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After my recent post on rewarding your blog commenters I got several questions asking what “do follow” meant and how to tell if a blog has “no follow” or “do follow” on it’s comments.

What is “No Follow”

By default most blogs are setup so that the links to a commenter’s website are marked “nofollow” – that means that the search engines won’t follow the link and won’t count it towards the linked site’s PageRank or popularity.

Here’s what a no follow link looks like:

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If you’re a law of attraction / positive thinking fan, you’ll like these cards I created a while back. Each card has an inspirational quote at the bottom and space on the top for you to write down your tasks to complete and then things that you need to allow/trust the universe to bring you.

Just click here to download free. No opt-in required.  The link is to a ZIP file which contains three PDF files.

If you’re not into Law of Attraction don’t panic – you don’t have to download these, and I rarely post about these sorts of topics.  I’m still analyzing a lot of stuff in my head, to be completely honest.  :)

If you’d like, you’re also invited to sign up for the mailing list (top right corner of the page) and get even more great free stuff from me including worksheets, checklists, and special reports, and then weekly business articles from me. Or connect with me on Facebook using the box on the right side of this page.

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A couple of weeks ago I was reading on Michele Scism’s blog and ran across a video with some great ideas about staying motivated. If you struggle with staying motivated, you’re not alone!

Here are some great suggestions from Adam Urbanski on how to keep yourself going when you hit those tough moments where you want to give up (or, turn off the computer and crawl behind your couch and hide…)

I pin up note cards on my bulletin board, and keep a folder on my computer that has screenshot images of nice things people say about me online or via email. It definitely helps on the challenging days. If you don’t have a “Fans Folder” or positivity file yet, you may like this post I wrote last year on how to create one to help you through those confidence crises we sometimes run into when we run our own businesses: http://michelleshaeffer.com/handling-a-confidence-crisis-with-your-own-positivity-file-2/2009/02/17

What do you do to stay motivated? Please share your tips in the comments!

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When I was in 4th grade I got my hair cut in a short bob.  By 6th grade my hair cut required the stylist using clippers it was so short on the sides and back.  So when I decided to grow out my hair, it wasn’t a one month kind of goal.

A few years later my hair was waist length.  It’s not a gigantic goal, but it is more impressive when you know that I worked as an espresso barista at a hair salon during this time period.  Every day the talented stylists would give women gorgeous haircuts.  And there I was… watching it all… wavering… LOL

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You may have noticed a banner on the bottom right of my blog the last few days.  Have you checked it out yet?  It’s a great giveaway of hundreds of self-improvement gifts.

How’s it work?  Hundreds of entrepreneurs have contributed free gifts so they can introduce themselves to you and get the opportunity to show you what they offer.

You’ll find ebooks, courses, mp3 audios, videos, and more.  Some do require an email address/name to receive the gift (but you can always unsubscribe if you want) and others don’t.

Check it out and you may just find something cool.  :)

Couple of gifts I liked: Lisbeth Tanz from Savvy Freelance Writers contributed a great ebook on Stress Relief, Meridith Alspektor has an ebook called Chief Executive Mommy about balancing home and work responsibilities, and there’s much more hiding in there!

After you sign up, just click the “General Downloads” link near the top right to find everything.

Collect your free gifts here: http://selfhelpgiftsgiveaway.com/giveawayevent/go/405

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You’ve worked hard on your blog posts, articles, sales pages and other writing, as well as your graphics design, website design, and logo.  They’re yours.  But online many people think it’s “fair game” to borrow and profit from your work. It’s not okay unless you’ve given your permission.

I saw a video online last week from EzineArticles.com I wanted to share:

Now, here are some tips to help you protect your intellectual property (since you can’t slap people through the internet…).

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Whew!  This is post 16 of 30 in my attempt to complete the 30 Day Blog Challenge.  I’m halfway there!  So I’m celebrating.

If you’re participating in #blog30, feel free to post a “Yahoo!” or “Weeee!” in the comments to celebrate you being halfway through, too!  And be sure to either link to your blog or have CommentLuv bring up your last blog post.  :)

So, back to #blog30, what I really want to share is how much I’m enjoying it! Sometimes a challenge can be just what it takes to get me motivated to take action – how about you?

I’ve met so many cool bloggers and made connections with people I probably wouldn’t have run into otherwise.  I’d like to introduce you to a few of the other bloggers participating in #blog30.  Click on over to their sites and see what they’re blogging about.  If you like what you see, don’t forget to subscribe in your RSS reader or follow them on Networked Blogs.
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Last night I opted-in for a free report on building website credibility (it’s something I talk about on my blog so I was curious what others were saying).

I actually feel the need to wipe the slime off me after reading it. It just felt wrong to me, and relied on little “almost illegal” (their words, not mine) tricks to build credibility in the eyes of website visitors.

The perspective wasn’t how to BE credible, it was how to APPEAR credible – and I realize after reading it that those are two completely different goals.

There were a few good, honest suggestions like adding your contact info to all your pages.  But among the other suggestions:

• Add a live chat box, but add it with the knowledge that you won’t make it active or actually allow customers to contact you with it.
• Fake testimonials from gurus by making it look like they endorse you when you’ve really just used something cool they said without asking their permission.
• Buy a cheap ad in Newspaper X and then add “As Seen in Newspaper X” to your sales page.

There’s more but I’ll stop there.  Maybe those aren’t technically lies.  You might change your mind and decide to login to be on the live chat sometime (even though you have no intentions of it).  A guru might like some aspect related to what you’re promoting (but has never seen your product).  If you have an ad in the paper technically you could be seen there.

Do these tactics work?  I’ve never tried them.  Clients probably won’t realize what you’ve done to sway them to purchase.  But do you want to make sales at the expense of your ethics and honesty?
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One of the great features of a blog is it’s “RSS Feed.”  That stands for “real simple syndication” – but it can be a little confusing and not feel so simple if you’re new to blogging.  It allows your fans to get notified when you post a new blog, if they choose to subscribe in an RSS reader.  Awesome, right? Here’s how it works for your fans:

But what if your fans don’t use an RSS Reader? What if you move your website to a new URL? How can you tell who’s following your RSS feed?

Easy answers! I use Feedburner along with the plugin FD Feedburner Plugin on my blog.

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Curious where your traffic is coming from?  Or who's reading your blog or visiting your website?  You can find all sorts of great information out by tracking your website statistics.

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