#also the color selection in the mini palettes isn’t very good I know like. two browns? what was I thinking huh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

asocier · 4 years

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lots of overlap between my girls in terms of interests and aesthetics, but also very subtle differences in their personal tastes and mannerisms i wanna talk about for funsies!

colors: alison very much has a pink/white color palette to her belongings whereas leah likes blues, purples, and yellows in her things. while both alison and leah lean towards soft pastels, leah can be associated with bolder colors and neutrals more often than alison. warm room set-ups and outfits that consists of beige, whites, grays, ect. is an aesthetic that leah appreciates while alison prefers to stick to whites, pinks, and the occasional grey or black to accent.

aesthetic: alison and leah both love flowers, but alison leans towards ( unsurprisingly ) pink or white blossoms like peonies, pink roses, carnations, and cherry blossoms while leah likes hydrangeas, sunflowers, and yellow roses. additional notable aesthetic things for alison include ribbons, lace, wax seals on envelopes, ball gowns/runway dresses, and pearls. notable aesthetic things for leah include the ocean, the beach, the sky/clouds, cityscapes, and plants, especially succulents.

wardrobe: leah’s wardrobe ranges in styles quite frequently whereas alison’s style is pretty consistent day to day. leah will wear clothing that resemble a lot of street fashion more often than alison will, and it’s more likely that you’ll see leah wear clothing that will expose her midriff, shoulders, or back. alison typically only wears these kind of outfits when she’s feeling very good about herself or wants to surprise her romantic partner. alison’s closet typically consists of a lot of business casual outfits due to her work, but she leans towards elegant and modest fashion more so than leah. of course, both girls enjoy their fair share of cozy sweaters, skirts, and lingerie as well, but print, length, and cut preference vary between each girl ( e.g. alison likes to wear lingerie that’s single piece like a teddy whereas leah likes two-pieces; alison enjoys wearing midi-length skirts on occasion whereas leah sticks to mini and above the knee skirts ) alison is also often seen wearing heels while leah consistently wears flats or sneakers.

mannerisms: both are very sweet, maternal, and generous. there’s a lot of love in their hearts, and they’re known to be sensitive and don’t like confrontation. a noticeable difference, however, is that leah is capable of being feisty when provoked, especially with friends or peers her age, and her potty mouth adds an extra layer that alison lacks. it takes a lot to provoke alison; you really have to dig deep and be nasty to her for her to bring out an aggressive side to her. it usually stems from being disrespected and having one of her boundaries crossed in a way that’s offensive to her and her trauma/past experiences in life ( e.g. slutshaming, victim-blaming, complicit behavior in friends, which i’ve explored in threads ).

alison is more likely to let things fly, like being talked over, whereas leah will show signs of agitation sooner. that isn’t to say that alison is someone to walk over; she’s more subtle about her irritation at the start, but in her canon timeline, she’s definitely trying to embrace her position as a somewhat influential individual in the fashion company she works for, which means she’s working on being assertive. though, if alison is made to feel small in anyway by a man in power, it affects her a lot differently and more significantly than if it was leah.

family: alison isn’t very close with her parents. they’re separated, and while she still talks to them now and then, she’s not as attached as she is to emile, whom she talks to consistently and sees often. she also isn’t very close to extended family and knows very little about them aside from the aunt who she works under in the fashion company. this is largely in part due to the fact that alison cut ties with a lot of family to protect herself while she was a sex worker and has never made the effort to rekindle ties.

leah is close to her parents ( especially seeing as how she’s an only child ), but she also fears them due to filial piety and her strict upbringing. leah walks on a lot of eggshells, and though her parents aren’t abusive necessarily, they’re incredibly overbearing. alison’s mother was strict in the sense that she disciplined and socialized alison to keep her in line and break away from her tomboy nature, but alison’s parents were still pretty laissez-faire overall as they were dealing with their separation. leah’s parents consistently are attentive to her, giving her some personal choice in certain matters, but their expectations are very clear. unlike alison, leah also has a large extended family she’s close to, and she often watches over little cousins when she’s back at home during her off-time from college.

