While Mashable was able to play with Google Wave and put out a fantastic review, there is still a lot left to be developed in the interface, and a few features that many have clamored for are yet to be implemented. So, it’s a bit premature to say exactly how small business will benefit from Google Wave, but I want to hear from you, readers, how you would implement this potentially game changing platform.

Most successful freelancers and small businesses depend on collaboration to get their work done. Whether it’s collaboration with their clients, suppliers, vendors, or other relationships, collaboration on a global scale is key.

If Wave works like it is supposed to then it will be a better version of IM, email, presentation software, and document sharing all rolled into one platform. Imagine being able to do all of those things without any need to purchase expensive software and have multiple things running on your computer at the same time.

If you don’t want to read the reviews that are out there, here’s a short list of Wave’s key features:

1. Collaborative editing. Any part of the communication can be edited by anyone participating in the wave.
2. Extensions. Applications and software robots can be built that will add functionality to your Wave.
3. Drag & Drop file uploads. Drag that video, picture, or important file and drop it into the wave which will then instantaneously share it with everyone involved in the conversation.
4. Embedding. Wave can be embedded as part of your existing website and add new communication features to your site.
5. Playback. Rewind and watch any editing or communicating that happened. Now you know what order it happened in, just in case you were confused.
6. Open source. Free, and able to be changed however you’d like.

So, as small business owners & entrepreneurs, I’m curious to hear how all of you would use Google Wave.

• What ideas come to mind?
• What problems does it help you solve?
• What problems can you solve for others by using this solution?

Leave your answers in the comments below.  We look foward to seeing your thoughts!

For further study:  Read more reviews on Techcrunch, CNET, and the Google I/O Wave release video

Bing has been all over the news since Microsoft announced its launch last week.  They’ve also done quite the commercial blitz.  Rumor has it that Microsoft has earmarked more than $80 Million for marketing their new search engine.

As a small business owner or freelancer, why should you care?

That’s a pretty tough question.

Google has made itself hella useful for business.  Since getting your company’s website to show up on the Google search results means more business for you, business owners love Google.  Can getting your website to show up on Bing help your business?

As of December of 2008, Google had a market share of over 63%.  Yahoo was at 16%, and Microsoft’s Live Search was at 9%.  Bing replaces Live search, so we can assume that Bing is starting with a 9% market share.  When you are looking at where to spend your resources, it seems like a better idea to put your efforts into the big G.

On the other hand, you may feel it’s worth it to conquer one tiny search engine.  Here are some ways you might benefit:

• Bing seems to be heavily weighted towards Domain Name relevance. One client company that I work with had four of its sub-domains show up on the first page of the results, where on Google the first page of the results show several negative reviews of the company.

• Microsoft pulled a fast one and made Bing the default search of Internet Explorer 6.  About 20% of people still use IE6. Note: this was a mistake and Microsoft is working on fixing it.
• Watch it and wait.  By many accounts, Bing doesn’t suck.  The search results are relevant, and if enough people are willing to give it a try, Bing might become a place where you’ll hope your customers find you.  From the Techcrunch Comments section:

I am curious to know how many Sparkplugging readers spend time on search engine marketing.  Let us know in the comments whether you engage in SEO or paid search tactics for your freelancing or small business work.

Oh, and let us know what you think of Bing.

Cory Huff is best known online for AgoodHusband.net.  He also works for an internet marketing firm that specializes in Search Engine Marketing.  Cory hopes to leverage the Sparkplugging internship to help performers and artists make money using the internet.

Follow Cory on Twitter: @aGoodHusband

This is a review of a low cost special report for freelancers written by our intern, Cory Huff.  Sparkplugging has not been paid to write this review but can earn commissions on sales made through our referral link.

Lexi Rodrigo’s Website Secrets is a great little guide for freelancers.  I spend most of my day consulting with clients about how to improve their online marketing, and the number one problem for small business owners and freelancers is that they are acting on bad information and they don’t have time to figure out on their own what works.

Over 50% of small businesses still do not have a website.  If you know you need a website, or a website upgrade, or are wondering if you need one, but don’t quite know how to get started, Website Secrets has everything you need.

While Website Secrets doesn’t go very deep into any one aspect of web design or marketing, there is no need for a cash strapped freelancer or small business owner to pay for an expensive web developer.  There is no magic bullet, but Lexi shows you how to use tools available for free online to create a site that will explain who you are, what you do, attract customers from the search engines, and do it all in a way that requires no technical skill, only time.

