Mona's Blog

Social Networking and Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:11:00 +0000

Over the last 6 months or so I have been using social networking as a marketing tool for my blogs and sites. Actually just recently I decided to try and earn the title of Queen of Social Networking. It's a internet branding project that I hope will be successful.

Social networks can be very helpful in bringing traffic to your site. Though I do think there are some definite right an wrong ways to do it. The key I believe to using social networks to advertise is to always contribute valuable content whenever possible. People are drawn to people with good ideas and valuable input.

Saying Hello Again to a Good Friend - Mona's Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:44:00 +0000

So I have been a blogger for over a year now and find myself at a turning point. I am now getting a lot more advertising requests on iwebis and Time To Budget. I am also just about to launch a community site for my other blog Horse Approved. So I am feeling really good about things right now.

I haven't been blogging on this blog in a while but I haven't completely forgotten about it either. I have to tell you that this blog is not my proudest but I keep it barely alive for money making purposes. That may sound awful but it is the truth. I have to invest most of my time into the blogs that I feel will take me to higher places.

I love blogging and will always try and offer you useful information ;).

My Blogging Addiction

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 05:39:00 +0000

This blog is where my addiction got started. I am now up to 4 blogs and have plans to create at least 2 more. Do I need help? Maybe I do ;). I am most proud of how iwebis is doing. I have posted on that blog almost everyday for 3 months now. I have made a few affiliate sales so it is generating income.
I don't know if I will be back to post on this blog much. I am attached to it because it is my first blog but SuperMom Life is now my personal blog and I don't think I need two. I don't have any plans to get ride of this blog though. I think I will just post on it from time to time like I am now ;)

My New Blog - iwebis.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:13:00 +0000

I know I have mentioned my new blog here before but I just wanted to say how happy I am with it. iwebis is only 2 months old and I have gotten really good response from it. I am hoping it will continue to gain popularity.
As you may know I have many blogs. I have created blogs to fit certain outlet needs in my life. I have a horse blog as an outlet for my passion for horses, I have mom blog for all my mommy joys and struggles, I created iwebis to let the geek out, and I have a personal finance blog where I talk about my debt freedom journey.
I like blogging my interests. I makes it much easier to do and more enjoyable.

PayPerPost Has Launched it's PPP Direct

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:42:00 +0000

PayPerPost now offers bloggers the option of including a direct pay button on their blog where advertisers and request sponsored posts directly. ReviewMe offers a similar button but they charge charge 50-100% markup and keep up to half your money. So how is PayPerPost's Direct different? PayPerPost only charges a 10% fee.
PayPerPost Direct offers advertiser and bloggers a escrow-like service that can be much safer and securer then dealing directly. I don't know what PPP's normal transaction fee is but SponsoredReviews, similar to PPP and ReviewMe and only takes 35%.
I have had mixed feeling about services such as PPP Direct and ReviewMe. Though I am pleased with PPP offering to take a much smaller fee then ReviewMe, I am still wondering if the need for a middleman is necessary.
I read one of John Chows articles a while back that said that he was happy with ReviewMe even though they take such a huge cut. He said that ReviewMe offered a marketplace for advertisers to find blogger and that he was willing to give ReviewMe their cut. Now I don't know if John Chow gets a better deal then everyone else but I would imagine he has worked a deal out with them since he is practically their poster child.
As I have said before, I think paid posting/sponsored reviews is an excellent way to make money online. I believe there are good and bad ways to go about it. I also believe that the bloggers should be getting paid more than the middleman.

So I am back!

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:19:00 +0000

I decided to start posting on this blog again. The main reason is because this blog makes a good paid blogging blog. What I have found is that many advertisers don't really care about the blog itself as long as they are getting their links.
My other blogs are doing very well but I don't take that many paid blogging/sponsored reviews. So as much as I don't particularly like "paid posting focussed" blogging, I still need the money.
Right now I am trying to save up for some vacation money so I really need to take offers again. I will of course alway try to make my in between posts interesting for those readers I may get from time to time. Actually I plan to make all my posts interesting if I can.
Check out my other blogs if you want > Horse Approved, SuperMom Life, iwebis and Time To Budget.

Mommy Life

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:37:00 +0000

Now that I have been devoting most of my "work time" to blogging I have found I really don't have that much time in a day to blog. I mentioned in my SuperMom Life blog that I now consider 9-5 my "day job". I had to do this because my life was become consumed by the Internet. I was trying so hard to work as much as I could but my family was suffering for it.
So even though I know my mommy life ob doesn't really end at 5pm, it has helped me to stay focused.

Time To Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:27:00 +0000

I am really excited about my Time To Budget blog. Right now I have a PR4 and my Alexa rank is improving. I am hoping that this blog will keep improving in popularity. I have been recieving a lot of encouraging words from other bloggers. My other blogs are doing good too. I think I have narrowed it down to three blogs that I will be devoting most of my energy toward.

