tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89532496290868310602025-02-19T22:53:13.277-08:00Lessons, tips, tricks & resources for starting and maintaining a blog.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01374109774654705080noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-48923898229445040012011-12-22T06:27:00.000-08:002011-12-23T18:41:04.644-08:00

My daughter noticed on her blog, Sarah's Scribblings, that her Adsense had disappeared on 12/21/2011 and when she clicked on her Monetize tab it asked her to sign up for Adsense.  So she went to my Simply CVS blog and sure enough mine were gone, as were my blogging buddy's Frugality Is Free blog.  We thought there was a glitch and it would be fixed by morning, but it wasn't.

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-21221395129996660942011-04-18T05:08:00.000-07:002011-04-18T05:08:02.902-07:00

I would like to invite all of you readers of Simply Blogging University who have found some tip or trick here and used it on your blog to join our Alumni List.  Just stop by and leave a link to your blog and I will make an Alumni List Blogroll of them.  You can find the Alumni List link in the Alumni tab at the top of the page.  I do ask that your blog be family friendly to be

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-48088691368234975042011-04-13T10:30:00.000-07:002011-04-13T10:31:45.668-07:00

Now that you are a blog author you need readers, and "the more the merrier" is true for blogging.  It is a strange day in the blog world when a blog becomes wildly popular without the author working hard at promoting their blog as well as at writing it.   The world will not know your blog is there if you do not tell them.  That is what we will cover in Blogging 401: &nbsp

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-60615779616919448482011-04-11T07:29:00.000-07:002011-04-11T07:29:08.291-07:00

Answer:  I am a very visual person and am always tweaking my blog, Simply CVS, to change the looks and I have found an easy way to add a horizontal line to a sidebar to separate gadgets, or sets of gadgets.  You can see examples in my sidebars and footer at Simply CVS.  Option one:  Choose the HTML widget option. Copy this and paste into your gadget.  <span

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-53172128657699454492011-04-09T12:00:00.000-07:002011-04-09T12:00:22.791-07:00

I recently shared this with a fellow blogger as a guest post to encourage her when her youngest was sick and needed much of her attention. I wanted to share it with my readers here who may face this or a similar situation. Blogging, as fun and exciting as it can be, can become a burden for a mom blogger with a little one in need of her attention.  I have a dear blogging buddy who is feeling

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-24307012842209947802011-04-06T07:30:00.000-07:002011-04-06T07:30:56.295-07:00

There are many ways to monetize your blog simply.  I have seen several blogs I am familiar with use Project Wonderful on their blogs.  I never thought it would fit in at Simply CVS so have not personally used it, but FrugalMom at Frugality Is Free has and I asked her to share her knowledge and experience with it. Project Wonderful is one way that bloggers can monetize their blogs,

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-4970923461421502552011-03-31T07:14:00.000-07:002011-05-14T12:26:55.356-07:00

A Memory:  My Sister loved the sweet taste of the Honeysuckle "syrup." Shortly after arriving home from my weekly CVS trip on Monday I had a call from my oldest sister, an RN, saying she believes our middle sister will soon be gone. She was diagnosed about a year ago with tumors, but slow growing, non-invasive, non-cancerous type.  Apparently chemo for the symptoms caused liver

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-51660532508541156972011-03-29T08:50:00.000-07:002011-03-29T11:17:23.935-07:00

I recently read a post on Frugality Is Free about “auto” blogging while on vacation.  I asked FrugalMom, the author, if I could share her post here.  I know I touched on this briefly in an earlier lesson, but I thought having her share the details and her personal experience with it might help readers here.  FrugalMom and her family  spent a weekend in the Florida Keys, here

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-41085630724020887962011-03-24T09:48:00.000-07:002011-03-24T09:48:29.279-07:00

As your blog grows and your readership and page views increase companies and other bloggers will be willing to pay to advertise on your blog.  Most blogs that offer advertising offer a variety of options to perspective customers and rates are based on several factors.  As I posted earlier, it is a good idea to have a Paypal account to receive payments. Advertising Options Banners in

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-43682435497241545942011-03-22T09:01:00.000-07:002011-03-22T09:05:08.977-07:00

Many bloggers and smaller companies deal with Paypal when making payments for advertising or accepting payment from bloggers who want to advertise.  So it is a good idea to set up a Paypal account before you need one--it is free to sign up. Paypal is a secure online option for making payments with credit cards or thru a bank draft.  If you want to advertise on another blog or charge

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-38229694478730328922011-03-21T12:41:00.000-07:002011-03-21T12:43:56.825-07:00

I am amazed at what can be done with a little HTML code.  If you have ever seen moving text marquees and wondered how they were made I came across a source for HTML Marque Codes.  I am going to try it out here, give a little instruction and give the link for the resource with various codes. There are several options available including:  slide in text, scrolling text and images.

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-62884019595100812622011-03-17T07:33:00.000-07:002011-03-17T07:33:36.284-07:00

If you noticed I was absent yesterday.  This is a crazy week for me and we actually have the opportunity to go out of town to meet up with some friends we haven't seen in nearly twenty years.  So, Students, enjoy spring break or if you'd like spend some time reviewing past lessons, quizzes or resources.  And check out our new Alumni Log and add your blog to the linky!

