Apr 30, 2009

Blogging Tips

At one time or another, bloggers will be stumped for content and will have nothing interesting, thought provoking or even...blah...to write about. We're lucky to have contributing writers here on our Hawaii WAHMs blog to add fresh content to our blog; however, despite our team effort, we too run into blogger's block.

Internet Marketing Sweetie, Alice Seba, provides us with this sensational list of blogging ideas to keep our minds churning and hopefully our readers coming back. We're happy to share the list with you.

1. Special events - Relate your blog topic to a special event, national day of, or holiday.

2. News - Subscribe to Google news alert on your keywords and write about the latest news in your niche.

3. Book review.

4. Respond to a post on another blog in a niche similar or related to yours.

5. Blog milestone - Write about your blogging milestones, such as publishing your 100th post, getting your 1000th comment….

6. Niche heroes -Blog about a person who made a positive contribution in your niche.

7. Blog memes - Join in blog memes such as “Wordless Wednesday”. There’s at least one for every day of the week!

8. Product review - An excellent way to work in some affiliate links.

9. FAQs in your niche - Write a short Q & A based on FAQs about your niche.

10. Blog comment response - Write a long and expanded response to a comment on your blog.

11. Predict trends - What do you see happening in your niche in a year? 5 years?

12. Historical view - What was your niche in the past? Or what past event influenced your niche?

13. Top tips on a topic of interest to your readers

14. Best of… - A good year ender, make a list of your best posts for the year.

15. Contests - Organize a contest for your blog readers, or make a list of contests your readers can join.

16. What I learned from… a current event, a person you met, or an experience you had.

17. Definitions - Define terms that are commonly used in your niche but a beginner may not understand

18. New products - Not a review but simply an announcement of a new product relevant to your niche. This is another good opportunity to drop in some affiliate links.

19. Biggest problem - Ask your readers what their biggest problem is about your blog topic or niche. They post their answers in the comments section.

20. Biggest problem follow-up - Summarize the comments from #19 in another post.

21. Biggest problem follow-up series - Write a separate blog post tackling each question from #19.

22. Interview somebody knowledgeable in your niche, or has succeeded in it, or is otherwise interesting to your readers.

23. Big list - Compile a big list of various resources, just like this one. The bigger the better!

24. Reader Survey - Put up a brief survey online and blog about the results.

25. Be provocative. Challenge a common belief or widely accepted idea in your niche.

26. New idea - What new idea about your blog topic or niche have you come across lately?

27. YouTube - Embed a funny, moving or insightful video on YouTube. You can even have a “video day” once a week.

28. YouTube version 2 - Make YOUR own YouTube video. Publish it on YouTube then embed on your blog. This way, you can attract traffic from YouTube to your blog.

29. Freebie - Scour the ‘net for freebies that your readers will love. Or create a freebie of your own, such as a checklist or special report.

30. Personal story - Use a personal story to illustrate an important concept or principle in your niche.

31. Free to publish articles - Check out relevant articles in article directories such as Ezine Articles… but don’t publish them entirely on your blog. Instead, use an article or a group of articles as your take-off point for a blog post, or several.

32. Link love - This is a post with links to other blogs. Some bloggers set aside one day a week to publish a list of the best blog posts on their topic.

33. Photo - A picture is worth thousand words, right? Search Flickr for creative commons pictures that your readers will like.

34. Hot topics - Look at Digg for hot topics in your niche

35. Pros and cons - Examine what’s good and bad about something related to your blog topic

36. Respond to relevant questions you find in Ask.com

37. Guest post - Invite another blogger to write a guest post for your blog

38. Reader’s post - Invite blog subscribers to submit an article or post to be published on the blog

39. Inspirational post - Write a motivational post for your readers.

40. Update an old post with fresh ideas, new learnings and current research findings.

41. Beginner’s guide - What do beginners in your niche struggle with? Write a post to guide them through it.

42. Best list - Patterned after “best dressed lists” make a list of the best ___ in your niche.

43. Worst list - Make your version of the “worst dressed list” for your niche.

44. New uses for - Think of new ways your readers can use gadgets and other stuff.

45. Write about a live event that you attended and what you learned from it.

46. Bribe post - Bribe your readers with a freebie in exchange for subscribing to your newsletter or RSS feed.

47. Around the world - Compare how people in different countries do something related to your niche.

48. Seasonal - Relate the month or season to your blog topic.

49. Blog carnival - Join or host a blog carnival, where several publish posts about the same topic on the same day.

50. Host a virtual “conference” on your blog - Invite “speakers” to publish their post on a specified date and time. Q&A happens in the comments section.

Because you may spend a lot of time on your blog, it would be nice to earn some money from your work. Here is a product link that might help you. Click here! for more information.

Apr 29, 2009

Picture of Paradise - May Day

Kona Coffee Lei

Kona Coffee Lei
photo source: ardie96750


May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii and here are ways to celebrate:
  • 2009 Lei Day Festival with the Royal Hawaiian Band Concert, Lei Queen and Court, Lei Exhibit and more at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand, May 1, 2009. A schedule of the festivities here.
Also take a look at "Hawaii's Official Tourism Site" for more May Day activities throughout the islands as well as a schedule of year round lei making classes.