I am not being compensated for this review in any way, shape or form. Dell sent me a loaner XPS One that I will be (sadly) returning to them now that this review is published.

So, @RichardAtDell reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their new machine, the XPS One. Never one to turn away a chance to play with new gadgets, I said yes immediately. Had I known what I was getting into, I’m not so sure I would have said yes anymore – because I’ve completely fallen in love with this thing and I do. not. want. to. send. it. back.

Dell XPS One 24"

First of all, this has got to be the sexiest looking machine I have ever laid eyes upon. I guess I really didn’t realize just how big a 24″ monitor is – it’s BIG. Big and SEXY. (I am going to use that word a lot in this post. Just warning you now). But it’s not just a big flat screen monitor – it IS the computer. That’s it – all of it – right there.

What’s funny is that Richard had asked me to review this machine from the perspective of a mom with kids, and talk about how we use it as a family.

I have a confession to make.

My kids haven’t gotten a whole heck of a lot of time to use it. We seriously fight over who gets to use it next.

I do think it’s mostly because it’s so big, the monitor is so bright and the colors are so saturated, it’s kind of hard to look at any other computer in our house and be happy about having to be stuck with it.

But this thing has capabilities we haven’t even been able to use yet because of wiring issues in my office. The XPS One is also capable of being a HD TV. If I could let this go, it would be a brilliant addition to my kitchen so that I could keep my kids entertained during snack time and I could use it to find recipes right there instead of printing them out (my *dream kitchen!*). For now, we’ve been at least using it as a DVD player and MP3 player – thanks to Dell I’m a new Amazon MP3 store addict.

So besides being sexy, looking great, being sexy, and us fighting over who gets to use it, what’s so great about it? In the end, isn’t it just another computer? Well, kindofbutnotreally – it’s one freaking fast computer that can handle pretty much anything I can throw at it – I always have 5-10 Firefox windows open, am playing music on iTunes, using Skype or AIM to chat or make VOIP phone calls, and always have Word, Excel, and either Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop open all at once. Plus it’s WIFI ready and Bluetooth enabled.

Ginsu Knives

On my old laptop, it can handle all of this with my 2 GHz processor and 2GB RAM – but it slows things down a bit. On the XPS One, with a 2.33 GHz Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q8200 processor and 4 GB RAM, having all these programs open at once is like slicing through butter with a Ginsu. I think I could be doing serious multimedia development and this machine wouldn’t bat an eye.

So, normally in a review I try to find something that the company should improve upon – as far as the machine is concerned, I honestly couldn’t ask for anything else. I probably wouldn’t normally buy something so big, as it seems like more machine than I would need. But now I’m hooked. I guess at a price tag of $1599, if I were actually going out to purchase a desktop computer, I’d probably try talk myself down to a lower priced machine because I’m cheap and it’s the holidays. If you wanted to add a Blue Ray DVD player, tricked out video card and triple the size of your hard drive to 750 GB, it would set you back $1899. But considering this thing is cable-tv ready, it’s like you’re getting a TV, sound system and computer all in “One” (OMG – I didn’t even plan that pun).

If you’re interested in the machine, be sure to check out the 3D view and the photo gallery. It comes in a few colors (wishing they sent me the Product RED version, personally). And I am seriously considering just sending Richard a check and keeping the darn thing…

So this is how they pump up holiday sales – tell us to just “try” it knowing they will never see the thing returned again.

Update :: Since several of you asked, here’s a picture of the Dell in my office:

Dell XPS One

The experience brought more than just learning and increase revenue for this site. It also gave me the chance to meet some really amazing people, including Jeremy Schoemaker, Lee Dodd, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki, Aaron Wall, Kris Jones, & Neil Patel (The 2008 Elite Retreat lineup is slightly different, though equally impressive). I’m still friends with all of them today, and they have helped to open some amazing doors for me since that time.

Many of you also know my policy of not promoting internet marketing programs unless I am willing to stake my name and the eMoms brand on the fact that it is both legitimate and a good investment. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart from first hand experience that Elite Retreat is worth every penny, and I would have paid to go if I hadn’t won that ticket.

I live blogged the entire conference when I was there in March of 2007. Please feel free to read through them to get an idea of what this conference is like, though with new speakers and modified topics, the 2008 Elite Retreat will be a slightly different experience.

