IOTAWeb.org, A Great Keyword Resource!

Here is another free resource for Adsense Keywords.

The website is called www.iotaweb.org.

There is a link to an Adsense tutorial, which can be helpful for those who have not yet utilized Adsense in their blogs.

There is alphabetical access to keywords that give you the opportunity to find out the current Adsense PPC/CPC Value for each keyword.

Here is an example of the list you would find if you click on the letter "A".

Adsense PPC / CPC values for keywords: "A"
Angeles Criminal Defense Los
Auto Insurance Quotes
Att Call Conference
Alicante Car Hire
Att Conference
Alicante Airport Car Hire
Angeles Criminal Lawyer Los
Arizona Divorce Lawyer
Attorney Dui Florida
Angeles Attorney Criminal Los
At And T Cell Phones
Anti Spam Exchange Server
Administration Lease Software
Aarp Insurance
Anti Spam Lotus
At T Wireless Service
Alicante Car In Rental
Anti Spam Lotus Notes
Adverse Credit Remortgage
Anti Spam Appliance
Attorney Law Lemon
Anti Spam Exchange
Auto Insurance Quote
Att Call Conference
Alicante Car Rental Spain
Asbestos Cancer
At And T Mobile
Angeles Drug Los Rehab
American Relief Tax
Arizona Law Lemon
Auto Free Insurance Quote
Att Go
Accident Car Florida Lawyer
Auto Quote
Auto Buy Insurance Online
Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer Los
Aarp Car Insurance
Automobile Law Lemon
Auto Cheap Insurance
At T Wireless
At And T Cell
Auto Law Lemon
Anti Spam Appliance
Adverse Remortgage
Att Conference
Auto Insurance Online
At And T
American Cancer Society Car Donation
Anti Software Spam
Angeles Attorney Dui Los

...and these are only the first 50 out of at least 1200 "A" words. When you click on the word, the current Adsense PPC/CPC Value for each keyword is listed. It seems to be a great tool!

What do you think? Do you have other sources you utilize?

Just Digg It!

When using Digg, you may decide to check-out its crystal balls, or the sites that may companion you along your Digging journey.

One companion site DuggTrends: mirror. "Duggtrends is not another clone but it complements diggTM. Our main goal is to provide more insight of what & how we are voting. All the stories listed in this site are from digg.com. diggTM is a trademark of digg.com; this site (duggtrends) is neither affiliated with nor would have existed without digg.com. DuggMirror is a site that allows users of the popular news site Digg.com to see popular links that may have gone offline or slowed down due to the so-called "Digg Effect.""

From this site you can learn important trends such as the right time of day to submit your article on Digg, what day of the week works best for the topic you are submitting, and what topics are so saturated on Digg that they are less likely to get to the front page. The stats regarding the trends are older, however still may be effective.

On DuggTrends "Forcasted Stories" tab it states, "We are working on an algorithm to predict stories which has best chances to make it to front page. If you are someone who is curious to know interesting stories in advance, this is your page." It would be interesting if they could figure this out, especially since most everyone using Digg cannot even figure out the regular algorithm. Digg's page on "How Digg Works" states, "Once a submission has earned a critical mass of Diggs, it becomes “popular” and jumps to the homepage in its category. If it becomes one of the most popular, it qualifies as a “Top 10”. If a submission doesn't receive enough Diggs within a certain time period, it eventually falls out of the “Upcoming” section." Exactly how many diggs is enough and exactly how many buries is enough...that is the mystery. Further, in their "Frequently Asked Questions" they state, "The promotion and burying of stories is managed by an algorithm developed by Digg. There is no hard number of Diggs/buries to promote or remove a story. It's based on a sliding scale that takes several factors into consideration, such as number of Diggs, reports, time of day, topic submitted to, Digging/burying diversity, etc."

Additionally included on DuggTrends is a "Missed" tab. To describe how this section works they state, "Daily thousand's of stories are being submitted; but only a few are promoted to frontpage, many interesting stories just miss frontpage and we feel it might be worth taking a look at them."

One of my favorite tabs is the "Buried Stories" tab. To describe this section they state, "If you have not noticed yet, but there are many "controversial" stories which make it to frontpage but then get buried. If you have missed them, this page tracks them up for you." It seems there are a few on Digg that are quick with the "Bury" finger. Here is your solution to enable viewing all of those stories. You can also log onto your account on Digg and click in the search box. Once you are in "Search", enter the URL of the buried story. It will pull up all stories for that URL if you click in the box to include buried stories and the URL is a general one, such as "http://www.johnchow.com".

