New direction

Sorry for the lack of updates lately - I've been having some problems with my internet connection.

It made me realize, though, that trying to come up with posts to write all the time is quite stressful, and decreases the fun of having a blog in the first place. I know that everyone says you have to post every day to have a successful blog, but it kind of defeats the object if blogging starts to become a chore.

So I have decided to not stress about it anymore, and just post when I have something interesting or helpful to say. This might mean less posts - although I've always tried to post interesting or helpful things, I won't be actively trying to think them up anymore. So if you don't want to check back often and would rather be notified when I update, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe via email.

Also, I was thinking of focusing a bit more on what this blog was originally going to be for: graphic resources, links, tutorials, downloads etc. for the cheaper Mac graphic programs like Pixelmator, VectorDesigner, ZeusDraw, Drawit, Gimp, and Inkscape.

But I will still post any interesting info I find about blogging, and any other pixelly subjects ;)

Earn $50 for writing just one post!

Did that title get your attention? :P It's true, but there are more reasons to sign up with RevResponse than just the $50. Read on as I tell you about my experience with them.

The offer
I had signed up with RevResponse a long time ago, but I've been so busy lately that I hadn't gotten around to setting up my page (or mini-site) yet. I finally logged into my RevResponse account yesterday to set up my page, and saw that they're offering users $50 in the month of July just to write a post about them! For those of you who don't know what RevResponse is, it's a company that has a wide range of ebooks, whitepapers, software downloads, etc. to offer for free on your site, and you get paid every time someone downloads something.

Help a cause and win a Nintendo Wii or Flip Mino!

The contest & sponsors
Thanks to The University Kid and Market Leverage, you can help raise money for cancer research and win a Nintendo Wii or Flip Mino!

The University Kid is a young entrepreneur blog that I recommend you all check out - it's not one of those "make money online" blogs that try to sell you everything under the sun just to get their cut of the sales. A day or two ago Jason even gave me a tip that would have saved me money and lost him an affiliate sale!

Jason has a straightforward, humorous style of writing that is a pleasure to read, and he's also very helpful. You can also check out his blogging forum, Blog Premiere, and meet a whole lot of great bloggers.

Market Leverage is an affiliate network characterized by their great customer service. The staff is friendly and helpful, with a great sense of humor too! (check out this post)

The cause
Two Market Leverage affiliate managers, Debby Phillips and Jen Fluker, are training for a 60 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer, and have entered the Blogging Idol challenge in an effort to win and collect more money.

How to help
Gaining the most subscribers out of all the Blogging Idol contestants will win them the cash prize, so subscribing to their blog will help and get you entered into the competition. You can also help by spreading the word to help them get more subscribers, by donating money to the cause, or by donating Entrecard credits so they can advertise on more blogs. You could also buy a spot on their Scratchback widget for $5, or display their 125x125 banner on your blog.

Entrecard's next target: Comments for your blog!

First Entrecard formed a Digg community to help Entrecard bloggers get more exposure and traffic to their blogs. Now Entrecard has formed a partnership with SezWho to help increase the amount of quality comments their users receive and submit on other blogs!

I think it's a great initiative - and not only will it help increase quality comments (which I absolutely adore receiving, by the way ;) ), but it should also help reduce the bounce rate that was the only downside to using Entrecard.

I say quality comments because SezWho has a rating system, so if users post spammy comments then they will see their rating fall quickly. I haven't gotten spammy comments on Bits and Pixels, but I know they're a problem on many bigger blogs. SezWho also has an optional filter system that can be used to show only comments with a certain rating, so you can choose to read only the highest quality comments - this is great for blogs that routinely get dozens (or hundreds) of replies on each post.

But the best thing about SezWho is that you can find all comments and blog posts left by other commenters all over the web - so for example if you find someone who writes great posts, you can check what other blogs they have been commenting on, and maybe find more great content!

This will also be a way of getting more traffic: Person A leaves a comment on your blog, then leaves a comment on another blog. Then Person B reads Person A's comment, and decides to check out their other comments. He then finds your blog thanks to Person A's comment!

To read more advantages of using SezWho, see JoeTech's post, and to read all the details of how it works, see Entrecard's announcement post. You can also participate in the contest to earn up to 5000 EC!

WordPress 2.6 released!

WordPress 2.6 has been released, and has some great new options that will increase usability. Check out the video:

I love the new "Press this" feature, and I really hope "Gears" for Safari will be available soon - I need all the help I can get with my slow connection! The word count and image captions will be very useful, and the new image control and drag-and-drop reordering of the galleries will make orgainizing things much easier. The ability to select a range of checkboxes by shift-clicking was a good idea, but unfortunately I noticed that it only works if the checkboxes you select after the first one are below it, and not above it. You can read more about the new features at the official post.

Before upgrading to the new version, be sure to create backups of your posts and database. You can use the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin, or the WordPress Database Backup plugin if you want to upgrade manually. But be warned - I have used WordPress Automatic Upgrade twice now, and both times it has failed to reactivate my plugins. So before upgrading, also make a list of your activated plugins so that you can quickly reactivate them if WAU fails to do so.

Upgrading to the new version of WordPress will also replace your smilies with the default ones, so if you have replaced them with custom smilies, be ready to reupload them after the upgrade.

To enroll or not to enroll - that is the question!

I'm not sure how it started, but these last few days I've been going from one "make money online" site to another, subscribing to newsletters and downloading a few dozen free ebooks. I've got so many now that I don't know where to start reading them!

I've also found quite a few offers for courses or software to make money online with affiliate marketing and niche stores, and they look so good! But with my recent experiences (that's not the only one, but I'm hoping the other will still work out before I post about it), I'm hesitating to enroll. It's also difficult to find honest reviews on the internet - everyone is promoting the products because they want their cut of affiliate sales!

The thing is, the 2 offers I'm most interested in are both on sales that are going to be ending soon (like in a few hours or less), and while I know many people say that and then don't actually put the prices up, these 2 seem to have a solid reputation, and so will probably keep their word.

I've decided to wait until my parents come home and talk it over with them; after all, if I do decide to go for it, it will be their money I'll be spending! :P And if the offers aren't available anymore by the time they get home, then it just wasn't meant to be.

Either way, I think it's a good idea to learn more about affiliate marketing and niche stores, and I've downloaded a lot of ebooks on these subjects now. If I find any good ones, I'll let you all know! ;)

Choosing a webhost

I chose Dreamhost to host my blogs because a popular site recommended them. Since then I have learnt not to trust people just because they are well-known. If you've read my previous posts or are following me on Twitter, then you know that I've had problems with the loading speed of my blogs, and am looking for a new webhosting company.

I found a very useful site called Web Hosting Geeks, which has reviewed many web hosting companies and lists the best ones and their features in a handy chart. I especially like the fact that they allow customer reviews too -  it satisfies the (relatively new) pessimist in me, that worries that the hosting companies might have payed review sites to give them positive reviews. :P

So before choosing a host for your blog or site, remember to check Web Hosting Geeks before you make your decision. You can never do too much research if you want the best for your blog!

What about you? What hosts have you tried, and how was your experience with them?