sexuality: needless to say, leah is very sexually active. she’s very open about it to a select few while keeping things under lock and key to others. alison, while experienced, is much more reserved about her interests in the bedroom, and while she doesn’t mind talking about her sexuality to close friends, it’s something that she finds a little embarrassing since it’s a little cruder than what she normally talks about. alison and leah do in fact share some kinks/fetishes, but it takes a lot for alison to feel comfortable in the bedroom, so it’s very vanilla at first before she’ll even let her partner know what she’s into. sex also has to be very controlled for her to feel safe, especially when engaging in rougher sex with a partner. leah, on the other hand, enjoys pushing the envelope and will gladly engage in acts with people she doesn’t know very well so long as she feels safe enough being alone with them.

#( alison ) headcanon;#( leah ) headcanon;#cw: long post

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domytriesthis · 6 years

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A little while back, I contacted Profusion Cosmetics to let them know I really liked a brow pencil I received in one of my subs and to ask for a couple samples of other things to try. I did include my YouTube channel and was up front about being a REALLY small channel (at the time, I had less than 50 subscribers; I'm still a small channel, but now have more than twice that). I honestly expected them to completely ignore me the way another company had, or if anything, to just send one or two smaller items. Most companies want a much larger reach than I have. Even Octoly requires 1000 YouTube subscribers before you qualify for their program. So, yea, wasn't expecting much.

Instead, Profusion blew me away and put me on their PR list! Their response to my email was so encouraging too: "First of all, we love you. You have a very honest, relatable and unpretentious way about your channel and content and that is exactly what Profusion is all about. We’d love to send you some samples!"

Props to Profusion for recognizing smaller channels! I've had other fairly well known companies (I haven't even tried the high end like Urban Decay etc, so these are generally affordable companies who are lesser known than, say, Cover Girl or Maybelline) completely ignore me. And I get it. My little channel isn't going to give any of them much in the way of exposure, and companies want the biggest bang for their buck, so I really appreciate Profusion's trust.

Even better? Most of the products I received (including the one mini palette, the Flawless Luxe palette, and the Pro Contour Case that I purchased) are amazing quality, especially for the price point. Most of these items run $8-$12. The Flawless is $20 (it comes with a mirror, 48 eyeshadows, 5 eyeliner pencils, 1 dual-ended brow pencil, 3 brushes, a mascara, and a sharpener). The mini (which is not available on their site, so must be discontinued) cost me a couple dollars at most. I've been using them for awhile now, so the following reviews aren't first impressions.

Flawless Luxe Eyeshadows :: My biggest complaint about this eyeshadow book is that it's not purse travel friendly (I have a spot that needs reapplication no matter how good the shadows—it's a quirk of my eyes, not a technical issue) and the mirror is awkwardly placed. That said, there's a beautiful range of colors that make this an all in one eyeshadow palette. There are a few that don't work with my coloring, but the shadows are pigmented and blendable.

Flawless Luxe Eyeliners :: Sadly, these are a bit too hard to use on my eyes—I'd have to press too hard to get the pigmentation I'd like and they'd tug. I much prefer a softer liner like Urban Decay's 24/7. That said, the black works really well as a brow pencil and the others can be used as lip liners, though a couple of them are in colors that I don't use. A couple of these will probably end up in my Project Beauty Share box, but the colors I'm more likely to use elsewhere on my face will be kept.

Flawless Luxe Mascara :: The formula is on the thicker side, and the mascara tends to thicken more than it lengthens. It's a little clumpy, but not horribly so, and it's easily fixed without losing coverage using a second wand. It is a beautiful dark black on par with Urban Decay's Perversion. I had to use two coats to get the kind of lash coverage I like. Sadly, though, it did transfer to my under eye. It's not a bad mascara, but not my favorite either.

Flawless Brow Pencil :: This was on par with the previous brow pencil I've tried from them. Nice application. The only problem here was the colors included, and that's just a risk you take with these all in one palettes. Fortunately, one of the lip liners works well in this pencil's place.

Flawless Luxe Brushes :: These are travel sized brushes that are pretty sturdy and soft, though the bristles are a bit long. I think the length of the bristles that makes them a bit awkward to use. They pick up and apply color well.