Moms Opportunity Network Forum Temperarily Disabled

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:20:00 +0000

I am very sorry to say that I couldn't figure out how to upgrade the forum software for the Moms Opportunity Network forum and I had to disable it because of all the spam we have been getting. I didn't want to have to do it but I think for right now it's the best thing. I am hoping that I will be able to figure out the upgrading process but to be honest I wasn't really a very good admin. I have only a limited amount of time and most of my online work is now spent on blogging. I really enjoyed chatting with all the regulars to the boards and will miss that.
I hope you all understand the decision I had to make.

Car Repairs

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:32:00 +0000

It was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time that our commuter car would need repair. Just the other day it finally died on my husband as he was driving to work. So after $700 we will be getting our car back.
Since we are trying to stick to our no borrowing money convictions we have to pay with cash. This means that we may not have money to pay for our mortgage. I believe God will provide for us so I am trying not to worry about it. Maybe I should be fully trusting Him instead of saying "trying not to worry about it" but I am human and I worry sometimes.
Maybe if I practice saying it I will actually believe it :). I trust that God will provide for our needs :)

My Vacationing Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:21:00 +0000

My hope this summer is to visit my sister in Georgia. Not sure it's going to happen because we don't exactly have the money to do it. But my dream is still there. I haven't seen my sister in years and she has never seen my youngest daughter which was named after her.
I don't know how things will be this summer but I am hoping. Our family doesn't vacation very often. It's usually the same old story of not enough money. Not sure that story will change any time soon. I am trying very hard to be patient and not get all stress about it. I think this post may sound a little stressed :).
There are so many places I would like to visit. I would love to be able to take my kids to places other than the few states we have traveled around us.
There are many beautiful resorts that would just be a blast to visit.

This post was sponsored review of Vacations.net. If you are looking to find a great Family Vacation Resort, then visit Vacations.net.

My Time To Budget Blog has a PR4!

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 01:07:00 +0000

I just discovered that I was checking my page rank all wrong on my Time To Budget blog. I thought I had a PR of 0 but turns out it is a 4. I am so excited. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. My mistake was checking the PR like this > http://www.timetobudget.com when I was supposed to be checking it like this > http://timetobudget.com. Not sure why but I am just trilled with the news.
I do feel kind of silly though. I have been complaining to everyone who would listen that I was sick of having a PR 0. So all is good now. I also found out that may Horse Approved blog has a PR3. Yippy!!!!

Working At Home Has Been Nearly Impossible

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:56:00 +0000

About a month ago I decided I was going to set hours for myself. I decided that the things I do in the day with my kids and house chores would be my "day job". I scheduled my day job hours to end at 5:00pm.
Ok I realize this may sound crazy because every mom knows their responsibilities don't end at 5:00pm. What this really did for me was to keep me from getting online and doing work until after 5:00 pm. I wrote about this more on my SuperMom Life blog.
My family life has been much better now that I don't get on the computer until evening but the problem is that I don't really have much time to work. Some days I have to skip it completely. Since the type of work I do is very flexible I don't have pressures except for the ones I place upon myself.
This has reflected on how much money I have been making though. Before I started this schedule I was making from $400 - $600 a month. Now I am not making nearly that much. But money isn't everything. I had to think about my family and how all the time on the computer was affecting them.
I am now trying to get back into the swing of things and balance work and home life. We will see how I manage.

I'm Back

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:32:00 +0000

I have been working a lot on my other blogs so I have sadly been neglecting this one. I still want to keep this blog up but I am finding that I am very busy with the others. I am really excited about my Horse Approved blog/site. Last month I started a Horse Lover's Blog Carnival and it has taken off nicely. I have found a lot of really good blogs through this carnival.

I have also been involved in a couple of other carnivals with my Time To Budget blog. I will have to do that again. I submitted to a PayPerPost Postie carnival and a Debt Free carnival.
Anyway, I will try and be more active on this blog.

Insurance Rates

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 21:42:00 +0000

Insurance has been on my mind lately. Mainly health insurance but also car insurance and home insurance. Just insurance in general. My husbands work is changing and they are offering us health insurance and I am not sure I should take the plan they are offering. We had a meeting with the insurance agent and it was a bit confusing. Our home and car insurance are with State Farm. We have been with them for about 20 years and are please with the service. I am not sure we will ever change but I suppose we should at least compare car insurance to find out if we are getting a good rate. We have been trying to save money any way we can.

PayPerPost is making me sad :(

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 20:19:00 +0000

I will now have less offers than before because they have implimented segmentation. I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't put so much weight on the PR. From what I understand and experienced myself the Page Rank score varies and can change from quickly and without warning.
I get it that the advertisers want people to actually see their ads but I wish they could determine this by averaging unique visitor stats instead. At least that was we could know how many people actually visit the site instead of PR. I mean I have a domain that had a PR of 3 and had no visitors and only about 50 links to it. How does that make any sense at all? It doesn't.
Anyway, I guess I will have to live with it. So now I am going to try and build my other blog's PR by linking to in now. Check out my Time To Budget blog for budgeting and making money online.

