Category Archives: Link Love
Wordless Wednesday: Dare Devil Cowgirl
55 Flash Fiction Friday: Abuse of Omnipotence
Secrets turned out to be lies and when I pointed my condemning finger in the wrong direction, I was made to look the fool. “It’s not as bad as you make it out.” I was told by the same person spreading rumors. I didn’t know better, confused and bewildered I still stuck to their side.
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man. You may also visit Flash Fiction Friday 55′s, a blog dedicated to hosting 55 Flash Fiction Friday posts.
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55 Flash Fiction Friday: Just another day
It’s not special to everyone. It isn’t a national holiday, but many other have the same connection I do to this date. Along with all the grey hairs, it’s another maker that more time has past. Today I’m another year older. It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to. I am thirty-three today.
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man. You may also visit Flash Fiction Friday 55′s, a blog dedicated to hosting 55 Flash Fiction Friday posts.
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Blogging my life away, Traffic Building
I received an email from Aaron of Utah Outings asking me for advice on promoting his site.
I am looking for advice to promote my site. Any and all information would be
much appreciated as I am not as geeky as you. I bow to your geekness and look
forward to your response.
I’m sorry it took a while for me to answer but I’m so flattered I thought it deserved a blog post in my ass-vice category even though it’s actually solicited advice, so here goes:
1. Attention grabbing titles and Content – Not every post needs an exciting title, but if you had a choice between “my boring day” or “George Carlin turned us into necrophiliacs” which would you choose? Whether your posts are funny, informative or a combination it’s up to you and the boundaries of your blog scope, the important thing is consistency and keeping the interest. Some people don’t want to offend so they stay away from dicey topics others love a good debate and jump in the fire with both feet. If you’re trying to sell a product or service, I’d really recommend staying away from politics and religion. Get more tips on blog writing from Blog Bloke.
2. Timing is everything – Obviously if you blog about the news the ideal would be to be right on top of it when the news breaks. What many people don’t know is that Monday and Tuesday are the best bloggy days and it’s best to get your more important posts out in time for the lunch crowd readers. If you’re on the west coast keep in mind that the east coast lunch crowd is three hours ahead. Also somethings are seasonal. I wrote a post in September about my experience with Sears Portrait Studio and the hots for that post spiked in mid November / early December. I’m guessing from people that get family Christmas pictures done.
3. Links and Comments – If you’re getting information from other bloggers link to them in your posts! Leave post-appropriate comments on various blogs whether they’re competitors or possible customers. It’s fine to add your url in the appropriate url space on the comment form and it’s even ok if the url you leave is to a specific post but don’t use the comment space to advertise your product or your blog it’s rude and tacky. Also make sure to remove “nofollow” from your blog so that you may spread link luv to your commenters. To spread even more link luv wordpress users can use the commentluv plugin.
4. Bloggy and Social networking sites – Examples of these would be Entrecard, MyBlogLog, Technorati, Twitter, and StumbleUpon.
I tried Entrecard and got a ton of hits but it was time consuming to stop by enough blogs and dropping cards to buy points in order to advertise my blog. Also, the hits I got were just drive by card droppings. No one lingered long enough to comment, or even read the first post. Sure, I may have picked up a reader or two out of the thousands that did the equivalent of a drive by shooting. I wanted a little more meaning in the relationship than pure numbers so I moved on.
Mybloglog was great until Yahoo bought it up. It was nice to see the faces and pictures of people that stopped by on the widget they provide and it was easy to select other blogs to follow, but Yahoo ruined it for me. I started getting spam on mybloglog profile page and I have an unreasonable general hatred towards Yahoo.
Technorati is another site that I quit. It’s wildly popular but anytime I wanted to make changes their site took forever to load and I kept getting error pages. It was incredible annoying and the only time I received traffic from them was when I closed my account, not terribly useful.
I now use StubleUpon and finally broke down and joined the Twitter crowd. StubleUpon can drive crazy amounts of traffic to you if you know how to use it. The important thing to know about StumbleUpon is that you must be very liberal with your thumbs up and thumbs down and that your ratings will carry much more weight if you also review the page. When reviewing a blog click on the individual post not the site itself that way if the blogger creates another review worthy post you can give them another thumbs up. You can use Stumbleupon to review your own posts too, but don’t do it to every post and make sure to review many other sites in between touting your own stuff.
Twitter isn’t a big traffic driver but I suspect that will change if I can drive up my number of followers. I’m very new to twitter. One thing that helps for WordPress users is a Twitter plugin called Twitter Tools.
5. Memes – These are a lot of fun. Most of them are weekly games, but you don’t have to play every week. Don’t make it a chore, and if you participate, try to keep the meme within the scope of your blog.
Blog Bloke gives a great overview for building blog traffic. In the middle of that post is a heading, “How TO Drive More Traffic to Your Site”. “Bloke’s Tips for a Successful Blog” Part I and Part II are also very useful and I highly recommend them. 