The reasons Elite Retreat is so unique is because:

• This is a two-day hands-on conference in an intimate setting that completely allows you to ask questions, get feedback, and interact with the presenters. There are also no sponsors – just pure information, networking, and in-depth advanced-level sessions.
• Jeremy Schoemaker is running the show and he is the most down to earth and great guy around. I really trust him and would do just about anything for him for the help he has given me both during and since Elite Retreat. He also REALLY KNOWS HIS STUFF.
• Jeremy offers a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE of not only the $5000 tuition, but also for your airfare and hotel costs if you don’t believe the program is worth what you spent on it. Try to find that in any other program out there.
• This program isn’t for everyone, in fact, they limit attendance to 35 people and will only choose the most appropriate individuals to be in the room. The reason that they do this is because they teach pretty advanced level stuff, and if they don’t think you have the basics of internet business implemented, they won’t sell you a program that you won’t be able to use.
• Elite Retreat offers one-on-one attention and follow up support, so not only do they teach theory, they help you apply it to your own unique business model.
• There is no upselling or sales pitches while you are there. There’s nothing I hate more than paying for information only to get re-pitched to spend more money! In fact, we got some freebies from them that we would have normally had to pay for!

Elite Retreat only happens once a year, so if you think you need this course, then jump on it now, because 12 months is a really long time to wait for another one!

Don’t expect to hear from me for a few days.

SaleHoo is a product sourcing site that offers a directory of wholesalers, drop shippers, manufacturers and liquidators. They screen their suppliers to ensure they are legitimate, plus there is a community-based rating/reviewing system to help Sellers find the best sources for goods.

I’m quite impressed with their extensive help section, with beginner level eBay tutorials to advanced level eBay Arbitrage. This kind of info is sold in quite a few info products on eBay selling, so I give them kudos for making the info easy to access to really help their customers succeed. Another great perk is that they require that their suppliers cater to home businesses, ensuring that sellers can order in low quantities.

Technically this isn’t just an eBay sourcing site – you can literally sell this stuff anywhere, Amazon, retail, or even on Craigslist (I’m not sure I would go the Craigslist route… but hey, if you can pull it off, more power to ya!).

I have to say they seem to have some really quality products in their marketplace, with an impressively wide range of stuff, from action figures to textbooks, PDAs to plumbing supplies. I swear if I had come across this site 6-9 months ago, I would have been sorely tempted to drop the blogging gig and jump on the eBay wagon train. And I’m not saying that just because this is a paid review – this site is really useful! (Remember I only do paid reviews for products or services that I can honestly say good things about – and I turn down about 75% of advertising and review requests every month).

So, while I am on the subject of eBay – I’m serious about finding an experienced eBay seller to write for eMoms at Home – what do you think? I have had some readers express interest in the subject – what do you want to learn about it?

How can I help you be more successful in your eBay business, or in learning how to start?

Experts Exchange (at www.expertsexchange.com)

Who Represents (at www.whorepresents.com)

Graphic Arts Exchange (at www.graphicartsexchange.com)

Speed of Art (at www.speedofart.com)

IP Anywhere (at www.ipanywhere.com)

Morrison and Foerster (at www.mofo.com)

Apetit (at www.apetit.com – they just messed the whole naming thing up!)

And probably the worst offender of all is Cumming First Methodist Church in Cumming, GA (at www.cummingfirst.com)

Plus two legendary mistakes that are now retired:

Mole Station Native Nursery (at www.molestationnursery.com)

Italian Power Generator (at www.powergenitalia.com)

Well, hopefully you won’t be haunted with a domain name like one of these for the rest of your life. :O

The Method to My Madness

The real reason I wanted to share these with you is that I wanted to give a shout out to David over at PickyDomains.com. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am in the process of starting up a new support forum site for families of alcoholics – and David and his team did an unbelievably creative and GREAT job at picking a domain for the site: SecondHandDrink.com (which is coming soon!).

In fact, they came up with over 70 choices that took me more than an hour to go through and evaluate, because most of their ideas were just phenomenal. I’m after him to raise his prices because I think that $50 for such a great naming service is too cheap for what they offer. But until he listens to me, you might want to hire his team now.

BabyChums is a fairly new social networking site for moms and dads – but the twist on this one is that the babies take center stage. Now, I luuuuuuuuurrrv social networking, and I have to say that I think this site is clever, fun and offers a unique twist on mommy/daddy social networking that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Basically, parents don’t create profiles – it’s all about the babies. So even if you didn’t want to socialize with other people on the site, you could very easily create a mini-website for your baby to share photos and news with distant family and friends. But they also have a live chat feature, forum, groups, event board and classifieds so that there’s plenty of reasons to get social.

