by Skellie
In this post I’ll be announcing the most valuable commenter from last week’s discussion thread. I’ll also be announcing the overall winner of the Ask the Readers competition.
Lastly, I’d like your input on what to do now the discussions have finished.
* * *
This week’s winning commenter for our discussion on making money online is Michael Martine (who offers blog consulting at Remarkablogger) for his insights on making money online through multiple streams:
One thing you’ll hear people say, and with which I agree, is that you should diversify your online income across multiple revenue streams, some of which are fairly automated. For example, I don’t make crazy money from ad-supported blogs, but in spite of how my consulting income fluctuates, I have been able to count on a steady income from AdSense that is always above a certain amount. The time I take to manage these blogs is minimal now (in the beginning it was intense).
While I know AdSense isn’t for everybody, the general idea of having more than one source of online income, or at least aiming for more than one, resonates with me.
Now that I’m relying financially on freelancing alone, it’s become more important to develop some back-up and complimentary income streams –particularly so I have a good answer to the question my friends and family have been asking me lately: “But what if you stop getting work?”
* * *
As promised, it’s time to announce our overall Most Valuable Commenter across all the Ask the Readers discussion from our short-list of winning contributors: Dan, Paidtwice, Spicepuppy, Keira Peney, Alfa King and Michael Martine. Thanks again to all of them for helping make our discussion threads a fun and informative place to be.
It’s hard to separate the winners in terms of quality, so I’ve decided to make the decision based on the amount of involvement in the discussion. For that reason, the winner of the featured link in the sidebar is Paidtwice. She contributed to every thread and always stayed engaged in the discussion after she had said her piece. It was great to see someone so interested in what others had to say.
I’ll be adding the link after I publish this post and it will stay up until the end of January. Congrats!
* * *
A question:
As you might know, last week’s Ask the Readers discussion was our last (for now). The question alluded to in the title of this post is: what would you like me to do with this day — if anything?
As you know, the weekends are pretty quiet. I don’t want to publish a feature post on the weekend because I know a lot of people take a break from web stuff at this time and would be sad to miss out. It would also be great if ideas don’t require too much effort on my part.
Some ideas off the top of my head:
- A case study of a blog/website I believe works well.
- A collection of links on a specific topic.
- A shorter post focusing on one quick tip.
- A short diary on what I’ve been doing to try and earn an income online and to try and build Skelliewag… in other words, a behind-the-scenes look at how I try to put my ideas into practice.
If you have an idea not on the list I’d love to hear it.
Another option is to divert the time required into adding more value to one of the feature post I’ll publish during the week (and therefore not posting on weekends). At the moment I’m leaning towards this option, but I can be swayed.
I’d like this to be a discussion as much as possible, so I’ll be responding to your ideas, considering pros and cons and that sort of thing.
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18 Comments, Comment or Ping
Mrs. Micah
Awesome! Great choice! PaidTwice is not just an inspiring blogger, she’s a great blogging friend–she’s helped me get a number of things straightened out.
All your options sound good. I feel like asking for the quick satisfaction of a short tip—but I think working on adding more value would probably benefit us readers better in the long run. Unless there’s an awesome little tip you’ve thought of and might like to post about.
Dec 30th, 2007
Jack
I really like the idea of you doing case studies.
Dec 30th, 2007
ImageGag
How about something like comment hopscotch? Comment briefly about the website/blog of the commenter above you. Example: First impressions, what you like best about it, if you could change one thing about their site…, etc.
It may get a little messy or unfocused with the back and forth, but it’s definitely hands off on your part.
Just a random idea. Feel free to nix it. It’s probably been done elsewhere.
Dec 30th, 2007
Alfa King
Congrats to Michael Martine for this week’s favorite; and to Paidtwice as the overall winner. Well deserved.
I would rather opt you did either a case study and a short diary or both if possible.
Cheers
Dec 30th, 2007
Daniel Sutoyo
Congrats PaidTwice! What Mrs. Micah said supports her win even more.
I think the case study of a blog/website is an interesting idea. Would be able to hear your thoughts, recommendations, and immediate actions to take. But I wonder if it will get repetitive after 10 or so case studies. Unless the underlying problems are pretty different?
The behind the scenes could be very interesting and very minimal on your part. A simple glimpse of how you manage and make decisions in parallel with your reasoning can add a lot of value for bloggers who need the extra boost.
the last option you mention is what I often wish popular bloggers do. A thumbs-up post will still have ideas that need to be expanded on. Especially now days niche blogs seems to be recycling information, it would be good to get a little deeper in depth.
Dec 30th, 2007
skellie
@ MrsMicah: Good to hear the winner is a good person as well as a good commenter :).
Well I could always add a short tip to one of the feature posts — that’s a compromise ;).
@ Jack: Thanks — I’ll add your vote to the ‘case study’ pile :).
@ ImageGag: The difficulty with that is comment moderation. If you haven’t commented at Skelliewag before your comment immediately goes into moderation (because Akismet still lets some spam get through). So you might respond to one blog only to find that another two comments appear between it and your own comment…
So for that reason I think it could get a little messy — but I do like the idea!
@ Alfa King: Both? You’re killing me ;).
Maybe there’s a way for me to sort of combine the two…
@ Daniel: I agree, one thing I worry about re: the case studies is that I’d find myself saying the same things after a while.
The diary is probably one of my favorite options, simply because it’s rare that you see bloggers actually acting on the advice they give. It might be nice to create a stronger link between theory and practice.
But do people really want to read about what I do behind the scenes? That’s the question ;).
