get your own domain name, but where you rather just use a free theme from WordPress.org (there are over 1 000 to choose from)) and then get a domain registered and hosted, so that I have a unique domain name, rather than one that ends in /wordpress.com
Eg I would rather have myownsite.co.za than myownsite/wordpress.com (as that second one doesn't really seem like my own site since there are tons of sites on the Internet that end in /wordpress/com - and those are hosted on wordpress.com, so not even my own host etc.)
Free Blogger blogs (like this one; the address ends in blogspot.com - see this site's/page's URL address right at the top of your computer screen in your browser bar) and free wordpress.com sites are great and many people use them - I have some Blogger blogs - this one and a few others, but I prefer to mostly have my own unique domain name for my sites.
So,
if I get, say, ten new sites up soon (as well as domain registration and hosting) which should I use? html/CSS site or WordPress site, or a bit of both?
Because Tony and I can design html/CSS sites, and because the hosting package for an html/CSS site can be slighlty cheaper than the larger hosting package needed for a WordPress site, it seems that the obvious choice should be the html/CSS type of site.
BUT, my plan with some new niche sites, is to add new pages of content to them whenever I get the chance, and to display Google Adsense ads on them, to generate a bit of a passive income from them. It is easier and quicker to add new pages of content to a WordPress site than it is to add new pages of content to an html/CSS site.
The hosting is not that much more, either, so I think WordPress should be the choice if I add 20 or so new sites to my collection.
Then, what will the topics of my new niche sites be?
I cannot afford to get domains registered for them all at once, and to start hosting packages for them all at once, so I'll start with just 2 or 3 new niche sites, then add more a month later, and more another month later. It's quite addictive, getting new sites, but not free, so hopefully I don't start thinking of too many new niche site topics by the time I have the 20 new ones set up.
I'm not sure which will be the first 2 or 3 I choose to get set up (getting the others later), but these niche site topics below are likely to be in the 20.
A site about using WordPress, offering tips etc too
A recipe site - possibly just one sort of topic, like just puddings, just starters, just braai recipes etc - so maybe more than one site for recipes
A site where South Africans can advertise for free
A site about anything to do with the garden, and gardening
A site about photography
A site about horoscopes, strange occurrences, the future etc
A site offering writing style and grammar tips
A site about running and walking (competitively, health, shoes, getting and keeping fit etc)
A girly type site offering tips and info to tweens, teenagers, and young women - fashion, make-up, friends tips etc etc
Animals - tips, facts etc about wild animals, pet animals - so perhaps two sites then
A Christmas and Easter site - or perhaps two sites, then - gift ideas, craft ideas, history, facts, food, traditions
A site about security in South Africa
A fiction or creative writing site
A party ideas site
A craft ideas and how to make various crafts site
A site that covers a variety of topics all on one site
A site about places to stay in South Africa, what to do and see in South Africa - perhaps two or more sites - staying in the city, staying in the countryside, staying at the seaside, hiking, things to do, things to see
Houses, homes and interior decor
Movies - info, reviews, info about actors and actresses
The beach - sun sea sand activities ocean fish whatever!
Now, each of these can actually be split into further topics, meaning more sites. Hm.
Why not just one big site covering everything I want to write about?
Google Adsense ads generally seem to display ads that link to sites that have similar content to the site that they appear on, but it seems to be that even more appropriate ads display when the ads are on a site that covers just one topic (a niche site.)
Also, should my sites start getting lots of traffic, some people may want to advertise on my sites, and are more likely to do so if all the topics on the site relate to their line of business.
I am aware that some topics, even though niche, may overlap, for example Chrsitmas and Easter may include some craft ideas for making your own Christmas tree ornaments, and that's a craft idea that could also possibly appear in the crafts idea site, or even in the houses, homes, interior decor site, or party ideas site but I can link to these articles from the similar sites or articles, making that link stronger than if it was from a site that does not have similar content.
I can also still perhaps create a few more totally free Blogger blogs (totally free other than time, having a computer and Internet connection), that each probably cover a similar topic to one that is on one of the new WordPress sites, and can link to that Blogger site from the appropriate WordPress site or two, and also link to some of the WordPress sites on some of the Blogger blogs.
Having lots of sites means lots of opportunity to more easily create links from sites that I know have similar content, and not just on the side of the page, or only on one page, but nicely with anchor text within some of the articles too.
It's fun, all this site creation and linking - plus while I'm having fun with it, I earn a passive income from the ads on the sites. Cool.
© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011
That's two choices for me:
html/CSS site, which Tony and I can at least design ourselves, to save on the expense of hiring a designer, and the hassle of having to explain to the designer exactly how it is we want our sites to look - and, also, knowing how to design our own sites, we can make any alterations or add new pages ourselves.