Within DuggTrends there is supposed to be a way to enter a URL from Digg and have it plot a stats graph. I attempted with three different topics, all fairly new stories, to discover the use of this application. However, with each try I was unsuccessful, ending with an error message stating "digg.com url is not found in our database. please try another". In other words, I am not sure that function is in working order at this time, and with the lack of updating on the site, unfortunately may not be in working order anytime in the future. It would be a nice feature if it was in working order.

The word-to-the-wise on this site is that the blog has not been updated since January of 2007. What does that mean? Not much except that the development may have ceased at some point due to lack of funds. Please note the blogging about Adsense and the lack of ability to make money, along with the fact that no ads are currently running on the site.

Regarding Adsense, however, be sure to check out the article they have posted on their site as a link. Here is the link for your convenience. "Now, I really wonder how much money does digg.com, myspace.com and youtube.com make through google adsense. Recently there was a story about “Biggest Google Whores” on digg." I bypassed the digg link and went straight to the source for your convenience. If you wish to visit the digg link, here it is LINK.

Here is one more option when it comes to a companion to Digg. http://diggcomments.headzoo.com. They call themselves "The Digg Comment Stalker", and it is for real. If you enter the person's user name from Digg (their name on your "Network"), all you have to do is click on "Show Comments" and it shows a drop down list of ALL of their comments. Additionally, Digg Comment Stalker shows how many diggs or buries a person has made. It brilliantly reveals each of these based on each article title. This is a great tool for Diggers who are debating whether to add or delete someone from their network. Note: This site is VERY MUCH NOT affiliated with Digg.

A site recently presented by TechCrunch as "a service launched last year that allows you to see the the number of buries on a Digg story by the time of each bury" is called Ajaxonomy Bury Recorder. Here is the article from TechCrunch that caused them to check into buried articles on Digg "Digg Has Super Users Or Hates Ron Paul". Not only can you enter and track a story's URL, but you can also click on "Top Buried Stories" and you have a complete drop down list. A very interesting site, indeed.

As social networking has grown and more sites have hit the scene and flourished, Digg's Alexa ratings have begun to drop. Please see the first graph from Alexa above.

However, comparing a few other networking sites along side Digg, including Reddit, Technorati, Slashdot, and StumbleUpon, the Digg networking rating is quite good. Please see second Alexa graph above.

Essentially, Digg must be doing something right. I digg it!

Sources:
www.digg.com
http://duggtrends.com/duggmirror.aspx
www.johnchow.com
www.adsense.com
http://diggcomments.headzoo.com
www.techcrunch.com
www.alexa.com
www.ajaxonomy.com/buryrecorder

More Blog Traffic Wanted!

Here are some of my favorite articles found on Digg from this week that relate directly to blogging, technology, widgets, etc. and that benefit us all with regard to our progress in this blogging/technology industry.

I could pretend that I wrote all of this information and just re-write it to make myself look smart. However, why reinvent the wheel. These folks did all of the work and deserve the credit.

Here they are...

How 30 Minutes a Day Can Result in 250 Inbound Links
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

5 Surefire Ways to Get More Links to Your Blog
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

5 Blog Traffic Articles You Should Read
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here




Increase search engine traffic to your WordPress blog with one night's work
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords
Digg Link Here
Article Directly Linked Here

10 Ways to Attract New Readers to Your Blog
Digg Link Here
Article Directly Linked Here

As you can see, there is a theme within these articles and their content. The common theme is increasing the traffic to our blogs.

I think that everyone struggles with this issue. How much do you network on the social networking sites? How much to you comment on like-content blogs? What other tricks work?

For me, I will be trying any number of the items listed in these very informative articles. If they have worked for someone else, maybe they will work for me as well. Tell me your thoughts on this issue. Do you struggle with traffic to your blog location?

"Digg" These Great Ideas To Increase Traffic To Your Weblog

Here are some of my favorite articles found on Digg from this week that relate directly to blogging, technology, widgets, etc. and that benefit us all with regard to our progress in this blogging/technology industry.

I could pretend that I wrote all of this information and just re-write it to make myself look smart. However, why reinvent the wheel. These folks did all of the work and deserve the credit.

Here they are...

How 30 Minutes a Day Can Result in 250 Inbound Links
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

5 Surefire Ways to Get More Links to Your Blog
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

5 Blog Traffic Articles You Should Read
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here




Increase search engine traffic to your WordPress blog with one night's work
Digg Link Here
Article Link Directly Here

What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords
Digg Link Here
Article Directly Linked Here

10 Ways to Attract New Readers to Your Blog
Digg Link Here
Article Directly Linked Here

As you can see, there is a theme within these articles and their content. The common theme is increasing the traffic to our blogs.

