OneMoreWord

So I’m a day late on my posting schedule, but my schedule is still a work in progress! This is the first of several posts I’ll be writing about improving your web home - simply because mine needs some major improvements!!

Whatever platform you’re using for your blog, the design, colors, and layout will often determine whether people stay on your site. When I first chose this theme, it was because I thought it was relaxing. Now it irritates me because it seems really hard to read - what good does it do you to kick back and relax if you can barely see the words on the screen!

While you want a theme that you like, it’s even more important to have a theme that appeals to your readers. There are 3 main things to consider when you’re searching for the perfect blog design:

1. The colors. The hues you choose for your website will ultimately create your visitors’ first impressions. Colors can affect the mood of your readers as well as the readability of your site.
2. The layout. A nice, clean design is important if you want people to actually read the info on your blog. Search for a web design that allows plenty of space for all the information you plan to display in a layout that makes it all easy to read. Check out these examples of clean web design.
3. The navigation. It’s a blog - what’s to navigate, right? Wrong! There’s more to your blog than the current post so look for a design that makes it easy to move from post to post and clearly points your readers to other important areas within your site. If you’re using Wordpress, we’ll discuss some plug-ins that will make this easier in the future. But be sure the design you choose has an obvious navigation bar if you have more than one page, whether its at the top or in the sidebar.

Over the next few days, I will be switching over to a new theme that will hopefully be cleaner and easier to read than my current purplish, island design. And in future posts, we’ll be looking at must-have plug-ins, streamlining categories, how to use tags, and other things that will help improve your blog.

Subscribe to OneMoreWord in your favorite reader or Subscribe to OneMoreWord by Email and be sure to stop back by to give me some feedback on the new design.

What do you think is the most important element in your blog design?

Well, you keep trying - although it may be a good idea to take a look at what went wrong so you don’t make the same mistake when you try again!

Nearly a month ago, I set 3 simple little goals for each week:

• I will keep my messenger statuses up to date rather than staying signed in all day and night on Google and constantly invisible on Yahoo.
• I will post at least one relevant, useful post here each week, even if its really short or just half of what I wanted to write.
• I will spend at least an hour a week working on new themes for wordpress. I’m still learning to write themes, but this site is getting a custom makeover and its time to get started!

Now in those four weeks, I’ve only posted once here and I haven’t worked on Wordpress themes at all. I have done a decent job with my messenger status so there’s at least a tiny bit of success there.

As for the Wordpress themes - I’ve decided there are plenty of great looking free themes out there already and I have plenty of more important things to do that I don’t have time for…I know enough know to modify a theme into the look I need so there’s no need to spend valuable time creating my own - code is not exactly something I enjoy

What happened to the posts? Time management issues - plain and simple. This is why it’s important to develop a regular routine and do your best to follow a schedule. Instead of just planning to post here at least once a week, I’m going to plan to write each Wednesday night.

I’ll keep it simple this time with just 2 goals for now, plus continuing to keep my IM status current…

Next week:

1.  Write something useful for this blog (again)

2. Browse my feeds each morning and comment on something

“It is on our failures that we base a new and different and better success.” ~Havelock Ellis

By 11:00 the temperatures are already inching their way near 100. The kids are in and out of the house, making it nearly impossible to keep things cool - there’s no way I want to turn on the oven and spend an hour in the kitchen!!!

I’m trying to concentrate on dinner ideas that don’t require the stove this summer.

You can only eat so many sandwiches and salads…and grilling is not something you want to do everyday…

If you have an electric griddle, put it to work this summer! (the microwave is a big help too on hot days). Breakfast for dinner is a favorite in my house, but it typically involves at least 2 burners as well as the oven. By the time I’ve stood over that heat, I don’t feel like eating!

A couple nights ago, we had breakfast for dinner using nothing but the griddle and a blender - French toast, sausage, and banana berry smoothies! It was delicious and filling - and the kitchen was still comfortable enough to eat in!

For the French toast:

• In a shallow bowl, beat 5 eggs with about a cup and a half of milk.
• Add teaspoon or two of sugar, a dash of salt, and a little vanilla extract if you like and mix well.
• Using a thick bread like Italian, dip each slice into the mixture and place on the preheated griddle (about 350 degrees).
• Cook until golden brown, flipping to brown the other side as well. (about 5 minutes per side).

While the French toast is cooking, throw the sausage on the griddle too. You can also opt for the precooked microwave variety but my clan tends to like the links that have to be cooked. This will serve at least 5.

