Getting Back on Track

Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and Eid Mubrak. The festive season is upon us and as a result, there has been a drop in traffic. You might've noticed it. It's cutting across sites - both huge as well as small. The reason? People who ought to be surfing away to glory have stopped doing so and are now shopping and enjoying the celebrations with their families. That little fact begs the question: what am i still doing here?!

That wasn't the reason for this post. The real reason behind this post is that I have a confession. I haven't been giving my 110% to this blog lately. I got caught up in figures and numbers and facts and all but forgot to deliver content to this blog. I know that what makes a successful blog isn't its design or layout or font or advertising or widgets or toys. Its the content. Yet, here I am ignoring the visitors.

While I ran behind materialistic liberties, I turned my back on spiritual gain! But not any more. A wise man (dunno who) once said, "Do what you do best and the money will follow!" I guess the wise guy was me, but anyway I'm going to follow the said advice and forget about all the numbers, stats, facts, figures, etc. and concentrate on the most important figure (as in body!), my blog.

Anyway, once again wishing all a happy holiday. Until next time....

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AGLOCO - Worth it?

You might have seen all the hype surrounding the new so-called FREE money site, AGLOCO. It is only fair that initially people reject such sites thinking that it is just another dud. But is there something more to AGLOCO than meets the eye? Before I go any further, I would like you to take a look at the following site:
VentrueBeat's AGLOCO Review

If you've already read that, I am sure that your interest has been aroused. Agloco makes money a lot of different ways. Among these the viewbar - the most integral part - is yet to be launched. It is still in beta. They have announced tentative launch dates 7 - 8 weeks ahead. So, AGLOCO is still in its infant stages. This means getting in now will provide more lucrative returns.


All they ask us to do now, is build up our network. That is, get as many referrals as you can. As it has just started, I'm finding it extremely easy to get referrals. And no doubt you can too. They're goal is to get 10,000,000 members by July '07 and at the rate it is expanding, they are all set to achieve the target a month ahead of schedule.

The time is ripe to get in and I would recommend that you do. All you have to do now is get some referrals and wait. Once it launches all the accumulated referrals will pay-back rich dividends. This is a program in which the early-bird is always a winner.

VERDICT : Get in now, after all, what do you have to lose - it's free!

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War of the Traffic Exchanges

Well, well, it seems like BlogMad has hit a sweet spot with bloggers. The poll you see on the left has been going on for a few days now. And it seems that BlogMad is the current hot favourite with bloggers when it comes to traffic exchange sites. The 1 : 1 credit ratio must be working wonders for BlogMad. BlogMad is top on the minds of 68% of the visitors to this site.

BlogExplosion follows BlogMad from a distance with 26% votes in favour. BlogSoldiers comes in at an even more distant third having gained 6% of the votes.

Besides the obvious conclusions, it also suggests that eXlinks could turn out to be a major hit in the blogosphere once it rolls out. All eXlinks has to do is provide a reasonably impressive service and they are on their way to nirvana! If you haven't already joined the bandwagon you can simple go here and register at the eXlinks prelaunch site.

See all these and more at the Blog Resources Directory. Until next time, happy blogging...

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Link To Blog Resources

I know you wouldn't want to right now, but if ever (like when the directory becomes large and contains many useful links) any of you feel like linking to the blog resources directory directly, you can use the following links:

Button:

<a href= "http://dasimpleblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-resources-directory.html"> <img src= "http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/5320/1291/1600/955220/blog-resource.png" alt= "The Blog Resources Directory" /> </a>

Text Link:

The Blog Resources Directory

<a href= "http://dasimpleblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-resources-directory.html"> <b><i>The Blog Resources Directory</b> </i> </a>

Feel free to use any of the above links to link to the directory. Until next time, happy blogging...

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Its out...

Finally rolled out the blog resources directory. It is still in its alpha (well, I like technical terms!) stage. You can find it two posts behind this post. It is not complete. In fact far from complete. I have yet to add (what I imagined would be one-line) reviews of each site. Moreover, there are a few more sites I wish to add. More over I will be using its permalink to market it.

