I’m a big believer in upgrading to new versions of software when it’s out of the BETA stage, because it affords much easier support. When something goes wrong, I don’t want to be treated to choruses of “That was fixed 3 upgrades ago!” and it’s very easy to find yourself one, two, then three upgrades behind… and even more!

Not to mention that with Wordpress it can be dicey. We all use so many widgets and plugins and different themes that I always hold my breath when I do an upgrade.

I found this program: Wordpress Upgrade Preflight Check , a widget that you can access through your Options menu that will go through the widgets and themes you’re using and alert you of possible problems before you upgrade to Wordpress 2.3.

I’m so glad I did this, because I’ve discovered that the ultra-cool theme I’ve put in for my newest blog… isn’t at all compatible and would have been broken if I had tried to upgrade it, making my site unreadable. So because of that and the fact that I’ve realised it’s not the best when it comes to SEO (it only displays one recent article) I’ve decided to go with a different theme before making the switch.

I’m so glad I found this widget, because it enabled me to take care of potential problems before they became problems! This could have easily cost me half a day (at least) trying to figure out if I hadn’t used the Preflight Check!

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Little side note: Going to be a light posting week for me because I’m a tad under the weather. 

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I would never advocate lying about stats, income, or, well, much of anything on your business blog. (If it’s a personal blog, feel free to lie your hiney off… I do on mine! C’mon. It’s a humor blog.)

However, too many blogs owners make the mistake of being too honest about their lack of experience or lack of success.

I think it was the movie Working Girl where the advice was given: “Dress like the person whose job you want”. I.e. if you want to be an exec, don’t dress like a cheap, trailer-trash, gum-popping hooker. Now ask yourself:

Does your blog dress like a hooker?

Find a blog that you think feels professional. It should be one either in your niche or something compatible. A blog on dealing with bereavement shouldn’t look like one full of celebrity gossip. Open a new browser window and look at it side-by-side with yours. What are the main differences you spot?

I’m not saying clone it, but I am saying you can learn a lot from others! Likewise, when you visit a site you don’t like, ask yourself if you make any of those same mistakes. When you visit a blog that annoys you, or something causes you to hit the “unsubscribe” button in your reader, it’s a good time to evaluate why, so you can learn from it.

Because with all blogs, big and small, what you think is “homey” or “funny” on your blog could very well be gum-popping tacky.   And even your friends don’t like it.  Seriously.

When you decide on a theme, make it your own. Change the header or logo at the very least. I’ve been working very hard at that at my blogs, but this one is the last to get the treatment because A. I see this theme less often than I was tripping over clones of my other sites and B. I gotta admit I really like this theme as it is, so improving it is going to be difficult!

This is doubly-triply-fortymillion-tupply important if you use something like Blogger.com. If I see one more blog with the “Dots” theme, I might strangle someone.

If you have low stats, keep them to yourself

1. Don’t put up feedburner stats showing you have 6 subscribers.
2. It doesn’t look good when you have post after post after post with ZERO comments. (I’ve noticed that blogs, such as celebrity blogs, who rely on google and not community don’t seem to get many comments.  But those aren’t the type of blogs I’m talking about here… I’m talking about community blogs that require feedback in order to survive.) Comments are one stat that you can’t fake. Well you could, but it would be time-consuming and awkward to comment yourself. But you CAN ask friends to post comments for you. But more importantly, comment for other people. 9/10 people that I write comments for visit my sites and comment in return.
3. Don’t make posts whining about how no one visits. Find out why, and fix it. Or take a day off. But complaining will only drive people away.

DON’T: lie, pretend you’re an expert if you’re not, or fake stats (Trust me… people can tell. Or at least I can, and I’m a people.)
DO: talk up the successes you HAVE had, talk about the things you HAVE learned, talk about your blogging “journey”.

DON’T: talk yourself down, talk your blog down, or most importantly talk your readers (or lack thereof) down (it’ll only offend whatever lurkers you might have.)

