It’s hard to believe that we’re a little over half-way in our 30-day blogging challenge. And have we learned anything? Yes, Kaye, Daydreaming David, et al. were right. Apparently, David Cassidy is bloggable (and I still have to ask, “Seriously?”). But now for the real question: “Is content king?” If we write the content, will the search engines pick us up, and send people in our direction?

And the answer is a qualified yes. Our traffic has picked up substantially since we began our 30-day challenge, but it’s interesting to see where the traffic is coming from: 42% comes directly to us, 47% are referred to us from other sites, and 11% comes through the search engines.

I assume that the direct traffic is people who know us, whether because of having come across us in prior posts or already being in contact with us for some reason or other. After all, staingirlz.com is not yet widely known. The breakdown of the referred traffic is interesting: the bulk of our referrals are coming from daydreaming.blogspot.com (no surprise there if you have been following the David Cassidy posts and the comments).  I would hazard a guess that a good chunk of our direct and referral traffic is coming due to Kaye’s networking with other David Cassidy bloggers.

Surprisingly, we are also getting referrals from digg and facebook.  I have no clue as to the facebook referral.  We have not yet branched out there.  But digg stems from an article submitted to digg.com in September:  Socialist Propaganda and Death Panels for Granny, Oh My!  It got very little traffic back then, but seems to be bringing us more traffic since the beginning of our 30-day challenge.

And as for the search engines?  They are picking us up, but not in the same proportion that we receive traffic from other sources.  I have noticed, however, an uptick as time goes on.  During the two weeks preceding our blogging challenge, we only received 1 hit from the search engine.  During the first 15 days of our challenge, we received 45 visits via a search engine.  Still not fabulous, but a major increase and the trend appears to be a steady increment.  I had read elsewhere that it takes three to six months for search engine traffic to build up.

So what have we learned so far?  If you write it, they will come, albeit slowly.  We have been at this only 16 days, but I think that consistent posting does increase traffic somewhat.  Other approaches appear to be more effective.  Kaye’s social networking with like-minded people on  David Cassidy proved to be a very effective way of bringing traffic to our site.  And submission to other sites, such as digg also appears to drive traffic.  We will give you a final report at the end of 30 days. 

During our blogging journey, my buddy Staingirl Kaye and I occasionally have had this thing about spinning our wheels trying to figure out some blog process. And then, we would discover that whatever we were trying to do was really quite simple. We’d like you to benefit from our many hours of cogitating on some or other blog thing, so that you won’t go through the head banging. So from time to time, we will publish brief “how to” articles that will help you.

Our most recent challenge was the Amazon Affiliate button. We haven’t discussed this in depth in our blog, but it is our dream to one day have this burgeoning blog site that makes all sorts of money for us. We are starting off with the Amazon affiliate program. We had already figured out how to insert a pretty link into our blog posts (a future how-to post), but I could not for the life of me see how we could possibly place a stand-alone Amazon button on the right hand sidebar for our readers.

We use the Wordpress blogging platform and Atahualpa theme. I had looked through what I thought was the pertinent Wordpress documentation, and had checked out the menu completely. We were stumped. Somewhere I came across reference to a forum at bytesforall.com, the company that created the Atahualpa theme. I found my answer in one of the posts when I punched in “Amazon”.

1) In the Admin toolbar, click on Appearance.

2) Click on Widgets

3) On the right hand side, you will see several available widgets. On the left hand side, you will see several sidebar categories.

4) Drag the box marked “Text” in the “Available Widgets” section to the specific sidebar referenced on the left where you want to place your widget. In this case, I dragged it to the “Right Sidebar”.

5) A box will open. Copy the script of your widget into the text box. Click here to learn how to create an Amazon Affiliates Widget for your website.

6) If you want your widget to have a label, write that label in the title bar. I chose to leave the title bar blank for the Amazon Affiliates widget.

7) Close the box. You will find your widget on the right sidebar.

VERY IMPORTANT: Before this process, the right sidebar of staingirlz.com already had a couple of items, which had come standard with the platform (blogroll, recent posts, etc.); however, after placing the Amazon Affiliates widget there, those links were no longer available in the drop menu of the right sidebar. It appears that by manually inserting my Amazon widget, I had overridden the default because they all disappeared from the sidebar. The fix was simple. I dragged the “available widget” to the “right sidebar” button, and voila! Everything was as it should be, including our Amazon Affiliates button.

Whether you are blogging for money or for pleasure, there are costs involved in maintaining your website. The Amazon Associates program offers a relatively simple vehicle for bringing in some cash to cover your costs, assuming you have readers who will buy through your website. The process of getting the widget is not rocket science. But if you are a middle-aged non technical blogger like me, it can take you a while to figure things out the first time. Staingirl Kaye and I hope that the instructions below make the process easier and faster for you. NOTE: These instructions assume you have already established an Amazon Associates account.

1) Once you have signed into your Amazon Associates account, click on the “Widgets” tab above.

2) Click on the “Add to your Web page” button of the widget you select.