If any of you feel any site has been left out, please feel free to comment me. Thanks.

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Busy busy busy....

I'm a little busy now as I have started work on the proposed directory of blog resources [see previous post]. A little encouragement (well, 1 actually) helped a lot. Now I have before me the unenviable arduous task of reviewing each site as I add it to the directory.

I will be posting the directory soon. From there I hope it will evolve and change with the times and be a good starting point for any novice blogger.

I've just thought of adding a little section for SEO/Blog Development tools alone. After all, have to keep with the theme of the blog... ;-)

Until next time...

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The Blog Resources Directory

Link and Traffic Exchange Resources

• Blogmad - Fast Growing, stylish traffic exchange site with an incredible credit pay-off ratio of 1 : 1
  
• BlogExplosion - Veteran traffic exchange site with a 1 : 2 ratio. Plus large number of members
  
• BlogSoldiers - 1 : 2 ratio traffic exchange with huge credit giveaways
  

The Blog Community

• Technorati - The must-be-in blog community. Go and get registered now.
• TTLB - Widely regarded as a definitive blog ranking system. Fun and appealingly fresh. Get in now!
  

Pinging Tools

• Ping-O-Matic - Ping upto 20 services with the click of a button
  
• Pingoat - Ping upto 40 services from one site
  

Feed Tools

• FeedBurner - Provides high-quality feed services
• Bloglines - Free web-based feed reader
• NewsGator - RSS Aggregator
  

Future Watches

• Exlinks - Self proclaimed ultimate exponential site exploding system. Yet to be launched
  
• Agloco - A Global Community. Yet to be launched. Promises high pay-backs
  

Blog Directories

• Directory 2.0 - A must-be-seen-at blog directory. Register now
• Today - A well-sorted directory
• DMOZ - The ultimate directory to get listed on. VERY tough to get into. Good luck
  

Blog Tracking and Statistics

• CrazyEgg - Find out what visitors are doing on your site. Must see
  
• SiteMeter - Track the unique visitors coming to your site. Plus their location, referrer, etc.
  
• Statcounter - Track the number of pageloads in your site. Plus a host of other info
  

Blog Search Engines

• IceRocket - Comprehensive blog search
  

Miscellaneous

• Gravatar - Globally Recognized Avatars
  
• Brilliant Button Maker - Make buttons like this one ->
  
• Take The Internet Back - Own a piece of the Internet and make money(Thanks Jane)
• Google Gadgets - Get high quality gadgets/widgets to add in your blog
  

Monetizing

• ClickBooth - High pay-out ads. Tough to figure it out though
  
• Adsense - Easy to install and one of the most popular advertising agents
  
• Text Link Ads - Place text links and earn money. Tough to get into though

SEO/Blog Development

• Link Popularity Check - Check the number of inbound links you have. Invaluable tool
• Site Score - Evaluate your site and check for problems. Amazing reports section
• Google Analytics - Learn how visitors find you and how they interact with your site. Detailed Analysis
• Webmasters Central - "One-stop shop for comprehensive info about how Google crawls and indexes your website"
• Paypal - Invaluable tool for bloggers. Lets you transfer money within the internet and you can request a payout when needed. A sort of online bank!
  

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This Directory and work on this directory isn't complete. Not by a long shot. I have just thrown together a few sites that I personally know of. When more and more people view this page and think that some site is missing, all they have to do is add a comment showing the URL of that site and I'll get into it immediately. Thanks and happy blogging....

WORK IN PROGRESS - GO SLOW

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Blog Resources Directory - A Proposal

I have had quite a few mails from people asking me for a good blog resources directory. Well, I have scoured the net high and wide and wasn't able to come up with a good resources directory. So here is my proposal...

I will create a post that will contain information on most of the blog-related resources that I come across on the net. There will be a review of each resource/resource-site (although that will take a little extra time). I will be displaying only the top few sites under each category except directories which will contain almost all the directories that I have submitted to.

Blog Resources generally constitute sites that help a blogger in any way. Any way at all. Be it providing widgets, link-backs, blogging-services, advertising services, etc.

