Category Archives: Recommendations

The Importance of having an Internet Marketing Strategy

January 19, 2012 – 12:05 pm

Having a blog is a good way of getting your presence online. However there is much to be done if you want to grow your blog and get a steady stream of traffic to your site. Everyday there are countless sites being created and the competition is great. How then can you make your blog stand out from the rest?

A comprehensive internet marketing strategy is something which you need to grow your blog. You need a plan to increase your outreach and build up connections with other bloggers and companies through the various social media outlets available.

Here at Dominique’s Desk I have been trying out various strategies to generate more traffic to this site. Here is a list of four main strategies which I am currently applying on this blog.

Guest posting on other sites/ allowing guest posting here.
My aim is guest post at least once or twice a months and have monthly guest blogger share their articles here. This helps me get more exposure to my writings and inject some new life into this blog through these alternative voices by my guest bloggers.
Commenting
I try to reply to every commenter who drops a comment here and comment on sites which I visit. This engagement helps to build up community and I have fostered close relationships with many bloggers this way.
Interacting through various social media platforms.
I promote posts that I make here on this blog via twitter, Google + and my facebook fan page. As you can see via the sidebar I have a selection of ways which one can subscribe to this blog. This makes is easy for readers to connect with me via their chosen platform.
Joining Blog Challenges and Memes
I always welcome a challenge and have found by joining the various challenges and memes I’ve sharpened my skills as a blogger and learned how to promote myself better.

How are you working on your Internet Marketing Strategy ?

Disclaimer :I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for an seo company and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own. This post has a Compensation Level of 13. Please visit Dominique’s Disclosure page for more information.

Tags Internet Marketing Strategy, SEO | Comments (7)

Highlights of November

December 1, 2011 – 7:30 pm

November has been a busy month as the kids are on holiday and I’m busy doing a stock take of the year’s event. I’ve implemented also quite a number of changes this month.

This blog has gotten a makeover as I have revamped the header and changed the template used. I’ve updated the header with more recent pictures of the kids and made some minor tweaks on the template to make it more easy- reading for my readers.

I went to the National Orchid Congress with Tiger Girl and took loads of photos of the beautiful flowers.

You can see some of the flowers here

1) 10 Favourite Photos of November

2) Photo Challenge – The Finale

3) All in White

4) Thankful Thoughts and Music

5) Happy Thanksgiving Poem

I have been thinking a lot about my role as a mom and gave reasons why 3 kids are enough for now. I’m glad that the kids have me around this whole year to be with them when they need me. I’m able to support and guide them as they grow and mature.

Tiger girl has grown up a lot this year as she moves from a helpless baby to a toddler. Now at 14 months she is actively exploring every place of the house and exerting her rights. The world seems so big to her and she enjoys all the new experiences that she has daily.

Now that she is a bit bigger it’s easier to bring her out for a longer duration of time. She loves squatting and standing and is still learning how to walk. Fun in the tub is a must now for her during bath time as she loves playing with water.

My little girl is really growing up too fast.

Tags Monthly reflections | Comment (1)

10 ways to Back Up Your Blog

November 14, 2011 – 6:35 pm

I have been thinking about how to preserve the memories which I have recorded down here in this blog. It would be tragic if all the effort chronologically recording down the kids developments/achievements, my thoughts and sharing disappears into thin air due to hacking or some electronic malfunction.

Here are 10 ways which one can back up your blog.

If you are having a self hosted wordpress blog you can do the following

1. WP Instant Backup Plugin

I am using this plugin with this blog and it gives me the option of having a database plugin, file system backup or a full system backup to my server.

2. Subscribe 2 Plugin
I started using this plugin and subscribe to my own blog after realising that not all posts that have been publish gets to my e-mail via feedburner. Even though I have subscribed to my own blog via e-mail in feedburner I only get like 1 out of 4 of the post made per week in my inbox. After using this plugin whatever post I do I get an e-mail with a copy of the blog post immediately after I press the button ” Publish”

However if you are on blogger or wordpress.com you can still do the following

3. Export all Posts/Tables/Pictures/Pages

I do this and save the exported file on my PC as from experience it is the easiest way to reboot your blog with all the blog posts /pages and pictures intact if your blog does crash on you.

4. Dropbox

It is an online storage system which can be sync with your PC . You get 2 GB free with a basic account. If necessary you can upgrade to 50GB or 100GB account if needed. I use it to store a copy of the the xml files and backup of my blog.

5. External Hard Disk

A copy of my blog’s database and files are stored in my 1TD together with the photos that I have taken with my camera. This is a safeguard measure in the even the hard disk on my computer crashes due to a virus attack.
6. Blog to Book

Publish your blog as a book using Blurb or any other blog to book services. I do know of a friend who turns her blog into hardcopy annuals.

7. Blog to Photobook

If you are just keen on preserving the photos on your blog you can publish them as a photobook. I have been recently creating photobooks of the kids so that they have some hard copy memories to cherish. The photobooks also make it easier to share the milestones that the kids have achieved with friends and relatives during parties or other festive occassions.

8. Add your blog into your Google Reader

I do subscribe to this blog by adding it to my Google reader. I read most of the blogs I subscribe to this way.

9. Use Full Feed instead of partial feed

I know some of you may disagree with me on this due to scraping of content by thieves and getting people to click through on your blog itself.

10 My SQL via Cpanel

If you are running a wordpress blog you can use the 1-click SQL database back up via PHP Admin when you log into your server.