Top Blog Posts of January 2010 on TycoonBlogger.com

January is quickly coming to an end and at the end of each month I like to take some time and reflect on my blog performance. I take a look at my analytics, keywords that are driving traffic to my blog, and what my most popular posts are. This gives me a sense of what is working and what is not.

Just to give a quick recap, this is the 11th month of the Tycoon Blogger blog and I am happy to report that this blog has seen consistent growth in visitors each month. In January, over 14,000 visitors stopped by to read some blog promotion tips. The cool part is that Google is starting to give this blog some love and is referring a bulk of that traffic. Here are the top 5 traffic sources for the month of January:

1. Google
2. Adgitive
3. Direct
4. MyBloggerTricks.com (I am in the Entrecard bucket list)
5. Entrecard

I must admit that I am a little surprised that my Twitter traffic and my Blog Engage traffic was down pretty significantly versus the previous month. I am not all that concerned as long as my Google traffic continues to rise. As we all know Google traffic = Adsense Money

If you missed any posts this month, here is a quick recap about what I was blogging about this month

I am hoping that you found this round up interesting… I know that I really like reading about other bloggers monthly wrap ups. In fact, I am off to visit my favorite blogs right now to see what they have been up to.

Does your wife/husband support your blogging?

It takes a lot of time to promote a blog and create solid blog content. There are a small percentage of bloggers that blog full time and earn a living from it.  The vast majority of bloggers have day jobs and blog at night and on the weekends.  If you are married or have a significant other, this could cause some issues and tension in the relationship.  In this post, I wanted to share a little about my personal situation and I also want to open it up in the comments and see if anyone else has similar issues and perhaps some suggestions on how to strike a balance.

I work a typical workday, Monday through Friday 8-5.  My blogging routine starts at around 8:00 pm, I will lay in bed with my laptop and watch TV while talking with my wife and doing some blog related activity.  I have always been good at multi-tasking so this routine seems to work well for me.  More times than not, my wife will fall asleep around 8:30.  She blames me for not being engaging and  not talking to her for the reason that she goes to bed early.  On the weekends, I like to spend more time with my blog and last weekend my wife was very angry because in her opinion I was spending too much time on the computer.  I feel that my wife does not truly understand blogging and how much I enjoy it.  When I try to share some success stories with her, I feel that she does not really care and just humors me by saying good job.

I realize that there has be a balance but I guess I am having a hard time getting my wife to undestand what blogging is and what it means to me.

I really wish that she would get off that stupid Facebook and spend her time starting a blog, but I doubt that will happen as she thinks blogging is stupid.

[stextbox id="info"]What does your significant other think about your blogging?  Are they supportive?  Does your significant other blog?[/stextbox]

Domain Names for Bloggers

We all can agree that if you are looking to be succeed in blogging you should invest in your own domain name, right?  I know there are exceptions and I do know a few high quality bloggers that blog on free platforms but the majority of serious bloggers shell out the 8 bucks for a domain and 66 bucks a year for hosting.

plug alert- if you are looking for $66 a year blog hosting, check out Fatcow…here is a link..

Now that I got my affiliate plug out the way (It just seemed to fit right in) I want to discuss the three main options that bloggers have when deciding which blog name to choose.  In my opinion selecting a domain name is one of most important decisions you can make and has the potential to make or break you in the blogging world.  I know several bloggers who have regrets about the name they chose but are in to deep to change now.  My advice is to think long and hard before settiling on a name for your blog.  Most blog names fit into three categories:

Keyword Rich Domains- These domains contain keywords that describe what your blog is about.  For example, MakingMoneyOnline.com or BloggingTips.com.  The obvious advantage here is that this will help with SEO and your ability to rank high for those keywords.

Brandable Domains – These are domains that are catchy or easily remembered and lend themselves to being able to be branded over time.  I would put sites like Blogussion.com and BlogFluence.com in this category.

Your name as your blog name - Some of the most famous blogs actually take the name of the blogger who owns it, like ChrisBrogan.com or Serradino. Over time, your name becomes your brand.  I like this option, the only problem is that DanKeller.com is already taken.

I thought it would be fun to add a poll to this post to see what types of domain names you like best for blogs.

If you are looking for some brandable blogging domain names, take a look at some names from my portfolio that I am willing to part with..Let me know if interested.

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BlogOlympics.com

BlogsoftheWorld.com

DailyBlogContest.com

DoFollowMovement.com

PimpBlogger (I loves this one )

SubmitMyBlog.com

VlogHub.com (any vloggers out there?)

