I am back, baby

Click HERE  to find out why I have been MIA!

I am an aspiring problogger–Where To Start

I am a stay at home mom to 4 kids.  My oldest is a 5 year old brainiac.  My next oldest is a 2 year old little princess who is going on 16.  My 3rd and 4th are a set of 10 month old twin boys.  Yea, I know…can you believe I have so many kids…oh yea…and I am married…well…kind of married.  I have been trying to find something to do for years that I can stay at home with my kids and still make money.  And I have tried it all.  Sometimes it doesn’t work out–data entry–sometimes I spent more money then I actually made (yea…my hubby hated those “business ventures”) by selling this and that from home–sometimes I had to work outside of the home–gas stations–and sometimes I just didn’t do anything at all.  But then I discovered blogging and I was hooked. 

 

Like most new bloggers, I had no idea where to start.  So I, of course, googled blogging and terms like it.  I found several blogs/sites that could told me they could make me money as long as I could pay them money.  I found countless people who claimed to be probloggers–but just wanted my money.  I researched for weeks about blogging before I actually did any blogging.  But I also needed something where I could blog and not have to spend any money–due to past, failed “business ventures” that ate our money and raising kids takes alot of money.

I finally decided on Blogger.com and WordPress.com.  Yes, I knew starting out that I should begin blogging with my own domains.  But I didn’t have the money to buy a domain ($6-$20) and I didn’t have the money to pay for hosting 1 or more blogs.  Even hosting locally here in Iowa would have cost me at least $30/month, if not more.  That might not be alot for some people-but paying $30 or more a month just to type on a blog that doesn’t even make me any money yet is alot of money for a family of 6. 

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSoooooooooooooo…I had to go with the free platforms until I started to make some money and could afford my own domains and hosting.

Blogger is super easy to learn.  I got all my blogs there off the ground the first day.  I think it is a fantastic place for the first time blogger to start.  It is actually a point-n-click blogging platform…which was great for me at the time because the only thing I had done with the internet prior to blogging was to shop and to play on PBSkids with my son.

WordPress was easy as well.  There are alot more templates to choose from.  The ability to change those template’s colors or headers is a wonderful feature as well.  It is less of a point-n-click platform than Blogger is.  I did spend about 5 days trying to find the HTML that would allow me to link up a picture to a website.  Yea…that kind of sucked.  But once I found it, it was awesome.  I felt like I could take over the world…or at least…link my picture to my other blogs.  It was a wonderful feeling.  But I digress–

Blogger was easier to learn but WordPress gave me a more professional feel.  I did sign up at about 10 other free platforms but they were either hard to understand or I couldn’t figure out how to get a picture to post or I couldn’t use any advertising in my blog–stuff like that.

Now that you know were to start…Go…Start…You HAVE to begin blogging.  There are many different options for everyone, but these are the two that worked out for me.  Blogger and WordPress.com made it possible for me to begin my career as an aspiring problogger.  If I can become an aspiring problogger, anyone can.

 RELATED READS:

My first paycheck

Do you treat your blogging as a job?

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Thursday 13–Keywords

13 Keywords I want this blog to come up in:

1. Problogger
2. Kerith
3. Freelance Writer
4. Freelancer
5. Networking
6. Increase readership
7. Make money blogging
8. Aspiring Problogger
9. Blogging mom
10. Mother
11. Mommy
12. Blogging Tips
13. Blog

RELATED READS:

i am an aspiring problogger

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PaperBackSwap is my friend.

When I first started blogging, I was (who am I kidding, i am still) broke.  But I did love to read.  So one starry night in August, I tripped upon this site, PaperBackSwap.  I was hooked. 

You swap books and get books in return.  If I remember right, you start out posting 9 books you want to get rid of and get 3 credits.  Each credit is one book you can get from someone else.  You pay the shipping when you ship a book but what is a few $$$$ compared to buying it new or even used…I have saved over $50 so far.

And there is every kind of book you can imagine.  Their blogging books are scarce but blogging is new to the un-blogging world.  But there are a few.  I really like to get the classics or books about authors.  I have gotten quote books, children’s books, and even a $100 HTML book.  I think this site is wonderful.  I know there are several sites out there like this one:  BookMooch, LibraryThing, Title Trader, Bookins, and others…but PaperBackSwap is my favorite.  But do check them out…here is a post from BookBlog about book swapping and some of these sites…yea…he isn’t a happy camper…but I have never had any problem with PaperBackSwap nor have I ever had to pay a fee to them to be part of their site.  Regardless, book swapping is a great way to expand your book collection and your mind.

