The best blogging tools on the market ( at the cheaper end anyway! )

There are so many blogs out there, that sometimes it can be a good idea to invest in a little help to get yourself noticed. If you want to blog for income, then there are some great tools to get you on the right track very quickly.

Take a look at these great products, some are FREE and some you can get for a small price. You are guaranteed to find something for whatever you want to acheive with your blog.

• How to pump traffic to your blog using free google tools

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• Free blog advertising - Elite membership will drive thousands of targeted visitors to your blog.

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•  Instant blog submitter - Manage and distribute content to unlimited wordpress blogs on auto pilot. Generate massive amounts of free money making traffic with this killer tool.

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• Blogging money machine - A step by step system that when followed directly, will develop a successful blog in no time. Pull in major profits with this system. Five e books and twelve bonus high quality videos, affiliate tools.

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• Multiple income streams blog theme -  Here's your  budget friendly chance to grab a wordpress blog theme, that has a whopping 10 built in ways to make money!  $14.38 - Click Here!
• The 100k+ blogging formula - The 100k+ blogging formula is setting the blogosphere on fire! Probably the best guide on the market. Simply make money with easy to understand instructions  - Click Here!

• The most powerful auto blogging software - This is the first and only software that can grab full text content from rss feed source websites, and posts to 1000,s of your blogs, automatically on a push of a button. Works with free blogger.com as well as wordpress.

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Revenge of the spider.

Our children are supposed to think we are brave. That we can protect them from anything......hmmmm, blew that one last night!

I tucked my daughter into bed. Kissed her goodnight, and headed back to the t.v. A little while later, she came back downstairs.

"Mummy I can't sleep. there are cobwebs on the ceiling and I'm scared the spiders will crawl on me when I go to sleep."

Cobwebs? - How embarrassing. Must remember to dust places other than the ones that fall directly in my eye line!

So, armed with a duster, I held my daughters hand and led her back to bed. Dutifully dusting away the cobwebs. " But mummy, the spiders may still be in the room." She gestured, wide eyed. Just then, our daft dog 'Honey' bounded in, tongue lolling ( think Santa's little helper from the Simpson's.) Sparking the memory that any spiders Honey sees, she catches, chews up, and spits them out. ( I guess those things taste really bad. Or it could just be that she really is a daft dog - check out the pic. And yea, she's wearing shorts. )

" Oh, baby, no need to worry. There are no spiders in our house because Honey eats them all up! Now they are too scared to come into our house. And if there are any spiders left, she'll get them, I promise."

My daughter cocked her head to one side seemingly remembering Honey tossing the last spider she caught up in the air, pouncing on it, and flicking it into the air again.

To prove to her it was safe, I scooted across the bed, and snuggled under her covers. " OK baby, you go get a book from your bookshelf, and mummy will read you a nice story to help you sleep."

So, off she shot to her bookcase, to no doubt pick the biggest, thickest book she could find. I wiggled further under the covers, when suddenly a slight movement caught my eye. I looked closer at the source of the movement. And, there running up the bed towards my face, at full speed, was the biggest, hairiest spider, i have ever seen. ( other than on the t.v of course.) I shot from that bed like someone had stuck a red hot poker up my arse. Limbs flailing, screaming for my husband at the top of my voice. My dumb spider eating dog laid on her back, paws in the air, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Luckily, I caught sight of my daughters bewildered face, and stopped shrieking like a bad actress in a slasher flick, just as my husband came barrelling through the door.

" What on earth is going on?"
My husband said.
" Erm CRAMP! Yes that's it...I had cramp!"
I muttered to my confused family.
My daughter sighed theatrically ; " Daddy, mummy saw a spider...I don't think she knows they can't eat you?" She said, and shook her head in exasperation.

Well i think I can safely assume she will be calling her daddy to check for spiders next time - eh?

Tips for driving traffic to your blog.

When surfing the blog forums, there is one question I see cropping up again, and again. " How do I get more traffic?" After all you can have the most beautifully presented, well written blog, but it's not a lot of good if no one sees it.

So what can you do to increase traffic to your site? Here are a few techniques to create exposure and get people interested in your blog. At first you may not see amazing results, but as you keep at it, you will slowly see your traffic increase.

Visit blogs and forums.

If you have a niche blog, then visit other blogs within your niche and leave insightful comments. As I have said before, hopefully this will start a conversation, and you can leave links back to related articles on your blog. If you don't have a niche blog, then surf the types of blogs that interest you, and do the same. Visit blogging forums, and join in with the conversation, leaving a link to your blog. If people like your comments this will drive people to your site. Basically, this method goes back to the phrase content is king. Unless people think your content is valuable, they won't be coming back.
This technique won't drive hordes of traffic to your blog, but over time you will create a steady stream of traffic to your blog.