Mixed Metals Peach Palette :: While beautiful, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Most of the colors perform well and pigmented, there are a few that don't work as well for me. Some just die on my skin (a color match issue), others apply on the sheer side and don't build up for me. However, the metallics are gorgeous and the misses are the minority in the palette. While it could be used to create a full look on its own (even with the misses), I tend to use it as a support pallete rather than a solo palette.

Peach Liquid Lip :: This is a really pretty rose gold color that's a bit too light for me on its own. It does work as a topper to adjust color or add shine with a touch of glitter. It does dry down a bit sticky, so it's not bad, but also not a favorite. (That said, one of my girls keeps borrowing it, so once I film the update for my channel, it'll probably go to her. lol)

Peach Matte Lip Pencil :: As with the liquid lip, this is too light for my skin. That said, it's creamy and pigmented and applies well.

Peach Eyeshadow Brush :: The Peach items came in a really nice package that included the palette, liquid lip, lip pencil, and this brush. This is a full sized brush that I like to use in my crease. It's sturdy with a rose gold ferrule, the bristles are soft and the right length. Very pleased with it.

Pearl Eyeshadow Mini :: As you can see in the photo, this mini is REALLY mini. Despite my experience with the Peach and Flawless shadows, this surprised me. I expected tis palette (being sold for a dollar store price and probably an older palette since it's not available at the Profusion site). The shades are soft and shimmery with great pigmentation, and are very blendable. I would have liked one of the pinks and one of the lighter colors to be replaced with a green and maybe a yellow, but other than the color selection, I'm really happy with it.

Contour Pro Makeup Case :: This palette is a nice mix of warm and cool tones, with one really deep shade and two highlighter (one with shimmer, one without). I tend to mix the cool, deeper contour with one of the warmer middle range colors. They are soft and pigmented, and I recommend starting light and building up to what you like as they can apply quite heavily if you don't.

Highlighter Pro Makeup Case :: I love the range of colors in this palette. They impart a beautiful, buildable glow (though I haven't tried to go outer space blinding with it; and I suspect the palette wouldn't suit a person who prefers that level of shine). A couple that I use more frequently are getting a pebbled surface, but they aren't getting hard pan and are still usable. It's become one of my most reached for highlighters.

Blush Studio Icon Collection :: This palette comes with six shades, from a light pink and peach to a bright pink to a deep purple-pink. Two of the colors are matte, the other four are shimmers. They are surprisingly pigmented, so care needs to be taken when applying to avoid clown face. This palette is as good or better than my Nyx Sweet Cheeks palette (which has 2 more colors and goes for $20) and is only $5. Highly recommend.

So domy tried these and is overall impressed. There were a few misses, but the price of these is astoundingly low for the quality. Very pleased with my purchases, despite a few misses. I wish the peach items were more suited to my skin tone, but they generally perform really well. I had this brand on my “to try” list and am happy with my experience.

For a chance to win some Profusion items (among other things), head on over to my channel and watch the 100 Subscriber Giveaway video. :) You can also pick up Profusion at Target,

#makeup pr #cosmetics #eyeshadow palette #blush #bronzer & highlight #contour #makeup palette #lippies #liquidlipstick #makeup brushes #profusion cosmetics #Drugstore makeup #Projectbeautyshare

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android-for-life · 4 years

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"Inside the Google team that dreams up colors"

How do you bring a new color to life? Just ask Isabelle Olsson, who leads Google’s Color, Materials and Finish team. “Every year we work on hundreds of new colors, but maybe one or two make it,” she says. They dream up colors for things like Nest Minis and Pixel phones and develop them from scratch. Their goal is to create colors you’d love to see, not hide away in a cabinet or case.

Among the latest to make the cut can be found in the new Pixel Buds: Oh So Orange, Clearly White, Quite Mint and Almost Black. I recently spent time talking to Isabelle about why color is so important and where she finds inspiration—and of course, which Pixel Buds shade is her personal favorite.

Where did your interest in design first come from?