For the Smoothies

This was my first smoothie experiment at home. It was really easy and the entire family loved them - well, except for my little princess that never likes anything that’s good for her.

• First, crush 6 to 8 cubes of ice in the blender.
• Add a 3 cup bag of frozen mixed berries (or 3 cups of fresh berries).
• Chop 2 bananas and throw them in.
• Pour in 3/4 cup milk and 1 cup of yogurt (vanilla is really good)
• Add a few tablespoons of honey or sugar to sweeten.

Blend well and enjoy!

What are you doing to beat the heat in the kitchen this summer? Please share your favorite summer recipes, no cook recipes, and tips in the comments or leave a link to your posts!

This blog has long been a source of pride and happiness for me…in all honesty, I feel I’m forever in debt to the blogosphere as a whole.  Really — I wouldn’t be co-owner of such a great company, I would have never realized I could make a living writing without publishing a book, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet all the cool people I’ve come across…

So why have I consistently neglected my blog??

Two of my favorite blogs to read are also 2 that tend to provoke inspiration as well as guilt for me…these bloggers hit home with me so much, that there are a lot of times I feel like they must have spycams installed on my computer and they’re writing this stuff just for me!!!  Of course, I know that’s impossible…especially since Darren Rowse at ProBlogger doesn’t have the slightest clue who I am…but he and Adam Singer at the Future Buzz have a way of opening my eyes to my own downfalls.  The reason these guys are so great is because they point out these flaws…but they do it in a way that empowers and inspires rather than just criticizing.

The always positive and inspirational tone of Adam’s blog often works as my conscience when I plan one of my rants - and here lately, I haven’t posted much else.  Then Darren started his series on How to Let Your Blog Go — he had to have written those posts for me!!!

Now, I’m not saying my rants will stop…I rant about bad service, like that at Drum’s Tires of Rock Hill, because I feel like I have an obligation to let other consumers know.  I expose scams like AdsenseBoy and his Blog Comment Poster because I have a problem with lies and hope I can protect and inform those who aren’t aware.  My rants will definitely continue, but I will try harder to balance them with more positive posts…

As for the rest of the list…I’m holding my breath for numbers 9 and 10 - surely they’ll be written for someone besides me!!!  I’ve had a lack of focus here since I started several years ago…I just have too many interests and this is my personal blog…but we’re going to work on bringing back the focus.

This is a big, big apology to those of you who’ve been reading awhile as well as any newer readers - and a very big thank you to the bloggers inspiring me.

I’m not making any promises to more frequent posting right now, but fewer rants, more useful posts rather than excuse posts (this is an excuse post, but it’s also a revelation post), and a better outlook on this chaos I’m transforming into normalcy!

New habits for the week:

• I will keep my messenger statuses up to date rather than staying signed in all day and night on Google and constantly invisible on Yahoo.
• I will post at least one relevant, useful post here each week, even if its really short or just half of what I wanted to write.
• I will spend at least an hour a week working on new themes for wordpress.  I’m still learning to write themes, but this site is getting a custom makeover and its time to get started!

Not much, but its a start…setting little goals and working little things into your daily routine is supposed to be the best way to make change work.  And Adam has said it many different ways in several different posts - no one gets anywhere without taking action!

I need a vacation! 

I posted a few months ago about planning a summer vacation in Spain…While most any destination in Europe would definitely constitute a dream vacation in my book - the beautiful, natural serenity of the south Pacific islands would be even better!

If friendly people and breathtaking surroundings are important parts of your ideal vacation, consider visiting Fiji.  More than 300 islands create a chain of exotic adventure for every taste, whether you want to sip a fruity drink on the white, sandy beaches or explore the gorgeous waterfalls and trek through nature.  Fiji hotels are just as varied as the adventures - choose from luxurious resorts and spas or budget inns perfect for backpackers.

Between Australia and Fiji is a small piece of France called New Caledonia.  The capital city, Noumea, is a haven for water lovers - especially those seeking a luxurious vacation.  Noumea hotels are near a variety of attractions, including the largest lagoon in the world where visitors can scuba dive along the “Great Reef” and examine hundreds of exotic sea creatures.  

Enjoying all the South Pacific has to offer is easy in gorgeous Vanuatu.  Hotels range from simple, but comfortable, economy stays to pampering, oceanfront beach clubs and the selection of things to do in Vanuatu is remarkable.  Unsurpassed nightlife, some of the best shopping and handmade wares in the South Pacific, and every water sport you could possibly desire are just a few of the things awaiting guests to Vanuatu. 