If you’re not enjoying the success you expected, ask someone you respect to take a look at your site and give you an honest evaluation. And no, don’t ask John Chow. Ask someone you know. [NOTE: If you don’t know anyone else who blogs, that’s your problem right there.  Get out there and talk to people!]

I’m a big believer in honesty, but there’s nothing wrong with letting the truth that shines through on your blog be one that makes people want to be a part of the community you’re trying to establish.

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I’ve discovered recently that a mere 3 blogs has been taking up most of my day. So I’ve been looking for things that will help keep my blogs from being a huge time sink-hole. I’ve found some great ideas. Some of which I already knew, others which are new to me and going to be a great help!

• Plan Ahead
  As of this week, I’m writing ALL my blog posts for About Blogging and Bitter Women in one day. This leaves the other days open for commenting and networking.
• Use a Feed Reader
  I can’t tell you how much time this has saved me. I used to spend hours and hours going to a couple dozen blogs that I wanted to check daily. With Google Reader, I can check over a hundred without having to do anything. And with this Google Reader Firefox Plugin , you can see how many unread items you have in Google Reader without having to change pages. Read my article about Choosing an RSS Reader .
• Read Less Often
  You don’t have to read every blog you visit every day! Consider visiting twice a week, and make a bookmark if you find something interesting and return on your writing day. This doesn’t mean read less. I still stand by my earlier statement that you must read more than you write. But you will use your time more efficiently if you do it in one sitting, rather than doing it in small increments throughout the day.
• Post Less Often
  I’ve done a little experimenting with the timing on my blogs, and have found that no one really minds if I don’t post 7 days a week. I’ve decided to post 5 times per week and skip weekends. My readership goes way down on the weekends, and I find that if I post on Saturday and Sunday, those posts are often ignored. I’m not sure, by the way, if this means that my readers have a life and spend the weekends with their families, or if it means that everyone blogs at work.
• Write Shorter Posts
  If you can make your point in 10 words, don’t take 10 paragraphs. Nobody minds shorter posts.
• Check Stats Less Often
  It’s easy to get addicted to checking your stats, especially early on when a spattering of new traffic is exciting. But recently I realised I was often checking my stats several times a day. Do it no more than once a day, and see if you can ween yourself down gradually to once a week. In truth, constant stat checking is nothing but a distraction! Same goes for checking earnings! If you find you absolutely cannot stop yourself from checking your Google earnings, or you find it inspiring to see the amounts stack up, then consider the Firefox Google Adsense add-on which will show you your earnings without you having to take time out.
• Scan Articles With a Critical Eye
  Ask yourself are you reading an article/blog? If you’re looking for a place to comment for the sake of leaving a link, let yourself scan, and don’t get sucked into reading an entire blog just because it’s interesting. See the next point for further explanation…
• Fun vs. Work
  If you find a blog you love and a blogger whose articles you can’t resist, that’s great! But don’t tell yourself you’re “working” when you go there and fritter around for an hour! Do visit friends’ blogs. I have a list of them that I enjoy visiting daily. But…. I had to remind myself that’s for FUN TIME and not WORK TIME.
• Take Time Away
  Yesterday was a Sunday, and I decided to go completely unplugged. No computer and no video games all day! With three active blogs going, it’s hard for me to take time away, but in truth, I came back feeling more refreshed and inspired than ever, with ideas bubbling away in my head.

What are your thoughts?
What are your techniques for saving time?
Other Resources:

• Top 5 Uncommon Timesavers for Bloggers
• The 10 Minute Daily Guide To Building Your Social Profile

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I used to use Amazon affiliate links on various websites years ago, but had lost track of what was happening, because I found that people got used to seeing the same old amazon boxes on every website, just as they have grown accustomed to seeing a PayPal donate button. We tune out the images we see all the time.

The other down-side of trying to use Amazon as an affiliate-type programming is that you only get a 24-hour cookie, meaning the purchase has to happen pretty quickly. Most programs out there give you a more leisurely 30 days for your click-ees to make a commitment.

