In all the blogs I read, I have not seen the Paypal requests until I started looking for badges on the Do-Follow blogs.  These are hysterical to me. This is what I’m talking about:

Do people really do this?  Does anybody buy bloggers tea or fast food?  I mean seriously, I need to know.  I saw these in all shapes and sizes, but I didn’t feel compelled to buy the bloggers a meal.  Anybody out there have these or know of someone that has actually purchased or has had someone purchase something for them?

If this works, I  may consider adding one to my blog.  Mine would be more like…’Donate to my Louis Vuitton fund’ or ‘Buy Me a Martini’. 

The day I’d been waiting for finally arrived when that bottom bar on the lower right hand side of my screen turned green. Yeah!! SEOWife has some page rank. Finally.

So where there’s good news, there’s bad news too. My other blogs went down 1. Now I know that the whole ‘Page Rank’ thing is similar to being graded on a curve right? Well, I hated that in high school also. I wanted my A to stay an A, or in this case a 5 to stay a 5.

SEOH says don’t obsess on it. I can’t help it, there’s just something about seeing that number.

Not bad for a multitude of stories about kids, marriage, friends, etc. Seeing and reading all of their posts and blogs has given me a new appreciation for what the net has to offer. These ladies are working hard and involved with affiliate programs, advertising, networking, etc. I am really quite impressed with it all actually.

The blogher network is ‘ginormous’, and it really opens up doors of opportunity to SAHM’s (Stay at home moms) everywhere. With a computer, an internet connection, drive and motivation the sky is the limit to what you can accomplish. Not internet savvy? No problem, there is a tutorial out there for anything you’d want to learn. Seeing the number of mom bloggers and networks out there is motivating to me. I really didn’t realize how big of a chunk of the blogosphere they own.

Side note: I was talking to Dax last night because I found a website that referenced “Daxohol” (The mom had a son named Daxon.) So anyway, Dax said “What’s up with all these mommy bloggers and their PR5’s and 6’s? They all have Blogroll’s the size of a phonebook. They shoot links out of a canon.” He’s right. What is up with that? I want to be just like them. I want to shoot links out of a canon while standing on my blogroll the size of a phone book. : )

While I’m kinda done with the whole “Loving My Blog Log” thing, I found myself there today searching for blogs that would be relevant to mine. I ended up steering towards the mom bloggers.

So I’m doing some pretty basic stuff here, but it’s fun for me and I am learning in the process. I decided to try and focus on working moms, because my blog has a lot of easy and quick recipes. To my pleasant surprise, I had already gotten a link added within thirty minutes of my first request. This was really motivating. So off I go, back to work.

BTW, try the Shrimp Penne it’s really easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes. Also, try the Artichoke Dip. It will be the hit at any party. Seriously, it’s the best artichoke dip you’ll ever have.

Side note:
Today is Sunday. This is what’s going on at our house right now. My son is upstairs on the computer listening to music and surfing You Tube. My daughter is in her room on her computer on her MySpace. SEOH is on his laptop doing the SEO thing and me well, blogging and link building. That’s a trip!

SEO Book takes its reader through the Search Industry step by step. It begins with the fundamentals and touches on more advanced topics at the end. Aaron walks you through all the phases from picking a product, picking a domain name, directories, links, PPC, etc. Aaron provides you with many different tools and resources along the way. I particularly liked this because I never felt limited to just reading. I am a hands-on learner and with the tools scattered throughout the book, I was able to test things as I read about them which helped me reinforce what I had learned.

SEO Book should be in the hard drive of every newbie search marketer. It’s an invaluable tool that provides focused direction with a consistent level of support along the way. It’s almost like Aaron knew when I was reading and had a question; he’d stop clarify, give an example. Aaron really has a knack for knowing what his readers need.

Some of the top SEO movers and shakers have contributed to SEO Book and Aaron really knows how to tie all the information together while keeping it fluid. There is really too much information for me to summarize SEO Book, but I will say there are three key things that I will use as the basis of anything I write on or offline.

Keywords
Relevancy
Content

Three very simple pieces to a very complex puzzle. These are the foundation from which most SEO campaigns are built.

The insight provided by Aaron’s detailed descriptions of SEO has given me enough knowledge to apply what I’ve learned in conversations with my SEOH.

If you’re interested here’s a cheesy example:
We were out to dinner on Friday night with some friends. After a few drinks our friend mentions that he needs a website. As always the conversation led to …”Hey, don’t you have something to do with where websites end up in Google? Cuz I’d really like to rank for [insert keyword here].” So we skim the surface of what SEOH does and before I knew it, I was participating in the conversation. We were going back and forth discussing blogging, links, relevancy, PPC, etc. It was really weird, but a very cool moment.

There is still a ton for me to learn, but at the same time I feel I’ve made progress in leaps and bounds from where I was when I started reading SEO Book.

Aaron, the amount of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears that went into SEO Book is obvious to anyone that reads it. Thank you!

At any rate, I was smiling all the way through while reading Danny’s post this morning. Danny does a fantastic job of defending the industry that he had his hands in creating. In my previous post about Danny I mentioned that he “speaks softly, but carries a big stick”. Well, he just used his stick and yes it was a big one!

It will be interesting to see any changes if any that are made to MyBlogLog over the next few months. They will have their hands full trying to figure out how to keep it real and stop the flow of spam seeing as how so many users are SEO’s or somehow involved in that community.

I agree with Oilman that I don’t know if I like my footprint left everywhere I go. For example this morning, there was an avatar on my screen that had these big boobs in a lacy top. The name underneath implied that this was an SEO person. I didn’t want to click on it. Fear of the unknown. I thought it was a trick I guess or some ploy to get me to join another community. Regardless, I did not want to leave my footprint there.

So basically, here’s a guy that has had a rash of tough breaks happen to him over the years. He sinks into depression, and then finds a light and moves forward with a new dream. He is selling his soul online.

The winner will receive:
A percentage of his taxable income for the rest of his life-The guy even shows you a copy of his W-2.
The right to name all of his children. Of course the names must be appropriate.
A percentage of profit ownership in any intellectual works that he creates. ( Now mind you, he lists a former company that he started from scratch. I went to check this out and it is really a great idea, so the guy is innovative.)
The option of planning his wedding and selecting the date.Winner will be selected on 7/7/2007.

This could open up a whole can of worms here amongst various groups I’m sure. Regardless of the controversy of the topic, the guy had been offered a movie deal.

So here’s to show that with some drive, commitment and creativity you can accomplish whatever you set out for. He wanted to change his life and that he did.

I did not bid on his soul. Just too creepy to think that I would own someone’s soul, but after reading his website, I kinda liked the kid and thought maybe someone else might want to own it? Maybe there’s a future wife out there for him that would be interested in bidding. Although in the end, I guess she’d get all the above stuff anyway right?