For an exotic adventure vacation that’s affordable, check out tropical Cairns on the coast of Australia.  Diving, snorkeling and sailing are just as popular as sunning by the beach.  If water’s not your thing, hot air balloons, hang gliding, or for the really brave skydiving are also available.  Cairns hotels include affordable beach resorts, budget inns, and inexpensive cabins and villas for a range of tastes. 

I wish I was sending the kids to grandma’s and hopping on a plane!  While they all sound nice, I think I would rather visit Cairns and see if I could overcome my fear of heights with some hang gliding — after trying out snorkeling!  Where would  you go?

*This is a sponsored post from CheaperThanHotels, the best place for affordable accomodations in the South Pacific and around the world!     

Maybe that should say “Bloggers - listen up.  AdSenseBoy beware”?

Is making money on AdSense really possible?  According to  Mindaugas Lipskas, AKA AdSenseBoy, it’s easy.  It’s just a matter of spamming blogs, forums, and YouTube posts with his pricey software!

I’m usually not too bothered by comment spam.  I use askimet and most of the comments that make it through are legitimate comments.  Spammers typically use a program that posts comments automatically to several blogs at once or they may simply hire a comments submitter to visit blogs or forums and paste a short spam comment.

This is considered a “black hat SEO technique” and is highly frowned upon by the search engines — often resulting in domain blacklisting.  It is a sorry attempt, usually by newbie marketers, to gain backlinks (or incoming links) that will increase search rankings.

So this comment was in my spam folder this morning.  No links in the body of the comment, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my post — not to mention, the grammar and sentence structure SUCKS!!!

Curious about the latest online money making scam (and who so rudely spammed my blog), I clicked on over to the AdSenseBoy forum.  There’s this program he sells - $150 - called blog comment poster.  It will supposedly get through spam filters and be welcomed by blog owners as a legitimate comment, gaining you an illegal backlink while hopfully keeping your website off the blacklists  pushing your website to the top of the search engines…Does it sound too good to be true? - it probably is.

In the meantime, bloggers are having to deal with this bs that will more than likely be a waste of money to the poor newbie that bought it. 

Now, the only thing that really bothers me about this comment generator script is that there are lots of people throwing away there cash on this junk — even if it happens to work, it’s still black hat SEO and its only a matter of time before you’re moving domain names because you’ve destroyed the one you had.  That’s my opinion anyway.

Then I came across a thread that really struck a nerve.  I feel that any webmaster that thinks its fun and games to spam another webmaster deserves a reply — if nothing else, I felt obligated to reply to this thread in defense of the blogosphere as a whole!

AdSenseBoy must feel a need to protect himself from people like us (the bloggers his comment poster software targets) — I wonder why he doesn’t want his members to hear my opinion? (Maybe because it’s a scam, but that’s just my opinion)

Whatever the reason, AdSenseBoy quickly censored me.  My post was removed from his forum and my account deleted…I wasn’t notified, just ignored.  I had a feeling that would happen, so I made sure to save a copy of the post that was removed.   You can read what I said to say to AdSenseBoy and his Blog Comment Poster users here.

I’m a bit stubborn, not to mention a bit appalled by being censored, so I set up a new account and left another post.

It was removed soon after and I no longer have access to the website — Yes, I’ve been BANNED! 

I just wrote a post about internet censorship for Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day so this is a rather timely example of how internet censorship can work on a smaller, personal level.  Thankfully, I still have the right to express myself here on my own webspace.

Other bloggers need to be aware of this spam tool.  Because the comment contains no links, there is a chance it will not be caught by your spam filter and could be published, like this example of a poorly written comment from the Blog Comment Poster (scroll to the bottom of the page)  — No why someone would click an ad with that many misspellings and terrible grammar is beyond me

How do you spot an automated blog comment?

Someone using the Blog Comment Poster from AdSenseBoy could possibly manage to bypass your spam filters and publish their link on your blog.  The comments are typically made on an older post, not the most recent.  The only link is in the url field — but the comment will more than likely have absolutely nothing to do with your post. 

Why Should Bloggers Delete These Comments?

In my opinion, we should do all we can as a blogging community to stop the webmasters using this black hat technique from seeing any sort of success.  These website owners are selfish and would rather detract from our work to gain their own success rather than working for it themselves.  The point that bothers me — I took the time to write this and you can’t even take the time to read it and comment yourself…yet you expect me to throw you a link???  I don’t think so!!!

What else can you do to protect the blogosphere from people like AdSenseBoy?

Help me spread the word. 