However, Amazon has some nifty new widgets that I think look pretty good, and I’ve been looking again at trying out Amazon as a tool for monetising my blogs. I decided to share them with you in case you either had never used Amazon Affiliates, or had, like me, not looked at them in some time.

Unbox Videos and Slideshow give a moving and active presentation to the Amazon product links. Nicely eye-catching.

I particularly like the Product Cloud. People like this layout of information right now, and are used to clicking on category tag clouds on blogs.  I think My Favorites would be most suitable for a personal blog or a review blog.

Likewise, Wish List might work best on a personal blog. Personally I’m not sure how much time Quick Linker would save someone, since it’s not that difficult to add an amazon link to a website as things stand now. Will have to explore this one.

Search is one I’m not sure how useful it will be. If people want to search amazon, my own feeling is that they’ll just go to amazon and search. If you aren’t familiar with aStores, they’re something Amazon has added to make it incredibly easy for someone to create an entire website shop based around Amazon products. Amazon even hosts the shops. You can see an example here with Cheap-iPods.com .

The Products Link widget isn’t really anything new, although it’s in an easier-to-plug-in format.  Product Preview  and Context Link (below) look promising if you’re interested in advertising Amazon products without actually cluttering up your sidebar with any additional widgets.  I particularly like the Product Preview, because you can decide exactly where and when the adverts appear.

Text Links follows a format similar to Text-Link-Ads, but it leads to a specific destination on Amazon.com

The Omakase, Banner, Recommended Product Links (below), and Search Box (below) widgets look a lot more like traditional Amazon advertizing, but with the ease of an automated widget.

I’d written off Amazon.com as a source of potential income on websites, but these new widgets look quite interesting!

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Recently I told you that I had seen a metablogger offer the “blogwork” (read:homework) to his readers to write 20 blog comments that day.

I decided to take up the challenge.

I felt that this would indicate 20 per day per blog. Otherwise it would be watered down linkage-wise. So my goal was 20 for About Blogging, and 20 for Bitter Women.

Also, when I first started, I wanted to make this 20 NEW blogs, so leaving comments on places I had commented before wouldn’t count.

RESULTS

1. No freaking way do I have the time/energy to leave 20 comments per blog per day. (I’m now up to 3 blogs, so this would be 60. It’s a nice idea, but I just couldn’t do it.

Monday: I did very well… I left 23 for About Blogging and 13 for Bitter Women.
Tuesday: I felt ready to slit my throat after 20 for About Blogging and 10 for Bitter Women. I’d also abandoned the rule about it having to be places I’d never been before. That takes SO much time to find new, quality, relevant blogs!
Wedneday: I kept pushing on, with 10 for About Blogging and 20 for Bitter Women.
Thursday: I did squat because I was creating The Naked Celebrity .
Friday: Exhausted. Still working on The Naked Celebrity layout, but decided to push myself and wrote 13 comments for each blog.

2. I DID notice an increase in traffic. But not one so substantial that it was worth killing myself over it. This week my traffic increased by about 50% over the previous week, however this was largely due to some serious stumbleupon traffic (thanks to people simply taking a shine to some of my stories), and did not come from comments I’d left. I also noticed an increase in subscribers. Actually, the About Blogging subscribership doubled. (But don’t get too excited. We’re a new blog, so I’m talking going from 11 subscribers to 22. I’m glad to have you, by the way!)

3. The biggest happy result was my own blogs got a boost in comments received.  In ONE WEEK the comments posted made up 20% of all comments on Bitter Women and 40% of all comments on About Blogging.

The most important thing I learned this week was:

4. Keeping Track of How Many Comments I Wrote Inspired Me To Do More. I had thought I commented more than I did. So far today, for example, I have a feeling that I’ve visited lots of blogs. But when I look at my tally, I’ve only actually left 5 comments. I’m doing a lot of post-writing today, so today may not be the day to go out and leave 20 comments elsewhere, however at least I’m not fooling myself into thinking I’m doing more than I actually am.

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