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30
Jun

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Welcome to Rockstar Guide Books

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

Thank you for visiting Rockstar Guide Books.  This site is about helping you achieve success with online tools and your personal life.  While WordPress is the current emphasis of Rockstar Guide Books, the plan is to expand into other online tools as well.  You can read my posts down below this one.

Your presence online depends on knowing how to use the tools that are available.  My goal is to help you succeed with these tools.  In recommending other tools online, I work to find low cost or even free tools to help your online presence grow.

Please follow me on Twitter @LoveRockstar

Need articles? Look at the list, there will be at least one to fit your needs.  Use the Ezine Publisher beneath the article to add it to your website or blog!

Get one of the Rockstar Guide Books or join the new coaching program! People who have used the guide books have been amazed at how everything was explained in detail while reaching people on their technological level.

This will help propel you and your blog to new levels.  ~

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love!

MJ Schrader

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29
Jul

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Writing for Internet Success

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Success

Unfortunately it seems I fell victim to a classic blunder.  Of course the most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia.   In this case the classic blunder was wanting to get more writing done by using my competitive nature so I joined EzineArticles HAHD Double.  200 articles plus 50 bonus in 100 days.

PROBLEM 1 I had not actually started a daily writing routine, so my goal of writing at least 25 articles a week for 100 in the first month resulted in 60 articles.  250-60=190

PROBLEM 2 One month into HAHD my grandmother had a stroke.  For 2 weeks we had to plan for the unexpected, a sudden leaving.  Then we had 10 days of taking care of things for the family.  So in the 30 days of June, I wrote maybe 15 articles.  190-15=175

PROBLEM 3 This left just over 40 days to write 175 articles ACK.  This resulted in basically what happens when your car is in mud and you decide to use speed to get out…  I bogged down.  :(

Now the count down is coming to the line… can I do it?  Who knows.

But this is supposed to be writing for internet success.  I learned lessons. 

MountainSolution 1: Make plans to write every day, or a regular once a week session.  Set it up at a regular time.  If you can not write a post for your work blog, create another blog to share ramblings and thoughts but do what you can to write regularly.

Solution 2: Plan ahead.  Do more at the beginning when you have time when things are ok.  When things go south, you are ok.

Solution 3.  FOCUS ON THE NEXT STEP.  See the mountain in the distance, but focus on your next step not the path up ahead, not the hills, rocks and other things in the middle.  Focus one post, one article at a time. And then look up to check the mountain top and realize you are there. 

What solutions do you have?  Add some good ones in the comments and I may add them to another post with a link to your site.

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

MJ Schrader

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28
Jul

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Boost Your Blog With Other Women Bloggers

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Success

You may be part of a blog contest right now.  These can help provide support, emotionally and mentally to keep going.  After the contest is over, where do you turn?   Today’s post is about various women’s blogging communities.

BlogHer is very popular blogging community focused on women.  Content covers all aspects of life and is produced and published by women. You can ask questions, form advice, share ups and downs. Look for local meetings or form online groups. There are also conferences for women bloggers.

MomBloggersClub is a social network targeted towards moms who blog. Get tips and techniques to help you as a mom, as a blogger, as a mommy blogger. You can learn about syndication and getting your writing to media outlets.

TheSITSGirls has over 6000 women bloggers encourage and support each other. They offer a Bloggy Bootcamp Conference in a variety of locations. They encourage being active on the site and leaving comments for other bloggers on the site and their individual blogs.

Driven DIVApreneurs is an up and coming site created by Jennifer Rundall. This community seeks to inspire women who are own their own business or have a desire to own a business. The women push each other toward success. They encourage living live with passion and purpose.

This list can help you find and cultivate friendships with women who are bloggers or online business people. The business women are often bloggers so even if that is not their focus they still know the value of blogging. When you read articles, learn from the tips and share advice you have with the women on these sites your blog will be sure to grow.


Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

~ MJ Schrader


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27
Jul

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7 Easy SEO Tips for More Blog Traffic

By MJ Schrader | Filed in content

SEO means search engine optimization, for many it also means stress and worry.   SEO is hard work, right?  Well some steps are actually pretty easy.

1. Change to an SEO friendly permalink.

Each blog post and website page you build with WordPress has a permalink; permanent link, assigned to it.  Make certain it is set to your post name by visiting, Settings, then Permalink.  You want the custom setting to be /%postname%

2. Add Google XML Sitemaps.

This plugin is like a map of your site enabling search engines to know what is on your website and where to find it.

3. Use Keywords.

These are words people commonly search for in relation to your niche. Use keywords appropriately without over use for a better experience for SEO and your visitors.

4. Get an SEO Plugin

These plugins allow you to add a meta title, meta description and meta keywords to each WordPress post and page you create. These allow search engine optimization by allowing them to know what is on the page.

