Update: Since writing this post the course (and its website, sadly) have been taken down by the owner. I don’t have a suitable replacement at this time. However, if you are interested in learning how to set up and optimize your own blog, I recommend the following step-by-step DVD as an excellent resource:
WordPress Setup & Optimization Course

If you have a blog, or want to have a blog, you’ll definitely want to check this out:

Targeted Blog Traffic Course from James Alenteal [link removed: course sold out]

That is not an affiliate link - it’s a straight-up recommendation for a top-notch course on how to bring more readers - targeted, receptive readers - to your blog.

There’s a special on for the next 48 hours (which you can read about on James’ blog), and then the price goes up. But to be honest, even after the price goes up, I think he’s priced it too low! Also, he’s only selling 50 copies total, so that is the real reason you’ll want to move on this quickly - my guess is the course gets sold out before the price goes up.

You can read all about his course (and see what I had to say about it) here:

[update: course sold out]

Tags: blog traffic, James Alenteal, recommended resources

I’d like to take just a brief moment and acknowledge some of the sites that have linked to my blog:

• WAHM Business Tips & Advice Blog Carnival
• Make Money And How To Monetize Your Blog
• Carnival of Business and Entrepreneurship #1
• Carnival of Online Income - November 26, 2007
• November 30, 2007 edition of living a real life.
• Making Money Online - Edition 12
• Blog Carnival
• Carnival of Small Business Issues - Edition #27
• Carnival of Online Income - November 19, 2007
• Blog Me Cash: Blog Carnival 11

Thanks for the links, everyone! (And to those reading this entry, there are some really good articles and resources to peruse in the above list - check them out if you get a chance).

Tags: blog carnivals, incoming links, reciprocation, thank you

I’ve added a sign-up form for you to be notified automatically (via email) whenever there’s a new post made to this blog. (Sign-up at the top right of any page on this blog).

For those interested in how to add this to your blog, see the excellent blog announcement instructions provided by Aaron Brandon.

I’ve just put the finishing touches on integrating a blog with my ShopSite store. Yes, it can be done!

But why would I want to do such a thing? Well, there are a few reasons:

• It was a very fast way to get the site up and running
• Search engines LOVE BLOGS
• Blogs are an excellent content-management system - and I will have more content than “products” to manage with this site
• To see how hard it would be (not too hard, as it turns out)
• Access to a lot of different WordPress themes (for free)
• Did I mention that search engines love blogs?

The connection between blog post and shopping cart will be accomplished through the implementation of ShopSite’s “Order Anywhere” functionality, but as my “product” count will be fairly low, this will prove much easier than trying to code an entire set of ShopSite-WordPress hybrid custom templates. (Although that does sound like an intriguing project to tackle sometime, eh?)

If there’s interest in how I went about it, I may write up a quick “how-to” guide. But first things first - click the “Cart” tab at the top of the page (or this shopping cart link) to see the cart integrated into the blog design. What do you think?