There’s been one consistent thing I've always wanted to do, and that’s make people smile. When I was little, industrial design wasn’t a profession I was aware of, so I did things like stage design for plays, designing costumes and jewelry and building doll furniture. Eventually, when I went to art school, I found a way to combine my creative side with my problem-solving side, because I also loved math and physics.

Nearly all of us have a favorite color, often starting when we’re little. Why do you think that is?

Color is the foundation for living. Look at flowers, some of which evolved to look bright to attract bees. There’s something about color that reminds us we are alive. And color is very personal, and so culturally specific to the setting and context we’re in. You even see different preferences depending on the climate you live in; if you’re in a hot climate you might prefer different colors than if you’re in a cooler climate.

Electronics used to just be black…then black and white...then the occasional gray. What are some of the things that opened this space up to more variety?

For a long time, tech for tech’s sake was enough, but I don’t think it’s enough anymore. There’s a reason when you go to a paint store there are literally hundreds of shades of white. We really believe that color, material and finish affect your wellbeing.

A look at a few sources of color inspiration the designers use.

At Google, we’ve set out to create products that fit into people's lives, and you just plainly can't do that without color. When we create our palette for the different product categories, we really think about where a product is going to live. Is it in your pocket or next to your bag, or is it going to live on a shelf or on that beautiful wooden cabinet you got from your grandma? We think about how we can fit in or stand out in that environment.

What are some color and finish trends you’ve noticed in electronics?

There’s been this transition away from designing furniture to hide technology, like those media cabinets people shoved electronics in. Our goal is to design things that people are happy to have out in the open, that fit beautifully next to whatever vase you have, or a pair of earbuds you choose the same way you choose a jacket or a bag.

What real-world inspiration goes into color selection?

We try to live with the objects and the colors we design. For instance, when we design something for the home, be it a new color or a new shape, we place it on a shelf. Then every day for a week we walk past it, and we start seeing things we didn’t previously see. We don't just design something and look at it and then it’s done. We try to live with the objects and the colors. These days, we’re sending product models to our houses and living with them in our homes.

We also bring back objects from trips as inspiration. A toothbrush, a bar of soap, a little plate, a spoon—seriously, anything. Then in the studio, we have drawers for these things from all over the world organized by materials. We even have one that’s labeled “organic,” and that’s always fun to open because you never know what you’re going to find. Sometimes it’s stones but sometimes I’m like, What’s that smell? Then we use these objects to make physical mood boards. It’s this idea of turning off your logic brain and turning on your intuition side.

How do you make sure you don’t jump onto temporary color trends?

One thing we do is look at markets for longer-lasting products. It’s like furniture: It’s not like you buy a new couch every year, it’s maybe every five or 10 years. We can be inspired by fashion, but it's important to know that it can be a very quick cycle. It’s important we ask ourselves if something is a short term trend or a lasting movement.

What was the process for choosing the Pixel Bud colors?

We had this vision of this little dot floating in your ear. It’s almost like little candies, so we had bowls of candy in the studio for inspiration.

Creating colors for something that goes on your body is so different from creating colors for something you hold in your hand or put on a shelf; it needs to coordinate with different hair styles, different skin tones and how people dress. We knew we could love a color when we looked at it, but what happens when it goes in the ear? We did a ton of prototyping and experimentation and then narrowed it down to around 100 colors, and then narrowed it down to 25. Then we tried them on a ton of people and photographed them, and we started to see some common themes of what worked in the ear and what just looked good on the table.

For a while we had two dark neutrals and I thought, Wait a minute, that seems like a wasted opportunity. That’s how we brought back the green color, Quite Mint, which is my favorite and hadn't made the cut at first.

I know there are different internal names for colors. What were some of the Pixel Buds’?

We called Quite Mint “pistachio,” which isn’t quite actually the right color but we liked the name! And I think we just called Oh So Orange “sun orange.”

I think my favorite device color name is Purpleish for the Pixel 3a.

That’s my favorite name to this day because it felt so to the point! In some light, it’s purple, in some it’s sort of white, so it’s purple...ish. I loved it.

Head to the Google Store to check out the Pixel Buds colors, which are available next month. (Not all colors are available in all areas.)

