Tracking Adsense Click Information on Your Blogs

If your blogs or other websites are monetized with AdSense ads, you probably like to monitor how many clicks you get throughout the day.  The more information you have about which blogs and individual posts are getting clicks, and which ad types on those blog posts are drawing the most attention, the better you can plan a strategy for future posts and ad placement.

But what if you see a dollar amount on your AdSence report, but can't figure out which blog it came from, or which ad someone clicked on?  You can look on google analytics if you have it installed on your blogs, but if you have several blogs and don't even know which blog to start with, you'll still have to do some super-sleuthing.

I have each of my blogs listed as URL channels on AdSense, so if someone clicks an advertisement, it's usually right there on the AdSense home page and I don't have to dig for the information I need.  Every so often, though,  I'll see the monetary value earned, but none of my URL channels show a click.  Huh?  How can that be?  I've checked and double-checked to make sure that I didn't forget to add a URL channel for a blog, but nope, they're all accounted for.  I won't tell you how much this has bothered me, not knowing where those pennies came from, but suffice it to say that I spent way more time that I should have trying to figure it out, before getting frustrated and moving on to something else.

This morning I noticed that I had a click worth more than my average earnings, but again, none of my blogs was listed as having a click.  I really wanted to find where that one came from and started clicking around the various tabs on AdSense and bingo, I found the solution.

From the main AdSense page, I clicked on full report, and from there, clicked the drop-down menu for add dimension, then chose sites.  Well whatdya know, there it was.  One of my blogs was listed, but with a .co.uk extension, which I'm assuming is the United Kingdom version of blogger.  Apparently when someone outside of the U.S. views a blogger-hosted blog, they will see it with the extension that is appropriate for their neck of the woods, and not simply the blogger.com that we would see here in the states.

You can add other dimensions to that report such as ad types, ad size, etc, which will give you more information about which ads have been clicked, helping you determine future strategy.

I hope this information will be useful to at least one poor soul out there who has been tearing his or her hair out like I have.

~ Marie Anne

How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Business

Putting your work on Pinterest is a great way to get it in front of large groups of people you might not otherwise have access to.  Every time someone repins a pin, the reach gets wider, and there's no limit to how far it can go.  But how do you utilize Pinterest to the maximum advantage?
We're all visual creatures, so having a great photo to pin with your work is key, whether it be a craft project, or your writing.  If your article doesn't already have an eye-catching photo worth pinning, you can pin it using another photo very easily.  If you have a blog on Google's Blogger, it's a cinch to add a pin it button to your post so that others can share it for you too.

There are many tips and tricks to maximize your reach on Pinterest, how to attract more customers, how to make your pins more appealing, etc., and Melanie Duncan is offering them to you at no cost.

The founder of Entrepreneuress Academy, Melanie is providing a free webinar class to teach you how to use Pinterest to advance your business and reach more customers and readers.  The webinar will be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 6-8, 2013 and there is no cost to sign up.  With an early morning and evening time slot available over all three days, there's no reason not to take advantage of this great opportunity.

Using Pinterest in the most basic sense is simple, but by using the power of pinning, you can make every pin count.

~ Marie Anne

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Are Challenges Good for Everyone?

Photo by Ed Yourdan

Challenges can be motivating, but they can also be a detriment if you take on more than you should.  Are you guilty of the latter?

Meeting a goal is a big deal, but if the carrot dangling in front of you isn't worth the effort expended, why are you doing it?  

If your goal is health and fitness, any step in the right direction is worth it, but don't set your goals too high right out of the gate or you risk disappointment and losing whatever ground you've gained right from the start.  

Taking on a challenge just for the sake of a challenge is fine for some who need the push to do a particular thing, and if you have lots of extra time on your hands, knock yourself out.  But if your challenge doesn't benefit you monetarily, physically, or psychologically, why are you doing it?

What prompted this post is the A-Z Blogging Challenge.  I did it one year with four blogs (including this one) and it about killed me. I did it because I wanted to be able to say I did.  Big deal.  It brought me no extra income, no long-term increase in readership, nothing tangible.  I got to display a badge on my blog.  Wow.  The challenge is designed to get people posting to their blog on a more consistent basis, and that works well for some, but it did nothing for me (but of course that doesn't mean it won't work for you).  All four of those blogs got 26 posts in the 30 days in April (every day except  Sunday), but have been all but dormant since.  