 Respond to peoples questions in the forums, and write a detailed and thoughtful response. Or start a new thread with a question of your own, but instead of a one line question, submit a great article on a topic that is helpful to members of that forum ( find out what types of things they are talking about, or asking questions about ) At the end of the article invite them to discuss it. Then check back for comments and respond to them. This will drive traffic to your blog for a long time.

Article directories.

Find article directories that relate to your niche, or just a directory that publishes similar content to your own. Use your best articles, and if your content is valuable enough you only need submit to two or three to get the desired effect. Some of the best directories, with the most traffic ( more people to see your articles ) are:

zimbio
enzinearticles
weebly
easyjournal
Soulcast
Opendiary

As well as helping drive traffic to your blog, ( don't forget to add a link to your site at the end of the article.) this method helps with link building, which the search engines will pick up on. One major thing to remember when using article directories, is not to use content you have already published on your blog. As this will affect your search engine rankings, and you will be penalized for duplicate content. The content you publish in article directories must be unique.

Guest blogging.

Find a blog you admire or enjoy, or if you use googles blogspot ask one of the bloggers whose blog you follow if they would mind you writing a guest post on their blog. If you have a niche blog, ask blog owners within your niche.

Links to find other bloggers within your niche.

Stumbleupon
Digg
Delicious
Blogcatalog


Often other bloggers will often welcome extra content. Try to make sure it is some of your best writing. Remember to place a link back to your own blog somewhere in the post, or politely ask the blog owner where they would prefer you place the link.

Traffic from search engines.

Most successful blogs get 50% of their traffic from search engines, so this is quite an important aspect. The main way to get traffic from search engines, is to create consistently valuable content and regularly, to increase your chances of getting ranked in popular keyword search results. By creating relevant and useful content the search engines will begin ranking you well for your relevant keywords. The main thing to remember about using keywords is to make sure they are relevant. For example if you place the keywords "making money" throughout a post about dog grooming, then the search engine will know you are trying to beat the system, and you will be penalized...Actually, that's not the best example as you can make money dog grooming if it is your business, but you get my point, hopefully.

Use keywords throughout your posts in as natural a manner as possible, you don't want to affect the way it reads. ( I am rubbish at getting keywords into my posts, although I'm sure you will have much more common sense than I have and will do just fine.) Most importantly, try and get your keywords in your title. As search engines give preferences to keywords at the beginning of your headlines/ titles.

Social networking sites.

If you spend a lot of time on social networks, then think about how many contacts you already have that could be visiting or buying from your site? Put a link to your site on your profile page, update your status page announcing your latest blog post or product with a link to it. Maybe use the first few lines of your post as a teaser, inviting them to click on the link to read more?
                                                                                                           

I really hope you have found some of these tips helpful, and found something new you can use? There are so many amazing blogs out there going UN recognized. If you have any tips of your own, about traffic or any aspect of blogging, or would like to write a guest post on my blog. Please comment, leave your tips or email me at meami_5@live.com. If nothing else it is always good to have your links on other blogs ;)

Too much of yesterday, today.

Did you know only one in ten women who have suffered domestic violence break the cycle, and end up in a non abusive relationship?

I am one of those lucky few. And because of this, i try to relish my present life with my husband and beautiful children, and try to stay away from the past. Unfortunately, this week that option has been snatched away from me. So this is going to Be a very difficult post to write....but i will write it, both to exorcise my demons, and for every woman out there who has been through a violent relationship.

It has been over a year since i heard from him last. He found me on facebook ( even though my privacy settings were water tight- or so i thought. ) He looked me up just to abuse and threaten me. My family and I, have moved hundreds of miles to be safe from him. And when i say family, I also mean my parents. Who received as many death threats as I did. He even physically assaulted my mother.

The contact was just another mind game. He loved mind games, and was so proud of his ability to play them so well. He used to whisper in my ear when we were in a room full of people, exactly what he was going to do to me when we got home. Delighting in the details of the violence. Then he would watch me crumble. To the people in the room, he was charm itself, and they would think me a miserable bitch that only brought him down. Then he would whisper that i was mental.

" You're mad, and everyone sees it."

He told me with an inane grin on his face. Occasionally this lead to such self loathing, i would self harm, and when people saw the cuts and scars, they would shake their heads, and say  " poor him, having to put up with that crazy bitch." So you see what i mean - mind games? In a way it was a lot worse than the violence.

This week it is our daughters tenth birthday. ( he doesn't remember the actual date, just that it is the beginning of Oct some time. I doubt he knows how old she is even. ) And so yesterday, the phone rang. I looked at the screen, and my heart hammered in my chest as I realized the dialing code was the area code where he lives. It could only have been him. I know no one else in that area. I don't know how he could have possibly got my phone number, and the fact that he does terrifies me.