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Wordless Wednesday: Ed Grimley, I really must say
55 Flash Fiction Friday: Freedom of Religion
It’s not right to force underage girls to marry, however that doesn’t go hand in hand with polygamy any more than abuse is the accepted norm for Catholics who don’t believe in divorce. Utah wasn’t made a state until the Mormon Church officially swore off polygamy. How can the United States claim freedom of religion?
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man. You may also visit Flash Fiction Friday 55′s, a blog dedicated to hosting 55 Flash Fiction Friday posts.
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Off-color food humor
On Black Friday Kurt and I went out to run some errands one of which was to grab some lunch. We didn’t want to drive far to get something to eat, so our choices were limited. After running through the list and not hearing anything that really struck a chord, Kurt jokingly suggested McDonald’s. “The McRib is back on the menu.” He said in mock cheer. Kurt, as with most people that know me at all fully would expect one of my famous sneers which very clearly convey, “What are you fucking retarded?” That’s not what he got.
I avoid chain restaurants especially ones that have a drive-thru. That doesn’t mean I never get dragged to them or even that I don’t go voluntarily on occasion. I just avoid them. Thanks to their attempts at trying to offer healthy options, I can usually find something to pick at. I sheepishly told Kurt that I actually like the McRib. I know it’s something that most people only confess to their priests, rabbis, or other equivalent. It’s my deep dark secret. I like the McRib, and I ordered one with extra pickles. Apparently, their idea of extra pickles and my idea of extra pickles don’t match up. I think I need to go back and order the way I used to, “I want a cheese burger with extra pickles. No, scratch that. I want a pickle burger with a meat patty and cheese. Yes, I want everything on it. And don’t forget the pickles.”
Sophia had a couple fries, but we brought with us a banana and some bread for her. She can’t finish a whole banana so Kurt and I took turns taking bites of the other half. Each time I took a bite of the yellow phallic symbol Kurt would say, “That’s a girl”. I glared at him. Kurt offered me the last bite and as I leaned in, he took the banana away. “You BANANA tease!”
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Tastefully Simple Christmas Orders
Most of you know I try to avoid packaged foods and buy food as close to the original natural state as possible. Well we all know there isn’t always time to cook and that fresh things spoil quickly. Sometimes we just want something quick and simple. Well my friend who is a Tastefully Simple consultant has proven that quick and simple doesn’t have to be a box of Mac and Cheese and it can still be healthy.
I have tried, and highly recommend the Savory Wheat Beer Bread Mix. Don’t worry you don’t have to use beer. The beer bread can be made with any carbonated beverage, and that’s all you need. One 12 ounce carbonated beverage mixed one pack of beer bread mix, pop it in the oven and in an hour, you’ll have awesome bread. My first batch I mixed with a can of 7-up and it had the light citrus taste of 7-up, which may sound a little odd, but it was very good. Make bread with a can of soda? That doesn’t sound natural, how does it work? Beer bread is a quick bread and uses baking soda (listed as sodium bicarbonate on the ingredients list) along with the carbonation in the beverage of choice to make the bread rise.
I’ve also used the Spinach & Herb Dip Mix, which makes a fine potato topper as well as a dip. I’ve used the Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce to add a new zing to baked chicken. All of the Tastefully Simple products have the complete list of ingredients on the website. Their website also contains several recipes for each product and recipe books. All of the recipes have short two or three ingredient lists with things many people commonly have on hand.
If you’re like me and try to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup, many of their products don’t have it. I haven’t checked them all, but many including the three I listed don’t (unless you make your beer bread with 7-up or other beverage containing high fructose syrup).
A message from Sarah:
Save 20% on select gifts while supplies last … and simplify your holiday shopping! Featuring everything from gorgeous serving ware to delicious foods, Tastefully Simple’s gifts are elegant and ready to give. Plus, you can ship them directly to anyone on your list! To place your order today, simply reply to this email or give me a call. And remember – you can also find delicious baking recipes, holiday entertaining ideas and much more at Tastefully Simple.
We also have the Sangria Slush for sale right now while supplies last. It was a big hit over the summer and a great idea for your upcoming celebrations. It is yummy straight from the fridge, or as a slushy. What’s more, we have a special gift available to you between December 1st and the 31st. If you place an order over $60 (before shipping), you can get an English Toffee Mocha Mix for free ($9.99 value). In order to get it, you’d have to place the order through me by calling or e-mailing, not online.
If you are ordering anything that you need by Christmas, be sure to order by the 9th to give it plenty of time to arrive.
Happy holidays!
By clicking on the Tastefully Simple links you should arrive at Sarah’s consultant page with her shining face and contact info at the top. If you don’t and would like to place an order through her, please send me an email.
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55 Flash Fiction Friday: Finicky Toddler Feeding
I try not to point out what she’s not eating or say, “You’re so skinny, why you no eat?” I try staying positive, “That’s really yummy, isn’t it?” She finally eats something other than bread, Cheerios, and cheese. After offering sliced zucchini omelet for a week, she finally tried it, and ate the whole thing.