This year I signed up with just one blog, but decided last night that I was going to pull myself out of the challenge this morning.  I write articles for pay, and that's where my time needs to be devoted.  I only have so much in me each day to get things done, so I need to use that time wisely.

I am, however, going to be using the challenge in a different way.  My goal for April will be to write and publish an article each day for either Examiner or YCN, like I mentioned in this post.  I try to publish every day anyway, but some days it doesn't happen, whereas other days I might post two or more articles.  Taking up the A-Z Challenge for article writing just puts a different spin on it, striving to come up with an article topic that corresponds with a particular letter, rather than any old thing I pull out of the sky. My goal of writing every day really hasn't changed, but this small challenge will actually put money in my pocket.  Article writing is what pays the bills, so that's where I need to put my attention.  I won't get a shiny badge to display anywhere upon completion, but I will get the same satisfaction of having met a goal, and earn a few bucks to boot.

So don't give up on goals and challenges, but do look at why you're doing them and what you will gain from taking them on, and, more importantly, what you stand to lose.

~ Marie Anne

The AtoZ Challenge Can Benefit All Writers, Not Just Bloggers

(Photo by Muffet)

The AtoZ Blogging Challenge is set to kick off again on April 1, 2103 as a way to get bloggers everywhere thinking outside of the box by posting every day of the month (except Sunday) on a topic that corresponds with the letter of the day.  The challenge can take up a lot of time and you'll have to determine if it's worth it to you, but what if you're a writer, but not a blogger?  Can the AtoZ Challenge still be of benefit to you?


Yes!

Depending on how you tackle the challenge, it can still give you the nudge you need, no matter the writing venue.

If you're a writer who publishes on Examiner, YCN, or any one of the many other sites, use the basic idea of the challenge to get the creative juices flowing for article topics in the same manner.  You can't sign up for the official challenge if you don't have a blog, so just challenge yourself for the sheer benefit of seeing if you can do it, or work with a group of other writers and ask them to come along for the ride.  You might not get a special badge to display upon completion, but it can still be rewarding in other ways, either monetarily, or by helping you develop good writing habits.

I'm a member of a Facebook group for Examiners and I've thrown down the gauntlet there, and many of us will be trying to come up with an article topic to write about that corresponds to the daily A-Z Challenge.  There are no hard and fast rules and there will be no prize for those who complete, but we're using it as an exercise to help us publish more frequently.  The challenge can be adapted to other writing scenarios as well.

If you write content for other clients -- for their web site, pamphlets, etc. -- you can still use the A-Z idea when your list of ideas runs dry.

Do you write fiction?  Try to fit every letter of the alphabet into your novel or eBook in some way.  You don't have to devote an entire chapter to every letter, but it should be easy enough to incorporate the words apple, baby, and cat somewhere in your work.  Your main character could be seeking some quiet solitude on Q  day, washing their hands on W  day, have an X-ray on X  day, wearing a yellow shirt on Y  day, taking the kids to the zoo on Z  day.  Again, the modified challenge is just a tool to get the writing juices flowing, and who knows where M  day might take you?

So even if you don't have a blog, you can still enlist others to join you in a modified version that fits your particular scenario. Think of it as a sort of writing prompt and toss the idea out there to your writing group and see who bites.

Or simply go fishing alone.  On F day, of course.


~ Marie Anne

Is the AtoZ Challenge Worth Your Time as a Blogger?

If you've been blogging for any time at all, no doubt you've heard of the annual AtoZ Blogging Challenge that goes on every April, with the 2013 challenge starting on Monday, April 1.  The idea is to make a blog post every day (except Sunday), crafting your post on a topic that corresponds with the letter of the day.  It's a lot of work and can also be fun, but is it worth it for the amount of time and effort involved?