3) On the left hand side, review your display options as well as the color and design to see whether you wish to accept the default display. Most of the options are self-explanatory. This article will discuss the changes most likely to affect your blog: size and color.

4) First, select the desired design displayed toward the bottom in the “Color and Design”.

5) The last option within the “display option” portion is size. The drop down menu for “Select size” contains standard widget sizes.
6) If these standard sizes do not fit within the space, click on “Custom size” Select. Select the desired width by moving the arrow on the line in the “width” section or by writing the desired width in the box provided. The widget will appear in the preview section to the right in the selected size. As a matter of reference, the ideal width of the widget for our sidebar is as of this writing 180. You may have to paste the widget more than once into your webpage to verify the appropriate size. Select the desired number of columns and rows.

7) You may change some color options for your widget by clicking on “Customize it….” in the “Color and Design” section. Click on the color boxes for each area available and select the correct color in the spectrum.

After accepting the widget as is, or making your preferred changes, click on “Add to my web page”.

9) A new screen pops up, click on “copy”.

10) Paste script in the appropriate place for your blog or website.

Staingirl Kaye and I were so lucky. Thanks to my teasing brother, the name of our website and business had dropped into my lap (check out about staingirlz.com). We knew that staingirlz.com was our brand, was easy to remember, and would resonate with our target market. And the possibilities of what we could do with the name are endless – please ignore the fact that we are not there yet. We did not look to convert our name to a keyword rich name to steer more traffic, we figured we didn’t need to. Check out Problogger’s take on the brandable vs. keyword name.

We wanted to register our domain name as soon as possible. After all, we had heard stories of people losing names to cyber squatters and we didn’t want that to happen to us. The plan was to get the name registered right away and then take our time setting up the website. We could just look for a domain registrar, click a couple of times, and be done.

Well, no task is that simple when you have a lawyer and a meticulous software engineer working together. Of course we asked people we knew who had their own websites what registrars they used. We looked on the internet – and there is no shortage of advice on the topic. We read the warnings about certain services actually taking ownership of the name, and looked for legitimate registrars that gave us portability.

We learned about features. Did we want to get Whois Guard to protect our privacy? Will our emails be forwarded? Do they forward domain names? What about the pricing? How many versions of our names did we want to forward? Did we want our registrar to be our webhost? How many versions of our name do we register?

Godaddy.com seemed to pop up on everyone’s lists and had by far the greatest market share. We were set to go – or so we thought. Of course, the lawyer had to read the Terms of Service that turned out to be a whopping 14 pages long. And the Domain Name Registration Agreement was a mind-numbing 28 pages long. And let’s not forget the Privacy Policy. There were other agreements, but there was a limit as to how much one person can read – and the registrars must count on this.

Ultimately, we decided to take a pass on Godaddy. Staingirl Kaye found enough negative comments on Godaddy to give us pause. We have no idea as to the validity of these complaints. Staingirl Elle figures that Godaddy is fairly aggressive in its commercialization and a lot of people found it annoying. Apparently, when you attempt to register your domain name the process takes forever as you have to navigate Godaddy’s sales pitch for other services while registering the name.

Also, we were very taken aback when we read in the Registration Agreement that Godaddy provides a free Parked Page Service to its customers. Godaddy may point the domain name to one of its affiliates web pages, place advertising on the page, and “collect and retain all revenue obtained from such advertising.” In our limited experience and research, this was very unusual.

Namecheap.com was another that seemed to pop up. It is not necessarily the cheapest registrar, but we found no negative comments, until after we registered with namecheap.com, and it seemed to be well-respected. Also, Namecheap had several of the features we were looking for. There were a couple of technical issues during the setup that threw us for a loop. Keep in mind that we are two middle-aged bloggers who know nothing about setting up a website. However, the online tech support, although a little on the slow side, guided us through the process and we have now registered staingirlz.com and eight additional permutations.

In hindsight we realize that we probably wrung our hands a little too much. Afterward we selected the big, bad Godaddy as our webhost and are quite happy with them, but of course, that’s another story. In the final analysis, you just want to make sure that you register your domain name with a reputable registrar that will serve only as a registrar and not claim ownership of the name.

Our next post on the topic will delve a little more into issues to look for when selecting and registering your name. Let us know about your experiences, and what you would advise in future should we wish to register more names.

You’ve weighed your decision to go into a business with a friend, and you’ve decided full speed ahead! Well, what are the issues specific to a blog partnership? Given that Kaye and I are just beginning this journey and have very little experience in this area, I did a little research to see what help I could get. And may I say there’s not a lot out there on blog partnerships, and even less on two friends starting a blogging business.

I found an interesting article by Darren Rowse at www.problogger.net, “How to Start a Blog Partnership”. I had a good laugh, but not at Problogger. When I first started thinking about blogging, Problogger was the first site I saw that offered helpful advice. Eventually Kaye bought the book, ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, and we both read it from cover to cover. And we still visit the site for advice. But I digress. No, I had to laugh because Kaye and I had never gotten around to asking the important questions when deciding who to work with.