Now, here is how you can help build this directory(or should I say this post-based directory :->). If any of you think that a certain site provides an invaluable resource(s) then just add a comment listing the site's url and I will review the suggestion and you can be sure that I'll add it to the directory along with a link to your site. You can also review the site/resource yourself and mail it to me. I will add that review.

Help make the blogosphere a better, easier place to blog in. Add a comment now.

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ClickBooth For The Rest Of Us

For the newbie, ClickBooth can be a tough beast to tame. So here, I take a little time-out to explain some of the nuances of setting up ClickBooth ads on your blog. Yup, the little colorful ad bar on the top of this site is a ClickBooth ad. They are the best paying ad-providers in the industry with payouts ranging from about $0.10 to more than $50 per ad depending on the type of ad selected.

First, a little about ClickBooth. ClickBooth is an advertising solutions provider. It works both ways. It caters to both publishers as well as advertisers. I am not an advertiser, so I will be covering only the publishing aspects. Any advertisers can go to the ClickBooth site and there are enough resources there to help you out.

First of all, you need to create an account and get your site registered. If you are a blogger - starting-up or otherwise, you would already know the details of how to go about registering your blog at a site. If not, here goes... You create an account and you activate it via your e-mail account. After that, you have to wait for the site administrator to review your submission and then, once approved, you can start publishing ads on your blog.

For publishing ads on your blog, you have to start a campaign. The one I am using above is an optimized rotator. This displays a random ad each time the page is loaded. And then the performances are tracked. Slowly, the number of times low-performance ads are shown is reduced. Thus, you get an ad-space that is filled using ads that are specific to the kind of traffic that you receive on your blog. ClickBooth uses the term creative instead of both text and image ads.

Moreover, there are three types of ad campaigns that are provided. These are Cost-per-click, Cost-per-Lead and Cost-per-Sale. These names are sort of self-explanatory. The first one pays you when the ad is clicked, the second one when a person signs-up at the advertiser's site and the third when a person purchases something (when a sale is completed) from the advertiser's site.

Another way to add an ad is to sift through the hundreds of ad campaigns and select the ad you think fits your site the best. They will provide you with the code for that specific ad (creative) and all you have to do is embed this code on your site.

After this is done, you can track the performances of the campaigns you have added by clicking the run reports link. Then bask in the glory of all the money you have made! Enjoy!

Any questions, experiences or feedback are welcome...

Until next time, happy blogging...

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AGLOCO - The Economic Network

AGLOCO is a spanking new site that looks promising enough. It is a radical new idea. Hope it works out. I got referred to it by a friend.

The idea behind AGLOCO is simple. Millions of companies out there are willing to pay billions of dollars for advertising. Their target? Us! And what do we get? Nothing (Almost :->). What AGLOCO does is give some of the cash to the consumers. According to them...

AGLOCO is the only community where Members are first in every aspect. We hope to create a vibrant, trustworthy, and creative community.

The basic idea is based on the share market. You get shares on the site. The more revenue it generates, the more money its shareholders get. From what I understand, this site is just starting up. If it strikes gold, so will its account holders! A risk worth taking!. Go here to sign-up now.

AGLOCO means A GLObal COmmunity.

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I'm Back

Whew! Exams are finally over. I must say, it wasn't half bad. Couldn't get my posts in on time. By the way, watched the movie Babel recently. One word: Amazing. On tv, been watching Prison Break and Heroes too. Both cool serials. Prison Break is turning out exceptionally well. Waiting for Scrubs' next (6th) season (starting in January I think).

When I returned, I found 4 people agreeing to exchange links with me. A huge thanks to MyBlogCanBeatUpYourBlog, BlackWyrm, Dave Dragon and Mr. Disgruntled. Guys, I've already added links to your site on this blog.

When I returned, my Technorati ranking had more than halved due to this link exchanging. ClickBooth showed a $ 0.12 increase in my account. Got a few referrals.

My total incoming link count more than doubled on Altavista and Yahoo! Still no incoming links according to Google though. Wonder why. Moreover, no change in TTLB. They haven't even been able to read my traffic despite having a SiteMeter account. Any thoughts?

Until next time, happy blogging.

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