Source : The Official Google Blog via Source information

#jeprog

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lovemycart · 5 years

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You can now sign up to shop the current Avon brochure Online via text message to your phone. Buy Avon online 24/7 from my Avon estore when you shop the current Avon brochure by text message.

I DON’T NEED ANOTHER SPAM EMAIL

Last night I had to unsubscribe from 10 different advertising emails. With Avon, you have two options to buy Avon online. You can subscribe to get Avon emails or my favorite option is to get the current Avon brochure online delivered via text. Here are the advantages to buying Avon online without a paper brochure.

DO YOU CALL ME IF I GIVE YOU MY NUMBER TO GET THE AVON DIGITAL BROCHURE?

This is a legit question! LOL No, I do not call my customers! (not unless they want me to) I’m just as busy as my customers are, so I use a personalized text campaign that sends my Avon customers the brochure link 1-2 times per month. When you have time to look at the deals, you can do so when you have time.

AVON DIGITAL BROCHURE VIA TEXT

Text GORGEOUS to 44499 to sign up for Avon Digital Brochure delivered via text once or twice a month. You can also become an Avon Social media Influencer. It’s really easy to sign up to sell Avon digitally via text now.

BENEFITS OF MY DIGITAL AVON BROCHURE VIA TEXT

I love the fact that text messaging is on our own time. I’m a busy Mom and I just don’t have time to make phone calls unless you need help ordering. Additionally, I can use the voice memo feature if anything is too long to text. This way, if you want to place an Avon order online, you can text me directly and ask questions about the product before buying Avon from my estore. I encourage you to use the reviews section for each product though. You’ll find so much info there from other customers!

BUY AVON ONLINE BY TEXT MESSAGE

After you sign up to receive the AVON ONLINE BROCHURE VIA TEXT, you can also select which free Avon sample you’d like. If you opt out of receiving the Avon Digital Brochure, you will not be eligible to receive free samples.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM GETTING THE AVON BROCHURE VIA TEXT

Text GORGEOUS to 44499 to start. You will receive an automatic message to enter your email. Next, you’ll receive a message to enter your phone number. After that you’ll be done. When I see your information has been added, I’ll add your phone number to my VIP list. When you reply to future texts, your messages will come directly to me if you have questions. Welcome!

WILL I GET SPAM MESSAGES IF I SIGN UP TO GET THE AVON DIGITAL BROCHURE VIA TEXT?

If you trust me to text you anything about Avon, that means the world to me. No, I will not and have not ever shared that information with another entity. But I do understand spam messages and I don’t like them either!

NO MONEY TO BUY AVON RIGHT NOW, CAN I STILL SIGN UP TO GET THE AVON DIGITAL BROCHURE VIA TEXT?

SURE! I definitely understand that Avon isn’t always going to be in the budget. But I do have a solution. If you find that you’re always low on cash to pamper yourself, I would highly suggest that you become an Avon Representative. You don’t have to sell Avon online at all to reap the discount benefits. Contact me for more info but until you make that choice, you can browse the brochure anytime you’d like. No pressure.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE BEST AVON PRODUCTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE, HELP!

Where do I start?!?! The best Avon product top sellers you can find here. But if you need a little more help, I would start off with the Avon Clear Skin line that helps acne. Next, I would go with the Avon Anew Hydra Fusion or Avon Anew Vitale line of moisturizers. Here’s a great read on How To Get Clear Skin by a beauty blogger we love. Anddddddd as far as the makeup, well try it all! Avon carries light to full coverage foundations, mini eye shadow quads, the best lipsticks and glosses on the planet, shimmer in both bronzer compacts and contour sticks.

AVON MODEL

MY GRANDMA WORE AVON BUT I’VE NEVER TRIED IT, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Lovely grandma also probably wore Clinique, Estee lauder, Maybelline, Revlon and a few others! But why do you think she may have had so much Avon? I think I know why. Because she loved the quality and the cost! Plus we’re featured every other week in a new magazine as a top product in beauty. On another note, the quality hasn’t changed and we’re still kicking ass in the reviews. Just check out our features here on the ‘gram

IS AVON EXPENSIVE?

