The Write Spot, LLC

Moms Cliq magazine launches

MOMS CLIQ, the official magazine of the Mom Bloggers has just released its first issue.

Yours truly has an article in it – How to Squeeze Blogging into a Very Hectic Schedule.

The rest of the FREE online magazine features everything from the big news happening in the mom blogosphere to mom essays about blogging and ways to attract more blogging success.

Good stuff, check it out!

What ad network should I use to monetize my blog?

You’re interested in monetizing your blog with an blogger ad network. What kind of things should you consider when reading over their contract?

Payout: What do they pay out per thousand page views (CPM)? Is there an ad revenue share? Do they pay CPM only or CPC (cost per click) or CPA (cost per action), too?

(CPM counts the number of times the ad was viewed. CPC measures ad clicks. CPA measures activity, like signing up to purchase a product or membership.)

Remember, some networks don’t tell you what they pay initially, so you’ll have to give them a trial run to see if their numbers work for you. If that’s the case, make sure you can get out of your contract and stop using them at any time.

Ad Placement: Does their ad have to be at the top portion (“above the fold”) of your blog? Do their ad sizes fit on your blog? If not, will they create one for you? How many of their ads will you have to run – just one or two or more?

Tech for Obama

I saw this video on Tech for Obama (not affiliated with the Obama campaign). This is the first time I’ve seen any information on what either candidates thinks about when it comes to technology, broad band access, the democratization of technology, and net neutrality.

With the price of gas going up and the economy in the toilet, I can see a lot more people working for home – either for themselves after getting laid off or for their employers to save on energy and office costs. Having affordable, broad band access makes this possible. It’s important that all Americans have it.

See Tech for Obama for more information.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Using Guest Blogging to Increase Blog Traffic

In last month’s Northern Colorado Writers newsletter column, I wrote about the pros and cons of joining a blog network. I concluded that unless you were hired by a quality network and were receiving a healthy monthly stipend along with the ad revenue share, you were giving away your writing for free.

However there are times when giving away your content is a good thing. One example is guest blogging.

Why should you guest blog?

Guest blogging is when you write a post to be published on someone else’s. When you guest post, your host’s readers will be exposed to your work, maybe for the first time. If they like what you wrote, they will follow the link back to your blog, like what they see, and become regular readers. This way you increase your traffic and recruit new readers.

How to get the gig

You want to get the most out of your guest blogging efforts by posting at blogs that get better traffic and have a higher Google page ranking than your blog. But if you’re a beginner – basically a nobody – how do you get asked to guest post on a popular blog? It’s all about getting their attention.

Let’s say you want to do a guest post on “Joe Cool’s” blog? (Let’s call him Joe for short.) You could contact him, of course, and beg. But he probably gets thousands of emails a day, and many guest posting requests. Instead, you need to find a way to get on Joe’s radar. Well, one way is to send him a big check. All kidding aside, you need to read Joe’s work, comment regularly on his blog, and participate in all the things he offers from free e-book downloads to signing up for his enewsletter.