New Design and Weight Loss

Sitting here listening to the Outfield 'Play Deep' and reworking Fam5.com.  Wanted to give the blog a new look.  Wanted to be sure to cut down on all the ads.  If you recall I had a whole column dedicated to ads.  Decided to go with a 2-column design instead of 3.  Added a nice image at the top and found this serene image.

The main downfall to Fam5 is that I don't have a niche topic.  I blog about the things that catch my eye and that I would like to share with others.  Sometimes this makes for a website design nightmare. I hope you enjoy the new changes and look forward to seeing your comments.

The latest project I have been working on is copying my weight loss surgery information over to Jeff's Weight Loss Surgery Blog.  It was time to have a separate location designated to my weight loss progress.  2005 was a trying time for me and my family and I want to be sure this information is never lost or forgotten. Here is what you will be great with when you arrive.

   

This is highly important information that I want to be sure people have an opportunity to read about.  Weight Loss Surgery can save a persons life.  In my case it helped stop the need for a heart transplant.  I have seen where weight loss surgery has rid a person of diabetes within a couple of months.  A great place to start is the post called 'Heart Attach or Not?'.

Harry Connick, Jr's We Are in Love is playing now I think trying to tell me time for bed.  On that note I shall sign off and wish everyone a good day and please spread the word about these two blogs.

Will I be blogging to my death bed?

Saw this one over at about:blank this is great.  I think the artist was my nurse back in September 2007 while I was in the hospital.  You can read the post I did while in the hospital from my blackberry called Cell Phone Interference with Pacemaker or Heart Attack-

I am telling you the artist had to be that one nurse:-)

Here's to all you blogger's! To the end.

Make Money On EVERY Visitor To Your Website - Pay Per Play

I want to show you how to get a 100% conversion rate on your website traffic.

Coming in 2/1/08 this is an event that you should know about… 5 second short audio ads on any and all pages of any or your website's. You earn money every time a page is viewed!

First there was Pay Per Click advertising which pays you on the small percentage of website visitors that actually click on an advertisement.

Now there is “Pay Per Play” advertising that will pay you on 100% of your website traffic… NO CLICKS NECESSARY!

Pay Per Play caters to an audience that is larger than radio, television and print media combined!

Billions of dollars are being spent by big brand advertisers and they are ready to pay you. Will you claim your share of the pie? Or will you let someone else have it?

QUESTION: What is the compensation structure for this program?

ANSWER:

• 25% of what the advertiser spends on PPP ads you serve on your own website(s).

• 5% of what the advertiser spends on PPP ads played on the website(s) of those you refer.

• 5% of what the advertiser spends on PPP ads played on the website(s) that your direct referrals bring on board.

How long Exactly do you think this opportunity will last?

ANSWER: This opportunity will always exist for our core marketing partners but after we have enough partners to “cover the world” then we will close the opportunity for anyone else to earn by referring others. This is a pre-launch and everything goes live on February 1, 2008.

Website owners will always be able to earn 25% by hosting the Play Per Play code on their website(s), this will never end but the referral period will.

Think about how nice it will be to have these ads on a blog page that gets stumbled for 10 or 20 thousand views! Think about how nice it will be to put these ads on your free Blogger blogs! The possibilities are endless!

Get in on the ground floor before they close up the referral program. Please visit this link and sign up!

Get Paid to Blog With Pay Per Post

I signed up for Pay Per Post to get paid to blog to help offset some web hosting fees.  Pay Per Post allows me to do some freelance writing/reviewing for companies.  Pay Per Post allows me to perform reviews with my own opinions good, bad or indifferent.  I have looked into other sites that do the same type of service but they always want positive only reviews I like to be honest for my readers.  Here is a sample of an opportunity and the requirements for reserving/accepting.



Once you click on reserve opportunity you have  six hours to write a review and post it to your blog.  Once you have it posted you copy the URL of the post and go back to your account on Pay Per Post and past it in the appropriate area for that opportunity.  Then within 48 hours Pay Per Post will scan your site to make sure you have filled your requirements.  Once they do that and your approved you will be paid for that review.  You agree to leave the post on your site for 30 days.

Along the way I have found other great blogs with various topics.  I like the "Stuff" category as this pertains to me.  Kind of like this blog which is about "stuff" a little bit of everything.  The opportunities are as diverse as the sites participants.  Check out the 2008 Blogger's Choice Awards website for blogs.

You have a good chance to network with other Posties through Pay Per Post website.  They even have an online community called Izea or Community for Pay Per Post.

