Trip Around the Blogosphere – March 1, 2009

Despite the huge launch of Ewen Chia’s first print book, Internet Millionaires, there was still plenty of great online content for those of you unwilling to fork over $13. I love Ewen Chia, but I haven’t read the book so I can’t honestly vouch for it yet. I did order it, though, so expect a review sometime soon. Now, on to the blogs…

- Though I highly recommend that you learn CSS and design basics if you are going to use WordPress, if you absolutely refuse to, Yvo Schaap has created an excellent and extremely easy to use WordPress Theme Generator. Even for those of you who do your own customizing, this generator can be an easy way to check out color combos and layout basics.
- While this post is not new and not about internet marketing, I believe it definitely applies to those of us who work from home. Working online is a seriously sedentary career so we all need to make the effort to get up and move on our own. Healthy body, healthy mind, right? Well, I recently bought the Nike+ iPod sports kit, but I don’t have Nikes. I don’t want them either. And I just couldn’t bring myself to pay for a special pouch to connect the sensor to my shoes. Thank goodness for Podophile’s Nike+ iPod Sport Kit Shoe Mod. Instead of $100 for new Nikes, I spent $1.00 on some velcro and tried out this mod. It works great! If you like gadgets and you like running (or need to get in shape) I definitely recommend picking up the Nike+ kit. I love seeing all sorts of stats on my runs and listening to the special running playlists you can download from iTunes. Anyway, if you have an iPod you ought to check out Podophile, it’s a very cool blog.
- I am a firm believer that in order to succeed you must have the right mindset. Yaro Starak posted an excellent article this week calledHow to Master the Inner Game of Business and Life. In it, he explains the need for persistence and hard work and expresses his sympathy for those newbies trying to find the “quick fix” and make millions overnight.
- Continuing with the theme of actually having to work (oh the horror!) to build an internet business, John Reese shares The Easiest Way to Make Money Online. And guess what, it’s an easy fix, but it will take work. In fact, John suggest a complete audit of your entire virtual real estate portfolio.
- In Messing with a Good Thing: Good SEO Requires Constant Addition, SEM Scoop discusses the drawback of resting on your laurels when it comes to search engine placement. This is a great reminder to stay on your toes and keep your website updated.
- Chris Crum from Web Pro News posted an article on the not-so-new subject of whether or not social media is a waste of time. However, this article is worth reading because Chris points out that with a time management strategy you can get your social media time in without getting too sucked in. The article is called Losing Focus May Be Costing you Money and it includes a video of Abby Johnson interviewing David Wallace (of SearchRanks).
- For a killer discussion on Google’s love of brands, start with Aaron Wall’s article New Search Engine Rankings Place Heavy Emphasis on Branding. Then, after you’ve read that, read the follow-up interview with Chris Crum: Is Brand the Key to Ranking on Google?. We all know that strong branding is important in terms of customer relationships, but now it seems that it can also improve your search ranking. The background in Aaron’s article is also excellent for those of you who may not be aware of Google’s important evolutionary moments.

That should definitely keep you busy and get your wheels spinning. I really learned a lot this week, but I think the most important thing was that I was reminded of some of the basic elements necessary to succeed online. Persistence, hard work, strong SEO, etc. Sometimes with all that’s going on it’s easy to forget the stuff that makes that most impact.