I think that everyone struggles with this issue. How much do you network on the social networking sites? How much to you comment on like-content blogs? What other tricks work?

For me, I will be trying any number of the items listed in these very informative articles. If they have worked for someone else, maybe they will work for me as well. Tell me your thoughts on this issue. Do you struggle with traffic to your blog location?

New Stuff, New Tweaks

As you can see, I've decided to change to a different template.

I hope that it is agreeable with my readers.

The reasoning behind the change is my disappointment with the inability of the previous template's flexibility with regards to widget size and placement. Additionally, the previous template caused my blog archive list to stretch extremely far down the sidebar, as well as any other text that I added to that area of the template.

I'm not sure that I love this template because there is not as clear a division between posts, however, I do feel it is an improvement from the past template.

I may change my template at Issues On Call as well, as I am not extremely pleased with its appearance. However, I have been working with the colors and layout over the past week, as well as the ad layout.

I feel that learning, based on the option of these templates, gives me a greater understanding of the details I will desire to develop on my own web domain, when the time comes.

I hope that viewing my learning process helps others in their blogging journey and that it doesn't annoy those who subscribe to my blog.

Thank you for your patience.

With regard to Feedburner...I have been able to integrate AdSense with Feedburner and that allows for additional ads to appear at the end of each "newest" post. This location is supposedly a prime location for readers to view and curiously click, however, my results have still been minimal, which is frustrating.

If you look at my Issues On Call site, at the end of each post, Feedburner has placed the ads there as well, however, with the FeedFlare option (where the ad option was first located), there is an option to include things such as, technorati, sphere, digg, etc. This shows up on my Issues On Call site but somehow doesn't show up on my Max Your Ping site. So, this will be something that I'll need to troubleshoot...Ahhh the frustration of inconsistency...probably something I did or didn't do correctly.

Additionally, my Headline Animator from Feedburner continues to circulate the titles and dates of my posts, which in turn interests my viewers in clicking on the widget. From clicking on the widget the viewer can subscribe to my post...an additional subscription option. Within the Headline Animator section, you can choose to advertise your site through Headline Animator, however, the budgets begin at $25 per month...something most bloggers are not in the blogging business for. Certainly, right now, I'd love to see my $25.00 in a check to me...lol

I have added my name to another location as well...Newsvine.com. I'm just getting the hang of it, but it seems to be a pretty serious site...not one made for match-making, but for serious article writing...right up my alley (not that you can tell from the tidbits I write here).

Here is my link so that you can see what it begins to look like
Click Here

I am still getting to know the ropes. They are pretty strict. I'm trying to find out if I can actually add any ads to my articles through Google Analytics or Feedburner, as Newsvine uses different rules which include the longevity of the user and the amount and quality of your articles and interaction.

It is an interesting site. I suggest reading up on it as another option in networking, however...let me tell you that these are serious WORK, serious ARTICLE, serious EVERYTHING networking groups and it isn't like Digg. You really have to work hard to get people into your networking group.

My StumbleUpon Tool Bar doesn't seem to work half the time, so I have a hard time integrating with that site. Plus, it seems that it is not quite the serious networking site that I'd like to be involved with, however, from time to time I still visit it and check on my friends there and network a bit. It is somewhat between Digg and MySpace. You can have some people that want you to see their work and others that want you to SEE their work...if you know what I mean. So...just an FYI.

The Yahoo networking site is one that I have not figured out AT ALL yet. It is still in Beta and I think it has a long way to go. However, I have to say that I have given the others a better try so I will cut it some slack...for now.

Digg seems to be good sometimes, and then sometimes it seems to be too much work. I get Digg burn out. I feel that there is a lot of junk that gets "shouts" to my login, mixed in with some selectively "real" news, tech, interest, etc. type stuff. However, the catch is that if you don't respond to most of the people sending you shouts in some way, you may not get the response that you want when you want something publicized. Kind of crazy. I guess it is representative of the globe, however, and I take the interesting ideas that come over as, just that...interesting.

I had one day following the writing of an article Issues On Call - Article
where I suddenly earned $13.00 on adsense from a bunch of clicks and have no idea how they came about, since I have been doing the same procedure of sending out my pings and promoting my articles this whole time. That is the most I have earned.

The earning is becoming a great deal of frustration, as I am sure it is for many bloggers. I ask myself what I am doing wrong, what I am doing right, if my articles are good enough, if my articles are the right topic, if my production is sufficient, etc.

What else can I do? If someone who is reading this has suggestions and has seen my other sites, please let me know. I am in this for the long-haul and would love some tidbits of advice on earning.

