You had a personality (and it didn't suck) discovered something new that made us want to try our luck No "How To" post for love of Digg , it's something new you said - no millionth link to Problogger (which we've already read) You made us think, or maybe smile (sans web-A.D.D crap), you made us STOP, or be inspired - no sugar spinal tap The title hooked, the promise kept to rss we fed it, and there was no link to Copyblogger (we've already read it )

Cool points are hereby awarded to StumbleUpon . Think of it as a mid-point between del.icio.us and Digg , with a great social element. Here's why winners use it: It's fun, and the toolbar is actually useful. It's easy to integrate into your blogging/surfing habits. It connects your blog to a larger community. The 'Stumble Effect' is arguably better, and far less painful than the 'Digg Effect' (traffic over time as opposed to all at once) The friend/contact mechanism makes much more sense than, say, MyBlogLog 's. You get ME as a buddy. (This clearly should have been #1) The Basics and More The Basics: There's really not much to using StumbleUpon (I like this). There's a toolbar you'll use to find, vote on and review new pages, and there's your profile page which includes a mini-blog that catalogs your Stumble activity. The Toolbar: The main functions of the toolbar are the "Stumble" button, which takes you to various websites

Write something good enough to make it to the Digg front page. Endure obscene, INHUMAN levels of Digg traffic; fall down. Against all odds , get up. Write this time about the beating Digg just gave you. It shoots to the front page! Your site takes enough Digg effect to render it clinically dead this time. Get up... "eye of the tiger, man." Repeat until you've gone the DISTANCE. CONGRATULATIONS You Have SHOCKED THE WORLD!

So you discovered the concept of link-baiting , but it isn't working for your readership-challenged blog. Chances are, you're baiting the wrong people. Who are the right people? Why will they read our blog? Who do we have to lay What do we have to do to get a link in this town? The answers are so, so simple. Who Are the Right People? The right people are bloggers somewhat more successful than ourselves. Additionally, we: Like them Read their blogs regularly Actively contribute to their community Why Will They Read Our Blog? Because we provide them with readers. Oh, yes. Call it enlightened self-interest. Want to get the right people to read your blog? Follow this simple rule: a link is not enough . Me, I'm easy; if you link to me and click that link, you're fairly assured of a visit (because, you know, I'm bored). The majority of popular/busy bloggers are not. Therefore, if you're going to link to someone, make that link damn compelling . Actually liking th

Dosh Dosh - A Very Simple Method to Increase your RSS Subscribers & MyBloglog community members. The idea is that instead of pointing your comment name-link to your blog, use your RSS feed or MyBlogLog community page instead. Cool points awarded. ChrisG - Are You Burning Blog Bridges? Some people (NOT ME) are fond of using a snarky, snide, and otherwise smartass-y writing style. While this may get you some short-term attention and link-baitage reward, you could be hurting yourself in the long run. A good reminder for those of us (NOT ME) who's mouths and fingers get us into trouble a little too often. Kumiko - AGLOCO Will Not Make Money Online! Ever! While it is indeed possible that AGLOCO will fail to deliver, this is the most wrong-headed analysis I've seen yet. I like all the exclamation points, though; that's passion.

Google just announced that GMail is now open to all - no more of that "invitation" nonsense. What's interesting, though, is this AP article reporting Google's intention to add a paid to service to GMail (thanks, Avinash ): "Now that Google has more computing muscle, Brin said the company will start selling additional storage capacity to e-mail users with extraordinary needs. Google still hasn't figured out the specifics, but Brin indicated the e-mail storage and fees to be introduced later this year would be similar to Google's photo-hosting service that charges $25 annually for 6.25 gigabytes and $500 annually for 250 gigabytes. 'We can't afford to give away everything for free,' Brin said." All I can say is: affiliate program, please- thanks! See Also: How to Make $100 (Without Spending a Dime)

1. You genuinely want to connect with other bloggers. 2. You genuinely want to connect with well known, popular bloggers. So you can spam the hell out of them. 3. Your hit counter says "0" and you want it to stop doing that. 4. You want to find out how many bloggers are actually sexist pigs sexy chicks in bikinis. 5. You want to witness the link-spam fiesta that is the comment section at any blog of sufficient popularity. (No Akismet for you!) 6. You want a long list of "Admirers" who have never seen your blog but somehow want to be your buddy. (Contact collection as a meta-game. Go ahead and cry.) 7. You cleverly understand the decoy-value of MyBlogLog, as the spammers and hangers-on swarm to your unmoderated MBL presence under the illusion that you and your community are more "accessible" there. 8. Your blog is an island nowhere near as lively as Gilligan's. 9. You want the cool outbound-link tracking function. 10. Tracking, schmacking. Did you kn

Interesting reading , of course. Informative, but not overly practical. Below, I take a look at the list and add some practical info. If we're lucky, Darren will do the same at Problogger. 1. Chitika (Cool, but exlusive) Chances are, you'll be making pretty good money from Adsense and other less restrictive programs before you'd be accepted into Chitika . Beside some undisclosed traffic requirement, they seem to reject applications for various , arcane reasons (never explained). One reason appears to be that they're prone to screw up . 2. Adsense (Your friend and mine) Let's not bother with this one, since every single site in the known universe is running Adsense . 3. Text Link Ads (See Chitika) Another program that seems to (more or less) require a well-trafficked blog. They'll check your Alexa traffic info as well your backlinks via Yahoo . A new-ish company (like Chitika ), their customer service and communication methods can be less than polished , to