The national average of Avon cosmetics compared to other brands varies. I happen to think that Avon is the least expensive brand I’ve ever truly loved. But not everyone has the same budget. For me, $5 for lipstick is beautiful. And $2.99 for eye shadow is too. My die hard skin care regimen includes pieces from the Anew Skinvincible and Anew Vitale line and I can always buy them at $19.99 on sale as an Avon Rep.

DOES AVON HAVE CONTOUR STICKS?

Yep, we sure do! I love our shimmer sticks! Check out some Avon shimmer sticks here. And Avon True Color Bronzing pearls here. Our mark. by Avon Touch & Glow Shimmer Cream Cube has a very high pigment thick and soft/creamy color palette.

CHECK OUT HOW TO CONTOUR AND HIGHLIGHT WITH A QUICK TUTORIAL FOR ALL AGES

DOES AVON HAVE A YOUNGER LINE FOR TEENS?

The newest addition to the next generation Avon line is the CRAVE LIPGLOSS! I recently wrote an article about the top sellers for Avon lip gloss and lipstick here.

DOES AVON HAVE GOOD REVIEWS?

Avon products are reviewed on a scale of 1-5. You can check out any product review from my Avon estore by clicking on the product page. You’ll be hard pressed to find anything that scores lower than a 4!

I WANNA TRY AVON BUT DON’T WANT TO BE FORCED INTO IT

I know other beauty brands can have direct sellers who are very annoying or forceful. Avon Reps love our brand and our product and believe that it sells itself. So I don’t need to bother or annoy you into ordering Avon online. You will eventually, and when you do, you’ll fall in love.

DOES AVON HAVE ANYTHING FOR WOMEN OF COLOR OR TANNED SKIN?

I happen to be a brown skinned woman and YES! But even women who have pale to tanned skin will find their foundation match easily. I do send foundation samples to new customers to help you find our Avon True Color foundation match.

https://www.avon.com/category/bath-body/bath-shower?rep=nicolemae

DOES AVON HAVE FREE SHIPPING?

24/7 Avon offers FREE SHIPPING for orders $40 and up before tax. Throughout the year, Avon offers free shipping with no cart minimum or free shipping with a $25 and up order. When you sign up to receive emails from my Avon estore, you’ll get notifications for the free shipping deals. Or just text GORGEOUS TO 444999 to sign up.

GET AVON ONLINE BROCHURE BY TEXT CAMPAIGN 5 You can now sign up to shop the current Avon brochure Online via text message to your phone.

#AVON DIGITAL BROCHURE BY TEXT

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netmaddy-blog · 7 years

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Baby Cade's Guide To Making Money With Your Blog Content

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/baby-cades-guide-to-making-money-with-your-blog-content/

Baby Cade's Guide To Making Money With Your Blog Content

Passion is the essence of successful online content creation. With the advent of Blogger and other easy to use blogging platforms, even the unsavvy computer user is able to put content on the web for others to read and respond to. It’s even more gratifying to be able to make money from communicating your passion to others…and it is so easy to do.

I believe that most readers of this article are at least adept enough to start a blog with Blogger and perhaps even place a Google Contextual Ad in the code. However, there are many other steps to take that can maximize your “blogging” ability to not only reach your audience but to make money from blog visitors.

Using a real example, I will give you a formula that you can easily follow, with little baby steps, that will allow you to start making money with your web content.

My Passion

“You know what I like? Baseball!”

Robert De Niro as Al Capone in “The Untouchables”

I am a fantasy sports junkie. To me, 14-6-8 aren’t just SERPS, they could also be Boris Diaw’s basketball stat line. Now that fantasy basketball season has ended (and I did win my league), I can focus full time on fantasy baseball.

During the course of this article, I am going to create and monetize a blog about one of my fantasy baseball teams ([http://www.fantasybaseballmonster.com]). I will use Blogger as my platform, though I will host the blog myself (and I strongly recommend that you do this as well). I will take you step by step through the creation and monetization process as well as give you my first post. I encourage you to copy my entire process when you create your blog…I think you will be happy with the results.