A lot of the questions were about qualifications and credentials of your blogging partner. Neither Kaye nor I had any blogging experience, let alone credentials. Kaye was familiar with my legal documents for what that’s worth, and I knew that Kaye would be better than me at the technical. We discussed time constraints because we are both working parents. We already had a relationship, and our instant gut reaction was that we would work well together. Actually, we were very excited to find a project that we could work well together on.

In his article, Rowse’s two final pieces of advice were to get verbal, and I cannot stress this enough, and to take it slow. In Parts I and II of this series, I laid out numerous topics for discussion with your business partner. But what are additional issues which come up with blogging, especially amongst friends?

1) Blogging is a writing venture. If your partner will be posting on the blog, you will want to know that she can write. It would be a disaster to begin a business which focuses on writing, only to discover that one of the main writers draws a blank when it’s time to produce or can’t spell.

2) Ego issues need to be set aside. Writing, even on dry topics, can be personal. The writer has to be able to accept constructive criticism from her friend, and the person reviewing the document has to feel free to comment. Also, and this may occur more often amongst friends, you or your partner may find you are writing about something that has happened to one or both of you. You have to be respectful of your friend’s comfort level, or you should both be in agreement as to what, if anything, is off limits to your blog.

3) Decide on the focus of the blog and continuously reassess. Kaye and I conceived of Staingirlz.com as a website targeting a middle-aged female audience with a certain attitude. Because we are beginning bloggers, Kaye and I thought we would be providing a valuable service about beginning a blog and all of the issues which arise on our journey. However, we intend to continue with our main objective and we’ve discussed upcoming posts that align with our initial focus.

4) Coordinate your writing efforts. Kaye and I run all topics by each other. Usually, we take them separately, but we have also done separate blogs on the same topic. See our review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We have also talked about having a Kaye-Elle conversation within one blog post. By coordinating our efforts, we avoid stepping on each other’s toes, and we make sure that our blogs align with the focus of the blog business.

5) Communicate and keep on communicating. Issues will arise or you will get a stellar (or not so stellar) idea. As long as lines of communication are open both ways, your blog partnership should thrive.

This is not an exhaustive list. As I mentioned, we are just getting started in this venture. We’d love to hear from you if you have any additional ideas, tips or issues which arise when blogging with a friend/partner.

You now know why you want to start a business with your friend and the pros and cons of doing business with a friend. You’ve heard the warnings, but you want what Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard have. You want that thriving business. And it can be yours, but keep in mind that a business partnership is similar to a marriage. You must have constant communication. You have to talk before you go into business and then you have to talk again while in business, and keep on talking. So what to talk about?

1) Share your vision, values and goals. Why does your business exist? What are your expectations for the coming year, next five years? What do you each expect to gain from this venture? If you and your friend share the mission and vision of your business, you will both be committed to your common goals. There may be the occasional disagreement regarding some of the small steps taken toward reaching your goals, but overall you will know you are in this for the long haul together. This discussion will be ongoing throughout the course of your business relationship. You will have to plan and prioritize for a week, a month, a client, etc.

2) Discuss the pros and cons of starting a business with a friend. Both you and your friend need to know what you are getting into and what the potential consequences are. In addition to the advantages and disadvantages discussed in Part One, the idiosyncrasies of your specific relationship with your friend and of your business may require further discussion.

3) Talk about the money. You may be surprised at how differently each of you view this issue. How much money will each of you put in? If one of you puts in more money than the other, is there a specific reason? Is it meant to be a loan to the company? What are the expected expenses for the first year? What happens if the business needs more money? What happens when the business begins to make money? Do you plan on plowing the money back into the business, or were you planning on distributions? What expenses will you consider business expenses? Are you planning on running your meals, cars, etc., through the business?

4) Talk about the little things. A dress code may matter, depending on the nature of your business. What are the hours of business? What are your time expectations, work habits, temperament?

5) Talk about the huge things. How will you handle the disagreements? What happens next? Will one of you have veto power? Will you each have an area in which you are expected to have absolute authority? And what if there is no surmounting the disagreement? How quickly do you want to expand? What is your philosophy in handling employees? What happens if one of you marries, divorces, dies, has a child? How do these developments affect each partner’s interests?

6) Talk about the possible end of the business relationship. If one of you dies, what happens to that person’s share? Is it a legacy for your children or does your partner get first right of refusal to purchase, and at what value? What happens if your are splitting up because you can not work together? Who gets to keep the business, or do you split it?

7) Talk to your respective attorneys. The talking points in this blog are only the beginning. Your attorney will likely have more questions particular to your needs. And each of you will want your own attorney to assist you with a written agreement. This agreement will protect your interest in the business, if not your friendship.

The second document you will want is a business plan detailing the mission, vision and goals of the company. You and your partner will want to review it from time to time to make sure you are on track, and you may adjust it if circumstances warrant.

And once you’ve gotten the talking out of the way – well, actually it should never end – enjoy the ride. May you and your friend have a fantastic voyage.