There’s even a smackdown section where you can vote for the best photo – and a rating section. (Uh, I must admit that I can’t imagine anyone giving ANY baby less than a 10 out of 10… )

I was wondering why I hadn’t heard about the site earlier, but I see why – they got their start in the UK, and seem to finally breaking out into the states and Canada. The only drawback that the site has thus far is that they seem to need more members. The forum area is kind of sparse, but they certainly seem to have enough momentum to ensure that will kick into gear in the coming months.

BabyChums is all free and started by a dad. He won’t even take donations from users, instead funneling any offers to his favorite charity. Although this was a sponsored review, I’m always happy to spread the word about great people doing great things for parents online.

I know a lot of you have little babies, so if you check it out please let me know what you thought of it, as I always want to hear from you about the stuff you like.

A few weeks ago we actually talked on the phone as I interviewed him for an upcoming project. He’s one of the most genuine, generous, and down to earth guys I’ve met.

In fact, I relied heavily on his expertise as I developed my advertising page and began selling direct to advertisers on my site. And I just landed a really big advertiser yesterday that I’m totally excited about – not just for the revenue, but because it’s a really cool new product put out by one of the biggest brands on the internet.

So it’s with great pleasure that I enthusiastically share the news that Yaro has just launched a Blog Mastermind Group. I’ve considered running one myself in the past, but I have to say that if I were to pay for mentoring for my blog, there are scarce few people on this planet who I would look to for guidance.

Yaro is one of them.

He’s also offering a free report chock full of great blogging wisdom. Go download the bloggy goodness now.

This is a practical web development class for beginners, discussing the basics of html and website design, and then focusing on how to set up a blog, online store, and forum, and customize the look and feel of it.

It’s a great class for bloggers who want to maintain their own site, or for online store owners, or for someone who is interested in web development as a business but just wants to try it out first, without too much of a commitment.

For those of you interested in learning more about this class, check out the course registration page. And keep us posted on what you learn!

Any questions, get in touch with Shaz.

This was over a year ago, and *thank god* it’s easier to start a blog today. I was recently contacted by ILoveBlog.com to paid review their services, and I jumped at the chance knowing full well the information would be valuable for the visitors of this site for a long time to come.

The way they have distinguished themselves is by offering some pretty handy and integrated publishing tools with the blogging software:

• Photo Album AND Editing
• Podcast Music Album with built in RSS feed
• Integration with MySpace, YouTube and Flickr
• Plus there is built-in community/social networking building

Setting up a blog with ILoveBlog certainly is an easy process. You can change fonts, photos, etc with a few clicks, and you can use your own graphics and photos to ensure a customized look.

I threw together this header in Photoshop and uploaded it in just a few minutes. And I uploaded a collection of Elite Retreat photos that I haven’t posted yet.
Since I haven’t taken a look at their competition in this space, it’s hard for me to say how they compare. Since I’m primarily a business blogger, I do see some areas for improvement in regards to adding advertising or more advanced customization, which as far as I can tell is nonexistent. This might not be their goal, but I know a lot of Blogger users used to yell about it before they upgraded their capabilities. So until they add some functionality for adding advertising (even just AdSense would be good), SEO optimization and more template flexibility, this isn’t a good business blogging platform.

But for a personal blogging platform I was impressed, and it was much easier and flexible than many others I tried a year ago. And if you want to be able to have your MySpace friends, YouTube videos or faves and Flickr photos or faves in one place, then ILoveBlog looks solid.

I’d be curious to hear your feedback as well if you decide to give it a try. Since they are having a contest right now, you could win $100 for giving them a test drive!

Then earlier this week I got a ReviewMe request from John to review his blog. Since he has no shortage of people reviewing his blog for free (in a sheerly brilliant linkbait strategy, I might add), I totally wondered why the heck this guy would this want me to review his blog. Was he just looking for more backlinks and to spend his huge ReviewMe paycheck?

Digging deeper to write this post, I had to take a hard look at John’s really questionable “evil” tactics for growing his blog and readership. Just the other day he put up a post filled with total hacks to game companies into giving you free traffic and links. And in the past he’s been banned from Technorati and Digg. In the last few weeks alone, John suggests:

• Seeding comments to kickstart blog conversations
• Manually uploading all backlinks to your blog to Technorati’s pinging service to increase your rank
• Opening multiple accounts to use PPC ‘coupons’ for up to $1000 in free PPC traffic to your blog

OK, enough of the drama.