(Photo by juliejordanscott)

Whether it's worth it to you as a blogger to take up the challenge or not will depend on your personal goals.  The AtoZ Challenge can help you increase your readership to an extent, but people aren't likely to come back when the challenge is over unless you give them content that they find interesting.  It's ok to post a photo with a short blurb occasionally during the month-long challenge, but if that's all you do for 30 days, you aren't likely to retain the readers once April comes to a close.  If you just want to say that you completed the challenge, then it doesn't really matter what you post, I suppose.

If you're blogging to make a buck, you should be a bit more discerning in what you post each day in order to give your readers something meaningful, a reason to come back.   Get ahead of the game well before the start date by writing down the letters A-Z on a calendar, in a notebook, or a file on your computer and start thinking of topic ideas now.  You can take it even further by writing blog posts ahead of time and scheduling them to post on the appropriate day.

Remember, though, that it's unlikely you'll earn any money from people clicking ads on your blog during the challenge, as many entrants will click on the blogs just to comment in the hope that you'll follow it back to their blog.  Most won't do more than skim your post, much less click an advertisement.  If you have a compelling title and first few lines of your post that can draw your read in, it can still be beneficial in the long run.

The AtoZ Blogging Challenge is good for bloggers who need a push to publish more often as there is a certain degree of accountability in joining such a large group.  Posting frequently keeps your blog fresh in the eyes of the search engines, and the challenge may be just the push that some people need to be more consistent.  If you can make yourself blog daily throughout the challenge, you'll likely pick up good habits that can continue long after it's over.

If you already write full-time and can't squeeze in even an extra few minutes each day for something without a guaranteed return of the time invested, the challenge might not be for you.

I did my first challenge with four blogs, this one included.  It was fun, and while very challenging, I did make it through the entire month on all four of them.  Will I do it again?  No, not with four blogs.  I have a hard enough time keeping up with the paid writing that I need to do without throwing in more distractions throughout my day.  I've decided that I will do it this year with just my newest blog --- Gettin' Fit in My Fifties, because it's a blog that is important to me personally, and I think I'll have some things worth sharing.

Whatever you decide about the A-Z Challenge --- happy writing!

~ Marie Anne

So You Want to Write Children's Books

If you're a writer, you're probably no different than the rest of us and have thought about taking your keyboard off into different directions.  Article writing might pay the bills, but perhaps you've always thought about delving into fiction, or if you're already a fiction writer, you might have wanted to switch gears and try a different genre.  Have any of us NOT thought we'd be great at writing children's books?

Sounds easy, right?  Kid's books are generally shorter than adult novels, and they don't need big words, so those things alone should have us pumping out children's lit at lightning speed, no?

No.

I'm finding out that there's a lot more to writing books for kids than I ever would have thought.

I'm the type that gets an idea in my head to do something and then I want to do it.  Now.  Little research or forethought, just jump right in with both feet and make it happen.  As you can imagine, I rarely have any amount of success when I take on a project in that manner.  So ... I thought I'd like to try my hand (fingers?) at writing some form of children's fiction, and since I honestly know nothing about where to start, I'm doing a little homework.  There's hope for me yet!

In one quick search this morning, I've already found a valuable tool that I think will help me along this path, or perhaps make me realize that this isn't the road I really want to take after all.  That site is Children's Book Insider at writeforkids.com.

I'm not getting paid to plug Children's Book Insider, but after just a short time poking around this morning, I can see where I'll be spending much more time there, and thought others might benefit from taking a peek too.  Everything I've seen so far is free, but I can't say for certain that there aren't things that they'll encourage you to purchase down the road, but I haven't found that to be the case yet.  Already I've downloaded an incredible eBook filled with information on how to get started, with links to videos that are just as helpful as the text.  I'm tickled that within the first seconds of my researching, I landed on something that has it all.

If you've ever thought about writing children's books, or even if you've already started out on your own, you WILL learn something at CBI ... guaranteed.

Happy writing!

~ Marie Anne

Free Book Every Freelance Writer Needs

Whether you're an established freelance writer or just thinking about testing the waters, Managing a Freelance Writing Business: A Writer's Guide to Building a Strong Company should be a part of your library.  Not only is Angie Mohr well known in the field of freelance writing, she is also a Chartered Accountant, Certified Management Accountant and management consultant -- titles she marries splendidly in this book.

