Internet

How Much Is Your Blog Worth?

/ Quilly / 23 Comments

I’ve been doing my homework for Build a Better Blog in 30 days.  Actually, I am still doing yesterday’s homework.  I’d better hustle, but first I had to share this Technorati Widget.


My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Quick, take a minute, go see what your blog is worth. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, back to my homework. And hey, if after checking out the value of your blog you’d like to see those numbers go up, check out ProBlogger.net. The suggestions I am finding there are easy to implement, fun (which is why I am still doing yesterday’s homework), and written in an entertaining style. I can’t offer testimony to whether they work or not because I’ve not been doing this thing long enough to make a real difference, however I gained 200+ Twitter followers over night! [Swoon]

UPDATE: For a bit of levity — I just went to see what my homework for today (day 4) was and almost fell out of my chair laughing. I have been doing it for the last three days — analyzing successful blogs to see what it is that makes them so successful. In fact I found that Technorati widget while scouring ProBlogger.net.

Stray Puppy Ads

/ Quilly / 12 Comments

I am being stalked by ads.  They follow me around the internet.  I thought it was my imagination, but now I know better.  I have been marked for retargeting.  There is a good chance you’ve been marked, too.

Do you keep seeing the same ad crop up over and over no matter where you go?  Does it show you something you had actually looked at and paused to consider on another website?  Do you ever stop and wonder, given the way internet ads rotate so quickly, why you keep seeing the same one?  There’s a reason.  You are a  remarketing target.

Don’t panic, it isn’t painful or malicious, but you might want to rein in your impulse buying tendencies.  Those ads are following you because you have already showed an interest in them.  Like stray puppies, they want to be picked up and taken home.  When you visit a website you are given an electronic cookie that works like a doggy biscuit.  Some electronic cookies are designed by retargeting companies so that whenever you visit a webpage that has their content on it, you will see the happily wagging tail of  whatever ad they’re promoting that corresponds to the most current doggie cookie in your browser.

Really, it is a pretty ingenious selling method.  The consumer is repeatedly exposed to products, services and merchandise of personal interest, and the advertisers are assured that interested peoples are seeing their ads.  Now next time you see that ad at three sites in a row, you’ll know why it’s following you.  And, if you’ve got something you want to sell, you know what kind of internet ad to purchase.

Elevator Pitch

/ Quilly / 28 Comments

I have joined BlogFrog and signed up for the ProBlogger Summer Challenge.  The idea is to dedicate 31 days to making one’s blog better.  The day one exercise is developing an elevator pitch.  An elevator pitch is a purpose statement that be be explained in the amount of time it takes for an elevator to travel between one floor and another.  The purpose of creating an elevator pitch isn’t just to plug one’s blog in as little time as possible, but also to help solidify in the writer’s mind exactly what his/her focus is.

My elevator pitch for this blog is really very simple:

Quintessentially Quilly is eclectic and quirky, just like me.  This is where I share my unique outlook on the world, my friends, neighbors, current events, books I read, assorted products, occasional photographs, and whatever else tweaks my fancy.

I have two other blogs to write elevator pitches for: San Juan Island Avon Lady, and Book’em Quilly.

Support Your Local Economy

/ Quilly / 3 Comments

I love the net and you all know I am into internet shopping, but that said, when we can Amoeba and I prefer to support our local businesses. Happily, I have discovered an online search engine that actually helps me shop right here on the island. I just did a search of the local restaurants and discovered three that Amoeba and I haven’t checked out yet. Two of them have been rated by customers and given 4.5 out of 5 stars.  They sound promising.  One of them has only a half of a star.  That sounds scary!

Using Local.com is like searching the local yellow pages, only better.  In the yellow pages one only learns what the business owner wants one to know.  At Local.com I can read the business owner’s ad, see customer ratings, get driving directions and more.  Local.com combines the best of the best and provides all the info available from Citysearch.com, Yelp.com, Yellowpages.com, and Superages.com.  What used to take 4 different search engines now takes only one.

Next time you’re looking for something specific — or maybe even next time you’re looking for something new and different, do a local search using Local.com.  Who knows what you might find in your own neighborhood?  For instance, Amoeba and I have been under the impression there were no pizza places here on the island, but I just found four!  Now I have so go check each of them out and see if we can get delivery!

Off to The Big City

/ Quilly / 9 Comments

I’m headed for the ferry and I will be spending today in Anacortes, WA.  Okay, so it’s not a big city, but it’s a heck of a lot bigger than our little town of Friday Harbor.  I’m going to start the morning with a doctor’s visit and then I will be doing some shopping.  Nothing major, Amoeba broke his belt and I need a new pair of sandals.

I’ll also be visiting a mainland grocery store.  The prices there are just a tad bit lower than here, and stocking up on staples is one of the ways we offset the cost of going off island — it’s about a $60.00 round trip.  Plus, I just stopped by SupermarketCoupons.com and stocked up on coupons to help me save even more. My favorite coupons are the ones I download right to my Safeway Loyalty card. I can’t lose them or forget to give them to the checker, because they apply themselves when the checker scans my Safeway Club Card.

I also got a few manufacturer printable coupons that I can use at any store selling the products I want. I just printed them off on my own computer and tucked them into my wallet with my debit card so, hopefully, I won’t forget to use them! SupermarketCoupons.com also has online grocery coupons. I’ve never used any of them since we live far too rural to ever get grocery delivery.

Just yesterday Amoeba commented on how little money I spend, yet we always seem to eat well and we’re not without our little luxuries. Being a smart shopper pays off at home and at the bank. Supermarket coupons help me be a smart shopper.

I’ll be taking my computer to town with me.  I will have quite a wait to and from the island as I wait for the ferry, so I’ll finally have time to get some blogging done!