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I need to check my stats more often…

Ok, so I noticed “something” going on with the google page rank while catching up on twitter.  So I checked my page ranks to see if anything has happened.  Everytime I have checked my page rank in the past, I was lucky to get a 1…maybe a 2 on my Momdum Chronicles blog.  Today, its a zero.  I have not checked my stats on my 4 wordpress blogs because I just figured that the news would be the same…but…check out this news about this blog…it is awesome…

I am an aspiring problogger: Anyone can do it!

I have had several, and I mean SEVERAL, people e-mail me about making money with blogging since my paycheck post.  They shared with me that they feel the same way I did.  All those rich people can blog about making money blogging all they want, but what about the average gal/guy? 

When Darren Rowse, John Chow, DoshDosh, Chris Garrett, or Alister Cameron tell you how to make money blogging, sometimes you just see the blur of the top rung of the ladder yelling down at the lowly-ness of the bottom rung.  Sometimes it is hard for that bottom rung to feel like they could write a blog that will be worth writing or worth any money (especially after Google’s ranking extravaganza).

But I am here, well, sitting here, at 12:40 AM in the morning on a cold Iowa night, to tell you that you can do it.  You can teach yourself to become a good writer and an even better blogger, no matter who you are or where you are from.  You can love it more than any job you ever had.  You will slap yourself in the head because you were always scared to try it.  You will dream about it and even “twitter” about it.  I “discovered” blogging in August of 2007 and I have never looked back.

I am not a writer by trade…didn’t even finish college, to tell you the truth.  Right now, my “trade” is being a stay at home mother.  But once I understood that, as a mother, wifey, and everything in between, I had alot to say, blogging seemed the only natural outlet.  I found problogging blogs and began reading.  I started one blog, then another, then another.  I bought and checked out books on writing.  I talked with my friends who were actually writers by trade.  Being an aspiring problogger has, is, and will be alot of work.

I feel the end to this post coming, but I don’t want to leave without showing you just how much I have made.  It isn’t alot, but it is all about the exponential growth of my income.  As you can see with Darren Rowse, everyone has to start on the bottom rung. The money isn’t alot, but the growth is.  His growth is and continues to be amazing.  But on with my growth…here is to the exponential growth of my income…may you bring me happiness, a house, a jeep wrangler, ponies, diamonds, stars in my eyes, and all that jazz.

 

 August:  zip, nadda, zero, nothing

September:  $0.05

October:  $0.25

November:  $0.35

December:  $6.00

January:  $70.00 (with more potential money and perks)

RELATED READS:  Thursday 13–kind of problogging blogs

                                    Do You Treat Blogging As A Job?

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Random Facts

• The #1 TV show of 1961 was a Western called “Wagon Train.”
• America’s most popular names for female cats are Samantha, Fluffy, Misty, and Muffin
• Watch out for flying hockey pucks—they can travel up to 100 mph
• Flamingos hold their heads upside down because it is the only way they can eat.

Thursday Thirteen–8 edition

13 Teeter-rific Twitter Things

1. Twitter itself
2. A quick introduction to twitter for bloggers
3. Make long URL’s short for twitter use
4. Twitter Mail
5. Snook’s Twitter
6. Spaz–open source twitter client
7. Twitter tool from Alex King
8. Twiddeo–twitter and video
9. Twitterrific
10. twhirl
11. twitterfeed–i just have to do this!
12. twitter widget lab
13. twitter facts blog–lots of info on twitter

Now…I must feed my addiction and do a tweet or two…be careful…you could be next!

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Delurking Alert

I am delurking tonite. I have just a ton of bloggy work to do (if only I got paid for all of it) and I just didn’t want to do anything. But I have missed just commenting, checking out blogs, catching up with old blogging friends, and all that stuff. I have missed it alot. So I am just going to be “hanging out” in the blogosphere tonite…so if you are around tonite…e-mail me, comment on one of my blogs, twitter me (Kerith), and just say hi…maybe take a nite and cruise the blogs with me…maybe I will see ya around.

Free advertising…come and get your free advertising…

The Unofficial Flugpo Blog is holding a contest for 2…yea…I said 2 people to win free advertising on their blog…it is until the end of January so you better hurry!

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