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What is Co-Blogging? and 7 reasons why it might be a good idea

Co-Blogging, also know as collaborative blogging, is a type of blog where there are more than one author that contributes content.  Typically these blogs are centered around a common theme like social media, blogging tips, or technology.  The set up around the blog can happen in many ways.  In most cases the blog is owned by one person and all contributors share in the profits.  There are a variety of co-blogging arrangements and it is safe to assume that each blog has a slightly different business model and arrangement for those that are involved in the project.  The concept of co-blogging is not new but it seems to gaining popularity in past 6 months or so.

Some examples of collaborative blogs are:

Blogussion

Blogger Luv

Blogging Tips

Famous Bloggers

Now that we know a little bit more about co-blogging, lets talk about the advantages of co-blogging:

10 Reasons why Co-Blogging might be a good idea

1. Shared Responsibilities- This is the most obvious advantage and the most powerful one as well.  The writing and promoting will not fall solely on your shoulders
2. Motivating – This is similar to having a workout partner.  If you have someone else involved, they will push you and motivate you to get the job down and also help push you to new heights.
3. Added Depth- By adding different voices and experiences to your blog, you are adding depth and insight that goes beyond what only one contributor can achieve.
4. Promotion – Extra muscle when it comes to promoting your posts and blogs is one of the most attractive aspects of co-blogging.  Let’s say you have 5 bloggers blogging on one blog, you therefore have 5x the twitter followers, 5x the facebook friends and you are already starting out with 5 votes on your favorite social bookmarking sights.
5. New ideas- We have all experience blogger burnout and have experienced times when the blogging ideas are just not flowing.  How great would it be to have fellow bloggers to brain storm with or lean on during these times.
6. Take a break – Similar to the above point, how great would it be to take a week of and go on vacation and know that your blog is being up dated with fresh content and being promoted in your absence..
7. Greater chance to succeed.  We all know how difficult it is to make it as a blogger.  By teaming up with other bloggers you will be increasing your chance to succeed.  I think co-blogging is great for newer bloggers who want to gain exposure as well as established bloggers that may want to lighten the work load on their blog or that want to start a new blog project/

I am sure there are dozens of additional reasons, but I think this is a good start to begin the conversation..

Does C0-Blogging sound like a good idea to you?

If you are nodding your head in agreement then listen up because I have a proposition to make.

I am starting my own collaborative blog over at BlogFluence.com . I am not sure how many bloggers will ultimately take part in the project but my vision is to have at least 5 so as to spread the work around a bit so we can all focus on our main blogs.  In the coming days, I will be posting additional information about the BlogFluence project, so stay tuned.  If you have an interest is discussing this further, please drop me an email at tycoonblogger at gmail dot com.

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What do you think about the concept of co-blogging?  Good idea? or prefer to blog alone?

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Recent wordpress plugins that I installed

I don’t know about you but one of my favorite posts to read are about wordpress plugins.  It seems like I always learn something from those posts and I am introduced to some cool new tools. I thought it would be fun to share the latest plugins that I have activated on this blog

I just took a look at my plugin page and I am amazed that I have 58 plugins installed presently.  I only have 32 activated so I guess that is not too bad.

In this post, I am not going to talk about the basic and must have plugins, I guess these plugins could be considered “nice to have” but not essential.

• Diagonal Advertising Banner Plugin – I wrote about this when I first installed it.  Basically, it adds javascript code to display an ad on  right corner of your blog.
• Instant Weekly Round Up- This is one of favorites as it is a major time savor for me.  This plugin makes it super easy to create a round up post by automating the process.  No more manually copy and pasting links to write your round up and best of posts.
• Sexy Bookmarks- I have experimented with close to a dozen of plugins in this category and I really like this one.    This plugin adds your choice of social bookmark buttons after your post.
• Special Text Box – This is definitely a non essential plugin but I think it adds a lot to a post.  This plugin highlights certain portions of text within your post. [stextbox id="alert"]This is an example [/stextbox]
• Thank me Later - This nifty plugin sends an email to first time commentators and you can customize the message you send out.
• Wapple Architect – this is the plugin I installed to make my blog mobile last month.

These are the most recent six, let me stop there for now.  Stay tuned as I am sure I will write a part 2 follow up to this post at some point.

What are your most recent plugins?  How many plugins are you currently running?  Can anyone beat 32?

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