October 15= Blog Action Day

Ok just a little bit late, but Monetizer didn't want to forget to mention October 15th was Blog Action Day. The concept involved getting as many bloggers as possible to blog about ways to save and protect our environment and the Earth. The official Blog Action Day blog made mention that at least 5,000 blogs had done so, so let me make it 5,001. The Monetizer would like to present some appropriate sites and articles on these very subjects. Many of these ways which include saving or conserving energy will save you money. Useful tips for bloggers and computer users are to turn your computer off when it's not in use, keep lights and other appliances you don't need off, and do not leave the bathroom faucet running while brushing your teeth. These small things will go a long way if enough people can get into the habit of doing them.

Here's 4 articles to check out as well:

Time Magazine's 51 Ways to Save the Environment

101 Easy Ways to Save Energy

50 Quick, Painless Ways You Can Help the Environment Today

Energy Quest on Saving Energy

The Monetizer encourages other bloggers to make mention of this important cause as we can all do a little bit each day to keep Mother Earth alive and well.

Contests & Prizes Galore!

Ok don't get too excited, this is not about a contest from the Monetizer (yet) but from other people online! That's right, one cool thing Monetizer has noticed is how generous other blog sites like to be in giving away stuff like the iPhone, iPods, Nintendo Wii's, Blog Designs, Cash and more! Some of them even win stuff from one contest, then just turn around and give it away to someone in their own contest..Smart thinking!

RockNRollSolo.com has a win a 16gb iPod touch contest going on until November 12th. The iPod Touch is a pretty nifty piece of technology complete with a you guessed it, a touch screen. You can flip through album covers for your music, watch videos or movies, check out your stored pics, and surf the internet all on a 3.5 inch screen! It has a gift avalue of approximately $399. To enter this one, just head over to win a 16gb ipodtouch at rocknrollsolocom and follow the rules!

There's a big bad blogger battle going on between blog legends, Shoemoney and John Chow. Each guy is trying to outdo the other in terms of getting the most RSS subscribers for his blog before the end of this month. Monetizer previously mentioned John Chow's contest which includes a ton of prizes. Since Chow is giving away prizes, Shoemoney decided he will give away a prize a day because he's been slacking in the contest. Head over to Shoe's blog to sign up for his RSS so you don't miss out!

Beyond those big 3, if you want to check out other contests going on you may want to check out this blog: MyBlogContests.com for more great giveaways!

3 Essential Pages Your Blog Needs

Here's 3 essential pages to include amongst your earliest blog posts/entries. If you're just starting out it's a good idea to start your blog with these and make sure you have them linked to on all of your blog pages, posts or entries (in the top navbar, the sidebar or wherever you may choose).

The 3 Essential pages to have in your blog:

1) About Me Page - This basically could and should be your first ever blog post/entry. It is where you define and set the topic, theme and tone for your blog. Establish its overall theme or topic so that readers can easily discern what you will be blogging about. Tell the reader who you are and what you have to offer here. You may want to list interesting facts about yourself and your background as well as how you became interested in the topic of your blog. Make it creative or humorous. Feel free to use a 10 question Myspace survey as part of it, if that helps give readers insight and ideas about you. The "About Me" helps readers connect with the blog and get to know you more. Pretty much any and every blog has it.

2) Contact Me Page - Make a separate page where you list off your email so readers can contact you with questions, feedback and possibly link exchanges. If you want to get fancy, research how to put a scripted Email form on your contact page, making it easier for someone to message you (works best with a blog you're hosting). Also list off any social media sites, bookmarking sites or blog networks you might belong to that are relevant. Examples include Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Myspace, Squidoo, Facebook, MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog and anywhere else associated with blog where you want to network. This may help new people who find your blog join your network on these sites and spread the word!

3) RSS Explained - This one makes sense too, although it really is the most optional of the 3 pages here. On this page you want to put into your own words what RSS means exactly and then include the links for people to subscribe to your blog. Best advice is to drop by the Wikipedia on RSS and put the definition into your own words. Not everyone (self included) had or have the slightest clue as to what RSS means and how it can be beneficial. After the explanation, provide links to subscribe to your feed in a reader or via email. Feedburner provides you with copy & paste code for the "Subscribe to RSS feed" and the "Sign up for Email Updates". Having this page can clue people in to the benefits of subscribing to RSS.

Do you currently have the 3 pages above as part of your blog? If not you should strongly consider adding them into the mix. Try to make the posts dated around the time your blog started. This will serve to make it look like you had them since the start and people have benefited from them, so you won't look like too much of a rookie.. :)

Since this is an experimental blog, The Monetizer has added #2 and #3 in recently. Feel free to check out any of the them above to get an idea what they can look like and then make sure you have them on your blog!

Make Friends at BlogCatalog!

The Monetizer found a great tip on the very cool blog dayjobnuker.com which is helpful to those rookie and startup bloggers looking to get some instant traffic, new readers and subscribers. Monetizer mentioned joining mybloglog.com and blogcatalog.com in an earlier post, and dayjobnuker has also recommended it. The cool thing is you can add friends on both of these nice little blog sites daily. MyBlogLog allows a max of 15 friends to be added each day. However, BlogCatalog allows UNLIMITED friend adds on a daily basis. So basically you can head over and join BlogCatalog if you haven't yet. Submit your blog(s) and await their approval because you want them visible when people stop by your profile. While you wait on that, make sure to fill out the profile, including relevant details about you or what your blog's about, as well as the other social sites that you belong to (Digg, BlogLog, etc).

Once you've had your blog(s) approved and they show on your profile, it's time to go click crazy and get a bunch of new friends. Add as many peeps as you can on a daily basis. If you want to make it targeted traffic (relative to your blog topic), look up groups which relate to your topic or keywords and add the people you find in those communities. Many of them should swing by your profile and perhaps your blog, giving you new traffic and possible fans! It makes sense to use this free little tool, which takes a bit of your time. You can also join groups, neighborhoods and communities on the site. Try looking up those that are relevant to your blog topic(s) and join as many as you can. The idea here is the become visible on community pages and to new blogcatalog readers/friends.

Another subject came up while Monetizer was over there at BlogCatalog. On your blogs that you submit, BlogCatalog will display your blog's latest entries or posts based on your RSS feed. This only works if you have the autodiscovery tags in your blog's template code. Make sure you have this code in your blog's template now!

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title=”Blog Title RSS” href=”http://your_rssfeed_here">

You'll need to change 2 things for the above, the "Blog Title" and "http://your_rssfeed_here". Add your unique blog title and RSS feed URL in those spots and put that line of code in the < head > section of your blog's template. You can also consult Feedburner on how to add the code in for your feed to be autodiscovered. (Note: you may already have it setup if you're using Blogger). The idea here is that someone might click on one of your blogs on BlogCatalog and see a headline or blog entry they want to go read on your blog. Autodiscovery will also help other services, directories and readers find your RSS feed easier as well, so it pays to have that piece of code in your blog template.

So head over to BlogCatalog today, sign up, follow the instructions to add your blog(s), and start making friends!