I really enjoy blogging. A few years ago, I took a break from my personal blog. I stayed away for almost two years, and only recently came back to it by creating this site. The past few years I focused on my niche sites, and although they did well. I really missed the blogging communities I was involved with. I enjoy interacting with others, and one of the ways I expressed that was through my personal blog.
One might ask if I enjoyed my old personal blog so much why did I stop writing? The reason was simple, my niche websites took off, and I found myself spending a lot of personal time looking after them. Monetarily, I honestly wasn’t expecting them to do as well as they did. I’m pretty unorthodox in my approach to online monetization. So no, I don’t follow all the “SEO rules” for creating a successful site that’s main focus is online monetization.
If you’ve been visiting my virtual home for a little while you might have noticed a few changes I’ve made recently. I’m really enjoying them, so I thought I would share them with you too.
- Twitterlink Comments created by Andy Baily
- Keyword Luv by Stephen Cronin
If you’re a Twitter user you might enjoy this recent installation on Celebrate Life. For those not familiar with Twitter, is a social networking and microblogging service enabling users to interact with others using 140 characters or less. If you really what some is saying, why not add them to your Twitter list? You can also include your Twitter information here at Celebrate Life, your Twitter name will appear directly under appear URL information.
By the way, say hello to Amber. She’s the unsuspecting model I used to show off the WordPress Twitter addon. If you get the chance, please stop by Amber Garner’s blog and say hello. She recently graduated college. Her expertise is in Advertising and Publicity. Not only did Amber recently complete college, her website is fairly new too, having been created this past June. Check out Amber’s take on Robert Frost’s popular poem, The Road not Taken. I enjoyed reading how this applied to her life. You can follow her tweets @amberlgarner and even subscribe to Amber’s RSS feed.
I first saw it mentioned on Kim Castleberry’s website. I don’t know why I took so long to install this. Ok, I know why I didn’t install this. With my first personal blog I used to get a ton of spam. I always appreciated the legitimate comments I received, but I disliked when I stepped away from the internet for a while since my return was always greeted with spam linked with keywords upon my return. Uhm, yippee? Sure they all went into the spam folder, but I still disliked weeding through all that mess. I always made a habit to go through my spam in case. A legitimate comment somehow found its way there. Thankfully that rarely happened, but it didn’t stop me from checking.
If you’re new to social media or simply want to keep up to date with what’s going on, stop by Kim’s site. She has a wealth of information located there. You’ll even find numerous Blogging tutorials too. Kim can be found on Twitter, just look for @AskKim. Snatch Kim’s latestet updates by subscribing to Kim’s RSS feed.
If you’re looking for other ways to reward your commenters check out these five community friendly WordPress Plugins.
Personal note…
I really appreciate people that spend time greeting their visitors, Amber and Kim take the time to respond to the comments left by their visitors. I’ve always liked seeing that since I know they’re reading what their visitor’s comments. At times it’s hard to respond to comments, so for those who do I really appreciate it. Thanks Amber and Kim, it’s appreciated.
WordPress Plugins acting whacky
Let me know how you like the WordPress Plug-ins. Keyword Luv, is my most recent addition. I installed it this morning. Tested it out and it seems to be working fine, however if you do run into any issues please drop me a line via my contact form.
Question: What are some of the ways you reward your vistors? Drop us a note in the comment section.
Thanks for the plug! 🙂 Someday when I have enough of a following for it to be beneficial, I’ll be sure to return the favor, because your blog is great! I love the recipes and nutrition tips. And I always appreciate your comments on my posts! That’s the way I reward commenters at this point – I make sure to read what they say and reply relevantly. At some point I’ll add the top commentators widget and perhaps feature some in posts.
You’re welcome @Amber,
I’ll be mentioning you again.
I need to post more recipes, I always find those take some time to do, not the smoothies but the actual food preparation. I really need to start using MacGourmet Deluxe more that makes things so easy.
I enjoy commenting at your spot, finding the time to comment anywhere at times can be challenging but it”s worth it. I enjoy interacting with people in the real world and online too. 🙂
Yeah, I’m taking advantage of the keyword luv plugin. I haven’t installed this on my site because I get enough spam as it is, and I want the few academics/poets/writers/teachers who are combing through entries and comments very carefully to not have to deal with slightly more elaborate variants on “great job.” That doesn’t mean I’m not aware that I have to reward my commentators: I just have to do it other ways.
I probably should drop a link to the entry I’m pushing keywords for. Thanks so much for using this plugin.
I’ll take a look at Amber’s blog soon. Thanks for the heads-up!
Heya @Ashok @gettysburg address analysis,
I get a lot of spam too, but since first comments are always moderated the spam doesn’t get through. It remains in my spam folder. Installing a spam plug in like Akismet or Defensio is very effective too, so I haven’t had an issue with spam on this site or my heavily trafficked sites.
Yep stop by Ambers spot when you get the chance. 🙂
Oh, you should add Twitter @Anywhere also to check advantage of the new Twitter features. You can check that out on my site. It’s the tweet box and also when you mouse over a Twitter name it pops open a card so you can easily follow them.
Thanks @Wayne Howard,
I’ll definitely check it out; I heard about it yesterday. I really haven’t had the chance to check it out, but I will. Does that replace the WordPress Twitter Plugin, or do I use that in addition to what I already have?
I like you use the top commenter plugin as well as @Reply- and Threaded comments. I think it is important to reply to comments.
@Rose,Thanks for stopping by.
I love the @Reply and the threaded comments too. I did use an @Reply that included a permalink, but that was causing a lot of issues with my feed, I tried a few so I had to drop the link.Not sue what the issue was?
I believe it’s important to reply to comments too. I can see how it can be difficult, for some that get a huge amount, but I still think acknowledging or at least taking time to reply to those that have questions is vital. It’s sad, that some people don’t see it that way. I enter a community to interact with the owner and its visitors. If the owner doesn’t make me feel welcome, I won’t return.
Currently I have comluv and I do like to respond to my all my comments, as soon as i am aware that they are there… I have been wanting to install Twitterlink ever since I saw it @ Live and Love…Out Loud!!! I think I am just going to jump in and do it.
There are a lot of things I can not do with my current theme, they don’t work correctly, can’t wait to change it!
Heya @Maira Grove,
I try to do the same thing too, respond to all my comments, at times it takes longer times than others to get it completed. I haven’t heard of that Plugin I’ll have to check it out.