Let's not forget they have badges or banners that you can add to your site that ask others if they want their site, product, or service reviewed by your blog. 

Blogging Terms

If your like me you wonder what all the blogging terms mean. Upon my miles of travel on the Internet I came across The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary.

Are you puzzled by strange blogging terms and unusual blog abbreviations and blogging acronyms? Then this post will get the Blargon Demystified. This article attempts to simplify some common blogging terms organized into a simple blogging glossary.Are you puzzled by strange blogging terms and unusual blog abbreviations and blogging acronyms? Then this post will get the Blargon Demystified. This article attempts to simplify some common blogging terms organized into a simple blogging glossary.

Here is just a small example of the terms and how they are laid out at The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary.

BLOGGING

• Weblog- An online dated diary listing your periodic thoughts on a specific topic, often in reverse chronological order.


• Blog - short form for weblog


• Blogging - the act of posting on blogs


• Blogger - a person who blogs


• Blogosphere - The Internet blogging community

I found this list to be very comprehensive and easy to read and gave me insight to the blogging world language.

Do you find a list like this useful?

$54,000 worth of prizes from Problogger!

Wanted to let my readers know about a site about blogging called Problogger there having a huge birthday bash.  I find there birthday notice as quite the inginous marketing ploy. They call it "$54,000 worth of Prizes on Offer in the ProBlogger Birthday Bash Competitions!".  They are giving away over $54,000 worth of prizes they say are donated. 

Worth a stop by and who knows you might like there post and subscribe to there RSS feeds.

Have a good one.

JB

Get a Free Clutter-Busting Review of Your Blog or Website

I subscribe to Skelliewag blog  and one of the recent post she offered is 'Get a Free Clutter-Busting Review of Your Blog or Website' she say's

One thing I’ve previously enjoyed doing is giving one-on-one feedback to bloggers and webmasters on how they can simplify and declutter their sites, strengthening their core message. It’s also something I don’t get to do often enough.

In an attempt to change that, I’ve decided to offer personalized email reviews of your blog or website, with a focus on simplicity and clutter removal tailored to you.

They do not expect anything in return because as she says:

This is simply me trying to exercise skill #21 of 101 Essential Blogging Skills: "Give without expecting to receive.

As a new blogger I sure appreciate the comments.  Some of what she recommended are the following.

1. Remove the 'Add to Google' button from beneath your feed icon. There is an option to add the feed to Google when you click on the main icon anyway, so the doubling-up is unnecessary.

2. Remove the second 'Archives' drop-down menu. You have already linked to a dedicated Archives page earlier in your sidebar.

3. I'd remove the 'Registration' element.Registration is only useful if you want any blog reader to be able to write posts on your blog. You can bookmark your login page and do away with it, which will help to unclutter your sidebar.

4. Consider removing inText advertising. I've heard from dozens of people that these ads reduce traffic. A lot of blogs use them which are designed to trick readers into clicking links. Your blog obviously isn't one of those, but readers generally have negative associations with them. They distract from your content and sometimes trick readers into thinking they are normal links. So unless you're making lots of money from these I don't think they're worth the loss.

5. Put the Wordpress and Blog Catalog buttons in your footer. They're a bit distracting where they are now, and you're not really getting anything in return for displaying them there.

I took her constructive criticism and made appropriate changes.  For someone to give a review for a complete stranger and not expect something in return is almost unheard of these days. 

Thank you Skelliewag it meant a lot.  If you have a blog and looking someone elses ideas to help you I would recommend surfing by Skelliewag and check her out.

Have a good evening all.

JB

General Update

Good morning all:

Today is Tuesday my typical weigh-in day to chart my WLS update. As of this morning I weight 174 pounds. I have been holding steady right between 174 and 180. Not to bad for a guy that was 359.5 pounds in May 2005.

It's been a while since posting. I have been experimenting with Microsoft's Live Spaces my link is . I am torn between off the technology. I want to use one location for things like blog, IM, calendars, etc... That is why I thought using Microsoft's new Windows Live would be a good all in one. Well it is fine but blogger offers the ability to have my post go to my domain name Big Dog Web Designs.

I will be writing a couple of reviews for products I recently have been using. So watch for that in upcoming post.

For now have a great day and see you online.

Later
JB

Well after reading about weblogs in the newspaper I had to investigate. I spent two days and asking others about this weblog thing. I am still trying to figure out what a weblog and a blogger is. Well after two day I decided to sign up for Blogger. So here it goes.

I will probably use it like a diary and there will be some that will hate me for it. Some sites say weblogs are not diaries and some suggest it is. Well this will require some more discussion but for now what ever.