My Process

First, I set up my account and enter the pertinent FTP information. For this exercise, I will be working with the “Sand Dollar” Blogger template. It isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing of the choices, but it will allow me to place my skyscraper ads down the left side of the page without changing the CSS in the code. Studies have shown that people viewing your website are more likely to notice content located on the left margin of the page (see the Google Eye Tracking Study for more detail). So in order to maximize monetization of my blog, my ads will be placed on the left.

Once I get into the Blogger interface, I click on the “Settings” tab to begin my customization. Many default settings should go unchanged…I will only focus on those that should be altered.

(Basic Tab) Title: Your core keyword(s) should be in your title. “Fantasy Baseball” is mine…hence “Tru Fantasy Warior’s (the name of my team adapted from the Ron Artest rap record label) Fantasy Baseball Blog” is a workable title for SEO purposes.

Description: Needs to contain your secondary keywords. In my case, they would be the members of my fantasy baseball team. I list each name here.

(Publishing Tab)

File Name, URL: The name of your file needs to be “index.shtml” instead of “index.html”. Note that if Blogger is hosting your blog, you can’t do this.

Notify Weblogs.com: Click “Yes”

(Formatting Tab) Show: I tend to favor showing a lot of content on the home page. I would raise the number that’s in the default…how much would depend on the amount of content that will be created.

Post Template: I would tag all my posts with the Technorati tag for “fantasy baseball”. I visit Technorati, click on the “tag” tab, and determine that I need to add the following code into the “Post Template”:

<a target=”_new” rel=”nofollow” href=”http://technorati.com/tag/fantasy+baseball”>fantasy baseball</a> (Archive Tab): Archive Frequency: Choose “Daily” Getting Content

I will signup for Google News Alerts for each player on my team. Each day, I will receive an e-mail containing news stories about that player…their actions on the field will drive the postings that I make.

Placing an RSS Feed on the Blog

Placing an RSS feed on the blog will not only provide my readers with relevant content about the targeted subject matter, but it will also aid any search engine optimization efforts.

I’m going to create a simple RSS feed for my blog that will focus on some players on my fantasy baseball squad. Note that this won’t work if Blogger is hosting your blog.

I go to Google News and click on Advanced Search. I create my search and I see these results. There are two primary feed types: RSS and Atom. Google News allows you to create either type of feed. I click on the Atom link. I take the URL of the Atom Feed to Feedburner, a service which enables me to format my feed in a manner that allows me to include it on my blog. I place the feed in the “Burn this feed right this instant” box and follow the steps until my feed is live and I get a new “Feed URL”. Moving right along, I now need to download some software that will allow me to display the feed on my blog. RSS2HTML is what I use. Note that this software will only work if my webhost supports PHP. Although I’m sure that easy-to- implement ASP solutions exist as well, I haven’t used any of them. I unzip the downloaded zip file and I see the two necessary files that I need to upload to my webserver: rss2html.php and sample-template.html. I open the latter file (if you don’t have an HTML editor, use “Notepad” on your PC). At the top of the page, I delete everything between the title tags, the h1 tags, and the h2 tags. I then change the “Table Width” from 100% to 30%. These are purely stylistic changes that I am making. I then save the file and upload both files to the root of my webserver. I go back into Blogger and I open my template. I scroll down until I see “div id=”sideBar” Remember how I generated a Feedburner URL (step #4 above)? I need it now. I place the following code directly below “div id=”sideBar” When you do this yourself, just substitute your Feedburner URL for mine. I save the template and republish it to the web. I should see my feed on the sidebar of my blog. The First Post Each day, I will get a series of Google News Alerts e-mailed to me about the members of my fantasy team. My daily postings will be guided by my ideas and thoughts about my team. The sample post I included was driven by reading a news alert about Ichiro’s first good game of the year and how I traded Miguel Tejada for Ichiro, which was an incredibly stupid move. Since Ichiro is the focus of my post, I make sure to use his name in my post title. I then proceed with my mini-rant (making sure to include the names of all the players involved).

In addition to my Technorati tag for “fantasy baseball”, I also add tags for “Ichiro Suzuki” and “Miguel Tejada” which serves the purpose of getting my site into Technorati for people searching for those players. Technorati tags also increase the keyword density of those terms in the blog, aiding in the SEO effort.

