It’s time again for another Heads Up Seven Up Blogroll (perhaps I should change the title to read 7Up since that’s how the logo reads). Things as always have been going insane here at GrandmasterB HQ and today is the first day I’ve had a chance to browse the old Google Reader…so what’s new?

JasonBoom.com - The Stand Up Blogger
Bloggin-Ads - Stumbling Addiction for Bloggers
ZacJohnson.com - Affiliate Blogger’s Workspace
Outlaw Design Blog - iStock Now Has Subscription Plans
Chris Guthrie - Look to the Future and Plan Your Posts
BuzzMyBlog - Beware of Shady Advertisers
Blog About Your Blog - 6 Ways to Make Friends Online 

I finally found some spare time to get some ’spring cleaning’ done around the GrandmasterB house today. I wanted to get to adding on the new plugins and features earlier in the week, but life catches up with us sometimes and needs to be addressed. Most of the new features that I have added are quite apparent by looking at the sidebar.

Advertising on GrandmasterB.com

I hinted earlier in the week (Week in Review 4/14 - 4/20 ) that I felt it was time this teenager of a blog got off it’s hind quarters and made some cash to pay rent, so I’ve added 125×125 banner ads on the sidebar. I’ve set pricing at $15/month for the time being. I’ve been trying to figure out what would be a fair rate for a newer blog to ask for advertising. I hope it sounds fair to potential advertisers.

(more…)

HAPPY ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY GRANDMASTERB.COM!

WOW! How fast a month goes in the early stages of running a blog. I cannot believe that I started this blog a month ago today. I have seen a lot of great moments in this first month, and met a few really cool bloggers along the way. By following the tips at other blogs, I have managed to get this blog off the ground and had relatively great success generating traffic (and most of it quality traffic). When I started out I didn’t have a clear path to follow, but I’m working on some guidelines and goals for the future that should help me along the way. Once I have them all put down on paper and streamlined I will create a post for those of you that want to follow along.

What’s this? 201 Unique visitors on April 16th! Fan-freakin-tastic!

(more…)

Throughout the past two or three weeks I have been doing some research on how to build a strong reader base and increasing traffic to the site. There are of course sites that all have great advice on how to get rolling, as well as other sites that are selling e-books from self-proclaimed ‘gurus’. Each site has found a way to build traffic and they all do it well, but there is a craze that is taking the blogosphere by storm…CONTESTS!

I have found one such online contest that is the mother of all contests. Gyutae Park has created what he’s dubbed the “Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You’ve Ever Seen!” Quite frankly…I think the title hits the nail on the proverbial head. When I first stumbled upon the contest on March 14^th, there was already a substantial prize pool in excess of eight grand in value. Amazingly the prize pool has now reached a whopping $12,201 in cash and prizes. Prizes range from 125 x 125 advertisements on popular blogs like JohnCow.com, an iPod Touch kindly donated by Shoemoney and cash prizes ranging from $50 to $650. The contest will end on March 31^st when the prizes are divided amongst the lucky winners.

Good luck to everyone involved…I’m hoping to get in the mix.

GrandmasterB