I guess I will have to be sure to link all my non-paid posts to my own blogs :(. I know there are other ways to increase PR but this just seems the easiest option right now.

Valentines Day - Buy your sweetheart something nice

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:59:00 +0000

Only a week away is Valentines Day and I hope you are thinking about buying something nice for your sweetheart (hint,hint, honey). I think you should buy your sweetheart a nice gift card to Kohls (hint, hint). Or you can pick something out online using a Kohls coupon. I'm pretty sure I can take it back to my local Kohls if I don't like it (hint, hint). Does my husband ever read my blog? I don't think so, so I don't know why I am hinting.

More great coupons at CouponChief.com.

Shopping Online

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 03:29:00 +0000

I haven't done much shopping online lately. Mainly because I am broke and don't have any money to go shopping at all. I am hoping with my husbands new job change we will have a little extra money to spend on things we need as well as some things we want. Of course even if I had loads of money I probably would still use coupons. Especially online coupons. I would also like to get more into online rebates like what Ebates offers. You can get money back for shopping online. I like money back.
This is how Ebates works:

Ebates earns sales commission from merchants. Most sites keep the money, but not Ebates! We turn this commission into Cash Back and send you the savings in the form of a Big Fat Check!

So, hopefully I wil be able to do some Ebates shopping here pretty soon. Check out their Macys deals.

Cell Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 02:59:00 +0000

It's that time again. I am thinking about upgrading to a new phone. I think it's almost pathetic that I feel the need to have a new phone only after owning this one for a year. With all this "bluetooth" talk I am feeling the need to own one myself.
I checked out the wifefly.com ebay site today and I think they have some great auctions. Sometimes I forget ebay and all the deals you can get if you bid right.
So Wirefly on eBay has a ton of new cell phones up for "buy it now" and "best offer". They also offer free FedEx shipping in the US. They have a feedback rate of 99%.

Wirefly is the #1 authorized online agent for Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, Nextel.

I'm Back

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:43:00 +0000

I haven't blogged here on this blog for a while. I have been busy with my other blogs. I started a new personal blog > SuperMom Life. I will still post on this one but I am just trying to get a blogging routine down. I may have a blogging sickness. I am not sure. :)

Cell Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:55:00 +0000

We got our first cell phone several years ago and since then boy have cell phones changed since then. Every couple of years we get one of those free deals if we sign a new contract. Right now we have Nokia phones. I think my favorite phone was the Motorolla that we had a few years ago. Motorolla has some great models out right now that I wouldn't mind having. The Motorola Z3 is really cool. I also like the Motorola KRZR K1. So it will only be a matter of time before I buy a new phone. I am curious to see how much they will change in a year.

Free Fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:41:00 +0000

I am one of those people that will spend a large amount of time picking out the right font for various projects. I don't like to have the wrong font for the job. Finding free fonts is not as easy as it sounds. Well it is easy but many of the free font sites have annoying pop up windows or they make the downloading process to complicated. So when I was introduced to urbanfonts.com I was really excited because searching for fonts and downloading them is really easy. If you are looking for new free fonts to download visit urbanfonts.com. By the way they have 8,000 free fonts and dingbats for Windows and Mac.

Have You Heard of This?

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 06:36:00 +0000

Have you heard of a spoof card? Apparently it's a calling card that allows you to change what someone sees on their caller ID display when they get a phone call, record calls and change your voice. Honestly, it sounds a little creepy to me. I don't know why my first thought was that strange perverted people would want to use this but it was. I suppose it could be beneficial to people that aren't strange and perverted. This could be the ultimate prank calling tool. Not sure I understand how it could help the average person.
If you want to check it out go to
SpoofCard.com. They claim this is a totally legal service.

Living Organized

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 06:27:00 +0000

I am attempting to live organized this year. I am ready this book called, Living Organized, by Sandra Felton and it's been very encouraging. I haven't actually gotten to any of the organization advice yet. Most of what I am ready now is insight into why I am a "Messie". I live the book so far and will probably be posting about it more on my SuperMom Life blog.
I am not sure if there is hope for me. I think so as long as I stay focused and take it seriously.

Online Dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Mona) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 05:26:00 +0000

If you are looking for an easy to use online dictionary you might want to check out DictionaryOfDefinitions.com. It seems to be a very easy to use simple online dictionary. They are still in the redesigning phase but I think the overall tool is very useful.
The only thing I don't understand is what they mean by elegant. The title header says Dictionary of Definitions - simple- complete- elegant. I am not sure elegant would describe this site but the dictionary itself is useful.

Search 230,000 Definitions Online.
Thesaurus and Example Sentences.
Elegant and Free Dictionary.
From Legal Terms to Medical Terms to Slang.