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I found myself up late last night so I jumped into the Twitter party for #savvyblogging. By the way, please follow me (!) @amylynnandrews since I thought I would be in bed, didn’t RSVP (smacks head!) and therefore didn’t make the tweepl lists — List 1 & List 2 — definitely learned my lesson on *that* one. 
Update: Thanks to Holly (@savingforeight), I am now on the list! And if you’re wondering what “The List” is, it’s all the people who participated in the #savvyblogging party. You can follow all of them at one time (yay for efficiency!) by going to List 1 & List 2. Go follow them because most will follow you back and we all like more followers, right? As you’ll see below, we can learn so much from each other.
Here’s some of what we talked about. My apologies up front for not crediting everyone with their tips — it was absolutely crazy — I’ll be updating as I go through the tweets and figure out where I heard what from.
Question 1: How have you created/encouraged readership for your blog?
- Read and comment on other blogs.
- Blog with passion.
- Interact with others on BlogFrog.
- Use Twitter and other social media.
- Write high-quality content.
- Support other bloggers and rejoice with them in their successes.
- Be authentic.
- Participate in blog carnivals & memes.
- Guest post.
Question 2: How have you increased reader involvement/engagement?
- Blog about your mistakes.
- Ask questions of your readers.
- Giveaways.
- Use threaded comments. (Sidenote: Did you WordPress users know you can enable threaded comments in your Settings –> Discussion tab thus eliminating the need for a plugin?)
Question 3: What blogging etiquette/rules do you follow?
- Think before posting — it’s easy to come across differently on screen than in person.
- Live generously & pay things forward (not just in blogging but in life). (@amylynnandrews)
- Don’t have auto-play music.
- Keep photos sized small to increase page loading time.
- Give credit where credit is due.
- Link to others a lot.
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- Be nice.
- Keep your badges and widgets to a minimum (easier navigation).
Question 4: What 3 mistakes should a new blogger avoid?
- Looooooong posts.
- No paragraph breaks.
- Light text on dark backgrounds.
- Have a partial feed (as opposed to full).
- Post irregularly.
- Spelling or grammar mistakes.
- Write posts with little content and a lot of affiliate links.
- Compare yourself to other bloggers.
- Send spammy emails promoting your posts.
- Use someone else’s content on your blog.
Question 5: How much time do you spend on blogging & related tasks?
- These answers varied. Some people only spend 30-60 minutes a day, while other spend a good portion of their day on the computer. It seemed like 4 hours was a pretty common answer.
Question 6: How do you balance family and blogging?
- Blog only during nap times, at night when everyone is sleeping or when kids are at school.
- Turn OFF the computer at particular times of the day, especially when with family.
- Set a “work hours” schedule.
- Remember that the computer will always be there, but the days of your kids’ childhood won’t.
- Don’t post on the weekends or take a day off once a week or month.
- Anyone can be a blogger, but only you can be your husband’s wife and kids’ mom. (@crystalpaine)
Question 7: Have you set up a posting schedule? Why or why not?
- It seemed like people were split on this one — some have and some haven’t. I got the impression that owners of bigger blogs were more likely to have a schedule whereas those just starting, didn’t.
- Overall, having a schedule was an asset.
Question 8: What advice do you have for monetizing on a blog?
- Don’t blog for money, blog your passion. Let money follow.
- Explore all different types of monetization and see what works for you — banner ads, private ad space, Google AdSense, affiliates (Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction, etc.), Project Wonderful, coupons.com. Although, according to @crystalpaine & @carriegisaac Coupons.com IS better than CJ, LM, & Escalate
- Check to see if products you already love have affiliate programs so you can make money “naturally.”
- Don’t be afraid to approach companies instead of waiting for companies to come to you.
- Don’t sell ad space to competing companies. (@HappyHousewife)
- Get your blog established and focus on good content before monetizing.
- Start monetizing when you hit somewhere around 500 pageviews a day.
- Note that anyone can check your traffic on Compete or Quantcast.
Question 9: What should I charge for advertising space on my site?
- $2-$4 per CPM. ($1-$3 when you start advertising)
- CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand (the “M” is the Roman numeral for 1000). So, for example, if your site gets 10,000 impressions per month, then you would charge $20-$40/mo for ad space. 100,000 impressions/mo would cost $200-$400/mo.
Question 10: How do you keep track of revenue earned?
- Excel spreadsheets.
- A separate PayPal account only for blogging-related revenue.
- Google Docs
- Outright
{I started fading here… }
Question 11: What SEO practices do you use on a daily basis?
- Use (self-hosted) WordPress.
- Strong anchor text for links.
- Use a good permalink structure; include keywords not just page numbers.
- Keywords in *good* content. Who cares about good SEO if your content stinks. (@HappyHousewife)
- Have a site map. Try Google XML Sitemaps plugin.
- Use Google’s Keyword Tool to find good post titles. (@HappyHousewife)
Question 12: What is your favorite WordPress plugin? Why?
- What Would Seth Godin Do?
- LinkWithin
- Templates – not sure of the link here. Anyone? (@mommysnacks)
- @carrieactually lists a bunch of plugins she likes on her Essential Blogging Resources post
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
- WP125 for ad management (@AmysFinerThings)
Question 13: What is one thing you wish you knew before you started blogging?
- Strive for excellence, not perfection. Perfection causes you to spin your wheels and not accomplish a whole lot.
You all are awesome — would love to follow you! Follow me at @amylynnandrews.
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Hi, I'm Amy. I 
Thanks for putting together the summary. It was so nice to wake up this morning and see such a clean refresher!
