08.15.08
Posted in Blogging at 10:47 pm by admin
I have quite a few blogs that I am working on now, and this one is just kind of sitting here for now.
If you would like to read my personal blog you can go to KatalinaMau.com
If you are interested in how to save money on your taxes, how to get out of debt, and how to manage your money better you might enjoy My CFO on the Go.
I am working with a group of writers writing about blogging and other webmaster topics on The WebMaster Blog.
Working from home is the topic on The Work From Home Pro.
And my newest baby is Christian Kindergarden. Where you can get my thoughts on Religion and Spirituality.
Thanks for stopping by!
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03.01.08
Posted in Blogging at 11:01 pm by admin
I wrote the following post for my other site, KatalinaMau.com. I have become very annoyed at how Google seems to be writing all the rules on how websites and blogs should be run. The funny thing is, this site, Katalina Online actually got a PR1. That was a surprise for me.
It is that time again. The forums and blogs are all abuzz. Google is updating pagerank, and bloggers and webmasters everywhere are rejoicing… or groaning. I guess I should be in the second category. The pagerank of this blog has not changed, it was PR0 before and it is PR0 now. But my other blog, My CFO on the Go was a PR1 and now is a PR0. What changed? My page views went from 200 to over 4,000 per month. Backlinks from 3 to almost 1000. Alexa rank has gone from a 3 month average of 850,000 to 213,000. Yesterday’s Alexa was 82,000. So except for Google PageRank, every statistic for MyCFOontheGo shows dramatic improvement. Still the drop in PageRank isn’t really a surprise for me. You see, I made a few changes last month, and I knew that Big Daddy Google wouldn’t approve.
I began accepting paid posts, (which is fully disclosed) and I removed all the nofollow tags and made my blogs do-follow blogs. I am very happy with the changes. I am earning a little money, and the people that comment on my blog get a link back to their blog. It seems only fair.
But this does put me in a bit of a predicament. The advertisers who pay for posts are looking for high PR blogs. Page Rank is easy for them to check, and it is supposed to give an idea of how popular a web page is. If I had gotten my expected PR3 (according to the Iwebtool.com PR predictor) I would have plenty of advertisers wanting me to post for them. With a PR0, not so many. It becomes a catch 22. High pagerank causes more advertisers… which lowers page rank… which lowers advertisers… which raises pagerank. Do see the problem?
I have given it some thought and there are a few things I could do. I could remove all the paid posts, make all the links on my site no-follow, and then I could grovel back to Google and ask them to reconsider if I promise never to do it again. But I didn’t create my blogs for Google. They are for me, for my readers, and for my advertisers. I don’t want Google telling me what I can or cannot do on my blog. Plus, from my own experience, PageRank is not that great an indicator of readership. (See the chart later in the post) My other choice is to keep doing things the way I do now. Accept paid posts, while making sure they provide value to my readers as well as to my advertisers. Keep my links do-follow links, so when someone is takes the time to make a thoughtful comment on my blog I can be nice enough to give them a link.
I have a number of different blogs, and the funny thing is, the blog with the highest pagerank, actually has the lowest page views, and the lowest number of backlinks.
Which is why I believe that maybe Google PageRank isn’t the best indicator of how much traffic (quality or otherwise) a website gets.
Which leads into my experiment. From now, until the next pagerank update I am going to keep KatalinaMau.com(PR0) and MyCFOontheGo.com(PR0) the way they are. The way I want them to be. But for NinjaSuccess.com(PR2) and GetRichGeek.com(PR3) I am going to comply with Google’s requirements. No paid posts and nofollow links. It will be interesting to see what happens and I’ll report back to you after the next PR update.
Do you have a blog or a website and you think your PR isn’t what it should be? I am planning on putting together a directory of quality sites with traffic, and low or no pagerank. If that sounds like your site, leave a comment with your stats. If it all checks out I’ll add you to the directory as time permits.
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02.06.08
Posted in Happiness at 7:51 pm by admin
In the running for “what is filling up our landfills the most” is disposable diapers. So once you have done the easy step of giving up plastic grocery bags, the next step, at least for parents of babies, is to reduce your use of disposable diapers. Sarah, over at the mamapath, has an excellent post on alternatives to disposable diapers. You can read her post here.
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Posted in Happiness at 7:31 pm by admin
Sometimes it really is the simple things that can make the biggest difference. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that plastic grocery bags came on the scene, and the question “paper or plastic?”, became part of our shopping experience. Retailers loved the lightweight bags, that were just a fraction of the cost of paper bags. Consumers liked them for their strength and convinience. No more wet bags breaking on you as you bring in the groceries! Now, plastic bags are everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They are an eyesore on our nations’ roads. They clog our drains and sewers, and they threaten wildlife all over the world. They are even found in the Pacific Ocean, 1000 miles from the shore.
Some Facts About Plastic Bags
* Almost a trillion plastic bags are produced world wide each year! The US goes through a billion of them. (Wall Street Journal)
* If Americans gave up their disposable plastic grocery bags we could save 12 million barrels of oil every year!
* Disposing of plastic bags is a problem. Plastic bags can take 1000 years to disintegrate. And because they are light weight and extremely aerodynamic, even properly disposed of plastic bags can float away and become a blight on the landscape.
* Some studies suggest that up to 100,000 marine animals are killed by ingesting, or becoming trapped in plastic bags.
The problem seems huge, yet the solution is quite simple. Say no to plastic shopping bags. And while you are at it, say no to paper bags as well. (That is another post!) Make it a habit to bring your own reusable bags. And reusable bags are not just for the grocery store. Try bringing your own bags or containers for your other shopping as well. At the very least, try to reuse your plastic shopping bags, and make sure to dispose of them properly.
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01.29.08
Posted in Happiness at 10:56 pm by admin
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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