Apr 22, 2009

Three Blind Mice Origami Craft


Head over to Tammy Yee's site to make a cute Three Blind Mice origami project. You'll be able to print the blind mice image onto your paper and fold according to the instructions provided . Once you're done, you can glue popsicle sticks onto the back of the mice and have them run away from the "farmer's wife".

Picture of Paradise


photo source: selma

How to make Spam Musubi: Recipe from Serious Eats
7th Annual Waikiki Spam Jam: Read about it here.

Apr 21, 2009

Household Tips: Earth Day 2009

April 22 is Earth Day 2009. It is a day to encourage environmentally healthy behaviors, and bring attention and awareness to our environment. In 1970, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, introduced the Earth Day movement and since then it is recognized and celebrated simultaneously by people all over the world. Read more about Earth Day at the Earth Day Network.

To help you in your effort to "go green" or to live actively to benefit our environment, here are a few important links. If you want to join a community and make a commitment to protect our "aina" land, please visit Kanu Hawaii for more information.

Recycle: Redemption Centers:
Big Island: http://www.recyclehawaii.org/
Kauai: kauai.gov/recycling
Maui: http://www.co.maui.hi.us/
Oahu: http://www.opala.org/

Redemption Centers: http://www.hi5deposit.com/

Stop Junk Mail: http://www.dmachoice.org/

Other Helpful Links:
Appliances: http://www.recycle-steel.org/
Business clothing: http://www.dressforsuccess.org/
Carpets: http://www.carpetrecovery.org/
Cell phones and rechargeable batteries: http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/
Computers: http://www.sharetechnology.org/
Electronics: http://www.mygreenelectronics.org/
Eyeglasses: http://www.neweyesfortheneedy.org/
Floppy Disks and Videotapes: http://www.greendisk.com/
Formal Dresses: http://www.operationfairydust.org/
Packing Peanuts: http://www.loosefillpackaging.com/
Paint: http://earth911.org/
Tires: www.epa.gov/garbage/tires/live.htm

Apr 17, 2009

Aloha Friday Recipe!!

I decided for a change of pace today, instead of a main course, I would list a bread instead.

Bacon Cheddar Bread
Ingredients
1 Homemade Gourmet® World Vision for Life Basic Bread Mix
1 Homemade Gourmet® BLT Seasoning Mix
1-3/4 cup milk (or substitute 12-ounce can of beer)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 stick butter/margarine, melted

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, blend first four ingredients. (Batter will be lumpy.) Spoon batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Pour melted butter over batter. Place loaf pan on a baking sheet to catch any spillover.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Times
Cook Time 45 minutes
Preparation Time 10 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

By Kimberly Wilson - jwilson001@hawaii.rr.com
www.homemadegourmet.com/kimberlywilson

Apr 15, 2009

Picture of Paradise


KoOlina Lagoon by
Windwardskies Photography
http://www.windwardskies.com

Apr 13, 2009

Household Tips

Here is a motivational list from the blog Marc and Angel Hack Life reminding all of us how to enjoy the beauty of life and value everyday we're here.

How to Live Life:

  • Educate yourself until the day you die.
  • Take good care of your body.
  • Spend as much time as possible with the people you love.
  • Be a part of something you believe in.
  • Excel at what you do.
  • Live below your means.
  • Be self-sufficient.
  • Build a comfortable, loving household.
  • Always be honest with yourself and others.
  • Respect elders. Respect minors. Respect everyone.
  • Mix it up. Try different things.
  • Take full ownership of your actions.
  • Over-deliver on all your promises.
  • Listen more. Talk less.
  • Focus more on less.
  • Exploit the resources you do have access to.
  • Savor the natural joys of simple pleasures.
  • Reflect on your goals and direction.
  • Leave time for spontaneous excursions.
  • Be here now.
Read the full How to Live Life article and you may find that with a little self re-direction you may be able to focus on the things that make you happy. I hope you're inspired.

Apr 11, 2009

Happy Easter

If you're still thinking how you're gonna decorate your Easter eggs this year, here are some ideas:
Decoupaged Eggs
Dyeing Eggs
Jeweled Easter Eggs
Lovely and Loopy Eggs
Swirled Easter Egg

Happy Easter!

Apr 10, 2009

Crafts Carnival #5

Come take a look at the most recent craft carnival hosted at Keiki Gifts, Crafts and Activities. Here is a peek of incredibly creative crafts that have been posted.

  • More Kitty Cat…and a Little On Layouts
  • Make Drink Coaster from Scrap Fabrics
  • Turn a Man’s Shirt into a Cushion Cover
  • Crochet a Recycled Easter Egg Basket
  • 10 Ways I Greened my Home for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Make Removable Cushion Covers
  • Seeds Place Cards Craft for Spring Garden Tablescape
  • Making monoprint background papers
  • Needle felting. So good, so easy...
  • Garden Party Paper Lantern
Stop by soon!

Keiki Gifts, Crafts and Activities
http://keikigifts.etsy.com

Apr 7, 2009

Household Tips

We spend a lot of money taking care of our families and it is always nice to find a bargain or two along the way. Living green, conserving resources and shopping smart are wise skills to have especially when money is tight and family needs are great. Sharing ways to saving money on the things you need are the following websites.

Do you have a favorite money saving website to share? If so, please let us know!

*Hawaii WAHMs created for work at home moms living and working in the Aloha State, who are either business owners or direct sales representatives.*

Apr 1, 2009

Picture of Paradise


Sunset by
Windwardskies Photography

http://www.windwardskies.com

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