What does blogging success look like to you? Is it the number of visitors, subscribers, or followers you have? The amount of money you make? Being able to quit your job and earn a full-time income from your blog(s)? No matter how you define it, I think most bloggers do what we do - at least in part - because we want to achieve particular goals or milestones along the way. My sister, Jocelyn, is someone who I truly believe will make it big very soon. Not necessarily because of her writing skills or compelling posts (though she's skilled in both of those areas, too!), but because of her background in marketing and her luck in choosing a niche. Before I tell you her story, I'd like to share a few of her stats: Average of 1500 pageviews ... Continue Reading
The Ten Commandments of Blogging Etiquette
Whether you've been blogging for five years or five minutes, you've probably come across at least a few examples of poor etiquette from other bloggers. From the mildly annoying faux pas to the "Oh no s/he didn't!" shockers, there are plenty of ways to damage your online reputation, sometimes without even realizing it. I've definitely committed my share of stupid mistakes, especially when I started my very first website. I didn't set out to be rude; I just didn't know how things worked. I remember thinking, Why didn't anyone TELL me I was doing something wrong? And I've learned that it's usually because old timers assume that certain things are common knowledge - it's amazing how quickly you learn once you've been around for awhile. In ... Continue Reading
Review: iThemes Builder
Let me preface this post by saying that I am a huge fan of iThemes. Some of their plugins are the best I've ever used, and they have top notch support. That said, I'm not thrilled after my experience with Builder, for reasons I'll outline below. What is iThemes Builder? Builder is a WordPress platform that allows you to "build WordPress sites quickly and easily by creating your own layouts." Basically, instead of installing a prebuilt theme, you can drag and drop modules to make the layouts you want, and you can even use different layouts on different pages of your website. Each installation of Builder allows you to create a completely custom look, meaning you can use it on multiple websites without making them look identical. One of ... Continue Reading
How to Update the Weaver II Theme
Awhile back I wrote about the greatness of the Weaver II Pro theme (or Weaver II, its free counterpart). To summarize, I think it is the only WordPress theme for people who don't want to deal with any coding. Changing the look of Weaver II is just a matter of checking boxes or entering hex codes for the colors you want. It doesn't get any easier than that! Anyway, I also wrote about updating your theme safely, including the use of child themes. For those of you who might be considering Weaver II or Weaver II Pro, here's a bonus for you - No child theme is required! You can make all the changes you want right in the Weaver Admin panel, then update to the latest version of the theme in just a few steps. Here's how to do it. Updating ... Continue Reading
Things to Consider Before Rebranding Your Blog
I've had a lot of questions from other bloggers regarding the recent rebrand of my personal blog. Basically, I was feeling burned out and wanted to change the focus to something more general. However, since I've been blogging there for about a year and a half, it wasn't as easy as just starting a new blog and abandoning the old one. Once you've established your brand and people recognize it, changing that brand can be a difficult task! While many of my readers have been supportive of the change, just as many were confused and even a little upset. I had to balance the risk of alienating the personal finance community with my need to expand my repertoire, and I fully expect to lose some followers and subscribers as a result. I only made my ... Continue Reading
JAVOedge Gadget Case Giveaway {CLOSED}
Hi guys! Want to win an item of your choice from JAVOedge? Here's your chance! The folks at JAVOedge were kind enough to send me their new Bold Folio case for iPad. I already owned a different JAVOedge case (the Axis) but I was thrilled for the opportunity to try another one! And, as I expected, it's completely awesome! JAVOedge sells more than just iPad cases, though. They have cases for e-readers, iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones/tablets, and other devices, as well as a ton of cute accessories for all your electronic gadgets. All CKTB readers can get a 15% discount on any JAVOedge product - even sale items - until Thursday, August 9, 2012. Just enter discount code SOJAVO at checkout! But if you'd rather try your luck at winning ... Continue Reading
Promote Your Blog Posts on Social Media Automatically
I blogged for almost a year before I realized that I didn't have to get up early every morning to tweet my blog posts and add them to my Facebook fan page manually. Well, that might be inaccurate - I knew that some people used a service to do it automatically, but I figured it would be complicated to set up and I never took the time to figure it out. When I finally got tired of posting links to Twitter and Facebook myself (especially once I had multiple blogs to deal with), I did some research on the various online services that will distribute blog posts to social media sites without any action on my part. I looked at several different services, some of which I tried and hated, before I settled on Dlvr.it. I now use it for all my sites ... Continue Reading
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