• Join the AdSenseBoy forum and leave your own opinions. 
• Email AdsenseBoy, Mindaugas Lipskas, at any of these addresses and tell him your thoughts: contact@soft-news.net or manxp@freemail.lt or  mindaugas@lipskas.com 
• Share this information with as many bloggers as you can!!!

 I’ll be posting soon about my thoughts on this program, Blog Comment Poster, from an internet marketer point of view.  Examining the few strongpoints of the script as well as the many, any possible downfalls and first-hand experiences from users.

If you’ve used Blog Comment Poster from AdSenseBoy to post comments automatically on blogs, share your success or failures in the comments (please take the time to write them yourself)

Bloggers…what are your thoughts?  I won’t censor your opinions like AdSenseBoy did mine

AdSenseBoy, legally known as Mindaugas Lipskas, sells a program called Blog Comment Poster.  The $150 download is essentially  a spam tool that targets bloggers.  It posts comments automatically to blogs, claiming to bypass spam filters and generate backlinks that are recognized by the search engines.  The funny thing is, the program creator’s comment was stuck in my spam filter!

I posted a reply on the AdsenseBoy forum, voicing my thoughts on the comment poster program as well as the response to a user who was contacted by a blog owner and accused of spamming.  Within the hour, my post was removed and my account was deleted — did someone feel threatened?!

Here’s the post that was removed…you can read the original thread in the link above:

This is pathetic!!!!!

I found Adsense Boy’s comment promoting this forum in my SPAM comments — never even seen the beauty of being published!!!!

Now, if the guy selling you this program is getting stuck in the filters with his own comments - my thoughts would be that you’re more than likely WASTING YOUR MONEY thinking you’ll get higher rankings by pissing off publishers!!!!

Think about it — how much sense does that really make??? Publishers have the power to make or break you…publishers, bloggers, and writers are the ones ruling the search engines — if this weren’t true, you guys wouldn’t be trying every black hat trick you can to gain links from their sites…am I wrong???

Instead of laughing about the blacklist your website is quickly moving toward using this technique — maybe you should team up with those powerful bloggers and get them on your side?

Did you know, that for probably less cash than you’re feeding to this guy, you could have one of these bloggers actually write a post about your website…not just giving you backlinks - but strong, keyword-rich anchor links that make the search engines smile!!!

And - best of all - you won’t look like an idiot that’s despised by half the internet, your website may actually rank high, and your business may really profit.

Best of luck with this bs guys

As a writer, I know that this is NOT the way to move up in the world of online marketing

Cheers!

Danielle
http://www.onemoreword.com

I don’t see anything offensive in that post, but it was deleted from the AdSenseBoy Forum.  Why?

There’s much, much more to this story.  I’ve actually been banned from the forum and from a couple of the product pages, including the blog comment poster page!  More tomorrow!

No, I’m not ranting about another bad business experience :-)  But I did get a chance to visit the grumpy old man at Drum’s Tires here in Rock Hill myself Monday and he was every bit as rude as my tree man made him sound!  This little hole-in-the-wall tire store was like stepping back in time — into the slavery era!!!  The poor old guy working for grumpy old Mr. Drum said whatever he had to to not make the problem the fault of the tire store…and had nothing to say when I said I understood that he had to watch what he said to me so he wouldn’t lose his job. 

We did manage to get our money back for the tire we were overcharged for to begin with - I’m not fun when I feel I’m wronged…sort of like a nagging mom when you miss curfew or a lawyer that just drills the suspect….the old man said he’d give us our money back because “he didn’t want to deal with us again”…..I guess you’re an ok customer until Drum’s Tires screws up and they have to fix their own mess — then they want rid of you! 

The old man wouldn’t give the money to me — had to walk all the way back outside the store (very slowly I may add) so he could give it to my tree man instead!  So, yes, these uneducated black men working for him very well may be slaves — Mr. Drum seems to be living in the days of yore :-)  We think the fact that my tree man has long hair maybe part of the reason for the trouble!!

King’s Tire of Rock Hill, right down the road from Drum’s and closer to our home, gave us excellent, super-fast service and took care of the tire with no complaints….. so we’ll be using them for our tire needs from now on.

What else am I up to??

My past posts about my trial of Zerosmoke managed to get the attention of zerosmoke and I received a tube of crave control to make the quitting easier.

I started using my magnets again yesterday — not smoking at all during the treatments now (I think I should have done that the first time).  I’m not going to post about Zerosmoke everyday, but I will keep you updated

I will hopefully be smokefree next week!

