Kelly's World

It’s currently 6.48am, and I’m writing this while I wait for my breakfast to cook. It seems like this is really the only time I’ve had to blog recently (other than the quick photo of the day posts). If it wasn’t for the fact that I am returning to riding my bike this morning, I would currently be on the cross trainer working out and therefore still not have the time to write a post. However, since I’m riding my bike today I thought I would give my knee a bit of a rest in the morning, just to make sure it’s at full strength for the ride.

You read correctly, by the way. Yes, I’m back to riding my bike.

Continue reading

When I was a child, I would rearrange my bedroom at least once a month. I liked the feeling of change, of something new. Of course, it annoyed my mother greatly since I would drag heavy furniture all over the carpet, effectively ruining it. That same feeling has stayed with me throughout my life, even with the most basic of items. The need for something new.

Take the common office notepad, for example. It could be that I’m just a stationery whore, or it could be an extension of my love of all things new. When my notepad is about halfway through I feel the itch. I start wasting pages, writing bigger, aimlessly drawing then telling myself I cant use that page now cause it’s ruined. All of it brings me closer to what I want: a new notepad.

It also extends to my blog; every theme I have lasts only a few months. I start out with the best of intentions, that this is “the one”. I tell myself that any future enhancements will be built upon the new theme and that it’s my “base” and not a whole product. A month goes by, then another. The theme stays the same, I never invest the time to make it something wholly amazing. Then the itch comes, and I install a new theme.

I had the itch today, and I scratched it. Welcome to the new Kelly’s world theme.

It’s called Desk Mess Mirrored 1.5.1 by Edward Caissie, and it’s available on the site for download at http://buynowshop.com/themes/desk-mess-mirrored/. I haven’t changed a thing, purely because I don’t think it needs to be changed. I love it. I showed it to a friend, and her first words were “it’s very you”.

I don’t know if this is “the one”, purely because I’m being realistic this time. What I can say, is that it has all the elements that I was hoping to do with all my former themes. Vector icons at the top, cool background, an overall interesting look to my blog. It’s not just some boring background with a bunch of text for posts over it. It’s visually appealing, and I love that.

Let me know what you think, I would love to hear your thoughts.

I occasionally write sponsored blog posts on my site (I always disclose if it’s sponsored at the start of the post). One of the blogs I subscribe to for my own personal enjoyment, Jenn.nu, does the same. One of the sites that “paid” her to blog was Blog Advertising Store, although when she originally signed up it was called Paying Post.

Her balance eventually reached the threshold required ($100) before they would issue the respective blogger with a payment. Alas, no payment ever came. She has contacted them several times to no avail. It finally became nasty when they tried to block her from their site, but she was able to access it from another location and screenshot all her account details and the opportunities she had completed. Jenn is going to start contacting the people who engaged Blog Advertising Store to get bloggers to write about their business, so they become aware that the BAS isn’t upholding its end of the bargain.

You can read the entire story here on Jenn’s blog.

Just a reminder, if you choose to write sponsored posts on your own site be wary of who you do business with. Spend the time and do a bit of research before signing up with these companies. It doesn’t pay to sell yourself out. Geddit? Pay? This is why I’m not a comedian.

I’ve been using Google Analytics for a while now, using it to track my blog statistics so I know what pages are popular, how people are finding my site etc. Sometimes the results can be the funniest thing, especially when it’s something you didn’t expect.

For example, one of the regular top keywords leading to my site is:

big day out boobs

That’s DEFINITELY not something I ever thought would be a major traffic source to my site. It all stems from my review of 2009′s “Big Day Out” festival on the Gold Coast. Contrary to what the keywords might have you believe, boobs was not a big thing for me. In fact, the term “boobs” only appears when discussing Bullet for my Valentine’s lead singer asking all the women to flash him, and my subsequent curiosity on the world record for most boobs flashed at one time.

Some other keywords that make me giggle:

• Power peeing
• 3 month long rash
• How to put up with bitching at work

Yep, I write about some random stuff!

The most popular page on my entire blog isn’t even my homepage. It’s a review that I did on a new coffee machine we bought at work, the Saeco Modo Mio. In fact, to give you an idea of just how popular the page is, it’s the third link on google if you do a search for Saeco Modo Mio. If you search for Saeco Modo Mio review, it’s the FIRST link! Incredible. If I got paid for every single hit on that page, I’d have a lot of money (not exactly rich, but stoked with all the money I was getting).

Sometimes the attention you get is from the most unexpected means. Perhaps I’ll write a random post on donkeys, see how many hits I get on that. If I add boobs in there somewhere, I’m sure it will be a hit!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

This year I’ve really been focusing on my blog more, trying to make the effort to write more posts. To help “fund” this interest (sorry for the terrible pun) I signed up for google advertising, and a sponsored blog post site, SocialSpark. Not only do I benefit by earning money from my blog, but the actual thought of earning is enough to persuade me to continue writing. I truly enjoy writing, and sharing all my pointless experiences with the world, so it’s pretty ideal.

I had been looking around at paid blogging sites, but they all required the user to just sit around and wait for a specific opportunity to be presented to them. Not fun. Looking around on socialspark.com I was impressed to see it was completely different – the advertiser posts the opportunity in the “marketplace”, and if you’re qualified, you take it. Done! The advertiser benefits by having multiple people take up the opportunity, and the blogger has the flexibility to select only topics which they can connect to, and find interest in. No doubt it ends up with more fascinating and useful articles.

Signing up was simple – create an account, paste some code in your blog, and verify it. Done! Then you browse to the marketplace and see what’s available. The first offer for all users is to write a sponsored post about socialspark.com, exactly like this one. So I confess, I’m earning money right now (thanks for helping me out).

It’s also like a social network in itself though. You can become “friends” with other bloggers, which theoretically is a new way to connect with other people out there. From browsing other users I have already discovered a couple of blogs that I’ve subscribed to. I’m still new to the service and working my way around, so I’m still yet to discover the power of the network, however having the ability to find new people and blogs definitely doesn’t hurt.

Of course, there are a few rules when it comes to submitting an acceptable post. There is a full Code of Ethics available if you wanted to peruse it, but really, it comes down to a few major points:

1. Letting your readers know it’s a paid post. For example, at the top of this post you will find full disclosure that this is a paid blog, however;
2. You must be completely honest with your readers. If I had signed up for socialspark.com, but had some major issues with the site and had noted it on this blog, they would appreciate the feedback and I would still be paid. This isn’t a service where you get paid for lying to people, and I’m definitely not interested in that.

Time will tell on how valuable this service will be, but given I’m currently saving for a wedding, every dollar counts.

If you’re you’re also interested in earning money from writing, click here to sign up. And most importantly, I’d love to hear your opinions on paid blogging. If you think it devalues the blog and you lose respect for the writer, I definitely want to hear from you. Let me know!