I did receive some emails tonight from affiliate groups who I sent applications to showing that I am approved, however, it may take me a couple of days to go through all of their information to make sure they are legit. I will update you and let you know the sources once I find out the results.

I find myself staying up until all hours of the night (actually into the morning) working on this investment into mine and my family's future and so, since it is now close to 1am I must sign off, hoping that this is good feedback, based on my recent experiences and frustrations.

Let me tell you something about the frustrations...they only drive me more, knowing that I can succeed because I have the drive, ambition, and best of all the TECHNOLOGY :-)

Happy Blogging!

Favorite Articles, Follow-up Regarding Affiliates

Here are some of my favorite articles for today about ideas to help me with my blogging.

A No Click Necessary Alternative to Adsense
"And because it costs you absolutely nothing to sign up and benefit from the system, Pay Per Play gets our 5 star recommendation this time around."

Google Profiles
"They're coming and it will be difficult to get away without having one. Google Profiles will be integrated in most Google services so you have a coherent identity and a simple way to manage your contacts."

Now, I'm not having any luck with any of the four affiliate programs that I have attempted to sign up for thus far. They all want me to have my own domain and webpage and of course, they are willing to take care of it for a fee. All of these were affiliates that did not say that upfront in their information. I'll keep trying.

I think I'm burning myself out, trying to network like crazy. It all goes back again to managing that time. I just need to set better boundaries for myself.

Regarding affiliates...
The dish affiliate that I had ads on my site with for a few days would not let me log in after a few days and quite a few hits. They only left me a message on my gmail account with a link to their web page development department. Again, they did not have that information on their site when I first signed up. You just gotta love resources that seem to be a bit misleading, eh?...not!

I want to keep blogger as long as I can, however, I see that I may have to create my own pages sooner than I thought if I wish to make any money blogging.

Have a good Saturday Night.

Affiliate Directories & Interesting Articles

Well, it seems that my networking is taking much of my time these days. The more contacts I have and the more time I spend on my blog articles, the more I find that I spend on networking.

Working on my latest articles from my two blogs that I've submitted to my networking sites, I find that I am making great contacts by following-up with people (who have left their information, instead of anonymous) who have left comments.

Regardless of the comment, unless there was something extremely offensive involved, I give a simple thank you and try to look at their interests or submitted articles to see if I may add them to one of my networks to help them out. I like this more personal contact and it seems to be creating some great relationships where I have obtained regular subscribers and have subscribed to some of their blogs.

With networking, there always needs to be give and take. If you expect it all to come your direction without giving any back, expect to fail.

Additionally, I was wondering if any of you have tried Amazon.com and their "Partners" affiliate program? I have been giving it a good long try on both my sites and seem to be having zero success. Over twenty-thousand impressions on one of ad widgets, and thousands on others, but no orders, no referral fees paid, etc. I was looking over their discussion board and others seem to be complaining about the same thing, with others commenting that Amazon is just using bloggers to gather their customers for them without paying them.

I don't know if that is true. However, I am looking into other programs to try. I have found two great directories for affiliate-type companies. Be careful, however, because they will seem to be free and then you will be required to pay them to build a web-page and give you a domain, or you'll be required to purchase their tracking/reporting software, etc. Just a word of caution because it seems that every Tom-Dick-and-Harry want to offer an affiliate program.

Here are the two directories. I can't say much about them yet, since I am still exploring them myself. I will give my results once I've played around with it a bit.

Affiliate Scout

Commission Junction


Here are some interesting articles that I found that I thought I'd share regarding blogging, technology, etc. as it is important to always stay on top of the latest news if you want your blog to succeed...which you do, or you wouldn't be putting in the work in the first place.

The Next Social Network: WordPress
"Could open-source blogging platform WordPress serve as your next social networking profile? Chris Messina, co-founder of Citizen Agency, thinks so. He’s started a project called DiSo, for distributed social networking, that aims to “build a social network with its skin inside out.” DiSo will first look to WordPress as its foundation."

SEO Spammers: Leave Social Media Sites Alone!
"They always submit. They never vote/Digg/upmod anyone else’s submissions. Their submissions get 1 or fewer votes (unless they are a MASS - a Multi-Account-SEO-Spammer, in which case they will have more than one, but it will always be the same amount and always voted by the same “people”)."

Increase Earnings By Upto 30% With Google Coop & Adsense
"Here is a way that would allow you to earn higher and even turn a portion of first time visitors who come from search engine and after reading the content just close your site up."

I hope, as always, that this information is helpful and contributes to your blog's success.

Happy Blogging.