My tree man just called me from Drum’s Tire in Rock Hill.  Bad customer service seems to be a growing trend these days - what’s the world coming to when lying, cheating, uncaring, selfish, rude, and hateful attitudes are seen in business owners and public officials rather than hardened criminals and troublemakers???

 So, the owner of this Rock Hill tire store got in my tree man’s face and cussed him out because we needed something done about a tire THEY replaced last week that blew today. 

First of all, when they put the new tire on, we were charged $40 more than we were charged a few weeks before for front tires.  The reason for this was because these were supposedly old-school rims that split or something.  They’re supposed to be really dangerous to change, so it cost more.  That makes sense — it would have been nice if they would have mentioned it beforethey asked for an extra 40 bucks, but ok.

Today, the only guy in this tire store that can change this type of rims — well, he’s off until Monday of course.  My tree man explains that he’s in the middle of doing something (this is an old dump truck) and needs to get back to it.  If he drives on the tire, he’s told by the really rude owner of Drum’s Tires, then they’re not responsible for the damage to it anymore.

Ok, so — do we sit and wait here until Monday or what dude?

They have to take the tire off and leave it there.  The truck’s a dooley, so it can still go without it and the job in progress can get finished.  Great!

The place is empty.  The owner’s there and 3 other guys are standing around.  But no one can take this damn tire off so my tree man can go — and the owner has the nerve to cuss him, huh???  I’m glad I’m here at home!!!  I may have just lost it if I were there!

I just got another phone call — it seems, at least in my opinion, that Drum’s Tires here in Rock Hill may not know anything about tires!!! 

Someone finally decided to remove the tire — the dangerous one that the owner “wouldn’t take off if you paid him $100″ (some owner, huh?) — and it wasn’t a split rim like they had said, like we paid an extra $40 for, but a regular ordinary tire (that still shouldn’t have blown a week after it was mounted).

So all is good, right?  Drum’s Tire charged us an extra $40 for no reason — but our ordinary tire could be fixed and my tree man could be on his way, right?

It’s not that easy with this tire store…at least not when you’re dealing with the grumpy old owner it seems.

Magically — a rubber piece that was needed to fix the tire wasn’t there.  Maybe the man that would have to fix the tire when it was a split rim took that piece home until Monday as well?  I don’t know, but the tire will still not be fixed until Monday and the Drum’s Tire owner guy continued to be rude and unfriendly.

Will we be refunded the $40 we were overcharged?  The way this guy sounds, it won’t surprise me if he tries to charge us for the repair!!! 

I’ll update on Monday when the tire will supposedly be ready…but from the way it looks now, we will never use Drum’s Tire of Rock Hill again and would definitely not recommend them unless you want a grumpy old man in your face!

John Kehm’s Facebook PPC Secrets isn’t much different than the throngs of other “secrets” up for sale all over the internet - except this particular “secret” is being marketed with a killer sales letter that he has no right to use!

Everyday, hundreds - possibly thousands - of internet marketers (and wannabe internet marketers) contract the services of ghostwriters to prepare the content they use to profit from the things they promote.  Most of these webmasters, entrepreneurs, and business owners understand the importance of paying for things they request…and the really good ones understand how essential it is to never tick off a writer — especially experienced SEO writers!

But, there’s always a handful of lowlifes that have to make a bad name for everyone. 

John Khem and his Facebook PPC Secrets is just one of many, many copyright thieves.  This site was recently started as an attempt to protect copywriters from copyright theft.  Then there are the mass amounts of bloggers seeing their material republished verbatim by people like Fery Kurniawan Tjahyono   - yet another content thief.

Copyright thiefs - beware!  Writers are joining together to put a stop to this nonsense.  We’re standing up and using those talents that are bringing you profits for free to show the world just how quickly their money can be stolen from thieves like you — If you refuse to pay for the materials you’re selling and the content that promotes it, why would anyone believe your big “secret” actually works?

Copyright theft is a no-no and can be severely punished in a court of law.  If I have my way…these scumbags will either pay what they owe immediately or will suffer greatly shelling out royalties later on!  Stolen content may make you a few quick bucks — but in the end the John Kehns and Alvin Ohs will be brought to light and the profits will come to an abrupt halt.

If you happen to buy John Khem’s Facebook PPC secrets, or have already bought it, I hope it was worth it.  If it was, how about asking this copyright violator why he couldn’t afford to pay for the sales letter he’s using? 

*I would like to update this to say John Khem has now paid for the use of the sales letter promoting his product and Fery no longer publishes stolen content.   Need help stopping an internet thief?  My partners and I can get results