Angie is offering Managing a Freelance Writing Business  to her readers as a free download from Saturday through Monday, September 29 - October 1, 2012.  Don't miss this opportunity for not just any old free eBook, but one that will help you save time and money as you pursue or advance your career as a freelance writer.

Mohr shares her financial expertise in a variety of books that teach financial responsibility, basic bookkeeping, and provide tax help for those working from home.  See the full list of titles available at Angie Mohr on Amazon .

~ Marie Anne

On Writing Fiction

I've been writing articles for internet publication for a while now, but have recently been toying with the idea of dabbling in fiction.  I read a lot of fiction, but haven't the foggiest idea how to go about writing it, so decided I'd best start off with some basics before I get too ahead of myself.

While searching for some tools on how to write fiction, I came across this great deal on Writer's Digest - On Writing Fiction is available for a mere $5 (regularly $14.99) through Sunday night, June 24.  You might have to sign up to be a  member at Writer's Digest first, but it's well worth it as the site is chock-full of tips for writers of all genres.

If you miss out on the special $5 deal this weekend, you can still purchase the book through Amazon.com at a decent price.

How to Choose a Pen Name

In a previous post, I mentioned a few reasons why writing under a pseudonym might be a better option than using your real name.  But how do you choose a pen name?

I'm toying with the idea of dipping my pen into a different color of ink to write fiction - perhaps flash fiction or short stories - but don't want to mix my article writing with other forms.  Writing fiction under the name of an alter-ego will allow more freedom to try various genres (and will also preserve my given name from being further tainted should I totally suck at fiction).

While trying to come up with a name that suits me, several tips came to mind that might be helpful to others trying to decide on a nom de plume.

• Make a list.  It doesn't matter if it's on the back of an old envelope, or in a text file, but write down every name you like.  Make separate columns for both first and last names that tickle your fancy, then mix and match the names from both columns, using a third column to write down the various combinations of first and last name together.


• Steal from your kids.  I'm assuming most people like their kids' names because they chose them.  Can you use various forms of their names as first or last names?  My sons first and middle names are Brian Douglas and Paul Daniel.  I could easily use any one of those four names as first or last names, so there are several possibilities right there.  Did you pick out a baby name that you never had the chance to use?  Become that child you never had.  I had names for girls picked out but was blessed with two sons, so I might consider using one of the baby girl names I liked.


• Think pets, locations, occupations.  If you have pets, you could combine various forms of their names, or use a job title, or even the name of the city or street where you grew up for inspiration.  I lived on Dudley Street for the first 18 years of my life, and Dudley would work as first name for a man, or the last name of either gender.


• Do you need a sex-change? There is no rule that says if you're a woman that you have to choose a woman's name, and vice versa.  If you want to write a suspense or mystery novel but think it would be easier to market as a man, choose a masculine pen name.  Alternatively, if you're a man who wants to write about relationships or fashion, you might feel more comfortable writing it as a woman.  Of course there's no reason you can't write about anything you'd like as either a man or woman, but for marketing purposes, a nom de plume suited for one gender might work better than the other.  

Using these practices, come up with several of your favorite names, then walk away from it for a while before making the final decision.  There might be a reason one or more of your chosen names wouldn't be suitable after all.  I'll cover that in a later post.

Quality or Quantity?

If you're writing to  make a buck, it makes sense to write a lot to get your content out there.  Bloggers don't make money unless they post regularly.  Article writers need to keep pumping them out in order to keep the cash flowing in.  Whatever you publish online, it will produce better returns in search engine ranking if it is fresh.

Nothing new there, so you keep slogging away, but don't sacrifice quality for quantity.  It does more harm than good to spit words out at a record pace if the result is garbage.  Typos, grammatical errors, sentences that just don't make sense --all will show up much more frequently if all you're concerned about is increasing production.

Some writers can churn them out and produce a quality piece every time.  Others need to spend a little more time and effort to fashion each article or post into something worth reading.  Most probably fall somewhere in the middle.

Your name and reputation will be tied in some way to every piece published.  Even if no byline attached, your client will know who wrote it.  Give your readers fresh produce, but make sure it's quality stuff and not rotten tomatoes.

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