5. Add content.

Regular posts is probably the most important step and it gives your visitors more reason to be interested in what you sell. You can Add an Ezine Article to Your Blog when you keep the article and resource box intact. Mixing and matching these with your own original content keeps the site SEO friendly and brings more traffic.  You can even use my Ezine Articles

6. Limit posts to one category.

While you may have several categories the post will fit, limit it to one. Each category the post is in creates another URL. You want to limit that number. A post with multiple URL links may only be one post but search engines see each as individual posts. This is the infamous duplicate content that people talk about.

7. Be consistent, insist on consistency.

Does your website start with www or does it not. In either case you can type http:// in front of the website name to make it click enabled. But you want to be consistent in your use of www or not and ask others the same.



Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

~ MJ Schrader

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26
Jul

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Get More Website Traffic with a Better Domain Name

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

With the right domain name you can get more website traffic.  With the wrong domain name people may run away from your site rather than visit. Or bring in the wrong type of traffic.

Juan Mann, founder, giving a hug. PHOTO CREDIT: Free Hug Campaign

Domain Names in Life

The Sick Puppies would not be a good domain name for a veterinary clinic.  Personally if I moved to a new town and looked up vet clinics that is not one I would visit.   The clients that might visit that kind of domain name… might be a sick puppies themselves.

However SickPuppies.net is the domain name for a band of the same name.  Thus the domain name is their company name and requires building their name as a band and not puppies who are sick.

This band wrote a song for the Free Hugs Campaign at FreeHugsCampaign.org. This is an example of a domain using keywords and a name related to what they do.  Yes, they give away free hugs.  It’s a wonderful campaign.

There is a low cost spay and neuter clinic called Cause for Paws at  CauseForPawsTexas.com.  This domain name does not contain keywords related to what people look for in a low cost clinic.   Yet if someone just came across the website domain name, they would probably guess it to be related to animals and a cause, of some sort,  to help the animals.

So what does your domain name say about you?

Is your domain name a brand?   Does your domain name contain related words?  Does your domain name echo what you do?   Just thoughts to consider in the domain name search.

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

~ MJ Schrader


PS.  A video…

Bet it makes you smile :)

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25
Jul

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George Orwell Helps You Write Blog Posts

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Success

While George Orwell may have passed away years ago, he did help with today’s post.  In 1946 that could help you feel more confident with your writing. He wrote six rules in this essay and while they were 60 years ago they still hold true.

i. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you used to seeing in print.

Writers may use the phrase inappropriately, or it may not be understood by readers.

ii. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

In his case, he felt like people who used long words were doing so to sound pretentious. Now, people reading online come from all education levels and from around the world, long or confusing words you make your reading harder for them.

iii. If is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Your articles and posts do not need to go on for pages when one page will do. People have limited time and are more likely to read an article that gets to the point and lets them go.

iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Using active writing pulls readers into your article. The opposite is true of passive writing.

v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

This was before the multicultural foods we enjoy and before technology was something you didn’t leave home without.  Currently this takes more thought and depends on your niche.  If your website is “Raw recipes” you readers likely understand the difference between Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw.  My readers maybe not, but my readers hopefully understand the differences between sidebars, headers, and posts.  While your raw reader may not.  So try to use words that your readers will understand without talking down or over their heads.

vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Even then George Orwell said the rules were mostly suggestions. Using these rules as suggestions will help your article writing and blog writing share information online while helping readers around the world understand you.

And because this blog is read by people in several countries…

Gracias, Blagodaram, Danke, Tack, Arigatô, Xiè xie, Merci, Mahalo, Grazie, and Thank you!

(Spanish, Macedonian, German, Swedish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, French, Hawaiian, Italian and English)

If I missed your language…  please tell me thank you and please tell me your language.  Sometimes I know other times… not so much. :)

~ MJ Schrader

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24
Jul

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More Website Traffic While Having Fun

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

Yesterday was some fun ways to build traffic.  Today are a few more fun ways for more website traffic.  Life is short, we all need to live, laugh, and love more.

Create fun videos.

The number of people who watch videos on YouTube grows daily.   Below you will see a video my cat and I made as introduction to Rockstar Coaching.  I don’t think I even mentioned the coaching.  Next week I will go into getting comfortable with video.

With a fun video you could get more traffic. Create a funny video, an instructional video, a video about your products or services. Then include tags related to your business and your website link.

Use contests.

Fun contests with prizes that people love create word of mouth traffic. People tell friends and your traffic grows. There is also a curiosity factor that brings people. You can have contests that require visitors to contribute to your site, visit multiple pages and more.

Speaking of CONTESTS.

I would like to hold one, but I want YOUR input.  What kind of contest would you like to see?  What would you like for a prize?


Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

~ MJ Schrader

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23
Jul

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Fun Ways To Get More Website Traffic

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

You need more traffic and traffic building takes serious work right?

Actually not always.  There some fabulous and fun ways to get more website traffic for your online business. By having fun in generating traffic, your traffic is likely to view your business as a friendly business which helps increase sales.


The notebook that inspired the look and feel of my brand.


Use Photos.

There are several photo-sharing sites that also link directly to search engines.  Add tags related to your business and when people search images for those words your pictures and website appear.  Also if you are on my Twitter stream or Facebook you probably have seen that I take almost daily pictures with my phone.

Create a presence on social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and others are known as social networking sites. The key being social interaction, but this also means networking with the friends of friends, just like business networking builds your business. You need to interact with people and build a presence but this is as simple as adding pictures and videos that you created from the previous two.

Create a fun avatar.

Blogs, forums and other sites allow you to add a miniature image called an avatar. If your avatar is animage of you having fun people may click it, to learn more about your website.


What other ways can you create?

Think about ways to create more website traffic. What do people enjoy, how can you help others, there are a number of ways to generate traffic and plenty of ways to add some fun.

Live ♥ Laugh ♥ Love

~ MJ Schrader

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22
Jul

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WordPress 3.0 Menu Video

By MJ Schrader | Filed in How To

Weeks ago I discussed The Menu Feature in WordPress 3.0.  Today is a video demonstration of how it easily it works.   Hopefully your theme has upgraded to enable it, if not download the “Twenty Ten” theme.

This is a very beautiful, highly versatile theme.  This video will also show you how to get Twenty Ten.

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21
Jul

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You Might Need to Quit Your Job if…

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

Today’s post is a bit of humor.  Based on Jeff Foxworthy’s, “You might just be a redneck, if…”  this is going to be “You might need to quit your job…”

You might need to quit your job if wake up hating your job and it is your day off.

You might need to quit your job if you think blind monkeys can do your job with an arm tied behind their backs.

You might need to quit your job if you resent everything related to work down to the coffee.

You might need to quit your job if your boss is yelling at you, and rather than listening you wonder “what would she’d do if I stood up and walked out without saying a word?”

You might need to quit your job if you have time to socialize with your co-workers and you would rather chew your leg off.

You might need to quit your job if no one cares about your privacy, bosses and co-workers tell you what you need to do, or what you did wrong if you at your desk or on the toilet.

You might need to quit your job if you think living under a bridge might be better than going to work.

You might need to quit your job if these jokes feel like they are right on target.


So what can I do if it is time to quit. Well the four posts before this one are about passion. First you need to know Why Passion Helps Your Online Business Success.  Then you need to Find Your Passion and Online Success and then you will want to Turn Your Passion Into Business.

And in case you are curious how it works for someone else you can read My Passion Revealed

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20
Jul

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My Passion Revealed

By MJ Schrader | Filed in Information

So the three previous posts were about finding your passion.  This brings me to a question people have been asking me and the reason you have been reading posts about passion.  “What is your passion?”  so in my pursuit of an answer; well,  it resulted in me acting on my passions.

It resulted in me researching and writing.  Writing is my number one passion.  Researching is a sideline of a couple of my passions.

Another one I have, because I seem to be gifted in it, is studying online tools and presenting their use in a simple and easy format for others to learn from and use.   It makes me happy to hear from you when you say… “Wow!  Thank you I know how to use …”   Because helping others has long been something that makes me come alive.

So writing, researching, helping and encouraging others and online tools.  Those are my passions toward business.  I also love silly English Cocker Spaniels but that’s just a personal issue…

But my websites… all of them… are based on combinations of these elements.  Rockstar Guide Books is designed to help, encourage and motivate you while teaching you online tools.  This requires that I write and research.  Happy Camper.

365 Online Tips is 365 days of encouraging and motivational tips to help people succeed.  This requires writing, researching various methods to encourage others and the fabulous daily quotes.  There are some absolutely fabulous ones that Kelly and I have come across.  While there are some favorites, the one I want to share is sweet and hopefully will make you smile!

Bunny slippers remind me of who I am. You can’t get a swelled head if you wear bunny slippers. You can’t lose your sense of perspective and start acting like a star or a rich lady if you keep on wearing bunny slippers. Besides, bunny slippers give me confidence because they’re so jaunty. They make a statement; they say, ‘Nothing the world does to me can ever get me so far down that I can’t be silly and frivolous.’ If I died and found myself in Hell, I could endure the place if I had bunny slippers. ~ Dean Koontz


Now if you are thinking the quote is sort of random, then you should have a conversation with me.  My brain is rather overflowing with information, and sometimes random things spill over.  :)

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