The reason I’m fond of the adding value idea is that it means every post will be a feature post… For example, one of the things I love about Tim Ferriss’s blog is that when a post arrives in your feed reader (which doesn’t always happen often) you can bet it’s going to be value packed. So I always invest the time in reading it. I’m thinking about trying to re-recreate the same effect here.
I know quite a few readers don’t consider lower-intensity weekend posts to be as useful as the others, so that’s something I’m thinking about.
Dec 30th, 2007
James Chartrand - Web Content Writer Tips
One thing I’d love you to work on or to see on your blog is a “Subscribe to Comments”, Skellie. If I could drop a comment and stay updated on the discussions, I’d visit your blog more, comment more, and participate more. I posted about the benefits of this plugin here. You may not have Wordpress as your platform, but surely there is a way?
As it is, I drop a comment, and… well, out of sight, out of mind, as they say. But I’d really like to be more involved, and I’m sure other readers appreciate the subscribe to comments feature as well.
Dec 30th, 2007
Mark
Hi Skellie -
You asked, “what would you like me to do with this day — if anything?”
How about highlighting a different (lesser known blog), per week? Maybe you can highlight sites where you either like the writer, like what they are trying to do, or just as a way to help some folks gain a little more exposure…?
You could possibly even turn it into a link back and commenting contest?
Just a thought.
Mark
Dec 31st, 2007
paidtwice
Wow! Thanks! I am very honored to be chosen
As for the options, they all sound great but I am partial to the behind the scenes look at skellie and skelliewag.
Thanks again!!
Dec 31st, 2007
Bente Lilja Bye
I am greedy like Alfa King:
I’d love to read your comments on various sites AND learn about what goes on backstage at Skelliewag.
Dec 31st, 2007
Maya Norton
Skellie,
All those options sound great, but I especially appreciate your posts about your own experience given your meteoric rise.
Maya
Dec 31st, 2007
Bengt
I like your fourth option, a behind-the-scenes look at how you try to put your ideas into practice.
But I also like Mark’s suggestion, highlighting a different (lesser known blog), per week.
Thanks for many great posts, at Skelliewag and elsewhere.
Dec 31st, 2007
plonkee
A case study. But that doesn’t have to be limited to blogs - there must be lots of things that other people do well that could be useful. Like headlines in magazines, or truly abysmal static websites, or great success despite throwing all the rules out of the window, what we can learn from specific linkfarms, film trailers, or forums.
Dec 31st, 2007
Frank
Hi Skellie,
I would love to read a post along the diary line. I think it would be fascinating to “get in your head” and understand the processes you undertake to achieve such fine work and great design.
btw, I have used several of your excellent ideas on Our Hiking Blog in the last few weeks. These have included a seperate links page, a more expanded “About Us” section and trying to simplify the look of the blog. Your ideas have been terrific so many thanks and have a great New Year……..
Now that give me an idea…..A diary of Skellie’s New Year celebrations, does she stay at home thinking of her next post?, does she forget about it for a day or two and go out and party?, does she have one or two wines more than normal and decide to plaster adsense adds all over her site? (waking up with a sore head and the horror of seeing ……Ads by Google everywhere)
Who is the “real” Skellie?
Many thanks again for your great contributions.
Dec 31st, 2007
Daniel Sutoyo
@ Skellie
re: But do people really want to read about what I do behind the scenes? That’s the question ;).
Paidtwice, alfaking, bente lilja bye, bengt, frank, and myself included would all like to know :-). And I believe we all trust your judgment what diary elements you display will be worthwhile to us.
I think your posts already have a consistent quality packed in it. So, for me at least, you don’t need to re-create that effect. Having said that, I think the idea is still worthy to pursue. Posts that I would like to see be added value on would be 1) posts that generated a lot of comments (perhaps additional clarification and examples) 2) posts that you especially want to emphasize on
@ Plonkee
That will certainly help prevent the case studies to become quickly stagnant and repetitive. Maybe it can be incorporated to enhancing the tumblelog?
@ Frank
re: “get in your head” and understand the processes you undertake to achieve such fine work and great design
Great way to put it! Often we choose methods because famous/authoritative people use it. However, if we understand the reasoning behind the decision, it will add another dimensionality to our knowledge.
Dec 31st, 2007
Michael Martine
Cool. I love when I win things! Thanks!
Dec 31st, 2007
Denise
All of your weekend options are great ideas. Do you have to settle on one? Why not rotate them randomly, according to whatever has drawn your interest that week?
I’ll add my vote to the clamor for behind-the-scenes insight. Yes, we really want to read about what you do!
Jan 1st, 2008
CompuWorld
It is true that readers tend to get slacky as the week ends and so publishing a feature post is no way the best idea. And as you say you would want something which does not takes too much time then how about a fun post.
I mean it may not come under your niche but skellie everyone needs time out. Even you do. I write tech posts in my blog from Monday to Thursday and then a Friday Fun post on Fridays. It isn’t very tough to gather such articles and because you have dedicated readers, I am sure they will also feel lighter with such things.
Okay I wrote the above two paragraphs and then went on to read what others had to say in comments above. And now I think I need to add more to this comment.
Collection of links on some topic is a great idea but I guess it might be (at times) little time consuming.
A short post on quick tip? I still think you can include that short post with your regular posts.
Writing about some blog/website is ofcourse a great idea considering someone like me will benefit from it. But once again here I am focusing on saving your time and doing something off topic!
Short diary? This strikes me. If you write what you did in last few days, what you wrote, what your learned, what new you expect in coming time etc than I am sure you will love this. Because from your attitude I can guess that you like yourself a lot. And such people love to talk about themselves.
Jan 6th, 2008
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