If you are new to the blogosphere, you’ll ultimately develop your own posting style…just always be sure to use your targeted keywords in each post.

Monetization

Google Ads / Affiliate Programs

One needs to develop a certain amount of content before you can apply and be accepted into the Google AdSense Program (I’m leaving out Yahoo’s program because it’s still in beta). Since I already have an AdSense Account, I can skip this step.

I’m going to give you a couple of very important rules that advanced AdSense Publishers already know and use to help increase their website’s revenue generation.

Make the background of your ad the same color as the background of the page. On my fantasy baseball blog, I have decided to place my ads in the “body” of the blog…the color of which is #F6F6F6. I wish to customize my ads so they blend into the blog background. Within the AdSense interface, I click on “Custom Palettes”. I go to the “White” palette and replace the background and border colors with “F6F6F6”. I then save my custom palette for use in my blog. The second cardinal rule of maximizing AdSense revenue is making your ads seem like they are part of your blog content. Given that I can only place a maximum of three ads on a page, I make the following selections: I want to place a 728 x 90 Leaderboard Ad directly above my most recent post. Making sure I’m using my custom palette, in my blog template, I drop my code just after “div id=mainClm” I take a 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle Ad and place it directly above my RSS Feed in my sidebar. I withhold using my third ad for now. I will continue to experiment with different ad placement. Given the ubiquitous nature of contextual advertising, many new publishers forget that they can become members of affiliate programs and make money through sales of affiliate products. For “ease-of-use” purposes, I recommend that newbie publishers simply join one of the bigger affiliate networks Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Shareasale are the most prominent).

When I choose an affiliate merchant for my blog, I know that I need a tight nexus between the merchant and the blog subject matter in order to make sales. I know that with some of my older, more established websites, I have done really well making sales with anti-aging products that have excellent payouts. However, I wouldn’t consider placing those banners on this blog because my audience won’t be interested. The sports merchandise merchant I choose here will be much more likely to make revenue for me even if the payouts are less.

Blog and Ping

Why do this step? To let the various blogging search engines know that I am continuing to update my blog with fresh content.

The easiest way for me to “blog and ping” is as follows: I surf over to Pingoat.com. I fill out the information requested, including my site feed URL (which is found in the Blogger Interface by clicking Settings / Site feed). I will come back to this site periodically to repeat the process.

Link-Building

Link-building is an essential part of search engine optimization, so I will need to build links into my blog in order to drive more traffic to it. Many articles have been written about how to build links. For purposes of this exercise, I’m going to follow a beginner’s technique that will allow me to build some relevant links quickly and easily.

I go to Linkmarket.net and register my website. I upgrade to full membership. I download and install the Google Toolbar. I now have the ability to trade unlimited links with over 40,000 websites. I only want to trade links with sites relevant to mine. Trading links with pharmaceutical sites isn’t going to help me with SEO for a fantasy baseball website, nor will it benefit my site visitors. I click through to the Sports Directory of Linkmarket. I offer to trade links with each website in the Fantasy and Baseball Categories (and if I’m feeling really aggressive, I’ll trade links with the Basketball, Football, and Hockey websites, as well). Before I decide to trade links with a site, I visit the site in order to check its Google Page Rank. It matters not to me what the Page Rank is, so long as it’s not zero. If the website accepts my offer to trade, I place their code in my Website Template in the sidebar beneath my links header. I will most certainly get offers from other website offering to trade links with me, which I’ll accept so long as linking to that website will be valuable to my blog visitors (and if their websites don’t have a Google Page Rank of zero). Note that to achieve long-term SEO success, you’ll need to earn inbound links…not just trade for them.

Conclusion

When you are communicating your passion to the world, it doesn’t feel like work. When you are communicating your passion to the world and earning money at the same time, it’s even better. If you haven’t participated in this most basic area of online commerce before, I invite you to take the plunge. I’ve attempted to spoon-feed you a process that can easily be followed by someone with a minimal technical background. If you choose to embark on such a journey, it will be rewarding, educational, and a heck of a lot of fun.

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