Yes – I’ve been very remiss in not commenting on your site, but these last few days have been so hectic I’ve been doing everything on the run. I will get there

Happy Christmas to you too, and all the best for 2010,

Cheers,

Martin.

Obviously number 3 – commenting on other blogs is fairly easy and your use of CommentLuv on this site makes it even more attractive. Still thinking about adding CommentLuv to my site.
If you were to leave a comment on my site Martin… I wouldn’t feel offended LOL.

I’m going to finish there, because if I don’t, I’ll just go on and on and my comment will be longer than the ones above.

Merry Christmas Martin and don’t forget… no blogging on Christmas day!
Keith Davis´s last blog ..The eyes have it!

In fact, if you go to http://www.mypickletalksautism.com you’ll see my new site and Thesis design in progress. I hired a designer to do the work. I’m keeping up my current blog while she is working. This weekend I think I’ll spend just looking through Martin’s, Brad’s and Darren’s sites for information about monetizing.

I finally met my goals to write some guest posts, write for a writer’s studio which will pay (if they accept) and wrote something for my local newspaper…hoping they will send some paid free-lance work my way. Hard to believe, but I used to support myself on free-lance assignments (muffled, muffled) years ago, before marriage and kids.

See you both on some other posts/comments!

Corrie
CorrieHowe´s last blog ..100th Post Celebration

Actually I’ve not written any articles at all on how to monetise a blog. But I do seriously recommend reading Darren Rowse’s blog at Problogger.

I did a quick search there for articles on monetising a blog – you can find them here.

Darren has an enormous amount of invaluable information on ProBlogger – well worth subscribing to his feed.

Cheers,

Martin.

If you are trying to monetize your site, then I would suggest checking out my three part series on Keller Hawthorne (sorry for the shameless plug Martin). She has a lot of great tips on how to drive traffic to your website and turn that traffic into dollars. Part three will be published next Thursday and covers off-site marketing which might be particularly helpful to you.

I’m still pretty new to Martin’s site, but based on the category headings there are probably some real gems here that would help too. If they are anything like the posts I have been able to read so far, then they are definitely gems. Perhaps Martin could suggest some posts of his for us to read?

Brad
Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Largest Social Media Study to Date Released – What Does it Mean for Small Business?

Wow, thank you for the kind words.

Corrie,

It sounds like you have a knack for finding the kind of sites that speak to people, but may be hidden gems garnering little traffic. Since you have a loyal following already, perhaps your blog could serve two purposes.

First, continue to share your joys and tribulations as you journey with your son and his Asperger’s. These stories seem to bring hope and joy to others who have family members with special needs.

Second, become a guide to these people by helping them find other sites that are more specific to their particular concerns. Write blog posts on these sites and send traffic to them. Organize your blog roll by category to help them find these blogs better.

Pick 10 to 15 blogs that have decent traffic and community and be active on these blogs every week. Pick 20 others that you would like to help grow then rotate visiting them 5 each week (5 week 1, 5 week 2, etc.) so that you get through all 20 in one month. This will give you a total maximum of 35 blogs which may help you pare down your list.

I think this strategy will allow you to help many people and at the same time bring you more traffic to your site. It would help fill a need that I see in your comments above. I hope this helps.

Brad
Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Blog Walking: The Shameless Self-Promoter Keller Hawthorne (2/3)

Corrie, I don’t know your niche at all, so I’m not that clear on the distinctions you’ve drawn above.

However, I’d see two ways of narrowing down the number of blogs you’re following:

Either focus on and follow blogs on autism (since that’s what your son has) or…

Focus on and follow the blogs from which you get the best reaction, since they will be attracting other readers in their own right and the more times you appear on them the more likely their new readers will be to visit your site.

We could talk more about this when we’re on Skype, if you like, but those would be my thoughts.

Brad probably has some good input too. His blog is well worth a visit, by the way, it’s very nicely laid out and he’s done some good community building stuff.

Martin.

So I started off picking up bloggers in the autism community, but have been picking up parent and adult, alike, in all areas of special needs. I’m picking up parents with “neuro typical” children (the community would call them). I’m picking up people from the faith community and people from the humor blogs.

My strategy has been following and commenting on blogs with few followers and few comments. I know they don’t have a lot of clout, but when I show up on their site, I’m noticed. They in turn have become loyal followers.

I have started following and commenting on some sites with larger followers. Some I’ve gotten noticed, and some I have not.

Suggestions, comments. Anything will help.
CorrieHowe´s last blog ..Purple Man