I want to thank you for this too… I learned a lot too! And whew is right… it was fast and furious!!
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Excellent recap, Amy!
Thank you so much for taking the time to join in the Twitter Party–and for taking such great notes, too!
Crystal Paine´s last blog ..Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Homemade Pizza (er, how not to improvise when making pizza!)
Thanks sooooo much for sharing these!
You rock!
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Thank you very much for this information! You’ve answered a few questions I have wondered about regarding this blogging business. Appreciate it!
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You are all so welcome! It was a blast!
Thanks for stoppin’ by!
Awesome write up!Thank you so much for doing this. I had missed the beginning.
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Great post! Thanks so much for participating in the party last night and trying to credit people in your post today! It moved so quickly I had a hard time keeping up myself!
Toni
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@Kris & @Toni – You’re welcome. That was wild and it was easy to miss so much!
What an incredible summary! I had to miss the majority of the party, so I’m very grateful that you typed this up.
Thank you!!
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Great Recap!
Don’t worry, you can still be added to the list! I just added you:) Hope you make it to Blissdom because I’d love to meet you.
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@Holly, thanks.
Great recap! Bookmarking this for easy future referral:)
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Thanks for this summary. I missed the party last night so it’s great to have this.
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Awesome job! I missed last night’s party (lesson learned!) and this post makes it MUCH easier to access the content rather than searching for #savvyblogging tweets, like I was planning on doing. Wow, thanks!!
Sturgmom´s last blog ..Egg-Free baking, I will beat you yet!
Great list! The list of WP plugins is from @carrieactually, though, not @carriegisaac.
Someday I’ll have a list of plugins! 
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@Carrie Isaac, oops! Thank you! Edited.
Hi Amy,
Thank you so much for putting all these tips in one place. This was clearly a lot of work to pull these together and it was a huge help for me as I didn’t get to participate in the entire Twitter party. Plus, I was not at home and participated from my iPhone, which was an even bigger challenge. Thank you so much! Looking forward to meeting you at BlissDom.
Holly (BlogFrog)
Thanks for this post! And I am so impressed with how much you captured. It was a crazy fast party and no way would I have been able to take notes.
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Thank you so much for this! I was recovering from a long day of errand running (see today’s blog post!) and couldn’t catch all of the chat. I appreciate you putting this together!
Angela <
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Thank you so much for compiling this list with great content and links. I’m excited to review the advice from so many experienced bloggers.
Thanks again! There was so much great information going on that I was getting dizzy from reading it all! It really helps to have it all distilled like this.
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great wrap up. i’m definitely bookmarking this for future reference.
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I started my blog almost 2 months ago. I haven’t yet jumped into the world of Twitter. If I had not had plans to be out for the evening, this Twitter Party may have been my reason for learning about Twitter. I have to say though that I’m a little apprehensive since my blog, Facebook and the computer in general gets so much of my time. Thanks so much for posting this re-cap! I’m sure that I’ll refer back to it often.
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Saw Holly’s tweet and came to visit. Excellent summary. I hope to attend the next event ~ I’m so glad you summarized. Much appreciated and I will be following you via Twitter.
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This is awesome! Thanks, Amy!
Thanks for the great recap – I faded around 10p.m.!! I will read and use these tips!
FAB post girl…an amazing recap!!!
Erin
Thank you for this list! I was only able to follow along on the party a little, so I knew I missed a lot. This is perfect!
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Thanks for relaying all the info!! I’m feeling like my learning curve is as high as Mount Everest!!
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Thanks so much for putting this altogether in an easy-to-read format.
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Many thanks for doing this! I’ve got it bookmarked for future reference! What a great resource!
Wow, amazing recap! How were you able to take notes? It went by so fast.
Thanks so much for the notes, though – I missed the party.
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Such a great summary!!! Thanks for all the effort … it’s getting bookmarked right now:)
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Oh, thank syou so much for the notes. I was so overwhelmed with the speed that it was hard to keep track!
Thanks so much for the information summary! It was hard to keep up, but there was tons of great information. Looking forward to the next savvyblogging party!
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Amy, Thanks so much for the recap! It was my first Twitter party and things were flying so fast I could not keep up with it all! It is nice to have this comprehensive list to refer back to. I am a new blogger, and I am learning so much from you all! Thanks again!
Thanks for putting this together.
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Thank you on the threaded comments for WP. I did not know that and have so wanted that option. Who knew it was right there under my nose the whole time. So great!!
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Thanks so much for the summary! I wasn’t able to participate, and my search for the hashtag led to SO much information I was overwhelmed! I appreciate this to get a general overview of what I missed. There are some excellent tips here!
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Great summary! Thanks for posting! By the way, do you have any idea how to get a sense of your impressions (cpm??)
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I assume you are interested in knowing how much to charge a potential advertiser, right? In that case, use something like Google Analytics or StatCounter to determine the number of pageviews your site receives. CPM stands for “Cost Per One Thousand” (with “M” being the Roman numeral for 1000). The average CPM seems to be somewhere between $2-$4. So, to determine what you would charge for advertising on your site, take the number of pageviews and divide by 1000. Multiply that number by, say, $3 and there you have your ad rate.
For example, let’s say your site receives 50,000 pageviews per month. Divide that number by 1000 to get 50, times $3. Your ad rate would then be $150 per month. Make sense?
Thanks Amy!! I just was not sure whether “impressions” were page views! I already use google analytics so Thanks!!
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Thanks so much for putting this together! Twitter overwhelms me right now and I just couldn’t figure out how to find most of this info that was flying past me at the party!!!
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