I have to admit, though I’m not sure that I would employ all of John’s promotional tactics, John has been both shrewd and sheerly brilliant with his innovative marketing. He has totally pushed the envelope and with nearly $8K in earnings in February alone from his blog, he’s doing something right.

And I’m totally guilty of being ‘evil’ myself in this post, because I’ve taken his tactics way out of context to get you to go read for yourself why and how he is so annoyingly inspirationally successful with JohnChow.com.

Being the kind of person that loves a good mentor, I don’t just read John’s blog for the tips and ideas – ones I quite literally have not found anywhere else. I read his blog to understand how he thinks, how he runs his businesses, and the beliefs he holds about family, wealth, community, and balance.

Here’s some insights into the real man behind the “evil” grin:

• His daughters Sally and Ashley have their own blogs
• In between John’s posts on fine dining and fast cars, he actually slipped in a post about work – life balance (to his mostly young, male audience that probably doesn’t read a lot about balance in the first place!)
• He has asked his readers to help feed the hungry this Easter
• He openly states that in order to be a true “Dot Com Mogul”, you must help other Dot Com Mogul Wannabes

Sorry to start out my post in such an “evil” fashion, John. But I wouldn’t be a very good student if I didn’t put into practice what you’ve taught me.

PS – Thanks for the ReviewMe opportunity!

This dang MyBlogLog widget has stolen my weekend away from me!!!

I can now see those of you who lurk.
I can see what other blogs you like.
I am shocked at how many of you are eDads – not eMoms.

I’m already making new contacts.
I’ve already increased traffic and links.

It’s been less than 48 hours!

Cant. Stop.

Must. Meet. More. Of. You……

I’m not complaining, per se – just acknowledging the fact that Diggers aren’t really my target market – which is unfortunate, because some of my best friends, and coaching clients for that matter, are guys in their late 20’s and early 30’s.

Well, I am h*a*p*p*y to let you know that I have found an alternative to Digg – one that I know you will be interested in – it’s called Bringr.
According to the site, “Bringr is a website for women to bring stories that interest them in order to share them with other women. Our front page is made up of the most popular brings. What our users like and bring will decide what Bringr’s content is.” Now, I don’t think that it will bring traffic in “Bringr-lanche” style – yet, that is!

Take a look. It’s a pink Digg.

Love it! Use it!! Spread the word about it!!!

But there are people out there who certainly want to know, because last week, my search engine keyword referrer report tells me that at least one person in this country was searching Google with those exact keywords. (Really. I’m serious.)
I have another confession – I absolutely HATE accounting and doing taxes. I hate the record keeping, I hate keeping the little paper receipts, I really hate it all.

But unfortunately, it’s the ‘dark side’ of running a business – the inevitable responsibilities that come with the perks of a flexible schedule and following your dream.

So what’s a poor number-challenged work at home parent to do?

Hire help.

But that’s not all – in fact, I got an email from H&R Block’s PR agency letting me know about National Tax Advice Day (which happened last week – I didn’t get a lot of advanced notice on that one!). Even though the day is over, I have to give them kudos for starting a tax blog that’s actually well written and dare I say it, interesting. *gasp*

• Did you know you can write off what you spend for Weight Loss (with caveats, of course!)
• You can save a little time with your expensive accountant by having all of the right documents ready when you have your meeting. They have a nifty little ‘checklist generator’ that will help you identify all of the records and writeoffs you will need for 2006 here.
• They also have a Deduction Finder categorized by (limited) industries, which will help you identify specific deductions you can take if your business is in Real Estate, Home Day Care, or other trades. They even have tax tips for “Homemakers”. Who would have thought?!

Sadly, I am not, nor ever will be, your go-to person for Home Business Tax advice. But you can count on me to pass along whatever I find that helps along the way – and if you have your own tips, recommendations, or links, PLEASE send them to me so that I can share them with everyone!

Happy Taxing! :/

PS: Just to be clear, I mentioned that I was emailed by H&R Block’s agency – but they neither requested this post, nor did they offer any compensation for this post. I thought their resources were valuable and wrote this post just because I wanted to.

But last week I was contacted by Sears, asking me to review their ReadySetHoliday.com site. I liked what I saw at first, the site is relevant to us busy moms, and they offered me a $30 gift card to review the shopping experience from product search to order completion, so I agreed to the task.