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-31801022693818628492011-03-15T13:33:00.000-07:002011-03-15T13:33:03.075-07:00

Answer:  Because sidebars and footers can quickly fill up with gadgets it is sometimes nice to find a way to have less space between each one to fit more in a small space.  For HTML gadgets there are a couple of easy ways to do this. For some banners, such as the 125 x 125 buttons, you can use a table and insert the button codes (this is what I have up now for the sponsor spots and

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-12826504770591786402011-03-14T07:32:00.000-07:002011-03-14T07:32:39.675-07:00

Another opportunity to earn from your blog is thru your personal referral links for programs you are a part of that offer bonuses for referrals.  You have the option of posting about them or adding their links or banners to your homepage. Depending on how topic-specific your blog is it may be hard to fit in posts for them.  At Simply CVS I post exclusively about saving money while

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-40108362477534744462011-03-11T10:22:00.000-08:002011-03-28T14:26:24.843-07:00

Answer:  In Blogger there are two ways to repost an older post. You open the old post in the edit post mode, click on the Edit HTML tab, copy the full HTML code and paste into a new post (under Edit HTML), and publish it.  This may be seen as spam by search engines and not show up aseasily in searches.  If you change the first and last few sentences a little it will help this

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-45177779346897249672011-03-10T10:46:00.000-08:002011-03-10T10:46:34.215-08:00

Many companies offer their own affiliate programs and do not go thru an affiliate network like we discussed in lesson #3.  The ones I have come across seem to be smaller companies and once again, offer bloggers a commission on some action performed by their readers, many are pay per clicks on their ad or pay per sale of some product or service. It is best to find advertisers that

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-30981902206954853932011-03-09T11:18:00.000-08:002011-03-17T05:43:00.656-07:00

There is a great resource for bloggers to use to choose a winner from the many entries in a blog giveaway.  It is found at Random.org.  You simply enter the numbers of posts from 1 to how ever many you had and click generate and it chooses a random number.  Beats writing hundreds of numbers on little slips of papers! You can find this and many other helpful 

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-29588304425310308452011-03-08T09:46:00.000-08:002011-03-10T10:08:03.429-08:00

One favorite way of monetizing a blog for many bloggers is the use of affiliate programs.  There are several, if not dozens, of affiliate networks that you can join as well as individual affiliate programs.  When you apply to become an affiliate you do the advertising for the company or product and receive a commission when a certain action is performed by one of your readers.

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-88490499681583801712011-03-07T07:14:00.000-08:002011-03-07T07:14:58.951-08:00

Answer:  It is important to give titles to your photos for Search Engine Optimization.  Many times people will search images for photos and info on certain subjects.  If you name your images before uploading them to your blog post they will show up in search engine results and just may bring more readers to your blog (be sure to give relevant, descriptive titles to them). &

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-88391949495471103992011-03-05T04:03:00.000-08:002011-03-05T04:03:19.892-08:00

I wanted to announce and congratulate the first giveaway winner here at Simply Blogging University:  shala_darkstone.  I used Random.org to choose a number from all the entries.  Congrats and enjoy!

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-8701681930122573202011-03-01T08:21:00.000-08:002011-03-01T08:21:18.422-08:00

I live in a state where I cannot use the Amazon affiliate program so I have asked FrugalMom, my blogging buddy, to guest teach and share her knowledge with students here at Simply Blogging University. Amazon.com is one of my favorite online websites to shop at, so when I realized that there was a way for me to incorporate Amazon.com into my blog earnings I was all for it. If you have a blogger

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-42549745117848572302011-02-28T08:52:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:52:16.946-08:00

Answer:  To make an HTML gadget centered in the sidebar add the following to the HTML: At the beginning:  <center> At the end:  </center> Check out all the Pop Quizzes here at Simply Blogging University for other quick tips for blogging.

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-77290795219638350282011-02-25T12:14:00.000-08:002011-02-25T12:14:22.818-08:00

AdSense is one of the easiest and most recognizable ways to monetize a blog.  AdSense ads are found on many of the sites you visit regularly—from small blogs to email sites to extremely large sites.  AdSense pays sites per click on ads—from pennies to dollars per click, depending on what the advertiser has bid. The ads that appear on a site are based on the content of the site as well

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-19902804274427629202011-02-24T10:53:00.000-08:002011-02-24T10:53:50.107-08:00

Answer:  In Blogger to have something automatically show up at the bottom of each post, open the post editor for a new post and place whatever it is you want to show up in that post--pictures, words, links, whatever (this is not a necessary step if you are familiar with HTML or if you just want words, you could skip composing it in the post editor).   Click on Edit HTML and

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8953249629086831060.post-7743424424523733902011-02-24T10:28:00.000-08:002011-02-24T10:34:19.441-08:00

If you haven't entered Simply Blogging University's $20 CSN/stores gift certificate giveaway yet, check it out and enter before it ends on 3/4.  I have one at Simply CVS, too, ending 3/1.  That one is for a $40 CSN/stores Gift Certificate.

Cheryl @ Simply Shoeboxeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06128246500106501585noreply@blogger.com0