I answered the phone...Silence, then the click of the dial tone.

I have spent six years rebuilding my life. I am happy. I am free. What gets to me is this, after all this time, all it takes is that one phone call. The threat of hearing his voice, and being transported back to that place years ago, where i was a weak nothing. I think what upsets me most, is no matter how much my life has moved on, no matter how safe my husband makes me feel, I can still be terrified by the threat of him.

Does this mean I am still the person I was then? Am I still weak? No it does not. No I am Not. The fear i feel is for my children. They remember nothing of their father ( Ben has brought them up since they were small.) or the violence they saw. They know it happened. I tell them what is appropriate for their age. But they will NEVER live it. They will never be exposed to his bile. I swear it. The strength I needed to leave him, came from them, and the strength I need now, will come from exactly the same place. 

Creative writing- How to use your personal experiences.

Some one once told me there are only fourteen plot lines in the entire world. Every plot comes back to one of the fourteen, they are just re-hashed and slightly altered. Don't ask me what the fourteen plots are though, because I'm stumped after thinking of five. Basically the three main sources of good writing, start with one of these four options.

Rob the cradle.

Use your childhood and drain every last drop from it. Willa Carther said;

" Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen."

This doesn't necessarily mean you need to write your childhood memoirs, after all unless your rich and famous who is really going to care about your childhood. There are exceptions of course. Dave Peltzer wrote three books on his childhood, and all of them are best sellers. Transform the material from your childhood experiences, use it to build characters for your work. Or create a whole new persona totally different from yourself, but using your childhood experience. Write down your first three memories and see if you can make a story out of any of them. When you can't remember any more, keep going and see where it gets you?

Rob the grave.

Not as creepy as it sounds. I simply mean, study the lives of your ancestors. Pick out something that might look like an interesting tale and tell it as your story. Use the information to spark off other ideas, and fill in the gaps in your knowledge with your imagination. This way you can shape the story the way you want it to go, and maybe fit in a beginning, middle or end you may have in mind.

Rob from books.

Not literraly6 of course, that's plagiarism and you will probably get sued. Learn from what other writers have to say, and write variations on themes. It may seem a little naughty at first, as if your stealing other peoples ideas and can't think of any of your own, but bearing in mind there are only fourteen themes in the world, this can't be helped eh? Many great works of fiction have come from other peoples work. Homer wrote The Odyssey and the Iliad out of battle reports; Virgil wrote The Aeneid on Homer's work and continued it, and Dante wrote The Inferno based on Odysseus' trip to the underworld. Do you see what i mean?

Whats to stop you writing a modern day Enid Blyton's famous five? The ideas are endless. If you can't find a story from real life, look into what other peoples books are doing. After all this is your medium. When you read something that really impacts you, take it from there. You only need to use it as a starting point, and your imagination will do the rest.

Your personal experiences.

Always use what is going on in your life. No matter how boring you think it seems. Sometimes just a piece of dialogue is enough to provide you with a fantastic idea. If your looking for a good piece of dramatic writing, then recall a physical or verbal fight and construct a scene around it. Struggle, war, quarrel, or any conflict is a fast paced source of stories.

• Write about a moment of terror you have experienced.

• Write about an incident you avoid remembering, or can't remember clearly, and write about it. By writing about these difficult experiences you will create something that matters to you, and if you write it clearly and use the five senses while writing it ( smell, sight, touch, sound, taste ) then it will evoke such a clear picture for the reader, that they will care about it too.

Another year.....another wrinkle.

I've only just stopped wailing, crying and saying things like, "My youth has go-onne." About turning 30, when BAM, my 31st birthday is looming. Not only that, but my daughter is ten next week. I have a ten year old daughter? Huh? When did that happen?

She doesn't seem to need me for much anymore *Said in whiny high pitched voice* She asked me for a drink, so i said " OK baby, I'll get it for you in a sec." A few minutes later i walked into the kitchen, to discover she had done it already. She does EVERYTHING herself!

I feel so redundant. I constantly suggest we pretend she is a baby again, and she should let mummy dress/wash/bathe her, but she just looks at me like I'm crazy, hmph! No one knows what us mothers go through *tut. All mothers go through this right? It's not just me?

I really don't want to turn 31. I have a five year plan I'm supposed to have completed by the time I'm 35. A plan i definitely have not started yet, well..more specifically a book i need to have written by the time I'm 35. It really does have to be done by then, as my brain cells are dying at an alarming rate, and i have no idea if i will be able to string a sentence together by then. *wink.