I surfed over and found that Sears is giving Web 2.0 a shot, with a holiday-shopping forum targeted at moms. I was surprised at the amount of posts and interaction here – personally, I don’t know how busy moms have time to hang out in an online forum during the holidays. But the popular topics revolved around gift giving for hard-to-shop-for people, which I am finding this year to be a bigger pain in the rear than ever before. So I guess they are onto something… I would be curious if any of you would find this useful for your holiday shopping?

My favorite part of the site is their “Get Prepared” section that has everything from recipes and decorations to tips for just about any holiday situation you could find yourself in (travel, party hostess, family photos, crafts, etc.). The thing I most wish I had found at the beginning of the season is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet holiday planner – I had already created my own by the time they found me.

Ironically, though, the shopping experience left me wanting more. I had already done a lot of my online shopping at Amazon and Toys R Us, and I really missed the sophisticated navigation of a major eCommerce site. And they had quite a few things that were out of stock, which seemed odd for a big retailer like Sears. I finally found two kid gifts and went to check out and they shot me over to the main Sears site. But lo and behold, the main site had everything that their ReadySetHoliday site was lacking – I quickly found a better and more appropriate gift, and then the checkout was a breeze (which I can’t say for Toys R Us earlier today BTW, as Google Checkout nearly crashed my machine).

So in the end, I took on the review because I knew many of you would be interested in the new twist to online shopping that Sears is putting together. But in their attempt to be Web 2.0, they seemed to have forgotten some basics from Web 1.0 – navigation and selection being the most important things of all.

What I liked most of all, though, was that they were fine with me giving a completely honest review. They may have some evolving to do to become a truly social-shopping destination, but at least they ‘get it’ that in order to ask for a review of the consumer experience, they must be willing to hear the answer.

What a great idea – let’s celebrate the most important aspect of blogging by participating in Blog Day 2006!

The Scoop – straight from BlogDay.org:

BlogDay was initiated with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to know other bloggers, from other countries or areas of interests. In that day Bloggers will recommend about them to their Blog visitors.What will happen on Blog Day?
In one long moment In August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, Preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

Since it will probably take me until August to find the time to seek out 5 great blogs, please feel free to help me out by recommending your own blog to me for mentioning!

Happy blogging and spread the word!

Tags: BlogDay2006

I’m back online after an 8-day internet outage courtesy of Comcast. I’m just grateful to be back! 

I have taken a bit of a hiatus from doing my affiliate marketing research in order to get eSelfHelp up and running. I have found some great content resources that are helping tremendously to add valuable articles to the site:

ArticleCity.com
ArticleAlley.com
Article-Host.com

Although I tend to hate spyware, I have to say that my Alexa Toolbar has been an invaluable research assistant when it comes to finding related sites. I visit a site, and immediately there are 3-4 similar sites to visit right there in my toolbar. Now that’s handy!(And I don’t know that I would put Alexa totally into the spyware category anyway. They certainly don’t go serving up ads or anything like that…)

Also, the most valuable site of the week goes to AnchorFree.com – a directory of free WIFI sites all over the world. When I had a deadline and Comcast let me down, AnchorFree SAVED my behind!

Tags: Website Content, Alexa, AnchorFree, Web Content, Content, Web Research

As I hone in on getting these sites up and running, I am going to ensure that I stay focused on two things – internet marketing and working at home. I have been working non-stop on developing the content and pages for eSelfHelp – and for now it’s just pulling together advertising, great products, and finding articles as I just don’t have the bandwidth to write much content as of yet.

Getting these blogs going has been a huge boon to the site traffic so far. Even though I am getting only about 20 visitors a day, the blogs are fed out via RSS readers to a much wider audience, and the other day, my Affiliate Marketing 101 post got over 2000 views (still trying to figure that one out…). But THAT rocks.

I added a better RSS feed to the eSelfHelp site via FeedBurner. God, do I love what they are doing! They can’t help get the blog set up, but once you are up and running, they have the easiest darn tools to “Optimize, Publicize, Monetize, Analyze” and even “Troubleshootize” (honest – check out the screenshot!) your blog. Plus they have a damn good and entertaining copywriter who writes the content for their site – and he/she makes you feel so darn comfortable knowing nothing about this stuff!!

Tags: FeedBurner, RSS, Blog, Blog Traffic, Weblog