The other choice is a WordPress.org site (not the totally free .com WordPress sites, where you don't get your own domain name, but where you rather just use a free theme from WordPress.org (there are over 1 000 to choose from)) and then get a domain registered and hosted, so that I have a unique domain name, rather than one that ends in /wordpress.com
Eg I would rather have myownsite.co.za than myownsite/wordpress.com (as that second one doesn't really seem like my own site since there are tons of sites on the Internet that end in /wordpress/com - and those are hosted on wordpress.com, so not even my own host etc.)
Free Blogger blogs (like this one; the address ends in blogspot.com - see this site's/page's URL address right at the top of your computer screen in your browser bar) and free wordpress.com sites are great and many people use them - I have some Blogger blogs - this one and a few others, but I prefer to mostly have my own unique domain name for my sites.
So,
if I get, say, ten new sites up soon (as well as domain registration and hosting) which should I use? html/CSS site or WordPress site, or a bit of both?
Because Tony and I can design html/CSS sites, and because the hosting package for an html/CSS site can be slighlty cheaper than the larger hosting package needed for a WordPress site, it seems that the obvious choice should be the html/CSS type of site.
BUT, my plan with some new niche sites, is to add new pages of content to them whenever I get the chance, and to display Google Adsense ads on them, to generate a bit of a passive income from them. It is easier and quicker to add new pages of content to a WordPress site than it is to add new pages of content to an html/CSS site.
The hosting is not that much more, either, so I think WordPress should be the choice if I add 20 or so new sites to my collection.
Then, what will the topics of my new niche sites be?
I cannot afford to get domains registered for them all at once, and to start hosting packages for them all at once, so I'll start with just 2 or 3 new niche sites, then add more a month later, and more another month later. It's quite addictive, getting new sites, but not free, so hopefully I don't start thinking of too many new niche site topics by the time I have the 20 new ones set up.
I'm not sure which will be the first 2 or 3 I choose to get set up (getting the others later), but these niche site topics below are likely to be in the 20.
A site about using WordPress, offering tips etc too
A recipe site - possibly just one sort of topic, like just puddings, just starters, just braai recipes etc - so maybe more than one site for recipes
A site where South Africans can advertise for free
A site about anything to do with the garden, and gardening
A site about photography
A site about horoscopes, strange occurrences, the future etc
A site offering writing style and grammar tips
A site about running and walking (competitively, health, shoes, getting and keeping fit etc)
A girly type site offering tips and info to tweens, teenagers, and young women - fashion, make-up, friends tips etc etc
Animals - tips, facts etc about wild animals, pet animals - so perhaps two sites then
A Christmas and Easter site - or perhaps two sites, then - gift ideas, craft ideas, history, facts, food, traditions
A site about security in South Africa
A fiction or creative writing site
A party ideas site
A craft ideas and how to make various crafts site
A site that covers a variety of topics all on one site
A site about places to stay in South Africa, what to do and see in South Africa - perhaps two or more sites - staying in the city, staying in the countryside, staying at the seaside, hiking, things to do, things to see
Houses, homes and interior decor
Movies - info, reviews, info about actors and actresses
The beach - sun sea sand activities ocean fish whatever!
Now, each of these can actually be split into further topics, meaning more sites. Hm.
Why not just one big site covering everything I want to write about?
Google Adsense ads generally seem to display ads that link to sites that have similar content to the site that they appear on, but it seems to be that even more appropriate ads display when the ads are on a site that covers just one topic (a niche site.)
Also, should my sites start getting lots of traffic, some people may want to advertise on my sites, and are more likely to do so if all the topics on the site relate to their line of business.
I am aware that some topics, even though niche, may overlap, for example Chrsitmas and Easter may include some craft ideas for making your own Christmas tree ornaments, and that's a craft idea that could also possibly appear in the crafts idea site, or even in the houses, homes, interior decor site, or party ideas site but I can link to these articles from the similar sites or articles, making that link stronger than if it was from a site that does not have similar content.
I can also still perhaps create a few more totally free Blogger blogs (totally free other than time, having a computer and Internet connection), that each probably cover a similar topic to one that is on one of the new WordPress sites, and can link to that Blogger site from the appropriate WordPress site or two, and also link to some of the WordPress sites on some of the Blogger blogs.
Having lots of sites means lots of opportunity to more easily create links from sites that I know have similar content, and not just on the side of the page, or only on one page, but nicely with anchor text within some of the articles too.
It's fun, all this site creation and linking - plus while I'm having fun with it, I earn a passive income from the ads on the sites. Cool.
© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011
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